On Turning Four . . .

I’m not quite sure where this has come from {though I suspect being in a class with kids ages 3 – 5 might be a culprit}, but Kendyll has been dying to turn 4 for a while now. She’ll even state “I can’t WAIT to turn 4!!!” with her eyes pierced closed in anticipation. We’ve been talking about some of the things we’d like to see happen at this magic age -- specifically for K to stop sucking her thumb – but other than that I’m not sure what she thinks will happen when she hits the big 0-4. I’m pretty sure she isn’t going to get a new car. Or puppy. Or a baby sister {though when she asks for this one I tell her “maybe Daddy’s next wife will give you a baby sister.”. Ha!}. I will say that I’m thankful we have upcoming birthdays to “bribe” with . . . or else this letdown from Christmas would be a total bummer (for both the big & little people!!). We have booked their party. And actually the weekend before their birthday is turning out to be a busy, fun-filled couple of days. Friend party on Saturday. Family party on Sunday. Mommy & Daddy probably heading out to celebrate another year of survival {as has become our tradition}. And then they actually have school ON their birthday {how wicked cool is that??}, so I’m sure we’ll bring in something special for that. Though it *is* the day before Valentine’s day, so they’ll probably have to share their special day with those festivities {gag me}.

And with B&K’s birthday looming, that means my little blog here is turning has turned four too. And as was my sentiment in previous years, I never really thought I would keep this up for this long. Sure, I’ve lost a bit of my blogging mojo {and time to blog} over the past year, but somehow I’ve still managed to post an update or two each month. And there are so many other things I feel like I need to go back and capture {I’ve honestly thought about ‘quitting facebook’ because I feel like I put waaay too much out there that would be better to capture for prosperity here!}. But alas, here I am. Four years and 448 posts later. I REALLY need to get on turning the blog into a book {again, for prosperity. I started one after the first year and then never got around to printing it. I have a LOT of catching up to do!! And ::hint hint:: for anyone looking for gift ideas for me. Or the kids. Ha!}.

So to those family members and friends who still pop in here, thanks for reading. I’m not sure what the year holds for us in 2012, but here we go . . .

Christmas in a Nutshell . . .

We’re still *technically* less than a month out from the holidays. So I can still write about it, right??

Much like Thanksgiving, Christmas this year was pretty low key. My parents & brother came to town; we did Xmas eve dinner at Tim’s parent’s house (and Aunt Leslie joined us again). We opened presents at our house on Christmas and then lounged all day and enjoyed an amazing meal (our 2nd that weekend!). We were all spoiled (but the little people maybe a tad bit more than others).

Santa delivered on B&K’s request . . . Bennett got the “dog that poops out its butt” and Kendyll got the “purple Tangled coloring book”. Along with a ton of other fun things. Nana & Papa and Grandma & Grandpa and Santa and especially Uncle Mark were so generous with gifts this year (as were our extended family, too!!). Makes me nervous about what to expect for the birthdays this year . . .

All in all, we survived another holiday season and are so lucky to have family nearby.

 

After Santa arrived:
 

And after the rest of the family arrived:

Bennett playing with the best.toy.ever!

Daily Holiday Adventures

B&K’s holiday break from school started this week is now over and they have been having had a blast. In addition to watching all of the new holiday specials we have recorded (The Grinch and “Chickmunks” are two favorites . . . Kendyll is now obsessed with the Grinch & if everyone has a small or big heart) and holiday songs they can belt off by heart (“on the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me – FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!!!), they have been went on an adventure each day with Nana Debbie. Case in point . . .

Monday they went to the main public library downtown to check out the trains and work on a little “eat-mail”. They also had craft time (which Tim tried to pass off as his own work . . . ).

Tuesday they baked all day with Nana at her house.

Wednesday they went on an adventure to one of their favorite indoor play areas.

Thursday they learned about giving to others. We – along with Tim’s parents – adopted a family this holiday season. And one of the super neat things is that B&K and Nana & Papa were able to act as Santa’s elves and deliver the gifts to the family we adopted. So, so special.

Friday brought a trip to the movie theatre. Fun, fun times!

Last weekend B&K went to Grandma & Grandpa's house while Tim & I snuck away to Chicago for New Year's.  They had a blast and I'll get that adventure up here sometime soon. 

Fa la la la la and all that jazz

I had a series of blog posts typed and had hoped to get them uploaded before {or during} the holidays.  Yeah, you see how well that went.  So hang in there . . . you may see a few randomly pop up over the next few days. 

