Much to our eldest (and likely our youngest's as well, though he has no idea what it all means) Christmas time is drawing near.  And as is our tradition, we started to embrace the holiday season this weekend after Thanksgiving.  See while we may shop for Christmas before Thanksgiving, we do not believe in actually decorating prior.  Despite protests from our eldest since the stores have been decorated for quite some time and she loves Christmas decorations.

So Friday we went out and picked out a tree.  We then brought it in, but didn't put decorations on it until Saturday.  We had to remind our eldest that we always do that to help the branches completely fall into place first.  And well, besides it is better to do the decorating earlier on with little ones now.    So we held of on decorating until after naps on Sat.  And Saturday morning we took them to the mall where they got to see Santa.  And besides just seeing Santa, they both actually went and visited with Santa.  Last year, Jordan truly meant she wanted to see Santa.  As in see him from behind the fenced in area.  Which was ok with us.  This year though they both visited with him.  And like always she did all the talking.  Though without prompting she did tell him what she thought he would like for Christmas.  She did the same when she wrote her first letter to Santa. 

So as it was our turn they walked up to Santa hand in hand.  Very cute.  Then he got a little timid, but never cried or protested.  In fact it was like he was frozen.  Jordan, however, would likely have talked Santa up all day long is she had been allowed.  

We also went and picked a child off of the Salvation Army tree while we were there.  I figured Jordan would like to pick a little girl about her age.  Close.  She wanted a little boy about her age.  Hmm....   When we went to pick out a coat I think she started to reconsider her decision as I informed her that boys don't like sparkles or pink on their coats.  She agreed, but was not impressed at the boys selection.  Sigh.  She can't imagine life without pink or sparkles.

After nap we did decorate the tree.  She was excited as anticipated.  He was also excited, which almost surprised us.  He was so proud of himself as he put on an ornament exclaiming "I did it Momma!"  Funny thing was Daddy helped quite a bit, but he never said I did it Daddy.  He liked the ornaments with loops on them as he could do it himself.  He didn't quite understand the hooks, but even if you put one up for him he was just as excited as if he'd done it himself.  

About three-quarters of the way through he tired of it and sat down right beside us and started to play.  Here is our tree after it was finished.

And though we thought it was done - they disagreed and tried to rearrange the ornaments up until bedtime.

When I snuck out to get pictures of the lights on the house (courtesy of their daddy) look who wandered to the door.  Notice the shoes in his hand.  He was slower in getting to the door because he had to get them.  He wanted to make sure I knew he was ready to go (though I wasn't going anywhere).

 

I love the second picture where he discovered that I was now taking their picture and not pictures of the house.  I guess he thought since he was inside he was safe.  Not so little man. 

Our daughter has been rather busy with parties as of late.  Like she was invited to 3 parties in 9 days kind of busy.  She thought it was the best thing ever.  At the last one I remembered to bring a camera (though I should get pictures from other parties as well, but I can't promise they will end up being posted).  So to summerize her weekend she slid down a giant slide oh, I don't know a hundred times or so...

and I'm not really sure that I'm exaggerating.  She went up, then down, up, down, up, down...

You get the idea.  There was also a little bouncing mixed in there.

And then there was climbing a "spider's web" to reach a high slide.

She was not quite able to do this one on her own.  So the staff there helped her as well as Mommy a time or two.  Because she couldn't resist the slide.  Oh, the lure of a good slide.

I'll just say that it is harder than it looks.  Then there was cake.  Boy she takes after me in that regard.  She likes cake!

Oh, and this particular party had face painting too.  I will have to say that the girl was good.  I was impressed at how quickly she was able to make them into butterflies, doggies, knights, etc.

You can't tell, but she had sparkles on her butterfly.  She was totally won over with those - every girl, I mean butterfly, needs sparkles!

Aside from our little guy being sick recently (and he recovered so much quicker than I did), all has been well here.  You could say it has been just another day.  Another day of princesses. 

And of course the dancing princesses.

Or I guess that would be princess, not princesses.  But I can assure you that the same little girl made an appearance as more than one princess. 

And he has been enjoying life as well.  Especially books as of late.  This includes his sister's Tag and just about every book on their bookshelf.

He hasn't been happy that I have had to say that Mommy's voice needs a break.  But it did.  And so here he is with his daddy as happy as can be.  All the way down to his toes. 



It amazes me that children can literally "talk" with their toes.  Guess you kind of lose that as you grow up. 

Video I made of Jordan a few years ago for family.... just realized, that friends may want to see it too! Hope you enjoy!

Fixed now: Everyone can view! 

Our children love each other.  Or at least most of the time they do. 

So it is fun to watch them share that love with one another.  Here it started as a hug

And ended as a dance.  Yet somehow she kept me from seeing his face.  Oh, well they both enjoyed their hug.

And then it was off to more together time.  You see one can't do something without the other one (whether they like it or not).

And right now she is into coloring BIG time.  She is becoming quite the little artist.  So he is big into playing with the crayons or markers.  Sigh.  Thank goodness for Crayola washables is all I can say or she would never be allowed to use markers.  The last time he did markers (at the kitchen table) with her he turned his little hand into a stamp.  And stamped himself, the table, etc before he was caught and I was right there.  Granted I was trying to cook dinner, but still.  He's efficient.  And creative.  And unlike his sister he's stealthy.  She tends to give a play by play on her play, which can tell on herself.  If she's quiet you know you'd better pay attention.  Him, well, he's almost always quiet unless he's not happy like this.

Ok, so it is probably bad to share this.  I mean really kids are never unhappy right?  And they never do things that require reprimand either.  Yeah, right.  If so parenting would be easy!

