working hard

Kyle is busily ripping out the walls near the entrance door in the basement so we can add insulation and put up attractive walls---what was there before was probably asbestos filled archaic ratty wall material. Reese's intake vent became totally exposed when the sheetrock in the basement was removed. I found him this afternoon laying on his belly looking through the vent at what Daddy was doing below. Of course, he popped up when I brought in the camera. He sits "indian style" all the time now.He spent the rest of the afternoon practicing his guitar hero drumming skills. He seems to like it just as much as the drums that make noise.

2008 in review

Reese got glasses in January and turned one in February. Kyle and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary in March. In April Kyle travelled to San Diego for 2 quick work weeks and on the way home from the airport we hit the Woodland Park Zoo---the first time for Reese and Mommy. In May Kyle hit the big 3-0. We visited Kyle's grandparents and brought them back to to the Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop starting in Vancouver. In July Heather turned the dreaded 35 and we vacationed in Sunriver, Oregon where I got to go to the sisters quilt show. Reese also had hernia surgery. In August and September we travelled to San Diego for Kyle's work where Reese really enjoyed swimming in a warm pool (yes Washintonians there is such a thing). In October we started speech and occupational therapy for Reese --basically structured play at this age. We got confirmation via ultrasound that we are expecting baby #2. Sometime in November Reese started signing and saying "please". In December he added "kitty", "uh-oh", "bye" and "oh wow" to his verbal repetoire. And we had a white Christmas!!!!

Have a save and happy 2009!!

MPM

It's been so weird this last week. Normally we have "dinner" before Kyle goes to work in the afternoon so we don't bother with breakfast except for Reese. Kyle takes leftovers, and I eat or maybe not. Then Kyle gets home at midnight and we have salad. But last week with all the snow and then this week with vacation from work, Kyle has been home so much our eating is out of whack. Since he's not eating his leftovers at work everyday we had TONS. This week he is home so we are super flexible, so we just picked out some meals we will eat this week and not necessarily assign a day. And we need more than dinner planned for a change! It's been super nice having Kyle home so I can nap when I need to instead of when Reese does. Apparently today I crashed on the couch and slept through Reese drumming and them cooking and eating lunch---I heard absolutely nothing!! I sure hope the 1st trimester fatigue is over by the time Kyle goes back to work.

LUNCH:
chicken curry sandwich the Victorian Tea Room recipe (maybe 3 or 4 times)
egg salad sandwiches
bagel pizzas
dinner leftovers

DINNER:
leftover Christmas pork loin (from Saturday with Kyle's parents), homemade mac n'cheese (with chedder and gruyere cheeses), steamed brussel sprouts
Fajita Potatoes
stuffed green peppers
sombrero dip burritos
ham casserole

Monday we're going to a movie and dinner with another couple and one day we'll finish up the leftovers from the burritos and casserole.

There are tons of ideas for your menu at OrgJunkie.

little drummer boy

Reese wants to play first thing in the am and basically all day long. He goes to town and dances on his stool. Then I bring out the camera and for the most part he stops. But this is a little sampling of his most favorite past time.

Christmas presents

We planned to have Christmas am at our house to open gifts and have breakfast before going to my mom's house, but since the weather has been so bad we thought we should get to my mom's as early as we could so we could leave before dark in case it refroze So we opened Christmas presents Christmas Eve morning--Reese has no idea what day it is anyway. He was very excited with the ball and truck that were not wrapped. Not too interested in the unwrapping process and the fact that the ball and truck had to be removed from his hands to get to the unwrapping.You know when you're choosing photos you can pick from minuscule thumbnail shots and my photo thing that makes them big moves so slow, so I picked this photo as he was super excited about his tools, but now I see his eyes are closed. We are getting ready to go to Kyle's parent's since Christmas Eve had to be postponed so I want to get this posted fast, thus you are getting an eyes closed photo.

Hmmmm...intrigued with this band in a box that really seems to be a multitude of weapons!

Christmas morning we went to Mimi and Poppop's where Reese got about a million gifts, but the biggie is this drum set:

Daddy and Reesie got it set up in Reese's big boy room as soon as we got home. Once he sleeps in there full time we may have to adjust this arrangement but for now he's still in his crib so we'll leave the drums in his bog boy room. He LOVES them. He also got tons of books and a few cute outfits, a medical kit, a cash register and his first pair of Vans from Uncle Travis.

Upsetting Snow Casualty

We got in the car on Tuesday to head to the mall for Santa pictures--he wasn't thrilled with the experience. As soon as I put my seat belt on I looked up and saw this:


That's a solid block of ice in our birdbath, with snow on top and the sides shattered on the ground. I guess we should've put it in the garage, but it's an outside thing so it didn't even occur to us. It's very upsetting. Next spring we'll have dirty birds in our yard.

New Favorite Pastime

Meal Plan Monday

Monday: Beef Stew (absolutely could not find organic so we got regular on our snow run)
Tuesday: Spaghetti--we didn't have this last week, we had Jambalaya instead
Wednesday: if the snow allows Christmas Eve dinner with Kyle's parents
Thursday: if the snow allows Christmas dinner with mine
Friday: clear the fridge of all leftovers
Saturday: quesadilla
Sunday: tilapia, veggie, sweet potato fries

snow torture

snow sissy

Reese helping with the laundry.

