Lesson learned...

So, Christmas presents were late for the parents...my parents, that is, and I try my hardest to find a box they will all fit in. Not too big, not too small, something nice and cozy. The box I wanted was the one sent with presents from my parents to us, the one we used to put all the torn-off wrapping paper into on Christmas day, the one hubby promptly took to the dump the day after Christmas. The post office doesn't have a box the size I want. Neither does Fred Meyer, but I get this bright idea to put everything into a large tote container, one I believe my parents will get a use out of instead of something to be trashed once they've unpacked it. And I think to myself that in the log run I am saving money...why it should cost less to send one box then a bunch of little ones.

I proudly take my tote home, meticulously load up everything into my tote while my hubby laughs at me and how particular I can be. I carefully wrap it in brown paper only to find out a much easier and better way to do it at the post office...just wrap tape around it and send it as is...only I'm apparently too smart and make things so incredibly difficult that I can't think of something as simple, quick, and easy as just putting tape around it. Not only that, but the size of it ended up costing me $10 extra to ship it. Instead of waste more time and have the presents arrive even later than they already are, I decided to send it as it was worth the money not to have to take another 2 hours going home, repacking everything in smaller boxes, driving back to the post office in minus 40 degree weather, standing in line for 40 minutes all over again just to save $10.

So, lesson learned. Smaller and more is better in the eyes of the post office. Hopefully, you'll learn from my lesson instead of having to learn it the harder, but more fun, way!

Lucas ~ 3 years old December 7th

Finally, pics from Lucas's 3rd birthday party. Lucas has gotten WAY too many presents this month. I think we are going to instill a new rule...ok, we ARE INSTILLING a new rule right now. One present per person is allowed and no more! From his friends, he got moon sand (VERY cool, by the way!), Percy train, fish puzzle, Thomas toolbox, and dinosaurs. From his extended family, he got a medium sized monster truck, clothes, more train stuff, a dance pad, puzzles, etc. I can't seem to go on, which is the reason for the new found rule. Enjoy the "scrapbook" I've put together for you. On the last page, there is a little "happy b-day video"...very cute! A note on the cake...it was completely allergy-free (well, not completely...the black frosting for decor was not Lucas-friendly, as we would call it, but the majority was!) and tasted VERY good! I would even go back for seconds if I didn't have to set an example for the little ones! Unfortunately, Lucas couldn't have part of the face like he wanted due to the black frosting :( HAPPY BIRTHDAY,LUCAS! WE LOVE YOU!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day...My lucky parents are in Mexico right now, so I am trying my best to keep in touch with them and everyone else at the same time. Hope you are having a great time! Christmas so far has been an adventure! It began with Alana waking up at 1am, then both little ones waking up around 3am, Lucas waking up again at 3:30 and us bribing him to stay in his room if he gets his Christmas lights back. Then both little ones getting up around 7am (not bad...) and hearing Lucas scream to keep the lights off when James turns on the dining room light. It didn't help when Lucas attempted to turn off the light, but couln't quite reach it yet, which frustrated him even more. Needless to say, it was a picture perfect start to Christmas Day, but it's beginning to get quite a bit better since Lucas is filling his tummy with red, green and white pancakes! Unfortunately, between Lucas's mood swings this morning and trying to get Alana to open presents, we took absolutey NO pictures! Unbelieveable! James did get some video footage and we'll try to take some pics throughout the day.

Alana's favorite present is the learning cell phone that we got for Lucas (which he hasn't even taken a second look at!) as well as the blanket I made her. Very cute.

Lucas's favorite present at first was the Thomas train barn that Grandma and Grandpa Castleberry got for him...after about 30 minutes he suddenly packed it up madly, insisted he didn't want it anymore and put it on the counter where it is still sitting. Right now, his favorites are the medium-sized lego blocks James got for him as well as the bath boat that Grandma and Grandpa Castleberry got for Alana. We are lucky a lot of these toys can be enjoyed by both kids!

