Easter

Easter was fun, as usual. We went to my parents' house, along with my sister and her family and hunted eggs there. The twins are getting big (all of the kids are, actually) and they are really getting into the spirit of things.
































Daddy took the kids to a friends' house to color eggs, since Momma was working.

February

Let's see . . .

Valentine's Day

More Cookie Sales

More work for momma.

Here are pictures.




Goodie bags for the helpers.








Voting on their favorite color of Conversation Hearts









The poll.

100th Day of School

This one deserved it's own post.

Tea's class had lots of fun celebrating the 100th Day of School (a little bit early, but partying on Friday is much better than partying on Monday!)



They made necklaces of 100 fruit loops, they made hats that had 100 stamps on them, and earlier in the week, they turned in posters with 100 items on them.






The best part - getting to pop 100 balloons in 100 seconds. The best part for the adults? Having the kids pick up 100 broken balloons in 100 seconds ;)















Here's the video . . .

Decorating the tree

We have a little pre lit, artificial Christmas tree. We have 4 times as many ornaments than will fit on it. I keep the breakables packed up for now. Someday, we are going to have to get a bigger tree, or maybe two.

Pumpkin Patch

On Hallowe'en, my best friend and I (along with her husband) took the kids to the pumpkin patch to play in the bounce house and see the animals.

The cousins

What a motley crew! Iron Man, two dragons, Thomas, a unicorn and a teenager! That was the scariest of them all!

My sister and I took all of the kids Trick or Treating around her neighborhood before it got dark. The kids had fun and the moms got worn out.

Happy Hallowe'en

So, as promised, here are the two cuties! Tea was a unicorn and Crackers was Thomas the Tank Engine. DH made Cracker's costume from boxes and painted it and we added a flashlight for the nose/headlight. You can't see Tea's tail, but it was beautiful!

Here's Tea in Kindergarten, decorating her pumpkin. I think she had tons of fun at her first Hallowe'en school party. I sure did!

Here's Crackers walking to the school party. He was the hit, but the costume didn't stay on very long.

Our two children were the only ones with homemade costumes at the class party. There are 10 girls in Tea's class and 6 of them were princesses. One witch, two cats and a unicorn. It was fun. Watch this space for pictures of the cousins on Hallowee'en. Coming soon!

Happy Independence Day

Here are Tea and Crackers on the front deck of my parents' house waiting for the fireworks to start. We can see the Reno and the Sparks fireworks from my parents' house so that's our prime viewing spot. They have two decks upstairs, one in front and one in back.

I got the kids bathed and in their jammies and we headed over there. I don't remember what we did last year, but I do believe that this is the first time Crackers has seen fireworks. He was fascinated. Tea enjoyed them as well.

I hope that you and yours had fun, too!

Hoppy Easter

The kids and I went to church this morning and then off to my parents' house for the Great Egg Hunt. My sister and her kids were there as well, so we all got to hang out, have breakfast and hunt eggs.

It was a good day. Enjoy the pics and I hope your Easter was fun, too!

Something Borrowed

Today is something borrowed.

I borrowed this picture from one of my favorite funny websites:


moar humorous pics

I also borrowed my mom to help me with Tea and Crackers at their respective Valentine parties today. What a zoo! I forgot the camera, so no pictures from the party. Crackers' class had 12 kids, two were not there because it wasn't their regular day, so ten little ones running around. Thank heavens the teacher didn't let them eat their Valentine candy! Tea's class had 14 kids, two were also not there because it wasn't their regular day. Mom said they were out of control!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Something New

Sorry, no pictures, Crackers has croup and was clingy today. I will work on pictures tomorrow, hopefully!

Here's my something new . . .

Crackers started preschool last week (thanks for the croup!) He has been begging to go with big sister and they had an opening for one day a week. So, he goes on Fridays, with Tea. He is in the babybugs room and they work on potty training. I'm not sure how well that will work with his only being there one day a week, but it is a start.

He just goes for a half day, so I drop them off on my way to work and then I pick them up around 12:45. They are there about four hours. Last Friday, the director said that he didn't cry for mom and dad, but he cried for sissy.

Tea goes three days a week (M/W/F) and she was the queen kahuna last Friday, introducing baby brother around to all of the kids and the teachers. She loves being a big sister so far.

Tomorrow is their Valentine's party. My mom and I are going to take them since it isn't a regular school day for them, but they should have fun. I'll take the camera, but we have seen my track record so far!

Enjoy!

Presents with Family

Christmas Eve was tons of fun at Bubba and Tata's house. We open all of our present on Christmas Eve at my parent's house and then Santa visits overnight and leaves presents in the stockings. Pretty good hook up, if you ask me.

We usually get together with DH's family the weekend after Christmas which is pure chaos, as well. The kids get to play with all of their cousins and second cousins and they all had a blast.

Opening Presents with Friends

My best friend (since 2nd grade!) and her daughter came over for the kids to exchange presents, and it was winter Crocs all around. The girls got pink and Crackers got red. They look like Santa shoes. I know that my winter Crocs are super warm and comfy, so the kids should all enjoy theirs!

Holy Cow!

I have fallen far behind in my blogging! December is a crazy month.

Tea had her preschool Christmas program on the 8th of the month. Here is some video:

I'll work on posting that later - sorry!

Tea also had her preschool Christmas party on the 22nd - Crackers went with us and the kids got to hear a story from Santa, decorate cookies and sit on Santa's lap. Those are the pictures in the beginning.

Christmas Decorating

We did all the decorating today. DH worked very hard on the lights outside and I did the little bit inside.

This is the first Christmas that both Tea and Crackers are excited and have a bit of a clue as to what is to come.

Crackers has rearranged the Nativity scene quite a few times and he's already undecorated the tree. We've only been done for about 1/2 hour!

If you look closely at the picture of the front porch, you can see Tea peeking out at me while I was taking the picture. Brrrrr, it is COLD today! The wind makes it worse, so I took quick snaps and came back in.

Enjoy your December!

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Saturday, DH and I went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra. It was an awesome show. That was our Christmas present to each other.

We were seated at the side of the stage and we were only about 5 rows away from the stage. There was an elevated area on each side of the stage where the performers would come up to. When they were up there, they were about 10 feet away from us. They were talking to the audience - it was awesome!

If you enjoy their music and get a chance to see them, we highly recommend it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's DH carving the turkey. We had my parents and a friend of DH over for a late Thanksgiving dinner.

We fried our turkey and I have to say, I love it this way. The turkey takes 4 minutes a pound and the oven is available to make all the sides. It took 50 minutes for our 12.5 pound turkey to be finished. Instead of cooking all day long, everything went in the oven at the same time as the turkey. Mom made pies and an awesome spinach artichoke dip and there we were!

We hope that everyone enjoyed their turkey day as much as we did. We are infinitely thankful for our families and friends and love to share days like this with them.

Christmas Pictures

Last Sunday, we got all six of Tea and Crackers' cousins on their dad's side of the family together for pictures for Grandma. I do believe that it is the first time we have a picture of all eight of them together.

The oldest is 25 and Crackers is the youngest at 2. The pictures came out so well and this is the picture of Tea and Crackers. We got grandma a beautiful jewelry box with pictures of all of the kids on the top of it. I'm sure she'll like it, I know I like mine!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!