Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. Pink, heart shaped pancakes were a perfect way to start the day!

Brag on John

Just have to brag on my baby for a minute. John scored 100% on his kindergarten screening today, and was the first kid this year to do so! Go John!

The dreaded Parent Teacher conference

No new pictures. I don't think I have even gotten my camera out in weeks. We need this cold to go away so we can do something fun.

The kids had their parent teacher conferences last week, and everyone got a good report. John's teachers said he is all set for kindergarten. The only issue he has is with sitting still and listening during story time. She said if it is one on one he will sit and listen to stories all day, but when they're in a group his attention wanders.

When I went to Natalie and Rebecca's conference I asked how they do in class together. There is only one class per age level at their school so I haven't had to deal with making the decision of keeping them together or splitting them up for school. The teacher said they each have their own friends and don't play together all that often. Natalie hangs with the girls and Rebecca plays with the boys. This is no surprise to me. Rebecca is all about the boys anywhere we go. We will walk into places and she will immediately start pointing out all the men and boys. If this is starting at age 2, I am not looking forward to age 13! Rebecca's teacher did have one concern. She does not know her colors (which isn't a big deal at this age) but she was having trouble matching colors. If the teacher held up a red ball and showed Becca how to pick another red ball, Rebecca would pick a green one. She said there was a possibility of her being color blind. So I called the doctor to see if they could do some sort of screening at her next check up, but they said she is too young. But now, just a week later, she knows almost all of her colors. It just suddenly clicked. It is funny how these little brains work.

John has his kindergarten screening this Friday. We had a friend that went last week, so she gave us a heads up on all the things he is supposed to know. I think he has them all down except his address. He knows the house number and he knows the street, he just doesn't put them together. Oh well, I can't imagine that will keep him out of school. :)

I miss summer

Oh how I hate the winter. Cold and I do not get along. We had our 1st real snow of the season this past week. The kids were so excited. I got them all bundled up, which took close to an hour. John really wanted to build a snowman, but the snow was not sticky enough. We basically took one walk through the yard and they were all wanting to go back inside. All that work for 5 minutes (if that) of standing in the cold. Where the heck is this global warming? Right now I think that sounds great!

Goodbye 2009

New Year's Eve just isn't the same after kids. This year we went over to a friends house for a wild night of board games and sparkling grape juice. The girls played for a bit and then went to bed, but John and his friend actually stayed up to greet the new year. I was surprised! While the little boys were off playing, the adults played Taboo and Balderdash. Julie and I were the champions of Taboo by a mile. Balderdash got interesting as one of our friends, with no kids to drive home, was drinking quite a bit. When you play this game you make up definitions for strange words and try to get people to pick yours as the correct definition. Let's just say his were never picked. That boy has a dirty mind. As 2009 drew to a close we all gathered in front of the tv to watch the ball drop and got our New Year's kisses. Then we bundled up and went outside to let the kids bang pots and pans and watch fireworks. Yes, that is white grape juice...not champagne :)

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas festivities started off at my Grandma's house for dinner. It was delicious as always. After dinner we opened a present that our Elf on a Shelf left us before he went back to the North Pole. Pajamas for everyone and a movie to watch before heading to church for Christmas Eve service. The movie held the kids attention for about 20 minutes. At church we took the kids to the playroom, but Natalie wasn't having that. She wanted to stay with the grownups. She was so good during the service. Near the end she fell asleep in my arms which NEVER happens. I was loving every minute of it. While people stood up to sing I just stayed seated and held her. I almost had a fit of the giggles when the man behind me started using my head as a book rest for his hymnal while he stood and sang. I don't think he had any idea he was doing it, so I tried to stay as still as possible so I wouldn't jiggle his book. After service we headed home, put 3 super sleepy kids to bed in their new jammies, and got to setting up the living room with a truckload of new toys from Santa.

