Christmas Cards and Carols

DH finally finished writing the Christmas letter and getting paper to print it on, so tonight we stuffed the envelopes. For the first time ever, we enlisted the kids' help in the task. I folded the letter while the boys put the cards in the envelopes. When I had folded enough letters, they started putting the letters in the envelopes.

During this time, we started singing Christmas carols on our own. DS#1 even changed up a line from "Feliz Navidad". "I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my corazon!" DS#2 loved this so much that he kept singing it this way even when DS#1 wasn't. DH tried to take some video but of course the boys stopped when they saw the video camera. DH gave up after a while and started playing Christmas music from the computer.

After DD finished watching Dora with DS#3, she came over and begged to help. She stuffed the letters into the envelopes while DS#2 applied the return address labels and DS#1 applied the address labels. We all had to keep reminding DS#2 to focus. Sometimes it seems like he isn't able to talk and do his job at the same time. It's actually become a running joke amongst family.

I have a few addresses I still need to get, but we're mostly finished with our cards. Yay! DH will mail what we have tomorrow. Now, on to teacher gifts...

Last Soccer of the Year

We have had two full days of soccer games this weekend. DD and DS#2 seemed to have fun and they learned a lot too, so it was all good. I've been taking Zyrtec for my allergies and that just wipes me out so I'm that much more tired today. I even ended up taking a short nap on the sidelines in between soccer games! Thankfully, DS#1 stayed home with DS#3, who was happier at home.

This first picture is of DD falling during her game yesterday. I missed it, but DH said that DD was being aggressive and ended up taking the ball away from a girl on the other team. She started running with the ball and either the other girl tripped her or she just fell on her own. Either way, the referee called a foul and DD went running to her coach because her wrist hurt from the fall. She was okay in the end, but DH was so pleased that he caught this on the camera for me.

This morning started out very foggy with around the same temperature as yesterday (upper 40s). I took this photo mainly to show how foggy it was. Today we had to get up at 6:30AM to get to the fields. Ugh! DS#2's first game was at 8AM. Even though DS#2's team lost that game, they ended up playing another game today (semifinals), but DD only had one game today, a game they lost.

DD forgot her jacket this morning. At first she took the fleece blanket that I brought for myself and I took every opportunity to remind her that she had forgotten her jacket. I was too cold to give up my jacket, but DH gave up his. DD looked so funny running around in DH's jacket that I had to take a picture. Later I put my red scarf around her head because her face and ears were cold. She was quite a vision in her humongous blue jacket and bright red scarf!

Once again DD's team played "giant" girls. She still needs to learn some strategy, like not running after the ball that your teammate already has but instead running to a position where your teammate can pass to you. Still, she can be aggressive, like in this picture where she is practically shoving this girl so she can get in front of her for the throw in. Her team lost pretty badly today, but we were proud of them for having held their own against the "giant" girls.

Well, today we actually played the last soccer GAMES of the year. DS#1 still has practice after school next week and then on four days over Christmas Break. His first high school soccer game is a scrimmage on Saturday, January 2nd. DS#2 and DD don't have soccer again until February. Hallelujah!

Party Time

This will probably post late because I'm so tired tonight. We had a very full day of soccer today. We got to the fields at about 9AM so DH could check in DS#2's team (he's the team manager) and so DS#1 could volunteer. He has a community service requirement for his high school (a good thing) where he has to volunteer 120 hours of his time over the four years. He was a "field marshal" during part of the time and then he helped put the medals and trophies together. He was so busy that he forgot to eat lunch! I guess that means that he enjoyed himself if he wasn't even looking at the clock.

The morning started in the upper 40s and it was misty and cloudy all day. It may have gotten up to the low 50s but the light wind made it seem SO much colder. DS#3 even allowed me to put the hood of his jacket on! He did okay overall but it was a very long and tiring day for him too. He even ended up falling asleep on my lap around 2PM for around an hour or so. I was so cold that even his warm little sleeping body didn't keep me warm. Unfortunately, it was a junk food day for him. He refused to eat any real food. He even refused to eat a hotdog with ketchup, one of his current favorites. He only ate chips (tortilla and potato chips) and really only had one juice box all day.

