Trimming the Tree

The boys got their first chance to participate in putting ornaments on the tree this year. In previous years, I had always done them while they were asleep to avoid a pile of broken ornaments. And while this year's decorating did result in a few that ended up in the trash can, they did better than I thought they would. Once they realized that it was kind of tricky to get the ornament on the branch, they decided to just start picking out the ones they liked and handing them to me. They're so proud of their little tree and love to go stand and look at the different ornaments. Especially the snowman one that lights up. I tried to take a few pictures of them during the process but it was next to impossible so we'll go with the more posed ones that took place after.

"Two brothers!" as Kolbe always says. Poor kid has entered the awkward, forced smile stage of life.

See what I mean!?! How do you explain it to a three year old? "No, the other smile...the normal, natural one..."

Pointing out the light up snowman ornament. Too bad the camera flash drowns out all the lights!

So proud of all his decorating!

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 49

1. Monday was the feast day of St. Nicholas. When I was a child, we had a tradition of putting our shoes outside our bedroom doors in hopes that St. Nick would leave us our favorite candy. And not a lump of coal, of course. The whole shoe thing was very European of us, but we did live in Germany when I was a little girl. So it was fitting at the time. And it's a tradition I still want to carry on with our family. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. But it's fun to celebrate the actual feast day of St. Nicholas too. So I set out with lofty goals in my mind of having the boys set their shoes out beside their door and explaining the tradition along with more about who Saint Nicholas was, coloring pictures, etc.

That was until I decided to pick up the stomach bug and couldn't peel myself away from the toilet, the couch, or a bed for the entire night and day. So none of what I planned happened. Instead, the boys were really, really good for me, pulled out every toy and book in the entire house, tried not to get in any squabbles and were very understanding of the fact that Mama was sick. I spent the whole day thanking God that I don't get morning sickness. There's nothing worse than throwing up! I just can't take it! When Mark gets sick, he does his business and feels better right after. Not me. I feel better for like three minutes and then it starts building up again. Ugh. Glad it's just a twenty-four hour bug!

2. It's official. I absolutely hate doing laundry in the winter. It's so demoralizing! In the summer time, when clothes were half the size of what they are in the winter, I was able to get all of our laundry done in one day. Mine, Mark's, Kolbe's, and Rudy's. Now, no matter how hard I try, it always over-flows into a second day. Or third. 'Cause see, on day one, I'm energetic and bound and determined to get it all done. When the morning of day two rolls around, I'm offended that it didn't happen and usually turn a blind eye to the piles and piles on our couch. By the afternoon I decided I better go ahead and finish it off but by then I've underestimated how much was left and realize that finishing on day two isn't going to happen either. By day three I'm just annoyed that when I peer into the closet, the hamper is already nearly full again. It never ends! Really, I don't think I would hate it as much if there was somewhere to process and store it all. I end up folding it on our couch, the same way my mother always did, and building stacks along the top edge of the couch. I suppose I could put each stack away after folding each load, but can you imagine how much time that would add to the whole process!?! In an ideal world, laundry rooms would all come with processing centers where the folding and stacking could go down without being in the way. And washing machines would be big enough to hold a whole week's worth of a family's dirty clothes. I'm just saying.

3. Mark's office Christmas party was last night at a steakhouse here in Lubbock called Las Brisas. We're not used to having a date night in the middle of the week. (ok, really, we're not used to having a date night ever...) But I wasn't going to pass on a chance to get a steak from there. A free steak. Have I ever mentioned that steak is my favorite meal? Really, there's nothing better in my books than a well-cooked steak, caesar salad, a baked potato, rolls, and a good margarita. I know. I sound like a man. Other than the margarita part. This restaurant was a little more up-scale so the rolls and baked potato were replaced with steamed asparagus, some type of cheese and garlic mashed potato dish and a lobster tail. But man, the steak was fabulous. I resisted the urge to ask for ketchup, my usual topping of choice for steak. Yes, steak. And I passed on the margarita in exchange for a virgin strawberry daiquiri. Really classy, I know. But it was fun to get out in middle of the week with Mark. Sometimes with his high-stress job it seems like it's hard for us to connect during the week. This was a nice little chance to do that. Not to mention that I got to meet lots of his co-workers. The boys stayed with Mark's mom and had a blast as usual. Now if I could just figure out a way to sneak a visit to that restaurant into our budget before it's free again next Christmas....