Out in the snow--this one is blurry of Reese but you can see the snow flakes in the foreground.

He really doesn't like it but he still says "hi"

The backyard measurement.

It looks like rain but that's the snow coming down.

Our flower pots and bird bath and the weird bump in the front left is our pumpkin.

The backyard

This is what my pants looked like when we got back inside.

and now he wants to play with the snow balls.

Snow Casualty

One of our Evergreens' top split in two. I haven't walked over to inspect it so I'm not sure if the trunk actually split or if it's just the weight of the snow opening up the branches to look like it split. It looks pretty bad though.

Here's a shot of the plow truck coming by.

You can't really see this as well as I'd hoped but it's a shot of the back steps--it's looking pretty deep. Those footprints are not ours so I hope no burglar has been casing the joint.

midnight snow update

Here's the snow at midnight--this view allows me to just stand in the doorway without actually taking my feet outside.
***hmmmm.....just realized this posted as Saturday---because it's not midnight yet, my camera said it was 12:20, so I guess I need to dig out the book and fix the clock. grrrr...I feel overrun with electronical failings tonight. --more on this topic after the video.

Here is a video of Reese playing in the house because Kyle said absolutely not to my suggestion of getting bundled up and going out to play in the snow----scrooge thinks it's too cold and didn't want to get out of his jammies.
(this is 2 minutes--you can fast forward to the laughing part at 1 minute)
(MOM--you have to hit pause on the music playlist to turn off the song so you can hear Reese)

Since we're snowed in we decided to have a guitar hero challenge after Reese hit the sack, but sadly Kyle's machine has 3 flashing red lights in the ring of life or whatever---basically the piece o' crap don't work anymore. Actually back when it was new and everyone else was getting duds Kyle's worked fine, but I think for $400 it should work more than 2 years. Surprisingly the miser did not hesitate to suggest going to Walmart "right now" to buy a replacement on the house budget. They are closed and the roads are a little bad for heading to the 24 hour Poulsbo store. So I think this means we'll be snowed in past Christmas with no guitar hero. bummer....
oh he just informed me that "this is a crisis for crying outloud!" to justify his willingness to spend the extra bucks.

Snow Update Saturday @ 9pm

Depending on the source we are expecting anywhere from 3-22 inches of snow. It stated snowing here about 2pm and has not stopped. It's steady but very small flakes so even though it's been about 7 hours it's not real deep yet. All the foot prints we made the other day have filled in.

Reese is very excited to stand on a chair looking out the window at the snow fall and the occassional passerby playing in the snow. He also likes checking out the cars---some are hauling butt, but most are going the speed limit for a change (25 mph). We've seen the plow/sand truck a handful of times, so I guess he's working the 11th St/Burwell loop.

We decided to hit the grocery store for stamps because my cards have been ready all week, but I had no stamps and we didn't realize Wednesday's snow was small potatoes, so we didn't go to the post office. So out we went today before the 4pm storm watch started. However it was 2pm and the snow started early. We went to Safeway and literally almost every parking space was full. There were no carts to be had, not even in the parking lot. A nice guy by himself gave us his and used a hand cart instead. We figured we may as well stock up, so we got a few tidbits. Not really a stock up but more than the stamps and soda we originally set out for. It was an absolute mad house!!! Now we're set for our big snow in. I wish I had thought to take photos of the snow's progression. I'll take another before we go to bed and then in the morning so we'll have a little to compare. Reese was supposed to go to the eye doctor Monday---hmmm.....maybe not gonna make it. I hate to miss our 2008 allotment from insurance though. If we have to reschedule I bet we won't get in until 2009.

Hot Cocoa

Reese had his first hot cocoa today. He seemed a little unsure what to do with the marshmallows so Kyle threw them in.
He seemed to think it was a bobbing for marshmallows game instead of a drink.

So he proceeded to pick them all out.

Then he finally took a BIG gulp, followed by a an even bigger "ahhhh." Most of it is on his face, shirt and lap.

messy!!!

Finally Finished

I FINALLY finished the tree skirt and it is under the tree.

SNOW DAY

We had a huge amount of snow overnight, so we bundled Reese up to go out and "play" and get some photos before it's gone. Actually it looks like we may stay snowy for awhile. Kyle's hoping he'll walk in to work and get sent home with pay but not have to use his leave----we'll see.

Reese is getting bundled. He has on footie pjs and is getting on his ski bib overalls.

Once we got outside Dad set him down but didn't give him a chance to balance (he really hasn't figured out how to walk in rain boots yet) so he immediately face planted. You can see Dad's legs in the background, no rush to try to save the boy from hypothermia.

Needless to say the boy was not pleased.

He can't even stand up so he's leaning on Dad. He screamed so loud the neighbor came out to see him.

