December 2012

December always brings lots of fun and activities. Of course the biggest event in December is the Mook's birthday! I couldn't believe that my little baby turned three! He had a lot of fun and it was his first birthday where he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. He had his birthday at Chik-fil-A with several of his friends with a Spongebob theme.

Christmas was also exciting for the kids. This year instead of many smaller gifts, I went with one bigger gift for all of them. I was VERY tired of fighting for control of my iPhone and iPad so each of them received a Kindle Fire for Christmas. I would like to say that the gifts kept them from my devices, but sadly, it didn't :0(

Christmas Morning!

Another Christmas is gone. Another great day with the kids. These holidays in the past were nice, but I really never enjoyed them until I had children in my life.
This year I was lucky enough to be off work. I was on-call which meant I could be called and I would have to deal with any issues that might come up, but at least I knoew I could be at home with the kiddos. My parents and sister came making a real family morning.

The kids enjoyed all their gifts. M was a real pro after just having his birthday. He didn't want to wake up at first...and in the end it was still M in my lap with every present opened, but his. He finally woke up enough to realize that there was a little mountain of unopened presents just for him...and we went to town.
After our Texas trip, I knew I wanted to get the family an iPad for Christmas. The twins LOVED it and I liked playing with it too. The plan was solidified a few weeks ago when I upgraded my phone to the iPhone and found how easy it was and how much fun it could be. Right up until a few days before the iPad purchase was for sure...well...then I started thinking. Since I got the iPhone, all three kids fought for it all the time. When I walked in the front door from work, the first thing they asked for was my phone. There was lots of fighting and lots of removing the phone completely from use. I began to see my future and thats when the plan changed. For Christmas, the twins each received an iPod Touch. It kind of stunk because that meant I wouldn't get to play with the iPad, but it illeviated the sharing issue. The only remaining problem, was that M felt very left out not having one of his own, and now my phone is always in his hands. And I must give Best Buy an special thank you for their sales which allow me to buy now...and pay later with a tax return without any addition fees :)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Well not since 1947 has this area had a White Christmas. But this year, not only was it White, it was a Blizzard!! This area rarely gets a snow fall that accumulates. Usually we get a few flurries which barely coat the ground and is melted away within a day or two. Well this year we got about 8 inches!!

The twins of course were thrilled! Since it was dark S didn't want to go out and play, but K decided to risk it :0) They will have so much fun tomorrow while I'm at work. I just hope the whole town doesn't shut down!!

A Great Christmas Day

My parents arrived Thursday night to stay with us this holiday weekend. Because I had pulled strings to go to Florida for Christmas 2008, and then was out on maternity leave for Christmas 2009, I was scheduled to work Christmas Eve, Day and Sunday. Pretty sucky, but at least my parents agreed to help out.

I worked my 12 hours on Christmas Eve, and since I was scheduled for Christmas Day, the kids opened their presents on the 24th. It was a late night since I didn't get home until 8pm, but obviously the kids didn't care.



Despite the pictures, I did really well sticking to my budget this year. I spent just over $100 on each of the twins and I didn't really buy anything for Max - he didn't need anything considering his birthday was 2 weeks ago.

S got many of the Imaginext gifts he was wanting. He also got some tools and fake wood sets that have made him very imaginative. S is also my science/biology kid and got some great books on Dinosaurs and other animals. He seemed very happy with his gifts.


K, who is much more difficult to buy for, got many arts & craft supplies, some super cute shoes and her favorite gift, an MP3 player. She is such a music lover and this gift was a big hit. She also got some books, dolls and an Aqua Sand kit she had been wanting.


The Mook was just as happy to walk around and play with the wrapping paper, boxes and toys of the twins. He did receive some cute wood puzzles from Grandma and Grandpa and some new socks and weebles in his stocking.

After all the chaos of Christmas Eve, we went to bed and unfortunately Max spent most the night up and not feeling well. Him and I didn't fall asleep until almost 4am Christmas Morning. So, when work called me at 5am to tell me they didn't need me, not only was the gift of spending Christmas Day and awesome one, but with the lack of sleep it really was a great thing!!

The only thing that sucked was the $280 I got for Christmas from Family and Friends will all be spent on a pump repair :0( Sometimes it sucks being a grown up.

Merry Christmas!!

Today was a great day spent with family, including my three wonderful blessings. Although M decided to stay up for several hours during the night, and the twins woke up bright and early, the day went very well.

S received many Imaginext items with Dragons and Dinosaurs and LOVED them. Right now he is so into imaginary play and has already spent a few hours today playing with his new sets.

