Struggles with Caleb

Lately, I've just been struggling so much with Caleb. There are times when he frustrates me so much that I want to just go in my room and cry. I feel like a failure when he talks back and doesn't listen. I've praying for strength and wisdom in this area.... and a lot of patience. I'm trying not to have the expectation for him to be the "perfect" sweet little boy all the time, but it's hard. Today, I'm going to post about all the things that I love about Caleb to try and put me in a better mood for when I go pick him up in a little bit.

1. He has the sweetest smile!
2. He's helpful with Sonya and reassures her when she is crying.
3. He's a great cook! (with mommy's help of course)
4. He is the funniest kid I've ever met -- so witty!
5. He tells me that I'm beautiful.
6. He can sense when I'm feeling sad and gives me the biggest hugs!
7. He has a big heart -- wanted to give friends and neighbors some of his toys.
8. He loves Jesus and we have good spiritual conversations.
9. He memorizes the words to lots of songs and is constantly singing at home.
10. He is super creative with his cars, play dough, and just has a great imagination.

I guess that list wasn't as hard to make as I thought it might be. :-) There are so many more reasons... but I figured I'd limit it to 10 -- otherwise I wouldn't get done in time to go get him. *grin*

Dear Caleb Andrew,
You're growing up too fast and it's hard to believe that this will be your 5th Christmas already! Please try to be a good boy for me at home so that we can have more fun together. Next year, you'll be in kindergarten and I won't see you nearly as much. I want to enjoy you while I can since that was one of the main reasons I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. I love you SOOO much and can't imagine my life without you (or your sister).
Love,
Mommy

My little girl is growing up!

Sonya is getting too big already! I can't believe all the things she has mastered. She's been crawling and sitting up on her own for a while now. Although she only crawls when she's trying to chase us down the hall or something. Otherwise, she'll walk along the furniture or play with stuffed animals. She learned how to climb things and won't even stay in her walker anymore -- she steps on the seat and pretty much jumps out as she reaches for toys on the ground. So we haven't really put her in it for the past two months now. As of about a week ago, Sonya has been able to stand in place without holding onto anything. If we hold her hands, she walks really fast. I'm sure she'll be walking before we know it. I just can't wait until Christmas and watching her open gifts. I know she'll prefer the boxes and wrapping paper --- maybe I should just wrap an empty box for her this year?

Climbing the walker...  (She fell off right after I snapped this photo)

Walking along the closet

Managed to capture her standing without assistance 

Fun in the Snow!

After it snowed the first time, there wasn't a whole lot of snow, but enough on the hill by our apartments so we could go sledding. So I took both kids outside. I set Sonya down for a second while I adjusted my mittens and since she had no hand control to catch herself (because of her mittens), she fell face first into the snow. Oops! She seemed to enjoy sledding though. Luckily, the kids are both small enough that all three of us could fit on the sled. It was so much fun!  

On the Saturday before the "blizzard" hit, the weather was warm and the snow was perfect for building a snowman. Caleb helped daddy (or maybe it was the other way around) make one! Then we had some freezing cold temperatures where we didn't go outside for a few days. Thank goodness that let up because Caleb really wanted to play in the snow. So we enjoyed the great outdoors again and let Sonya try crawling around in the snow. She's still not quite sure what to think about it, but she loved watching the cars drive by!

Daddy and the kids with their snowman

The snowman had HAIR!!

Sledding

Sonya wasn't too sure of the snow

Here she is checking it out some more...

Big brother with his sister :-)

And a partridge in a pear tree...

With a busy little girl and an active 4 year old, it's been getting harder to find some time to sit down and actually write a blog post. Usually I end up doing it one-handed like I am now so that I can contain my squirming baby. Otherwise she just gets into trouble if I let her roam. Either that or she follows me, climbs my leg, and whines until I pick her up anyway.

