January - 2009

December - 2009

Looks like someone has gotten a bit confident lately! MK, who really has never been one to be on the quiet side of things, is now taking it upon herself to say what is really on her mind.

Example A - during our weekly speech session, MK was praciticing her sentences. The speech therapist would prompt her with a sentence and the idea was for MK to repeat it. Instead, MK would make up her very own version. One example being the therapist wanted her to say, "I have ten toes"....MK said, "No, I don't. I have two hands!" And she just laughed and laughed. Thankfully MK chose to say, "My mommy is NOT a monkey!" when the therapist asked her to say, "My mommy IS a monkey!"

Example B - following speech, the children and I went to lunch, their choice was Applebees. We walked inside and MK shouts, "Hey, there is a Nannie!" at the hostess....poor lady could not have been as old as MK made it sound.

Example C - and lastly, this is where I really cringed, we went to the grocery store. We saw people there, as always, that we knew. We stopped to talk. While I am in mid conversation, MK loudly says, "pooh-wee, dat stinks" as she waved her little hand across her crinkled up little nose. Wonder who taught her how to say those words??? Not two little boys that I know, definitely not!

With tomorrow being the last day of 2009, I am reminded that this year has been our first entire year with MK. WOW, how far we have come!

Christmas 2009

Two years ago we celebrated Christmas with our boys and a picture of our daughter. Last year we celebrated Christmas with our boys AND our daughter though she was too little to really delve into the meaning or the presents. This year, all is changed. This year we celebrated Christmas with our boys and our daughter who all three thoroughly enjoyed themselves from the moment they sprinkled the reindeer food on our front lawn Christmas Eve until the moment they crashed after watching A Christmas Story late Christmas night. Colin deemed it the "best Christmas ever!" while Pryce squealed loudly with delight after opening each gift he received. MK summed it up when she awoke from her nap asking, "Please may I open more presents?" Thankfully, there were some gifts left to be opened and the celebrating continued. A new tradition was started this year too.....the children, all three of them, had a campout in our gameroom on Christmas Eve. This tradition is one that I had with my siblings growing up and would like to see my children continue. It was so cute. When Mason-Kate realized that she was going to have an opportunity to be included in the campout, she happily cheered, "oh, thank you mommy, thank you!".....needless to say she was the LAST one to fall asleep due to her excitement. And at 5:30 am, the giggles began. And at 6:00 am, the allowed wake-up time, the children were all three on the monitor shouting, "Mom, Dad, get up, It's CHRISTMAS! Merry Christmas!" So with that, mom, dad, and Gran and Pop were summoned to the top of the stairs for the annual Christmas morning picture.....and then it was time for Pop to do his Santa check - Pop (my father) is always the first one down just to make sure Santa has come and gone. The next hour was spent swimming through the gifts from Santa. At one point, Colin looked over and said, "Hmmm, this is strange, I received safety goggles for a bb gun, but there is no gun." A few moments later, Ryan requested a screw driver from his toolbox because, as most everyone knows, toys are not exactly that easy to get into these days. Colin jumps up, heads to the garage to fetch the requested screw driver, he opens the door and wouldn't you know there were shouts of delight as he said, "Hey, here is my bb gun, he brought it! And it is on a ping-pong table!" Meanwhile, MK was photographing our Christmas morning with her new princess camera and diapering her new babydoll over and over - babies have a lot of accidents, you know. Needless to say, MK got discouraged with the whole diapering extravaganza and the baby now lies asleep naked in our den, no diaper in site. It was a beautiful day through and through!

Some things haven't changed in a year....I just don't think MK likes early morning photos no matter what day it is.

With safety goggles properly placed over his eyes, Colin fired his first shot and hit the homemade target!

The boys' comment this morning was, "I hope that Santa really made our Star Wars action figures because if he didn't, it cost him a lot of money to buy this stuff for us!"

I had to post this....P was being so sweet playing with MK in her new Princess tent. When he saw me with the camera, he quickly jumped out and said, "Hey, I don't want anyone to see me playing in a Princess tent!" I told him it was so nice of him to play with her, so he jumped back in and then gave me this look when I snapped the shot....

One memory that I know my children will cherish is having Gran and Pop here with us on Christmas. Each year they wake up on Christmas Eve asking "When will they be here? Can we call them? Will they be here soon?" and each year they arrive with bells on and share the excitement that is plentiful in our home!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Check out MK's new hat! She loves hats! Ryan's Aunt Peg made MK this very special Christmas hat just in time for the holidays! MK liked it so much, she insisted it sleep in the crib with her.

Conversation with MK

I literally just came down from putting Mason-Kate to bed and had to post our conversation. First, I must say that the one thing MK is most particular about is bedtime. She wants me to put her to bed and it offends her to no end on the nights that Ryan takes over the job. She loves Ryan and he is the first person she asks about in the morning yet she will have nothing to do with him at bedtime. So, tonight I was rocking her and I asked her if she was ready to get into her bed yet. She answered yes. I said, "Who loves you?" and she stated, "My mommy does." I said, "You are right!" MK asked, "And my boys? You love my boys?" and I responded, "Oh yes, I love you and your boys. God gave me you and Colin and Pryce and I love all of you!" Mason-Kate sweetly asked, "And my Jesus gave me my Daddy?"

Our little elf, Matthew, has become quite the master at flying in during the night and cleverly hiding himself so that he can keep watch on the children and their mischief during the day. There have been several mornings that we literally cannot find him. Anywhere. Last year it was not so tough. Last year he hid in the Christmas tree or in a ficus tree here or there or, you know, somewhere easy to locate. This year, however, is different. Pryce's priceless comment came this morning when, after looking for Matthew for at least 10 minutes, he looked at me and said, "I am thinking this is like Level 2 for us. You know, like a game. Last year was Level 1, easy. This year, we have moved onto Level 2 and it is HARD." I am thinking he is right.

This year seems to be the year for questions. C asked the dreaded question of whether or not Santa was real. Ryan quickly responded, "Yes, of course he is!"....we have decided that in the future, when this question comes up, we will just say that you must believe to receive. That way, no one gets accused of not being honest. Safety. And then there is the whole elf thing. Matthew, our elf, continues to hide about our house. He hides in things, on top of things, around things.....everywhere. One day, Pryce asked, "Is he REALLY real? I mean, look at that tag on his pants." Me, not wanting to cave, carefully walked over and observed the elf's pants for this tag....thankfully, there was no tag - a long shirt but no tag, I was able to point this out to P, he was satisfied and he went about his day. He LOVES the elf and can't wait to find him each morning to see what kind of mischief he has gotten himself into during the night. And then there are the letters to Santa. Out of respect for this child, I will not print his name but I have to share one thing that he asked for.....a BB gun complete with targets and safety goggles. Love that he asked for safety goggles. His letter reads, Dear Santa, I would like this, this, this "and a bb gun (wish me luck on that one!)"......I laughed when I read that and asked him why he needed luck. He responded, "Because I know that you and Dad will talk, you both will decide no to the gun and that will be that. Santa won't give us anything you don't approve of." Yes, he is right.....on one part of that at least. And then, last but not least, P has been doing a lot of thinking. His question for us at dinner was, "So, do you think that Santa gets all of his money from the Tooth Fairy?" Pretty good theory for a seven year old! It looks as if everyone is still on board with Santa, the elf and the magic of Christmas, at least for now....love this time of year!