It's over already???

I despise the week after Christmas!! I feel like a little kid with anticipation before Christmas but then when it's over it's so depressing!! What's even worse is that I usually leave my tree up until New Years Day but it is so droopy and pathetic looking, dropping pine needles all over the floor.. I'm thinking I'm going to have to take it down tomorrow! Sad.. Oh well.

Jay's Mom spent the week of Christmas with us and we had a great time. We celebrated Christmas Eve on the 20th and had our Christmas the next morning because the boys were with Ken on Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we had a huge dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing etc and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. We also watched The Christmas Story, played Yahtzee and made gingerbread houses with Ike and Jake. It was a great day and what made it even better was that we had wrapped presents ahead of time so all we had to do was put them around the tree!! It made for a pretty relaxing day overall! Christmas morning was great as well. We spent the day opening presents, opening toy packages(why do they make them so difficult), playing and eating. The kids were all very happy with their presents... Isaac got football gloves, clothes, movies, cds, books,a PS3 NCAA game that he is obsessed with, a really cool chair to play his video games in from Grandma Linda and a million other things that will keep him busy for months! Jake got the 'biggest Nerf gun ever made', clothes, a remote control dinosaur, movies, an AC/DC cd that he loves, video games, and a chair like Ike's from Grandma. Sophie got a Baby Alive sips 'n' slurps, barbies, a dollhouse, some really cute clothes, books and all kinds of other girly things. They definitely scored.

On the real Christmas Eve the boys were with Ken so Jay, Linda, Sophie and I went out for chinese food. Sad huh? No.. it was actuall really nice. We sat around all day watching movies (Sophie's and ours) and ate ourselves sick. Jay's Mom gave me Mama Mia for Christmas and I hadn't seen it yet. I loved it! And the best thing is that Sophie loves it too and is obsessed with the music. We have watched it about 6 times already. I think Jay is ready to hide it.

Jay's Mom went home yesterday and we are always sad to see her go but are so grateful that she takes the time and spends the money to come and see us. I know it's not cheap to fly here from Boston but we love having her visit! She is so helpful and so much fun to have around!! She and Jay worked all day on Monday gettting our baseboards all finished! They look fantastic! Thank You Linda!!

That about sums everything up!

Hope everyone had as peaceful and relaxing a Christmas as we did and that everyone has a wonderful New Year!!

Riss

My brother Jon came over on Friday night to take family pictures... Between Sophie and Jake coughing up a storm and acting a little out of their minds it was a little chaotic but I'm really happy with the way they turned out!!

Happy Thanksgiving....

I can't believe how quickly Thanksgiving goes by! We spent the day at Jon and MaryBeth's house. The food was incredible!! Especially the sweet potatoes with caramel sauce that MaryBeth makes and the company was even better but we missed all of our family members that live outside Utah!! I wish we could all get together every year!!

I am so grateful for SO many things.. I can't even begin to list them all but I am so unbelievably grateful for my husband!!! How many women can say they have a husband that does laundry almost every week (washing, drying, folding and putting away) without being asked or guilt tripped into it? Or a husband that will watch a chick flick with as much enthusiasm as me! He is so thoughtful and sweet and I am so lucky to be able to wake up to my best friend every single day! I can honestly say I love him more every day!

I am also SO grateful to have the three sweetest kids on the planet! They each have such unique personalities and bring so much joy to my life. I know that sounds cliche but they truly make my life SO much happier and I am honored to be their Mom!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Now on to Christmas!!

M

My perfect morning!

Jay's alarm goes off at 4am and he is usually so good at being stealth as he gets ready in the morning so he doesn't wake any of us up but this morning he knocked something off the dresser and it scared me out of my peaceful sleep. If I was a normal human being, it would be fine and I would just turn over and go back to sleep but because I'm a freak of nature I tossed and turned until finally giving up the fight and getting up. Sophie was up at 5:30am and I was so glad that I had been up and that I was alert because usually when she is up this early, I stumble to her room (without turning on lights) grab her and pull her into bed with me without saying a word and we fall back to sleep. But this morning I went in and got her and she smiled at me and said, "I'm thankful for my Mama"... I about died.. Is this what I've been missing every morning when I'm half asleep as I drag her into bed with me? I scooped her up and covered her with kisses and we snuggled and talked in my bed (fully awake) for an entire HOUR before she asked for breakfast or wanted to play! Without even knowing it, she gave me the perfect start to a day! I am so lucky to have such sweet kids!

