is it Christmas yet?

I have been asked this question everyday since we got home and even more so once we hung up our gingerbread advent countdown...

... which really translates to "is it December yet?" because they are so anxious to hang the numbered felt candy decorations onto the gingerbread house. I can't wait for tomorrow morning when I can say "yes" and then it will be who gets to hang the 1 up!

And one more thing because it really is picking up around here. I have been trying to remember exactly how old Jaiden was when he first "decorated the house" with these...

He was two and a half when he discovered he could thread cheerios on a pipe cleaner to make an ornament and then decided to decorate every place he could hang one with one. The first one with the cheerios? I still have it with all the Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree. In the meantime, I am thankful that I encouraged him to use beads for the many that are hanging around the house again this year! I wonder when he will no longer do this? 

goodbye thanksgiving, hello christmas

These photos are actually from Sunday but I forgot to post last night so I am a day late and a dollar short...

The kids helped me pack up all of our Thanksgiving decorations and piled them on the buffet table (somehow these Thanksgiving decorations keep increasing, I am going to need to find a bigger box!)

 And then they piled up all the Christmas decorations on our table!

 So they could get busy in decorating their tinsel trees for their rooms! Notice the intensity of their faces while decorating!

Alyssa busy in her room ...

 Jaiden's finished tree - with the exception of the gold wire stars and disco balls, I am pretty certain all the ornaments he has made over the past 5 years!

And Alyssa's tree finished as well. It's hard to tell in this photo but her tinsel tree and tree skirt is hot pink... but you probably already guessed that!

This afternoon we made festive necklaces but it was so overcast, cold and windy, the lighting in our dining room was horrible and the photos didn't turn out well at all. Maybe tomorrow will bring back the sunny, blue skies and I can get a few photos later.

Oh, and the decorations on the table are happily placed around the house with the help of the kids who are now enjoying the singing snowmen and the musical carousel (which I think has been on since they got up this morning). Thankfully, I have only 1 more day of asking if it's December yet because they are anxiously awaiting to decorate their gingerbread advent calendar!

cricket sleepover

Last night, Jaiden insisted I take care of his cricket (this little plastic but very realistic cricket toy he got from Chuck E. Cheese several years ago). I declined... the thing really creeps me out and lucky for me, Alyssa appeared and asked to have cricket sleep over in her room.

She set up a cozy spot on her bookshelf next to her bed...

... and happily enjoyed tucking him good night. You can barely see him peeking out of his house and at one point, she even wrapped him up in one of her socks to keep him warm.

I thought the whole thing was hilarious but found it even more so when I came home from yoga this morning to hear the rest of the story which told by Dennis is...

"In the morning, after a big night for the cricket, Alyssa lost him on the way downstairs. He and Jaiden could hear her making lots of noise looking for him but once she found him, she ran down the stairs and told Jaiden the cricket really enjoyed sleeping over with her and would like to do it again soon. Much to Alyssa's delight, Jaiden agreed."

And tonight, the cricket is in Alyssa's room again ...

thanksgiving decor

Jaiden and Alyssa were insistent that I bring some of their holiday decor... it was quite the challenge but I found away.

 This is the table setting for their places. Both created place mats in school which are laminated and adorable! Jaiden created the paper turkey and the turkey plate next to the paper bag turkey. The pilgrim salt and pepper shakers were made by Alyssa. She found it delightful to dump almost all the contents onto her plate at once!

 Jaiden's place mat. His turkey says "I am thankful for" with each feather saying:

"howm" (home)

"toys"

"Mrs. Murphy" (his teacher)

"Suft amunals" (soft animals)

Alyssa's place mat... love all hand print art but I especially adore her writing her name on everything... and look at those beautiful S's. Adorable!

Once we get home, I will try to photograph those salt and pepper shakers a little better. I didn't realize they were so hard to see until I uploaded them here!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving we think about what we are thankful for. This is a picture of what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for TURKEY because it is YUME!!!!

On Thanksgiving these are the foods I like to eat. (Circle the foods you like to eat on Thanksgiving). He circled turkey, ham, stuffing, pumpkin pie and bread and then wrote...  

I also like to eat JELOW!

Oh how I love the sweetness of their thanksgiving art or really any of their art. I'll be posting another one later in the day so check back because I forgot to photograph their place mats they made and required me to bring all the way with us, because I really am thankful for their sweetness and the enrichment it brings to our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

driving madness...

We spent the day lounging with our cousins with an afternoon break to visit a local mini golf entertainment park. Our last time here, Jaiden had tried to drive the go-karts but had a hard time because he kept getting hit and it scared him. Alyssa, on the other hand, was just tall enough to pass their height requirement but still too short to actually drive it. So this year, we tried again... 

 waiting in line for their turn. They looked so cute lined up... if only we had two more with us!

 thumbs up, I just narrowly and smoothly passed everyone while they piled up on that last corner... 

 Hi daddy! Look at me go!

 Very excited to be behind the wheel of a purple car!

And totally thrilled ... even though she was exactly where Alyssa was 2 years ago... tall enough to qualify but too short to actually really get to do it! She did barely get around twice before she had to get out early but Jessi was so happy for those brief laps.

All of them were adorable and this was a fun afternoon!

cactuses...

Today, we spent some time hiking in the desert at a local nature preserve. It was an easy hike perfect for kids with lots of interpretation signs to read and quizzes to test our knowledge.

My family cactuses!

