A human feeder?

Who doesn't LOVE this yearly tradition of making homemade bird feeders out of pine cones and peanut butter? It's a bit messy, but oh so fun! The biggest problem we had: keeping little brother from eating the bird seed!!!

Since little brother wanted so badly to eat the bird seed, we decided to make 'human feeders'. With a little imagination and of course, some sugary sweets, we invented 'human feeders':

All of life's problems can seriously be fixed with a little peanut butter....

The yearly outing for the tree...

I like to think of myself as the more adventurous one and my husband as more of the realist. The past couple of years, we've gone to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree. Those places tend to be expensive, I know -- but I like the experience of it -- making memories. This year, I told my husband that I would let him choose where to get the tree. I found some cheaper, great farms on-line that weren't too far from us and let him look at the websites. But, since I did say I would let him choose this year, I wasn't too surprised when he told me we were going to to go Menard's to buy a tree! Oh well, I guess next year will be my year.

The kids look excited -- they don't really know what they're missing by just going to Menards to buy a tree...

It does look lovely in our living room, I must say.

No matter where we bought the tree, the experience of choosing the tree, bringing it home (without catastrophe!) and decorating it was well worth each moment! (even though I'm convinced that the needles are falling out left and right like crazy because it was a pre-cut tree and not officially 'fresh'! Oh well, at this point we only have 2 more weeks to keep it standing in one piece.)

The most wonderful time of the year, huh?

We have hit full-blown '2 year old attitude' at our house! When he's in his mood (typical development, I'm told) nothing, and I mean, nothing can make this kid happy. He has this screetch that he makes when big sister looks at him, when mommy or daddy look at him or when the cat walks past him. It takes all of our energy to not laugh, scream, cry or lock him in his bedrood when he's in one of these moods. But, you know what the funny thing is -- we still love him to pieces!

Then, there are wonderful moments when big sister and little brother play nicely together, bond in ways only siblings can bond....

Look at big sister -- so proud and happy to be sitting on santa's lap -- I wonder why little brother is so upset? He hasn't learned yet that this large man with the red suit can bring him some wonderful toy on Christmas Eve....he'll learn someday...

It's all about perspective...

Sometimes in life you feel like you have been dealt a horrible hand in cards. There are serious hardships we all face -- whether is with our health (or the health of our family/friends), our relationships (in our marriage, family or friends), our children, our finances, our employment (or lack thereof), etc. But, then that moment comes along to help you put it into perspective.

Today, I took our 1997 SUV into the mechanic to have the 'check engine' light looked at -- oh and the 'brake' light was on too -- oh and the 'air bag' light is lit too. Anything else wrong? So we go to a trusted, small mechanic who was referred to us through friends this past summer and he saved us $200 when fixing our exhaust piping. So, he took a look this morning and said to me, "well, your rubbing metal against metal on the brakes and it's not really even safe to drive out of here". Not exactly what I was hoping to hear -- I was hoping that I could make an appointment for next week, get a couple of other quotes and be settled with the fact that we either need to get new brakes or get a new car. Looks like there is no 'thinking' about anything at this point -- it's not safe to drive and I drive myself and 2 kids around all day, all week, every week. The grand total: $900 plus tax -- OUCH!

As my car sit in the shop getting new brakes I called around and got some verbal quotes: $1200 from another place -- okay, I guess $900 isn't so bad, right? Getting a 1997 vehicle services is like playing the lottery -- how long will the car last at this point, is it worth getting fixed just to have the engine blow next week (I hope I didn't just jinx myself!) or get it fixed and it will last us another year? We will pray for at least 6 months.

As I started feeling bad for myself -- such a large expense right before the holidays....what am I going to cut back on so we don't feel that $900 so much....how many more hours can I work to make up for that $900......

Then, I decided to go for a run and get a fresh perspective and boy, did God speak to me or what! As I was running, I saw a pregnancy test that someone threw out their window -- maybe they didn't get the answer they wanted? And then it came to me -- a fresh perspective -- the stress of $900 to fix the brakes on my car is nothing compared to the thought of an unplanned pregnancy at this point in my life and at this point in our family. Whether or not the owner of that pregnancy test wanted it to be positive or negative didn't matter to me -- what matter was that it wasn't my pregnancy test.

It's all about perspective....

Who's the Big Boy Now?

You know they always say that potty training boys is harder -- well, we might be able to prove them wrong soon!
Here, Little Brother sits on the potty @ daycare - so proud of himself, huh? He's now obsessed with the potty -- he enjoys the flushing most!

What am I running from?

This past May, I decided I needed to do something to get in shape and exercise (okay, at least get active) and I thought, "wouldn't it be nice to run?". Now, I've never been a runner and I still don't claim to be a runner, but I'm trying....

We decided as the "heads of household" of "We Are Reilly" that we would do this together -- something we could do as a couple and spend time together. It started off well -- we ran in a local 5K and our in our first race, we only walked once (that was because there was this massive hill the last 1/2 mile and I just couldn't' fathom running up it!) and our time was ~34 minutes! It was such an exhilarating feeling to complete that race, we decided to quickly find another 5K to run and started looking on-line for other local races. At this point, I still wasn't sure I enjoyed running, but I was starting to see how running helped me lose that baby weight (and since the 'baby' was 1, I thought it was about time!).

I get really excited about scheduling a race and keep thinking that I will one day enjoy running and I will just go out and run a 1/2 marathon (my goal in the next 1-2 years) with ease, but at about then 1.5 mile mark, I start re-thinking my running euphoria and I say to myself, "why would I ever want to run, this really isn't very fun".

