Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas 2010


The kids learned a new Christmas song from Shay-Shay and Papa Tim. I love it so we sing it all the time.
Santa is coming, hi ho, hi ho.
Santa travels over ice and snow.

So pull up the covers and cover your head

Because Santa won't like it if your not in bed.

I think I like it because it mixes Christmas fun with a little Santa fear.

All jokes aside, the kids had a great time with Christmas. They are the perfect age to do things like:
- Put out reindeer food in the front yard. (Reindeer food is a mixture of glitter and oatmeal.)

- Believe that Santa really did take a bit out of the cookie and drank all the milk that we left out for him. Tell everyone multiple times.
- Get super exited when Santa's (aka Uncle Thomas) bells jingle outside their window.

- Write a letter for Santa. This year, Will included me in his letter and asked Santa to bring me some clothes because I like clothes. It melted my heart.

- Eat all 5 candy canes out of the stocking in one sitting.

- Ask Aunt Ack-Ack to get in the play house with them.

- Open all their presents right away to play with them. Nerf guns, puzzles, Memory, Bouncy ball, pillow pet. They tried to play with them all at once. It was a funny, silly manic frenzy.

- Check out Harper's presents and say "I will play with them for her because she is a baby."

Merry Christmas kids.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

30 is not so bad, really

I won't lie, I have not been looking forward to this birthday. Now that it is here, it is not so bad. To celebrate my birthday in style, this is what I am going to do:
1. Get up before my kids. Enjoy a cup of coffee in the quiet. It is a simple pleasure but it is the best. If the kids come into my room to sleep in the middle of the night, they make it extra challenging to sneak out of the bedroom and downstairs without waking them up. I am getting to be a pro. I guess it is because I am 30.
2. Take the day off of work. Matt is going to do the same. We might even talk to each other. I really do enjoy talking to that man but screaming the events of the day to each other over the children at dinner is not really adult conversation. Lately, Harper has been quiet the comedian and tries constantly to make her brother and sister laugh by hitting herself in the head. It is funny, but it kills all dinner conversation.
3. Take the kids out to breakfast. I expect loud singing of Happy Birthday at Panera. I can handle it, I am 30.
3. Go shopping and buy myself something pretty, but not too expensive because we are on a budget. That is what you do when you turn 30 and become responsible.
4. Take a nap. A really good nap. The kind of nap that I take my contacts out and turn on the noise maker. I would do this at any age.
6. Go out to dinner with my friends.
7. Have a big glass of red wine, and toast to the next 30 years of fun.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Come on kids we are going to the park so mommy and daddy can see their friends

When it is warm outside, we take the kids to the park at least 3 times a week. We love the park. Check out Harper's face. Pure joy. Yes, the park is for the kids but we found out it has grown up benefits too. I give the park credit for giving us friends when we moved to Virginia. We knew no one, but there were kids at the park who came with their cool parents. We chatted. We laughed at the kids. We starting bringing wine. I wanted to go the the park every day. The kids go to the park to play but Matt and I go to socialize. Here is a recent picture of Matt looking down the street, hoping to see some of our friends bringing their kids to the park. He has his phone in his hand so he can text them if they don't show. Don't worry Matt, your friends are on their way.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

thanksgiving comes but once a year...

...and good thing because I can't zip up my skinny pants. We had a great time with the family who made the long drive up from North Carolina to visit. To add a little spice to this year's post about Thanksgiving, I asked the little people in my house to tell me what they are thankful for. Harper can't speak coherently yet but if she could, I am sure she would list things she is thankful for in the following order:

1. Bunny. This is a stuffed pink bunny that used to be Abby's. Harper's face lights up when she sees bunny.

2. Daddy. She loves her daddy ALMOST as much as she loves bunny. She has the same reaction when she sees Daddy as when she sees bunny.

3. All the rest of you people who are not bunny and not daddy. Sure, she may give us a smile, but it is not the same as her number 1 and number 2.
The two speaking children in my house also weighed in on what they were thankful for:

1. homedays (the opposite of school days)

2. yeah days, i don't go to school or have to take a bath.

3. mayme that can make everything yummy to eat. But she died.

4. big swings i can get on myself.
5. mommy-when she is nice to kids. And she gives me tape for my paper when i color.
6. daddy-he pushes me really high on the swings.