Guess What, Brother!?!

Guess what, Brother!?! I have the best news ever! We're going to have a new little brother or sister! You get to be a big brother just like me!

See, here's our new baby! He or she is eight weeks old and is due to join the world on July 15th. (we'll be ready by early June though since both boys were 36 weekers!)

What do you think, everybody!?! Please pray for Rudy and my little brother or sister, for our mama, and for our little family!

Check out our other blog to see a little Christmas gift we put together to include our third little one!

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 48

1. Usually I have my Thursday post up first thing Thursday morning. But usually I don't have the kind of week I've had. Or the kind of morning I've had. Ugh! It's been a mess. Let's just begin by saying that Mark has been on call for the whole week. And most days, we've seen him for no more than 30 minutes. So in other words, when he's on call, I'm on call. 'Round the clock. Mark has been on call a few other weeks so far in his brief career, but those times have seemed to run more smoothly. This time, it's been a case of if-it-can-go-wrong-it-will-go-wrong. Simple things like letting Kolbe help me run the vacuum cleaner turn in to events that end with the whole house smelling like electrical fire and a trip to the vacuum cleaner replacement parts store. Vacuums and Christmas tree skirts don't mix well. And right now I'm typing away on our laptop while sitting on a couch that, despite the hours worth of scrubbing, still smells like vomit. Why? Because kind little motherly me decided to give her sweet little Rudy a bite of her English muffin. And he just happened to decided to swallow it at the very same moment he decided to start a coughing fit. Gobs of previously eaten yogurt, banana, and milk later, the electrical fire scent has been replaced by something far more intestinal. Really. I'm half tempted to get the car seats out of the car (you know, since they have the safer five point harness instead of just the lap belt that their kitchen booster seats have), install them on our kitchen chairs, strap the kids in and sit and stare at each other until the week is over. Surely that will keep anything else catastrophic from happening, right? This should be grounds for getting take out or going out to eat for the rest of the week since obviously turning on my stove would be a major risk.

2. Another event from our fabulous week deserved a paragraph all of it's own. And a picture.

Who ever said that mascara couldn't be fashionable when used to write in Chinese all over one's face!?! Certainly not Rudy. Yes, my lovely child decided to do this just minutes before loading the car up to leave for mass. I was frantically trying to finish putting my make-up on when I went to throw a cotton ball in the bathroom trash can. Finding it full, I rushed it to the kitchen trash can to empty it. Of course, this caused the kitchen trash can to fill up so I'd tied off that bag, threw it in the big can in the backyard, put a new bag in and.....
Returned to the bathroom to find this little face. Kolbe cheering all the while. Some thanks I get for not putting things off. But thank God I had a full bottle of eye make-up remover on stand-by. The worst part was the large clump that was up in hair. You can't really see it in this picture. Even with all the scrubbing the front chunk of his 'do was definitely darker than normal.

3. On a positive note, it's so exciting to see the boys, Kolbe especially, get in to Christmas this year. This past Sunday began the first week of advent. Back on the day before Thanksgiving when I got all the other Christmas decorations set up, I got out our advent wreath and set it up too. At mass on Sunday I showed Kolbe the church's advent wreath and he was so excited to make the connection to the one we have at home. Even though, with Mark away at work, we've been having pathetic meals like grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, I've still been lighting the advent wreath each night and singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" to the boys before eating. Literally within just a few nights they're both already singing along--Rudy mainly humming and Kolbe usually one or two words behind me. Despite all the fascination with Santa Claus, snowmen, and such, it makes me so happy to see that Kolbe really understands this year that the reason we are celebrating Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ. I asked him at dinner last night:
"Kolbe, what is Christmas?"
He replied, "Jesus' birthday!"
"That's right!" I said.
"Mama, Christmas is Jesus' birthday but then we still get presents too."
"Well, yes, we do exchange gifts with each other to celebrate Jesus' birthday, but we need to give gifts to Jesus too. Like being a good boy for Mama. I think Jesus would like that very much."
(after some hesitation) "No, I think he would like to ride my new scooter instead."

