Read Me a Story

Over the past few months, I have been working with Saffron on spelling words. I'd spell out a word, sign it, and have her say the word out loud. She was getting quite well at it and asking me to spell out other things she would see around the house. Once she got really good at a word she'd spell it out on her own. "No Sebastian it's H-O-T!" Made me smile to see how far she had come over two months. Now that she was getting word hungry, she stated to recognize words in her story books and point them out. "Look mom H-A-T, hat! Mom S-O-C-K, that spells sock!" Today she got out one of her books for me to read to her, and before I knew it she was reading the book page by page on her own, and to make it even more cute, she climbed onto the couch to read to her best dog Snoopy! She would giggle page by page as the funny story unfolded. Makes me wonder what she will read next!

"Hey Snoopy.....Red hat, blue hat, green hat......OOPS....haahahhahah!"

New Year's Resolutions

Things I hope to accomplish in 2012....
bad habits to break,
things to better my self, my life, and my family,
things to do to keep me busy and then some,
and just things I thought of while laying awake at night!

1) Loose 20lbs and try to maintain a weekly work out schedule for myself. Not really sure what my ideal weight goal would be, but I'd like to be more fit then I am now.

2) To finally stop biting my nails. A very bad habit I have had for over hum....30yrs???? I have tried I don't know how many times before, and now I noticed Saffron is doing it too. I hope with me stopping her bad habit won't last as long as mine.

3) To never fall behind in laundry, silly I know. With kids there is always laundry. My goal is to never have it piled up anywhere, and run a load a day if I have to.

4) Stick to my cleaning schedule I set for myself. I have a mental list of the days I normally do things, but sometimes try and do more than I can handle in one day, and with having two kids, can there ever be a normal routine??

5) Clean and d clutter the basement, a task in itself, our basement has somewhat become the over flow on things we don't use on a normal basis....and I must by this August start collecting things for our garage sale, have it organized and in boxes.....wow where should I start??

6) Cook. I know how to cook, but I'd like to get a little more creative with the sweet side of things. My dear sister-in-law Summer and her best friend have a baking blog, and the things they make look great! I'd like to try and make a few nice things for my family and friends. Maybe trying a new sweet treat either once a month or once every two months. I've got the baking books, think it's about time I use them!

7) My life's direction. I know the time is coming, and it's coming up faster than I expected. My son will be 1yr very soon, 17 days to be exact, and I'm looking into going back to school, for what I have no clue. I have been looking into a few different ideas I have written down, and even sent requests to local colleges to get some info on applying. A big step for me, and I hope a good one. I have chose to do classes online so I can still stay at home with the kids, at least for a little while longer. I'll keep you all posted as that goes forward.

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones I choose to be most important to me, and what I want to work on come this New Year. 2011 came and went too quick, and while I kept busy with a new baby, and a busy 3yr old, I want to add to the crazy things we call Life...
so watch and see as I update in 2012
Life is Only Beginning!

Happy New Year Everyone
2012 Here I Come!

Just to Make You Smile....

When it was time to lay Sebastian down for his morning nap, Saffron wanted to be in the same room. I told her no because there was no place for her to sleep since Sebastian would be in the crib, so............


this is where she chose to sleep....

"Come on in mom, got all I need in here....
a pillow, my bear, and some music!"

Sweet dreams.......

Trainee in Training

A week ago today, I decided to step up the potty training with Saffron and use the cloth training pants with her, and eliminate the pull-ups completely except for naps and bedtime. So far it's worked out quite well. She goes #2 in the potty and not in the underwear (yes!), and has occasional accidents, but not nearly as many as she did in the pull-ups. I picked up some new 2 in 1's today, and she was dry for the rest of the day till bedtime. I'd like to think that soon I can put her in the 2 in 1's for nap, but still use the pull-ups at night. She has been getting up in the middle of the night to ask me to take her potty so I know we are making great progress. We will see in the next few weeks where we are at. I'll follow up in another blog in another month!

Till next post here is the trainee......

As you can see, she was having a little fun with the waterproof cover.....

"Hey mom.....these things are neat-o"

"Okay enough of me being silly.....GET THIS THING OFF ME!!!!!!!!"

