Will he deliver?

Well the countdown is on.........getting excited now that it is close and all the "work" is done!
I hope this jolly man pulls a little magic out of his sleigh Thursday morning! And of course it wouldn't be the holidays without a persistent mom terrorizing her children with their fear of costumed adults......Brady had an iron clad hold on my neck and hair and Brooke was playing the shy card......She also went to see Santa another time and actually sat on his lap and conversed about all the goodies she wanted.....but unfortunately this Santa did not meet her fancy!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Naughty or Nice????

Well isn't that the million dollar question these days? The kids, they are truely good kids, but that doesn't mean we don't fall back on the whole "Santa is watching......." every once in a while. Well this year we are using a lot more of "little Nicky" is watching...... ELF ON THE SHELF (thank you Grandma!) What a great concept! It is this little elf that you hide in a different spot of your house everyday and he is Santa's spy to tell him if they have been naughty or nice...... The kids love searching everywhere in the morning for it and it comes with a story that explains that you can't touch Lil' Nicky, but you can talk to him and explain things......he has been strategically showing up in the greatest spots...... where we get dressed in the morning (when not a lot of people are apt to cooperating, peering over the kitchen table (when we don't want to say "two more bites") ah the trickery of it all.......But seriously I feel like Lil' Nicky has been peering down our backs lately....perhaps we need to be careful on how NAUGHTY we are being.....but come on most of the NAUGHTY gets rationalized out with a lot of the NICE right?.....Cases in point.....

1. A neighbor of ours did some fancy lawn art on our grass this summer - well we told them it was coming, payback that is......They happened to leave for the weekend when snow storm 2008 hit.....perhaps a bit NAUGHTY.........

opps I have never used a snowblower are you supposed to go the other way?

Bringing in reinforcements....Just spreading good holiday cheer....

but like I said when they came home and realized they didn't have a front door key and the only way in was the garage door - we let their kids stay in our house while they shoveled.....NICE right?

2. I served my kids fish sticks for dinner tonight MAJOR NAUGHTY especially when I had something way better to eat! As I watched Brooke's face contort to many faces that I so clearly remember and when the shivers and goosebumps appeared from the memories and the smell - I immediately said, Brooke you don't have to eat it - can I make you a ham sandwich? NICE right? Because as Chris liked to point out any other meal it would have been eat what's on our plate or no asking for anything else......

3. For someone that loves the snow - my kids don't have much of a choice - get outside and enjoy. Brooke no problem...... its hard to drag her in sometimes......Brady doesn't exactly have the stamina yet - especially when the snow drifts are bigger then he is - so I feel kinda NAUGHTY as I try to have him brave the cold when he doesn't even move that much and they come in with cheeks as red as Rudolph's nose.......but I wrap them in blankets, serve them hot chocolate, rub some vasaline on their chubby cheeks, and plop their frozen little bodies in front of "Santa Claus is coming to town video" NICE right???......
4. The last NAUGHTY thing that is coming to mind is to show my mom a picture of what she will be arriving to in 2 days........I know your 80 pairs of long johns are already packed......but just to be NICE we will furnish you with flannel sheets, your abominable snowman jacket and I will bribe Chris to keep the heat above 70! Safe travels!
So all in all any Naughty can come out Nice........at least the way I see it :) Go easy on us Lil' Nicky!

1,888 days.....

This is how many days we have gone without hiring a babysitter.
This either means:
#1 We have an incredibly lame social life
#2 We have no hobbies or interest
or
#3 We have incredible Grandparents and friends who are always making a way to be available!

Not that we are socialites by any means, but we have been very fortunate that the reason is #3! I am always blown away at how eager and willing the grandparents are to take them at a moments notice. Even the ones that live far away - they love the time they spend with you guys! I hear about it all the time. There are definitely things that they associate with all of you guys. For example I hear "oh were going to ______, we must be having this for dinner, or I can't wait to play with ________there. ect. ect...... So I guess this isn't a woe about hiring a babysitter, it's more of an ode to the family and friends that have been so kind to watch our kids! Thank you. We will be hiring a babysitter this weekend (And trust me I didn't step too far out of the box) it is their teacher from school! :) So do you think she will be offended when I pay her with hugs? That's what everyone does right???

