Christmas Has Come and Gone

The holidays were filled with such magic around our house this year. The kids had so much fun decorating

Having hot apple cider by the fire

and receiving boxes in the mail...which like most kids they found the boxes more fun then the contents. There was the box car.

The fort with a box table for their hot coca 'tea' party

And when you have kids you have all the adorable Christmas shows. They had one at school that lasted over an hour! It was long, loud, crowded, and late, but I am pretty sure I had the cutest kids in the whole show!
This is my dorky mom picture, "come on guys, just one picture that's all...smile!"

Here is Claira singing "This Little Light of Mine". Oh how she practiced, and practiced AND practiced!

And here is William, who we weren't sure if he would get up on stage and sing or if he would get up there and just stand there. Not only did he make it on stage and sing, he did all the movements and you could hear him loud and clear :)

Now if all that singing didn't do you in for cuteness then you should have gone to see Claira's dance recital.

and just in case you didn't get the full adorable level from the picture I have a little video clip, HO HO HO...

When I was little my Aunt and my Mom would make cookies with all us kids and we would decorate them with as much frosting, sprinkles and hard silver ball candy we could make stick. I remember eating so many that now I don't really like sugar cookies. And really most of the fun in the whole event was not eating the cookies, it was licking the frosting off my fingers, making a mess with sprinkles, and laughing with my cousins. I don't get to see my cousins much but I have tried to keep a little bit of the giggles and decorating tradition alive with my kids. We have for the past 4 years invited friends over to decorate Ginger Bread Houses. Each family gets one and I have to say its a great time. No matter how old the kids or parents are everyone has a great time and it is wonderful to see how each families house come out different. Here are my kids, take note of AbyKate in the back ground picking up anything and everything she found on the floor.

Grandma and Grandpa finally arrived and Christmas Eve was upon us. The kids made their first, ALL by themselves, Pumpkin Pie. It was Yummy even if Claira rolled the dough a bit thin and it got a little burnt. I just couldn't convince her it was rolled enough!

Then it was Christmas!
a little pie for breakfast

and lots of time to play with new toys...this is Wil with his new Hot Wheels Snake Ramp that Claira bought him. Not only did I manage to capture the joy on his face but check out the car!

The neighbors gave the kids their old, but in perfect condition, playhouse! Aby was all about the door and windows...open, close, open, close and on and on!

Then there was the giant Giga Ball that the Flach's gave us. Basically its a human hamster ball...some person thought wouldn't it be fun to be inside a ball! It is!

They got lots of other fun toys too. Claira got a Pink Razor Scooter. William got some Walkie Talkies that Claira has already 'washed' and broken BUT he really has been very understanding. AbyKate got a grocery cart and has enjoyed pushing everything around in it. And I have to say they all have been amazing at sharing all their toys. There are new puzzles, new books, new movies and Williams new obsession LEGOS! I hope to take some more pictures of them with their new toys but with Daddy on vacation and the events of putting in new floors I have lacked on the photo taking. But I did take some pictures of us on a family outing to Inflatable Zone! Now that was a fun rainy day activity

On your Marks, Get Set GO!


HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Its begining to look a lot like Christmas!

What a wonderful day we had in the snow.  

The kids looked forward to it all week, and I can't tell you how happy I was that the weather man didn't let them down.  They watched it snow all morning only to be disappointed it wasn't staying on the ground.  

By the time the got out of school it was cold enough and the ground was slowly becoming white.  

Here is a photo summery of our day...

The sun has now broke through the clouds and its a beautiful snowy sun set.  What a great start to the Christmas Season!  I hope the kids don't think it snows in Houston every year.

She never ceases to amaze us...

Grandpa cleaned up an little princess bike we found for Claira.  She took one look at it and said, "Can I take it home?...I want the training wheels off?"  

Now keep in mind she normally rides a tricycle at home and has never been on a 'bike'.  After two days of working with her, check her out!  

