Playing with the camera. Thought I would show pictures of the little goobers!









Here's Dylan with his camera

Its a bit out of focus, and grainy because I was messing with the settings, but I love the look on Ethan's face

Happy New Year everyone!

It feels like a big step for me. I am officially getting rid of the baby stuff. I posted ads on Craigslist. Today someone came and picked up the swing. No more babies for us. I hope that in the next week or so, I can get rid of all of it. I'm ready to move on to the toddler and school age part of mommy-hood. I don't have it in me to have any more kids. We are a family of four and it works...for me.
Its almost January. And on January 16th, my brother leaves. He will be headed to Afghanistan for a year. He is supposed to be able to come home for 2 weeks in the middle of his deployment, but that could change. I don't know what I should say or do, I don't know if there are things that I shouldn't say or do. I don't want to make things harder for him, but at the same time, I don't want him to think I don't care. Mom will be a wreck. She will constantly be worrying about him. How could she not. Its what mothers do. I will do what I can to be here for her. I can't imagine what could be going through his head as he prepares to leave for such a scary place. He will never tell anyone if he is scared. He isn't like that. I am scared for him. How could I not be? All I can do is offer any support to him, give him a hug and an "I love you" as he leaves. Then, pray. For his safety, and for the safety of the ones he is with. I don't want him to know how worried I am or how helpless I feel. I guess part of me feels like I should be doing more. I just don't know what else there is to do. If I were in his shoes, I would be scared, but I wouldn't let anyone know. Maybe that's what he is doing. He isn't sure of the types of communication he will have access to. I hope something is available to him, and I hope it is easy for him to do. Being able to talk to people from home would help me. Maybe that's not true for everyone. I don't know. Like I said, I kind of feel like there is something I could do. But there probably isn't. Is there?

I cannot believe that this year is almost over. I don't know why it has flown by so fast. Ethan is soon to be a year old. Soon he will be walking. Which, honestly, I am not ready for him to do. He is into enough stuff as it is. Both boys have changed so much this year. Dylan is now 4, somehow. I can't imagine how this next year will play out. This time last year I was very pregnant, and anxiously waiting to meet Ethan. Although, at that time, we hadn't picked out a name. We didn't decide on the name until he was born. We had 2 names in mind, and Ethan won. In less than a month we will be celebrating his first birthday. Part of me is happy to get away from the baby days, but the other part of me isn't. I do miss holding a tiny infant. I don't miss the sleeplessness though. As Ethan gets older though, the 2 can start to play together. Once Ethan starts walking and talking, a whole new chapter will open with us all.
So this next year will be interesting. For Ryan, spring work will start, then wheat. In August we are taking a family vacation, that I cannot wait for! Once we get back from vacation, Dylan will start preschool. He is growing so fast. Then the fall work will start up for Ryan. After that, we will be back to where we are now. I wonder if next year will go by as fast as this one did...

Ok, here are a few pictures from Christmas. Of course there are more, but other people are in them, so I didn't want to post those.

Here's Dylan with his Chia Pet from Santa

Well we had one busy weekend.
Friday started out on a bad note. I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and things snowballed that morning. I just had so much stuff to do, things got to me more than they should have. Anyway, it evened out later in the day. No big deal. Most of it was me. But I finally got through my "to do list" for the day.
Saturday was nice. We woke up, I fed Ethan, and we got ready to get Dylan up. I thought he would be excited to see the gifts under the tree, but it was more of a "whatever" reaction. So we ate breakfast, then did gifts. I made cinnamon rolls from scratch for all of us to enjoy that morning. We let Dylan open his gifts first, and kept Ethan separate. Dylan got a truck/livestock trailer combo, a kids digital camera, animals for the truck, and a bath toy from us. Then Santa brought him exactly what he wanted...a Chia pet. A Spongebob Chia pet. He was extremely excited to get it. Then we tried to have Ethan open his gift. He wasn't interested. We only got him one toy, and then a bath toy like Dylans, because we really didn't know what else to get. Between the 2 of them there is enough for Ethan to play with. Anyway, he wasn't all that interested. That held true for the rest of the weekend too. After the boys were done, Ryan and I opened ours. After gifts, Ethan went down for a nap, and Dylan was able to play with all of his toys. He loved the camera, once Daddy showed him how to use it. Once Ethan woke from his nap, we all left to go to Ryan's parents. We had a nice lunch and received nice gifts. It was nice to sit and talk with everyone too. Again, Ethan didn't care about the gifts. Dylan loved the Thomas the Train toys he got. That evening we were all pretty tired. Ryan helped me get a few things done before Sunday.
Sunday morning I got up early to stick the ham in the oven, then laid down on the couch in hopes of getting a couple more hours of sleep. Once the boys woke up, I started working on the rest of the meal for lunch that day. Mom came over to help, thankfully. We got everything ready in time, and everything turned out great. The food was great and much more than we needed. That day, mom's side of the family was coming here. It had been so windy, and was snowing off and on, and mom said the roads were a mess from the drifting snow. I was so surprised when everyone showed up that day! I was so happy that they all made it. The kids played so good together. They tore through their gifts in no time, and then went back to playing hide and seek. After everyone left, mom and Kyle (my brother) stuck around so we could exchange gifts. Ryan and I were so tired that evening.
Like I said it was a busy weekend, but it was great. I really enjoyed it. Its not often you get to see so much family all in one weekend. Got up and took Dylan to school. He was excited. I think I am having another episode of vertigo. Sunday morning I had one dizzy spell while I was sleeping. Then again this morning dizziness woke me up. Since then, it comes and goes. If I turn my head to fast, or lean over, or even tilt my head, I get dizzy and feel like I am on a boat. Who knows how long it will last. If it doesn't get worse, then it will be manageable.
As you can see there are no pictures. I took over 300 this weekend. It will take time to get through all of them. So hopefully sometime this week I will get some Christmas pictures up.
It is so hard to believe that this year is almost over. Its also hard to belive that Dylan is 4 and Ethan is soon to be 1. My babies are no babies anymore. Ethan had a molar pop through last week and is now working on one on the opposite side. Both on the top. He is doing well with them so far.