DD and DS#2 each won one game and lost one game. Even with that, DD's team was in second place and DS#2's team was in third place going into Sunday. We didn't finish the last game (DS#2's) until after 4PM. Because of the late time, we went straight to church which started at 5PM and then we were so hungry that we went out to eat so we didn't have to cook. We didn't get home until 7:30PM tonight! No wonder I'm exhausted!

Just a short note about Friday night. The Army hospital in town trades off with the Air Force hospital in town in planning our department Christmas party. Well, it was the Air Force's turn and they didn't plan one. One of my colleagues and his wife volunteered their house for a party instead. This was a very generous offer and there was a pretty good turnout. This is a picture of one of my other colleagues (center) and his wife (left) who was also celebrating his 40th birthday. The party hostess is standing on the right. DH and I had a fun time talking with everyone in a relaxed, casual atmostphere. Thanks to SB and JB for being so generous with their home!

A Trip To Bass Pro Shops

I was very busy at work last night so I ended up with less than 4 hours of sleep. That made me less excited about going to the gym with DH. Instead, he took a walk and then we went to Bass Pro Shops at the Rim because we had heard that they had some cool things for kids to do. The first picture is DS#3 in front of a huge fish tank they had in the middle of the store. DS#3 had so much fun pointing to all the "big fish" and "baby fish" (which really weren't much smaller than the "big" fish).

They also had this huge track with a car that would just keep racing around and around the track. All you had to do was push a button and the car would go. No steering involved. There was also a trigger that DS#3 kept pushing that made the car switch tracks (sort of like the switch on train tracks). Notice that DS#3 is talking here (more on this later).

DS#3 watched another kid playing with this big remote control Toyota Tundra and couldn't wait until it was his turn. This involved actual steering, which was difficult for him, but the truck was on this large table with rubber sides and a big tire glued in the middle for the truck to bounce off of, so no harm done. He didn't persist with this, I think, because it was so difficult for him to even hold the controls.

There was even this small shooting arcade type area. DS#3 seemed fascinated with the gun sounds and watching his Papa shoot. This gun was a little too big for him, as you can see. They did have a smaller one for smaller kids to use, but honestly, I think DS#3 wanted the one that his Papa had just because his Papa had it and because it WAS bigger than him. :)

Of course, the big Christmas train was probably DS#3's favorite area. We stayed here for a little while just watching the train going around and around. As you can see, DS#3 is talking here, too. He was his normal chatty little self, mostly saying, "Hey Mama" or "Hey Papa" followed by a description in his words, of what he was looking at. We had a smaller train somewhere that we used to set up under the Christmas tree, but we need to see if it still works. DS#3 would LOVE that!

As a side note, I'm amazed that people were shopping at this place wearing their camouflage. It made me wonder if they came in to shop right before or after going to wherever it was they were hunting or fishing or whatever at. Surely they don't wear that stuff all the time?! Bass Pro Shops even sells camouflage for toddlers/kids! They have crafts for kids on the weekends. We might have to go back there some time.

Tent Trains

DS#3 is still one train-obsessed boy. He also benefits from having lots of toys because he is the youngest of four children. This morning he started yelling "tent" while he was upstairs in the game room and I was downstairs. I didn't realize what he wanted until I got upstairs and he was next to the folded up tent. When I unfolded the tent he proceeded to take several trains and put them inside the tent. I decided that he also needed tracks in there and I set up a circular track for him. He was just happy as a clam playing with his trains in this new venue.

I also have another cute story about trains this morning. I needed to change DS#3's poopy diaper and he didn't want to stop playing to allow me to do that. I told him that he could bring a train with him. He was looking at his trains and I sensed some hesitation, so I told him he could even bring two trains if he wanted. (Mind you, the changing area is less than ten feet away from the train table.) He then said, "Yes!" and proceeded to name (and take into his hands) "Peter Sam, James" and since the trains were all stuck together and more started getting picked up as he picked up the initial couple of trains, he named more--"Sir Handel, Diesel, Mavis". Yes, he had five trains cradled in his arms/hands as I took him to the changing table. I had to chuckle to myself but I was thankful that I could change his diaper without any fuss.

