Happy holidays!

We definitely aren't lacking any snow this year for Christmas(as of yesterday, we have recieved between 70-80 inches already and it just keeps on coming)! As you can see from my new picture on my post (up above) we took out our old cutter tonight. It was fun to walk around and look at all of the Christmas decorations, we attached some jingle bells for some old fashioned ambiance too.
Yesterday the kids went to the fire department(Jeff's dad is a firefighter) Christmas party. These reindeer where waiting for Santa.

Capturing the excitement as Santa arrives (Walter, Kirsten and Cale).
Walter told Santa that he wants some Geo trax train things and wasn't the least bit shy
Rose E on the other hand clung to her
Daddy like glue as soon as Santa entered the building
Oh so painful!

She sure did like her new Elmo books that he gave her though, maybe he isn't so bad after all. Here she is reading them with Grandma.Walter got a new firetruck which he has been sleeping with and was excited to sit in a real fire truck.

My picture here isn't the greatest but a few days ago we also went to Kirsten's Christmas program at her school(I think it is so neat that she attends the school that is named after her great grandpa(and Jeff's grandpa too) considering that he put so much of his heart and soul into that school when he was the superintendent). Anyway, it was a darling program and Kirsten seemed to know the words well to the songs. She looked so cute up there, in the picture she is on the second row the second one in (Emily has clearer pictures on her blog).

Finally three bugs in a rug! We set-up this tent in our living room the other night and as a special treat the kids watched Christmas cartoons while snuggling and I baked. It was fun because we all enjoyed some cookies and hot chocolate afterwards.

Sending a Birthday wish!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Nana (Grandma), Happy Birthday to you! Hope you enjoyed your day!

Mama's cootie pies

A couple of days ago I found this Clifford preschool computer game that I had and loaded it up for Walter. Holy smokes I couldn't believe how fast he was able to whizz around and learn all of the games. He loves it. I had to laugh the next day because he got up in the morning and said "can I play Clifford (he even slept with pictures he had printed off from the game)?" I said during Rose E's nap today you can play it for a while (she naps in the afternoon). So then all morning he kept saying "Mama I think Rose E's tired, Rose E are you tired?" Hoping she'd go down early. As you can see in the picture it was painful to even get him to turn around to look at me because he didn't want to take his eyes off the screen.

Speaking of Rose E's nap, yesterday when she woke-up from her nap we where walking to her room and Walter could here her crying and said "where coming cootie(cutie) pie."

He also made me smile at lunch he was eating peas and said "mama I know how to spell pea you just make that letter with the straight line and the curve at the top."

Today I switched out a bunch of their toys and boy is Rose E ever loving lugging those toys around our house. After I had brought them out though I had to laugh because we had a happy little trail of toys from our living room to our kitchen. It's also funny to me because afterwards if we don't pick something up she'll say "uh oh mess, pick it up." One of her favorite toys right now is the magna doodle. It is so cute she will scribble and say "see... baby or see.. fish."

Walter's debute in the Church Christmas program

Walter sang for the first time in the church program today. Here he is at practice. My picture didn't turn out the greatest but he is a donkey with the snowflake sweater on.

Here is a short little video of his favorite song during the program he is standing next to the wiseman with the purple robe on. We have been practising the songs at home for a while so I think I could sing them in my sleep (Rose E too). So he knew the words. Everybody chuckled though because halfway through the program he ran-up to me to have his shoe tied. I was sitting in the front pew because I had to help with costumes and when Rose E saw me get-up she kept saying "mama, come on(come sit next to me)."

I also meant to wish my sister a Happy Birthday this weekend too! Hope you enjoyed your day and that your dinner was delicious Jessica!

Imagination at work!

Merry Christmas! Someones found a cozy spot. We have been fortunate that she has never tried to climb those branches.
And yet another cozy spot. Rose E made a little house for herself. These kids just love my laundry baskets and as you can see she's still sporting those sandals. She had a cold this week so I was glad when she finally came back to life when she saw the laundry basket. I just hate it when they are sick. It broke my heart at night because in her sleep she was calling out "mama?" and I would look at her in her crib and her eyes would still be closed. After she had been sick for about five days and was getting worse instead of better we took her into the doctor, we where all grateful that her doctor gave us a different kind of medicine because then after a couple nights of good sleep she was feeling much better.