I was playing around with my camera today. I don't get to practice as much as I'd like to. So while Ethan was napping, I decided to practice with some of the ornaments on the tree. I just did a basic edit on most of them. Played with some of the colors too!

This last picture is my favorite for some reason! I like the edit I did on it, but couldn't repeat it on the others for some reason!

Lots of stuff to get done around here. I will post on Monday telling how our weekend went, and hopefully have some pictures of the boys from Christmas too! Until then...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had a decent weekend. Friday night we went to a birthday party for Ryan's nephew. As soon as we got to the city, Ethan started crying in the car. He didn't stop until we got him out. I'm assuming he was bored. He got up from his nap, I fed him and we left. So I imagine he just had a lot of energy and didn't want to sit there any more. He just isn't all that great at riding in car. He has always been that way. Saturday we stayed home for most of the day. We had to go to the Christmas dinner at the firehouse that evening. Ryan and Dylan left before Ethan and I. The dinner went well. The boys did good. Both nights we got home after their bedtime, and we were all exhausted. Sunday Ryan had to work, so the boys and I went to moms for a little while.
I have a lot of things to get done this week. I didn't get anything done but getting groceries today. Ethan was having one of his days. He only slept 1 hour the whole day. So he was tired and clingy. I hope to have a better day tomorrow, so I can get started. I want to get things around here straightened a bit, and move some toys around, before I start baking and prep cooking later in the week. I've got a couple of things I want to make for Christmas dinner at Ryan's parents and then I want to get a few things done ahead of time before the big meal I cook on Sunday. Supposedly on Friday we are getting a decent amount of snow. Right now they are calling for 3 to 5 inches of snow. I am hoping they are wrong and we don't get near that much. I want the weekend to go as planned. I am looking forward to it all so much. I have been looking forward to the Christmas dinners.

We haven't done much this week. I didn't take Dylan down to school on Monday because we got a few inches of snow. The schools were all closed and the roads were horrible. Just not worth making the drive down there. Last night I took the boys up to the firehouse so they could see Santa. I thought Ethan would cry, but he didnt! Dylan asked Santa for a Chia pet. Anyway, getting out the door was a nightmare. I laid Dylan's clothes out and told him to get dressed. He was fine until it came to putting on his socks. Something didn't go right, and he had a meltdown. Tears and all. So I helped him with that and went back to getting Ethan ready. Handed Dylan his shoes and told him to put them on. One shoe went on fine, but the other one didn't I guess, and he cried again! Meanwhile, Ethan is fighting me with all he has while I am trying to bundle him up. So I get Dylan's shoes on, get Ethan dressed. Told Dylan to get his jacket and put it on, while I try putting Ethan's on. Ethan hates it when I put his jacket on. He always throws a fit. I just expect it. Well this time Dylan had a fit, because he couldnt get his arm in his jacket for some reason. At this point, I almost said forget it we aren't going. But I knew that Ryan wanted us to go up there, so I took a few deep breaths and finished dressing them and we were out the door. Once we were there everything was fine. We stayed up there with Ryan for a bit and then came home and I finally got everyone to bed.
Friday we have a birthday party to go to, and Saturday the Christmas dinner at the firehouse. Sunday Ryan works. Here are a few pictures from the Santa visit!

