December 2013

 I know I'm behind in my blogging, so here is a month in a post.  We started off the month with snow and a birthday!

 Miss Chacha turned 3! She's still not making coherent speech, but she is improving.  She is going through potty training right now, and is a total rock star!  I'm so close to being diaper free after almost 12 straight years of changing them!

 Her sprinkle covered birthday cake, YUM!

 Then it was off to New York City to see all the lights and awesome decorations.  It was a freezing cold day, and there were so many people out it was like walking through a sea of people!  I've never experienced those kinds of crowds, not even at Mardi Gras!

 The tree at Rockefeller Center.

 Some really big balls.

 The Ferris Wheel INSIDE Toys R Us!

 Riding the Wheel!

 The scared-y cats who wouldn't go on the Ferris Wheel...ha!

 Inside Toys R Us, they had awesome toys and Lego statues throughout the place.

 Time Square

 M&M World, green representing Lady Liberty.

 Grand Central Station

 I totally thought of 'Madagascar' when we were here.

 This was a really beautifully decorated building.

 Empire State Building feeling the holiday love.

 Then it was off to Alabama for Christmas!  I don't know if you can see well enough in this picture: Alabama Snow!  a.k.a. Cotton fields :)

 What seems wrong with this picture?  Yes, it's almost Christmas and Theo and Charlotte are outside playing on the awesome fort my Dad built in shorts and short sleeves.  It was really nice weather while we were there!

 Time for the fun to begin!  We decorated sugar cones as Christmas trees with the cousins, so much fun!

 Time to open presents!  How you liking that sweet background?  LOL!  It's a My Little Pony homey fire to help put us in the winter mood for present opening on Christmas Day.

 My parents haven't had Santa visit their house in years!  I was trying to convince the kids that he just might not know to come here in the attempts to get them to behave while we were there, but it barely put a dent in their behavior, ha!  They were still really good, and loved being there with Mimi and Pawpaw!  They were the King and Queen of Christmas this year!

 It was a great visit, and then we had to leave and get back to real life.  *sigh*  Miss you guys!!

This pretty sums up the whole month...Charlotte passed out holding a Moon Pie.  Partied hard and ate to our hearts content! 

First Day NOT Back to School

I actually did it, I've been thinking about it for so long and it finally happened.  My kids woke up on the first day of school and....we didn't have to go anywhere.  We parked ourselves in our dining room and did a full days work of homeschooling.  It went pretty smoothly for the first day, I got to experience first hand how my kids SOAK up knowledge!  I was super boring, I focused on the basics, and yet they were awesome with it all.  I really hope this is the precursor to how life will be.  I know we will have our ups and downs, but for the majority I would love to have more days like this than the other way around.  We had Art today and for our lesson we did First Day of School photos.  We were going all over the yard trying to find the right lighting, we tried different positions until we could get a semi-professional pose.  It was so funny how much Miriam was getting into it, before I could say anything to the person I was taking the picture of she was behind me saying, "Straighten your back, pull your shoulders down, drop your chin...etc."  It was awesome!  I think I got some pretty good pictures, and here they are:

 Of course I couldn't leave Charlotte out, and yes, she is running around in the street in her pj's.

To celebrate our first NOT back to school day we ate dinner al fresco!  I absolutely LOVE when the weather is nice and we can eat outside.  The lights are a bonus.  The kids truly felt special and I was filled with love for each of these beautiful spirits Heavenly Father has trusted me with.  I can only hope and pray that He will give me the continued guidance to be the teacher He wants me to be, and the teacher that they need for many years to come!

A Birthday to Remember

Even though Hannah turned the big 5 last week, we finally were able to have her party last night.  She has been talking up Chuck E. Cheese for the past year!  I can't tell you how much I hate this place; video games, children running a muck, a giant rodent...but since my kids are limited to which birthdays they actually get a big party (1, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16) I was acquiesced to oblige.  I was, however, impressed with all that was included in the party package.  And also since that meant I didn't have to entertain or clean up after the party, Chuck E. Cheese has earned a gold star in my book.  That has not changed my mind what so ever to quickly saying 'No!' when Hannah asked this morning if we could go back today.  LOL!  Here are some pics from the evenings festivities:

She got a cool crown, that she wore the entire time.  It had 8 extra tokens, and she used every single one!

Miriam's duck face

Hannah's friend Elsa playing air hockey with her Dad.

Elsa's brother just chillin' with Chuck.

Charlotte has quite the throwing arm, she got at least two balls in the other lane, LOL!

The party crew getting ready for the show.

This was a bonus in  my book, I knew the mouse would come out for pictures, but what I didn't expect is that he was going to come party with us.

Hannah with her cake, and I feel I have some 'spaining to do.  When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted me to make, she said she wanted a Chuck E. Cheese cake because she "Wants to know what they taste like."  "Well, you are the birthday girl." I replied through gritted teeth.  It was good enough, and at least I didn't have to do the cleaning up afterwards...see! no bitterness here...

Rocking out on her awesome balloon guitar!

A cool medallion, which is hanging right up with Theo's and mine's running medallions.  Hey, it's a great achievement to make it to 5!

Blowing out the candles

Dance off with Chuck!

Time for poses!!

Charlotte has got to be my only child who hounds these fuzzy ginormous abnormal animal costumed people.  I thought Chuck E. was going to have to file a restraining order against her.  Here she photo bombed another little friend of Hannah's who was trying to get her photo with him. *Sigh* Sorry Lexi, she has issues!

This was another bonus, they have this Ticket Blaster that she got to stand in and the tickets swirled around as she tried to catch as many as she could.  I was feeling anxiety that she wasn't getting many, (I think she ended up with around 8, and that was with 3 stuck in her hair) I was afraid that she would be bummed that she didn't get many.  But there was a catch, this was just for show and she actually got 1,000 tickets afterwards! Phew!

Opening presents!

I think she fared well, two games, a My Little Pony plush doll with white glitter polish.  I didn't mention that we got her the My Little Pony castle with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor wedding set for her birthday last week.  Polish was the first thing to go on when we got home last night, she slept with Twilight Sparkle and this morning she couldn't wait to play her new games with her sisters!

She's telling her friends thanks for the gifts, Lilia is in the background and the little boy is Josh.  We had a really good turnout, plus it helps to have a big family so just in case there really aren't a lot of kids we give the illusion of a big party!  She had a blast and was so happy her friends could be there to enjoy it with her.

Thanks Chuck E.!!  You have redeemed yourself in my book.  See you in a few years...at least...hopefully...