Happy New Year!!!

We have just finished our New Years Eve meal chosen by the kids (chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit) and one of our favorite desserts, chocolate fondue-YUM!
 Then it was onto family games.  We have played a dice racing game (Colby's choice), a marathon game of Uno Attack, and are now going down to karaoke on the Wii before we get the kids to bed.  A great night, such fun!  We wish you all a happy and healthy 2010!  Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We are having our traditional Christmas Day; kids in their jammies all day playing with new toys, games, and puzzles, french toast casserole for breakfast, lasagna for dinner, and rest and relaxation!!!  We hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas!

Letters to Santa

Here is the children's letter to Santa this year...written by CC...

Dear Santa,
I can't wait for Christmas.  It's my favorite holiday.  I love all the food and happiness, but Colby and Brayden can't wait for their presents!  Brayden says he really wants a blue camera and a 2-wheel scooter.  He also wants a webkinz to put on the computer.  The last thing he want is something to paint your car.  He called it a paint your car thing, but no one knows what it actually is.  Colby wants a snowboard that he can ride  down the front hill.  He also wants juggling balls and Lincoln logs.  The last thing he want is a 3-lane Super Speedway.  I don't know what it is but is sounds like something he would really want.  Jess wants a pain white shirt to match some of her pants.  She also wants a nice every day outfit.  I want a digital camera because I think it would be so much fun to take my own pictures.  I want a flashlight too because it's a good thing to have that I don't have.  I also want a sewing machine.  I love to sew and make my own clothes. The thing I want most is diablos.  They seem like so much fun and I would love to throw it up in the air really high and catch it.  Thank-You so much for making Christmas special!  Merry Christmas!

Love,
Cecilia, Colby, Brayden

PS I hope you like the cookies and carrots for the reindeer!

Snow Days!

We had our first official snow day from school on Wednesday.  The kids were thrilled!  Colby began the day by sitting in front of the tv and watching ever so closely for GRANBY-CLOSED to scroll across the screen.  When he finally found those letters and read CLOSED he was jumping for joy.  And all this from a kid who LOVES school.  I think it is just the novelty of the situation that excites him, all day to play in the snow!  We had a fun day making mulling spices, doing some crafts, watching Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, and of course, sledding!
All three kids had a great time sledding, but Brayden got cold after a few times down the big hill.  He waddled over to me and said through his chattering teeth, "Mom, I am so cold, my feet are drowning!"  I took him in, took off the hat, gloves, neck warmer, snowpants, and finally boots.  I was shocked and had a bit of that bad mommy moment when I saw a ton of snow that had gotten down his snowpants and into his boots.  His ankles and calves were bright red, and his socks and feet were soaked!  We went right up for a nice warm tubby, and he was all set!

We need a vacation from the vacation!

We left on Thanksgiving to fly to Orlando for a week in Sea World and Disney.  It was a wonderful trip, full of laughter, fun, and family; a great combination!  There was lots of walking, I think next time we should bring along pedometer to track just how far we walked throughout the week.  The kids did fairly well, Brayden got tired and needed to be carried often, but everyone else hung in there most of the week.  We were surprised at Brayden's ambitions to go on so many thrill rides at the ripe old age of four!  He even went on the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios, (which in turn made Grandma Sue go as well, she was such a good sport!)  We all loved seeing the orca whales at Sea World, and we all got an up close and personal taste of the whales when we got SOAKED by the biggest orca during their holiday show.  We were sitting 10 rows up and thought we wouldn't get toot wet that far away, maybe a couple of splashes, but we were dead wrong!  The orca splashed us with his huge tail, and all of us, except Colby and Troy who were on the aisle and ran up the steps, got soaked.  CC and Colby loved the roller coasters and went on all of them that they were big enough to ride.  It was fun to let them go together if they wanted to ride something more than once, one of the benefits of getting older.  One night, Troy and I took CC and Colby to the Cirque de Solei show, La Nauba.  It was amazing, the kids LOVED it and can't wait to go to another Cirque show.  Overall, it was a great trip, but now we need some rest!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all our friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 In school, all the kids did projects to say what they are thankful for, here are their answers:

Cecilia:  I am thankful for my family, our home, and dance.

Colby:  I am thankful for recycling because it helps keep our earth clean.

Brayden:  I am thankful for roller coasters!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gift of Giving

For CC's 9th birthday party, we had an American Girl Doll themed party.  It was great fun with fancy cupcakes, a doll fashion show, and making fancy bracelets for the dolls.  Instead of gifts, CC decided she wanted to make a donation to the children's hospital.  She asked all her friends for a donation instead of gifts so that they would be able to buy an American Girl doll for someone at the hospital.  The generosity of her friends was overwhelming, and she had raised enough money to buy two dolls and two outfits.  Grandma Sue completed the gift with making an adorable pair of pajamas for each doll.  We delivered the dolls and clothes yesterday, and CC beamed when she told the nice lady in charge of donations her story.  The hospital  will be saving these dolls to give to two special girls on Christmas Day.  We are so proud of CC for her insight to those in need and giving spirit.  It was a great way to start the holidays!