Updated the look for winter!

It feels like it has been a long week for some reason. We haven't done much, but still. Dylan got in trouble at school on Monday. Occasionally he does act out. I'm sure he isn't the only one from time to time. I talked to him about it. The weather has been so cold this week. Luckily we are staying warm here in the house! Today the boys and I went to town to get a few things. I needed to get some stuff for Ryan, and get a few things from Walmart. Before we left I took a strap that is supposed to go to Dylan's booster seat in the kitchen. I figured that since Walmart doesn't offer a cart with room for 2 kids, I needed to do something. Dylan would need to be in the cart, because going into walmart is never quick, and I didn't want to set myself up for a fight trying to keep him close while getting through the crowded store quickly. So anyway, I took that strap and set him in the basket of the cart, and used that strap to keep him sat down. With the strap around his waist, there was no way for him to stand up! So he was in the basket and Ethan was in the seat. It worked well. If I had to get a bunch of stuff, it probably wouldn't have worked so well, but since I wasn't getting a lot, it worked fine. I'm so proud of myself.
No huge plans for the weekend. Grandparents are coming to see the boys. And I think on Sunday we are supposed to get a bunch of snow. Although I guess they aren't sure whats going to happen yet. We'll see!

It was a nice weekend. Ryan was home early on Friday, so Dylan and I ran to town and got a few things at Walmart then picked up dinner. The store was packed, so I didn't get half of what I wanted to get. We had to park way out in the middle of nowhere, and Dylan kept getting distracted by anything and everything, that it seemed to take us forever to actually get inside the store. There were just way too many people there.
The rest of the weekend we just sat at home. Ryan had a meeting at the fire department Saturday morning. While Ethan was taking his first nap that day, Dylan and I were on the computer looking at anything and everything that had to do with Santa. For some reason Dylan had Santa on the brain. I asked Dylan if he knew where Santa lived and he said "Yeah, at the firehouse." The local fire department always has Santa one night in December for all of the kids to come and see. So that is the only place (other than tv and books) that Dylan has seen Santa. It was just so funny. I asked him what he was going to ask Santa for and he said "A new bear and a big rock." He is so funny!
Saturday night we did get our Christmas tree up. I bugged Ryan all day, and he finally brought it up that evening and put it up for me. I think I have the branches where I want them, so I went ahead and put all of the decorations on it. I think I am happy with it. We also have baby gates surrounding it so that Ethan doesn't pull on it. Honestly though, Dylan is just as bad. He knows he isn't supposed to, but that doesn't mean that he wont touch it. He knows when I am distracted, and that's when he does things he isn't supposed to. Ryan worked today, so the boys and I just stayed here.
I dread getting up and dragging the boys out in the morning to take Dylan to school and get groceries. It is so cold right now and I can't imagine how cold it will feel in the morning. I shudder just thinking about it! Winter is here. Its not supposed to get out of the 20s all week I don't think. And stay in the teens at night. Yuck!
No plans this week. Staying warm!

I can't believe that it is December already. It feels like his year has flown by. I'm sure December will do the same. And around here December came in like a lion. I know that is only supposed to apply to March, but oh well. Its been snowing here all morning. Yesterday the high was in the mid 50s, and now we will be lucky to get to the mid 30s. If the ground were colder, than all of this snow would have stuck. But most of it is melting away. There is a light dusting in most places though. Its pretty. And I am so glad that I do not have to go out and drive in it. Ryan is out working, hauling beans with the semi, and he said he has seen so many accidents around the county. People get stupid around here when it snows a bit. The whole week is supposed to be cold. I think winter has decided to stick around. I don't care so much for the winter. I'm a warm weather person. Not a hot weather person, but warm weather. Now that December is here, I swear a switch flipped inside of me. I want my tree up now! If it weren't in a box in the basement, I would be setting it up right now. Its a bit heavy, and awkward for me to push or drag it up the steps from the basement. So our tree process will probably go like this...I will pester the crap out of Ryan for a few days before he finally gives in and drags the tree out of the basement. He will probably do this while I am cooking dinner. So he will leave the box in the dining room. It will sit there for 2 or 3 days before I pester him more to drag it in the living room and help me put it up. I need help with the top part. I'm not tall enough. And the bottom is too wide for me to get close enough with a chair to stick the top on. Then it will sit un-decorated for almost a week before I get tired of looking at it and moving the branches around. I will decorate it one day while the boys are napping, then obsess about the way it looks for a couple of days before I finally leave it alone. That's how it goes every year.
Boys are good. Ethan is extra cranky this week. Its getting a bit tiring and frustrating. Dylan spent Saturday night with Ryan's mom and dad. They took him to the parade that I mentioned. He says he liked it. I don't think he has ever been to one, so I am sure he did enjoy it. They kept him until the next evening. I'm sure he really enjoyed the one on one attention. I don't think we have any plans for the weekend. Ryan works one day this weekend, but I'm not sure which day.

