Stew Leonards Santa

So there is this crazy grocery store here called Stew Leonards it's like an amusement park slash grocery store... it's always crowded and it's great for kids - IF you can stand the crowd. Anyway... dad and I stopped there on our way home the other night and noticed that they had a santa. Now the crowds at Stew Leonards are NOTHING compared to the ones at the mall so we decided to do some shopping w/ the kids and let them talk to Santa while we were there. FIFTEEN minutes and DONE! Perfect. I got to snap a picture myself and didn't get hassled to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a photo....



Not too bad for 15 minutes and no charge. I am a HAPPY HOLIDAY CAMPER!

PS Lily wore piggies b/c she said Santa would like it.

Practice makes perfect and the winter days

I looked over at Lily's coloring today and this is what I saw:




I couldn't believe how well she was staying in the lines. This seems to have happened over night. She's been trying to do it for a while, but just did it today. Wow. They are growing up so fast (I say this a lot I know).

As you know it's been bitterly cold here so we've been going around to various indoor locations to play. Here are some pics from our adventures.










Lily is doing great without her pappies and is loving her Pinkie Poodle Puppy that that Pappy fairy brought her. Jason spends a lot of time correcting Lily's speech and they both spend a lot of time reminding each other and their animals about the rules. :) We are all very much looking forward to heading south in March.

We got new insulation just before the deep deep freeze and it made a huge difference in the first day. I can't wait to see what our gas bill is. Hopefully less... though w/ the deep deep freeze it might be a wash. We'll see.

I'm training for a half marathon in March and am VERY happy to be training and to have a goal. I registered for another 1/2 ironman in Door County, Wi and am very excited to be training w/ both Team in Training and a tri group I'm LOVING... Amy's Playgroup!

Sledding

we went sledding for the first time today. On my second run down w/ the kids Lily got a face full of snow like we were at a waterpark and I tried to block it w/ my hands and we crashed. Nothing bad just turned on our sides. Well, after that Lily only rode w/ me one more time. Mid-ride she said, "Mommy don't get snow in my face." and again I tried to block it and again we crashed. She wouldn't ride w/ me anymore saying things like, "no mommy got snow in my face" and "no, mommy crashed." Oh well. Jason went down a few times, but wasn't too interested after that. He was gathering snow balls. He didn't like having to walk back up the hill so he stayed w/ me at the top waiting for Lily and daddy to be done.

They are like labradors!

They NEED their walk! My kids are like labs.. if they don't get their exercise they go BONKERS! We've taken to "walking" them in the evening (and sometimes during the day too!) and it seems to help our evening routine go a bit smoother...

We went on a "flashlight walk" tonight b/c it was dark out at ... 4:30pm. Lily was running and saying "this is fun! Running is fun!" and Jason joined in. They loved using their flashlights in the dark! We walked them all around the neighborhood and up the biggest hill around this hood and still it took them a while to fall asleep!





Lily gets little bits of one on one mommy time while Jason is sleeping. This afternoon she just wanted to snuggle w/ me. It was so sweet and nice to just sit w/ her... usually she is competing w/ the whirling dirvish! :)

We're SUPER!

The kids are obsessed w/ the Incredibles so mom and I went and got some felt and made them some masks... which didn't last too long so I'll have to make some revisions and make them again, but man they were good while they lasted!





The outfits are completed w/ blankets used as blankets. Today Jason wanted to 'be Super' outside. It was so fun to watch the kids run around saying "I'm super sissy/Jason to the rescue". We got less funny looks w/ the capes then we did when Jason wanted to be super w/ his mask the other day. :)

Today we did a fairly normal (but still a bit embarrassing) midwest winter activity ... we went to the mall playground. The kids had more fun this time than I think they've ever had there. Lily was a show stopper getting up on top of one of the structures and jumping high and far off of it then falling and rolling and laughing hysterically. I couldn't believe how far she was jumping. She was having a blast though. She out climbed and out ran her brother. Then she ran the entire length of the mall. When we got home I thought surely she would sleep... nope. Instead she and I took a nice long walk. When Jason got up he wanted to walk so we headed out again and we walked to a construction site where they were repaving a road and watched them for at least 30 mins... Lily made it through the whole day w/ all that activity w/o melting down. Is this the end of naps? UGH! She hasn't been napping very often lately, but she goes to bed pretty easily... that's a bonus I suppose.

photo update...

not a lot of time for words as kids will be up soon and I'm supposed to be cleaning, but here are some pics.

We went to the apple orchard last week




Abby Cadabby piggies


Flying w/ daddy


gma and gpa sent some fun little gifts that the kiddos love! A wallet for Jman and a purse for Lily.. both contained some money (which J is keeping close tabs on.. his entire $1), an id card and photos.



