Tis the Season

So this past week I spent lots of time in the kitchen making almost every Xmas goody I could think of.  It was my contribution to our 1st Annual Friends dinner in KC.  There are several boys from Underwood down here and luckily for them all of the wives get along very well.  So we decided this was the first of many traditions.  Nikki (Jenn's best friend from college) hosted the dinner.  Her husband isn't from Underwood, but he is from Iowa.  It was a great time!  We all brought gifts for the kids to open, which was super fun for the kiddos.  The adults did a white elephant gift exchange.  I'd say the most desired gift was brought by Tara and Joel Synderguarrd.  Tara is a social worker and someone had donated a very large bra and false boobs to fill it to the shelter so that is what she brought.  They were hilarious!  Jeremy and Jenn were the first to open them and Jenn was good enough to model them (picture below).  We came home with a pink glitter clock for Vivian and a small ornament with Alvin and the Chipmunks singing their Xmas song.  Dan was hoping to steel the boobs from Jeremy/Jenn but we went for the clock instead. :-)
There is a picture below of all of the kids from left to right:
Vivian (4 1/2), Harper (3), Avery (almost 3), Henry (3), Chance (2 1/2)  Baby Gavin
(5 months) didn't make the photo he was sleeping, but i posted one of him. The kids had so much fun playing together and Henry was loving his boy time!

Saturday night Dan and I headed to our dinner and movie.  Sherlock Holmes was awesome.  Highly recommend the movie!

Sunday, Vivian went to Molly's 5th Birthday party.  It was of course a princess party and Princess Aurora showed up to read to the girls, play game and put makeup on them.  Holy cow it was a hit.  Not guess who wants a princess at her birthday party????  Yup....Miss Vivian.  I almost did it last year, but didn't think she was old enough.  What ever happened to pin the tail on the donkey and silly birthday games at people's houses?  Enter the generation that MUST constantly be entertained and who doesn't have to wait for anything (thanks to lighting speed technology).
Vivian is done with preschool until January so this week we've just been hitting the gym, dance and gymnastics.  Wednesday I'm starting up my 2 batches of cinnamon rolls (16  pans) again this year.  We are staying in KC for Xmas this year and might be having a couple of friends over on Xmas day for dinner.  Nothing crazy just low key and enjoying the excitement of the kids as we get closer to Xmas!

Henry is proving to be quite a singer of Xmas songs in the car.  Not hard since we play 2/3 songs on repeat most of the time!  Oswald, our Elf, is making exciting appearances this year.  He's not landing as high up when he comes back from the North Pole.  The kids are very aware of this and that he would lose his magic if they touch him.  Oswald, is also very clever this year.  He's been using the ladder on Henry's big fire truck (thanks Aunt Jill) to climb up to certain places.  The kids think it's hilarious.  Oswald, was in Vivian's room  last night on her Xmas tree on her dresser.  I was upstairs putting on my makeup earlier and I heard Henry come up the stairs saying "Hey Oswald.....Hey Oswald"  Henry then went into Vivian's room and this is what I heard "Hey Oswald, Bivian messed up my train tracks....you tell Santa ok?"  So, So funny! Henry is very quick to let Oswald know what bad Vivian has done. 

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Henry!

So it was Henry's birthday weekend.  Grandma Carol and Grandpa came down for the party and we saw Santa.  Henry told Santa he wanted a Race Car Guitar, Vivian wants a Rapunzel Guitar and an American Girl doll. I will post the Santa picture once I find it....seems it got misplaced in the hustle and bustle of the weekend. When we walked into the store to see Santa it wasn't very busy so Santa could see us coming. Dan was pointing to where he was at so Santa started waving to the kids and they thought that was pretty neat.  They were smiling from ear to ear the whole way towards him.  Once we got up close it took a little coaxing to get them over to Santa. 

Henry had his birthday party on Sunday.  He invited 3 friends over.  Graham, who is in his Children's Day Out class, Hayes (Molly's brother), and Avery.  Vivian also invited Molly over too so that she had someone to play with during the party.  He was excited when we brought the balloons home, and the cake and when everyone started to show up! The boys who are all pretty close in age were perfectly content playing with the Thomas the Train sets we put up in the living room.  He got some great toys and has been playing with them all night.  For his actual birthday we don't have much planned.  Dan is going to come home from work and have lunch with us.  Vivian has dance tomorrow night so there isn't much time to go out to dinner.  Hard to believe he's already 3!

