6 years

The best 6 years of my life!

I love you!

(to the moon and back)

It's a love/ hate thing

running that is!

I hate the lack of motivation I have when it comes to leaving my nice warm house and hot cup of coffee to embark on my 6 mile journey around NE Seattle in the pouring rain.

But, oh how I love the peaceful long, flat stretches with all the views Seattle has to offer

How I loathe that dreaded hill that marks mile four

But man, do I love the morning nap that is sure to result from the rhythmic sound of my feet hitting the pavement

I hate it when my toes go numb from the frigid air

But I do love taking my mind off of that with day dreams of living in houses like these

Anyone that know me and my strollers know how much I hate it when the crows have such perfect timing as to sh** on my beloved Bob. I guess I should love that is didn't hit me!

In the end there is no greater feeling than the power and strength that running gives me. It gives me the energy and patience to be a better mom... at least for the next 10 hours until it is time for bed.

Oh, and she kind of loves it too!

Top ten things heard around the Bugbee's today

10. While discussing birthday present options for me with daddy "hmm, I think we should get her clothes. She buys a lot of them and she really likes them."

9. "Why doesn't Alex have to clean up his toys?"

8. "Mommy, when I woke up my pajamas pants were sweaty" Yeah, no, not sweat!

7. Tyler explaining to me how the babysitter put Alex to bed last night, "Mom, he was feeding Alex in bed and I told him that's not how my mommy does it." I am actually relieved to hear that he is not doing it the way "mommy does it".

6. "Ouch, he kicked me in the peanuts."

5. Tyler said to Nana this morning during a very quite time in church, "I don't like the smell of your breath".

4. "Mom, are we voting for the blue guys or the purple guys? Tyler wanting to know who to root for while watching the Cowboys/Vikings game.

3. Claire, Karsten and Tyler were playing "house" downstairs. Tyler was the dad and Claire was the mommy. "Honey, are you watching football again?" and

2. "Honey, you need to get up and change the baby now." Alex was the baby.

1. Karsten asking me about nursing Alex. "Jen, is he eating crumbs out of your stomach?"

Bad momma!

Yeah, that's just about how I feel these days. I have never claimed to be a perfect mom but this week may be the furthest I have been from such. Give me an infant any day and I am golden. I can do babies any day, all day. It is this certain little 4 year old boy that has rocked my world. I have learned more about myself from this little monster angel in the last 4 and a half years than I ever thought possible. I have learned am learning patience, unconditional love, perseverance, selflessness, forgiveness, letting go, how to play pretned and so much more. Like I said, I am learning and I will continue to learn every day for as long as it takes to be the best mom I can possibly be. I just wish that I knew all the answers. I wish I knew how to raise a successful, respectful, driven and loving son. I wish I knew which battles to choose. I wish I knew when to say yes and when to say no. I wish I knew that I am raising him right in every way. I wish I knew.

I love this 4 and a half year old with all my heart even though at times he breaks my heart. For at the end there is nothing better than hearing those sweet little words "Momma, I love you to the moon and back." It reassures me that, today, I didn't screw up too much because you still love me.

I love you bugs, to the moon and back!

(even when you don't let me take your picture!)

I'm gonna miss this

These are the best moments, those when they think no one is looking.

He is growing up so fast!

Because I love these boys!

Eight months old!

Alex,

Today you are Eight months old!

Each and every day you amaze us with your Icredible personality.

Your giggles bring smiles to our faces, even at 3 in the morning!

You have grown to Hate your belly and therefore are no where near movin' and groovin'.

But mommy and daddy don't mind one biT.

You have become quite the little Mommy's boy,

and never want to be left Out.

You love your Naps and are finally sleeping through the night.

Your momma loves you To pieces and smothers you with smooches daily.

You Have begun to utter some words, "ma-ma" is by far the best!

We are enjoying every Second we spend with you and

thank God daily that you are a part of our family.

Star Wars

Boys and Star Wars... what's with it?

Alex, was less than enthused. At least I still have him on my side. So instead we headed upstairs to do a little playing, and of course, picture taking.

I am loving this almost 8 month old! (Yes, I know he will be 8 months in mere hours, but he will remain "almost 8 months" until January 4th at 1057 am!)

I am so glad that Alex is getting to the end of the horrible cold he has endured for the past week. He ran a temperature of 103.3 for 4 straight days and kept smiling through the whole thing. And although I hated to see him so sick, I enjoyed every minute of snuggles it got me.

Stay tuned for an 8 month post tomorrow!

Snowballs, or something like it

So I got a little Martha Stewart bug in me the other day. I came across a recipe for Snowballs on another blog and thought I would try them. They were cute, tasty and looked relatively simple. This is what they look like

*photo courtesy of McMama*

and this was the recipe

First, baked a chocolate cake, following the directions on the box.

After baking it, cut the cake into six huge chunks and chop it up in a food processor to a fine crumble.

Then, make up a batch of cream cheese frosting.

Combine:
8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
6 T. butter, softened
1 t. vanilla
1T. cream (or milk)
3 cups powdered sugar

add the cream cheese frosting, a half cup at a time, to the cake crumbles (until all the cake is moistened with the frosting and is moldable like dough), combining well with a spatula.
form the cake mixture into balls, put them on a plate and refrigerated them.

While they are refrigerating, melt 2 bags of white chocolate chips in a double broiler. A microwave can be used on medium power if a double broiler is not available.

You can add different colored food coloring to the chocolate if you desire.

Next, place the cake balls on wooden dowels and dip into the melted chocolate, turning to coat. Add sprinkles and WA-LA! There you have it, snowballs.

Well, if only it were that simple...

Baking the cake, yeah I can do that. Crumbling the cake, got that. I think the part where it says to melt chocolate is the first time I ran into trouble

I would suggest using the broiler if at all possible.

Ok, on to the dipping part... well apparently I either did not add enough frosting or did not refrigerate long enough because my cake balls definitely did not want to stay on the dowels.

Then when they stayed on they looked like this

I decided it was time to try the double broiler but by that time I had run out of the white chocolate chips and had to use dark chocolate.

Finally, two hours (I had even baked the cake the day before) and a huge mess later, this was my finished product

Not quite like what I had pictured yet, tasty nonetheless!

I ended up having to place some of them upside down because we ran out of mugs to put them in.

*recipe courtesy of McMama*