The other day I brought out some cups and plates for the kids to play with, it was cute because Rose E kept rearranging hers and saying "cheese" (take my picture). She told me she was making fish and Walter of course made "train wheels" and a "train steering wheel" that he drove and then
a race car and of course it had to have "a boiler" (spoiler). Then that led to....

this! His car of course had to have roads and buildings. He worked on it for a long time and really thought out all of the buildings, he had "a hospital, school, bank skyscraper, MC Donald's, houses and Daddy's work." Lots of cars have seen those roads since!

Finally, I took this picture of Rose E at lunch today thinking she may be wearing more food then she is eating! She had a bath after this one because it actually looked like she was growing noodle hair! She sure loved those noodles though and couldn't get enough of them (so glad she is getting that appetite back). Her big meal accomplishment lately has been that she is not using a sippy cup anymore and is doing quiet well with little spills.

Yesterday we did some grocery shopping, I had to laugh because most of the things that I put in the cart she would say "this this" she would hold them and take off the price tag (thinking they where stickers) and then chuck it into the back of the cart(where her poor brother was sitting) saying "throw" and move onto the next thing. Such a sticker queen, gotta love it though at least it kept her entertained and Walter survived the trip with no major bruises or bumps!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

This weekend we decorated for Christmas Walter was sooo excited about everything and followed Jeff around. He was his little helper and said "daddy isn't it nice that I'm helping you?"
Rose E loved digging through all of the boxes of decorations too. She is just fascinated with the tree. Well, I should say all Christmas trees. Today at church she was checking one out for the longest time saying "pretty" and "light" and "ball" and then she noticed that the tree skirt had glitter on it(it was made that way) and said "uh oh mess!

Here they are putting on ornaments.

Walter really got into the garland he and Daddy decorated the house as well as his bedroom and he came up to me and said "Me and Daddy decorated my bedroom with garlic (garland) and bells!"

Walter's other masterpiece decorated with "garlic and bells" also.

We found a Santa hat and reindeer ears and Walter, oops I mean Santa has been filling our stockings with toys. While we are on the topic of Santa, Rose E now recognizes the big guy and says "Santa" "ho, ho, ho." However, Santa came to their playgroup party and she stuck to me like glue anytime he was near her but then when we left the building she said "see ya Santa."

Like father like son; like brother like sister

Jeff brought home his matchbox train set that he had played with as a kid from his parent's house and Walter has been in his glory to say the least! He has spent hours playing with it and just loves the fact that his Daddy had played with it as a kid too. He told me yesterday "I like the layout so much that it makes my muscles want to build more."
This week I also made up a batch of play doh, which the kids just love, anyway I was thinking that I should share the recipe so here it is:
*1 cup of flour
* 1 tablespoon of oil
*1 cup of water
*1/2 cup of salt
*2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
*food coring (optional) when I taught Head Start we would also add things like pumpkin spice or jello to go with our theme

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball. Knead until smooth. Store in a covered container. Happy playing!



Little Miss Rose E has rediscovered her brothers Thomas sandals(Walter loves these sandals too but doesn't seem to mind because he has bigger and better train things to worry about now with his new layout) and has been wearing them morning, noon, and night for almost a week. A couple of days ago I was heading out to the grocery store so tried to switch them out for boots (to keep her toesy warm) anyway she was just not a happy camper about it(I even tried to let her hold onto to them) and she cried all the way to the grocery store and kicked off her boots any chance she got. I got into the store with a kid who had nothing on her feet (everything else got tossed into the parking lot) and thought at this point her feet would have been warmer with the sandals! Oh and now all of her socks have turned blue!
She is definitely getting a mind of her own these days! I have to laugh because lately when I say something she doesn't want to do such as change her diaper she runs and tries to hide from me (thinking I can't see her standing in the corner of the room). Though she has a mind of her own she is still as sweet as a button. She is saying practically everything now and is even putting some sentences together. Most of her words are pretty clear but a few of them such as Walter's name only we would know what she is saying. So Walter now has a new nick name and it is "butter" because that is what it sounds like when she says "Walter." Walter of course says "No mine name is not butter it is Walter" and I tell him that's because you make our hearts melt like butter (but it still doesn't work).

Everyday her imagination is coming out more and more too. She dug through Walter's art supplies and decided to put all of these items onto the table. Then she lay ed her baby onto the tissue as a bed, wrapped her in lace as a blanket and fed her a bottle. Next I watched as she decorated her finger nails with glue caps. These kids just blow me away sometimes. Oh and one more funny thing is that she loves the song "this little Piggy" so I asked her what a piggy says (she can tell us what quiet a few animals say now) and she said "mmm (yummy)!"