Birthday Love

Four years ago today, at 3:45 PM, I got to see the beautiful face of my Charlie for the first time.



At 10 pounds, 23 1/4 inches, it was a face that already had deliciously chubby cheeks.

All of the people that helped to welcome Charlie into the world 4 years ago today came to our house to help celebrate. One of the most special things for me about Charlie's birth was that my awesome friend Christi was there to help.


Christi with her daughter Alyssa

There is something so powerful about sharing the birth experience with other women. Having Christi there to rub my back, encourage me that I was almost there, and to see Charlie make his entrance meant more to me than I can put in words. It means just as much when Christi and her family come to help Charlie welcome in a new year.

Both of my darling Godson's came over to party. Aren't they the most handsome boys?


Godson Colin is 5



Godson Joel is ALMOST 3. (I was there to see his birth!! It was one of the most AWESOME moments of my life! Joel is Christi's son).

Charlie is my most high spirited child. He is fearless, determined, and stubborn. He is a social butterfly, and will talk to everyone and anyone. He is a snuggler to the extreme, and gives the best of hugs. He tries my patience like no other, and fills my heart with love and joy, all at the same time. He is a gift I am forever thankful for.

One of my clearest memories of that first week home with my new baby Charlie was sitting curled up in a recliner with Charlie tucked into the crook of my arm, a warm quilt tucked around both of us. I spent the whole day snuggling with him, just looking at him. Memorizing his features, and touching his sweet new baby skin.

Yesterday, after the guests had gone home, I sat down in that same chair to rest for a minute. Charlie brought over that very same quilt, and asked if he could snuggle. Tired from all the excitement and missing his afternoon nap, he curled up into my side, the quilt tucked in close around us, and went to sleep. I looked down into his 4 year old face, and kissed his sweet cheeks. It was one of those perfect moments that life gifts us. I tucked it into my heart to take out and remember when Charlie is grown. The perfect way to end a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday Char Char. I love you to the moon and back!

Amazing Weekend

We have had a wonderful few days around these parts. We did home repair on Wednesday, and knocked a couple of to do items off our to do list. Our fireplace is now functioning for the first time in a year (thanks in part to the removal of a family of mice, but that is a whole other post), and we have new outdoor light fixtures.


Decorations courtesy of Charlie and Sammy

Thursday was a double celebration for us, as we also celebrated my baby turning 3. Which should be impossible, as Sam was just born yesterday. The party was at Casa de la Kleffman this year, which I loved, as I love to cook big dinners. The turkey turned out great, thanks to whatever they do at the Butterball factory, and my sister brought an AMAZING gourmet mac 'n cheese recipe, which my hips thoroughly enjoyed. I vote for it to become a Thanksgiving tradition.



After the dishes were done, we had birthday cake in addition to our pie and pumpkin crumble cake. Isn't this 3 year old boy as delicious as the turkey?



Sammy had a blast celebrating with his cousins. I love that this bunch is the best of buds...



Sammy's favorite present was a Spider man costume from my sister, and he has worn it every night since. In fact, he insists on wearing it to bed. I have had to sneak it into the wash.



On Friday I went to Target for the Black Friday experience with the awesome Christi, and I scored a few deals. The best part though was breakfast at Summer Kitchen afterwards. Have you noticed yet how much I've eaten this weekend?! SO MUCH FOOD!

Friday was the actual day of Sammy's birthday, so I wanted to do something fun to make it special for him. So, after some encouragement that I could handle it from my sister and Christi, we went to a Christmas tree farm. You see, we have had an artificial tree for 14 years now, ever since I moved into my first apartment in college. I grew up having real trees for Christmas with my parents, but once I was on my own, I was completely intimidated by the tree stand. You know that thing the man in the family has to fiddle with for three hours, and then even after that the tree is still crooked, and then a day later the tree falls down anyway? After hearing the farm we went too has a special "Marriage Saving Tree Stand" they sell to make it easy, I braved my fears to help Sam have a special day. We got on a hay ride and rode out to the tree field, picked out our own special tree, and got to see it cut down (this part made Sam sad-he was sure the tree wasn't liking this!) Charlie loved the free hot chocolate they offered and the machine that shook the trees to get the dead needles off. It's a good thing Evan talked me into the tree we got, because this one almost reaches the ceiling, and the one I wanted was even taller.