I posted a picture of the kids playing out in "snow" during our first dusting we had last week. You will see we didn't get much snow and Vivian asked several times if we could make a snowman.  The snow was pretty much melted before noon that day.  And pictures of kids in fake moustaches that we had in the grab bags for the kids to take home after the birthday party.

We have started a tradition this year of getting all of our Iowa friends together for Thanksgiving and Xmas.  We did Thanksgiving at Brian and Angie Mander's house.  Our friend Xmas party is this coming Friday at Thad and Nikki Pealer's house. Saturday night we have a babysitter so Dan and I can go and see the new Sherlock Holmes movie coming out this weekend.  I'm a huge fan of the other Sherlock Holmes movie and can't wait to see it.  Vivian and Henry have their last week of school this week until after the first of the year.  Gonna be a long few weeks, mostly for Vivian she really enjoys school.  They must be working on math cause every other day she says "mom did you know 5+5=10, 4+3=7, etc.  Let's hope she doesn't get my math skills. ;-)  Enjoy your week!

Naughty or Nice?

Well I have several things to tell you since the last blog! First, Vivian has mastered her cartwheel!!!!  In October her gymnastics teacher said she could move up to Mini Stars.  This is a class for 4-6 year olds and you have to be asked to join the class by an instructor.  I didn't even know what the class was, but we were excited for her and I think it's kind of a big deal.  She gets to use much more of the equipment than her previous class.  She does the rings, and bars, balance beam, etc.  Her teacher said there was a Cartwheel Class the kids could take to work on their cartwheel skills.  So I signed her up.  She did good in class and just kind started trying to do them at home the last couple of days.  And hot damn! She got it.  She goes all the way over and lands on her feet.  Her legs aren't all the way straight but pretty close.  I told her tonight before bed that I was proud of her and she said "I'm proud of me too mom"  Then I explained that when you practice and practice that's how you learn to do things.  She said "But mom I didn't practice I just tried it and did it!"  Sure whatever works.

Second, we've had several talks with the kids about being good and Santa bringing lumps of coal if you haven't been good.  We have the Elf on the Shelf book and our Elf's name is Oswald. He showed up after Thanksgiving and Vivian seemed pretty sceptical this year.  So Santa emailed Dan a video from the North Pole saying that she was not on the nice list yet.  Santa pulled her file and put it into the machine and it didn't come up good.  Thought that might enforce the necessity of being nice to get gifts from Santa.  Since Henry keeps hearing us say "if you aren't good your gonna get a lump of coal from Santa" he keeps repeating it or asking if he's going to get "a lump of cold" instead of "coal." It's so cute.  Of course Vivian is quick to correct him and say it's coal not cold.  Then Henry just replies and says that "she is gonna get a lump of cold from Santa and then she gets all upset.  Henry= Masker= Teases......Vivian = Sazama= Doesn't Handle Teasing Well.  Makes for a wonderful combination of oil and vinegar!

Since we are pretty much listening to the same 3 Christmas songs in the car on repeat (super fun for mom) Henry has started singing.  Vivian sings all of the time, but it's a first for Henry.  He sings Santa Clause is Coming To Town.  Dan and I were pretty much laughing until we had tears in our on Saturday night as he stood on the kitchen chair singing the song and dancing.  He doesn't get all of the words but he's trying.

Saturday night we took the kids to see The Muppet's Movie.  It was a long shot if Henry would sit through the movie but we tried.  After 25 mins of previews he only last about 20 mins into the movie.  I left with him and Dan and Vivian stayed to the end. I asked Dan if she liked it and his response was "I don't think kids today find entertainment in puppets" Which is sad if you think about it but probably true considering the age of technology they are growing up in.  Don't get me wrong my kids love puppet shows but not in the movie setting.  Guess it was the nostalgia of the movie that drew me to it...and thinking the kids would like it since that is what we grew up with as kids.

Sunday afternoon Vivian and I went to see Clara's Dream for the second year.  It's a version of the Nutcracker.  Her dance studio puts on the ballet performance.  We went last year and she really enjoyed it.  So I've decided to make it a tradition with her and I - for as long as it lasts or until she is a teenager and doesn't want to go anywhere with her parents. :-)

Hard to believe it's almost a week until Henry's 3rd Birthday!  He's very excited about his party! He's having 3 kids over to play with trains, etc for his Thomas the Train party.  It's his first "friend" birthday party. 
Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving and a pre birthday celebration for Henry.