Christmas

So this was our Christmas. We had a great day. The kids had a lot of fun opening gifts. Nehemiah was happy with the first thing he opened and wasn't really into opening more presents. Hannah on the other hand was into opening everything. It worked out well. :) Joseph has been wanting transformers for quite some time... and he lucked out. We found a BUNCH of transformers - some brand new (I think) - at a consignment shop. He is one happy boy. If only Mommy could figure out how to transform those stinkin things! :)










The Opening Frenzy at Grandma Debbie's and Papa Al's. It was chaos, I didn't get many pictures.






I still have to download pictures from Christmas with the Fox's. So check back for more Christmas pictures soon. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Have a Happy New Year!!!

How much do you like Ketchup?

To say that ketchup is her favorite food would be an understatement.

As a side note... at dinner tonight we had ketchup at the table again. Her eyes were glowing with delight. She stuck out her tongue with high hopes that someone would give her just a squirt of the yummy red tomato condiment. We didn't let her down.

Joseph's Eye View

Joseph was driving me crazy on Christmas Eve. I was trying to finish sewing a stocking. He was excited and bugging me. I gave him my camera and told him to take pictures of the day. These are all pictures he took. It kept him out of my hair. He was happy. I was happy. And we have some funny pictures. It was wonderful.

Christmas Eve Picnic

I think one of our favorite traditions is our Christmas Eve picnic. The kids have a great time and it is all so simple. This year I had the brilliant idea to add a chocolate fondue dessert. At the table. I'm not foolish enough to allow the children to eat melted chocolate on the living room floor. Thankfully bath time was planned after our lovely chocolate mess. Enjoy some pictures of our picnic.




The Lightning McQueen blanket really sets the mood, don't you think? :)


Please let me explain Hannah's hair. She did not just stick her finger in the electric socket. She had two adorable little pig tails, of which she decided were inappropriate for picnic attire.


Yes, Roger is living the life. "Little Boy! Feed me a grape!" :)


Hannah filled up on grapes and chips. Very balanced meal. Joseph was trying to figure out just how much of his sandwich he had to eat in order to get dessert.


I own a fondue pot. This is not it. Our fire in a can (sterno) was too big. As soon as I put the pot on it's base the fire was smothered out. Probably for the better anyway. Little arms reaching for chocolate resting over fire probably wasn't the best idea. The chocolate didn't last long enough to even need extra heat.


Must. Eat. Chocolate.


He mastered the art of putting the most chocolate humanly possible on one little slice of banana.

*please excuse the highly hideous table cloth. The table was naked. This was $3.99. Nuff said*


Hannah's shirt oh so appropriately reads "Dear Santa, put yourself in my shoes" I'm sure the jolly man couldn't turn down a good ol' chocolate fondue either.

Merry Christmas!

Potty training?

Ok, so Hannah WANTS to use the potty. Like for real. She walked over to our little potty and sat down. Roger smiled at her and asked if she had to go potty. She started pulling at her pants. Then she walked to the stairs. She didn't want to use the little potty. So Roger brought her up (because he learned from my mistake) and let her sit on the big potty. She sat for a bit then said she was done. Okie dokie, got her down. She then walked out into the hall and peed on the floor. goober. So he cleaned her and the floor up and brought her back down. She started pulling at her pants again. I sat her on the little potty - nothing. I decided I'd let her run around with her cute little hiney sticking out so she could sit on the potty when she wanted to. I looked up and noticed a puddle on the floor. So much for that idea.




Ok, so this picture has nothing to do with the potty, but it's Hannah. :) And she's got her naughty face on.

Wedding - First Dance

If you have little ears around you might want to watch this later. I first saw it on the Today Show... then came across it again online. I find it highly amusing... the words to the song are just a little... well... don't listen with little ears near by. Funny stuff though... funny I tell you.

Note to self...#2

When 15 month old shows interest in using the potty... let her. Even if you think she's too young. She just might have saved you from scrubbing poop out of the bathtub.

Note To Self

Keep Nehemiah away from cheese curls and/or the movie Flushed Away.

Per Josephs request we bought cheese curls. "it's just not a birthday without cheese curls" I couldn't argue with that, so we now have not one, but 2 bags of the yummy cheesie puffs. They were on sale. Buy one get one free. I'm thinking I should have left my free one with some random person who just might have been needy themselves for a bag of cheesie curls. We forgot about the puffs on Josephs birthday yesterday. So today with lunch we had some. Nehemiah looked at them with a glint in his eye. At first I thought it was because we haven't had them for quite some time. I quickly realized the look in his eye was much different. It was a naughty glint. It was a "I'm about to do something that I will find utterly hilarious, while you... well... I'm not concerned what you think if it. Just watch" He then proceeded to tear apart his cheese curls and throw them in the air. All with a big smile on his face. I was washing ketchup off of Hannah. I couldn't run to stop him. It was a tough call. Catch flying cheese curls? Spare house of ketchup wiped on every surface that can be reached by our curious 1 year old? Yeah, I wiped up Hannah first. Then stopped the cheese curl copy cat. Then got Hannah off the table... she decided to raid everyones drinks. Ugh. Note to self. Feed kids in the bathtub.



For those of you not familiar with the movie flushed away... at the very end of the movie when Roddy(?) comes back home and sits down with the sewer rat he is offered a cheese curl. He takes it, breaks it, and throws it behind him. Repeatedly. Thank you flushed away.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

My little boy, where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday that it was just the two of us home together. Playing. Laughing. Learning. You are growing into such a little man. Your love for your brother and sister is like no other. Your heart is so full of compassion. Your spirit is sensitive and I truly cherish that. God has such a plan and a purpose for you. I am so excited to watch where He takes you over the years. Thank you my Joseph for being you. Thank you for making me smile. Thank you for your hugs that melt my heart. I love you so much. My wonderful 5 year old. Happy Birthday. You are my favorite 5 year old ever. :)

Let's walk down memory lane....




notice what he wrote?? "Lego" :)



He blew up this balloon all by himself!