Well no such luck - Christmas party was cancelled due to a crazy snow storm - so our no babysitter trend continues - well at least until this is rescheduled!

Songs and Silence....

The kids had their Christmas program last night and it was super cute! Some of these kids are natural performers and have no shame on the stage :). We were lucky enough to enjoy 3 separate performances last night
#1. The one on the car ride over to the place where Brooke sang non-stop in the car any and every Christmas song there was known to man kind at the top of her lungs and Brady interjecting with "me sing too" during each one of her inhales.......They were both very excited for the festivities....
#2 The actual performance
Brady was all wound up seeing all his peeps from his class when we got there, and I thought... wow he is really going to be into it.... and then as he walked up onto that stage he quietly faded to the background and became a wall flower for the rest of the performance (big surprise) but hey I would be a little nervous too in front of a good 100 people! He is the one in the back in the red sweater vest biting his hand for dear safety........
Brooke was all business, focused on the words and choreography, she even made comments after wards that some people were not behaving and that is cute if your little, but they should have known better....ahhhh Brookie a girl after my own heart! She got to sing four songs and here they are.... she is third or fourth from the left depending on who was boxing who out at that moment :)










Dad this last one is for you - I think she could show you some moves to assist you in the "Dr. Who" renditions at any upcoming sporting events.......



#3 The third performance was on the way home in the car where Brady seemed to finally "come out of his shell" and sing at the top of his lungs the whole way home.....timing is everything!

Emily Young and Daniel Cook.......

For those of you who are not totally tuned into the Disney channel every morning - Emily Young and Daniel Cook are these two kids who go off and interview people on how to do different things (ie make juice slushies, go ice fishing....) So anywho our kids are REALLY into them and every morning after we get our fill of the top news stories on the Today show and the local weather we switch like clockwork at 7:20 to see what CRAZY Emily Young is up to before we get dressed for school....so as you can imagine there is a lot of "role playing" as Emily and Daniel......

This is Emily Young and Daniel Cook making gingerbread cookies......

Chef Daniel Cook.......

Getting their hands dirty (ummm the best part!!)

Oh wait - never mind this might be the best part -mmmmm frosting!

Decorating with gumdrops.....she almost missed giving him eyes as she decided to decorate her own mouth more than the cookie!

Can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man! (no really you can't catch me Brooke and Brady ate my leg before I even had a fighting chance!)

Flakes O' Fun!!!

Well we had our first Big snowfall of the season this past weekend and I am seriously all for it....Bring it on! I am sure I will regret those words when February comes......but for now I love it, it just seems to make the season more enjoyable and gets ya in the mood. We ventured out and took the kids sledding, ignoring that it was a complete snow storm. I thought this would be a five minute adventure as Brady did a face plant in the snow 3 seconds after we got out of the car.... I thought here we go he will be freezing in one minute - but these kids don't care. It's like they have no internal thermometer....They lasted much longer than anticipated but to be honest I can't tell you who had more fun the kids or the moms and dads - sometimes you forget how fun sledding can be......I just remember looking at my friend and going - "why are they so tired and ready to go.... I don't want to leave" and was perplexed as we watched all the other adults standing at the top of the hill freezing their buns off not "joining in the reindeer games"..........

Saddling up.....

Dad and Brady Bugs

I don't know if Brady was seriously so happy or secretly squeezing his eyes shut and wishing to be on some tropical island

Brady and big Lew maxing out warp speed.....

Umm yeah so Brady who I thought I would have to carry up every time - surprised us all as he proclaimed "me climb" and walked up the hill every time! Meanwhile the princess pooped out after about an hour.........

Away we go.......

Brooke and her sledding partner in crime Addison...

And perhaps all the fun that is had on the hill out weighs the disaster of what is to be cleaned up after your sweaty red faced kids are sipping on some hot chocolate and talking about how much they love snow!