So sadly it seems that the place where our princess got her hair cut the last few times has closed.  Of course it was a place she fell in love with becaues they not only cut her hair, but put sparkle stars on her face and spray glitter in her hair.  Yes, they truly won her over.  But alas they have closed and the reason appears to be all rumor.  So...  I put off getting her hair cut for awhile.  But then it meant that the daily ritual of doing her hair was quickly turning into a fight over knots.  And well, we both weren't happy.  And since I had tried a new lady cutting my hair and liked her and she mentioned that she did kids too, we gave her a try for our little princess too.  She was rather disappointed that there was no spray glitter.  But she did enjoy seeing herself in the full length mirror.  And she rather enjoys her new "do" which is the point of a hair cut, so I'd say we were good.  Oh, and then there was the bribe of sugar at the end in the form of a lollipop.  So immediately following her appointment she had to show everyone at school when we stopped back by to pick up her brother.  Seriously I think everyone in the building got to see.  I wish I'd had my camera so I could show the braid she had in her hair too.  You know, the kind that mommy could never get her to sit still long enough to do.  Yeah, that kind. 

But I did manage to catch her a few days after the fact in action with her brother.  In full princess / ballerina gear.  The skirt is one that she picked out.  I caved and let her get as well, it is her.  Wouldn't you agree?  

 

On the flip side we haven't cut his hair.  I must say that I'm enjoying those curls while I can.  Course it seems that when it is time for formal pictures those curls are nowhere to be found, but most of the time he has some cute ones. 



And fortunately for us, he doesn't really care about fashion.  He does have two favorite shirts though that I suspect if he could get himself dressed that he would wear everyday.  One is the Spongebob shirt here, the other is a short sleeve shirt with a motorcycle (mo-mo) on it. 

First I'd like to remind those that read that you can comment after each post if you'd like.  In fact it is encouraged.  It helps me know who is reading and what your preferences are. 

Our little guy likes things that go.  In fact he likes to go too.  He likes to drive cars.  He likes to sit on his cars and make them go.  He likes to push or ride the dump truck.  He has been known to push his sister's doll stroller.  In fact he has tried on more than one occassion to ride the doll stroller.  Thankfully he doesn't really fit as I suspect it won't hold his weight.  So knowing all that it wasn't really that big of a surprise to see him going for a stroll.

But I was a little surprised at what he was taking for a stroll.

Apparently why would you take a baby doll for a walk when you can take one of your favorite balls for a walk?

Did I mention that he also likes balls?    I was very impressed at the care he took while caring for the ball in the stroller.  And even without the seatbelt (that wasn't big enough to secure teh ball), the ball never fell out.

I realized after I did the Halloween post that I never did the ones of the kids carving pumpkins before Halloween.  So, in true fashion for me this week I'll do them after. 

The kids set out last Thursday evening to carve pumpkins while I made pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for ourselves and for the cake walk at the fall festival.  So let's just say our kitchen was busy.  I'd say every counter space was taken up, but then that isn't saying too much. 

We tried to minimize mess by putting the bibs on the kids.

Then it was pumpkin time!

They (well, our princess) got to pick the designs of the two pumpkins, but they aren't quite to the age where we let them handle sharp knives.  So they very carefully supervised all the parts that required a sharp blade.

They both got helped clean out the inside of the pumpkin, though little guy tended to do it one seed at a time.  He was a little unsure that he was really supposed to be doing that.







As Daddy went about carving out the pumpkins they did get a little bored.  After all we wouldn't arm them with a knife for some reason.  So instead they went and played.  And then got pj's and came back when I started making icing.  So then I had two helpers to help clean off the mixer beaters.  And to taste test a cookie without icing actually on it as that would have required them to wait.  Ha.  Like that was going to happen.

And after filling them full of sugar it was off to bed.  So they next day they got to enjoy their completed pumpkins.

(In case it is hard to see in the photos the pumpkin on the left is Mickey Mouse and the one on the right is Pooh.)

Ok, so Halloween was actually yesterday, but today is the day that I have pictures to share.    So, in that sense Happy Halloween!

This year the kid's costumes were inspired by our daughter's obsession, I mean love, of the movie The Little Mermaid.  Seriously she can't get enough.  So naturally she wanted to be Ariel.  Easy enough - one down one to go.  He was a little harder.  But see thanks to her, he also has a love of the movie.  Combine that with his love of fish and it seemed that Flounder was a perfect choice.  Sadly though I couldn't find a costume for him.  Some were too small (and as it turns out would have been WAY too hot to wear) and the only others were on ebay and well, I wasn't paying what those people wanted).  So I made his.  Early on I got scared that maybe I got in over my head.  After all I had no pattern - just yellow and blue fleece.  But I think it turned out well and minus him not wanting to put the costume on for Fall Festival at their school (note he didn't like last year's either until it was actually on).  It then went smoothly for trick-or-treating.   So without further ado I present to you Ariel and Flounder.

First at Fall Festival

(that was a hat for him in her hands, but it was too hot for that even at night)

The festival had art projects

games


(ring toss)


(miniature golf)

food

tattoos

and a big bounce house with a slide (in the gym as it was raining outside).

He did not care for the bouce house idea.  Instead he tried to sneak over and play with some of the normal toys in the Waddler classroom.

A good time was had by all!

Then that night these two went trick-or-treating.  Daddy handed out candy as I headed out with the kids.  I made the mistake of not taking the wagon just in case he got tired.   He was so cute, but tired.  He was barely going, but refused to let me carry him.  He would scream "walk!"  And he did until we swung by the house to get the wagon (and stop off for a drink) and then we went to a few more houses, or rather she did.  He then enjoyed a ride in the wagon without compromising the sights.

After trick-or-treating, they each got to enjoy a couple pieces of candy and then it was off to bed for them (an hour late in hopes that they'd adjust to the time change without getting us up super early).

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!