Secret Sucess

Most of you who know me know that vegetables are NOT my friends. I am admitting to any of you that did not already know that I have the WORST eating habits of any adult pretty much anywhere. When my kids turn their noses up at veggies I just have to shake my head. I know that I am not being a good example to them as far as eating goes but I can't help it, I hate them. So my loving husband bought me the Deceptively Delicious book for Christmas ( I mentioned I was interested in it) For any of you that don't know this book has recipes that have hidden veggie purees in them that supposedly kids can't taste or even tell are in there. YEAH RIGHT!!!! I totally did not buy that. I am way pickier than most 2 year olds so I thought I would be the best judge of whether or not you could taste it. I wouldn't just say yuck! I would know exactly WHY it was yucky. So..... guess what? Last night my ever so eager husband ( I think he misses actual vegetables in his life) helped me steam and puree butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and worst of all cauliflower (Ewwww) Haley was so repulsed by the smell of the cauliflower that she would not come out of her room the whole night. In her defense it did smell really awful but at least I stayed in the kitchen ( I am a grown up after all, well sort of!) So this morning what did we eat? Little mini egg puffs (( kind of like souffle's)) made with egg whites and SQUASH!!!! It tasted delicious! Haley didn't have a clue and if I hadn't put the squash in there myself ( a very difficult test of willpower for me ) I wouldn't have either. Yeah!!!! It worked, tomorrow I am making chicken nuggets with sweet potatoes in them and for dinner a meatball soup with carrot and squash puree in them. That will most definitely be the most vegetables I've eaten in one day maybe in my life. So there you have it. From the most skeptical person of all... it worked you can get your kids to eat veggies (mommies too). Who would have thought

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a great Christmas day. The kids are still in their pj's and it's 5 o'clock. That tells you we had a great day. The kids slept in (well for them anyway) 7:30 on Christmas morning. That was a life saver considering poor little Avery started throwing up last night about 2:00 and continued every 20 min or so until 5:30. Needless to say Mommy is tired today. Luckily I got a 2 hour nap (Merry Christmas to me). But this is how my day went today. Kids wake up.... open presents... for 2 hours (is that even possible?) Then we played with toys until ummm... now! This is what my house looks like! I took a picture so none of you would think I'm exaggerating. I am sure if you have small kids yours looks the same too ( at least for my sanity I hope it does!)

Haley got her Holiday barbie and she was more than excited that Santa really brought her what she wanted.

Santa left Dylan a note explaining that he ran out of (my size motor cycles and hoped that these cool little cars would be okay. Dylan LOVES his, I guess all is forgiven! I took some video of the kids playing with them. Sorry if you can't see them. The basement is really dark in the morning so it is kind of hard to see.

Well there you have it. Christmas morning in a nutshell at the Cozart's Merry Christmas to everyone, I truly hope you and your family have been as happy and blessed as we feel today!

It's official!

Okay... it's official I am losing my mind. During this time of year I am used to it being crazy. This year however I feel like I am holding on by my fingernails. Maybe it's that I have a 3rd little child to help the others in creating chaos. Whatever the reason I have just lost my second present of the year. First I lost a present for Haley's Birthday. It will forever be lost in the Bermuda triangle that is my house. One present okay.... not totally crazy. It can happen, but I just realized that I have lost a second present. This one is meant for Michael. This is one I was really excited to give to him. I think I have had a recent head injury or something because I can't find it. I don't know if I hid it or wrapped it and put it under the tree. I hate to wait until Christmas morning and then tell him. Sorry..... it's around here somewhere we'll find it eventually I'm sure. I have got to quit thinking of great hiding places I put them there and never see the stupid thing again! Well...I'm off to continue ransacking the house and then unwrap all my presents under the tree. Wish me luck! Bahhh Humbug