Studio 54

So it is cold, snowy and time to hibernate! This time of year sometimes feels like it is more work than it's worth to go somewhere and why when you can turn your own house into Studio 54 and turn that mutha out......The kids are hilarious and love to jam out - Brooke freaks us out when she does some dance moves, like where did you learn that, and I make a mental note to cancel cable as soon as she figures out the remote. Brady just pretty much hops and jumps around and loves life....apparently there was a dress code to get in ........Pants only.......my two kids also have no concept of temperature - they would dress the same way if this was an outdoor activity.....where I am usually wrapped head to toe in fleece......

Enjoy the jam sessions......

Untimely Turkey Day recap.....

Well I realize turkey day is a distant memory, but I seem to be caught in the funnel cloud that encompasses the next holiday! It seems like the minute you clear the table of the turkey feast and load the dishwasher it is instant Christmas mode and we will speak of no other subject for the next 25 days.......
We had a good thanksgiving and I was fortunate enough to have my mom in town this year.....we didn't do a whole lot, baking, parade watching, and stuffing our faces, it was a casual laid back day and no one was mad about it.

The kids did some ooohhhing and ahhhhing as Dad let them watch the unveiling of the bird......

There was a lot of slapping of meat and tugging at skin as the kids thought it was so cool to feel how cold he was and the texture of the loose floppy skin (braver than I - as the thought kinda makes my stomach turn as I type this) - Don't worry guests, all hands were washed prior to assaulting the bird.

We were visited by Pilgrims and said what we were thankful for......Brooke was thankful for candy and Brady was thankful for "COWS" (of course he was......)

We feasted on good eats made from the little ones who came over on the Mayflower.....

As much as it didn't seem like I slowed down any - It was great not even step foot outside that day and spend an entirely lazy day at home with the family!

Then at 8:01 the next morning let the chaos begin.......let us stand in line at Kohl's for 45 minutes, let us proceed to pull out every xmas decoration and have it up by that afternoon, let us look through every toy catalog known to man that comes to our house literally every day, let us spend the day at the outlets shopping for -me, I mean Christmas presents for others, let us get infuriated with inadequate seasonal workers at Walmart, fa la la la la........ la la la la la.............
The kids got into the spirit too .....
Brady helped decorate the tree and is infatuated with all Chris "sports" themed ornaments.....

Brooke decided to forgo the garland this year and decorate her room with baseball cards.... A new treasure that they found in one of Dad's "collector" boxes......

Then the kids got to go see a real live reindeer......

Tis the season it has arrived........

Night walker....

Brady has finally discovered his new found freedom of the big boy bed - it took him a good month but he has finally realized he can get out of it if he wants to and wonder about......Most of the time it is after nap or in the morning (he hasn't yet refused to sleep) he just gets up when he is done and says here I am......
This getting out of bed thing - I am okay with it - I refuse to shut his door, I want him to know he can come get us if he needs us...... I am sure it will be an adjustment for both of us now that he has learned the art of escaping, but I can handle it especially when it goes like this :
6:30 am there is a random Brady at the side of the bed "Mommy" "come mere" I stumble out of bed still half asleep, he grabs my hand and leads me back to his room where he lays back down in bed pulls me in with him - we spoon and he grabs my hand and places it to cradle his face and falls back asleep for the remainder of the morning.
That I don't mind so much.....

This I do mind......
I was at a neighbors babysitting, Brady was at home snoozing away, Chris came over to the neighbors to relieve me of the late night shift (Grandma was home) Grandma was in the basement when she heard some footsteps and then some crying she ran upstairs to find Brady at the back slider door with it open (it was unlocked since we use that to go to our neighbors) yelling Daaadddy Daaadddy. I am not sure if he was sleepwalking or really looking for Dad, but either way thank goodness Grandma heard him and shuffled him back up to bed - I am just thankful he wasn't brave enough yet to head outside and start wondering....ugh the thought. So lesson learned....... we shall now have the castle doors locked at all times.......

This too shall pass........ :)

Nugget update....