We all had fun decorating, and I have to admit, this tree looks and smells SOOO much better than our artificial one.



And the tree stand was a breeze. I think we will be making a return trip next year. When we had decked the inside and outside of our halls, we celebrated with a viewing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, our new Christmas video.

We've had such a fabulous weekend, I am not sure I am ready to go back to work tomorrow. We are ready for Advent and the Christmas season though. I LOVE this time of year!

New Moon Heaven

I am a HUGE fan of the Twilight series. Today I got to feed my obsession by seeing the New Moon movie (and eat nachos with cheese...AWESOME!). It was so, SO, SO good. I loved it even more than Twilight. I always felt strongly that Bella should have chosen Jacob, and I love the line her father says in the movie, "Sometimes you have to learn to love what's good for you." A lesson I learned the hard way several times over. Anywho, I love that Jacob was the featured guy in this movie.

I got to go with my friend Christi, which made it even more awesome. I love girlfriend time. It's been awhile since I've gotten to see her, so I had some volcano of the mouth issues as I gushed all of my news to her. Being with Christi is like soaking up sunshine. NO KIDDING! I feel so cheery and positive after I have spent an hour or two with her, which is why I am going to brave the crowds with her on Black Friday. And then we are going to have breakfast afterwards so I can gush at her some more. I love that she still likes me even though I can't stop talking when I am around her.

I am topping off my great day with family movie night. The boys picked Rudolph, which I thought was a fabulous choice, since I could watch Christmas movies all year long.

Happy Weekend to you!

Social Buterflies

We have done more in the last two days than we have in forever. It's been a fun start to the weekend! Getting out of the house was just what the doctor ordered as a Mommy pick me up.

Yesterday we met our friend Christi and her children Alyssa and Joel (who is also my ADORABLE Godson) at the park for a picnic. After some fun in the sun, we went home for a quick nap, and then went out again for my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary party. Don't they clean up well?



It was a beautiful party for so many reasons. It is an amazing thing to see a couple who have dedicated their lives to each other, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, glowing with love for each other and their family. My grandpa used to say, "It's amazing how much trouble two people can cause!!" And it's true.

This morning we packed the kids into the van and headed down for a day at the zoo. This was no small thing for me. Don't throw tomatoes at me for saying this, but I really do HATE the zoo. Looking at animals has never been too exciting for me. And the Omaha zoo? It has so many hills in it, it feels like they built it into the side of a mountain. When you have to climb up and down those things while either pushing 80 pounds of kid in a double stroller or with older children hanging on you saying "It's hooooot. I'm thiiiiiirsty. Can I geeeeet something?" it ends up being a workout for your muscles and your patience. But the kids love it, so I sucked it up and we went. And it was fun to watch the delight on their faces. So I watched my kids instead of the animals. That's what made it fun for me.

We grabbed lunch at BK on the way home (big treat for the kiddos!), took another quick nap, and then we headed over to my sister's house. My brother in law just got his masters degree, so they were having a shindig. I am in awe of him for accomplishing such a feat with two small children.

And here's a picture just because it's cute. Charlie and Sammy love to listen to tunes with Daddy. They especially love Johnny Cash and the Beatles.



*sigh* I love my boys! Aren't they all just deliciously adorable?!

A Girly Day, Complete With a Tiara

Today I had a wonderful morning spent with some of my favorite gals. The awesome Christi and I took Alyssa and my niece Brooke (aka Brookie Cookie/Brookelina) to see a performance of High School Musical on Ice. It's so nice to be able to borrow Brookie when I get a craving for something girly, pink, and full of singing and glitter.

Watching Brooke's face as the skaters first came onto the ice was priceless. She breathed an impressed and reverant "WOW!!!!" I'll never forget it. After a few minutes she declared," I NEED to know how to do that!"



The skating was great, and came complete with pyrotechnics, which impressed the little ones. I was amazed at how they could skate while dribbling a basketball, driving a golf cart, and riding a bike. For someone like me who can't even stand up on ice skates, this was nothing short of miraculous.