At least we're somewhat on the right track! I'm bound and determined to have one of my Christmas crafty works-in-progress finished today. Hopefully I'll have some pictures up tomorrow!

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 47

1. First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all!!! I'm sitting here on the couch in the early morning hours watching Kolbe and Rudy peruse the pile of Christmas books that just yesterday made the journey from our storage shed to the coffee table. And watching their fascination with the Christmas tree lights in the dark family room too! And enjoying the smell of Baked Pumpkin French Toast pouring out of the kitchen. (Can't wait to dig in!...I'll let you know if it's good!) These are the moments I look forward to each holiday season. They're so special, so magical...little moments that i hope are creating memories in the boys' minds that will last until they have their own families some day.

2. We will be heading over to Mark's mom's house for Thanksgiving today and I'm really looking forward to spending time eating good food and just relaxing. (possibly even sneaking in a cat nap??? With these never-ending colds that the boys and I have had, the waking up at night time has been killing me!) Mark's mom is the queen of side items. It's something I look forward to at each big holiday meal we enjoy over there. Beyond the turkey and ham, I'm sure there will be no fewer than about ten additional items--salad, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, chili (a spicy meat and green chili based topping they like to put on their food), fruit salad, rolls, tortillas...not to mention the desserts! I think when we went by last night there were four different varieties of pie on standby for today. I love getting my plate and getting just a little bit of everything! So yummy! Really, to be honest, the Martha Stewart in me looks forward to hosting our own Thanksgiving meal some day. I know that right now we are in the season of our lives where the grandparents are just desperate to get to spend these special holidays with their grandbabies and I must admit that just showing up and eating is nice. But one of these years it will be our turn to host them. And I'll have the pressure on to create the perfect meal. All the yummy sides included! The boys and I spent yesterday morning making pumpkin pies and then in the afternoon, Miss Lora volunteered to watch the boys for a few hours so that I could put all our Christmas decorations up. While decorating, I threw together some fresh banana bread and the beginnings of this morning's breakfast. Not exactly the full Thanksgiving kitchen explosion but enough to put me in the holiday mood. And getting all the Christmas decorations set up by myself (other than the ornaments, of course...we'll all do those together) was awesome! The boys came home from G-ma's last night to their own little winter wonderland. And again, their faces were priceless!

3. Well last week I wrote about my lethargy surrounding getting my Christmas act together. I suppose saying that I got all of the Christmas decorations up would suffice to say that I've somewhat remedied my problems. And thanks to Amazon, I did get a little bit of shopping done. My Shutterfly order is still entirely in the works though. I did get one little project done. Ok, "little" should only be used to describe the size of this project's pieces. In my mind, I imagined this to be a quick, easy, little Christmas project. And in reality, it took for.ev.er. Really, about half way through I almost threw in the towel or set it aside till next year. But I managed to press on and get them done.

Christmas countdown chains. Two of them- each twenty-four links long to count down the days until Christmas arrives. (One for our family and one for my cousin Mandi's) Growing up, I remember making these with construction paper and a stapler, but I recently had an idea that it would be so cute and easy to have one made out of adorable Christmas fabrics. Cute--yes. Easy--no. Between cutting the fabric, applying interfacing, sewing around multiple times, adding a metal snap to each link...it took way longer than I thought it would. Good thing this guy will probably last forever, because I'm not making one ever again! And instead of getting to staple the paper together every year, the boys will get to snap the pretty links together to make our long chain. Perched beside our advent calendar, I hope it will be a nice little addition to our Christmas collection. On to the next project!

Kolbe Boy is THREE!!!