Kids are doing well....They just came off of a weekend at "Grammie's" and were in their glory per usual. Brooke spent the night writing letters to us (give this girl a pencil and pad of paper and she is occupied for HOURS!) at any rate she loves to write and is getting the hang of spelling some words - but mostly the letters come back with a lot of squiggly lines and a few words that are legible but make no sense in what she just recited to us, but she knows how to spell them so why not include them...... Some of the memorable writings (restatement's) went like this....

• "mom dad, please forgive me for not always being good. I try everyday to be good, I love you guys and we all just need to be patient"
• Grandparents are better than even friends, I love all my grandmas and grandpas, they are so good to me I also adore hospitals and police man.

She is so funny lately and so motherly to her brother sometimes I wonder "Why am I here?" Today she had him reciting her school sentences of the week "now Brady repeat after me...." She is constantly taking surveys and tailing the results as of late - tonight Grandma Munson's cookies that she sent home to us were the latest research project.... "now mom do you like the dough or the chips better" "do you like them hot or cold" "what is your favorite type of cookie?" etc etc
etc... That is about it with the Brookie - she is doing well at school we just went to teacher conferences last week and confirmed every gut feeling we had she is a total teachers pet and if she could hire her as her assistant she would! :)

Brady man is doing fine too....he continues to follow his sister around and be her constant shadow. However on Friday mornings Brady steps out on his own to be the big man on campus. He is enrolled in a gymnastics class that is "just for him". I think he really digs it - I don't know if it is because he actually likes what they are doing or if because he is just doing it. He has accompanied his sister on plenty of her activities but now he has main stage. He talks and asks if we are going to "gym" or "jeeim" every day and then of course when we actually get there we still have to go through the 10 minute shy warm up routine - but I think he is getting more use to the teacher where I didn't have to assist him on the beam and the bar last week - he is slowly opening his trust to her and that is fun to see! Here are some photos of Bart Conner himself......

Downward Dog anyone?

Geronimo......

Letting Miss Terri give a helping hand - this would have never happened two weeks ago!
Ummm how am I supposed to get down?

Double Dip......

One of my favorite ways to pass a rainy, cold, dreary day is to park it at the movie theatre ALL day. That is right Chris and I have been known to double and triple dip on occasions in our “pre-kid” days. Those days came to a screeching halt on October 16, 2003. But things are starting to come full circle as our kids are getting older and this past weekend we were able to get back and enjoy a “double dip”. It happened in a bit of a different fashion – it wasn’t like we went to the movies and then just slid into the next theatre to zone out the rest of the snow/sleet/hail. We were able to take the kids to the movies in the morning and then took an 8 hour recess that included lunch, naps, reading books, watching Laurie Berkner, shopping for X-mas gifts, making dinner, but then finally got to go back to the theatre for the grown up “double dip”. So yes we did get in two movies in one day a bit of a different process to it all, but none the less we did it!

Brady still has some movie etiquette to learn. He ended up being “that guy” you know the one talking and explaining the entire movie as it is happening……you know that guy that you try to turn around and give an annoying look, but he just continues to jabber on explaining to his presumably incoherent partner in crime. I know we have all experienced “that guy” Well Brady, who is normally so quiet and reserved proceeded to add commentary to the first 10 minutes of the movie, in a deafening tone (well it at least seems like it is). I am not sure what it was this is only his second big screen feature film and things were just larger than life so the excitement took over something like this……
“BIG LION”
“GIRAFFE TALL”
“MOMMY MONKEY”
“DADDY MONKEY”
“ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR Guins” (penguins)
“RUN FAST”
And so on……
Not too hard to guess at what we saw – but it took a good 10 minutes to have the idea sink in that these larger than life animals would be there for the next hour and a half and then he simmered down (thank goodness)

Brooke is a little more content to just sit bright eyed and inhale popcorn for the entire film – I caught her doing the “walk like an Egyptian” dance in her seat while mouthing “I like to move it, move it” Which later we changed to “I liked the movie…movie….” “I liked the movie…movie”
Hopefully there will be more double dips in our future….

Those three little words..........

