Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, You Are So Very Heavy....

My best story of the season is lacking a picture, but when you hear it you'll understand why. This morning, Tony was tending to the turkey, and I was cleaning. At some point the kids had been told to get dressed. I hear, from upstairs, a scream, a crash, and breaking glass. I race downstairs to find the 9ft tree on it's side, broken ornaments everywhere, and two little legs coming out from under the tree. This is another story, where now that we know he's ok, is really kind of funny. And he was NAKED. AGAIN. Naked, and pinned under a decorated nine foot tree. Seems he wanted to move an ornament to a higher branch, got his little chair, lost his balance, and everything went over. He was of course screaming, Tony had raw turkey all over hands, and the tree was too heavy to lift by myself. At the time, we really thought he could be hurt, so of course Tony grabs the tree and I pull his little naked three year old body out from under. (I'm sure our tree is now contaminated with raw turkey germs...don't tell the food police). He was fine. A little scratched up but fine. Ellie was beside herself. Not sure if she was most upset over her brothers impersonation of the wicked witch of the west, or over the ornament massacre. Funny - just yesterday I has given them a big speech about not touching or breaking the glass ornaments. Sigh. Such is life with little kids. I should have taken pictures.

In other holiday news, Ellie had to dress up as a pilgrim for school. Nana sent my Little House on the Prairie dress that she had made me...hmmm, 25 years ago? It was perfect for Pilgrim wear. Unfortunately, no one else chose to dress up so we took it off once she got to school. She made up for it by wearing it for Thanksgiving at home today.


Here she is taking a break from tree decorating and choosing to direct instead. Telling people what to do is her favorite past time.


And this one....as sweet and innocent as it looks, is quite contrived. We have an Elf on the Shelf who flies back to the North Pole each night to report to Santa what when on during the day. This is Matthew and Ellie after they cooked up a plan to hug in front of the elf, so he'd see how nice they were being to each other. Sweet, but sneaky.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! As the web and facebook are inundated with every mother's adorable photos of her kids, I just had to add mine to the bunch. As I was watching the kids in the neighborhood trick or treat, I realized that we are thankfully still in the stage where I have major control over the costumes. They have ideas, sure, but I get to influence them, and ultimately, get the costumes. That's why moms of little kids are out there taking so many pictures. We've worked hard at this! You don't see the moms of all the tweens, who are dressed in some combination of ripped things, makeup, fish nets, and wigs, out there taking pictures. I think they'd rather just forget. I hope when we get there, my kids are not wearing ripped things and fish nets. For now, here are my adorable trick or treaters!


And Eric Carle presents....the Very Hungry Caterpillar....before and after he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle....


Below is our gang of cuties who trick or treat together every year. Hmmm....we parents vaguely remembered promising last year to dress up this year. We'll have to remember earlier next year.


They had a ball, remembered to say thank you, and didn't get to scared. They did get tired though. Below is my view from behind the stroller after Matthew gave up for the night.

The Pumpkin Patch

After three years now, we seem to have developed a family tradition at Halloween...the Pumpkin Patch! The kids LOVE it, and I can't resist such a wonderful photo opportunity. With Ellie in Kindergarten this year, I was worried that she was going to miss it. It just wouldn't be right without her in these pictures. I was considering taking her out of school some morning, but then a teacher development day popped up right at the end of October, and I knew right way what we would do.



This pumpkin patch is really a great find. It's very child oriented, which sounds like it should be a given, but so many places like this have tons of rules, and lots of "dont's" and "can'ts". They don't want this kids to touch things, or run, or pick. This place lets the kids sit on the pumpkins, carry them around, pull them in wagons, throw hay...I've never heard them say no to anyone.



My two little Texas babies have gotten very attached to thier cowboy boots and what better place to wear them than a pumpkin patch. Although, to specify, Ellie's are "cowgirl" boots. (Please don't tell her that I bought them for Matthew, but they were too big, so I put them on her.)


And now, I've just got to do this....

2009 (there was major mud this year)

2010

2011

Still being coerced into pictures, but, Oh how cute!!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

Kids seem to go through phases of obsessions. Ellie settled in on the Disney Princesses very quickly and is somewhat stuck there. Matthew on the other hand, has been through Elmo, Thomas and now the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I have to admit that I am indulging this one just a bit :) It's a literary obsession, instead of a commercial one, and it's a great book! He can recite the entire book, and thanks to a book on CD we have, adds "by Eric Carle...that's me!" to the end of every recitation. Pretty adorable.