Christmas morning was awesome. This was the 1st year that all 3 kids really "got it." Each one got the one thing they asked for from Santa. John - a remote controlled rocket Natalie - a baby doll and Rebecca - a baby doll bed. After playing for a little while my mom, grandma, sister, brother, and someday sister in law came over. We had a little to eat and set about opening the piles and piles of gifts. John had fun with the girls jewelry...as did my brother. For lunch we went to my Dad's house. More good food (I ate WAY too much) and more presents. I think my favorite part of the day was when my dad opened my gift to him. On top of his present I had attached a couple lottery tickets. One of them was fake. When he scratched it off it said he won $20,000. He was all nervous and excited. He was a very good sport when he found out he had not actually won. He was just disappointed because he already had it spent in his mind. :)

After lunch at my Dad's we headed to Mike's parents for our final stop of the day. Everyone was in town, so it was a full house but a lot of fun. The kids played with all their cousins and the adults had time to catch up with each other's lives. More presents, more presents. We actually had to leave a few at their house because they wouldn't fit in our overstuffed sleigh, I mean car.

John is 5!!!

December 19th my little boy turned 5! He is sweet, caring, crazy, and super sassy. One minute he will come up to me out of nowhere and tell me he loves me, and the next he is emptying his glass of milk into the dogs food bowl. For his birthday party this year we had it at his Tae Kwon Do studio. This was the 1st birthday party they had ever done, so we were a little nervous, but it went great. The boys all had so much fun. They started with a warm up which was comical, as most 4-5 year olds have not been through a stretching routine.After everybody was all warmed up they went through some of the regular punching and kicking drills that they do in class. Then they brought out the pads and the big bags which the kids had a ball trying to knock over.The highlight of the day was when each kid got to decorate a board and then break it. John won't be doing this in class for quite a while, so he was pumped to get to do it on his birthday. There was quite a bit of "help" from Master George as he bent the boards a bit as the kids hit them. They were all so proud and they got to take their broken boards home as a souvenir.Instead of a cake, we had a cupcake bar. Each child got a plain, unfrosted cupcake. Then they got to go over to the bar and choose their frosting and toppings. After eating they all ran an obstacle course. I'm not sure why they had to wear a helmet, as none of it was dangerous, but they all did.

Once we came home from the Tae Kwon Do party, we set up preparations for a birthday party at home with the family. Mike braved the cold and barbecued hamburgers and hotdogs and we had present time, cake, and ice cream. I usually love making John a cake with a theme, but this year he asked for a plain circle cake. I reluctantly obliged. I made it the night before, set it in the middle of the kitchen table, and locked the dog out of the kitchen. Unfortunately at some point in the night, Mike went into the kitchen and forgot to lock the gate behind him. Arthur got in and ate the sides out of the cake. A quick trip to the grocery store resulted in a very yummy bakery made cake with pieces of candy bar on the top.

Christmas Card

Just in case anyone didn't receive our Christmas card...here's yours! :)

Bells will be ringing

Today John had his Christmas concert at preschool. Before any singing began, Pastor Liz came in to tell the story of Christ's birth. She opened with a question, "Do you know who's birthday we are getting ready to celebrate. It's someone very important." John promptly raised his hand and replied, "MINE!" Yes John, your birthday is coming up, and yes, you are very important. She was looking for Jesus though. :)

After hearing the Christmas story the kids got down to singing. They all had jingle bells to ring throughout every song and there was excitement all around when the bucket of bells was passed to the kids. They all did very well, singing all the Christmas standards. John said his very favorite was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. After singing the parents left and the kids got down to business with their Christmas Party.

Dear Santa...

Today the kids and I braved the mall for our trip to see Santa. The whole way there we talked about how nice Santa is and how there is no reason to be scared of him. This was all fine until John saw the jolly old elf. He said Santa looked weird and he refused to sit with him. This is the same Santa we see every year, so I don't know why he thought he looked different this year. Natalie was a little shy, but sat on his lap no problem. Rebecca I had to sit with for a moment and then make the handoff to Santa and bolt out of the picture. I'll have to scan the picture and post it later. Natalie is sitting nicely (with her fingers in her mouth) and Rebecca is wailing. John is nowhere to be found.