Christmas day is quickly approaching as my list of things to do grows. I keep seeing shows where they make these cute homemade gifts and baked goods. Spiced pecans and caramels... yum! We'll see how ambitious I get. We do have our tree up already and it will probably stay up through mid-January if not the whole month. I still have to get the Nativity out though. Hopefully I can do that this afternoon with Caleb. There's still some shopping to do and gifts to wrap. The holidays are so fun and exciting, but stressful too. We're going to be doing a bit of traveling this year -- not too far away, still in Wisconsin. We'll spend Christmas with my side of the family and then the end of December into the new year with Tim's side. I can't wait for Sonya to experience her first Christmas!! I broke down and bought her the cutest, little dress. It was on sale and I figured that she could wear it a few times at least, right?

Side note: I just got a box of diapers in the mail! hehe... Tim found that you could get a box of Luv's diapers through Amazon for cheaper than the Parent's Choice at Walmart. Plus, they delivered! Woohoo!! I'm loving all these packages I'm getting in the mail. Yesterday, I got my Goodbyn lunchboxes -- originally $25 a piece plus $7.95 shipping for each... only paid $2.95 for each one!! Now, I'm looking forward to getting my pictures and Christmas cards through Shutterfly. We'll see what else the mail carrier has in store for us in the upcoming weeks. :-)

Another side note: I haven't been taking as many pictures lately since our camera runs through batteries really quickly. For some reason, it doesn't like the rechargeable batteries either now. We charge them and they show that my camera has a quarter of a battery left, but they don't even turn Tim's camera on at all. *sigh* I'm not sure if it's the chargers or the batteries.

Finally ordered my Christmas Cards!!

Christ Wishes Religious Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Splish Splash ... I was takin' a bath!

What can I say? My son is a nut!

Sonya LOVES taking big girl baths!

Time to dry off!

A little bit of heaven on earth....

While Tim was gone on his work trip to Iowa, I decided to bake a cheesecake for him since his birthday is on Saturday. Let's just say I was a little intimidated. This tasty treat sounded like it would be harder to make than it was. Do I use the water bath method for baking? or not? I consulted my mother-in-law. It didn't really make a difference in taste, so I decided to forgo the extra "chore" and baked my very first cheesecake. Yes, it's as good as it looks!

The end result.... with a little chocolate drizzle..... 

delicious!

Christmas is right around the corner...

Tis the season to start getting those Christmas cards ready! I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we all know how quickly the time flies by around this time of year.

Some of my favorite Christmas cards were photo cards -- one year was of my son wearing a Santa hat; another was a family photo by the river. They both were so cute! I've always loved the photo card versions because they turn out beautiful and are a great keepsake for family members. Last year, I really wanted to do a photo card, but didn't have the time to design one. I wasn't prepared and kept procrastinating to the point that Christmas was over before I even got my cards out.Sadly, no one received a card from me except maybe a few close family members that we wouldn't end up seeing over the holidays.

As a busy mom, I think it's great that Shutterfly.com is offering 50 free 5x7 folded or flat holiday cards to bloggers and I plan to take them up on it. Their card selection is beautiful, I can upload and customize my photos as well as create personal captions so my friends and family will be reminded of what the Christmas season is all about. I can't wait to start working on my cards this year! Enjoy some of my favorite card designs: 

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

*Smiles*

My two children absolutely love each other. Sometimes Caleb doesn't like when Sonya is crying and interrupting his movie watching or diverting the attention to herself. Sometimes Sonya doesn't like it when Caleb pulls on her legs and arms like a doll and won't let her crawl places... or when she's standing by the couch and he ever so carefully removes her hands so she falls on her butt.