So around comes his birthday and I couldn't help but find all sorts of Hungry Caterpillar gifts. We started off with a cupcake-cake that I saw a picture of. I have to say I am pretty proud of this one!




And then the gifts...

Hungry Caterpillar "Ouchies". The intructions say "for covering real or imaginary boo-boos"

His costume for Halloween, or any other dress up times. He wanted to wear it to Chucky Cheese's that night but we managed to peel it off of him.

Nana made him some curtains with "one piece of cherry pie, one pickle, one slice of swiss cheese..."!! And I heard that Santa's Elves are working on a hand made quilt to go with it. We can't wait!

The day ended with a visit to Chucky Cheese's with a few friends. All the kids LOVED it. All the adults needed a vacation after two hours there. Phew!




And today has been a day full of playing trains, playdough, megablocks, puzzles...all the loot from his birthday. I'd say birthday number three was a success!! My sweet boy is three!

Back to School

This year brought a first for all of us. Back to school for everyone in the family! Tony started his eighth year at the Child Study Center, which means we've been in TX for eight years now, wow! (and while we love it here, I must complain just a little bit...we are still in the middle of the hottest summer in 3o years). Matthew and I are attending school together two days a week, me as a pre-school teacher, and Matthew as a student in the 3 year old class. But, our biggest claim to fame this school year is our very own Kindergartener!!! Ellie started Kindergarten this year at a very small private school that is only one mile from our house. While she is not quite five, we really felt that she was ready to start school. She's reading, writing stories, and most of all, asking to go to school! I couldn't have found a better place for her, one mile from our house, with only eight kids in her class, and a teacher as sweet as pie. I am so happy she is there. In the few days leading up to the start of school I let her pick a few favorite things to do....


Ice cream and an indoor play place (she knows when it's too hot to play outside!). And of course we had to bring this guy with us...


Who is this kid? Where is his mother? Doesn't she know how to keep her kids clean?

The first day of school! So sweet in her uniform. Notice the patent leather mary janes, and white socks. How cute!!!



Proud Daddy!

There's that kid again! and if the picture were closer you'd see his breakfast all over his face, and the remains of yogurt on his shirt.

On our way into the building. It looks like the sun is just rising in this picture because...it is. She starts very early. Her hours are 7:30-2:30. Actually, this is really perfect for all of us. Tony takes her on his way to work, I pick her up on my way home from pre-school, and she's really at home with us for a nice chunk of the afternoon each day.



She is really loving her school. She is extremely tired when she comes home though. I do miss her, and have had several, "did we do the right thing?" moments in the past few days. I even crawled into bed with her while she slept last night. Yesterday, she cried when I picked her up because I was on time...she had wanted to sit outside with her teacher a little longer and wait for me. I guess that's a good sign, right?

The aftermath of a whole day in Kindergarten...




And here is the brother again. I just had to include this picture. Those are Ellie's stick on jewels. What to say? While the cat(sister) is away, with mice (little brother) will play....And yes, he was naked except for the jewels.

East Coast Tour - Part 3, Aunt Jill and Uncle Nabil and Sesame Place!!!

For the last leg of our East Coast Tour, we headed to Aunt Jill and Uncle Nabil's house in Princeton, NJ. They were great sports to have all three of us, in their beautiful and clean (and child free) house. Within seconds of arriving, both kids exploded their backpacks of toys all over the living room floor, left unflushed treats in the potties, and a path of little dusty foot prints all the way across their shiny hardwood floors. But, like a good Aunt and Uncle they just smiled through it all. Most of our short visit there was consumed by our visit to Sesame Place!! For those of you not tuned in to all things child-centered, Sesame Place is basically a Sesame Street Themed-Six Flags, for kids under 10. All rides and games, and shows are meant for young kids. There is nothing there they couldn't do!


We started them off small (and tame), on the Merry-Go-Round. It was a HUGE hit. When given a choice to pick their favorite thing to do one more time before leaving at the end of the day, they both chose the Merry-Go-Round again.


Next were the spinning tea-cups. Aunt Jill was smart enough to opt out of this one, and wave to us from the side. I came off of it, on the nauseous side. The kids, of course, loved it.


Matthew, the dare devil, loved the swings, while his sister white-knuckled it, but made it through.

The hot air balloon ride was more her style, gentle and calm. Now, I have to tell you all that the most traumatizing ride of all was.....The Lazy River....no joke. Ellie was NOT happy with that ride. Once you are on, you are on. There is no getting off halfway. She got hit with one of the waterfalls shortly after we got in the tubes, and she cried the entire rest of the ride. Poor Aunt Jill did her best to keep them against the wall and out of the way of oncoming waterfalls...wow, that was a traumatic ride. Looking back, I can understand. That water falls with quite a force, and for a child who doesn't quite understand that this is "fun", it can be kind of scary.