We have been having a fun (and fast!) holiday season here in our house. Let me first state that I’m a bit sad the updates have been few & far between . . . my new work schedule has been an adjustment and with Christmas literally up our butts I really haven’t had a chance to do much updating. . .

B&K have really loved having our dwarf, er elf, Boyd around this holiday season. It is quite the adventure to find him every morning. And there was one day he actually didn’t make an appearance – thanks to their horrid attitudes and never-ending whining – but that scared them enough to get back into shape. Boyd arrived again after they both made “happy plates” with breakfast that morning. For the most part Boyd has been somewhat reserved (or lame), but I’m thinking next year he might be a bit more mischievous. This has been his best hang out spot so far to date . . . .



The littles had an adventure last week coming to work with me one day. One of the nice perks of my job is the back-up day care center on site. B&K had fun going to “the play area at mommy’s work” and spent the day running around and doing arts & crafts. Though that night they had their school holiday party and it made for a L-O-N-G day! The following night we attempted the Zoo Lights again . . . to which I’m so happy to report it was MUCH LESS of a cluster crowd this time. We were even able to see Santa feed the fish!! (sorry – crappy cell phone pic . . . I get to pick a new cell phone in March and lets just say I’m already counting down the days . . . ).




Last weekend The weekend before Christmas, Nana & Papa took B&K on the Polar Express train ride while Tim & I attended his work holiday party. From the looks of things, they had a fabulous time and I’m pretty sure this will be a new yearly adventure.




The week before Christmas the kids were off school and “Nanny Nana Debbie”  planned a fun event every day. More to come on that . . .

He was here!

We are so very, very lucky to know our friends Mary & Robin.  Not only are they super wonderful, caring people, they also know Santa.  The REAL Santa!  And for the second year in a row we invited Santa to join us for a little party.

I'll admit . . . I have a hard time saying no.  Or more like not including EVERYONE.  So I was freaking a little bit when every.single.person we invited rsvped YES for this party.  Our house isn't that big.  And there were over TWENTY little people coming.  I was sweating a bit!  But thankfully, we all fit in the house, everyone had a fun time, the littles all played well and everyone LOVED spending quality time with the Big Man.  :)




And of course, it wouldn't be a party at our house without lots of food and drink (yes, even adult drinks - our coping mechanism - at 10am!!). 

I cannot make this stuff up . . .

In preparation of for our special visit from Santa tomorrow, I asked B&K last night what they wanted to ask Santa for when he is here:

Let me explain . . . Kendyll has a birthday party to go to on Sunday.  And I bought a color wonder set with special markers & there is a picture of "Tangled" on the front.  We had a code 4 tantrum when Kendyll realized it wasn't for her and therefore it became something she wanted to ask Santa for.

Bennett came out of left field with his request.  We saw a commercial for this new toy called Doggie Doo, that is literally a toy dog you feed & it poops.  Tim & I thought it seemed like a total SNL skit, but it is real toy.  And we only saw the commercial once, but apparently it made quite an impression on Bdude.  Hilarious!!

Oh right, it is December now . . .

Yeah, we’re way past Thanksgiving, huh? It was nice. We were sick. Our family who was coming to visit was sick (so they couldn’t come). Black Friday shopping was low key. Actually, that was the theme of the whole weekend. And in the end {with the exception of the sickness – oh which included our first cases of pink eye . . . for Kendyll and ME!}, it was actually quite nice.

And now it is December. After driving around in the car at night, watching our neighbor’s holiday lights go up and listening to chimes of “wish I had Christmas lights on my house” from the B&K peanut gallery in the backseat, we had lights put up on our house last week. And our tree is up. And Boyd, our elf (or dwarf, as Kendyll has taken to calling him) has come to hang out with us until Christmas. B&K are really enjoying going to find “the dwarf” every morning; however the bribe of “Boyd is watching you” hasn’t really seemed to have the same effect as last year. ;)

We are preparing for our holiday party with Santa this weekend. And I may or may not have inflated our guest list a bit. This should be interesting. And I know it will be fun. There seem to be lots of holiday gatherings and events going on and the time is flying by. We tried to go see the lights at the zoo last weekend, but it was a total cluster bomb of people (seriously. So, so, so bad). My holiday cards have been ordered and I hope to knock out the rest of the holiday shopping next when on a vacation day. I feel like I need another vacation. Whew.

Other than that, there really isn’t much going on. I’m sorry things are so boring right now. I haven’t taken my camera out for pictures in ages, but I do have a couple more cute ones from our session with Susan Miller last month. Enjoy!