K got a Karaoke Machine and some pop CD's. She loved singing along to her favorite songs first thing this morning. She also got some Zhu Zhu pets and a Starter City which took all my energy and money to find, and while she enjoys them, they are definitely not the highlight of her day.

M spent the whole morning sleeping and barely making a peep. Since he is so little, a right now need absolutely nothing, I didn't get him anything for Christmas this year. He did get an outfit and an ornament from family though.

Tomorrow life with return to 'normal' and we can start to get into a better routine. My parents will be leaving soon and the four of us now need to figure out how to function day to day.

Day Two - Christmas

On Christmas Day we spent the morning low key. My sister and I went back to the pool with the twins in the morning. We then went to my Aunt L's to visit her. She is kinda the family misfit and doesn't come to any family events. It's kind of sad because she only lives a few miles from my grandparents and aunt, but never sees them. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from that visit.
That night was our big Christmas dinner with family. It was really nice to get together with so many cousins. My grandparents got the twins two small things that they could open and of course that made their day! We had the traditional turkey, stuffing, veggie dinner. K of course ate nothing but turkey and S sampled a little of everything.

Again that night we all went back to Aunt S and played games and hung out. We always went here because my grandparents have this thing about being in bed by 8:30 :). It was better though because the twins could definitely let loose at my aunts house while at my grandparents I was always telling them not to do stuff.

Florida Day One

On Wednesday we spent the morning playing at the park and swimming in my grandparents pool. The weather was beautiful. We hadn't anticipated letting the twins swim, but when we got there, the water was warm and the kids darn near jumped in themselves they were so excited! Luckily my dad likes to swim so he got stuck with them :) While at the pool I got some great pics of the kids. I think I actually got one of the best pictures ever of K. She just has such a great smile!
We then went out to lunch at Panera followed by a nice nap. That evening we all went to my grandparents house for an informal get-together. The kids had fun running around and getting a bunch of attention from relatives they had not seen in a few years. After dinner we all went back to my aunts house were we hung out and laughed. Me, my sister, cousin K and Aunt S played two games of Cranium into the wee hours of the morning and had a blast. I had a blast but of course paid for it the next morning after staying up so late.

12+ Hours in a Car with Toddler Twins...

Can you say painful?

Actually I have to admit it could have been much worse. Although my kids didn't sleep for more than maybe 2 hours, they were fairly well behaved and did co-operate for the most part. We watched movies, played with toys and snacked along the way. This was one of those times I was glad the twins are still in diapers.

We left on the 23rd of December, and stopped a few times along the way trying to be as leisurely as we could. We left home at 8:10am and got to our destination at 7:45pm. Ya know...before I had kids I used to make that drive in about 10 hours.

We got to Florida in just enough time to drop N off at my grandparents (her brother and SIL) and then head over to my aunt S with whom I was staying. My parents also went down, and they actually arrived several hours before we did. We met with them for a few minutes that first night too.

Here is a pic of S and K at the Florida Welcome Center.

I will post seperately each day we spent in Florida to help orgaize the trip better :)

Decmber 20th - The Big Event

On December 20th, we had our "Christmas Day". We were heading to Florida and I didn't have to room to lug all the presents with us, so we just moved the festivites up a few days.

It was a great day. A late lunch with BY's and then a night time present fest. I made a sad realization. My kids are beyond spoiled and I can't start buying for Christmas any sooner then November from now on. I realized that since I bought a little here and there, that little bit added up to a ton of crap! I spent way more than I should have, and the twins had way too much stuff. I actually took about half of it away and put it back in my closet for later in the year when they need some fresh toys.

K got her one and only request - a purple purse. The kid is such a girly-girl I can't stand it. They both got bikes, which were a big hit. S liked many of his toys but his favorites were probably his Pixter and Remote Helicopter.

I took over 200 pictures! So I am only including three below which get the main points across :)

Ah the Joys of Christmas

I have already started to buy for Christmas. I need to. My budget can't take a hard hit all at once. I have been searching on Ebay and got a few cute Little People sets. The twins have really just started role playing so I think these might be a big hit. I also hit two discount stores today. There I got some really nice hard page books. Most of them were 75% off the retail price. The kids desperately needed new books. I also found a few toys, but I was proudest of the book deals.

I still need to keep my eye out for an art easel and some Scooby Doo toys which the kids are OBSESSED with.

I am going to try and take the kids to the park tomorrow and get some nice pictures taken. I had them scheduled for a photo shoot and cancelled because for the money, I didn't get the CD. I am going to try and do it myself this time and see how I do. I really just need a few nice shots of each of them and maybe one or two nice pictures with both of them. Ah, I can believe in miracles right?