Lincoln Log Recall

I just heard there was a Lincoln Log recall. Recent studies have shown that using Lincoln Logs may cause migraine headaches. What would ever give someone that idea!? Gee, thanks Papa Bine and Miss Carole for letting the kids express themselves through music. We now feel that we have been beaten by a log. Who knew that when we asked for Lincoln Logs for creative/imaginative play, we would get such beautiful music.....

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few highlights from our perfect Christmas!

Santa was very good to us! There were lots of gifts under and around the tree.

Drew was thrilled to get a new motorcycle!

Alivia loved her $1 hat from Target. Just goes to show it's not how much you spend that matters. :)

Farm animals for Drew.

The princess in her castle.

Our knight loves his castle too.

According to Alivia, they're playing "sleep out camp" in the tent. They've had the lights off and their flashlights on in the tents all afternoon and evening. Since we're stuck inside the house for a few months, I'm hoping this will be fun for them. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Jammies and Cupcakes

The kids enjoyed opening their Christmas jammies after church on Christmas eve. We also made cupcakes for Santa. Our church passed out confetti cake mix and icing to each family with the intent of making a cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We loved the idea and Santa did too. He ate two cupcakes while he was here!

Christmas Eve

We're getting ready for the Christmas Eve service at church.

Baby Ella

Alivia got an American Girl Bitty Baby for her birthday. It came with red hair, blue eyes and a number of accessories. She loved filling out the baby book. One page has a place for a picture with Mommy and baby, so we had to take this shot. She told me Drew is the Daddy, so he also needed to be in the picture. She loves changing baby Ella's diaper and feeding her. It's so funny to see what she understands about the role of a mother. It's obvious she helps Miss Angela with the babies at day care. And Drew enjoys helping too. He likes to take Ella for a walk in the stroller.

Mall Santa

This went much better than expected! We've been talking about going to see Santa for days, but Drew hasn't been the least bit interested. Once we got close, he told Santa he wanted a bulldozer, tractor and combine. Alivia requested new boots. No one wanted to sit on Santa's lap, but we still managed to get a cute picture.

More Birthday

We try to give the kids their presents from us on their actual birthday. So we opened gifts on Monday evening, then went to dinner at Fazoli's. Alivia was so excited with her new softball mitt from Drew. He sprinted to find his so they could play catch together. :) Brad and I bought Alivia clothes, jewelry and a jewelry box. She's such a girl!

Pony Party

Alivia decided she wanted a My Little Pony birthday party this year. We'd been talking about a barbie theme for months, then she changed her mind in the party store. Of course everything was pink and she picked some of her favorite snacks to share; cookies with icing and sprinkles, M&M's, Reese Pieces and fruit snacks. She was kind enough to let Drew pick Spider-man fruit snacks too. We were blessed to share this day with some of her favorite people as we celebrated at home. Thanks to all who joined us!

Here's what she's doing at 4:

* She loves preschool! She's recognizing and writing her letters all the time. I have a difficult time keeping her busy. We do worksheets at home and it's common for her to do 10-15 in one sitting. We love that Miss Angela challenges her too.
* She's started taking piano lessons with Mr. Ryan. She's only done this once or twice, but she really enjoyed it.
* She's starting to sound out words. I think I could teach her to read very easily, but I'm afraid she'll be bored to tears at school if she's that far ahead.
* Her favorites: mac & cheese (food), baby doll (toy), pink (color), park (favorite outside activity), The Sing Off (favorite tv show), Brayden (best friend)
* She still loves shoes! One of her favorite birthday gifts was slippers from Nanny and Papaw. She's been eyeing them at Target for weeks!
* She has such a big heart. She loves to hug and cuddle and can lay it on pretty thick at times. :) We enjoy these moments as we know they won't last forever.
* She's a great big sister. Drew adores her (most of the time). He follows her around and often mimics her every word and move. Since my transition to part-time, it's been so nice to see them play together. I hope they can always be good friends.
* She loves to sing. When we put her to bed, she'll sing to herself for up to 30 minutes. I'm just waiting for the day that Drew opens his door and tells her to stop. :)
* 4th Bday Favorite Bday Gifts-American Girl Bitty Baby, Slippers and Doodle Penguin

She's 4!

