Christmas with the kiddos

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! All five of us had a blast. Christmas made us very tired but all the prep work was worth it. A big thank you to my sister in law Shandra for having us all at her house. Here is a quick recount of the Christmas events.
1. Dinner with Aunt Susan and the family. Abby got a princess dress and Will got the biggest remote controlled car ever. Abby and Will ate three bites of macaroni and four handfuls of peanut m&ms for dinner.
2. Matt got done with work at 8pm. We all got in the car and headed to Greensboro. Will and Abby ate a few cookies and a two packs of fruit snacks before they passed out in the back seat.
3. Arrive at Thomas and Shandra's house at midnight. The kids were wired but they MUST go to sleep so that we can put out the Santa items and then fall into bed.
4. 2:30am. Abby wakes us all up throwing up in her bed...on Will's cover, the sheets, and her new princess dress that she insisted in wearing to bed. Was it something she ate? The throw up was immediately followed by diarrhea.
5. Repeat number 4 at 3:30am, 4:30am and 5:30am. Harper's pacifier seemed to fall out at 3am, 4am and then 5am.
6. 7am is Christmas time! Will and Abby got a Wii with a few games. So that the present piles would look even, Will got the games and Abby got the remote recharger. Lucky little girl.
The kids had a blast playing with the family and running around. I think my family had a good time too.

Happy Birthday To Mommy

For my birthday this year, Matt got me a babysitter so we could go out to dinner. It was great! Here I am getting ready to go celebrate my 29th birthday in style.
1. Please note the glass of white wine in the picture. I have recently switched over because red gives me a headache and I can't be a good mommy the next morning.
2. The second picture is of me and Abby both getting ready together. She wanted to put on makeup with me. We had a great time. Please note the hair clip in this picture. I was wearing a purple butterfly to keep my bangs out of my face. Abby was gracious enough to let me borrow it. She immediately wanted it back when she saw it in my hair. She has a hot chocolate beard still left over from the afternoon.

3. Finally, here is a great picture of Abby, who was also getting ready with me. Please note her "go-go" shoes and bracelet. She told me that she looked so pretty and she was READY to GO!

Snow Day-December 2009

Its snowed! Not only did it snow, it snowed over a foot of snow in Richmond. We played a lot in the garage because the wind didn't get the kids so bad. The best toys for the snow? A shovel and a broom.
When I was a kid, I remember that we would play in the snow for hours. Now as a mom, I see that kids really just play in the snow for about 20 minutes and then come inside and drink hot chocolate. Here are a few pictures from our snow day.

Questions I don't know the answers to.

Will asked me today "Mommy, what is a gang?" So I was muddling through the answer on that one.

I sald: "A gang is a group of people. Some gangs are good and some are bad."
Will asked: "Does Scooby Doo belong to a good gang or a bad gang?" I said: "A good gang. They solve mysteries."
Will said: "What would turn Scobby's gang bad?"
What is he getting at? I really don't know.

Abby is also coming into her own on the question side. Her main question today was "Mommy, can I have a fruit bar?" Fruit bars are made out of fruit sort of... and they are a lot like fruit leather.
After three fruit bars, I decided that she was done with the fruit bars.
Abby then said: "Mommy, I want another fruit bar please."
I said: No, you have had too many.
Abby said: Why?
Dang! I really don't know again.

I think I need to call my mom and ask her.

A quick trip to Washington DC

We only live about an hour and a half away from Washington DC so we went up to visit Matt's college roommates who came to DC for conferences. What the hay, let's pack up all three kids and take a road trip!
We left at 8:45 (with the plans to leave at 8am) but we were in high spirits. We stopped at McDonald's for a fast food breakfast. Because the kids were going to eat in the cars, the kids got pancakes but were not allowed syrup. We could handle the pancake mess in my car and Ben's car (I don't know if he knew what he was getting into) but not the syrup.
After we got the food, the trip was going great. I had Harper in my car and she was napping so I was having a great time. Will and Abby were with Ben and Matt in the car in front of me. I got the most memorable phone call of my life. Matt call and said:
"Hey we have to stop. Abby misses you and Will has to poop."
We made it to DC with no more stops. We went to three different museums and the Washington Monument. In every place, we saw each bathroom at least once and every single escalator that was available. I asked the kids what they liked about the museums. Will responded back: I got to ride the escalator by myself! Hopefully some of Air and Space sunk in around the escalator rides.

Notes from Last night

The fun doesn't stop when the sun goes down. Now as a mom of three, I don't feel bad about getting into the bed at 8:15 and being asleep by 9pm. Actually, I have been doing this for years (even before I had children) but now I can get away with it without people thinking I am weird.
Here are some stories from the late evening/early morning hours of our household.
1. Harper is a good sleeper. She is sleeping from about 10pm to 6pm. I am not gloating...I am just so happy that she is the ONLY one in the house not waking me up between those hours.
2. Will does not want to go to sleep. He doesn't want to miss anything fun. Our rule is that you are allowed to stay awake, you just have to stay in your room. I often go in and find William slumped over his toys or coloring books on his floor, his little four year old hand still holding a truck or a crayon.
3. Abby must have two paci's to go to sleep. If she loses one, she DEMANDS to go to target right then. She wanted to go the other night at midnight when she woke up without one (She woke me up to tell me about it). It is hard to explain store hours to a two year old.
4. At bedtime, Matt has started playing one or two games of "Simon Says" with the kids. Abby screams "I WIN! I WIN" after every game but rarely does actually she win. I don't think she fully gets the game.
My favorite part of the game is that when Matt says "Simon says to put your hands on your hips" we also say "dip, you dip, we dip" and do a little dance. The kids shake their hips and say "you dip, we dip, I dip" and it is awesome. I will try to catch it on video.
Even if I go to sleep early, the party girl in me is not dead.