Welcome 2012!

 Last Saturday night was New Year's Eve, and we celebrated at home with the kiddos this year.  We grilled some ribs and played outside- wearing shorts and t-shirts. ;-)  I bought some firework popper things, I thought they just shot out streamers but I didn't realize there was actually a pop!  The kids "helped" Ryan pop a few while we were making dinner, they thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Even Jack wanted a turn!

We had a delicious family-style dinner, which is another one of my resolutions.  Ryan and I get very frustrated during mealtime when the kids are making demands constantly... more milk, more water, new napkins, give me mustard, I need a new fork... So we're putting everything on the table before dinner, and asking the kids to help out by either getting their own water or by setting napkins/forks at each chair.  So far it's wonderful!  Ryan and I can actually sit down and eat with the kids, instead of one of us always having to get up!  It creates some extra dishes but in the end, we're okay with that!
 

 

As soon as it got dark, the neighbors started shooting off firecrackers.  Not little firecrackers or occasional pop, but the real kind that make you feel a BOOM in your chest.  Needless to say our children were not interested in going to bed!  We stayed up a little and let them watch the show, and eventually put them in their rooms to bed with their fans (white noise) on as loudly as we could manage.  I'm amazed they went to sleep, and stayed asleep during the grand finale at midnight!

New year's morning was Sunday, and we went to mass as usual and came home and made an extra-fancy brunch!  Mimosas for Mom and Dad, and bacon, hash browns, eggs, and pancakes for all.  Family style, of course, in my new serving dishes from Target!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, talking about our goals for the year, and working in the yard a bit.  Ryan had Monday off too and we took a family trip to Ikea for a new bookshelf for my new printer (more on that later!).  Never again will Ryan and I take them to Ikea... It's really just not worth it!!!

It's been a wonderful treat to have Ryan home so much during the Christmas break!  He's back to work as usual and I'm ready for us to start school and get back on our schedule again.  Tonight we took down our Christmas decor and Monday we'll start our spring semester! 

Christmas Tree Farm

Our trip to the Christmas tree farm this year was more of a trip to visit the animals, ride the train, and run around the tree fields!  The farm we go to has lots of little fun extras to see and do, and we spent more time checking out these extras than we had in the past. 

Year In Review

I've been feeling very contemplative lately, like an end-of-the-year post might do me some good. :-)

2011 marked a few big events, the first one that comes to my mind is the conception and loss of our sweet baby.  I still think about him daily, and some days are a lot harder than others.  It's hard thinking of what should have been, like that I'd soon be entering my third trimester.  But, it's also comforting for me to know that we have a little saint in heaven praying for us!

Holiday Visitors

We have some extra-special guests staying with us right now: Aunt Ramona, cousin Christopher, and in-utero baby boy "Nugget"!  Christopher is about 9 months younger than Luke and a year older than Jack, so they stair-step down and have lots of fun together!  Yesterday we made some oatmeal cookies and played around the house, today we had haircuts (by Aunt Stephanie) and went to look at Christmas lights in pajamas.  They are all very anxious for Christmas to be here!

Our Christmas Tree

Jack's first year to help hang ornaments.  He enjoying pulling everything out of the box!

Sunday night, the fourth Sunday of Advent, we decorated our tree.  It's not really a tradition for us to decorate it at a certain time, we just hadn't really gotten around to it yet!  It was kind of nice having it empty though- well, with only the lights- because I haven't had to worry about kids or cats pulling ornaments off!  I am now happy with the way our home is decorated this year, it was feeling very empty until we got our tree last weekend.  I bought a lot of fake poinsettias this year and I love them, they add so much color, are so festive, and look so fabulous against our new gray walls.  In fact, they were the inspiration for us to paint our half-bathroom a cranberry-red color!  It's intense but I love it! 

Flashcards

"I can see the cat"

We've been trudging along with school here, some days are more organized than others but every day offers so many built-in learning opportunities.  Beth is most excited by numbers and handwriting, and I've got to say her handwriting is already better than Ryan's. ;-)  Recently she's lost interest in continuing her reading lessons so I've stopped using the book because I want her to stay excited about it.  Instead we've been using homemade flashcards (which she LOVES) with sight words that she's familiar with, and I'm introducing new words every week.  The other day she surprised me by grabbing the flashcards and building a sentence, "I can see the cat."  She was so proud of herself, so I had to take a photo!

Here's a video from a week or two ago.  Beth is reciting "Singing Time" by Rose Fyleman.  Ryan set up the playroom to resemble a stage and theater, and of course Luke wanted to participate too...

St. Nicholas Day

Last week we had a little visit from St. Nicholas!  The kids prepared by writing letters and drawing pictures, and helping me bake some cookies to leave out.  Beth was incredibly excited to see what would happen, and she was amazed to see the goodies he left behind.  We had been reading books, watching the Veggie Tales St. Nicholas DVD, and talking all week about St. Nick.  They knew that he was known to help people out in secret, which is why he'd visit us at night while we were sleeping.  St. Nick left everyone oranges, candy canes, gingersnap cookies, new books for everyone, and some little flying model airplane thingies.  St. Nick wasn't able to find gluten-free gold coins this year. :-(  He'll have to plan better next year!

checking it out when they woke up and came downstairs

the aftermath.  three new books each for the kids, a new book for mommy by kimberly hahn, and daddy got a new grill brush- ha!

After they had some cookies we had planned to feast on a crockpot breakfast casserole I had been cooking all night, but it burned so we had our regular breakfast of oatmeal and frozen waffles! 

Next year, I hope to do things a little differently.  I think I'd like for St. Nick to bring a bigger gift for each child, something they'll get super-excited about...Books are nice but I didn't get the impact I was wanting from them, lol.  I want them to also write a letter to Jesus and ask St. Nick to bring it to him.  Then we'll have a breakfast that hopefully won't be burned, and have a fun morning playing with their new toys- sort of like a mini-Christmas. 

They won't be getting presents from Santa this year, or ever. We've told them that Saint Nicholas brings presents on December 6th to the children who believe in him, and that other children who call him "Santa" will receive gifts on December 25th.  I feel horribly funny "deceiving" my children by telling them someone came into our house to bring presents, but there's the element of childhood fantasy and fun that I don't want them to miss out on either.  I feel like St. Nick is the compromise between reality and fantasy, and after the discussion Beth told me she liked getting her gifts from St. Nick on December 6 instead of on Christmas day since she'll be getting presents from other people on Christmas day anyways.  Ha!  So much for the message of the true meaning of Christmas!

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things!

Since Christmas is soon and gift buying is well underway, I thought I'd do a silly post about all of the favorite toys we've had around here for the past almost-5 years!  There are several toys in our home that have withstood the test of time, a few have surprised me quite a bit and other "classic" toys were worth the extra money to have a well-made toy.

For Beth's first birthday, a friend of the family gave her a Leapfrog Fridge DJ.  I thought it was dumb and intended to return it but it somehow became Beth's car toy, and she played with that thing every day in her car during all of our drives.  It stayed in the car and she loved it.  As she's gotten older, she now can sing along with all of the songs and the silly thing still entertains her!  Both Luke and Jack love it too, so it's gotten a lot of use!