Did he get dressed by himself?

That was the question all the Moms up at school asked me about Little Brother this morning!

Besides church and a couple extra days each year, our boys pick out their clothes and get dressed on their own every day. Most of the time things go pretty well. They don't always match, but it's doable. Every once in a while, my kids are the talk of the "drop-off Moms" at school. This happened to be one of those days! He was so proud of wearing his cowboy boots and told me, "I look really special today!" 

How can you fight that?

A few Christmas Preps

We did all of our normal Christmas traditions this year, but I didn't always have the camera out! We did, however, make a gingerbread house and celebrate with parties at school.

This year we had to tag team the school parties since they were at the same time in the same building. Little Brother's class party was a little more "family-friendly", so we ended up in there a little more. They had a potluck, story time with the principal and a little singing show, complete with the "12 days of Christmas". They got to wear their pajamas and decorate train cookies since it was a Polar Express party. We don't get to volunteer or spend much time in his class, so it was our first time seeing him in action. We realized quickly that not much stays private for him! He tends to just blurt out whatever is on his mind. I think we're gonna be in trouble down the road!

The big kids have to keep their parties a little more "educational". So, during the days leading up to the party they had $3 to spend on treats with which to decorate a gingerbread house. I got to be part of the store that "sold" the items to the kids. Unbelievably, not one kid in the class spent their entire $3! They planned out their houses and on the party day they got to assemble them.

I'd hate to see what $3 of decorations looked like!

After the parties, we were off to the airport to pick up Kevin's brother and his family. They came to spend the week before Christmas with us. But, that is another post entirely!

Fall Leaves

Yes, I know the leaves are under a few inches of ice and snow now, but since this blog is really to document the life of my kids- you'll have to bear with me as I catch up from late November. Little Brother's birthday weekend ended with some yard work! It was a nice warm fall day, so we headed out to clean up the leaves. The kids have a blast running and jumping into them every year. This year, they decided to do some warm ups before they started. I guess that's what going to PE teaches you in 1st grade. So, after some jumping jacks, push ups and step ups, they were ready for the fun!

Did you miss us?

I almost forgot my log-in for the blog, so I realize it's been quite some time. I'm going to try to get caught up on some Christmas memories and then get back in the game here!


One of our traditions is to cut down our own Christmas Tree. We usually go over the Thanksgiving weekend. We were blessed again this year with a nice day, no snow and a great tree! This year we even had a couple of extra helpers to get the tree chopped down and carried to the car!

And here it was all decorated for the season. Every year we underestimate the size of the tree. This year we had to decorate the top half while standing upstairs! The bigger the better to us all!

A Tom and Jerry Home Depot Party

We just got home from Little Brother's 4th Birthday Party at Home Depot. He chose a Tom and Jerry theme, which is perfect since he watches it every day after school. He invited a few friends from school and a few more family friends. All the kids had off school today for the Thanksgiving weekend, so it made it the perfect day for a party! Daddy took a long lunch and brought over the pizza to celebrate with us too!

Tom and Jerry isn't an easy theme- so we improvised and made it ourselves!  First off, I made the invitations and had them printed at Costco:

The "cake" was cupcakes from Costco with Tom and Jerry characters I bought on Ebay. A few birthday candles and sprinkles and there was one happy little boy!

We heard that Home Depot did birthday parties, but had never been to one. It turned out to be the perfect place for our celebration. They gave us a room for 2 hours, 2 helpers, and building kits of the kids' choice (about 6 to choose from). In addition, a woman volunteers to decorate a special hat and apron for the birthday boy and each kid gets their own apron to take home (as well as their finished project).

The kids had to wear safety goggles and listen to some directions before they started their projects. Ironically, the man in charge was named Jerry and he shares the same birthday as Little Brother! The kids listened, learned their safety lessons and went to work!

Big Brother wore 2 pairs to be extra safe, I guess...

Little Brother made a Home Depot race car and Big Brother made a spy periscope.

Here are all the kids with their creations. Little Brother got knocked in the head just before this photo, so there were some sad eyes!

Little Brother agrees with the balloon above. This was the best party ever!!!

Fun Run and Limo Ride

Big Brother's school does an annual fundraising event each year. They ask friends and family for donations and run in a 45 minute Fun Run. This year, our family rallied, and he raised almost $400 for his school. Considering our bond and levy just failed in the election, we need all the fundraising support we can get.  Little Brother and I met him up at the school back in October to "donate" our laps to his class. He was pretty grouchy- so no photos of the little guy!