Tuesday Tell All

Well, I usually don't participate in the Tuesday tell all, but this one sounded fun so I thought I would join in. The topic was to tell a story of Christmas' past. One of my most memorable Christmas memories was when I was maybe 5 or 6. My 3 sisters and I would wake up repeatedly throughout the night when we were young checking to see if Santa had come yet. We had many years we opened Christmas presents in the very wee hours of the morning. We literally could not sleep until we knew that Santa had stopped at our house. ( I think my sister still takes cold medicine of Christmas eve to help her sleep and she is 27, sorry to divulge your secret Stace! )This particular year we were being especially annoying sneaking out of be ever 20 to 30 min. Now that I am a parent I can only imagine how frustrating this must have been! Well Santa decided to teach us a lesson (sometimes he was a very imaginative man). You see we had two living rooms both with Christmas trees. We only ever used the upstairs living room for Christmas and presents the other was purely for decoration. Well.... anyway "Santa" decided to put our presents downstairs so he would not be spotted during our repeated outings out of bed. Being the persistent bunch of girls that we were we kept right on checking all through the night. Come morning we stood in awe at the empty living room where the presents from Santa should have been. My dad came into the room and told us that he had warned us that Santa did not bring presents to naughty kids that didn't stay in their beds. Well.... of course by now we are all sobbing! We were the NAUGHTY kids who didn't get presents from Santa. After about a half hour of crying my dad suddenly thought of something. What if Santa had gotten confused and left the presents downstairs? We all raced to the basement to see that this is truly what happened. I wish that I had the picture that was taken of my little sister and I clutching our dolls with red puffy eyes and tear stained faces. (It is seriously priceless) We were so thankful that Santa hadn't forgotten the NAUGHTY kids after all. I wish I could tell you we never got out of bed again peeking for Santa.... but that is not the case. Even the very next year we were up looking for the man in Red, but I can tell you this. We were extremely careful!!! I am sure my parents think we never got up again.

This is now one of my favorite memories of Christmas. As a parent it makes me giggle to think of doing this to my own naughty little ones, and also makes me want to punch my dad at the same time. I mean really HOW COULD YOU! I could never have held out when 4 little girls started to cry. But, lesson learned. Merry Christmas to ALL.... even the naughty ones.

Shhhh...I'm singing

So last night was our annual family Christmas party. It is always a good time... the kids love to see everyone and play with the cousins that they don't get to see very often. This year however we did a few things differently. We decided to put together infant humanitarian packages instead of giving each other gifts. It was great! I loved that instead of getting the usual crappy 10$ gift for the gift exchange game we play that we spent the money on something worth while. We also acted out the first Christmas, this year my kids were finally old enough to participate and it was very interesting to see how they acted. Haley got to be Mary and she took the roll EXTREMELY serious. Dylan however was not sure about his roll as a Shepperd. He did not want anything on his head he was positive that Shepperd wore capes instead! After a lot of convincing we got him in costume and he proceeded to run out into the room and try and tear all the other towels from the Shepperd's head. I pulled him aside and explained to him that this was the story of baby Jesus's birth. He instantly CHANGED! He believed that the baby in the cradle was really baby Jesus! I have to admit my chubby little cousin stuffed into the cradle could not have looked any more adorable, but she obviously wasn't the real baby Jesus. The best part of the whole night was when Dylan started to sing to "Baby Jesus" a little lullaby to try and put her to sleep. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. I was amazing to me to see my extremely high strung little son settle down when he thought that was in the presence of Jesus. It made his mommy very proud! Now... try not to laugh at the cubby little legs sticking straight out of the cradle...Babies are supposed to be fat!

We also did a little fishing pond so the kids could fish out some little toys. It turned out to be a great night. Good food, funny kids and family. What more could you ever want.

Birthday Bash

As you already know yesterday was Haley's birthday and all I can say is WOW! It was such a fun day but I am still extremely glad that its over. Between Dylan's birthday, Thanksgiving, Haley's birthday and Christmas I am SOooooooOOOO tired. But we survived and had a great time doing it. We went to Kangaroo Zoo and that turned out WAY better than expected. We carpooled 7 little girls down to the "ZOO" and one little brother. Haley was not thrilled at the idea of having a boy at her all girl party but I told her No Dylan..... No party. She decided it would be great to invite her brother. Hopefully nobody minds that I'm putting the pictures of the kids on the blog. They are way to cute to not. So I guess if they do I will take them off. So here we go.