Thanksgiving was good. It was a bit loud with all of the kids, but that is to be expected. Ethan only napped for 30 minutes before we left for the day. I was really hoping he would sleep an hour, but no such luck. Anyway, Dylan ate so much food. I was so proud of him. And he really wanted some pie, so I made sure he got some. Ethan barely ate anything. Honestly, I kind of thought he would eat more than he did. I don't know what to do with that kid. I got him to take a nap after lunch, but it still wasn't a long nap. The poor baby was so tired! It was a nice day though. We went up to Ryan's parents house. I am so glad that it was close by. We were all pretty tired that evening.
I didn't go out and do any shopping on Black Friday. There just wasn't anything that I wanted that day I guess. Today I got up early and went out with a friend of mine. There was a door buster I wanted to buy, so we had to go early. I was so surprised at the lack of people that were out! I expected crowds everywhere and there just weren't any! We hit so many stores, but I got most of my shopping done. There are still a few people I need stuff for, but it won't take long once I get it all figured out. It was a good day. Ryan stayed home with the boys.
Tonight Ryan's mom and dad came and got Dylan. They planned on going to the local parade that was this evening but its so cold out, I don't know if they ended up going or not. They did take him to dinner and are keeping him all night. That is so good for Dylan to get some one on one attention. I was so thrilled that they wanted to do that with him.
Ethan is something else. Its always something with this kid. I think he is a drama king! He loves to pull up and stand, but he cant seem to get himself back down. So he tends to stand there and scream. Then once you set him back down, it makes him mad, and he cries. He makes me nervous when he is up on his feet. He is so wobbly, but he just keeps going. He holds onto things, and cruises around all of the furniture. I swear he just wants to walk and get it over with. He just isn't able yet. But he tries.
We don't have any plans for the week as usual. I am starting to get antsy and want to put the Christmas tree up. But part of me says "no, it will be a pain keeping Ethan away from it." We have a big baby gate that I plan to put around it, but I guess something is still keeping me from doing it.

Dylan must be going through some sort of growth spurt, or something? He has been incredibly whiny all week. He normally is not like that. He had a good day at school. No problems when I picked him up thankfully. Most days he tolerates Ethan well. He plays well with him, but you have to watch him, because he doesn't understand how rough he can be. He doesn't do things on purpose. In the evenings while I am making dinner I stick Ethan in his walker, and he usually ventures in to Dylan's room. Dylan doesn't seem to mind most of the time. It helps me get dinner on the table at least. Ethan will zoom back and forth between Dylan's room and the kitchen.
Christmas is a month away, and I don't have much figured out. I have an idea for Dylan. I keep hoping they will mark it down a bit though. I have NO idea what to get for Ethan. None. He plays with Dylan's stuff. There is a lot that he cant play with though. I keep hoping to come across some baby toy that looks appealing, but nothing so far. I have one thing for Ryan, but I still need something else in case he doesn't like what I have already. So I have NO Christmas shopping done at all.
Ethan is doing well. He pulls up on everything. It makes me so nervous though. He isn't very coordinated, so when he is standing in front of something I am holding my breath, hoping he doesn't fall and hurt himself. He is back to drooling again. More teeth must be on their way. His eating is hit and miss. As soon as I think he is getting better about it, he starts to refuse. I'm hoping with all of the food tomorrow that he will at least eat well then. Keep trying is all I can do!
Alright...got a crying baby. Happy Thanksgiving!