(sorry it's blurry the kid is in constant motion)

lazy Saturday


big trip to the zoo







they love the carousel



Another great weekend coming to a close. We are enjoying our time w/ daddy this month!

two silly monkeys

Tom spends a lot of time w/ the kids on the weekends and today I think he hit the wall. He said watching the kids is like watching two retarded monkeys (I mean no pain or insult to anyone by this comment!). :) He said this as they were acting like crazy wild maniacs as we tried to have family dinner. As the kids ran around the table screaming Tom and I fell into hysterics laughing over his comment. Which of course made the kids scream and "perform" even more. I am NOT exaggerating. :)

It has come to my attention that Lily is in desperate need of a new stylist. I am quickly wracking up many photos that will cause her ulcers when she is in junior high and highschool and may possibly cause her to lose all of her friends should they get out around say 7th grade. Here are just a few examples:

yes she left the house in this:


And this: (sorry it's blurry.. it's hard to get her to stand still)


Lily has also decided that she will only nap occasionally and when she REALLY wants to. When she doesn't nap I still have things to do .. normally in the kitchen so she usually hangs out on the counter while I'm doing my thing. She didn't leave the house in this outfit, but it's a pretty good one too.. Who dresses this kid anyway!?





And here is a photo of Jason and Lily helping Tom make pancakes this a.m. I've been so impressed w/ how much Tom lets them help lately. We are trying to embrace this stage. They did a really good job helping today, but when we won't let Jason help w/ the hot stuff he gets really mad.





We are watching Mama Marie's dog Daisy while they are on vacation in Palm Springs and Jason is LOVING it. He feeds her and lets her out in the yard when she needs to go potty.. tells here where to go, what to do and what not to do. Jason and Lily follow her around giving her hugs and kisses. Today Jason said he wanted Phoebe to come stay at his house. I was really sad... I'm not positive that they remember Phoebe as their own dog that lived at their house, but we still talk about her so they still talk about her some. He was unprompted today and we were talking about Daisy when he said he wanted her (phoebe) to come home. Walking Daisy is a challenge only b/c both kids want to hold her leash, but not at the same time. We walked her w/ great success yesterday a.m., but this evening when all of us tried to go (tom and kids and I) there was a total melt down and we had to come home and throw the ball for her instead.

this is Daisy Dog:


And here's a photo of J and I as I was trying to distract him from harassing his sister while she was swinging w/ daddy.


Lily swinging w/ daddy.


And Jason joining in on the fun.. look at that smile!


Jason is still a mama's boy for sure, but the kids have FINALLY entered the DADDY phase. Lily ALWAYS wants her daddy and Jason wants him unless he's hurt. I am LOVING this! :)

It was nearly 80 degrees here today... I'm hoping that this stays for a while, but I'm still scared for winter.

and the beat goes on...

Fall is HERE.. winter is COMING and I want to cry! I love love love this weather, but just thinking about the winter kinda makes me want to hurl. I have a little internal panic attack every time I even allow myself to think for just a second about 4 degree temps w/a -20 wind chill factor. I remember my hands nearly freezing having to expose them to buckle the kids into their chairs.. and now they like 'wander' when we go to the car... hopefully they won't cry when I make them go to the car and they will be all business about it!! ANYWAY!

Jason fell and had an 'owie' and needed to have a bandaid.. he showed me just where to put it:


Jason and Tom don't look anything alike huh?

Our friends the O'Donnell's needed some emergency baby sitting this evening so Sean, Ian and Jacob came over for a few hours. They all played in the yard until dinner was ready, played in the yard some more and then watched a bit of The Incredibles, but surprisingly (or not so surprisingly the only ones that were that interested in the movie were Lily and Tom). It went MUCH better than I thought it would. Really I envisioned 5 kids running around screaming at the tops of their lungs while Tom and I stood their stunned! ha ha The kids all played well and Jason seemed pretty stoked to have some older boys around to play with! :) Dinner was much tamer than I expected to. The kids all stayed in their chairs and ate and the O'Donnell boys even asked to be excused... wow, is that what 5 and 3 years old is like!

Some people have this many kids on their own.. I can't even imagine... two's good!

Imagination

The kids imagination is really taking off!!!!

They routinely ride 'the bus'
Jason getting in the 'the bus'


Today on our walk Jason was spraying water w/ a stick (at first I thought he was using it as a gun - b/c I hear all boys do this regardless of whether or not they have ever seen a gun - so I had to ask him what he was doing):


And here is Lily making a crocodile get me




And some other photos






The chill is in the air and I think it's here to stay. It was in the 80s last week but is supposed to be in the 50s/60s this week. :) Fall is here!