Action Figure Naptime

"It's time for your nap, ok guys?"

4K Family Night

Liam's class had a "family gingerbread night" that Aaron took the boys to. They had a great time making their own gingerbread house to take home! Aaron said that they sat next to each other very nicely debating about what patterns to make and what candies to include!

It turned out so cute!
And of course Max snuck pieces of candy off of it all day long...

From Our Family to Yours...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Must be Santa

Max woke up around 5:30 Christmas morning and must have forgotten it was Christmas. He wandered out into the living room, yelled at us for "taking presents out from under the tree" and proceeded to eat the last of the cookies left by Santa! He finally figured out what was going on and ran to get Liam. "Liam, it's Christmas!" he yelled.

Max got an angry bird!

Liam got the two Lego sets he's been pining over all year - the Wampa Ice Cave and the Ewok Forest!

Max got a Star Wars ABC book that he was pretty happy with!

And Liam got the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, a copy of which he's checked out of the library at least a dozen times!

They also got one big present for the two of them that turned out to be...

A lego table that mom and dad, I mean Santa and the elves, made all by themselves!

Christmas Unwrapped

Our family got a Wii from grandma and grandpa for Christmas. The boys love playing at their house so we were excited to see their reaction when they opened it! Here they are...saying "wow" and then ready to open their next present immediately after opening the Wii!



Max got his very own lightsaber  from Uncle Copter and took his sweet time opening it! We loved his anti-climactic reaction...

Merry Christmas to All!

After a whirlwind trip up north and back we spent our Christmas Eve morning ringing bells for the Salvation Army! The boys love to put change in the red kettles, and we try not to pass one without putting at least a few coins in. We really want to teach the boys about charity, compassion and sharing what we have with others. It seems like we don't have enough of a lot of things sometimes, but we are very blessed when compared to so many others.

I have been very frustrated that I can't do the things I love to do at this time of year because of this broken foot. It's slowed me down a lot, but that has been a good thing as well. I'm just trying to appreciate the slower pace and the time we are able to spend together. No, I didn't get everything I wanted to get for the boys, I didn't have everything as picture-perfect as I wanted to...but we are together. We have two sweet boys who had as much fun ringing bells as they will opening presents tomorrow morning. And for that I am content.

Poison

Mom: "Max, did you eat the soap in the bathroom?"
Max: "Um, yes. It tasted too spicey."
Liam: "MAX. You can't eat soap it is POISON. You could be KILLED."

4K Achievements

Liam got his first report card today! His teacher says that:

"Liam is an excellent student, and you are to be commended for raising such a fine boy! He is a cheerful, polite, energetic, and friendly student. He is a wonderful role model in the classroom! Liam is doing well academically and socially in the 4k program. During play time he enjoys the dramatic play area, math, and block center. He is able to recognize all uppercase letters except J, recognize all lowercase letters except b and q, recognize most letter sounds, count to 101, count object to 25, recognize some numerals, basic shapes and patterns."

He still says "71" when he sees a number like "17", but I'm pretty sure being able to count to 101 makes up for it...! Especially when the benchmark for rote counting at his age is 20! I was very surprised to see that he got 4's (typical of a child 5 years or more) in all of the math categories. He does like math, and he's been able to count and understand numbers since he was very little, but I guess I notice the creative side of him more. I'm excited to think that he has inherited his father's knack for numbers instead of his mother's stunted touch-point math approach! (yes, this is how I learned math and no, I cannot do math with out it...!)

He also got 4's in the early literacy category and "curiosity, risk-taking and willingness to engage in new experiences" category.

I'm proud of how much he's learned so far this year, and I'm glad that he likes school so much and has made such good friends. I also can't believe that he's halfway to kindergarten...! In some ways he seems light years older than 5, but in others he still seems like my little boy. I keep telling him to stop growing and stay five forever, but so far he's not listening...

Success!

After three straight years of failure (see "Christmas Cookie Fail" for reference), I have finally succeeded at making cut-out cookies! And that is because I asked my husband to make the dough! I cannot for the life of me get it to turn out and I have no idea why. So, Aaron made the dough for me last night and the boys and I rolled it out, cut and baked it this morning. And they taste like my mom's cookies and they don't look disgusting! Success!

Pre & Post Concert

Max had a great time going from grandparent to grandparent before the show!

And Liam showed us his "screaming gingerbread man" displayed in the hallway!
Facial expressions to express emotions for a 4K project...I was pretty impressed!
I'm not quite sure WHY the man was screaming, though...

Christmas Concert

The first of three songs Liam's class sang for his Christmas concert today. His teacher told them that if they forgot the words to "just move their mouths," so keep that in mind when watching!



I love all of the hand gestures and the animated singing. So adorable.



And this is where the "lip synching" gets pretty excessive...and my favorite part of the entire concert - the miniature bows he takes as the audience applauds.

Late Night Thoughts

It's strange to me when I really stop and think about my life before my children. I look at Liam and can't imagine life without him here. I think about the tiny life he was inside of me and the 5-year-old he is today and I am amazed. I look at Max and remember Liam touching my belly and feeling him move around, and now he is 2! I sometimes think, "what if?" What if I hadn't signed up for that cross-training class in college? What if I hadn't met Amber there? What if she hadn't thought to introduce me to her cousin? What if he hadn't decided to visit me in Madison? What if we never took that drive to Minnesota when we realized we were meant to be together? Etc, etc, etc. It all led to our wonderful life now...and I don't think any of it was just a coincidence.

Liam James Photography

Liam likes to take pictures with my camera of whatever strikes his fancy. Yesterday it was his Harry Potter legos. We are on a big Harry Potter kick at our house. We've almost finished book one and have been watching the corresponding scenes on DVD after we read them. Max may also have a little crush on Hermione...

Here's Liam's "Still Life with Crutches." I went to the doctor on Tuesday and had another xray to see how my foot is healing. I found out I have a comminuted transverse fracture of my proximal 5th metatarsal. That basically means my bone fractured in more than three places and the break is nearer to my heel than my toe. It is in good alignment, so I shouldn't need surgery, but I need to see an orthopedic doctor just to make sure everything is ok. I'm still on my crutches and can't wait until I don't need them anymore! Everyone is taking good care of me, though, and my grandma is coming to visit today to help out! She was here last week as well, and it was great to have company! The boys are getting stir crazy because I can't drive them anywhere, so any visitor is warmly received by them both!

I am especially grateful for online shopping this Christmas season, as I have thus far avoided driving around Target in a motorized wheelchair...

Misc.

Liam built a model of the solar system from a science kit he got from Auntie Kimmy!

The boys watched intently as their english muffin pizzas baked.

And Auntie Sarah arrived with a zucchini.

The end.

Jolly Old St. Nick

St. Nick brought Star Wars and Harry Potter Legos!

Awesome!

Best of Times

Best. Cocktails. Ever.

Most Adorable Grandmother, ever.
Also, Most Shrimp Ever.

Scariest Spooks Ever.

Grandma and Girls

All of us!

Cafe du Monde!

Overzealous powdered sugar nerd.
I'm just jealous...

Best. Weekend. Ever.

*All photos courtesy of Auntie Da. I couldn't bend that way in my wheelchair...

Sister Cousins

Wait, that may not be the best choice of title...

RENQUIN

I love the ideas out there for making name art with unconventional letters. I searched New Orleans for the most interesting letters to spell my last name and these are the ones I came up with. I had lots of help getting the shots from my broken-down wheelchair, and they turned out great! Can't wait to get this printed and framed! Perfect souvenir.