As a reward for raising over $200, kids got to go to lunch in a Hummer limo last week. It was his first time ever in a limo. He was in line to get on when I got there to pick up Little Brother from pre-school. (He's in the camo jacket and blue pants) It was fun to see his reaction. They put the girls in his grade in one limo and the boys in another. He loved that there were mirrors on the ceiling and the limo driver played really loud rock and roll music the whole way there. He had a great time and we are so grateful to everyone who donated in order to make this day happen for him.

Halloween: 2011

All was safe in the neighborhood with these 2 watching out on Halloween:

We started the day with a party at school. All the kids in school got to dress up except Little Brother's preschool class. I have a feeling the teachers didn't want to help all the little super heroes and princesses go potty all day. So, I helped out in Big Brother's party and got to see his school-wide costume parade. After Little Brother got home from school, he immediately put on his costume. That's how I found Batman raiding my fridge for a yogurt drink!

After school, we had pizza dinner at the neighbors house and headed out to trick-or-treat. It was a fun night, just our family this time. We even trick-or-treated at Big Brother's teacher's home! He was so excited! She even gave him 4 pieces of candy!!! About 7:30, Big Brother started to ask to go home. He wasn't really himself. I should've known we were in for it. He woke up the next morning with stomach flu. Poor kid!

One Tired Mama

When Kevin travels, I get wiped out. I can't seem to settle down at night (that's why I'm up to date of these blog posts all of a sudden!) and I stay up way too late. Then, I go all day and it compounds itself. Well, to top it off this week, Little Brother got a double ear infection and a sinus infection. He stayed home from school 2 days and was pretty miserable.

Finally, he was on the mend and the boys begged me to take them to the school to go sledding. My first reaction (in my head) was "NO WAY! DO YOU KNOW HOW TIRED MOMMY IS?" But, I was able to supress my will and we piled on the clothes, packed up the car and headed out.

This was Little Brother's moping to get me to help him carry his tube back up the hill. It worked.

(Big Brother just got this "mohawk" hat. I think it's pretty cute!)

It was a lot of climbing up and down hills. It was a lot of wet clothes to take care of when we go home, but it was well worth the happy smiles and good memories with the boys. And you know, I wasn't so tired once we got out in the fresh cold air! I'm thankful for these moments in motherhood when God helps me get it right.

My Pumpkins

On our last night without Daddy (he's been in Brazil for work this week) we tackled our pumpkins! To be honest, I was kind of dreading it. In years past we've had tears and fits over the smell and slime. Big Brother started off the night by saying, "Hey, Mommy. This pumpkin looks like your head." I wasn't really sure how the night would turn out! However, this year proved to be the easiest of all!

Big Brother's practice sketches

Big Brother carved it all on his own this year. I was very impressed!

We had to finish off with a photo of the 3 before they rot or dry out. Mine is the Angry Bird, Big Brother's is in the middle and Little Brother requested Batman. They are in the back doing to the Lightsaber show for the camera in the dark!

We even ended the night with Charlie Brown's Halloween movie and some gummy worms. Not a bad night after all!

Around our house

I've been busy posting about special days and special visitors, but I felt it was time to share a little of the day to day stuff that is happening around our house these days.

1. A Random Conversation:

LB(lil bro): Do you think we'll trick-or-treat or just hand out candy?
Me: Which do you want to do?
LB: Trick-or-treat because I love candy. It's so yummy.
BB (Big Bro): Yah, but candy isn't really the healthiest.
LB: Yah, I know, protein is the most healthy.
BB: What is the most healthiest food on earth?
Me: I don't know, I think blueberries are one of the Super Foods.
LB: Probably cherries. I love those cherries on top of ice cream! I think they are the healthiest.

2. Lots of Angry Birds on the iPad. (Not just them, I'm addicted too!)

3. The reason Chocolate Cupcakes are banned from our house.

4. A note left for his little brother. 

(I write a note each day on Big Brother's napkin in his lunch. Today, Little Brother was home sick with a double ear infection and a sinus infection. This was the note Big Brother left for him.

And just in case you thought he was all grown up and mature from that note above, here he is doing his homework. (And yes, Curious George is on in our house every day!)

 5.  Lots of progress on Little Brother's Speech.

These are words he's able to say correctly in isolation. He has a hard time with them in conversation, but he's encouraged by how much the list grows every day. We've got a great Speech Therapist coming to the house every other week and he's making great progress.