If you don't know about this place it is full of bouncy things, huge slide, inflatable obstacle courses etc. etc. This is just a few of the pictures I got of the kiddos having a great time (When I could find them)

This is Dylan Climbing to the top of the Slide (he insisted that I race him over and over)

A couple of cuties at the bottom of the slide

This is the other part of the gang, minus the two up above. (And Dylan) Aren't they all so stinkin' cute ?!

Haley and a best bud from birth! How are we so lucky to have such great friends.

Takin' a breather at the bottom of one of the obstacle courses! We had so much fun!

This is everyone falling off of the inflatable mushroom. Michael and I would jump on one side and make all the kids roll off. They loved it!

Yet another cutie pie! Having a good time

We took a break and had some pizza and cake. This is a picture of the cake close up. Haley was insistent that the cake be home-made and have my little ponies on it. (Why does she do this to me?)

The kids were so exhausted... we had to scrape them off the floor to take them home.

That's about it. We headed home after a long day of playing. We had to get home to this little one who was not happy about being left behind! Thanks again to my sister for watching her for me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUG

Well kiddo, six years ago I was miserable! Stuck in a hospital bed not even allowed to roll onto my side. I had been stuck in the hospital for a week and they told me I would be there for the next six weeks as well. I was happily watching Opera. You see I waited all day through stupid day time TV until something half way decent got onto TV. I started to feel "FUNNY" like I couldn't breathe. I called the nurse and she showed up and checked my blood pressure. It was already being monitored every ten minutes with the eternally annoying squeezing pressure cuff. Her eyes got wide and said. You're about to have a baby! I said no.... I'm not. She assured me yes I was, how soon could my husband get here. My blood pressure had gotten so high from the toxemia that it was near the level where you could have a coma. So.... she unplugged my monitors and started to RUN down the hall pushing me in the bed. They let me call daddy and he made it there just in time. 5 hours later there you were. Just as impatient and stubborn as you are today. 6 weeks early only 4 lbs 11 oz. screaming like crazy. You hated doctors as bad then as you do now. They whisked you away to the NICU I didn't even get one look at you. Daddy said I was totally out of it and not doing well, but I don't remember any of that! Finally after my protests to see you for myself they wheeled my whole bed up to the NICU to see you! Do you know what you did? You were lying on your tummy and you did a full push up and lifted your head up and turned it to the side so I you could see me! For a 6 week old preemie on oxygen you were incredibly strong! You shocked everyone in the room. Daddy wouldn't put you down. He stayed almost the whole night in the NICU holding you until they made him put you back in your bed to stay warm! You were supposed to stay there 6 weeks until your original due date be you got to come home after 2 weeks. What can I say you're one tuff little girl! We got to bring you home on Christmas Eve. The best Christmas present I ever got!

Now you're six.... going on 16. Just as impatient and sassy as ever. You still want to do everything on your own without any help. You're the sweetest thing I could ever imaging and other times I could ring your neck. You are so funny... you got your daddy's sense of humor. Keep on being yourself you turned out perfect. Here's to a great day and many more. LOVE YOU! Mom, Dad, Dylan, and Avery

Some of your favorite things this year
1. Favorite Color..... Pink
2. Favorite Toy..... Barbies
3. Favorite Food....Cafe Rio
4. Favorite TV Show.. Zack and Cody
5. Favorite Thing to do... Play with Friends
6. Things you hate ... Cleaning up
7. Favorite Movie... Ella enchanted

Happy Birthday kiddo! Love ya

Happy Birthday Jan

Happy Birthday Grandma Jan!

Look Jan, this whole blog will be done in purple in honor of you!

So.... since I know how much you love for everyone to celebrate your birthday I thought I would let everyone on my blog know : ) Being such a great daughter-in-law it's the least I could do.

Just a couple of Great Things about you!

1. Best Grandma the kids could ever have (Even if you had better competion you'd still win)

2. Greatest Mother-in-Law of anyone I know

3. Can even outshop me! That's saying a lot.

4. Most helpful house guest I could ever wish for

(And Great company to boot)

5. Awesome gift giver (Thanks for the bracelet, I guess thanks for raising a great son too! : )

6. One of the most caring and thoughtful people I know.

I could go on forever... these are just to name a few! I hope that you have a wonderful day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Pink Eye....Yummy!