I'm home today because I'm on call tomorrow. I made the kids some cinnamon sugar crescent rolls and some turkey and cheese filled crescent rolls this morning and I got to play with DS#3. I'm looking forward to similar activities tomorrow when I get home from work.

Happy 44th to DH

Today is DH's 44th birthday. Apparently, none of the children remembered this fact this morning, but he was fine with it. He spent the day at home playing with his new PS3 game, in between caring for DS#3, of course. One of our good friends, KT, walked by while I was talking to DH, so I handed her the phone to say "Happy Birthday". When he told her what he had planned for today, she joked to him, "I want your life." She has a pretty hectic schedule with her three children also but we talked today about how we'll both miss our hectic schedules when the kids are grown and out of the house. She really wishes she could stay home with the kids.

At one point today, KT was calling her kids' school because two of her kids were in the school nurse's office. She made me glad that DH is able to stay home and take care of the kids when they're sick. One of the other ladies at work complained that she had to make phone calls about her broken water softener instead of her husband making the calls. After that I called DH just to tell him that I appreciate all that he does for me and for our family. He makes life SO much easier for me!

One thing that DH didn't want to do today was cook or prepare dinner--or clean up after dinner. We expected to have soccer practice tonight from 6-7:30PM and then 7:30-9PM. The weather was a bit "misty" or drizzly and cloudy for most of the day, but it wasn't too wet. Despite that, we got the word this afternoon that the soccer fields were closed. It was as if God smiled on DH and cancelled soccer so that DH was able to go out to eat with his family on his birthday. He had said on Sunday that going out to eat with the family was all he really wanted for his birthday.

DS#1 was done with high school soccer practice by 5:30PM so we left his school and met DH and the other kids at Fuddrucker's. After dinner we went to the Baskin-Robbins near our house. I had to take this picture because DS#1 was sitting next to the spot on the wall that said, "Eat dessert first" with his huge waffle cone. DS#2 is making that funny face (he actually wanted to be in the picture!) because he was disappointed that he only got a kids' cone versus the big waffle cone. He's trying to look like he's pouting in the picture.

We didn't know about it ahead of time, but apparently kids' scoops are $1 on Tuesdays. We would have gotten DS#3 one of his own anyway, but cheaper is better. When he saw DD's Rainbow Sherbet, he immediately asked for the "pink and owe-ange one". He was taking so long to eat his ice cream and we were all waiting for him to finish so we could go home. Luckily, he started feeding DD his ice cream. She wanted to have some more ice cream and he really enjoyed feeding it to her.

Tonight DH played his new game for another couple of hours. I think this turned out to be a very happy birthday for him. :)

Fight Animation by DS#1

DS#1 created this animated movie he calls "Fight Animation" for his Survey of Design Technology class. My picture of the day shows him watching this video with DH on DH's computer. DH recently bought the student version of Adobe Creative Suite 4 which contains the Adobe Flash program that DS#1 used to create this movie. The Creative Suite was rather pricey but DH plans on using it himself and it will be more convenient for us if DS#1 has access to the same programs at home that he has at school. With classes that teach him cool stuff like this, no wonder he loves school!

Timelines

DD had her Christmas recital today. Her teacher had all of her students doing ensembles. She said it was the first time she'd done things this way. That meant lots of duets between students and other students or with her. I enjoyed the added dimension in the music with the duets vs. the solos. Our friends, the T family have three kids as her students and they played with each other and with their father. Very cool!

