Hanukkah with Helene

This post is a little late, and out of order for the nights of Hanukkah..... For the 3rd night of Hanukkah, we went to Helene's for early dinner with Randi, Brad and Daniel as well as (cousin) Stacy and Kyle. This was our first chance to see Helene's new condo. Helene ALWAYS comes to us, so it was a nice change to go see her. Her place is very nice, as I knew it would be. Rose was disappointed that we weren't going there to go swimming, so we will for sure go back during the summer and get in some pool time. Rose and David have already staked out their bedrooms. Daniel and the kids lit the menorah and Rose helped Aunt Randi make the potato latkes. We had delicious, ever so traditional baked ziti to go along with the latkes..... DELICIOUS! We had a GREAT time. Thanks for hosting, Helene!

Oh Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah, Come Light the Menorah..... the 7th night

Tonight is the 7th night of Hanukkah. We lit the menorah and the kids did their hunt for their presents. Tonight was Lightning McQueen and Princess white boards. A big hit. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Hanukkah!

New Undies

A quick post before we head off to Joey's 3 year well check-up doc appointment.... In an effort to get Joey interested in potty training, he and I picked out new underwear for him yesterday. He quite fancied the Super Heroes, so we bought them. Today he decided he would try them on. They are really too big on him with his skinny little chicken legs. David decided he would help Joey by wearing a pair of them too. Guess we better get some smaller ones. At least he's entertaining the idea of wearing Big Boy undies. He always screams at the mere suggestion. Oh the indignation of peeing on the pot! Fun times ahead!

People of Wal-Mart

There's a great website: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ that has pictures of people snapped at various Wal-Marts around the country. It's pretty funny and I go on every once in a while to get a good laugh. Today I happened to be in Wal-Mart and wished I had snapped a pic of the woman walking around with her kids and husband while nursing a baby and half of her boob hanging out. Now, I really have no problem with public nursing, but this gal was really something to behold. While perusing the aisles for my various sundries, I got very hot and took off my jacket. I tied it around my waist and shopped for at least another hour, enjoying a rare shopping trip with no kids. It was a few hours later at home that I looked in the mirror and saw something black and thought what the heck is that..... ?? I took a better look and saw that I was wearing my shirt inside out all day and no one bothered to tell me. I will check the website to see if I pop up on it in the near future. I really am white trash. A lesson to be learned is: never think you are better than anyone else, because chances are your underwear is showing, or you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe....... And by the way, I'm a natural dark brunette now. Funny how it just magically changes every few months! Oh, and it really is a little tricky taking a photo of yourself behind your back in the mirror.

Have a Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Hanukkah!!!!

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah. It was another rainy day and I didn't have any candles for the menorah, so I spent a few hours running around trying to find some. After 4 stops, I finally got what I needed. I feel bad that we usually do a lot more for Christmas, so this year I decided I would try to make Hanukkah more fun for the kids. Tomorrow we are headed to Helene's for major festivities, so I have been spared making the latkes. Andy did say the prayers and we lit the menorah, played with draydels then had the kids follow clues super hard clues in order to find their gifts. It went something like 'look in the bathtub for the next clue, go to the front door, check out the fish....then look under the ottoman' where they each had a gift. It's fun now that Rose is learning to read. She was as excited to read the clues for herself as she was racing to find them. Last night they got activity books. That went over really well, so I repeated the hunt for the gifts again tonight. They found their gummy worms and candy corn in the bathtub and were equally delighted to get candy as they were with bigger gifts last night. They really are at the perfect age for things like this. Andy went to the SDSU Aztecs basketball game tonight, so we lit the candles without him and said no prayers. The kids enjoyed lighting the candles just the same, and after Joey blew them out like a birthday cake, we lit them again. We had oh-so traditional Spiderman macaroni and cheese for dinner.... and delicious candy for dessert. Another lovely night. Happy Hanukkah!


















Rose adds the traditional Crayola Crayon after the candle is lit. Tradition..... TRADITION!! ..... TRADITION!!

Rainy Days and Sundays Always Get Me Down.....

I love the rain since we never get it. Yesterday was a GREAT storm. It was really windy, so the wind spinners were spinning as fast as they could and the rain gutters overflowed, even though I just cleaned them out when I was on the roof hanging Christmas lights. Good thing I did, or they really would have been much worse. Too bad I wasn't able to collect the rain water to water my dead grass later in the month when it gets back up to 90 degrees. There is something to be said for wearing shorts on Christmas..... Anyway, yesterday was a nice rainy day. I was in class with David. The kids weren't able to go outside to play, so they had a treat and watched a "movie". It was 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Not the full length movie that is out right now, but a 10 minute version animated from the book. Sometimes Mrs. Martin will pop popcorn for them, but we ran out of time, so we didn't do that. The kids loved it! Emily invited David to share her umbrella, ella, ella, ella on the way out to the car.

When Rose came home, she was quite excited because they got to eat their snack and play in the classroom during the break instead of going outside. A nice change for her. Joey, who had to stay home with Granna in the morning while I went to school, was mad about it all, stormed upstairs after we all left and fell asleep in the middle of the hallway until I got back home. After that he was just fine and also loved watching the rain. When Rose got home they all played with Joey's birthday toys and got never even got mad at each other. In the late afternoon we baked cupcakes for Joe's birthday dessert. My little helpers are always SO helpful! It was a nice way to spend the day!

It's always fun to eaves drop on the kids while they play. Rose had on Joey's new tool belt and had his new remote from a Lightning McQueen car she was using as a phone. I heard her saying "yeah, there is a problem here with your building"..... it was so funny. Of course they stop immediately when they figure out you are listening.

Happy 3rd Birthday Joey!

Today is Joe's birthday. I have been thinking all day about being in the hospital 3 years ago. Getting there at 5 AM. Getting all prepped for the c-section then going in to the operating room and getting that LOVELY anesthesia, then a little snip snip, yank yank, staple staple....here's your baby boy! C-sections are fabulous! By the 3rd baby in less than 3 years, you don't get nearly as many visitors at the hospital. It was great, I had 4 fabulous days relaxing at the hospital, enjoying my new baby boy without many interruptions. He is so charming and so frustrating all in the span of 30 seconds and I just adore him. He is a real cuddler, which I love.

Sunday we threw a small (well, small for us) party for him with family and a few friends. We had a Spiderman jumpy, Lightning McQueen pinata....or as Joey says, pi-ana, a dinosaur cake and Pirates of the Caribbean plates and napkins. Aren't we SUPER at carrying out a theme? Perhaps once the kids are all in school and I retire from being a stay at home Mom, I will become a party planner. The weather was pretty cool with some clouds, but the impending rain held off until today. Today, on Joe's actual birthday we are having a GREAT storm. Rain ALL day, wind and COLD! Nice and wintery. So yesterday for his party, he woke up crank-city crankus and remained that way. All he would do is cry, scream and want to be held. Everyone got here around noon and by 1, I took him upstairs and he was asleep within 2 minutes. So, he slept through half of his party until I woke him up and demanded he have a good time so we could do the pinata and cake. He actually woke up in a MUCH better mood and did have a great time for the rest of the party. It was a really great day. Happy Birthday Joey! I love you!

As a side note, my nephew Owen lost a tooth after the party. I think he now has more missing teeth than baby teeth in his mouth. Love those toothless grins!

Joey, a History of Birthdays:

Ode to Brother Joe......

The other day we actually had a little rain here in sweet So Cal. We went outside and Joey turned to me and said, Mommy...a rainbow! So, we all looked, and sure enough a beautiful rainbow was right above our neighborhood. It was a good solid day of raining, which has been the first in a LONG time, so it was really nice. I sure am glad to see winter coming....but ask me again in about 2 weeks and I will be SO ready for summer to get here. Tomorrow is Joe's 3rd birthday, which I can't believe. I'm excited to see him grow up, but he's my baby....so I really don't like it AT ALL!! Hey HO, Brother Joe!

So Much to Post, So Little Time.....

Well, the in-laws have come and gone. We all had a great time having them here. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving and just a lot of good time with the grandparents, kids & grand kids. Here are more pictures of their time here..............

More Sweet Things for Me to Remember

Joey has always been a pat-er. He gives me pats on my shoulder. When I get him up to go down stairs in the morning, or when he is upset and I pick him up, or he is going down for a nap....he pats my shoulder or back. It's always with his right hand while he burrows his head into my shoulder. SO incredibly sweet. He had stopped doing it for a few months, then a few days ago started again....which is why I'm writing it down while I remember. How can he be SO frustrating with all his screaming and crying....then so sweet you want to squeeze him to death, all in a span of a few minutes?

David is so inquisitive. He asks so many questions. I love the way he responds when we give him an answer. All he says is "oh"....but the way he says it makes Andy and I laugh. It is sweet and funny and we try our best to imitate it to each other, but David does it the best.

I took David and Rose to a play our neighbor Lexie was in last weekend. It was a production of Beauty and the Beast. Lexie was in the cast. There were a few big full cast numbers in the beginning of the play, much to my children's delight. It was a good show, but BY FAR my favorite moment was after the first big number with all the cast singing and dancing. I looked over at David and Rose as they were applauding. I almost cried at how enthusiastically David was clapping. I have never seen him clap so hard.... sitting up in his seat with his little glasses on clapping so hard that his whole body shook. I love these days.

When Rose was a baby she loved to get her fingers in my hair and twirl it around her fingers. I would pick her up and her hands would go right to the hair, especially when she was tired. We would let her sleep with us a lot and to put herself to sleep, she would grab my hair and play with it. It got a little annoying at times and I would have to ask her to stop, but now she doesn't do anymore and I sure do miss it. I guess I need to remember to appreciate everything. She does still play with her own hair, especially when it's in a pony tail....but it's just not the same. That girl has great hair!