My usually cute (yet utterly disgusting today) baby woke up this morning with both eyes glued shut! Yep it's the dreaded pink eye. She was extremely unhappy at 5:00 am today when she tried to open her eyes and couldn't! After finally separating her eyelids she was up and ready for they day. So what did we do? Got dressed and headed off to church to put her into nursery of course! Ha ha ha just kidding. That is one of my biggest pet peeves, and probably one of the reasons she has pink eye at this very moment in fact. So we kept our little contagious, green puss oozing, child home with us today. These are a few of the things we did to pass the time while daddy was happily off to church!

She is actually really good for a 1 year old. Good thing... her brother takes mercy on no-one!

After lunch she watched the other kids longingly out the window while they played in the snow!

Sorry kiddo... maybe next time when we get you some boots and you're not sick!

She may have hated this but at least the other kids had a great time out in the snow.

Finally we played with a stray cat that made it in the house somehow. Phew... that's a lot for one day. Now Avery and mommy both need a nap.

Elf Yourself!

My cute little niece sent this to us. It totally cracks me up every time I watch it! I saw it on someone elses blog and thought it was funny.... now I have my very own! Thanks Morgan!!!!

Okay, so if you are having a hard time telling who's who.

Haley is the first one. (Check her shake her grove thang!)
Next is me ( I look like I got a man's body somehow)
Then it's Dylan (his picture makes him look younger)
Finally is Michael (whatever happened to his picture makes his nose look really big. Soooooo. Funny... his nose really isn't big! )

http://portal.mxlogic.com/redir/?1jKOeuhd7aoUQsCQXTpjvpsdw0LftblrzjPTunMB90V55VYQszDXKfCXZuZQrFTjLsTsS7Gw0twmG7wHqDYKrjvd7bNJ54QsK6zCXPybxKVITfM-ub7Xa1J4SCrjKOMOMqemnQPubtkFlD8_FLX

Blahhhhh.....humbug!

So we went in for a check up at the ENT doctor today and what did we find out? Haley still has fluid in her ears! Surprise, surprise, I told the doctor that I don't think she has ever not had fluid in her ears since she was born. So they gave her another hearing test today which of course she failed in her "BAD" ear. The doctor asked me what I wanted to do? Put new tubes in.... or wait it out. How long do we wait it out you ask? Only 6 years, she should be all set by the time she's 11 the doctor says. To this I reply, "well I don't think I would like it if everything sounded like I had ear muffs on for the next 6 years, how about you? So I guess we will be doing the tubes. We wanted to get her in this year for insurance purposes so. Merry Christmas Haley!

I am much more nervous for Haley to get tubes than Avery. Haley really hates anything or anyone messing with her ears! Plus she didn't do very well with the anesthesia the first time, luckily back then she didn't know very many swear words so it wasn't too embarrassing. This time however I am quite sure she has heard a few more bad words and knows how to use them. Haley you see doesn't do well when she comes out of surgery. Last time I could hear her scream all the way down the hall, and using every bad word she knew with as much force as she could muster. Luckily last time the worst she could come up with was "You're Stupid," or "I hate you" I am quite certain that this round will be much much worse. Oh well maybe if I warn the nurses first then they will not get TOO offended!

On the upside we took Avery with us to the Dr. office because she has been pulling on her ears. They checked her out and said everything is fine. I asked why she would pull on her ears and they said they weren't sure. To this Avery answered by pulling on her ears and saying OWWWWWWWW over and over again. This is about the time the nurse and doctor decided they knew the reason for the strange behavior. She wants Attention! Yeah right.... one of my daughters doing something deliberately to get all the attention in the room on her. Never... don't they know them at all? Oh wait... I guess they do. Oh well, problem solved : )

Kids in a Nutshell

I know that you aren't supposed to "label" your kids but what about when they do it to themselves. My three little ones can be each summed up quite nicely in a nutshell.

First we have my Fashion Diva she picked this outfit out for school today and was so proud of herself. I she had it all laid out on the floor (tights and all) so that she would know exactly what it looked like once she got it on. Then she had to decide if it was a "cute enough outfit" she said "I don't want anyone to laugh at me, because I wook wame," that's ..look lame ..to all of you who don't speak Haley. I assured her that she look like a princess which brought the appropriate smiles and giggles.