One amazing big brother




Always a help in the kitchen


Always fascinated with all things big...


and all things messy :)


I could just eat you up! You were (and still are) so cute!


You used to (well, you still do enjoy it... just not allowed to anymore) love to play in the clean laundry pile. It seriously was your favorite thing to do. :)


and thats about as young as we have for going digital.

Happy Birthday Joseph. I love you.

Christmas Cookies

Maybe I was in an extra good mood this particular day. Maybe I was feeling delusional. I'm not sure... but whatever it was lead me to bake cookies...with all 3 kids. Know what? It went well! Yeah, I know. I am so good. :) haha


Ignore that pile of boxes in the background. Thats my cape making in progress.


I prayed while we stirred. Hannah couldn't stop eating the cookie dough. Thank you Lord, she did not get sick!


Joseph made his own tray of cookies. He is mighty proud. and he caled dibs on the BIG one. :)


I know there is some saying about too many cooks in a kitchen... but what about too many spoons in the bowl? :)



Can we eat one NOW Mommy?! Don't forget, I want the BIG one. :)

Josephs 5th Birthday Party

How do you make a (soon to be) 5 year old feel special? You have a superhero party, of course! We spent months planning this party. Joseph knew what he wanted and I wanted it to be a special day for him. It all started with sewing. Lots and lots of sewing. I made 14 superhero capes for all of the kids. And no, I don't know what I am doing at a sewing machine. It all worked out (with little time to spare) and the kids LOVED the capes.
His party was kicked off with picking a cape (we had different colors to choose from) and designing a superhero mask. Then it was off to some games. Obstacle courses and bean bag tosses... and a surprise parachute game. (Apparently at VBS this summer Joseph's class played with a parachute. He had so much fun with it I thought his party would enjoy it too... HUGE hit! I love Oriental Trading Company)
I don't have a bunch of pictures of the kids in action, I was too busy having fun with everyone... but here are a few pictures of Superhero Joseph and his friends.



What would a superhero party be without a Superhero cake?!



He was one happy boy.



This is most of the party, but a few of his friends are missing. We were smart and had the party at church... we did not have room at our house for 14+ kids to be running around.



Present time!





Grandma Debbie and Grandpa gave this cool present without the batteries... so we had to wait till Saturday to check it out. Can I just say... He LOVES THIS THING! He'll hop on and peddle with no game in it. Nehemiah is learning to peddle with it. Hannah enjoys sitting on it. Great toy. Thanks Grandma! :)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Hannah doesn't like it when the boys go upstairs. She now stands at the bottom and yells up to them "Brother! Brother!" Of course, it's much cuter when she says it. She can also now say Nehemiah's name - or at least her version of it. She calls him "iah" Melts my heart.

Nehemiah's new thing: When he wants something he can't just tell you about it. He pulls you by the hand and says "Come on I'll show you!" Often he's "showing" me the cabinet that holds marshmallows. Or the candle I keep on the stove. He likes for me to lite it so he can blow it out.

We've been working with Joseph and letter sounds. He's having a tough time with some of them - especially the letters that make more than one sound. (gotta love the english language) So we'll be talking and out of no where he'll say "Mommy does ____ have an E in it?" Usually no, it's a Y. But anyway, thats not the funny part... He asked to put on the tv and then thought about it "Mommy does TV have a T in it?" Yes honey it does. What other letter does it have? He gave it a lot of thought "I don't know" yeah ok. It wasn't meant to be a trick question my dear.

I was reading someone else's Tiny Talk and they asked their little one "Who is Santa?" So I decided to ask Joseph. We don't celebrate Santa either, but he's everywhere. Joseph gets very excited to see him at the mall, I try not to let it bother me. I suppose he'd be excited if someone was dressed up as Clifford too. Anyway, his answer to "Who is Santa" "Huh? What do you mean? The guy that brings presents to everybody?" yup, thats the guy. I asked "Is that what we believe?" "No we believe in God. He got born in a barn." :)

And Finally.... this video is Joseph singing, what is supposed to be Jingle Bells

Straight No Chaser

I love a capelle groups. This is a funny rendition of The 12 days of Christmas.

Elf Yourself

Sylvia did this on her blog and it is FUNNY. You have to try it.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1215948801

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1215487495

I'm tellin ya, this is too funny. I spent way to much time creating little elf versions of us. If you try it you have so gotta post it. :)

what am I doing?

Do your eyes hurt yet?

I don't know why but it's all working on my computer - on firefox. Rogers computer at work won't show my nifty changes. Safari won't show everything on my computer either.

GRRRRRRR

messy messy blog

Sorry, messing with my blog again. Don't know what I'm doing. :)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I asked Joseph "What do you think Daddy should get Mommy for Christmas?" his answer "Christmas lights" oooookay. "What do you think Mommy should get Daddy for Christmas?" "bells" uh-huh. "What do you want for Christmas?" "I want something for Hannah" awwww! Now that is sweet.

Hannah was being her mischievous little self the other day. I caught her at the table with my cup. I took it our of her hand and asked her what she was doing with my cup. She looked rather thoughtful for a few seconds and said "That fun!" then she clapped her hands. She's too cute. Rather naughty, but oh so cute. I actually have this on video (cause the good Mom that I am video their naughty moments) but blogger wasn't cooperating with me.


For more Tiny Talk head over to Mary @ Not before 7. Have some tiny talk of your own? Check out Mary's site, you just might win one of her lovely prizes.