Christmas Part 2...

Here are some more pictures from Christmas. Sophia in an over the top girly moment...the shoes, the make-up bag, the lip gloss and the hair dryer. I don't know where she gets all this!!

Jake in his new skates. He was really excited!!

Here's a short clip of Jake skating with my mom. He thought it was very cool to be big enough to skate with her. I added music to the video. Maybe one day (with enough practice) he'll be able to skate as fast as the music is playing!

Comfortable...right???

This is how I found Sophia last night. When I left her room, she was laying on the carpet and refusing to get in bed. So I left her. After some protesting and "Mommy....COME HERE", I guess she gave up and this is how she landed. It's just amazing how she can sleep in such crazy positions!!

The Day After....

Merry Christmas....one day later. We had a wonderful, very busy, very fun filled past couple of days. And the fun continues tonight with one more mini-celebration.

Here are a few pictures but I'll post more later. Mary has the priceless pictures of Jake in his new roller skates. And I have great video too. But...it will have to wait till a bit later. Try to contain your excitement!!

Just a moment in time...but pretty cute. No pictures of all 3 kids together before we left for Christmas Eve service. I wish...but maybe next year!

The cousins together. Aren't they the picture of peace?? Santa found these at WalMart for $3. Don't you want a pair?? Seriously the cutest pair of dress up shoes I've seen in a long time!Joshua had the right idea. He slept through the family Christmas dinner...then got to eat quietly by himself after he woke up. Sophia says she likes Tiana better than Cinderealla now. Wow!! These are serious words!! She got a lot of dress up stuff this year and REALLY played up the girly-girl factor!!!

Christmas Lights...

Tonight we drove through "the neighborhood" in SA that's known for their Christmas lights each year. I took along my new video camera...which I LOVE. So...check out this house that had the
lights timed to music which you listened to on a certain radio station. Way too much time on their hands. But it was pretty!



This is Sophia singing Away in a Manger. It's pretty dark, but you can hear her just fine! Notice the part where she says "in thy kinder care"....which is pretty funny!

Church Christmas program....

The kids were in the Christmas program at church yesterday. Sophia was an angel. Jake was a lamb. They had 2 songs to sing. Sadly...my camera had no battery so I didn't get to take pictures. These are from Jamie's camera. You can also see video from the program on her blog: http://jamespurejoy.blogspot.com/

Jake in the background...he made a cute lamb!
Doesn't Sophia look thrilled to be there??? I couldn't see her the whole time...but surely she wasn't taking a little nap?

Check it out...

Yep...that's Jake...riding on 2 wheels!! He's over the hump and riding alone! We're so proud!! I thought this day would never come, but it has!! He still needs help getting started sometimes. Most of that is because the bike is just a bit too big. He's on his toes to touch the ground. But, he's getting better and better every day. All he wants to do is ride!! Hooray!!

Cute craft...

Jake's teacher did this for the parent present this year. It's SO cute. Their hand print in white on a clear glass ornament. Then, the teachers mom painted the snowmen.

Christmas parties...

Oh the fun of pre-school and Kindergarten Christmas parties....I'm completely pooped. I can only imagine how the teachers feel!!!!!!And Joshua gets the leftovers....check out the hair...I love it!!

Family picture...

As part of Sophia's school program, they did family pictures by the tree. This is first family picture we've had done in a long time. Not too bad!!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!!

Sophia's school had their first annual Christmas program last night. It was quite an event!! The kids were all dressed as cowboys and cowgirls. Sophia's class sang (or yelled) Joy to the World and then We Wish You a Merry Christmas during the finale. It was all very darn cute!!
Now if only I could get the video to work......which I finally figured out!!! Hooray!! Here's a short clip from the evening. Sophia was more interested in swaying than singing.

Yummy lunch...

You know it's been a successful lunch time if you look like this:

I took right before I gave him a haircut. So...add some hair into the picture and you have what he looks like right now! Only now he doesn't look quite so shaggy!

Hmmm....

I found this scene a little while ago. Wonder what the story is behind it?? I'm sure Sophia has a good explanation!! Not sure if I really want to know though....wondering is most of the fun!!!

Sophia and Joshua...

Sophia is just funny...and way too grown-up to be just 3. She's very very good with Joshua most of the time. Most of the time I think she could take over as Mommy and run the house by herself.

On the way to church this morning, Joshua was babbling (he doesn't talk...who needs to when you have Sophia around!!) and pointing to things. Sophia looks out his window and said "Yes...you're right Joshua. They did cut the trees down." What???? And sure enough, he was pointing to a house with a big pile of brush by the curb. Guess Sophia knew exactly what he was thinking!!! He's got a personal translator!!

a Happy Birthday Jesus party!!

Our mentor mom (the mom who was lived through this chaos and can give us hope for the other side) at MOPS hosted a Happy Birthday Jesus party at her house today. It was a lot of fun. They have some property out in Fair Oaks Ranch. They have 4 horses and ride in the Rodeo opening ceremonies every year. You should see their fancy saddles. WOW!!! Their whole house was beautiful!! I wish Mike could have see the "man room." It was perfect for him!!

There were about 8 moms with kids...so it was a full house. Lots of good food, cookie decorating, a book exchange and of course a trip outside to see the horses. We all had a lot of fun. It's great to have such a wonderful group of mom friends to spend time with!!

