Top 10 Christmas Moments

(in no particular order)

10. James and Grammy talking about bees and how they can sting. James tells Grammy "Next time a bee tries to sting you, just web them!"

9. Playing football with Uncle Mowg. James had him playing football up until the last minute before he left.
8. Hanging with Clover. The house feels so empty without her!
7. Our traditional Christmas Eve Sushi! Even the kids and Grammy got into it this year!
6. Eating at Five Guys at least twice in a week. The kids were in heaven, and so was Uncle Mowg. Come to think of it, we ate so much food the past 2 weeks.

5. Hangin' with Auntie Julia! The best babysitter ever!

4. Luke gushing about having the "whole family together" and how he picked everyone up at the airport. Then 10 minutes later he got grumpy and said he would put everyone back on the plane. Ah, gotta love the threes!

3. Eating our weight in Christmas cookies. Yum yum! Some were even flown in all the way from California.

2. James begging to go with Uncle Morgan and Aunt Julia to Switzerland. He was very convincing, but finally decided to stay home when they informed him they don't have any Spiderman videos.

1. Having so many of our favorite people together! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Final Count: 5 Adults, 2 Kids, 2 Dogs

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Where is number seven?

The current count at our house: four adults, two kids, and two dogs. The boys know we are still missing someone special before we are ready for Christmas....

Waiting

Uncle Mowg and Auntie Julia....we know today is the day!

Tired

I think "Cloveti Papetti" is worn out. Bonus points if you can guess Luke's nickname for sweet Clover.

Too cute

James looked at this picture and asked, " where is his brother?"


Sometimes they are so cute I just can't stand it.

It starts early...

While eating lunch, my eldest son and I had the following conversation.

Mommy: James can you tell me five things you did in Sunday school today?

James: I ate snack. I played with my friend. I played on the playground. I did a craft.

Mommy: What game did you play with your friends? (fishing for a fifth thing he did)

James: Destroying girls.

Mommy: How do you play destroying girls?

James: (mimics Spiderman shooting a web out of his hands)

Mommy: Did the girls play too?

James: No they were busy washing dishes.

Mommy: Did it make the girls sad that you were destroying them?

James: No, Mommy. We were just pretending to destroy them.

Good grief! Tonight is our church's "Hanging of the Greens" where all the children's choirs sing. Hopefully no girls will be destroyed during tonight's festivities.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

For the first time, we are decorating the basement. The whole house is full of Christmas cheer!

Stockings on the mantle: Check!

Garland and tree of our favorite cartoon characters: Check!

James and Clover are best buds. Love this time of year!

Seriously?

Some funny conversations with my guys:

James: today let's all be animals.
Luke: Yea! I will be a kitty cat meow.
James: I am FiFi the dog. So there are three dogs in the house and one cat.
Luke: mommy can be the cow! (Thanks for that Luke)

Luke: When I am a grown man, I will have hair on my chest and I will go to work.
Mommy: Can I pack your lunch when you go to work?
Luke: Of corse Mommy! When I go to work you can stay home and eat breakfast.

James: Mommy I was crying in my bed!
Mommy: Why were you crying?
James: Because I was missing you!

I love this season in having two preschoolers at home. My kisses can still make any boo boo feel better and they want me to join in their games. So sweet!

She's Back!

We picked Clover up at the airport this evening. The boys were so excited to see her!

James' observation: She flew on the airplane all by herself! She is so brave. She flew in her small little house.

Luke's observation: We have two puppies! They need puppy treats. One for Clover and one for Zion.

Time for some good snuggles with sweet Clover. Our current count is 2 adults, 2 dogs and 2 kids. Our first Christmas visitor has arrived. Welcome Clover!

A boy and his dog

What's new?

Long time no blog....sorry we have been busy and sick. Not my favorite combination. Although we are happily on the mend and back in action.

The boys and I headed out the other day camera in hand ready to capture the fall colors. James was full of smiles. He is growing up more and more each day. He is such a sweet mild mannered (most of the time) guy and always ready to help mommy. He also always has a stick in his hand, all boy this one. I can no longer read the "wrong" words in stories that I try to shorten or change. I hear "Mommy, it doesn't say that" all the time.

The brothers continue to be best buds. At our latest doctors visit James was anxiously telling the nurse and doctor that Luke's ears were broken and needed medicine (ear infection). He also quickly added that his ears were just fine. So was he trying to help his brother or protect himself from an exam? I'll pretend he was genuinely helping his brother, although it was most likely the later.

My sweet puppy that is not really a puppy anymore. The boys have given him a fair amount of grey hair. Although he knows exactly who to sit by during mealtime. Not only is Luke still a messy eater, but he makes sure Zion gets puppy treats during the day.

Sweet Luke has been exercising his independence lately. Good because he is now almost completely potty trained (took 2 days to stay dry, not joking). Bad because he can sass something fierce when he doesn't get his way.