Ethan is finally becoming more open to food. He won't eat much, but he has been better about trying new foods. We can usually get him to eat some things off of our fork. Slowly the variety of foods he will eat is increasing. He's just not a big eater I guess. That is so different from what Dylan was. As a baby, he was a great eater. He still is too. But he would eat whatever we would give him and eat so much of it, we would have to cut him off! The difference in these 2 boys is amazing. Keeps me busy, that's for sure! Dylan is so laid back and easy going and Ethan is well, high maintenance I guess you could say. At least its not boring around here!
I got out our video camera yesterday, and there was still a tape in there. I do not video nearly as much as I should. Shame on me. It was all Dylan. So I sat down and watched the tape and it was so much fun. In just over 60 minutes I got to see Dylan grow up. It started when he was around 15 months old, and the last thing I had taped was Christmas when he was 3. It is so sad that I forget what his little voice sounded like, his limited vocabulary and how he used what he knew to tell you what he wanted. Anyway, I really enjoyed watching it. I need to record them more often. I need to get more tapes!
The other day I made breakfast for dinner. I made pancakes, and made them in small batches. Wait, when I say batches it makes it sound like I am making huge amounts. I'm not. I only get 2 or 3 in the pan at a time. So I did 3 batches. The last batch is what Dylan and I ate. The pan temp got away from me a little bit, so in the middle of the pancakes was a bit of burnt. They tasted fine, and it wasn't much so we ate them. But when Dylan saw the burnt on his pancake, we had a conversation. Here it is:
Dylan: I can't eat this pancake. It has dirt on it.
Me: Its fine, just eat it. Its not dirt.
Dylan: What is it then?
Me: Nothing, just eat.
Dylan: But what is it?
Me: Its flavor.
Dylan: Oh! Flavor? Whats flavor?
Me: It makes it taste good.
Dylan: Oh Ok!
He then looks through the rest of his pancake pieces and says "Wow, this one has flavor too! Oh, so does this one?"
He was excited because he got more than one piece with "flavor" on it! Gotta love that kid! It was so funny. I wish you all could've actually heard it.

I almost forgot! Ethan is finally drooling a lot less. Most of the day he can go without a bib now. Since the poor thing was 2 weeks old, he has had to wear a bib, because he drooled so much. I am so happy to be almost done with the bibs!
Be sure to scroll down and look at the pictures from my last post if you haven't seen them yet. I get annoyed when it comes time to upload, because it seems to take forever. So make sure you see my effort.

Not much to say so I am just posting a few pictures. I am using the laptop computer so I didn't get to lighten some of these pictures as much as I wanted to. They are a little dark, so I apologise. I should be so much better at using my camera than I am, but sometimes its a bit difficult. I hate the flash that is on the camera, so I try not to use it too much. I really want a better flash. So bear with my while I learn! It may take a while.

I'm not sure what Dylan was doing. He was just acting silly.

Dylan and his cat, Max. That boy can carry the dumb cat however he wants to and the cat does not care.

I feel so "off" today. I really have no idea why. I had just written this long post that only ended up being a play by play of my morning, so I deleted it. I can't seem to focus on much. Physically I feel fine. Mentally, I think Im losing it!
Like I said, I started out with a longer post, but this is it. Kind of pointless.

What's been going on. Well Ethan crawls now. Finally. I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing! He can finally do what he wants, but what he wants to do isn't always safe, or what I want him to do. He annoys Dylan now and I hear a lot of complaining from Dylan about being touched, or grabbed by Ethan or being to close to Ethan. He even gets after the dog, who seems a bit annoyed by this new talent. Almost immediately after learning to crawl, Ethan was beginning to pull up on everything. He loves to stand, tries all the time to stand. He is so far away from being able to walk, but not because of the lack of trying on his part. He also has another tooth coming in. So that has been fun. I'm so done with teething!
This week I also realized that Ethan has outgrown his infant seat in the car. Actually he has probably been too big for it for at least 2 or 3 months. At his 9 month appointment, he was 29.5 inches tall. He will be 10 months in a week. The limit for his seat is 29 inches. Bad mommy! Very very bad! So he will move into Dylan's car seat (rear facing of course) and I ordered Dylan a new seat that will hopefully be the last one we ever buy for him. Eventually it transitions into just a booster seat.
Dylan had a good day at school on Monday. He was happy to go, and left without any trouble. Not much is going on with him.
We don't have much planned for the weekend as usual. Ryan has to work on Sunday. Saturday I hope to go out for the day with a friend. Ryan is supposed to stay home with the boys, so I hope that all holds up. I don't remember the last time I was out with a friend. That sounds so pathetic!

A few weeks ago I got a nice new camera. Its a big ole fancy camera. It is capable of so much, and I love that I can learn with this camera. I do wish there was a photography class around here to help me learn, but oh well. I'm not really good at learning on my own, so this will be a slow process. I am reading one book now, and will move on to others eventually. I don't have as much time as I would like to devote to learning. Anyway, apparently part of getting a good picture is the post processing of that picture. So I have that to work on also. First you have to be able to take a good picture, otherwise, no amount of post processing will help. I have never done anything with my pictures after taking them except getting prints made. So now I am working on a basic touch up on the pictures before I get them developed. All of the pictures on this blog are all untouched. They are straight out of the camera. Look at these 2 pictures below. The fist one is straight from the camera. Now look at the second. It has a basic touch up done to it to enhance color and tones. The second one is so much better. So much to learn!