I'm only about two weeks late on getting this post up, but really, it's been on the to-do list and just hasn't managed to make it to top priority till now. Two weeks ago, on November 9th, we celebrated the day that our first little boy came in to the world. To think of how much has happened since that day! And even to look back to just a year ago and see how much he's changed from two to three. The biggest change being his massive language explosion. He went from saying only a few words at two to unlimited, endless (and I mean endless) chatting. He's still full of spunk, totally boy, and the best big brother that Rudy could ever ask for. The day he came into our lives is the day that Mark and I truly grew up. And we continue to grow and grow as we watch him do the same. Happy Birthday, Little Boy!

We decided to put an end to the big birthday party every year- for every kid- for every birthday and just had a little low key get together with immediate family. As expected, Kolbe loved it and was thrilled with all the excitement. We ate chili, enjoyed cake and ice cream, and got to open presents! Here are the pictures:

Kolbe and Rudy are in love with their baby cousins! Rudy is still learning what to do with babies but Kolbe is just fabulous! He's gentle, sweet, and knows just what to do when. Like I said...the best big brother ever.

Kolbe's only request for his party was a "blue birthday." I suppose he's heard other kids talk about the various themes of their parties and he just decided he wanted "blue." So we decorated his cake with blue M&Ms, had blue balloons, wore blue shirts, etc. He loved it.

Every good big brother should teach his little brother how to sneak a swipe of icing!

One of Kolbe's only gift requests this year was a "Fight Raiders Fight like Pinkies." My mom has had this little stuffed fella at her house for several years. It plays the Tech fight song and it's literally the first thing Kolbe looks for every time we go down there. She searched high and low (as did my brother Dave here in Lubbock) for one for Kolbe but couldn't find one. The company that made them went bankrupt! So Raider Red made the move from Pinkie's to Kolbe's and let's just say that he's been more than thrilled.

Adorable, right!?! Pa bought this awesome pilot jacket for Kolbe at a Nashville airport, of all places! Kolbe is so proud of it. And although the weather hasn't exactly been cold enough to wear it more than once or twice, I think a big cold front is just around the corner! We can't wait to pass it down to all the other Hefferly boys in the future so they can be just like Pa!

Pinkie also gifted Kolbe with a singing and dancing Frosty the Snowman, one of his other winter time obsessions. (Yes, Pinkie is attempting to drive me insane.) Here they are dueling together.

G-ma gave Kolbe a cool new scooter after seeing him thoroughly enjoy Cousin Adan's a few months back. And needless to say, Rudy was not very happy about not having one of his own. And Kolbe wasn't too happy about having to share! Luckily, after witnessing the squabble, G-ma snatched up another for Rudy at super sale.

We had Kolbe's party on the Sunday before his actual birthday. But on the actual day, Uncle Dave came over and ate dinner with us and brought Kolbe an awesome black forest mini-cake so he could blow out candles again! Happy Birthday, Kolb!

Three Thought Thursday: Episode 46

1. Christmas is something like thirty-seven days away. Seriously. Usually by this time, I have my whole shopping list made up, some... or better yet, most of my Christmas presents purchased and a whole game-plan made up for all the little this-and-thats I want to do for the season. Not this year. In fact, I haven't even started on the annual Christmas calendars for the grandparents. Usually they're already ordered by now so I can get the good discount deals! And it's not that I've been too busy to do it. There's been time available. I just haven't really been thinking about it. Or I'll think about it a bit, get a little piece of it pulled together and and then totally get side tracked with something else. And then I walk into a store a see all the Christmas decorations and get that panicky feeling inside. And I know, I know. It's not all about the presents. Really, it's not. As a matter of fact, our family seriously doesn't need anything year. We've been hugely blessed so much already. But I really love the gift giving side of Christmas. While we don't exactly have the money to be giving extravagantly, it's still fun to put thought and effort creating the perfect little something for each little person. (even though on my side of the family, we do draw names. Can you imagine having to buy gifts for the whole clan!?!) So that's my goal for this week: get on the ball with my Christmas game plan. I don't want my favorite time of the year to pass me by! (notice I said "time of the year" and not "season." Brr! Bring back the warmth!)