A Cake for Cookie

Cookie has been a part of our family for about a year.  He is, as Brayden often reminds us, a cookie, and we are not supposed to eat him!  Cookie is Brayden's little friend.  We can't see him, and he doesn't live in our house, although he visits often.  Cookie is often to blame for any number of things that happen in the house concerning Brayden.  For example, when Brayden has something he really shouldn't have, like the hammer or screwdriver, and I ask Brayden how he acquired that object, the answer is often, "Cookie gave it to me!"  Cookie is also to blame for eating extra M&M's, messing up the bed, and forgetting to put away toys.  Brayden even discovered one day as we were making chocolate chip muffins that Cookie doesn't like chocolate chips.  After I had given each child a small pile of chips to eat, Brayden reminded me that Cookie needed some too.  I quickly apologized, gave Cookie his pile and went on with making the muffins.  It wasn't long before Brayden chimed in to tell me, "Mom, Cookie doesn't like chocolate chips, he said I could have his!"

So here Brayden is making a cake for cookie.   Maybe Colby's friend Brownie will come to help eat the cake!!  :)

The Big Brag

Ok, so I don't want this to blog to turn into a "look how great my kids are" blog...but sometimes we parents have to brag just a little bit!  And since it is really meant for our family and friends, and since I will post the bad things too, like when the kids shake their a@@, and say "shake your booty, shake your booty", I feel it is ok to brag every once in a while.

  So here it is, CC came home from school the other day with a huge smile on her face and was anxiously awaiting to tell me something that was clearly very exciting.  She took a certificate out of her backpack that was for a "4 STAR FITNESS AWARD" and proceeded to tell us that only 2 girls  and 13 boys in the whole school received 4 stars on the physical fitness tests in PE.  They have to do push ups, sit ups, a stretching test, and the pacer test (think shuttle run, but 31 times-ugh!)  We are very proud of her, it's a great thing to have a sense of accomplishment and she certainly felt that on that day.  She was very proud, which is so important; especially in these sometimes overbearingly positive times where everyone gets a trophy for everything, and kids often don't get rewarded for actually excelling at something.  I believe that everyone is good at something, so I say let's point out everyone's somethings and help kids feel good about their real talents, not pretend to make them feel good about things they stink at.  So CC, great job, you are extremely strong, flexible, and fast!

"Mom, do we have any Reddi-Whip?"

There was a lot of whispering, planning, and many questions about whether or not we had reddi-whip from CC and Colby for the last couple of days.  Last night, we discovered what they were up to.  They had found some yummy desserts in CC's American Girl Doll magazine and couldn't wait to surprise us with what they made.  After dinner was finished and cleaned, we were sent to the basement while CC and Colby went to work.  We heard cupboards banging, the timer being set, and Colby came down to find another parfait glass.  After about 20 minutes, we were summoned upstairs to have, "The best dessert you will ever have", according to Colby.  They had made these cute little parfaits, with crumbled up graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate pudding, M & M's, and Reddi-Whip.  They had them all nicely presented in our little parfait cups, and the best part was that the kitchen wasn't even that messy!

Microwave S'mores-Absolutely!!!!!

After 6 days of being in the house with sick kids, the rules have begun to fade away.  This morning at 9:15 when Brayden decided he needed a snack, I was thrilled.  After all, he hadn't eaten much of anything this week besides glasses of orange juice and the occasional piece of peanut butter toast.  His request for s'mores normally would have been immediately denied at 9:15 on a Friday morning, but today I thought it was a fantastic idea.  It would give us something to do other than play with legos or match box cars, and besides that, let's face it, they  taste great.  I'm not sure why we don't make microwave s'mores more often, they are easy, quick, and really good!

2 Sick Boys

The boys are home again today with a low fever; just enough of a fever that they can't go to school, but not enough to really make them miserable. Which, in turn, makes my days very long! We shouldn't really go anywhere, after all I have kept them home from school, so we are stuck in the house-again! Today we filled the day with lots of Wii-probably more than they play in a month-books, and Legos. Colby has become such a great reader, he will often sit and read book after book to Brayden. Reading is one of those milestones that when they begin to effortlessly read any book they choose, it makes you take a step back and think, "When did that happen?" I often find the boys sitting together in that little glider, that same one I rocked them all to sleep in as babies, reading books, laughing and having a great time together. Could somebody please figure out how to slow down time?

Halloween...a tad late

Halloween at our house is always an exciting event. This is in part due to Grandma Sue, who makes the best costumes each year, and in part due to our pumpkin-carving tradition. Every year, we have a night when we transform our carefully picked pumpkins into amazing works of art. Troy really has the carving mastered, his pumpkins come out great every year, his witch this year was AMAZING! We also have a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating. We get about 150 trick-or-treaters each year, (yes, I count them, it gives me something to do while I am handing candy to all the cute, and often scary trick-or-treaters!) This year, the weather was perfect for a dreary, eerie, and bit spooky Halloween. The wind was blowing, it was misting outside, the dark clouds were rolling over head and the best part was that it was fairly warm, so nobody minded the dreary weather. Hope everyone had a great, fun-filled Halloween!