Ethan has started crawling. He just figured it all out on Sunday morning. Now I have to figure out how to keep him out of everything. He is also getting another tooth. His last front tooth is finally coming in. He is a bear too.

The weekend was ok. At least Ryan was home for most of it. We ran some errands on Sunday. Saturday we didn't do anything. It was just nice having Ryan home.

Last night I had a little trouble falling asleep. So of course my mind starts to wonder. I was thinking about Christmas coming up. Then from there, I realized that shortly after that, Ethan will be a year old. I have a hard time picturing it, and really, I have a hard time believing it. It certainly hasn't been easy with him, but at the same time, it has gone fast. I now have a 4 year old, and soon, I will have a 4 year old, and a 1 year old. Its hard to imagine what life will be like with the 2 of them around here. The fights, the laughs, the crying. Even now, a few times a day I hear Dylan say "Mommy! Ethan is touching me." or "mommy, Ethan is getting my pants." "Mommy Ethan is touching my toys." Ethan is getting quicker at getting where he wants to go. And sometimes where he wants to go is right to Dylan. Once he reaches him, Ethan (being Ethan) wants to stick Dylan foot in his mouth, or an article of clothing of Dylan's that he can reach. I'm sure once Ethan gets older, Dylan will be a little more open to Ethan being close to him. At least I hope!
Yesterday at the grocery, I remembered to grab a box of generic Cheerios in hopes of Ethan eating them. As of now he seems to like them. I read somewhere online to try giving a soft fruit or veggie to them, coated in crushed cheerios, because they may not like the soft or wet feeling of a mushy food. So I will try to give that a shot today. I'm wondering if Ethan has developed some sort of issue with textures. He eats those cheerios, he eats the Gerber puffs, Gerber dried fruit, and the Gerber freeze dried yogurt bites. All are dry and crunchy. Anything soft, and mushy (and good for him) he wont eat. Anyway, we will see how the cheerio coated food works out.
The weather has turned cool. My opinion is that it is just cold. Not winter cold, but cold. Its been windy too, which makes it feel cooler. My nose is cold right now! The living room just doesn't warm well. By the evening its not too bad, thanks to a day of full sun, but the mornings in here are quite cool. I like fall, but I am not ready for winter. This weekend they are calling for highs only in the 40s! I don't like hearing that. That's winter cold. I'm not ready for winter cold.

Thursday evening I took Dylan trick or treating. Ryan was still working, so he missed it unfortunately. Dylan dressed as a tiger. He loved it. Everyday he asks if he can have a trick or treat. So I give him one peice of his candy after lunch. Its enough to keep him happy. We walked a couple of small blocks. It was chilly out that evening. 2 blocks is enough candy for him anyway.

Saturday we had some family down for a late birthday party for Dylan. It all went well. Somehow Ryan missed out on opening the gifts. The fire department was busy that afternoon. But he managed to make it back before everyone left. Overall I think things were good, and Dylan enjoyed himself. Ryan and I were both tired that evening though. We didnt do anything on Sunday, which was nice. We were all home all day together!

Ethan's new tooth is finally all the way through. Top front tooth. We made it through all that. Now our latest issue is that he won't eat any normal food. He wont let me spoon feed him anymore. He also doesnt like anything so whatever I give him to feed himself he hates. Ive tried apples, carrots, broccoli, peas, white bread, wheat bread, and bananas. I have no idea why he won't eat anything. He just takes his bottles and thats it. I thought that his new tooth was causing pain and thats why he was refusing. But now that it is through, he still wont eat, so I really dont know whats going on with him. The only thing I can do is keep trying I guess.

It's been a long week. One of Ethan's top front teeth are coming in. Part of it has poked through the gum. I am guessing that is why he has been so unbearable this week. I'm not sure what Dylan's reason is though. Ryan has been working a lot. And I mean A LOT. Gone by 6 am on most days, and not home till after 7. Like I said, its been a long week. He's been working like that since last Wednesday or Thursday. I don't remember, but its been a while. I need a vacation. Ethan is getting closer to crawling. He can get up on his hands and knees whenever he wants, but he hasn't figured out that he can move from that position. I am really not ready for him to crawl though! He is so fast at rolling and army crawling, that I can't imagine how much he will get into when he can really move. I used to keep all of the boys' books on the bottom of the coffee table. I had to move them this week, because I got tired of constantly peeling Ethan away from them, and taking pieces of those books out of his hands, and of course his mouth. So I cleaned out a side table, and stuck the books in there. At least now they are a little more challenging to get to. Although, he can still get to them. He shows that everyday. He is in to everything! Already.
I want to get rid of that coffee table. At least for now. I may want it back at a later date, but it has really been annoying me lately. Ryan seems to disagree. I would like to put it in one of the rooms in the barn, but he says it will get ruined. I disagree. Oh well. We'll see what happens.
I cleaned out the drawers in Ethan's dresser. Most of his clothes in there were too small for him. He is tall for his age. All of his clothes up to the 9 month size are gone. He is wearing the 12 month sleepers. So I washed up all of Dylan's old 12 month clothes and put them out for Ethan to wear. Right now though, most of their clothes are not matching up as far as the seasons go. Ethan has enough, but some stuff of Dylan's we will probably never wear, just because it is the wrong season. No plans for the weekend.

