Christmas card 2010

One of my favorite things about Christmas is exchanging cards with friends and family. I keep pictures up all year that I receive at Christmastime, I love thinking my kids will be able to "know" cousins and second cousins and dear friends that live far away through pictures. I also spend considerable effort on the card I send to family and friends each year. This year I decided to get a professional photo done of our family for the card, in years past I use a photo that I had snapped myself or had a friend do....

Here is the photo that I chose for the card.... Cute isn't it? I obsessed about my arm being "cut off" for weeks, then found a card that would camouflage the flaw. So.... here you have it.. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

My "baby"

Lately Henry has been growing up faster than I care to admit, he's no longer my little baby. Lately every time I look at him he seems a little older, leaner, sassier... just different.

He's my most affectionate child, he wants hugs and kisses all day long, especially after he's done something wrong and been punished.

He has a major attitude. It's not uncommon to hear him say "you're STUPID mom" or if I ask him to do something like "come here so I can change your diaper" he'll say "NO! Change YOUR diaper MOM."( I know, charming, right?)

He loves playing with "Maya-son" a little name he came up with so he doesn't have to say "Maya and Harrison".

He stopped taking naps about 6 months ago, but still sort of needs one, so he spends the second half of the day whining, crying and throwing things but if we let him take a nap (even 20 minutes) he's up until 11pm. It's a daily struggle.

He hates wearing clothes, any time we walk in the house from being out somewhere he'll immediately strip down to his diaper and stay that way until I force some clothes on his body. I have to remember that Maya and Harrison both went through a phase like that and they turned out OK!

When he goes to bed at night he insists on having a sippy cup full of milk to cradle in crook of his arm. He's very specific, it must be milk (I try to trick him with water, but he dutifully takes one sip just to be sure and calls me out on it every time) and it must be full to the very top. Usually when I go to bed I'll pry the cup out of his tight grip and put it in the fridge for the morning. It's always still full! Sometimes he'll wake up at 3 am and come to my room asking for "fresh milk NOT water NOW mom." Again, charming...

There's nobody quite like our little Henry and we love him to pieces....

Zoo....

Tadd took the day off yesterday... despite the bathrooms needing painting, and the windchills hovering around 15 degrees, we decided to make a family trip to the zoo. Turns out that it was the best day to go to the zoo! We had the place to ourselves, it was FREE and the kids barely noticed the cold. We bundled up and had a great time spending the day as a family.

They have an indoor area just for kids with amazing activities. We spent some time in a greenhouse squirting plants, Harrison was mesmerized by the plant that closes it leaves when it's touched.

Henry wanted a closer look at the gorillas and wound up getting his head stuck.

I know this picture is blurry, but the look on Henry's face makes me laugh and breaks my heart at the same time. He didn't like having a stuck head! I don't think I've ever seen a sadder looking frown.

Two thumbs up for a day at the zoo in the winter!!

Farewell... blue bathroom

Six years ago when we moved into our home, the first thing on my "to change" list was the wall color in the master bath. It was so bright! So so so so ugly! And BLUE. We hated it, but we also hated the floors, the fixtures, the mirror and the tile. So I decided I wouldn't change the wall color until we could change EVERYTHING all at once. I had grand plans of a gorgeous master bath, lovely tile, new countertops, fixtures, a new shower, maybe even a claw foot tub?.... Fast forward 6 years, we still have an ugly bathroom, and we still hate it. The only problem is that the current bathroom is in good (but ugly) shape.  My dream of a beautiful master bath won't be coming to fruition any time soon, so I finally consented to changing the wall color, but leaving everything else as is. I know everyone wants to see some before pictures.... so here they are!
(Try not to burn your eyes as you look at these. I know it will be hard...)

What could be more fun than painting a bathroom with 3 helpers!! Nothing I say! These walls actually look lighter in the pictures than they are in real life. It's really bad.... no really.

Mr Tom Turkey

Maya made this little turkey at school on Monday.... This turkey is supposed to accompany her everywhere she goes this week, at the end of every day she's assigned to write in a journal detailing her adventures with Tom the turkey. We are also building a house for Mr. turkey out of  shoebox or something.... I'm so not ready for the grade school dioramas! Here are a few excerpts of her journal (I realize this may be only interesting to grandmas and aunties, but bear with me here- she is my first born and all)

Today me and my turkey ate salmon for dinner. Salmon is our favorite food! After dinner me and my turkey played games with my family.