Enough time had past that I had forgotten how hard running really is and I had that image in my head once again that I might be a good/fast runner someday. (The concept of running isn't difficult, it's the training your heart and lungs to get into a running rhythm).

So, we scheduled some more races....

Our 2nd 5K, I ran in 35 minutes -- kind of disappointed that I was slower. The 3rd 5K of the summer: 32 minutes and the 4th 5K: 30 minutes!!!

Now, despite running our fastest time, I cursed my husband the ENTIRE race, "I hate running, why are we doing this, I think I'm not going to run ever again, I can't see the finish line, I will have to run for an hour at this rate" (and on and on and on). God bless my husband for sticking by my side as I ran -- you see, he could probably run a 5K in 25 minutes, but my slow feet keep him back.

Now that the weather has been getting cooler and the sun fades away so early in the night, we haven't had a chance to run together in the evenings like we were in the summer. We have a race scheduled next Sunday and you know what -- I actually motivated myself to run 3 times in the last 2 weeks alone -- something I never thought I would do. I'm not highly motivated to exercise -- I find lots of other things to do before I need to exercise, but that's something I'm working on in my life.

So, once again I will go into the race with a wonderful mindset of "I think this time I will REALLY enjoy the race and maybe I'll even find running easy".....but, we all know what happens at mile 1.5....

It's the grey hair...

It was a long night last night -- after Trick-or-Treating and getting the kids to bed LATE -- 8:30PM on a school night...that's pretty late for us at our house! Little Brother woke up at 10PM coughing, choking and gagging on post nasal drip. We did everything possible -- the humidifier in his room, sitting in the bathroom with a hot shower running (for 20 minutes), rocking him, rubbing his back, giving him Tylenol.....but, still he was miserable. So, I sat up with him until 12:45 and I just couldn't do it any longer and put him to bed (after propping up his mattress) and he finally fell asleep!



So, this morning after dropping Big Sister off at school, I decided I was going to scour the Target children's cold aisle and find SOMETHING to help us! I was looking for the Vick's vapor rub last night and couldn't find it anywhere -- I looked for a good 1/2 hour for that little jar. Lo and behold -- it was in the diaper bag and I found it while I was picking up another jar at Target today! I also found some sort of 'honey elixir' that's safe for infants.



After gathering a couple of items to ensure that we will sleep tonight (got some wine ready for mom and dad!), I decided to take a quick look through the on-sale Halloween items. As we were looking (and Little Brother continuing to cough/choke), I run into a fellow mom @ Big Sister's kindergarten. She's very sweet and says, "oh, it looks like you did drop off too and then headed to the clearance Halloween just like me!".



I chuckled and then realized my fate -- here I was, standing in Target with a fellow mom (I don't know any of the other kindergarten moms that well) and as I came to my senses, I realized it -- MY GREY HAIR!



The pajama pants, long-sleeved shirt I wore to bed the night before, the snot-nosed-coughing-gagging-choking son with obvious food and dried boogers all over his shirt/coat, the dried boogies on my shirt didn't bother me....my hair pulled up into a pink sparkly rubber band I found in Big Sister's draw didn't bother me either, the fact that I hadn't taken a shower and probably smelled not-so-fresh didn't even bother me. It was ALL THE GREY HAIR that was visible with my hair pulled up in the sparkly pink rubber band that bothered me the most!



I was mortified to the point that I rushed home and after getting Little Brother down for a much-needed nap, I pulled out the box of hair dye and went to town! Now, I feel much better -- bring on all the kindergarten moms at pick up -- I'm ready to meet you!

Happy Halloween, 2010

Little Brother in his Halloween pj's -- thanks to Grammy! We have worn these as much as we could before the big night-- and even underneath our costume! I just can't get enough of those little stripped legs.

In years past, Big Sister wanted nothing to do with anything 'girly' of the sort....this year, she's turned a new leaf: Tinkerbell was her costume of choice! We were going to have Little Brother go as Peter Pan, but I was too lazy and he wore a hand-me-down: a dragon.

Big Sister is THRILLED to celebrate Halloween and dress up and collect candy....Little Brother isn't too interested in his costume -- with a little screaming and prompting, we finally got the costume on -- BUT, he wanted nothing to do with standing for a picture!

@ our neighbor's house: "Look mom, I can reach right in here and grab a whole handful of candy - without even looking!"

Big Sister with her LOOT!

First Day of Kindergarten

Another First: First Day of School at the "We Are Reilly" household -- Big Sister!

We choose to send her to a private, all-day Kindergarten program at the local Christian school -- so, we are happy that they get to pray before school begins each morning.

It's a small school, as you can see -- this is the entire student body -- from Kintergarten to 12th grade!

Walking to the car with daddy after the first day....

Yes, we are STILL here!

I know it's been FOREVER since I posted on here, but it's been an interesting journey as we started Kindergarten. It's been about 1.5 months now that Big Sister has been in school and she's loving it! It's taken me that long to get into some sort of groove and I don't really have it down pat yet -- each week changes from the previous, that I haven't had time to sit down and really put energy into this blog (as you can tell!)

So, I am going to try to at least get some photos up -- for those of you who still check this site -- and some stories along the way.

Little Brother is getting not-so-little anymore, but he'll always be my baby. He has a facination with all mops -- here he is at WalMart.....helping them keep the store clean! He also enjoys balls, sticks, golf clubs and tennis rackets.....don't ask me why.

Big Sister just LOVES school -- she is thriving in the structured, all-day environment, it was definitely the right choice to send her to all-day Kindergarten. She carefully picked out all her supplies at the beginning of the year with daddy....he has more patience for that sort of thing than I do.