My little Ballerina

Claira has been asking since she saw the Nutcracker at Lynn Meadows last Christmas if she could be a 'ballerina'.   Her favorite show Max and Ruby also reminds her to nag me about signing her up.  She is finally 3 and old enough! I signed her up and the first day of class you couldn't wipe that smile off her face.  She is natural if you ask me! 

Halloween 2009

We did a lot of Halloween activities this year. I tried to spread out the season and give the kids as many chances to wear their costumes as possible. Come Halloween night Andy looked at me and said, "I think you may have got them a little too excited this year". I didn't know that was possible, I think the kids and I had a WONDERFUL Halloween Season! (Daddy did too)
We began the Season of Candy by attending a function at our local YMCA...it was HUGE, it was LOUD, it was FUN!

Next event was the Zoo Boo. It too was HUGE, it was CROWDED, and it was FUN!

Each kid got to go into the pumpkin patch 

and dig around till they found their perfect pumpkin

Then they got to go to a booth and color/paint it

As for the animals it was a cool 70ish degree day and the animals were out doing their thing.  A special treat that most animals got was a whole pumpkin for them to play with, eat or do what ever they wanted to.

This 8 month old Cougar had never seen a pumpkin before.  Her trainers drilled holes it it, filled it with meat and yummy things she might like and dangled it in her exhibit like a pinata.  She was pacing, swatting, and hissing at it!  

We learned that though the pumpkin was full of stinky mean she didn't really smell it too well.  Cougars use their sense of sight thus the sticky pinata style pumpkin.

Speaking of introducing pumpkins to animals, look at these animal.  The kids and I had a Halloween party to go to so to make my life a bit easier I decided to scoop guts at home.  Here is the neighbors and my monsters getting the first feel of pumpkin guts. (yes, they all did it last year but being as the oldest turned 5 yesterday it was basically a new experience.)

This one cracks me up!

yes, poor Max took one look at the others and said "SCARY!"

William was so proud.  He drew his bat, took his knife and carved it out almost all on his own.  He did get a little tired and let Claira and I help.  When we were all finished he looked around and asked why all his friends weren't carving...ummm Their Daddies are doing it for them.

Thursday night after soccer I took the kids to the Maze they had set up at school.  It was FUN!  This was the one night that they leave the lights on and let the little kids have a turn.  On Halloween they make it more like a hunted house maze, scary!

Friday while William & Claira were at school AbyKate had a Halloween Party.  Here is her and one of her dinosaur friends having a good time!

Finally the long awaited night arrived and after playing in the costumes ALL day they got to go Trick-or-Treating!

They ran, skipped, jumped, and screamed as fast and loud as they could from house to house

"Cinderella, Dressed in....Made a mistake and Kissed a snake. How many Dr will it take?"

I am so happy our new neighborhood seems to love Halloween as much as I do!

and to finish off the night we all gathered on our drive way with friends to give out candy.  It was a wonderful Candy Season.

Happy Halloween!

Claira is 3!

Yahoo! The little Princess turned 3.  She is growing taller, talking more (if that is possible), gaining balance, coordination, knowledge, and does the silliest things.  She loves to ride her bike, play with her babies, Calico Critters, and her siblings.  Claira sings through her days and wears her emotions for all to see. 

Here are a few of my lucky camera moments were I got to catch her being 'Claira'.

Can you believe she put on my wedding dress!

Sticker Face...she does this a lot!
The Intelligent Look
Cowgirl Claira, YEE HAW!
She's not just a princess, she's a night! 
not sure what to say...
Super Claira! (I can just hear the giggles)

Silly Face!

She loves her roller skates 

and swimming is one of her favorite activities

The little princess wanted a Sleeping Beauty Party with her friends from down the street, Spaghetti, Bread and Cake.  They had a great time!

And she couldn't take her eyes off Sleeping Beauty.

We love our little Claira more and more each day...she is singing to me as I am typing :)   I have no idea what song it is...some thing about a light

I GOT IT!   "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."  I'm tell you she sings most of the time, even makes songs up if she can't think of one to sing.