I took the boys for their check-ups yesterday. Both are fine. Dylan is 3ft, 3.5in tall and 34 pounds. He is in the 50th percentile for everything. He has been consistant like that. He got 2 vaccines, including the flu shot. He did good. He only cried for a minute. Ethan is 18 pounds and only in the 3oth percentile, and 29.5 inches, and in the 70th percentile. He has a large noggin too. Basically he is tall and skinny. Thats how he has been since he was born. He grew 2 inches since his last checkup 3 months ago! He got the flu shot too. Ethan got a little cranky in the office, but Dylan did great. He answered all of the doctor's questions. I was very proud of him.

After the doctor we ran a few errands and then I took Dylan to pick out a pumpkin for him and one for Ethan. We got a couple of small ones also. When we got home, I took a bunch of pictures of the boys and the pumpkins. Here are a few.

Our weekend was ok. Nothing went as planned though. Ryan ended up working on Saturday. So Friday night when he got home, we asked Dylan what he wanted for dinner. We gave him a couple of choices, and we ended up with Pizza Hut pizza. Good choice Dylan! I was thrilled. So daddy and Dylan went to town to get pizza. I had made cupcakes and after dinner, we gave Dylan a cupcake with a candle in it.

So Saturday we didn't do anything. Sunday we went to that party I mentioned the other day. It turned out to be a really nice day. The weather was great. Dylan enjoyed playing with the kids. It was nice seeing everyone again. We didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked but Ethan started getting cranky because he was sleepy. So we packed up and left. But it was a nice day. We were all pretty tired when we got home. We finally gave Dylan his birthday gift too. He got a lot of nice things. He loves everything.

Well I spoke up and did my best to handle things. I stand firm on my position. Honestly, where it goes from here will depend on others. I guess I just wait and see. I was floored by the conversation I had. A few things came out that I didn't expect. So even now, a couple of days later, I don't know what to think about it all.

Saturday is Dylan's birthday. I am making cupcakes today for tomorrow. We aren't doing anything big, but we want to acknowledge his birthday on the actual day. So I will do cupcakes, which he is excited about, we are going to take him to McDonalds. He doesn't eat there very often, so it really excites him when we do. Ryan is going to an opening of a new hog barn locally, and he is going to take Dylan. That will thrill the crap out of Dylan. So he should have a good day. We got him 2 gifts for his birthday. We will give him one tomorrow and keep the other until we get together with some family later. I think I am going to give him his wheelbarrow tomorrow, which means that I will have to put it together sometime today during his nap or after he goes to bed tonight.
I have been fighting with my sinuses these last couple of days. Headache that comes and goes and congestion in my nose that comes and goes. When the congestion goes away, it leaves me with a sore throat. Blah. The weather changed a bit in the last few days, so that's what I am blaming it on.
Sunday we are going to meet up with my mom's side of the family for a combo birthday party. My cousins little girl, and Dylan. Their birthdays are fairly close, so it will work out well.
The boys and I ran to town yesterday to get some things I needed and to get a gift for my cousin's little girl. We hit Kmart first. Ethan cried near the whole time. He was fine when we first got there, but it didn't last long. He cried and cried, for no apparent reason really. But I just went on with my shopping. I had to get it done, and he wasn't hurt or hungry, so I let him go. Once we got in the car he stopped. I still had a list of things to get, so we went on to Walmart. He did fine in Walmart. Guess he doesn't like Kmart for some reason! Dylan was excellent that morning. Most of the time I usually stick him in the seat of the cart, because I can go faster, and it easier. Well I stuck Ethan's seat up there instead so I can have the basket empty and made Dylan walk with me. I told him to hold on the side of the cart, and he did, and he was great. I had him put the stuff in the cart, so he enjoyed helping. I was very proud of him. He said shopping was fun.