After the recital, DD's teacher and I talked about how she has progressed beyond our friends (the T family), who started lessons before her. I hadn't talked to DD's teacher in a while because I never get to take her to lessons anymore. I get to pick up DS#1 while DH takes DD to her lessons. She told me that she gives DD the choice of preparing 2, 3, or 4 pieces for each week and DD usually picks 4. I told her that 4 is too many. She told me that DD is doing very well and can handle it. I told her that 4 pieces is too stressful for ME. Remember when I could barely get DD to practice? Now she is picking 4 pieces to practice for each week? Personally I think DD gets bored when it's just one or two pieces but when she is assigned more pieces I feel like she has to master all of them because they were assigned, so I feel like I have to push her more. DD certainly loved the fact that she is now ahead of her friends. It's nice to see that she has a bit of a competitive streak in her. :)

After the recital, we came home and finished DD's project for school that is due tomorrow. They're studying timelines in class and she was supposed to put together some sort of timeline using pictures, either in different years or in the same year if it was eventful. She chose to highlight different trips she has taken since she was born, and we picked one picture/trip per year of age with 8 total pictures.

I glued and measured everything, but she chose the background color. She chose to use a flower (using one of my punches) to designate certain points in her timeline. We used a big flower for each birthday and we used a small flower to pinpoint when she took each trip. She also picked out the photos she wanted to use and she pretty much chose the pictures that made her laugh. The first trip/airplane ride she ever took was to New Jersey for my cousin's wedding when she was just 3 1/2 months old. She picked that picture because she is in her car seat with a car seat cover over her so that only her little face was showing. Her next trip was to Colorado when she was 8 months old and she chose that picture because she has pink sunglasses on. The next picture was with her godfather and she chose that one because of the funny expression on her face, and so on. As I previously stated, she chose pictures that made her laugh. :)

We went out do dinner for DH's birthday today. His actual birthday is on Tuesday but since he will be gone to soccer practice with DS#2 and DD by the time I get home from DS#1's high school soccer practice and the rest of the week is also busy, he wanted to have the family birthday dinner tonight. We went to his favorite restaurant El Mirasol, of course. After dinner he sat in the living room to open his one present and that's when I took this picture. Notice that everyone is looking at the camera and smiling except for DS#3. Notice that he is very focused on DH's present, as he was as soon as he saw it. He could hardly wait until DH let him "help" open it. Remember on his birthday when he wouldn't even open his own presents? That's not a problem anymore. :)

The present was the new "Dragon Age Origins" game for the Playstation 3. DH had mentioned wanting to get it and I was planning on buying it, but then he ordered it through Amazon. I had no other ideas on what to get him so I "made him" wrap it and not play with it until tonight. Yes, he has been playing with it for the last couple of hours and I have a feeling he'll be wasting more time with it in the coming weeks.

Little Tree

This morning we put lights on the crepe myrtle trees we have in front of the house. DH had fashioned a tree from net lights around the fountain plus we have a light-up Santa and reindeer which have all been up since before Thanksgiving, but it still just looks so dark out there at night. It was rather nippy outside with the temps in the 40s, so our fingers were frozen until we found our gloves still in the bag from our Colorado trip last March. DS#3 was fascinated by the lights and just sat there looking at them until we were finished.

When we were done, DS#3 went over to one of the big trees and saw that a tiny tree was beginning to come out of the ground below all the big trees. He kept talking to his big brother about how this was a "li'l chee" (little tree). DS#1 seemed to be enjoying just listening to his baby brother.

DH also got out my collection of standing Santas. I'll take a picture of the lights later when it gets dark.

Piece of the Puzzle

DS#3 has never been overly affectionate. He gives hugs and kisses on his own time--when HE is ready and when HE feels like it. No matter what, I can usually convince him to at least say "I wuv you, Mama" when I put him to bed. For the last couple of weeks or so, he has been refusing to do even that. In fact, he's been refusing to give me any hugs or kisses at all, and if I go ahead and kiss him, he'll wipe it off. He has still been giving lots of hugs and kisses to his big sister, however.

Before tonight, I've really only seen DS#3 do those wooden single piece puzzles with the handles on each of the pieces, although I've seen the other puzzles strewn about in the gameroom. Tonight we put some puzzles together, a couple of 24 piece and one 12 piece puzzle. I put together most of the puzzles, but he would put a couple of pieces together here and there. When it came down to the last couple of pieces of the Dora puzzle, for example, he knew exactly where they went and one of them, when he held it up to the rest of the puzzle, he realized that it needed to be rotated 180 degrees and did just that to make it fit. I was amazed. I told him what a smart boy he was and he just made that embarrassed smile face that he makes.

