Remembering...

I miss you and not a day goes by that you aren't in my heart!

Happy Birthday Big Brother

As I got a bit caught up in taking care of a sick little Andrew and my daily tasks I didn't make time for my blogging activities. As I laid in bed last night I remembered that I had forgotten to post my Happy Birthday to my big brother. So Happy Birthday Jeff!!! Sorry it is a day late :{ I hope you had a good day. It was fun looking through all of our pictures as we were growing up. We certainly went through some "fun" times.

Hair Razing

It is that time again to cut Andrew's hair. It is always a battle every couple of months when it is time for a trim. We've tried so many bribes and techniques it is hard to come up with something new. It always seems to end up with a struggle to get him to finished or stop screaming. It is great fun and Jeff and I dread it every time it comes around.

The latest attempt at making it fun was to let Andrew help cut Jeff's hair first. This always puts a smile on his face and he finds it great fun. It is nice and peaceful until it is time for him to get his hair cut and then we find ourselves back to square one. What does one do with a "neat" child at times like this??

So this last time we were at a loss as to what we should do. It is never fun trying to force the hair cut. So we let Andrew hold the clippers and he smiled and liked it. So Jeff took a stab and said how bout you cut your own hair. The next thing we knew Andrew went for it and was using the clippers on himself (with a cutting guard on) and he felt completely in control. He would only cut the top and did this over and over and over but was really happy in the process. He did a strip on the top all done very well all by himself and gladly turned the clippers over for Jeff to finish the rest all without any struggle or scream. I think this may have been the first time it went so smoothly for at least 2 years. It took over an hour to get it finished but how nice it was to not have to do battle. It is a little scary to let him have the clippers but we stood close by and monitored everything he did. Really he barely touched the top half the time. It was more missing than actual cutting but he doesn't know that. All that mattered was that he had control and loved it for the first time. Yeah for small steps forward!!

Zoolights

There is a Zoo in the area that decorates the grounds with thousands of lights and hundreds of displays. It usually runs during the Christmas season and ends early January. This year it got extended because of all the snow we received. Ken saw the extension and had the great idea to go out and see them. So thanks to Ken and MarGene suggestion we got to go out and see some awesome sites.

The pictures don't exactly do the view justice. Everything was so beautiful. To see the effort that the Zoo went to was really neat. It was a clear crisp night so we had a very dark background and the colorful lights popped out.

When I picked Megan up from school and told her we were going to see the Zoolights she asked if we would be able to see animals. I explained how the zoo grounds were decorated with lights and she said to this "How boring" I was a bit shocked since during Christmas one of her favorite things to do is see houses all decked out with lights. I told her she would have fun.

Once we drove into the parking lot and she could see some of the lights she began to get really excited. Her whole attitude changed and once we entered into the park I could tell she was enjoying herself. I think it was Papa or Grandma who asked if she thought this was boring as we looked around and she said "NO"

We had a ton of fun and ended our night at McDonalds which had a playland. The kids were really good for once and we had a great outing. I'm really glad we got the chance to go. We left the McDonalds with 2 pink cheeked kids to put to bed.

It's my Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to me!! I know everyone is celebrating today :}:}

HO HO HO

Megan was up bright and early around 7am or so and patiently waited on the couch for the rest of us to join her. I think she may be one of the only children who wouldn't run to wake everyone else up so they could open presents. She was very cute.

Of course it didn't take long for the mayhem to begin as wrapping paper went flying and presents were opened. They kids loved seeing what they got and had even more fun getting to play with their new toys.

We had a wonderful Christmas and have enjoyed a nice Christmas day so far. We wish all our friends a Merry Christmas and hope everyone had as much fun as we did :}

Christmas Eve

As today is Christmas Eve I was thinking about traditions and what exactly today meant to me. As a child in my earliest memory I can remember getting in the car in the evening driving around our neighborhood looking for Santa in his sleigh. We could never find him and would return home after about 15 minutes of searching. When we would arrive home the tree would be filled with presents and the excitement would begin. We would then begin to open all of our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun to get them several hours earlier than the average family. We then got to play with the stuff we got for the rest of the night and it didn't matter when we woke up the next morning. As I got older of course the car ride searching for Santa stopped but the opening of the presents on Christmas Eve continued throughout my life. I always loved the fact that we opened everything on Christmas Eve. It wasn't until I got married and began my own family that I experienced the rush of Christmas morning presents and the surprise and happiness my children get from it. I love how I grew up but I also love how much my children look forward to Christmas morning.


This Christmas Eve we went to Ken and MarGene's for a bit. We had some yummy homemade crispy chicken salad with buttermilk ranch. Let's just say it was really really good!! The kids got to share in opening their stockings and a few presents and just plain had fun hanging out.

I think this may have been one of the first times that Andrew was actually pretty calm. He was really good in my opinion and it was nice to not have the usual stress. We got to spend some time playing a board game that Megan got and a little Wii Fit.

The kids loved the Wii Fit. They loved taking turns and trying out the different stuff that they had. It was great fun watching them and seeing how good they could be on their first try. I'm thinking I may see a Wii Fit in our future :}

After we got home we had a little snack and started a 2nd round of gifts. These were from my Dad. He sent them a week ago and the kids have waited very patiently so we decided to go ahead and let them open those tonight as well. I think the kids had a great Christmas Eve and I know they can't wait for the main event tomorrow.