Today me and my turkey did my homework. Then we played soccer with my dad. After dinner we ate apple crisp for dessert.

Today me and my turkey played trains with my brother. Then we ate my favorite japanese noodles, it was yummy.

Trick or Treat!

Brrrr.... it was cold here today, so the kids donned their "cold weather" costumes, in the warm weather they were superman and supergirl. Here they are ready to hit the pavement and get some candy!

Enough pictures MOM, we want candy!!

Pardon us while we are in our sugar coma here.... We'll be out of candy by next Tuesday (unless it meets an untimely demise via the garbage truck tomorrow).

Pumpkin patch (take 2) Old school style...

After the photo shoot on Saturday, we decided to drive around and explore our area... We came across an organic farm that sold pumpkins on the honor system.... aka put the money in the old tin box. The farm was so quaint and picturesque, just our speed. Plus, the pumpkins were a dollar each! I prefer this pumpkin patch to the pony ride and bounce house mega farm any day.... of course the kids (and Grandfather) might argue with that one!

This is one heavy pumpkin!

The best part was pulling the wagon back to the car!

What a handsome dude! He looks just like his father....

What a fantastic day!! We're coming here next year for sure!

ps... did you know you can click on the pictures to make them larger?

... And a few more

Windy day!! (My hair doesn't usually look like this) I love my girl!

Fall photo shoot

This morning we met up with a photographer to have our family photos taken.... after we were finished, I decided to snap a few too. The weather was fantastic!!

I"m sure I'll be posting more photos from this beautiful day... stay tuned!

Why I love Fall

We've been enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures here, it was in the 80's today! The kids had a blast raking and playing in the leaves this afternoon...

Harrison decides that actually raking the leaves is for the weak and foolish. His solution was to find the mini air compressor, and when the extension cord was too short, he resorted to dragging the battery charger from the trunk of the van and hooking it up...

I can definitely handle more days like this!!

Starting a new trend.

A few weeks ago we went on a church campout, it was the first time our family had been camping and the kids had so much fun they cried as we drove away. Despite the middle of the night rainstorm and a sleepless night for Tadd & I, we promised the kids we would take them camping one more time this year. So Friday we loaded 500 things in the car and headed out to our much anticipated camping trip to the beach. Tadd hurried home from work and we were able to get there before dark to set up the tent and start dinner. Henry was too hungry to wait for chili and rice so I fed him a Nutella sandwich....

I'm not sure why I was so set against camping all these years. Every time someone asked us if we were campers I would say "YEAH, at the HILTON" and I was serious. Maybe now the kids are old enough to enjoy it? Maybe I've softened in my old age? Whatever the reason I never camped before, I realized this weekend that I'm a changed woman! I had the best time, I really did. We went with some new friends from our church and the kids played together, we shared meals and the adults stayed up talking around the campfire until 1am. The next day dawned bright and early and we were headed to the beach front by 8am. The day was gorgeous! 65 and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. I was armed with my camera, ideal weather and the happiest kids I've ever seen.... and my camera battery died.  This is the last picture I got from the camping trip.....

When Tadd saw the picture, he said "the day was so much better than that" I couldn't agree more. I guess we'll have to go again and bring a charged camera battery this time.

Now I'm off to do a few huge loads of sandy laundry... it was worth every effort!

Birthday Diva

My baby girl is turning 7 on Sunday, to celebrate the occasion we had her very best girlfriends over for a little party tonight. I spent the past few days shopping, planning and decorating so the Birthday Princess would have a grand time.

Giant cupcake birthday cake! So cute and (even better!) SO EASY!!

Birthday Diva? I think so.

If I could pick a photo of Maya on her 7th birthday to remember her by,  it would be this one. 

I love this girl with all my heart and soul.

She chose homemade BBQ chicken pizza for dinner. It was delicious, but next time I'll seriously consider Little Caesars!

And yes... that is a picture of me, don't get too used to it, I take notoriously bad photographs, I prefer to stay on the other end of the camera!

Maya wanted a "manicure" party, so my dear mother in law Mary and sister in law Amy came and took care of all the manicures! They kindly brought all the supplies and took a huge headache away from my planning and prep! I love these ladies.

Maya's best friends in the whole world!

Cousins, Tess and Annie

Do you think she had a good time?

Oh yeah!!