Next we have me hero.... Superhero that is. All things superhero are his "thing" Notice the spider man posters, PJ's and bedding, that is just to name a few. He loves to save the day and get the bad guys. Unfortunately for my girls usually they are the bad guys and my superhero is usually tormenting them relentlessly! He knows he can run faster than anyone, and of course is so strong "almost as strong as Daddy!" He definitely has the energy of a superhero.... that's what makes him my Dylan.

Last but... never least is my little munch-mouth. This kid is always happy, as long as there is food around. If there isn't food around she'll go find some on her own. I was off assuring the fashion diva that the outfit of the day looked okay... when she decided she wasn't really done with breakfast and would like some more. She did what she always does and helped herself to the pantry. This is where I found her, in the middle of the floor snacking away. Happily of course.... there was food involved.

So there you have it! My kids in a nutshell. All totally different but that's why we love them!

Twas a few weeks before Christmas

Twas a few weeks before Christmas and who do we see?

Unexpectedly at Costco, the "Big Man!" Yippeee

So one by one the kids climb up onto his lap

All the while the kids screaming behind me I wanted to slap

So Haley decides what she wants, A Christmas barbie that is

The only problem with this? "Santa" brought something else for the kids!

Mom has been hoping with every question of" What would you like?"

A different something might be what is wanted by the tyke.

But alas, no luck, what she wants must be all the hype.

Next is Dylan's turn and I am curious now as to what it could be.

We have asked many times, he just smiles and says "We'll see"

So he climbs up and talks to the Big man alone....

When he comes back to me I ask for him to make his wishes known.

A motorcycle he says that is just my size!!!

O Crap... now what? I wonder as I look into his eyes.

He is positive you see now that he has talked to Santa himself

That a motorcycle will be brought to our house by Santa or an elf.

Hmmmm... Now is the questions of millions of parents around

Be reasonable and sensible, or let Christmas wishes abound?

I am not sure which it will be... the mom or the kid in me... which will it be?

Check back in a few weeks and we'll see what was left under the tree.

Why can't they stay little forever?

I am not sure if this ever happens to anyone else in the world or if maybe I am really the only mom who has not learned her child's specific "language." Usually my 4 year old is quite easy to understand, most of the time I have a harder time with my 5 year olds "kid isms" but today Dylan tried and tried to tell me something and I never did figure out what it was otherwise I would happily tell you, someone else I'm sure could tell me what he meant. But it did get me thinking of the funny things that kids say. I thought I would share some with all of you, if for no other reason than making sure I have a record of these funny sayings so in 10 years I don't forget how cute their little voices once were.

1. Dylan switches W for L and in the process always says "Mommy, I want to Lake up Now"

2. Haley on the other had switches T's for S's and in the process says stuff like "Ewww, do you mell that Tinky Tunk?"

3. Dylan calls his ears his EARG's. Why I am not sure.

4. He hates it when someone copies him and always says "don't coffee me"

5. He calls the the ornament on the tree that looks like Rudolph, randolph the raindeerg.

6. He calls chocolate milk "bunny milk" because of the nesquick bunny of the package.

7. Avery is new to the whole talking scene but is quickly coming up with a lingo all her own. She finishes everything with an A sound. She calls Haley- Haya, Dylan is DyA. She has even started calling herself A_ E.

I could probably go on forever, (Haley has a million I just can't think of at the moment.)

I am always blogging about the little things that drive me crazy about having 3 kids under the age of 5. So today I thought I would share some of the things that make me smile and wish they stay little forever.

Ready Set Go!!

Sometimes the creativity of children amaze me. I am not a creative person, really I'm not, I am very literal I always have been I didn't play with dolls, I hated barbies, I liked things I could see that made sense. Lego's for instance... when you stick this one to that one you get this. I am the worst mother possible when it comes to playing with my little girls. The polly pockets and barbies kill me every time! I don't know what the princess should say to the prince, or visa versa. My husband ( who is very creative) is 100 times better than me. Anyway.... this being said, sometimes the things my kids come up with when they're playing blows my mind. For instance last night. It was pretty quiet for a while (never a good thing) Then I heard squeals of laughter. This is always better than screams of terror but sometimes for moms it is a toss up it usually means they are up to no good. Fortunately for me it was nothing bad just hilarious. I am not sure when my kids have seen or heard of gunny sack races, but they had made their own version of this in our hallway. This is how it went. Avery wanted to be in on the fun but couldn't figure out how to hop in a pillow case. She setteled for running down the hall with the other two kids! Like I said, the imagination of the yound is pretty intersting sometimes!

