Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Clean up!!!

Happy Gotcha Day to Miss O!

Today marks an OFFICAL four years of Miss O being legally ours!!!!

Her first official birthday party!

I gave in to the pressure!! Miss O wanted to have a birthday party with friends from school. In the past, with her brothers, most parties end up being so crazy, stressful and exhausting, that just the idea makes me cringe!

So, we ended up inviting about 6 other girls that she gets along with, and whose parents I know, over to the house after school for pizza and cupcakes. The girls all had fun being a little crazy and playing, and the birthday girl was THRILLED! She told me it was the best birthday party EVER! Haha - since she has really only had one! She is so excited to be six!!

Somebody is SIX today!

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Princess of all time!!!!

Ahhhh the holidays....

I am so not ready for the Holidays! While I used to just LOVE them... I have grown slowly to start to really dread the season! The Holidays, ok, quite frankly, ANY holiday gives one certain child extreme anxiety issues. He will act up and be a brat when anyone else has a birthday.... be cranky at Valentines Day because he either lost ONE little card, or did not get the "right" kind of candy... Easter - where do I begin... Halloween, a nightmare! Thanksgiving is pretty much a mellow one - no gifts, no sugar and pretty low key (except for this year!)... but the grand-daddy of them all... CHRISTMAS is his arch nemisis!

We have a few simple rules in our house.... one, Holidays are about being together and spending time as a family (easy enough) and #2... on those more "materialistic" holidays, like Easter and Xmas... the particular basket/toy bringer must be believed in to come!

Due to his extreme anxieties, it tends to be a little iffy each year at Christmas... we start prepping him in November... little things are mentioned - like you can't get everything for xmas, Santa brings you things that HE thinks you will like and use, and of course, be thankful what for you have and what you get!

Knowing that each year this issue comes up, adds to some of the dread... while we have a few failsafes in place, sometimes he throws out a curve ball that we are not ready for! Grrrrrr..... so.. since we are getting closer to the big day - we are trying hard to keep our wits in place... but, man is it tough!

Winter Concert

So hard to believe my little Princess is getting so big! Here she is all dressed up for her very first school concert! She was so exicted to wear such a fancy dress! The Kindergarten program is usually the hardest to sit through... since either half the kids don't sing the right song, and the other half scream!! hehe - but she did really well and loved it!


Little J had his final elementary school concert! Whoo hooo! He got to play one of the horrible donging things that I despise!


And here he is all dressed up... still small enough to take a picture with his Mom!

My little reader

This darn Leap Pad is about 10 years old now, but boy, has it been well used! Little J was the last kiddo that "loved it!", now Miss O has really gotten into using it! Thank goodness for the headphones though.... one can only take so much of some of the music!!

Baby it's cold outside!!

While cleaning the kitchen this morning - this was my view! The Guineas have decided to perch in a new spot! It was funny because I am almost 100% positive that they were watching me and waiting for me to come out and feed them! Considering the temps have been in the single digits, they still sleep outside in the elements! Silly birds!

Getting up our tree!

Each year, we set up our good-ole, faithful, made in Korea Christmas Tree! Only a few years have we ever gone with the live tree! Also, since we had our little mischevious kitten, Fester, we knew we had better not go all out with an expensive live tree!
So, we spent last night getting out the ornaments and decorating the tree! The kids really enjoy putting on "their" special ornaments each year - a great reminder of how much they have grown since years past! Let the Holiday Season Begin!