But then, there are the redeeming moments when they play nicely and laugh together. I love my sweet kids. :-)

Little Sock Houdini

I don't know how a little girl can lose so many socks.... or that I don't notice the second that it falls off. A few weeks ago, we were at the Possibility Playground and went hiking down the bluff over to the river (that runs alongside the biketrail). When we came back up to the top of the bluff, I noticed one set of bare tootsies. I made Tim go back and look for the missing sock and he couldn't find it. Today, I put brand new socks on Sonya and then put her shoes on too. The one shoe kept falling off so I took them both off before leaving to drop off Caleb at school. Somewhere between his classroom and the car, we lost another sock. It's amazing that they don't usually get lost in pairs. Then maybe I wouldn't even know that they were gone at all!

It's a mystery... just like how socks get lost in the laundry somewhere. The little sock monster must eat them or something.

Tales of a 4-year old

Have any of you other parents noticed an increase of tantrums or disrespectful behavior from your 4-year old? Goodness, sometimes I don't know what to do with Caleb. Part of me wants to give a break because he has to be good at school and church. How can I expect a 4-year old to be good ALL the time? I think part of the problem is that he has had so many recent changes in his life besides acquiring a new addition to the family.

The month of September has probably been a tougher on my little man. His first day of 4K was September 2nd and his last day of daycare (my last day of work) was September 3rd. Tim then changed his work shift from 8-4 to 7:30-3:30 to be at home earlier with the family. This is great, but we don't really see him in the mornings before he goes to work like we used to. Also, he used to have time in the car with the kids while he took them to and from daycare and then he'd have about an hour with them while I was on my way home from work. Not the best timing ever, but Mr. 4-year old decided to stop taking naps about two weeks into going to school so we've been trying a new bedtime out with him. On top of all that, Caleb has had a bit of a change of scenery at church as he was promoted to the next level for Sunday School (new teachers and classmates) and started AWANA Cubbies on Sunday evenings where he is learning more about the Bible and memorizing verses each week. Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about all that. No wonder the kid has been acting up a little.

I just miss my sweet little angel boy. A day without any arguing, crying, yelling, slamming doors, snide comments, sticking out his tongue, or even the occasional "I hate you" would be nice. Then of course, he goes and makes up for it by saying "I love you," giving me a hug, or being super helpful and sweet. The joys of motherhood. :-) I wouldn't change it for the world.

Fall Fun!

The past few days have been absolutely beautiful! Since Caleb doesn't have school on Fridays, we went to the Spieker Pumpkin Farm with Michelle Brouilette and her two kids. They all had a blast running through the field and jumping off of the pumpkins (shh... don't tell the farmer!) I figured they were light enough that they wouldn't do any real damage. After we picked out our pumpkins and paid for them, we were off to the Waubeka Park to eat a picnic lunch. We had so much fun :-)

The kids playing near the corn field

The pumpkin field

Just hanging out

 Caleb and Sonya

Playing with the pumpkins

Sonya is more fascinated with the dirt... or her toes

Sticking out her tongue

My absolute favorite little pumpkin

Jumping off the pumpkins and laughing

Taking a rest

The "pumpkin" tree

Caleb and the pumpkin that he chose

Beautiful fall colors at Waubeka Park

Another pretty tree

Dream House....

Tim and I have talked about buying a house for a while now. With Sonya being born in mid-February and our lease needing to be decided by the end of March, we opted for another year lease so we could take our time in choosing the perfect house. Granted, we've only been looking at newspaper and online ads and haven't even begun to figure out loan stuff. Hopefully, once all the new tax programs are available, we'll be able to see where we're at and really start the process of talking with a loan officer and see what our options are. We've heard that a lot more houses will be foreclosed on in January, so maybe we'll get a good deal!

What do I want in my dream house? 

I want a beautiful library with a vaulted ceiling and skylights.... shelves of books all the way up to the ceiling! There would be a nice and cozy window seat overlooking a small lake where I could read and sip hot chocolate on a cold and dreary day. A baby grand piano would be sitting in the corner. Then I'd have a huge closet filled with all sorts of art supplies imaginable: paint, brushes, canvas, and an easel. (Maybe I'd even get a potter's wheel... ).