Oh Christmas Tree.....

WARNING - This is a REALLY long explanation of a REALLY long day!

I love putting up the Christmas tree, I am usually bugging Michael starting about the day after Thanksgiving. The whole "real" Christmas tree thing forces me to involve his help. I am not really the type that likes to wait for things and so usually I just do it myself. So I guess it is for the best that I do actually NEED his help for this one. Otherwise he might very well get home and see the tree up and miss out on the whole thing.

This year however for what ever reason... it did not go well. Usually my kids LOVE putting up the tree it is totally a highlight. This year- not so much. We made Haley come home from playing at a friends house and she cried the WHOLE way to the tree lot. Which in turn made Dylan cry. He was mad we didn't have any spider man band-aids at the house (( I know, what kind of mother am I... out of the exact kind of band aids he wants exactly when he wants them. How could I )) Finally I promise him we will stop and pick some up while we are out. This quiets him down but not the girls. Yes, I said girls, Haley is crying so loudly now that Avery has started crying too just because Haley is. (Why didn't I turn the truck around now) So we get to the tree lot, put the kids in gloves and hats and coats ( I am totally proud of myself for not only locating said items but remembering them too) I made no difference what-so-ever, both the older two cried the whole time about how cold they were etc, etc. We get the tree and throw it in the back of the truck. (So this year I was very excited about not needing to tie the tree to the top of the car! ) I now remember that we don't have enough lights to do the tree. I used a couple of strands on another project so we stop at Target so I can get some. The kids are all still crying because they are so cold... so much to Michael's dismay he slows down and I leap from the car like someone escaping from prison and run into the store. I did not want one person in the car to be able to speak the fateful words " I want to come" so I literally lept from the car while in motion and made a run for it. I finally find the lights after a not so pleasant encounter with a Target Team Member! (some team) and search in vain for clear lights. Not frosted, or tinted, etc etc. I grab two boxes and make my mad dash outta there. I get back in the car to face the mad people that I had happily just ditched. Ugggg is it over yet. NO!!!! Now it's after six and if you know my family making any of them wait for dinner is never a good idea. Now we have tears over how hungry they are instead of cold. We head to Smith's to grab a chicken and some STUPID.... spider man band aids! I forgot at the last store and now they are on to me. Well before we get to the store they have all made sure that I knew they wanted to come. (Dang it)


Michael offers to keep Avery with him while he gets gas and I head off with the other two. After many threats and new box of spider man band aids we are out! Yippee. Only to get to the car and find a screaming Avery.... she was not so happy that she was left alone. Yikes, what was I thinking. Anyway, we get home feed the kids. Drag in the dripping wet Christmas tree full of little green beetles I have never seen before. I start putting up the lights (since Michael is HORRIBLE at this and has since been banned from helping) I think that was his whole plan all along. He secretly knew that a couple of years putting the lights on really badly would somehow exempt him from putting up lights ever again. He is so sneaky... either that or REALLY smart. I put up the light and take great care to weave them in and out of all the branches. In doing so I run out of lights.... I am one strand short. I am wondering if I should un do them and stretch them out more when I notice the top strand of lights is out too. I have seriously never had a strand go out before and I am not sure what I should do now. I try to fix the strand and in the process loose a couple of bulbs and ruin some others. When I finally convince my husband to help me fix the lights he is happily reminding me he's banned from. We have no more lights to switch them with. After fresh tantrums from the kids (now mommy too) Michael offers to go back to the store and get some more lights. ( He is so good to me!) Finally after 11 o'clock I have now got all the lights on the tree. So tomorrow after church we can do the ornaments. WOW!!!! We get real trees because Michael loves them so much. After this year maybe he will change his mind. On the bright side, putting on the ornaments went very well today. It was very fun to see my baby help put the ornaments on the tree. I am sure one day we will laugh at this.

These cute pictures almost make the whole thing worth it! ALMOST