The cookie decorating station....Joshua was QUICK to figure out that the frosting was the best part. He even swiped a little girls cookie in hopes of getting more frosting!!

Santa came a bit early....

Santa made a quick stop at our house to leave jammies today. The kids have been asking....so now they're super excited. It's a great tradition and I love the excitement over jammies. It cracks me up!!!

Sophia drama

Sophia was in rare form this afternoon. When it was time to walk to pick up Jake, she refused to put on her coat or shoes. Huge drama about not being able to find them....please....I could see shoes from where I was standing!!!!!! And she had 3 coats hanging on hooks in her room. So, I loaded her up in the stroller in a hat, long sleeve shirt, leggings and socks. Kind of cold when it's 45 degrees. She cried all the way to school, the whole time we waited for Jake (and of course his class came out last) and all the way home. All of Northwood Elem. heard her!!

So...after a discussion about better choices...we get ready for the gym. Same deal. After much crying and screaming she comes running out of the house with a coat, barefoot, but holding tennis shoes. In the car (as she's putting on her shoes...with much drama) she says "hey wait a minute...what is wrong with everybody? Is everyone mad at me." Yep little one...you got it. I'm tired of the drama and so are your brothers. We're trying to ignore you!!!

I did think it was a little sad. And also interesting that she managed to pick on the fact that no one was happy with her!!

Maybe tomorrow will be better!!

Thank you gift...

I'm in charge of getting the thank-you gifts for Sophia's soccer coaches. Our end of the season party is this weekend. I saw the 6 bottle wine carriers (which are free) and thought they would be a good "basket" for the present. 50 coats of spray paint later, they're white and the presents are done.

I think they turned out great! Each one has a bottle of wine (sparkling cider for the pregnant coach), a magazine, bath stuff, a candle, chocolate bar and a $10 Starbucks card. We're also doing a scrapbook were each child is making their own page. They should be very cute!!

Oh no...

Tonight after dinner I could hear Joshua was fussing but I wasn't sure where he was. Jake was in the kitchen with me. Mike was at the computer. I asked Sophia if he was with her in the living room. Nope....and this is how we found him...climbed on top of the desk in his room/my craft room. All by himself. Isn't he proud!!!

This is not good. And when he saw us he said "uh oh..." Yep...that's right. I guess the baby gates need to be used a WHOLE lot more!!!

The house is decorated....

I put out the Christmas decorations today. The kids can help decorate the tree later today. I'm wondering how long it will take Joshua to pull down the tree. We'll see.


6 little stockings (including the dog's) all in a row. I'm SO glad to be finished with Joshua's stocking and all the stocking repairs that I had to do this year. They take a lot of work!!

After nap Joshua figured out how to make the FP Nativity set "play." I love that set. The kids have so much fun with it!!!

Turkey Day...

We spent Thanksgiving at the ranch. The weather was really nice and we had a great time. Lots of good food. My mom and Shirley were the head cooks. It's hard to go wrong when they are in charge of food!!

Seriously...

This is our neighbor's yard. Don't you think they could take 5 min. to pull some weeds?? Really. I'm getting tired of looking at this. If Joshua wanders into their yard...he might get lost and not be able to find his way home!!

What's more fun than the Kiddie Park???

Mary and I took the kids to the Kiddie Park today. Dad, Julie, Katherine and Sepp met us there. The Kiddie Park is OLD!!!!!!! I mean....really old!!!!!!!!!!!! But, they've recently freshened it up and it looks pretty good. There are 7 rides and some arcade games. Jake had been before, but this was Sophia's first time. All the fun you can have for only $9...what a deal. The kids loved it. All 3 hours we were there!!!

Christmas pics

We were supposed to do family pictures yesterday, but we had to cancel. So, I took the kids out and tried to get some good ones of just them. Joshua was by far the hardest to capture!!!

A custom order...

A friend of mine emailed me and asked if I could make this dress for her daughter. I'm always up for a challenge...so I tried it. I think it turned out really cute. Not a very good picture! Sorry!!

Here's the original idea: http://sewadorabledesigns.com/infants-6-12-months/item-03-1lg.htm

Notice Sophia's new haircut today. I'm kind of sad about it. It's cute...but I'm not a real fan of bangs. My hairdresser did it without my permission...which is irritating. Most of the time I'm fine with what she does. Thankfully there's not a lot bangs. So hopefully they'll be easy to grow out.

But...she loves the new hair...which is good. This afternoon she told me that she didn't want any water or soap on her hair at bath time. She didn't want to wash the prettiness away. So cute!!!

Still here...

I haven't posted in a week or so. Trying to get back in the swing of things after everyone being gone.

I went to Jake's school to have lunch with him today...annual Turkey Dinner day. Yum yum!! Nothing like cafeteria turkey to get your mouth watering!!! I decided I'd save my $3 and just enjoy the company (not the food). Jake was thrilled to have me there. He's such a funny little guy and I love to see him in his "element." Elementary school is a whole other world. And his school is so small that everyone knows everyone. It's very cute!

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon. Life seems to be going at warp speed lately!!

Old favorites...

I was going through pictures on a memory card today and found these. Some of my favorites!! They were all from June and August '08.

Look how little Joshua is!!!!!!!!!I love the buzz cut!! This was at the beach,So sweet!!!!!! This one is absolutely priceless!!