I've been nice!

Christmas was wonderful this year! When things slow down and the kids are back in school, I'll post some pictures, but thought I'd share a funny tidbit from Christmas. All season long, I've been using the "you'd better be good, so you can make the nice list" threat to help my kids behave better. I think Kristen was the one to really take it seriously, and she more than once asked me if I thought she was going to get coal in her stocking. I reassured her and told her to be a good girl and she would be okay.

Well, on Christmas Eve, we have a get together with my mom's side of the family with lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. The kids watch out the window for Santa and he comes and brings a sack full of gifts for all the kids. As they were being handed out, Kristen anxiously waited for her name to be called. As soon as she was handed her gift, she said to me, "Mom, I'm Nice!" Seriously, I thought she might cry with joy. She had been really worried!

So, now that Christmas is over, the question is, what can I use or say to help my darlings stay on the nice list? It only seems to be effective between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

My Baking Boys!

The other evening, the boys were bored, so I gave them an assignment, to put the over ripe bananas to good use and make banana bread. They gladly accepted and turned to Nathan's favorite banana bread recipe from a cookbook his school put together a couple of years ago. Those that know Nathan well, know that he is becoming quite the cook/baker! Like his mother, he can look through recipe books for hours and think about all the delicious food he can make. On Saturday mornings, he likes to take orders for breakfast and especially loves to spoil his dad with his creations! And, usually, they turn out amazing!

So, the boys made the bread from scratch with pretty much no help at all until it came to clean up. Unfortunatley, they still lack those skills! Here are the happy bakers.

And here they are showing off the finished product. They made enough for us to enjoy, their teachers, my sister, and Nathan's scout leader. Good job guys, you're awesome!!

Kindergarten Feast

Every year, the kindergarten classes celebrate Thanksgiving by singing fun Thanksgiving songs to their families and then having a huge feast complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and zucchini bread. The kids are encouraged to dress up as if they were going out to dinner. Kristen had such a fun time. The food was delicious and the songs were adorable.

Each child made a special turkey handprint placemat.

We had a wonderful morning and I am thankful for all the hard work that the teachers and parents put into making such special events for the kids!!

Brutally Honest!

Lately, my kids have been brutally honset with me. It's funny how as you get older, you learn to have some tact, but young kids tell it like they see it. Unfortunatley, as a mother, I sometimes get the grunt of it. Kristen often tells me how squishy my tummy is, and though I wish I could say "it is not!", she's right. And I still remember at the end of my pregnancy with Kristen, Nathan asked me if I had boobs on my back since my back had gained a good amount of weight. At the time, it nearly sent me into tears. Of course, now I can laugh at it.
Well, they've done it again! Last week I was getting ready to go to master's swim at the gym and was walking around in my swim suit. The kids were home for Veteran's Day. Grant saw me in my sawim suit and all of the sudden said "Aaggh" as if I was a scary sight. Less than a minute later, Kristen walked down the hall and innocently asked, "Mom, why is your butt all wiggly?" Could the two have planned it any better? Brutally honest! Needless to say, I decided to take the cinnamon rolls I'd made that morning to the gym and share them with my fellow swimmers rather than eat them all myself and make my butt more wiggly!

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year! The kids started the weekend with Trunk R Treat on Friday evening, and went out Trick R Treating on Saturday with my sister's kids. Needless to say, we have more candy than we could ever need. But it's been fun watching the kids as they sort it and trade it. They take this candy stuff pretty seriously.

Kristen wanted to be a princess. While I was at the thrift store, I found this outfit for $5 in perfect shape. I couldn't pass it up, so I convinced her she could be an Asian princess. We went out to the Asian market and picked up a pair of chop sticks for her hair and Wishing Well had this paper umbrella. Her favorite part though, was wearing makeup.

Grant wanted to be something with a weapon. Nathan had been an army guy a couple of years ago, so Chris made him this bazooka (sp?) and Grant suddenly became enthusiastic about being an army guy. Of course, Chris was the one who ended up carrying the big thing as the kids trick or treated.

Nathan said the entire month that he didn't want to dress up. We had vetoed anything gross or gory and he's getting to the age where it's not as cool to be a character. We told him that if he wanted to go out trick or treating he would have to dress up as something. This is what he came up with, an injured skater. A few people asked him what he was. I mentioned that he was lucky that he went out with some cute, dressed up kids, otherwise, people might not have wanted to give him candy. Next year, we'll have to get more creative!

And once again, Grant refuses to smile. He cracks us up with his grumpiness.

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

We had a great Friday evening at the pumpkin patch with our friends, Dale & Melanie and their boys! Grant had been invited to a birthday party that evening and had chosen to go to that instead of come with us. We missed him, but he had a great evening as well.

We started the evening with a ride on their train. The kids loved it!

Nathan enjoyed helping David dig in the dirt.

Nathan is my little (maybe I should say big) monkey. Here he is up high in the treehouse.


The petting zoo was so much fun! At first, Kristen was very nervous about the goats. They were quite aggressive about getting the food from kids' hands. Here is Kristen protecting her handful the only way she knew how.

But she soon got the hang of it and enjoyed feeding the goats, particularly the baby goats.

Here's our animal lover, Nathan with a little one on his lap. He kept trying to eat his shirt.

Out in the patch picking pumpkins.

Our family, minus Grant. The sunset was gorgeous!!

It was getting dark, so we put Kristen out with her thumb to hitch us a hay ride back.

It worked, and we headed back after a fun evening with friends! Happy Fall!!

Space Derby

This year instead of the raingutter regata, Nathan's pack decided to do a space derby. It was new to us all and interesting to watch. The kids had to wind their propellers 100 times, so each heat took longer than usual. Overall, it was fun and Nathan's spaceship did well.

In this video, Nathan's is the red that won the heat. Go Nathan!!