I realized that this was probably the most time I've spent with him in the last week or so. DD, on the other hand, has been spending lots of time playing with him. Last weekend, she even played "school" with him. He wanted to wear his Dora backpack and everything--too cute. Tonight he said "I wuv you, Mama" when I put him in bed. Maybe I need to spend some more quality time with my youngest boy. Then maybe he'll start giving me more kisses and hugs again.

Funny Face

I've been doing this photo a day project (aka Project 365) this year and I have to admit that I'm tired and just want it to be over. Sometimes I'm just not feeling creative and this project forces me to be creative, which isn't always such a bad thing, but I'm still tired. For example, I didn't get home until 6:30PM again tonight because DS#1 didn't finish with soccer practice until 6PM. I got him another "Double Baconator" from Wendy's, and I had already finished my small chili when he got in the car. When we got home we only had a half hour before we left again, this time for his Club Soccer practice. DH had already left with the "little ones" for DS#2's Club Soccer practice. I went there, picked up the "little ones" and when I got home, as y'all can imagine, I was pooped--but I still had to get a picture for today.


DS#3 was wearing this cute shirt and I got it into my head that I wanted a picture of him wearing the shirt, especially since I wanted to show off the shirt to his Grandma, who recently got back from vacation in Italy and probably needs her baby fix. She also loves penguins, which is one reason why DH and I bought this shirt last week. DH also liked it because it says, "Cool Like Daddy".

I finally managed to get this picture! He kept laying back on the sofa or holding his Thomas DVD in front of the shirt or he just wasn't looking at the camera, etc. Finally, DS#2 helped me by talking about making a "funny face". After a few tries, DS#3 finally looked my way during his "funny face" pose. This boy loves copying his siblings. DH and I hope that his siblings will manage some behavior worth copying. At least I got my picture of the day for today!

Collecting Coins

DS#2 loves coins and coin collecting, just like his Papa. He's been talking about how he has a collection of state quarters, so today I was able to go by Michael's and buy him a coin book to put his coins in. I started helping him figure out which state and whether or not there was a "D" (for "Denver") or "P" (for "Philadelphia") and putting the coin in the appropriate hole. DH then whispered to me that half the fun of collecting is looking for the right coin, so I stopped so DS#2 could do it himself. He was taking a shower at the time. He was very appreciative of my getting the coin book. He even gave me an extra kiss goodnight, which makes it worth it to me. :)

They're going to post the results of the soccer tryouts tomorrow. DS#1 is confident that he should at least make one of the three teams and he thinks it will be the Junior Varsity A team (which would mean 19 high school soccer games in 2 1/2 months starting in January). Please think of him tomorrow around 8:40AM!

The "Baconator" revisited

I posted about DS#1 and Wendy's "Baconator" this past September. I finally got a picture of him today with the "Double Baconator". When I picked him up from soccer tryouts, he was so hungry that he asked me to get him something to eat before we went home. When we were in line at the Wendy's Drive Thru, I saw a sign for the "Triple Baconator". When I pointed it out to him (implying that he might want that instead of the "Double Baconator" if he was that hungry), he replied that he knew about it already but that he didn't want to "feel fat." I couldn't believe he said that! Anyway, he ended up watching "Star Trek" on my IPhone on the way home so he didn't actually eat it until we were already at home. It's going to be a LONG week of soccer tryouts for both of us.

The Ice Cream Mouse

I didn't get home today until 6:30PM. I worked late and then I had to wait for DS#1 to get out of soccer tryouts. He thinks he did well, but he's still got four more days of tryouts. Wish him luck!

I thought my DH was going to post about this on his blog but since he hasn't, then I will. He has always loved ice cream. When he was much younger, he would sometimes sneak ice cream from the freezer in the middle of the night. A few times he accidently left the spoon in the ice cream, which would prompt his mom to joke that they had an "ice cream mouse". One time, DH recalled that his younger sisters caught him, and he gave them some ice cream on the promise that they weren't going to tell on him. Well, they did anyway.