M

Sharpies and Drillbits....

Jay was doing laundry last night and we are always amazed at what we pull out when we are emptying the pockets of Jake's pants. We have found the following items in the past: screws, paperclips, rocks, clumps of dirt, old candy, a football mouthguard (even though he is done with football), pencil lead, ace bandage,sticks, tree bark.. and last night Jay emptied the pockets and announced that he found Sharpies and drillbits this time. We are lucky because most of the time we find the stuff before it goes through the wash but we have had a disaster or two. The mouthguard listed above was one of the unlucky ones and came out looking like a big wad of chewed up gum.
M

Tea Time

We have been a little cooped up because it has been so cold so Sophie and I have had several "tea parties"... which basically consist of Sophie setting out all of her dolls and animals and serving "everyone" strawberry tea. In the first picture it was so funny because she crouched down and asked "everyone if they liked their tea and if they needed cream or sugar." It was pretty sweet..

M

Halloween 2008

My posts are a little out of order but.... OH WELL.. Here are my little ghouls on Halloween. Sophie was a butterfly, Jake was a freak, Ike was a firefighter and Jay... I'm not really sure but he definitely scared me! We had a great night. Much to Jay's disappointment (because I made my own birthday dinner) I made pork roast, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce for dinner.. and we took the kids trick-or-treating.. I thought Sophie would only last for a few houses but she was a die hard. Isaac complained because his "gear was too heavy" and Jake called him a wimp but overall it was a good night and we had a lot of fun and overate on dinner, candy and later that night, Jay and I ate chili, cornbread and sugar cookies that Jodi gave us. YUM!! We felt sick when we went to bed but it was worth it! Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

M

Whoa.. too high

Whoa.. too high
Originally uploaded by MarissaVanNoy

This was at the park .. She would beg to swing higher and higher and then as she was coming down she would panic a little.. It was hilarious!

Flying high B&W

Flying high B&W
Originally uploaded by MarissaVanNoy

Jay and I were playing with Sophie outside and I grabbed the camera because she was laughing her head of when he threw her in the air.

I smell the Holidays!

Is it weird that when I think of Thanksgiving and Christmas I can smell cider, turkey and Christmas trees? I LOVE this time of year! I break out my Christmas music right after Halloween and I have to force myself not to get out the Christmas decorations right now! Jay hates when I decorate too early! I had our Halloween decorations out in the middle of September and he thinks I'm crazy! But my justification is this.... if I don't decorate early then I only get to enjoy the stuff for a short period of time! My saddest day is right after New Years when everything has to come down and I have to put my Christmas music away! I don't love the Holidays because of presents... let me just make that clear. In fact most years Jay and I don't even buy for each other anyway... Here are the things that I love about the Holidays...
1. I love love love Christmas music! My favorites are when current artists remake Christmas oldies!
2. I like that I can threaten my kids with the idea that Santa may not come if they don't do what I ask. (I know it sounds evil but hey I can only use it for about 2 months out of the year so leave me alone.)
3. I love sitting in the living room in the dark with the little white lights twinkling on the tree! (especially when there is snow on the ground outside).. there is something about this that is so peaceful and comforting.
4. I love Thanksgiving! I love being with family, I love eating until I feel completely ill and not feeling bad because that's what you are suppose to do on Thanksgiving right?
5. I love the smell of warm cider... ( I rarely get around to making it but I bought the Salt City Spiced Cider candle.. almost the same thing)!
6. I love tucking my kids in on Christmas Eve and I love the fact that it is SO hard for them to fall asleep!
7. I love seeing their little faces on Christmas morning (around 5AM... I even love that they get up that early).. I always tell them to try to sleep in but I am secretly hoping they will come in and get me really early! I almost anticipate this as much as them and I even have a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve!