2. Do you ever have something that's driving you crazy but you can't quite put your finger on it and then all of a sudden it hits you and moves your crazy to absolute nuts? Ok, I probably sound a little off my rocker here, but let me explain. We don't have a tiny house, but we don't have a huge house either. I'd say the house itself is just the right size for our family. But it's always messy. Even when it's clean. Something about it just feels messy. And cluttered. And overwhelming. Part of this problem has been clear as glass to me for a while: our family room furniture. It's big. Like the huge, overstuffed comfy cushy stuff that would be great in a movie room or basement. It's way too big for the room. But I've accepted it and realized that I should just be thankful that I have furniture. It's not like twenty years from now we'll still have these same couches sitting in our family room. (At least I hope not!) But there was still something else nagging me. Something messy. And then a week or so ago Mark made a comment about how it drove him nuts how the large collage of framed pictures on the big red wall in the kitchen never seemed level. And he was right! Even though this wall isn't technically in the family room, it might as well be as it's visible from pretty much any point in the room. When we bought the house it was painted an obnoxious UT burnt orange which had to go immediately. So we went with yellow but that didn't work either. So a few years ago we switched to red. And while I still love red in the kitchen, I realized it's not the paint that just doesn't seem to fit, or the collage of pictures, or even the hideous intercom system motherboard that doesn't even work (seriously, why would anyone need an intercom in a house our size!?!). It's the way too large, way over the top bold textured plaster treatment on the wall. You know, the style that was popular about 10 years ago or so where someone comes in with a huge bucket of plaster and rubs huge random streaks all over the wall in every which way. So that when you hang a picture on it, it can never stay balanced. It's hideous. And it's exactly what's making the social area of our house look messy! Like scribble all over the walls! And there's nothing I can do about it! Literally, to get rid of it I'd have to have someone come in and sand down the entire kitchen and then refinish the walls. It doesn't matter what shade of the rainbow I paint them.  Can't hide ugly. But I did take the collage of pictures down, deciding that, while subconsciously they might have been an attempt to cover up the wall, they were really just emphasizing the messiness of it. In their place I added a few little shelves I had on hand, a mirror to reflect light from the other side of the room, the clock that's always been there, and a couple other little ditties on the shelves to have something there. The one consolation is that the mirror (which previously lived in the guest room/ office/ sewing room) rests on a shelf and completely covers the super 70s intercom.

And that's my rant for the week.

Note to self: Get over it. You have a kitchen. With an eating area. With electricity. Which is far more than many, many people have in this world. Stop sounding like such a brat.

3. Our house has been bombarded by the annual winter cold for the last week or two. The coughing, sniffling, sneezing cold. Started with Rudy, add Kolbe, and finally Mark. Mama Bear is still unscathed, though last night my throat did feel kind of raw. We'll see how today goes. I wish kiddos came in to this world with the natural ability to blow their noses the way they know how to suck. Though I have been lucky in one case. My poor little Kolbe was not born with the ability to suck. But he always has been able to blow his nose. Seriously! I'd say from about nine or ten months on. What a cool trade off! Once he knew the meaning of the phrase "blow your nose," he's been able to do it. I suppose the fact that his mouth and his nose were once completely open to each other internally kind of helped. Rudy is on the more normal side of things. You ask him to blow his nose and he naturally blows out of his mouth. And then when I suction it with the bulb syringe, he gags like crazy. Like to the point where he barfs on my face. For real. I made the mistake of standing him up on the changing table instead of laying him down, thinking gravity would play in to drawing the snot down. But it just made him gag more and as he leaned forward to grab on to me, he up and barfed his juice on my forehead. (Inner self says, Repeat after me: I love being a mom. I love being a mom. I love being a mom!) Lord willing these colds will clear up soon. It doesn't exactly help that children their age can't take cold medicine. All I can really slip them is some Tylenol or Motrin here and there to alleviate some of the pain they must be feeling in their throats. Or as Kolbe says, "The back of my mouf hurts." I guess I shouldn't complain. I don't remember Kolbe's cold being too bad last year, and Rudy, other than a couple days of pink eye when he was three months old and one little bout with the 24-hour bug last February, has never even been sick before. And he's almost two!