I don't like confrontation. I keep things inside more often than not to avoid confrontation. Sometimes though, I can't keep it inside. Sometimes things bother me a little too much to just keep it inside. If I bring it up, then that means that it is important to me. There are a few things that will cause resentment if I just keep it inside. With those few things, if I don't address it, keeping it to myself will eventually make the entire situation worse in the long run. I understand that there are times when my actions and decisions affect many many others. I am aware of that and I am sorry for that. Like I said though, somethings can't be tossed aside. Everyone has their things that they choose to take a stand on. I have mine.
I can handle things calmly. I do get fired up, trust me, but I can also keep myself calm as long as the other person can do the same. I'm sure that I can handle what I need to in a calm manner. Sadly, I have gotten used to walking on eggshells for some people. I hate doing it, and I really don't think I should have to. Life is hard, sometimes life sucks, and people don't always get along. But to attempt civil living, I can walk on eggshells. One of these days I may get tired of it, and throw my hands in the air in frustration and stop. But for now, I will keep going.
There has been many times through the years when I have wanted to turn away and never look back, in hopes of stopping all of the stress, putting an end to the tears, and sadness. If I were strong enough for that, I could have avoided so much pain. But I can't seem to do that. Guess I am not that strong of a person. At the same time, I can't just let some things go. Sorry.
I am thankful to be married to someone who stands beside me, and supports me when I need it the most. I am thankful that I am married to someone who I can talk to about anything, who I love spending time with, and hate being away from. We can laugh together and hurt together. We can also stand up to one another if we need to knowing that we are safe to disagree, and still love each other the same. I have a whole hearted marriage. Not all marriages are so good, therefore, I am thankful.
I am attempting to address what is bothering me. However it turns out, is on the other person. Not me. None of this should come as a suprise. Its a known issue. Im not blind siding anyone.

The weather around here lately has been wonderful. We could use a lot of rain though. Its warm out, not humid, nice and breezy. I love days that this. Boys are well. Dylan had a good day at school on Monday. The local fire department brought their truck down to them, so Dylan was excited about that. Since it was a nice evening last night, I took Dylan for a ride on the four wheeler back through the fields. He loves that stuff.
Nothing really exciting to report. This weekend Dylan turns 4. Time flies. I'm not sure what we are going to do that day. Sunday we are going to my Aunts and have a get together for both Dylan's birthday and my cousin's daughter. Getting 2 birds with one stone! The weather is supposed to be nice. Other than that we don't have much going on.
I haven't really felt like posting much lately. Sorry about that.

Boring weekend. Saturday was rough. I was exhausted, and then I had a headache from hell. And then that afternoon Ethan decided he wasn't going to nap. Blah. So yeah. Crappy day. Sunday was better. Ran to the store with Dylan. I had to go to Walmart. I do not enjoy going there at all. Of course everybody and their brother was there, so we had to park out in BFE. Once we got into the store, I swear that every isle that I needed to go into, there were either 4-5 people with carts in the isle, or one inconsiderate moron in the middle of the isle. So of course I didn't get everything I wanted to get. After, Dylan and I went to pick up dinner for all of us. At least I didn't have to make dinner that evening!
Dylan had a nice day at school. No problems at all. When I picked him up and got him in the car, he told me that someone peed on the floor. I wondered why one teacher was trying to get the kids outside in a hurry. Guess that's why, haha! At least it wasn't Dylan who peed on the floor! Afterwards, I had an issue with the pharmacy down there. People tick me off. Someone didn't do their job right, and then someone else didn't do their job quickly enough. They told me to come back in 20 minutes, so I did. At that point it still wasn't ready, and they told me to give them another 10 minutes or so. I said fine, and just came home. Dylan was whining because he was hungry and Ethan was fussing, because he was getting hungry as well. So now I have to go back down there sometime this week. I am still really ticked about the whole situation.

Not much to talk about. The guys are finally getting back into the fields after the 3 day (or so...don't really remember) rain delay. The boys are good. Ethan has had a snotty nose off and on for a few days. Some days it runs, others it doesn't. Who knows. He is doing fine with it though. Dylan is ok. He had a decent day at school. They said that a boy bit him in the arm. There was no mark, and honestly, I don't see it as a big deal. Kids will be kids, and like I said, there was no mark, so it happens. He said he didn't cry. Last week at school, he pushed a kid down and tossed a toy and hit someone, so its almost like Karma getting him. What goes around, comes around.
Dylan's birthday gifts arrived this week. We got him a little John Deere wheelbarrow, and a little LeapFrog writing toy. I have yet to get either one out of the box yet to look at it. I don't want to show him what they are before his birthday. From the looks of the wheelbarrow box it looks like I have to put it together. I can't tell how big it actually is either. That should be fun.

Here are a few pictures from harvest last week: