The Birthday Boy!

Jack's birthday was a week ago- he's been FOUR for a whole week. What a big difference. Jack loves being four. I think he decided that he was all of a sudden a "big kid" now that he is four.

He's become very responsible all of a sudden! He picks up his toys when asked, puts trash in the bin (unprompted), brings his plate over to the sink when he's finished eating, and has overall been a better listener. I'm sure it didn't really happen overnight, I think I am just noticing it more now that he's FOUR.

On his birthday we had a small party at our house with a few of his neighbor friends and some family. When he woke that morning, he decided that it was his job to clean all of the toys out of the living room so that we could make room for playing games. He brought all of the toys out to the back porch, without me even having to ask him to, and he even dragged the little kitchen over to the back door. He was such a good helper!

For his party we made him a 3D pirate ship cake. It didn't turn out exactly how I had planned but I think he was happy with the results. Nick helped with the decorating; he did the masts/rigging and even rolled an anchor out of a tootsie roll! ...Who knew he was so talented.

At four years old Jack is still the sweetest boy ever; of course, like every child, he has his moments of terror, but for the most part, he is very sweet. He is very much a "mamma's boy" and he will still climb up on my lap and cuddle... sometimes.

Other times, he is too much of a "big kid" for me and I cramp his style.... Especially when he is around his friends.

But he still sleeps with his Teddy, and Other Teddy, and about 10 of his other favorite stuffed friends... Never too big for those.

Jack is still very much into cars, and trains, but is starting to branch out more in his play interests. It's not all cars, all the time, any more... Now he plays with everything. He also likes to ride his bike, scooter, and drive super car, which he wasn't really interested in doing much last year. Maybe he feels he has better coordination now that he's four? Who knows.

Jack really is a bright little boy; he can spell and write his name, his sister's name, Mommy, and many other words. He can write all his numbers and count on forever... He loves numbers; numbers are "his thing." I have actually seen him count to over 500!

Jack has been using the computer a lot lately; he practices typing things in the "word" program. He knows how to open his file, close it down and save it. Often I have to fight him for use of the computer, which is one of the reasons this blog is not updated very much any more!

Happy Birthday Jack!!!!!

Car Cakes!

In honor of Jack's birthday, the car cakes have made a special appearance! We baked a batch to take into school today so Jack could celebrate with his class. Right now we are in the middle of baking lots and lots of cakes in an attempt to make a 3D pirate ship for his party tomorrow!! Hopefully we will have some pictures to post!!

School Pictures!

So, we got the kids school pictures back today- These are Jack's first ever school pics!! Not sure what I think about them yet, I guess there are a couple of cute ones... Much to my own surprise, my favorites seem to be the crayon ones!

*all photos by Life Touch photo

Jack Art

Jack's race car and driver- Done all by himself!!

My SONshine

My son is THE MOST adorable creature in the world: As I was putting him to bed tonight he started singing, "you are my sunshine." When he finished singing he pointed to me and said, "you are MY sunshine, Mommy." "I love you."

Bikers

Happy Valentine's Day!

Annabelle's Play

Annabelle has been taking a class on Tuesdays at a local theatre. She calls it her "acting class" but it's more like a creative play group; they do crafts and stories as well as song and dance. She loves it. After each six week session they put on a little show. This play was called "Sam and the Mysterious Secrets"- I have absolutely no idea what was going on, but it was very cute!!

Birthday Party #2

We have had the week never ending birthday! Party #2 was a family party at our house.

Waiting for a piece of cake.

Cupcakes that Annabelle decorated- all. by. herself.

The super Funshine Care Bear cake that I was forced to make.

Birthday Party #1

Annabelle insisted on having her party at a local jumpy place this year. As much as we tried to convince her to have it at home, she was adamant about wanting to invite ALL of her friends, which is well over 30 kids! There was no way we could manage that many kids at our house so we gave in. It was worth it- she had a great time... And we did not have to clean up!

Some of the gang, just before the jumping started.

A very bad photo of Nick and Jack on the slide.

The birthday girl and her Daddy.

Happy Birthday Annabelle!!

FIVE, wow... Hard to believe. Every year I say that and every year I am amazed at how much she has changed. She really has grown up a lot. No longer a baby, nor a toddler, she has become quite the little girl.

Annabelle learned how to tie her shoes today. She has been practicing for the past few days and becoming VERY frustrated because she could not do it. But she kept at it, not giving up until she mastered tying the shoes- There is no stopping her once she sets her mind to something! The other day she she was having trouble pronouncing the word, "message"- she practiced for over an hour until she got it right, then we we arrived at school she told everyone that she could say, "message"! She is a very determined little lady. A bit of a perfectionist, if you will.

Annabelle is very much a social butterfly. She talks to everyone. Recently we were at a play space and she went around and introduced herself to everyone there. She later came over to me and announced that, "she was making friends and that I should make friends too." Before we left there she stood in the middle of the room and exclaimed, "these are all my friends, everybody knows me"... and she was right!

Annabelle is still obsessed with puppies. Whenever we see a dog, whether it be on t.v. , at a park, or just driving by a person walking one on the street, Annabelle gets very excited and usually shouts, "I SAW A PUPPY!!!" She has about 200 stuffed animals... Most are dogs.

Annabelle loves to draw and paint. She is getting pretty good at it too! Sometimes she gets a little frustrated though- the perfectionist in her tends to come out when she draws. The other day she was determined to draw a three dimensional box and I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown because she could not do it!! But she never gave up and eventually accomplished what she set out to do.

She is also getting a little bit sassy in her old age: She occasionally gives me some lip and she's been saying things like, "oh my gosh" and rolling her eyes!! She can be very dramatic at times. I sometimes feel like she's 15, not 5!

She can also be very sweet too: She is always worried about her brother and says that all of her friends are her favorites, because she doesn't like to leave anyone out.

Annabelle's teacher always says that Annabelle "has got it going on" -She says that Annabelle is as sharp as a tack and that nothing gets by her. I believe her teacher; Annabelle doesn't miss a trick!

I'M NOT TIRED!!!

Yeah, right. She's been asleep on the living room floor for 20 minutes!

Annabelle: On Watching The Presidential Inauguration

Annabelle: Why do we have to watch this? I want to watch Caillou.
Me: You can watch Caillou any time, this is a one shot deal.
Annabelle: Won't this be on Demand?

Annabelle: Look at all those children there! Why did I not get to go there?
Me: There are a lot of people there, but there are also billions of people in the world. Not everyone is able to go.
Annabelle: Well I wanted to go, they all look so happy.
Annabelle: Why are those people so happy?
Me: They are happy to see a new President.
Annabelle: Why?
Me: People are happy about a change.
Annabelle: Why?
Me: Not everyone liked the last president.
Annabelle: Why?
Me: He made some bad decisions.
Annabelle: What did he do that was bad to YOU?
Me: Nothing to me, directly.
Annabelle: Well, he was BAD to ME!!!!
Me: How was he bad to you?
Annabelle: He made me watch boring t.v.

Annabelle Art

I really love this picture Annabelle made at school today. Apparently, it is a picture of me watering some flowers, which is very fitting, seeing as it is FIVE degrees outside and any plant life would be buried under 3 layers of ICE! I especially love the huge smile on my face as I water the flowers under the glowing yellow sun, with my massive pink watering can, which is somehow affixed to the tiny little arm that is jutting out from my gigantic head!

Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling on this cold wintery day!

He Did It!!!!

Yay, Jack... No more binkys!!

So, yesterday afternoon before he went in for a nap, Jack ran into the bathroom and looked in the trash bin for his binkys. When he saw that they weren't there he immediately became concerned and asked where they had gone. I told him that the "binky fairy" had come and removed the binkys because he was too big for them now. He was a little upset, and overtired, and started asking if she could bring them back! I told him that it was too late; the "binky fairy" had already given them to little babies, who needed them much more than big kids. He still seemed a little upset but was willing to give it a try... until he discovered one more binky hidden in his bed! I tried to take it from him but he was so cranky, I caved, and he ended up taking a nap with the bink.

After his nap he handed me that last binky and told me I could give it to the binky fairy..

At bed time he started asking all sorts of questions about the binky fairy: "what is her name?", "where does she live?", "where is she taking my binkys?", "how does she get into the house?" etc... This dragged on for a while. I thought he was working his way towards asking for a binky, but he never did. He eventually fell asleep- He slept through the night without a problem.

In the morning he woke to find the binky fairy had left him a little present on his window sill. He was very pleased, and also very proud of himself.

We're pretty proud of him too!

Could This Really Be The End?

I woke up this morning to Annabelle excitedly telling me that Jack had thrown all of his binkys in the trash!

When I asked him about it, he said that he doesn't need them anymore! I'm hoping he means it. He knows that he has until his 4Th birthday to make peace with the inevitable separation, which gives him about 2 more months. So we shall see...

In the mean time, I have removed all binkys from the inside trash in case he tries to go fishing around for them.

Mini Guitar Hero

Nick gave me Guitar Hero for my birthday yesterday and Annabelle was so mad about it!- she really wanted to get it for her birthday, next month. I tried to explain to her that this is a good thing; now she can use it a month sooner AND get to choose a different present for her birthday, it's a win win situation.

She didn't buy it though: She went into school yesterday and told everyone she encountered that it was Mommy's birthday and Mommy got Guitar Hero and that is what she wanted for her birthday and she is mad because Mommy stole her present... And she did this all in one long breathe, with arms crossed, and foot tapping.

I think all was forgiven later in the day, when she actually got to use it.

She was so funny, she insisted that she had to wear the strap so that she could be a real rock star!

Annabelle is not the best at Guitar Hero (yet), but she was able to follow the tutorial and has been practicing the songs. I'm sure within a few days she will surpass both Nick, and myself... As she does with most Wii games.

Wet AND Crazy

Happy New Year!!

I'm so behind on posting on this blog.

I haven't felt like updating the blog at all this year - I think I'm spending too much time on Facebook. Maybe that should be my New year's resolution- less Facebook, more blogging!

So, not much has happened yet this year... We had a very mellow New Year's eve- Nick and I hung out at home and watched the ball drop, the Monkeys were in bed by 7:30pm. It was a pretty typical year. Maybe some day we'll spice things up and let the Monkeys stay up late with us... maybe.

The kids are finally back at school after having had over 2 weeks off for Christmas/New Years, plus a couple of snow days. I thought it would be a loooong vacation for me, being home with them all day, but it really wasn't that bad. We were so busy most of the time that the kids started asking to stay home so that they could play with their new toys! When they were home they were very good- I think I only had to beat them twice :)

Annabelle has started back at her Tuesday morning acting class, which she loves, and has also started taking ice skating lessons on Sundays. She is ecstatic about the ice skating... She had been asking to go every weekend since I took her that one time last winter. She received ice skates for Christmas so now, at least with the lessons, she is guaranteed to go every weekend, which she is thrilled about.

I've been feeling a little guilty about Annabelle having two weekly activities to Jack's zero, so I think I may try and sign Jack up for swimming again. He really loves the water, in fact, just yesterday he tried to swim in a giant puddle outside of school, it was 25 degrees out, so I think he would appreciate an indoor pool at this point.

Other than that, not much going on... Jack has been playing nonstop with his Geotrax trains and Annabelle has become quite proficient with watercolors!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas eve was spent at my parents' house having Chinese take out and opening a few pressies. As usual, it was completely chaotic and the kids got more presents than they knew what to do with!

It was questionable whether or not Santa would visit our house this year as we have had a couple of misbehaved children recently. Somehow, in the two weeks before Christmas, they managed to pull it together- Santa did come, and, much to our surprise, the only coal left in the stockings was that of the candy variety!! The kids were actually very well behaved in the days leading up to Christmas... all must have been forgiven.

Later on in the day we had my parents, sister Kristen and Dan over for dinner. Nick cooked a feast and we all had a lovely day!

Some (not so great) pictures from Christmas Day:

The Tree Christmas cookies

The cookies that Annabelle decorated! The mince pies
opening presents
sledding with some friends trying out the new scooter
Geotrax planeKaraoke performances!!
Will 2009 be the year Nick hides those tv wires?