What's new with you?

Family Picture

So I copied an idea I have seen in the blogging world lately - family pictures using magazine clippings. Really fun, if you haven't done this you should! As a quick disclaimer we only had 2 magazines in the whole house, and none of them had a picture of a dog which caused much distress for my children. I liked them improvisations though!

First up, James. His compilation was extremely accurate, much to my surprise.

• Zion - drawn in (points for accuracy, minus point for not following directions)
• Daddy - man with facial hair just like daddy
• Luke - blond kid in a car making noise, yup that's Luke lately
• Mommy - shadow of lady with short hair, that's me.
• James - kid with short hair that is smiling, (he has been such a happy guy lately!)

Now for Luke's picture, get ready for a good laugh.

• Zion - strange black monkey statue (remember he didn't have much to work with)
• Daddy - which one is daddy you ask...the snowman. Hahahahaha!
• Mommy - little girl with curly short hair. What? When asked why he picked this picture he replied "she is happy". I guess that is a good answer.
• James and Luke - 2 girls!!! So hard to control my giggles. Again, asked why he picked this picture. He replied "They are hugging and are so happy." When asked why he picked a picture of girls, he replied "I liked the hugging". Aw, such a sweetie.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat?

Five little kiddos running around collecting candy. They had a blast.

James braved the strange decorations in the neighborhood. Although he did have a minor scare when another little girl hissed at him. It took a good pep-talk to get him back in the action...

...but then he was running ahead as usual leading the way.

Pumpkins

Our local pumpkin patch is so much fun! We braved the chilly weather and went this weekend. The boys love running around the tunnels and mazes. We always seem to find other little boys our age and just run like crazy. Win-win.

Time to bake a pie I think!

Happy Birthday Zion

We brought him home in January of 2006. Three months old and so very cute!

Happy 6th birthday Zion!

River Farm Park

Today we discovered a wonderful treasure off the GW parkway. We met some friends, ran like crazy and had a little picnic. Such a fun spot and perfect for this beautiful weather we are having. Both boys ran around for 2 hours, and then didn't want to leave. Thank goodness the mommies picked a time for us all to leave together to avoid potential meltdowns. Worked like a charm when we all got to run to our cars together.

Trunk or Treat

Today marked our first Trunk or Treat. Pretty awesome if I do say so myself. We decorated our minivan like a pumpkin, hard to tell with the wind blowing.

Spiderman kept striking this pose...no idea but I found it pretty hilarious.

He found a friend that was a power ranger, and the 2 of them were busy playing superheros until the candy parade started.After 30 plus candy stops we sat down for a snack. And we finally got to see Spiderman's face.

Trunk or treat!

PS: Check out these picks from James' 2009 Halloween (in the same costume). Gosh he is growing up! Sadly I think this is the last year for this Spiderman costume, these boys are so tall.

Fire Station Open House

Easy as 1-2-3

Luke turns 3 today. Wow, three years sure flew by. Here are some pictures that make me tear up a little. How did he go from sweet baby to BIG boy so fast?

Happy Birthday to my sweet Luke William!

One of these things is not like the others

Any SLPs out there? Maybe you will find this as humorous as I did.

Note: From our deck of "V" articulation flashcards.

Kitty Cat and Pumpkin Head

Pillsbury Cookie Dough on Sale : $2.50

Sweet boys that both want to pick out their own cookies: $5.00

Making the masks on the back of the box and being silly: Hilarious

And if you do decide to make these sweet sugar cookies, you should not leave them unattended. I turned around and between my 3 guys, they were devoured in minutes. All 20 some cookies. And Luke sang "C is for cookie" the entire time. Now that is talent!

Game Day!

A little game day lunch party. Can you tell the boys are loving football and snacks! Great combo!

Love these cuties.

Go Jackets!

Bunk Bed Buddies

It's official, they are sharing a room. And not because we wanted them to, mind you, but because they just LOVE to be together.

An impromptu trip to Ikea and we got this "big boy" bed for James. They were so excited looking at it in the store, and even more excited when we told them we could bring it home. It was our intention to clear up some floor space so James could have a little more room. Instead, they both insisted that we put Luke's mattress in the "down bunk". Figuring it would only last a couple of days, we said ok. It has been almost 3 weeks, and they are going strong. Amazing. Bonus, it makes bedtime a lot faster with only one round of songs to sing.

And for those who like movies of the kids, a cute one is here.

Look...no training wheels!

James and Daddy gave me a scare this past weekend when they took off the training wheels on the "big boy bike". James was actually pretty good, but after a couple of good spills he was ready to put the extra wheels back on. Phew!

I was imagining myself wildly chasing James, pushing Luke on his tricycle and dragging the dog behind me. Not a pretty site for sure! Much easier for me if he keeps the training wheels on a little longer. Don't grow up so fast James!