Anyone who knows my family knows that we all LOVE ice cream. When DS#3 was still an infant, we let him have his first taste of ice cream and he's been hooked ever since. He can finish a whole scoop and then some, all by himself, so nowadays when we go out for ice cream, we will go ahead and buy him his own. This is so that none of us will have to share ours with him. ;-) Last week, DH scooped up some ice cream for me at home. He knew that DS#3 would ask for some, so he put extra ice cream in my cup. DS#3 was polite and asked for some, but he did it while opening up his mouth nice and big. Every time he wanted more, which seemed to be as soon as I had just put some in his mouth, he would again open his mouth nice and big. I purposely kept him waiting a couple of times just so DH could get some pictures. :)

Notice the ice cream mustache. What a happy, satisfied smile! Mama should have gotten more ice cream!

Chasing Around the Christmas Tree

As I said in yesterday's post, it's going to a long time before Christmas gets here. Today I watched as DS#3 circled the tree over and over again. He even dragged his xylophone on wheels behind the tree and then out again. I tried to get a picture of him behind the tree but he started hiding from me. This is the one one where I actually have him in the frame. In the other ones, he was already behind the tree when the camera snapped the picture.

It's been so hard for him to keep his hands off the tree because we have such tempting ornaments. This is his ornament for this year. When I saw it I knew it was the one. If I had let him pick, he would have picked the one with Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from the movie Cars or the ornament where Mickey was riding a train, etc. He wouldn't have been able to pick one.

This is DD's ornament. She picked another Hannah Montana ornament that also plays a song, just like last year. She insisted to me, however, that it's a "different" Hannah Montana ornament and it's also a "different" song. I didn't complain because she still loves Hannah Montana this year. I just want them to get ornaments that represent their interests for that year.

I'm not sure about "interests" but DS#2 is definitely into musical ornaments. This year he couldn't decide between this ornament and several others. This one sings "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer". The license plate in back of the car reads "I break for Grandmas." He said he got it for Grandma, although I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that.

This is my annual Santa ornament. I love Santa ornaments and I love this series by Hallmark. Although they look similar year after year, I hope one day to have a tree filled with Santa ornaments, which probably means more than one tree in our house. I was taken a little aback when DS#1 told me that we had too many ornaments on the tree already. We still had most of the last tub of ornaments to put on there! I couldn't believe my son was making such a "Bah Humbug" statement!

This is the ornament that DS#1 finally picked out. He wasn't really feeling it this year. He didn't seem interested in picking out an ornament and he didn't seem excited by any of the ornaments. I almost got him one shaped like a guitar that played "Jingle Bell Rock" because even if he didn't seem excited about getting an ornament, he loves music and he loves listening to rock on his IPod. They didn't have a cell phone or computer or PS3 ornament, all of which would have been perfect for him.

Finally he saw this one and he said he wanted it. I reasoned that he has been taking some classes involving computer graphics and animation plus he's always loved drawing, so this was a reasonable pick. Unfortunately it's broken and I have to exchange it. That's why it isn't on the tree. The animated Mickey is supposed to move when you turn the crank but the gears appear to be off. I know I can get another one, but I can't trade in DS#1 for another one that has more Christmas spirit!

Excited About Presents

When we were in Houston, my mom couldn't resist giving DS#3 his Christmas present early since they won't see him until after Christmas. She gave him two outfits, one with a big red race car and one with a big brown dump truck on the front. He didn't hesitate in opening this present like he did with his birthday present a few months ago. He immediately started tearing the paper. When he got it open, he smiled and acted very excited. He then held the first shirt up and said, "It doesn't fit." We all laughed because it really did look quite big on him. Luckily it shrunk to a good size when my Mom washed it. We were also pleasantly surprised at how excited he got about getting clothes.