Christmas Past....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.....
I know my kids did.....
Between Santa, the Grandmas, the Grandpas, the Aunts, the Uncles, the cousins, and the puppies.....our house if full of new cool stuff to play with....
Here are some of the many pictures I took this holiday weekend.....

Sebastian was the 1st one to wake up Christmas morning....
He did not know what to think when he walked into the living room that morning....

"Whoa mom....what are those things??"

He slowly inched his way over to the tree to get a close look...

"Hey mom, let's open all these gifts before everyone else wakes up!!!"

meanwhile......

someone who could care less that Santa just dropped a truck load of things off at her house....

Once Saffron was awake enough to venture out into the living room, she took the first present she saw and began to tear it open....

her very first board game....Candy Land!

The one thing she kept asking for over and over again...

"MY NEW BARBIE HORSE MOM!!"

Sebastian was not really into opening presents, maybe next year....so Saffron was there to help things along....

"Hey Sebastian if you need help, just ask!"




"Looks like daddy has some reading to do........."

Notice Saffron in the distance....she's opening gifts left and right no matter who's they are......

"Um dad?? Why would Santa give me a wine cooler??"

and what Christmas would be complete without a visit from
Santa-paws......

"Ruff....what-did-we get?? Ruff Ruff!"



"WOW mom, all of this present opening is making me dizzy....."



After the present opening we laid the kids down for an early morning nap....soon we'd be having a house full of people...
Grandma and Grandpa Blume, Great Grandma Rezabek, and cousins Rory and Jeff!


In the many weeks before Christmas, I kept asking Saffron how many gifts she would be getting, and she would always reply....

"One!"

Sebastian was completely overwhelmed with all the new presents that were brought into the house....

"What the heck.....um, did I not just open these before my nap???"







a little present in herself....

Something I always wanted for the kids.....

a going to Grandmas bag......

Saffron always gets interactive learning books from Grandma Jo...
today she got a Glow and Trace book....
you trace the letters and they light up!


"Wow look at me Glow......"

A big thank you to everyone for making this Christmas a special one for Saffron and Sebastian....
We love you all so very much,
Jeanna and Derek

Christmas Eve

I would like to wish all my family, friends, and loved ones a very Merry Christmas.

What a way to spend Christmas Eve morning.....snuggling with the ones you love
or....

eating a good breakfast of Cheerios and Bananas!

Tonight we went over to spend Christmas with the Casper side of the family. I wish I would have taken more pictures, it was too much fun seeing Saffron interact with Santa in the comforts of Grandma and Grandpa's home. At first when Santa walked into the door she went running and screaming for me, but after awhile she did calm down and sat next to her cousins and waited patiently for her gift to come out of Santa's sack!

Saffron watching as the rest of the cousins got their gift from Santa, she loved what she got from Santa......a Barbie doll with a baby, that came with a pack-n-play and baby swing!

I guess mom said that if we were to look back at our Christmas cards, they looked just like this....so as the saying goes like mother-like son!

after we got home and the kids were all nestled into bed....
and mom and dad fast asleep....
guess who showed up??

Thanks Santa...........

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.........."

11 months

As I sit back and write this, I still can't believe my last little baby will be 1 yr old next month. I know I have written that before, but I still can't believe it myself. Sebastian continues to change a little each day, and now at 11 months he's doing things I never thought he would be doing till he was much older. I'm really enjoying this stage he is at right now. He's so independent right now and enjoys playing both alone and with his sister. He's still taking two naps a day, one in the morning, and one in the early afternoon. At times he's back up within and 1 1/2hrs, which makes for a very long afternoon for me. He's an all around happy baby, and makes all those around him smile in return. Today while Saffron was at school I taught him "Patty Cake" and "If You're Happy and You Know It", it was fun to see him mock me in return, and he's getting really good at clapping! He has not been saying anymore new words other than "daddy, mommy, baba", but I know he understands other words too, esp when I say "Go get your Nuk, go get a blanket, toy, etc." Saffron has been a real good helper with Sebastian during the day as well. His appetite has increased over the past few weeks, and he's usually done with his meal well before the rest of us and is ready is get down and play. I can't wait till next month when he turns 1. So hard to believe about this time last year I was preparing for him to be born and now I'm preparing him for the world of toddler-hood....

Happy 11 months Sebastian!

"Ya baby, check out all my teeth!"

More pics to follow.....