I could go on and on and on but I will spare those of you that are reading this!
I'm going to go light my Spiced Cider candle and turn on some Christmas music while Jay is at work!

XOX M

Thank You Linda.....

Jay's Mom came in to town a couple of weeks ago and saw our bedtime routine with Sophie.... it consisted of me or Jay reading books with her and sitting next to her bed while singing songs or "telling stories" until she fell asleep... then we would have to creep out of her room like undercover agents so we didn't wake her up.. after we got out of her room (sometimes successfully sometimes not so much) we had to slowly shut the door with the knob turned so we didn't make a sound and risk waking her only to have to start the entire 20-120 minute "routine" over again. The person that ended up putting her to bed that night came out of her room looking like a zombie from sitting in the dark all that time ready to kill anyone that made a sound from that point on. Jay's Mom suggested maybe putting Sophie in her bed and letting her cry for just a minute and see if she will stay in there and get herself to sleep. She is two years old after all. She needs to learn how to do that at some point right? So we tried it. The first night, it took about 20 minutes and she was out.. (and slept all night) the second night maybe 5 minutes and every night after that it has been a breeze! Are you kidding me? So... Thank you Linda for giving me that extra push I needed to get my daughter to sleep on her own so that I could actually have some time to myself or with my husband and my boys! Sophie is so much happier in the mornings and I don't dread bedtime anymore! We love you! xoxo M

I am not a good BLOGGER.....

I was never good at keeping a journal or a diary... I would get a new one and get all excited and as soon as I went to make an entry, I would freak out and be overwhelmed because I felt like I had to catch up on every detail of life up until that moment. So... I ended up writing something stupid and putting the journal down not to open it until several months later when I would have the same sense of panic.. It was a vicious cycle and I am feeling that way again. I'm not going to try to catch up on everything I haven't talked about. I am just going to blog when I can and that will just have to be ok. Alright? Alright....

Football season for Isaac and Jake is almost over and I am counting the days! It's not that I don't enjoy seeing my kids run around in the freezing cold, getting yelled at by coaches and struggling with the grueling 4 day a week practices.. I just really can't wait to have a night that consists of something other than the following...."Get your homework done... I'm sorry you are upset that you don't have time to play but you begged to sign up for football so you are going to have to just deal with it until the end of October.. I know you are tired and that it is cold outside but get your homework done, shove that dinner down your throats and get your equipment on because it's time for practice.." and then later when we get home from practice... " get your equipment off, take a shower, shove a snack down your small throats and get n bed so we can get you to school on time in the morning.. and hurry up." AHHHHHH!!! That's why I am counting the days. I have to admit though, it has been fun to see my boys play in their games on Saturdays and see them make a really good catch or tackle... Especially because the looks on their faces when they do this is priceless!

I will add more later... I won't promise that it will be tomorrow or even next week but it will get done "at some point" (that is my favorite line.)

M

Ike 3-08

Ike 3-08
Originally uploaded by PhotosbyRiss

Ike recovering....

His favorite spot to recover was in our bed of course. He watched about 15 movies the first week. He was very brave throughout the whole ordeal and it was kind of fun to have him home with me!

Scooter accident

Scooter accident
Originally uploaded by VanNoy2008

Isaac was riding his scooter in March and fell. He landed right on the handle bar which resulted in a lacerated spleen. This is about a week after the accident. He was in the hospital for a day and a half and was on bed rest for 2 full weeks. What a nightmare. He is now starting to be able to do normal things but won't be able to skateboard (much to his dismay) for a few more months.

Sophie and Jake

Sophie and Jake
Originally uploaded by VanNoy2008

Sophie and Jake have a really special bond. Jake will spend hours playing with her and reading to her. They are best buds!

Going walking 4-08

Going walking
Originally uploaded by VanNoy2008

Sophie wanted to take her Horton for a walk but got tired of pushing the stroller so Jay carried it and held her hand. I love this picture!

Jake and Sophie

Jake and Sophie
Originally uploaded by VanNoy2008

Happy Valentine's Day! 2/14/08