DH put up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving, but we just decorated it today. We also put the presents from my Mom and Dad and my sister C under the tree (my sister M hadn't finished her shopping yet). Unfortunately, DS#3 has been messing with the presents already. He just can't keep his hands off of them. The same thing goes for the ornaments. He has been constantly looking and touching the tree today. DD even told me that DS#3 apparently told her that it was her birthday and that she should open her present. It's going to be a long December before Christmas comes!

Yes, this cute little dude can be trouble. My small camera has been acting up lately, but I managed to get a handful of pictures like this one before the color turned purple again. This was taken at IHOP where we had breakfast today. The little man decided to play with his sunglasses during most of breakfast, taking them on and off. We all had to laugh when he put them on at the breakfast table just because he looked like he was "playing it cool" with a little bit of "attitude".

We also bought our yearly Hallmark ornaments. I'll post about those tomorrow when I can get some pictures in the daylight.

Thanksgiving 2009

We left town after lunch on Wednesday. Luckily we got to my parents' house by around 3PM when my niece E was still there. Her dad was picking her up and spiriting her away for the whole weekend so we were glad to be able to see her for a couple of hours. Upon our arrival the boys all pulled out their Nintendo DS games while the girls played on the American Girl site on the computer.

DS#3 did his own thing. He had lots of toys to play with. He played in the play kitchen for a bit then played with a musical guitar. He even bobbed his head up and down like he was jamming to the music from the guitar! Of course he had lots of cars, trucks, and airplanes to play with too.

My niece A stayed the night so DD played and played until bedtime. They managed to make a whole "house" made out of many, many pieces of paper. My nephew N decided to go home. DS#2 volunteered to sleep with DS#3 in the back bedroom but by 9PM when they were all going to bed, DS#3 was so tired (from no nap) that he fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning we headed to my sister C's house. She got up early to put the turkey in the oven. I remember a time when she didn't cook at all. She is so good with all manner of house stuff now that I want to be like her one day. ;) My mom brought lots of goodies also, so between the two of them, we were set.

The boys played video games and computer games for most of the day, but we did kick them outside for a bit. The weather was beautiful and I really enjoyed being out there watching them play soccer against each other. It was DS#1 versus DS#2 and my nephew N. At one point, N complained that DS#1 was so aggressive but then N started pulling on DS#1's arm. It was all in good fun. DS#1 needs the practice anyway because he has high school soccer team tryouts on Monday.

We had lots of good food to eat that we started eating at lunch and that we kept eating the whole day and into dinner. Mostly we had fun being together. Here was one funny incident where DS#3 was busy trying to poop. He was leaning over into the chair and DS#2 decided to try to help out his brother by making grunting sounds while next to DS#3. That was too funny not to take a picture!

Of course one of our Thanksgiving traditions is to take naps after the big meal. My family loves to take naps. I'm sure my dear sister will hate me for posting this, but she was positioned as if she were reading the newspaper but she was out cold like my Dad! Both of them had refused to go lie down in an actual bed. Another tradition is to watch football and my family seems to like to fall asleep in front of the TV so here we're combining traditions. :) I think DH was the only one on the sofas that didn't fall asleep. Of course, DS#3 didn't take a nap either.

My sister C was so prepared that she had bought this glitter card making kit. Her DD A and my DD loved playing with glitter. We had glitter everywhere, including our faces. DS#3 even got some on himself just by having a snack at the same table as the crafters!

We went back to my parents' house that evening but left the oldest kids there. Aunt C's house is a very fun place for them and they pretty much expect to stay overnight there every time we come for a visit. Almost all of them got up early this morning except for DS#1, of course. They got to my parents' house by lunch and we left by around 3:30PM. We're always sad when we leave but thankful that we have family close by. Thanks for a fun time Mom and Dad, M, and C!

A Day At The Zoo

Despite a family membership to the local zoo, I don't get to go to the zoo very much at all. In fact, I think today might only be the second time this year that I've gone to the zoo. Our neighbors and their two boys wanted to go to the zoo today and we decided to join them. It was a beautiful day and most of the animals were out. We came upon this brown bear and he looked like he was posing for us. The kids loved it, of course. DS#1 decided to stay home, mostly because he was still in bed when we left the house at almost 10AM.