Jaiden was intrigued with the cactuses and kept trying to touch them! This photo was his idea to share with each of you.

Alyssa was busy looking for rocks and stuffing her pockets full and then when they were too full...

... she coerced me to carry her the rest of the way.

no longer babies...

I appear to be in constant denial... denying that my little babies are no longer babies. I keep clinging onto the notion that they are tiny, need me to entertain them, want me to read stories, play games, or make silly faces... and well, yesterday when we waited and waited for our delayed flight, I realized I am no longer in demand for entertainment... that my babies are no longer babies and we have turned to the stage of kids...

proof that the oldest is definitely not interested in my silly faces...

proof that even this little one could care less about my games when Daddy's Ipod contains Scooby Doo...

Now I know who to blame for the electronic fascination (wink!)

Just in case you wondered, the flight went well and I took a short nap on it too! Maybe there are some benefits to them growing up... maybe just a few...

writing her own book...

This little one keeps me on my toes all morning long and today was no exception ... well, maybe one. As I was on the phone she immediately needed yellow paper and a stapler. I couldn't find the stapler (it's a hot item these days in this house!), I managed to hole punch and weave yarn through to make a binding for her book and that's when I caught her in this sweet still moment intent on writing her own book. I loved how she laid exactly where I left her and those cute little feet swinging lazily as her creative mind was busy working.

Unfortunately, I don't have her book, she left it at school but I can tell you she wrote "Alyssa" on almost every page since that's about the only thing she can spell ... the rest was lots of letters jumbled around but in her mind it was a story with a VERY scary Chapter 2!

a story and an assignment

This is one of those stories that happened a few weeks ago but I have been meaning to share. It started on a Sunday evening right before dinner with Jaiden and I sitting down to do his reading homework. Normally, I sit beside him on the couch but this time he asked me to sit on the floor and he would show me the pictures when he finished reading the page. This was my view from the floor in front of him (he is reading Frog and Toad are Best Friends)...

Then he gave me an assignment. I was to write down on a piece of paper words I heard in the story and then draw my own picture of what I thought was happening. So I did and then turned in my assignment to Mr. Jaiden. Off we went to eat dinner and then get wrapped up in the bed time routines. It wasn't until much later I came downstairs to find my homework...

graded?!

The smiley faces and string of stars on the top was his addition as well as the "great Job!!!!! Mom!". I love this homework even more than I did when he first asked me to do it ... all because of those 3 simple words - great job Mom!

I love watching him learn and grow in school. I can tell he really enjoys it when he wants to act out the role of teacher and me be the student. Thankfully there was no quiz on spelling oviparous or reminding me that water can begin turning to a solid at 32 Fahrenheit or 0 Celsius (which he knew both Fahrenheit and Celsius). I think I should do pretty good on his quizzes until he begins calculus... then he'll need to quiz Daddy!

wiggly and silly

Today, I came home from yoga to find this little guy excited...

to show me his VERY wiggly tooth...

 ... and I kept catching him doing this all morning before school!

When he first showed me his very wiggly tooth (and I really mean very!), there was quite a bit of blood around the tooth ... as you may or may not know, Alyssa fears blood like I fear snakes, worms and spiders so when she noticed in the mirror that she had a pin sized drop of blood next to her eye where she must have scratched herself sleeping, she insisted she needed this... 

Thank goodness Jaiden does not have the same aversion to blood as her or how would I ever get a band aid around his tooth?

Then it was to school for Jaiden, the library for Alyssa and I and back home for lunch, where Alyssa helped me make her bunnies (shaped pasta) and cheese. While getting her bowl out of the cupboard, she found these...

 

 ... and I just couldn't resist trying to get her cross eyed watching her juice flow through her glasses!

And this photo is because I couldn't resist, she is so darn cute!

hippo birdies grego lego

Hippo birdies to the lil' bro who will claim his sisters did this to him when in reality, he did this to himself. He adored us and wanted to be just like us... all cute and dolled up (insert wicked laughter!)

I must have spent days looking for this photo last year and then come January I found it so I held on tight for this year's birthday because I love looking at this photo and laughing at how sweet and genuine his grin is... delighted to be dressed up and in heels... plus check out the floor in this house! Could it be our house where I grew up or was this one of our grandma's houses? Who knows... but the best part is this photo has a date of October 1981... definitely not a Halloween costume as much as I am sure he would like to think it was!

Don't worry Greg for next year... I am sure I will find more fun childhood photos to share!

Hope you have a great birthday!

alien attack!

Happy Halloween from Mom!

Can you believe this photo? It's a polariod ... I swear I didn't add a photo mask to it! Mom pulled it out of her purse this morning and was disappointed she forgot to send out to us kids for Halloween but I was delighted and scanned it in for fun so everyone could enjoy it. And, yes, apparently, alien genes run in the family!

the loot ... store?

The Halloween treasure (first two photos taken on Halloween night) ...

... and one very excited boy with lots of loot...

 

 ... the girl with her loot...

... now selling her loot the day after! She set up shop on the garbage can with her piggy bank, Jaiden's firehouse bank and the bag on the right is her candy for sale. Notice she pushed the garbage can out a little bit so she could stand behind it as if it were a real store counter! Mommy has been her biggest customer buying sweets at 2 cents to 10 cents a piece ... although she did score a quarter from Jaiden for some gobstoppers.

Jaiden was intrigued with her shop but not enough to sell his candy, he was interested in selling his art though and I scored a lovely princess drawing!