Christmas

P was so excited about Christmas. So excited, that I actually think it was a little bit of a let down for him. He was up early (as always) and quickly opened his presents, but not crazy fast.


K was different. She first opened her Dora tent, got her Bunka (blankie) and laid down in the tent. That is a picture of her here. We had to talk her into opening the other presents and I think she was done by 11 am.


Later in the day we went to Aunt V's. The kids had fun over there and even ended the day with a chocolate fountain. They both slept well that night, in spite of all of the junk food they ate that day.

Getting Ready

I was afraid Christmas Eve was going to be one of the longest days of the year. P was asking to go back to bed at 8:30 AM. I tried to explain to him that would not make Santa come any faster. We ended up filling the day with putting up our nativity scene (a good reminder about the real meaning of Christmas for the 5 year old), making a Thank You sign for Santa, exchanging gifts from our sibling and baking cookies for Santa. That night after going to church we went to dinner with the grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. It was a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food at the table. K liked it. P loved it. He even tried new food!

Early Christmas

Mere and Pere are going to be gone for Christmas this year. So we spent the day with them and exchanged presents a little early. Mere made K a fancy skirt or tutu and you can tell she loves it. P's favorite was the magic set. He loves to make things disappear these days or 'just-appear' as he says.

Lost a tooth!

P recently lost his first tooth. It has been loose for a while, but he was playing basketball in his room and the ball hit him in the phase, knocking his tooth out. He was of course very excited.

Care Bear

The Care Bear has been trying to avoid naps these days and I think it caught up with her on Halloween. She had a fun day at times, but was just tired for much of it. She and I went to a party at P's school. She trick-or-treated at some houses and then was quite happy in the stroller with her sucker. (why get more candy when I have a sucker here?)

Fighter Pilot

The Fighter Pilot in our house had a fantastic Haloween. He started the day with pumpkin shaped pancakes (hooray for Mom's rare moment of creativity!), then had two parties at school and then trick-or-treated with his cousin for long enough to fill his bucket with candy. Here are some pics of his Halloween.

Crazy K

K is so funny these days. She is very social and loves being the center of attention. I love the pic of her in the white hat. The collage are all pics from Daddy's bday. It really is a good representation of all of her varied personalities. (Thanks to Daddy's uncle for putting it to gether)

P is off track

For those of you not familiar with year round schools, that probably sounds bad. It just means he is out of school for 3 weeks. The break was needed - full day Kindergarten is tiring for all of us! He spent the first week with Mere and Pere and is with Bo-Bo and Pa-Paw this week.

Here are a few pics from his trip to the North Pole. He called me after he drove the car and exclaimed that he can drive a car now. "For real!" (we won't burst his bubble yet)

He wasn't too sure about Santa, as you can tell.

K's backpack

K goes to a Mom's Day Out program now. At the beginning of the year, I let her pick out her backpack. Of course she picks out the My Little Pony one with hair you can brush. (She is very much a girl.) The funny thing is the backpack is as big as her!!!!

Children's museum

K and I went to the Children's Museum last week. It is fun being able to spend time with just one of the kiddos at a time. It is nice going places and not negotiating between the two of them on where to go next!

Plane Trip!

P and I went to LA a few weeks ago to go to my cousin's wedding. We had a great time and since P's latest love is airplanes he really enjoyed the plane ride. The water pics are from the Mississippi River.

K's antics

K is such a silly little girl these days. Here are some recent pics of her.

Here she is playing in the bubbles or actually the bubble stuff and water and making a tremendous mess!

She was painting one day and decided painting her hands would be more fun.

Daddy was fixing something under the fridge one day and K came along to check things out and see what assistance she might provide.

First day of school!!!!

P had his first day of Kindergarten last week. He had a great time and is adjusting well. Of course we are just assuming he is adjusting well. We get so little information from him about school. He is riding the school bus and that seems to be his favorite part of the day.

Bike rider

P has always gone through phases where he quickly overcomes a couple obstacles in his development at once. This time we feel like it is kind of symbolic of the big change he makes at the end of the month, starting Kindergarten. In the last few weeks he started riding his bike with no training wheels (he still needs a little help) and he is getting much closer to swimming on his own. Here is a picture of him working on the bike riding.

10 years!

The Mom and Dad portion of this blog celebrated 10 years together with a trip to Mexico in June. We had the best time relaxing and doing not much of anything!

Time with the grandparents

We are so fortunate to have both sets of grandparents nearby. The kids have both spent some time with them this summer and of course had a great time. Here are a few pictures of those excursions.

P's Graduation

Well, my guy is done with preschool. He did great at 'graduation' and I managed to stay composed. I'm not so sure I'll do the same on the first day of kindergarten. I know every mom says this, but I just can't believe he starts kindergarten in 2 months.

Picture Day

We took the kids last weekend for their yearly pictures. Here are some of the best ones.