Katie's favorite present is a star wars comic pack with a couple figures as well as the many toe socks she recieved from both us and Dan and Becky (my parents). Also, part of Christmas this year is James and I taking Katie to Disney World in March, which we are combining with a visit to James' parents and other family members. Lucas and Alana will get to spend 3 fun-filled days with Grandma and Grandpa Castleberry while the 3 of us are enjoying a little vacation to Disney World, MGM Studios and Epcot. The day before we leave, we will all be visiting Sea World (we get in free!!! Military rocks!) and enjoy some of the sights and sounds for a few hours or however long the little ones can manage to hang in there.

This year, the Morgan family (i.e. mom, dad, kerri, sunny, james, katie) decided to draw names and make a present for the person we drew. Dad made James these BEAUTIFUL poor-boy sticks! Dad, you are amazing! Dad should definitely start a poor-boy stick-making business! I'll be happy to join in and make some as well :) Mom made me some great cards for me to use! The maker is always more critical than the gift-reciever and I LOVE them! I think they are great, Mom! She also made me a cute pair of earrings. Katie is still waiting to recieve hers (hint, hint, hint). But I can't exactly talk because Dad and Mom won't recieve theirs until they return from Mexico...

Today, we are looking forward to ending the day with a Christmas Calzone/Pizza evening with some friends here at the house. We made homemade Calzones/Pizzas last year and we liked it so much that we've decided we are going to make it a family tradition!

Alana Update

So....I didn't really keep my promise of keeping up the blog very well...obviously. What can I say? So, here are a couple videos of the two little ones. The video of Alana in the snow is TOO CUTE! She loves to be outside walking around. This was taken of our first time in the snow with her at about 0 degrees. It was fun and Alana really enjoyed it.

Alana in the Snow


Alana is now in her crib in Lucas's room, i.e. their room. She goes to bed SO easily now...she has some milk at bedtime and once she is done we put her in her crib with some music and leave the room, door shut behind us! How different it was with Lucas...He always HAD to be rocked to sleep...She does still get up about once per night to have more milk, but goes right back to bed after that. Sometimes Lucas and Alana wake up and talk to each other...so cute! We'll go in after a few minutes and Lucas will yell out with the biggest smile "We are talkin' Mommy [Daddy]!"

Below is a video of Lucas and Alana sliding on the slide we have downstairs...one of James' band buddies gave us that and it saved us last winter! And it is saving us again this winter! Lucas and Alana love to climb and slide on it every few days or so...so nice when it's dark out most of the time we are home with them. During the weekends when it gets light out in the middle of the day, Lucas will tell us it's time to go shopping because it is light out...very funny.

Lucas and Alana sliding on the slide


So we are trying a new strategy with Lucas...every time I get on the phone with my mom she always gets to hear of Lucas's latest whining or yelling or hitting or screaming fit or...you get the picture...So I've finally picked up a book. At the beginning I thought I was at least doing some things right...well, according to the Love and Logic books, I sort of was...there was more I was doing not right, though. So we've put some of the ideas into action last night and this morning and so far, so good! For example, Lucas decided to whine and wipe his peaches off the plate I put them on onto the table and insisted on wanting to put them on a pink plate rather than the blue plate I asked him to put it on. I instantly scooped him up stating (with lots of empathy) that it was so sad that he would have to have some room time and not get to eat lunch yet. So I put him in his room not saying another word and stood outside his door for about 15 minutes before he calmed down. I then opened his door (yes, he did try to come out but I just held the door shut...), gave him a big hug, told him I loved him and asked if he was ready to eat at the table (earlier he insisted on eating in the living room). I said nothing more, no lectures, nothing. Lucas came calmly out of the room, immediately picked up his peaches and put them onto the blue plate and proceeded to eat his lunch without another incident!!! I was absolutely shocked, pleasantly surprised, and very pleased.

Bull moose we had right outside our house the other night! It actually walked within an arms-length away while he was standing in the doorway with the cameras!!! Scary, but so cool!


We'll be putting a video of Katie's latest main part in her Christmas play shortly. She did great on her Math final ALL ON HER OWN! Without any help she got an A on her math final! We were amazed and she was pleased. Overall, she got 3 A's and 3 B's and we'll be going to a report card movie during the break. She always enjoys those.