My kitchen would be mostly white with cranberry red accents. We already have a few appliances and a kitchen mat in the red color. I'd like lots of counter space and cupboards along with a display case filled with beautiful china and crystal (which I also don't have). There would be double ovens and a good sized refrigerator that has the freezer and fridge side by side. I can picture having a little island with some bar stools. The dining room would be off to the side a little.

The master bedroom would have a fireplace and a walk-in closet. Our color scheme would be chocolate brown, beige, and cadet blue (kind of a light blue with greenish tint to it). There would be a love seat and a rocking chair and maybe a desk in addition to our nightstands and dressers. We'd also have our own full bathroom with a whirlpool.

The main bathroom would be primarily white. I think the white, two shades of blue, and sea foam green color combination would still work. We already have a striped shower curtain, towels, and one rug.

Our living room would be all cozy with a fireplace. I'd love one of those flat screen TV's that look like a painting to hang right above the mantel. I have no idea what colors we'd go with because the furniture that we have now would pretty much be non-existent by that point. That makes it harder to have a vision.

We'd have a walk-out basement to the back yard. It'd be fun to have a game room with a pool table, maybe ping-pong, or even air hockey down there with all of our board games. I don't know yet if I'd want an office downstairs or upstairs... I guess it'd depend on how the house format was set up.

Well, I guess I'll keep on dreaming for now. It'll be fun to look back on this post some day especially when we finally get more serious about house shopping. I may not get everything that I want, but it never hurts to dream.

Fun on the Farm at Curtis Orchard

(Last Sunday) -- Our last stop before heading back home to WI, was Curtis Orchard (http://www.curtisorchard.com/). It was too bad we were all so worn out and we had long drives to get back home because I think we would've enjoyed it more. Caleb fed some goats and we visited the Cafe, Bakery, and Country Store. They had a lot of goodies there - homemade preserves, honey, and of course their famous apple donuts to name a few. Mmm... makes my mouth water just to think of them. There were also lots signs and murals depicting scenes from the Wizard of Oz! Of course we took a few pictures while we were there.....

How tall is our little apple?

Slide in the barn

Yes... I'm related to those people

Caleb loves anything with a steering wheel

My little honey bee

Feeding a goat....

.... and his friends

Uncle Rob was showing off

One little monkey swinging on a bar

One very BIG chair

Aunt Sam and Uncle Rob

Caleb and his Aunt Kelly

Watch out for the crazy bus driver!

The Nikolai Clan (minus Peter)

Weekend with the Nikolai's

Last Friday, we went down to Champaign, IL to spend some time with Tim's side of the family. Rob and his wife, Sam, welcomed us into their cute, little apartment where they fed us and let us sleep in their spare bedroom. (Side note: Sam is an AMAZING cook! Considering she has to avoid gluten and lactose, I was surprised that she came up with such delicious meals for all of us. Way to go, Sam!) 

Tim's parents and sister also came up from Troy, IL (pretty much by St. Louis) on Saturday. We enjoyed catching up and just having quality family time. The kids were hilarious. Caleb loved writing letters and spelling names on the white board and Sonya playing with various relatives.

Goofy Caleb

Sonya loves her Uncle Rob

Caleb in his cool pirate hat that he got from Sam and Rob

Love those BIG, beautiful,blue eyes

Silly faces with Aunt Sam

A tired Caleb (Aunt Sam didn't seem to mind too much)

Dancing with Uncle Rob

So blessed to have such a happy baby!

Playing with Aunt Kelly

Caleb LOVES Papa's car!

"Papa, what are you feeding me?"

Grandma and Grandpa Nikolai with the grandkids

On cloud nine

 Swinging

Escalators are pretty cool... "Hi, mom!"

Say "cheese!"

Uncle Rob and Aunt Sam absolutely loving their niece

*Watch for more pics to come from our trip to Curtis Orchard......