He finally got it together and decided to give "playing" a try. He is way into throwing everything so I thought snowballs would be good, but the whole time I said "throw the ball" he gave me the evil eye. He clearly doesn't see the thrill of the snow. Maybe that comes later when it means no school. Right now he just thinks the the clothes are too bulky and the temperature is too cold for it to resemble fun.

Yum Yum Salad

Reese had his first salad on his own plate. It was just spinach and carrots with Italian dressing. He thought it was Yum-O!

This was taken 12/17/08 even though he has on his Halloween t-shirt. It's comfy and cute and we stayed around the house. After his dinner and salad he went wild racing around the house squealing and laughing. I attempted to get a 22 month old shot, which was fairly difficult since he barely stood still.

BIG BUCKS

I do not have a photo--ugh terrible mommy today is Reese's 22 month birthday. I'll do it tomorrow, but I had to pop over with a little tidbit of shocking info. We were under the ridiculous impression (clearly we weren't thinking) that Reese's speech and OT were 100% covered by the early intervention program. But we (I use that loosely I guess really Kyle made) 4 thousand dollars too much for that to be the case. So Holly Ridge (the place Reese goes) gave us some forms to fill out to see if we qualify for their coverage which covers what insurance doesn't. Apparently their rules are different from whoever would pay if we made $4K less. Part of the form is to break down the charges for each family member: TOTAL medical/dental, then how much the family is responsible for, how much did we pay and how much do we owe. So I logged onto my handy KPS account online and searched all our claims in one easy place....woo hooo! Love it when technology actually works for us because I have been oh so frustrated with Vista lately. Well anyway Kyle and I both accrued less than 2K each including 2 dental visits each, we both had teeth xrays. I had a physical with cholesterol check and stuff and a level 2 ultrasound. Kyle got a zillion flu visits to the prompt care. I feel like we got a lot for our $2k (we paid just under $500 out of pocket for that). Reese on the other hand has accrued ..... are you ready for it.....$55,962.64 worth of medical services this year. SOOOOO happy we have insurance. I did not go through each claim on the 5 pages of claims he has to see what his out of pocket portion has been -- it's too much and too late at night to delve into it. The hospital part of his surgery was a little over 10k and they have still not completed the billing on that so we don't know our part of that yet. I may just do a smidge at a time since I can't really submit my form without that info since it's a pretty big chunk of his total costs. Anyway, just couldn't wait until I had a photo to post to share the whopping total of Reese's health care.

what we did last week

We met with our mommies group at the Belfair Library to do some finger painting and ornament making. We were able to use their room with big work tables for free for a whole hour. They actually let us pick up a key the night before so we could start before they open. Here is Reese painting without his shirt---luckily the heat was a thousand degrees so I could remove his shirt since I forgot to bring a cover up!!

After painting we headed to the salon. The boys are waiting to be called back.

Reese got a Cesar cut. Very big boy like.

This is Yodi's new favorite place in the house as long as Reese is distracted. He's back under the bed one Reese realizes the elusive cat is out in the open. You can see the ugly "hold up the tree apparatus"--probably has an official name. I am ALMOST done the binding on my tree skirt and then it will be covered and pretty.

Here is Reese hanging with Maddie in the snow during the Tree hunt. Acually I think Uncle Travis may be sawing away at the tree during this photo. It started snowing just as we got in the car to head to the tree farm (we like Bacon's in Belfair). We did not get a super lot -- the roads are good, but the yard and rooftops have a nice covering. No rain followed and it has been in the 20s so we avoided the nasty gray slush. We still have a nice white dusting to offset our outside Christmas lights. Notice Reese's hands are up around the elbow region of this coat he got last Christmas, but I was afraid if we didn't pull it out he'd be too big next year. AND it was super cold, way too cold for his denim jacket or fleece, so he appreciated the ski coat warmth. I did refrain from putting on the ski bib pants--thought that may be a little overboard considering it was just flurries.

MPM

Wow, I haven't posted since Monday. I actually have some photos to post from this week too. I don't know if I'm going through a not in the mood to blog phase or if it's really just being to tired. I am reading everyone else's blogs though!! We went to Outback Steakhouse for Kyle's Dad's birthday Sunday, so we'll eat Sunday's meal tomorrow:

MONDAY: teriyaki chicken, brown rice, peas
TUESDAY: butternut ravioli with alfredo sauce---my OB appt and hopefully 10 wk ultrasound
WEDNESDAY: chili (with meat this time) and sticky rice
THURSDAY: spaghetti and meatballs
FRIDAY: Cajun Blackened Chicken penne (this is a frozen thing from costco)
SATURDAY: Hamburgers and sweet potato fries
SUNDAY: leftovers or out
check out more menu ideas at Orgjunkie.

Usually we have salad when Kyle gets home from work at midnight, so Reese is already asleep. Kyle had salad this evening while Reese was still awake (I was still totally stuffed from Outback) and we discovered Reese LOVES salad with italian dressing. He gobbled close to half of Kyle's salad, spinach stems and all. So I think we'll try giving him his own little plate of salad tomorrow.

This week actually did some stuff--finger painting with mommies' group, Christmas tree chopping with Mimi and the uncles, finished Christmas shopping, and we got SNOW!!!