More to come...Lucas's b-day pics..he is 3 years old! And more miscellaneous pics as well. Love to all!

November Update

So, it's been awhile...a bit hectic and crazy again...trying to pay off those bills we accrued during the past year with me in school! I've taking a rather good paying position after school for 2 hours M-Th with an elementary after school program! I work with 2nd and 3rd graders helping them with homework. I got my first hug yesterday afternoon from a kid named Elijah! That has been a good change from high school...instead of getting the worst sub award on a daily basis (someone in high school is BOUND to hate you at some point during the day!), I get smiles and hugs. So that has been fun.

We are currently in the process of letting Alana cry it out at night. She's done really well! Last night was her 2nd night sleeping completely through. The night before I actually got up and rocked her for a bit in the living room. Lucas has been in our room (since they share a room...) so that he can sleep through Alana's crying (which only occurs sometimes and not for very long). Before, he would be in his room while she cried and would yell "Stop crying Alana!" On his more understanding days, he might say "It's ok Alana, it's ok...". We should be able to move Lucas back in there this coming weekend.

Other Alana updates...she
-likes climbing on chairs now
-uses chairs/step-stools to get to something higher
-brings books to us to read with her
-will get dressed willingly if she thinks the clothes we have for her are "pretty"
-will run from us if she doesn't want to wear what we've chosen
-will choose pajamas to wear if given two choices
-njoys wearing regular shoes
-sleeps mostly through the night for over 10 hours at a time
-is almost on just one nap per day

Lucas is still working on potty training. He'll keep his underwear dry if he has them on, but as soon as he gets a pull-up on, it's all over and he doesn't go on the potty chair. He still won't poop in his potty chair and comes to us to say "Can you turn the light on in my bedroom so that I can poop?" He says it SO sweetly and it is SO funny when he does! He'll go into his room, shut the door and come out about 30 minutes later...If Alana is in there, he insists on going downstairs for that time alone.

Lucas...
-LOVES reading books!
-can put a 35 piece puzzle together by himself
-can put a 60 piece puzzle together with help (he LOVES puzzles!)
-would eat oatmeal every meal of the day if we let him
-still loves gatorade like nobody's business
-Loves to run and run and run and run and run and run and run...get the picture?
-loves play-doh and legos

Katie is still working away at school. She's in drama this winter again and is excited about the play coming up in December. They've got drama practice pretty much every afternoon, so we barely get to see her except for the weekends! She is really looking forward to Thanksgiving and making pumpkin pie!

I'll put pictures up next time around, as well as 7 strange things about me...I've been tagged by Brianna. I, too, informed by hubby that I was rather normal and he just laughed really loud...so I guess that means I'm not "that" normal. One of my strangenesses I must take a picture of because words cannot explain it very well...so, until next time!

Happy Halloween!

This year Katie was "Lucy" from the Charlie Brown comics, Lucas was a train engineer, and Alana was a pirate. Alana was supposed to have a pirate hat on, but her head was actually TOO big for the hat! We took Lucas and Alana to the UAF Museum where they had different activities for the kids. Lucas was fascinated with the butterfly house that had live butterflies flying around. Alana loved just running everywhere! Katie had two parties to go to. One at Access Alaska where she worked last summer and one at her friend, Lexi's, house in the evening. She had a really good time. No trick-or-treating this year. Since Lucas can't really eat any of the candy and Alana is not old enough, we figured we could save that for the next year.


A picture of Katie and her friend, Lexie.

Katie's Bowling

Katie had her Special Olympics local bowling competition this weekend. She bowled a total of 9 games and her scores were: 84, 90, 112, 85, 85, 78, 82, 120, and 87! Go Katie. This is the first year that Katie has bowled over 100 and she is very excited about it. Katie has bowled over 100 quite a few other times this season as well. We may need to actually get her a heavier ball next year...Katie got two 1st place awards and one 2nd place award. The picture is of Katie and her team mates...she is such a little poser!



p.s. Lucas spent most of the day in dry underwear! Go Lucas!