We saw shows with the "real" Sesame Street characters. Matthew touched the "real" Elmo and said, eyes wide,"I touched Elmo. He was...so soft". We saw a parade, sat on the "real" Sesame Street stoop, ate ice cream, climbed in Big Birds Nest, and on our way out, seconds after our last ride, Matthew passed out cold. My original thought had been that this would be a one time trip, perfect for their ages now, but in the car back to Princeton, they were already taking about "next time". What fun!

East Coast Tour - Part 2 Nana's House!

Once we said good-bye to Daddy, who headed back to TX for work, we headed south to Unionville, PA to see Nana and Grandpa. Within moments of walking through the door, Matthew had already convinced Grampa to "play trains" with him. They have a set of brio trains that are as old as...well, me. After trying to talk me into the train museum several times, Grandpa asked the two year old boy in the room if he wanted to go. You should have seen Matthew's face light up....TRAIN!??!? MUSEUM!?!?!?! And then you should should have seen Grandpa's face light up, once he realized he finally had a partner in his enthusiasm for old trains. And old keys, and old locks, and old...well, anything. At one point these two disappeared into the barn and came back with a ring of skeleton keys and some old glass frog eyes. Matthew was thrilled!


The train museum was a big hit. There were model trains. Real, BIG, trains...


A train bell, just waiting to be rung...
And then we got to go on a ride, on a real, old, working, steam engine train, through the Amish countryside.



Corn and farms...

And corn and farms...

And a little living on the wild side.

After Nana's explanation to the kids about who the Amish are, about the farms they run, about why there are no power lines, about how the kids help out with the animals, and the gardens....Ellie declares, "I wish my mommy and daddy were farmers so I could help with the cows.". Ellie, you might like it for the weekend, but I don't think the Amish would think too highly of your princess dresses, or your ipad, or your neon pick nail polish. It's always nice to visit though....
And then there's always art to do at Nana's house. A never ending supply of paints, and clay and paper, and scissors, and glue, and pastels, and colored pencils...While Matthew was off with Grandpa finding old stuff, Ellie and Nana were painting in the garden. Two matches made in heaven!

East Coast Tour - Part 1 Grandma's House!

This summer we headed back east for our little Nephew, Shane's, baptism. I thought I might take my chances and see if I could continue on with the kids, after Tony needed to get back to work, to see some more people, since we had already come so far. So, our two week vacation had three parts. Grandma and Pop Pop's in Oneonta, NY. Nana and Grandpa's in Unionville, PA, and Aunt Jill and Uncle Nabil's (and Sesame Place!) in Princeton, NJ. We are back now, and I survived traveling on my own with two toddlers...phew! They were actually, very, very good. As we got off our last plane after landing in Dallas, I had a uniformed US Army soldier come up to me and say, "Ma'am, I just wanted to say what a great job you are doin' raisin' those kids, they were great." That was some nice icing on the cake.

Since I have two weeks, and three locations, of pictures to share, I'll do it in three posts. Here is part 1 - Grandma and Pop Pop's house....

We had a full and exciting and crazy week in Oneonta. All three of Tony's sisters and families were able to make the trip, so that made five grandchildren under five, and too many grown-ups to count! We ate, we played, we ate, we swam, we went berry picking, we ate berries, we ate pizza, we had camp fires, we ate s'mores, and we ate some more. Between Grandma's famous meatballs, and all the NY pizza and bagels we could stand, I am sure we all gained a few pounds!


Best Friends!!! While technically Ava and Matthew are the same age, it was Ava and Ellie who hit it off the best. "I'm going to miss Ava", Ellie said as we pulled down the driveway. Awww...we'll see her soon when she comes to TX in September!
This was our Little House on the Prairie moment. Grandma has a huge hill in the front of the house, and the girls, Ava in pigtails, with their denim dresses (and Matthew), found such joy running down the hill, breeze blowing and hair flying. I could almost hear the theme song to Little House on the Prairie playing in the background.


Sweet girl :)


These two pictures were taken while on a hike in the woods. They were taken with my iphone, and no photography skill, yet they have something about them that makes them look like an old photo the kids will find on someone's piano thirty years from now, and they'll say, "I remember that...we were..." What sweet kids!!


Face painting at the fourth of July party down at the local park.

And LOTS of ice cream eating. (the kids always picked what kind based on the color, not the flavor)

Phew! That seems like a lot, yet, we continued on. Part 2 and 3 to come....