DS#3 has been to the zoo a number of times with DH because it's a nice outdoor thing to do and he seems fascinated by every animal. I think this was the boa constrictor that he was pointing at, and he pointed out pretty much any animal he saw. He kept asking to be lifted up so he could get an closer look. Every sentence was preceded with a "Hey Mama!" or a "Hey Papa!" He talks quite a bit nowadays.

Although we brought the stroller, he walked quite a bit too. He took a good nap, woke up crying, then managed to fall asleep again on Papa's lap. DS#2 and DD seemed to enjoy the trip also, and they spent the rest of the day playing with the same neighbor boys.

Tomorrow we're planning on going to Houston for Thanksgiving. If I don't get to blog before then, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas 2009 Photo

I wanted to go ahead and get the Christmas photo done today, so I set the kids up outside in the back yard this morning. They were pretty cooperative for the most part. DS#2 is usually the most reluctant to get his photo taken but he doesn't usually end up disappointing me. I was surprised that DS#3 was so cooperative, almost too cooperative. I have quite a few "cheesy smile" photos, and a couple of photos where he is standing up very tall, so much so that he looks like he is trying to stretch his neck as much as possible. The best photo (with everyone looking) was the one where DD was arching her back so much that everyone that saw the picture remarked on her weird position. That bothered DH so much that he nixed that photo. So, we settled on this one. DS#3 isn't looking straight at the camera, but he looks happy. Notice the binoculars in DS#3's hands. That was the key for getting him to cooperate so well. ;)

I may be a little biased, but I look at this picture and think, "Wow! I have the most beautiful, photogenic children!" :)

Two Hours At A Theme Park

I love that we have season passes to our local theme parks. It's so convenient to visit or just a couple of hours. This morning started out dreary and gray with the temps in the upper 40s. It warmed up nicely to the 60s and sunny while we were at the park. There were hardly any people there when we arrived shortly after opening time. DD got to ride the above ride all by herself. DS#3 didn't want to ride, although DH and the other two boys all wanted to ride with him. That's okay--DD had a blast without them!

We started out in the "Wiggles World" area that was especially for the toddler/preschool age group. DS#3 nixed the above airplane ride for the "Big Red Car" ride. If you follow the "Wiggles" then you know what I'm talking about. Our next ride was the "Whirligig" where you ride on chairs suspended by chains. DD was very disappointed that she was just a little shy of the lower limit, 48 inches. I took this picture of her next to the sign about minimum height and DS#3 decided he wanted to be in the picture too.

We usually ride on the train ride that goes through the whole theme park but for some reason DS#3 didn't ask to go on it. I wasn't too keen on riding because the little bit of breeze that would have created would have been chilly, and I don't like to be cold. DD and DS#3 waved to the train's few passengers instead. That was just too cute.

Since DD was too short for the Whirligig ride mentioned above, we found another smaller version that she could ride. DS#3 wanted to ride too but he had to ride with an "adult". That meant DS#1 since he is adult-sized anyway and DH and I don't like the spinning rides. This isn't the greatest picture, but I love it because it shows DS#1 trying to look at the camera for me but it also shows how fascinated DS#3 was at the ride that he couldn't take his eyes off.

The kids love this ride called the "Wave Runner". It really doesn't have anything to do with water, but it does spin--a lot. DS#3 wanted to go with them but he was too short. Luckily he was satisfied with just watching. DD especially seems to love this ride. She never stops smiling once the ride starts moving. She rode a second time with just DS#1 and DH and I enjoyed watching the two of them. They were both smiling and enjoying each other and that always makes DH and me smile. :)

We really only stayed at the park for about two hours. We were enjoying the weather so much that we went to a local barbecue place called Rudy's and we ate outside. Everyone in our family is a big fan of ice cream and the kids had some for dessert. They gave huge helpings and three of those cups were only $5. They were big enough helpings that DD didn't even complain when she had to share her Rainbow Sherbet with DS#3. That boy can easily have his own ice cream serving nowadays. Like I said before, our family loves ice cream. :)