After that we went down to Macy's where they have a letter writing area and a mailbox to send a letter to Santa. John wrote "Rocketship" and explained that Santa will know that he means a rocketship with a remote control with no fire coming out of the back. Natalie drew a baby doll and Rebecca drew a baby doll bed. I am hoping Santa can make sense of their scribbles.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Today was the church's Christmas Pageant. John had the role of the goat. He did a wonderful job of saying his line, "I am the goat. Baaa." :) The parents of the barnyard animals had been told to make ears for the kids, but John was the only one with them on that day. He may have looked a little out of place, but adorable none the less.

After dinner tonight I finally gave in and brought out the gingerbread house to decorate. I took the easy route and bought a pre-baked, pre-assembled house that came with pre-made frosting and candies for decorating. The kids had a great time decorating it, and trying to sneak the candies in their mouth without Mike or I noticing.

Once decorations were complete I decided to do a little decorating of my own.

Arthur helped with the clean-up

After baths to clean all the frosting off the little ones we sat down and watched a bunch of home movies. The kids were so confused asking who all the babies were.

Oh, and John had another belt test in Tae Kwon Do last week and he moved up to a red stripe. I don't have any pictures of him with it though. They are on holiday break until January, so he won't be in his uniform any time soon.

Seriously????

This is what I found when I got them up from their nap. The window shade was just put up yesterday because the previous one they had torn down and destroyed like wild animals, I mean toddlers.

The suspects - caught Sharpie handed

Conversation with John

John: I love you.

Me: I love you forever.

John: I love you forever.

Me: I love you forever and always.

John: I love you forever and holidays.

Clever Owl and the Fashionistas

John had his Native American festival at preschool a few weeks ago. They all had Native American names and John chose "Clever Owl." The kids sang songs showed the parents all the Native American crafts they had made over the past few weeks. Some of the songs they sang I actually remembered from when my brother went to school there almost 20 years ago!

On Thanksgiving this year we had 2 stops to make. We started the day at Uncle Dennis & Aunt Barb's house. The regular crew was all there minus my cousin and her family. Sickness kept them away. We had great food as always and lots of fun with the family. We also got some great news. There will be 2 new additions to Thanksgiving dinner next year. We already knew my cousin Niki was pregnant with a little boy, but we also found out that my cousin Patrick and his wife Megan are pregnant with their second baby!

Rebecca giving hugs to baby Chaney (the big sister to be)

John flying planes with Uncle Dennis on the computer

Natalie and Rebecca enjoying the cupcakes

After lunch there we headed to Maw Maw June and Grandpa Bud's house. We had a full house there and a ton of food, including my favorite coconut cream pie. It may not be a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, but Mike's mom makes the BEST pies and this is always my fave.

The girls are starting to want to pick out their own clothes and it is driving me crazy. I know I should let them express themselves, but sometimes their outfits end up looking like this...luckily we weren't going anywhere

Today John had his Tae Kwon Do Holiday party and performance. The demonstration team had a performance that included some sparring and board breaking. Before they got into all that though the little ones had a small performance of their punching. John did great, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because one of the instructors was standing right in front of me. He was so proud when he came back to the table and got all his congratulations and hugs. After a small dinner they had an awards ceremony. John got a participation certificate along with the rest of his classmates. It was pretty impressive listening to the older kids and adults getting their awards.

John recieving his certificate - he has one of the mean mommies that won't let him wear his uniform after performing...white and 4 year old boys do not mix well

When we got home from Tae Kwon Do we set about decorating the Christmas Tree. Natalie was a fabulous supervisor and told the other 2 where to put everything. She was scared of a nutcracker ornament and didn't want to get to close to the tree after spotting it. The offending ornament has since been removed. I may have to go back and rearrange a few things now that they are in bed. 90% of the ornaments are about 3 feet high and under.