We celebrated Alivia's 4th birthday this weekend. She chose Texas Roadhouse for her birthday lunch from Mamaw and enjoyed sitting on the saddle. You'll notice the crowd was a little off, but you get the idea. She loved being the center of attention. :) Happy Birthday to our sweet girl! More pictures from the party soon.

Christmas at the Zoo

It was 59 degrees on the way home from work today, so we decided last minute to go to the zoo. The animals weren't very active, but the lights were beautiful. We splurged and took the kids on the train ride, too. (It's very uneventful so we only do it once a year.) The kids enjoyed it, but even Alivia recognized we didn't see much along the way. :) All in all, we had a great time. You'll notice how tired I look in the picture with Drew. This is what it looks like after my busy day at work. I'm exhausted!

Birthday Mail

We came home today and found a package on the front step with Alivia's name on it. She was thrilled when she learned it was a birthday gift from Great Aunt Ronda and Great Uncle Art. When Alivia opened the present, she said "Aunt Ronda knew exactly what I wanted!" Drew was excited to see they remembered him too. We're looking forward to celebrating Alivia's birthday with family on Sunday.

Christmas with Friends

We're so blessed to have Richard and Debby in our lives. They're so good to ALL of us! They came over Sunday to bring a few gifts for the kids. They each got a puzzle and loved the new games. We played a few before bedtime this evening. Drew is loving his remote control monster truck too. I love the look on his face in the picture below. These two are going to be so much fun Christmas morning!

Downtown

Saturday night we took our annual trip downtown to walk around the circle and look at the lights. I love this tradition we've started. It was very cold this year, so we didn't stay long. Despite freezing, the kids had fun. Alivia's favorite part was the big tree of lights. Drew liked the lights, stairs and motorcycle. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we saw quite a bit in the short time we were there. Enjoy the pics.

Alivia looking at the nativity.

Santa driving around the circle on his red Harley.

IPL's lighted window tree.

I love my family!

Alivia, Nolan and Drew

Their faces look so cold!

Love this tree!

Greulich's

We even saw a real reindeer!

Unexpected Guest

When I opened the windows yesterday, I noticed a black cat sitting on the deck. The kids were so excited! They quickly ran to start knocking on the window and talking to this little friend. As an attempt to scare it away (because I made it perfectly clear it wasn't our cat and wasn't staying), they grabbed flashlights and stuffed animals to see if that would make it leave. But it didn't. Once Daddy came home, he kindly let the cat out of the yard. And here's the bad news -it was only gone for about five minutes. Although it's great entertainment for the kids (they've sat at the sliding door for at least an hour today!), we're not keeping it. Daddy's allergic and I refuse to feed anyone else around here. Let's hope he goes home soon. It's been 24 hours and he hasn't left yet. And I should also mention, Alivia has named it "Catty." :)

Love

One of my favorite pictures yet. Love these two like crazy!

Cookies Monsters

Making cookies at our house is pretty simple. Most of the time we buy the dough, break it apart and let the kids spread them out on the cookie sheets. They still think it's fun and I like the lack of a mess at the end. We made chocolate chip today with red and green chips for Christmas. While the oven was warming, the cookie sheets were on the stove with the kids right next to them. After washing my hands, I turned around and noticed all the cookies closest to Alivia and Drew were missing the red and green chips! Of course they were grinning from ear to ear. They loved using these cute snowman plates too.

O Christmas Tree

The kids were so excited to help put up the Christmas tree this year. They love looking at their ornaments from years past. If only I could find a way to keep their little hands from touching them on a daily basis! Alivia cried the first time we turned the lights off and now they race to turn them on when they get out of bed. I can't wait to see what they do on Christmas morning.

Slippers

They both have slippers on their Christmas lists this year. They were playing in these at Miss Angela's. :)