Most of the time "3 little words" signifies someone saying "I love you" but really I could give up that phrase all together just in order to experience 3 different words that were spoken to me the other night.....We have mentioned Brady is a little bit delayed in the speech arena, but he is making great strides lately and it is so fun to watch him finally put everything he has "known" all along to a verbal form of communication! He has been combining two words for a few weeks now and getting the hang of it more and more every day. The other day we were at Brooke's soccer game and when it was over Chris and I had the quick non verbal agreement (because really after 10 years do you even need to speak anymore?) of "yep its 6:30 where are we going out to eat?" So both kids hopped in Chris' car I hopped into mine and off to the restaurant we go......we literally drive not even 3 miles - we meet in the parking lot, I get out to help Chris get Brady out of his seat I open the door and he looks at me and just says.......

"MOM, MISSED YOU."

I was so excited and proud for the words and the advancement, albeit a little embarrassed that he only drove for 3 miles without me and acted like I just flew back from a hiatus in a foreign country. I just gave a look to Chris and had another non verbal conversation with him and it went something like this "Yes Brady, with those three words, you did just purchase a free pass to get whatever you want from you mother, forever"

We are proud of you little man!

"There's no place like Halloween night......"

I have changed my views on the election, I am now voting for whomever can move "Halloween" night to Friday night every year - This year was so much fun and I am not sure what to attribute it to, there were many factors.....
#1. I think it was because it honestly was on a Friday night - there was no school that day, I didn't work and there was no "rush" to be anywhere.......
#2. I think it was probably the nicest weather I can remember on a Halloween night in the Midwest.
#3. Both my kids were INCREDIBLY into it.
#4. Even when the kids were tuckered in - it was still Friday night and the adults could still enjoy the festivities around a bonfire.
At any rate it was a very nice holiday, enjoying it more and more as the kids get "into" the process of costumes and the nights events. What a year makes for the lil man, last year he was just a wad of fur stuffed in a wagon along for the ride - this year he was SO much more into it than I could have imagined. He is our shy one, so I thought he would be stricken by some of the music and decorations a lot of the houses had, but he wasn't phased by it, he watched his sister and he totally GOT IT. He hit about 3o houses and was always about 5 steps behind his sister, but tried as hard as he could to keep up. When 8:30 rolled around he finally gave in asked to sit in the wagon and just looked up at me and said "home, sleep".
Brooke was loving life, but really liked helping out the little ones this year, it was nice to see her slow down for them and include them! She is turning out to be quite the mother hen....I have already heard some comments from her teacher that should make conferences interesting this week .....
Anywho.....we had a great night and got lots of candy .... and even MORE pictures so Enjoy.....

Our very own Dorothy and Blues Clues!

Brooke wouldn't dare sit down on the grass she was so nervous that it would get wet or dirty .....
She LOVED this costume and so did I I reveled in the fact that she picked this and not some Hannah Montana or some Cheetah Girl costume!

Were not in Kansas anymore!

Brady would just yell to everyone "behlues chlues" it was a mouthful for him, but you could never get sick of hearing it!
I had to include this one just because Chris thought it looked like at any moment her head was going to start sadistically spinning and smoke would be coming out her ears in some poltergeist manner.

I got to volunteer at Brooke's school for her Halloween party, it was fun and she was so proud to show me around her classroom...
These kids are seriously spoiled as they have a sit down feast in order to fill their bellies with lots of bread to soak up all the sugar at a neighbors house prior to trick or treating.

Dorothy ran into Handy Manny while out and about...The group photo gets a little more impossible every year.

There is no place like home.....
Dorothy and Cinderella having a moment.
This was Brady Bugs first attempt at trick or treating and the big dude went all by himself.....look at Blue go on with his bad self! So proud!
Give me a V-dot the I curve the C - t-o-r-y....Are you kidding me all I have to do is say "teet" and I walk away with this.......Ummm yeah I am in!Getting dark out and not slowing down for a minute!Come on Cinderella.....Were off to see the Wizard .....the wonderful Wizard of Oz!
I am dunzo...this kid walked straight into the house straight to his room, said "jammies" and crawled into bed......I couldn't ask for an easier kid at night.