At the intermission we got some obligatory event food. Brookie had a hot dog, a pretzel with salt (which caused her to ask me why the pretzel had rocks on it, and why she was supposed to eat them), and a coke. That girl has a bladder of steel. She drank almost the entire medium sized pop, and then didn't have to go to the bathroom the entire rest of the time we were together. Wish my kids could do that!



Afterwards we got a souvenir of our day, which I found to be the perfect excuse to buy Brooke a pink, glittery, High School Musical tiara. I do love me a good tiara.



Thank goodness that with all of these boys around I have Brooke as my go to girl for an old fashioned girl day.

Thanks Christi and Alyssa!

Copy Cats

Last Saturday night, before Omaha was transported to the North Pole (complete with snow, ice, and arctic temperatures) we copied an idea that my fabulous friend Christi did with her kids. As Christi is always fabulous, I frequently copy her, as I know it will turn out-well-fabulous.

After the dinner dishes were put away, we gave the kids baths, put them in their pjs (even Evan!), and put them in the car, wrapped in warm fleece blankets. We then headed over to Starbucks to grab some hot chocolate. As we pulled up to the window to collect our cups, Sam yelled from the back seat, "I WANT SOME FRIES!!!" Which I guess tells you where we usually go for a dinner treat.

Anyway, the hot chocolate was delicious, and it was wonderful to drink as we drove around looking at Christmas lights. The boys were thoroughly impressed, and it was such a nice time to spend with the kids.

I know I have mentioned here before about Sam and his crazy mix-ups, like how he calls lions monkeys, snow monsters are owls, etc. Another one popped up as we were looking at lights...as we passed each house, Sam would ooh and ahhh in wonder, and then say, "That's dumb!" Through a lengthy toddlerish discussion with him that night, and after much snorting laughter on our part, we discovered he has switcherood the word dumb with the word pretty. Seriously! I am starting to wonder if someone at school is feeding him this stuff on purpose.

A good time was had by all, and I hope we remember to continue this tradition next year! Thanks Christi for yet another great idea!!

We Climbed a Mountain

and it is called getting Charlie to cooperate long enough to get a family picture taken. It was not painless, and it involved much bribing and cajoling and crying, but we managed to get a few adorable shots. Just wait till you get your Christmas cards!

My favorite was a shot of just the boys, which features Evan and Sammy giving great smiles, and Charlie with a HUGE scowl on his face. Not the "perfect" family photo, but one I will cherish for many years. I know I will look back on it and remember exactly how Charlie was when he was 2.

I am so proud of Sammy. That kid will go anywhere, do anything you want him too, and do it with a smile. Please God, don't let him grow out of this good natured attitude.

I was completely impressed with The Picture People (which Christi recommended, and as always she was completely right). They were so good with the kids, totally patient. The prices were reasonable, and we got our pictures the same day. We will be coming back!

Twittering

Sigh. I am addicted to yet another form of social networking. And it's all Christi's fault.

I have been hearing about Twitter on the various blogs I read regularly for quite awhile now. Curious, I asked my techno freaks (and I say that with intense love) Adam and Asten what the heck a Tweet was. Basically, it's like having Facebook, but with just the status updates.

Yesterday, I got an email from Christi asking me to join Twitter. I think Christi is the coolest person I know and her children are beautiful, so I usually do whatever she tells me. So I joined Twitter.

It took about half an hour to get Twitter in my bloodstream. I love it. Now I just have to convince all my family and friends to join too. All day long at school today I was twitching to Tweet and catch up on my Twitter. If only there was a way to attach myself to the laptop.

Inspired

My friend Christi is so on top of the mom thing. She is religious about getting her children's pictures taken. I did a great job with Evan, but Charlie and Sammy? Poor kids. They will think I didn't notice them with as few formal pictures I have had taken of them.

I am off to schedule portraits right now!!! Thank goodness I have Christi for a role model.

This One's for You Christi...

Tonight for dinner I made this recipe called pull apart pizza that the kids and I first had at the awesome Christi Koch's house for dinner. It was an immediate hit with Evan and Charlie (who knows what Sam is thinking yet) and Evan has been bugging me ever since to make it. When he saw it cooling on the stove he had a heart attack and gave me a bear hug. After dinner, Evan rubbed his VERY full stomach and said, "I sure am glad Christi gave you this recipe. Our lives would suck without Christi Koch." And that's the truth too. My life would suck without you dear friend!