BAM-MOM!

Okay, I know I shouldn't make fun of the way my (almost) 3-year-old talks, but it's so stinkin' cute the way he pronounces certain words I just can't resist! For instance, Grandmom is "Bam-mom," huge is "HOOOJ," Aunt Leah is "Aunt Wee-yuh"...you get the picture. Also, his little spin on what he calls certain things is adorable. Paige is not just Paige. No, sir. She's "Paige-y." And our enormous dog (he's half Alaskan Malamute, half German Shepard...and thinks he's a poodle!) is named Gregory (after the last street we lived in before leaving Florida), but Carl IV insists on calling him "Big Horse," because he heard my mother-in-law refer to him as such. Freakin' cracks me up! Imagine a 3-year-old yelling across the house, "Here, Big Horse! Where Big Horse is?" The kid's a nut.
Alright, enough of that. Onto what the whole family has been up to.
I have decided to make more of an effort to get everybody together to go to mass again. I admit, we have been severely slacking in this area lately. It's just such a pain to get the kids to be quiet for an entire hour. I called our church and they do not have a cry-room or a nursery! What the hell?! So, we're going to have to be "those people" with "those kids" during mass, because that's the only way that the little boogers are going to learn what's expected of them during mass. So, to all parishoners of MDP, I apologize in advance for the chatty kiddos in the front...that's us. But, seeing as we have no alternative, please keep your dirty looks to yourself, I'm doing the best I can.
We have also been making more of an effort to eat dinner together as a family at our dinner table. We had a habit of feeding the kids early in the kitchen and Carl III and I would just eat on the couch a little later. I remember growing up we always ate dinner together, and it's a really important thing to instill in your kids. That is "family" time, and it needs to be something that we stick to. So, wish us luck, but so far so good!
Carl IV's 3rd birthday is rapidly aproaching and he found out that they're going to have a party for him at his school...big mistake. He won't shut up about it. Out of the blue he'll turn to me and say, "Mommy, guess what! My birfday come up soooooon! I have party and presents and ice cream!" It's cute the first, say, 12 times...the following bajillion...not so much.

Valentine's Day (a few days late)

Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year, and Carl IV's nursery school was supposed to have their party last Thursday. The kid was so excited at the mere thought of a party with candy that he was SERIOUSLY let-down when school was cancelled on Thursday because of the blizzard. Fortunately they had the party yesterday, and let me tell you...Carl IV gave out the coolest Valentines by-far! I got 8 Transformer's mini-boxes of chocolates at Target for 99¢ each. Normally I would've just bought a box of the little cards and taped lollipops to them, but I figured I would take advantage of him being in such a small class and get the good ones this time. Hmph. Apparently I was the only parent who felt that way. Ah, well...he was really excited and they got to paint the bags to hold all their goodies, they made cards for mom & dad (really cute!) and glued stuff all over hearts that the teachers cut out of construction paper.
Paige and Carl IV both got haircuts on Sunday, and let me tell you...they've never looked cuter! I was really impressed by Paige holding it together for her 1st haircut experience. She was so captivated by the huge mirrors (my daughter is SO narcissistic)!
We're prepping for Carl IV's 3rd birthday which is in about 3 weeks. I can't think about it for too long or I start to get teary. My little man is turning into...well...a little man! 3 is officially a little boy. Not a toddler. Not a baby. He is a little boy now. Hard to believe this time 3 years ago I was begging my O.B. to induce me because I was convinced I was going to have a humongous kid. "But you're measuring perfectly normal, Dominique. He's not going to be that big." Ha! Goes to show you how accurate their measurements are. The monster was 10lbs 3oz! Still weird to think of myself as a mom, but the mom of a 3 year old...whoa.
Carl III is still unemployed. He's still waiting to hear from the water company up here, and heard through the grape vine that his step-dad's brother (who is pretty high up at the company) was putting in a good word, so we shall see.
I, on the other hand, just had my 1 year review at work, and got a raise! Whoo-hoo!!!
Today is Ash Wednesday (1st day of Lent), so I would like to say farewell to meat on Fridays. It's been nice having you around, and know that you will be missed. See you in a little over a month.

Snow...AGAIN!

Friday night 2/5/2010 into Saturday 2/6/2010 the Philadelphia area got upwards of 2 feet of snow. Okay, I can handle that. After all, I am aware of the fact that it is February in Pennsylvania. But, another 2 feet less than a week later?! COME ON!! That's a bit much.

We've had 2 blizzard condition storms in 4 days. Whew! That's a lot of flippin' snow!

These snow days have, however, given me a lot of time to browse the web looking for money-saving tips/blogs because I am absolutely disgusted by how much money groceries cost. I found a really good one and figured I'd share. It's called 'Cha-Ching on a Shoestring.' I'm adding their button to my blog because a lot of the coupons are good nationwide and not just in our local stores in the Northeast.

Ugh.

I know it's been a long time since I posted anything but there has been a stomach bug that's having its' way with my family for the past week.
It all started on Sunday night around 8:30pm when Carl IV woke up crying and whining. I was exhausted and had just lied down for the night so I sent Carl III in to check on him. 2 seconds later I hear, "Oh, man! Dee, I'm gonna need your help in here!" So, I step into Carl IV's room to see my poor little man lying in his vomit-covered bed just crying his eyes out. And, of course, he wants me to pick him up even though he's covered in the smelliest puke ever. And, because I'm not a terrible mom, I pick him up and have to breathe through my mouth the whole way to the bathroom and while giving him a bath because now I smell like it! Ewwww! So, once he's cleaned up, I get a cup of water and take him to the couch with me to calm him down and give Carl III some time to clean up his bed. The whole time we're sitting there the poor little guy is saying pitiful things like, "Mommy, my belly hurts!" and, "Why I fow up? I not wike it." What a helpless feeling! So, we proceded to explain to him that everybody gets sick sometimes, and it'll get better soon. I don't think he bought it since shortly after as I was carrying him back to his bed he threw up all over himself and me. EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww! So, another bath and change of clothes later, I get him into bed, and he eventually passes out. Around 10:30 he wakes up again and I go into his room thinking he's been sick again. Thankfully he hadn't been, he was just still freaked out from the earlier episodes. So, Carl III comes to the rescue again and sleeps in Carl IV's room on the floor so he would calm down and get some sleep.
Tuesday was okay for the most part, although Carl III was starting to feel a little if-y towards the end of the day. Wednesday Carl III was sick with the stomach crud, and Wednesday night I was up from 9pm to 4:30am with my head hanging in the toilet. Yuck. Not fun. Thursday morning while I was practically comatose on the sofa, Carl III went to get Paige out of her crib and found that she had been sick all over the place, too. :( Poor little lamb. So, I gave her a bath (all the while gagging at the smell) and she and I sat on the couch all day drinking Gatorade and eating crackers. Not fun at all.
So, now that we've all had it, I'm hoping that we've met our "sick quota" for the year. I don't know if we could survive another round!