Cole just wrote and illustrated a book about penguins. He brought it to me and said "Look at my book mom. If you like it, will you draw a Caldecott on it?"

Seriously - who is teaching this kid? I think I learned what a Caldecott was last year...the boy is 6! Let me just say it one more time...I LOVE Miss Sorensen!

P.S. I had to print out a Caldecott for his book. I don't know what he was thinking asking me to draw it - he has seen me draw after all. Kris could of course pull it off...but mine would have been a little stick figure waving to a butterfly.

Alaria's Birthday - Part 1

Alaria will be 3 this week! She really wanted to go to the zoo for her birthday, so that is what we did today! She started out with her first gift...a pink Webkinz kitty

Now everyone has a Webkinz! Cole and Cosmo the Tiger, Josh and Motor the Gecko, and Ali with Harley the cat
We started out at the zoo with a cloudy day. By lunchtime it was dumping snow. We braved the storm and had the zoo to ourselves (or so it seemed...there were only a few other people there). It was cold and wet, but so much fun!

This picture is a little blury - but I had to put it in because I love it. The kids all had a banana snack while watching the monkeys. They thought it was so funny! They loved the monkeys!

Zoo Animal Cupcakes

3 and So Big!She got to open one more present before bed. Princess movies!

Alaria lives and breathes princess. Princess bed, princess shoes, princess dresses...life for her right now is about shoes, jewelry, purses, make-up and nail polish. She is such a girly girl, but has grown up with 2 older brothers (I understand all too well...) who love to influence her. The other day we realized that althought she adores the Disney princesses, she doesn't have any of the movies. Right now her favorite movie is Nacho Libre!
Hopefully this gift will help!

Wing Night!

You can't eat wings without getting messy!

Joshua LOVES wings!
Alaria LOVES wings!

Cole...not so much. He was so proud that his hands were CLEAN!

Resolutions

Although late posting this, I just have to brag for Alaria. By the second week in January, she had already accomplished both of her New Year's Resolutions: Getting her big girl bed and being potty trained! We had to wait til she was ready for it, but she was an absolute dream in both transitions. What a big girl!! She LOVES her Princess bed!Ali and Ellie (her elephant)
Josh and Ali's movie afternoon. They were so cute!

Sleepover

This past weekend the kids wanted to have a sleepover in Ali's room. They had so much fun! I love the simple things that make their day!Cole
Alaria

Joshua

I forgot to take my camera out of Ali's room when they went to sleep. They apparently had too much fun with it the next morning. This next picture of Josh going at the cat with a knife (yes, it's a play knife) makes me more than a little nervous...

Lesson Learned

I just bought one of those cupcake pans - you know the ones that make a giant cupcake cake? I wanted to try it out, so I baked a cake, made frosting and decided to take it to someone. Well they weren't home, so I set it in the car and when we drove off it tipped over, rolled bottom-over-top and left a trail of frostring on the floor. The top of the cupcake separated from the bottom and it was all smashed and covered with lovely bits of things that were on the van carpet. From the backseat I just hear Josh say "Mom, I told you you should have just let us eat it!" Maybe next time...

Back in the saddle...

OK, I'm really sad I haven't been keeping up on my blog becuase it's the only way I remember the fun things my kids do! I have turned a new leaf and am going to keep up. I'll start today with a small update...

About a month ago Alaria came in to get me out of bed in the morning. I am not an easy person to get up, but she was trying her best. She finally started yelling "Get up, get up right now!!" so I said OK I am (but didn't move) She yelled again. Again I said I was coming. Finally she said "But I see that you are not doing it". She is so logical! She has been doing that a lot lately...this morning she wanted me to come down the stairs and I yelled down that I was coming. Her reply was "I see that you're not coming down the stairs. Come down!" She is so funny and getting so big. Her birthday is next week and she talks about it constantly! She is so excited to "go to the zoo and see the monkeys and the snakes and the birds and the lions". She LOVES make-up and constantly has pink streaks down her face!

Cole is doing awesome in kindergarten! He is one of the top 3 readers in his class and got an award for it. He loves to read and write. He is still obsessed with Rocky and also loves Nacho Libre. His time revolves around nintendo, legos and school.

Josh is growing up way too fast too. He loves to build things out of magnets that we have. He builds robots and writes words...he does such a great job! He is loving all things army-guy and ninja related. Josh also loves playing Mario and building lego creations.

There's my small update!

Yo Adrian...Guidin' The Sleigh

It's been far too long since I've blogged anything...and I probably won't even try to catch up. (just give up - it's easier)
Anyway...this was too classic not to post. This assignment was for Cole's Kindergarten class. I don't know the last time I have laughed so hard as when he showed me this! I love Cole!

1st Day of Kindergarten

Where did the time go? I can't believe that Cole starts kindergarten today!
He is so excited...all ready and wearing his backpack four hours before school starts!
The new Batman backpack
He insisted that I zoomed in on the backpack to show the motorcycle...
And what kindergarten ensemble is complete without a new watch! He has been wanting a watch fora long time so I gave him one this morning and it made him so excited!

Good luck Cole!! Have a great day! We love you!

Our Newest Addition

We got a new kitten yesterday. We haven't agreed on a name yet. She is so tiny, so cute and so sweet. Our kids LOVE her, they just follow her around the house all day and laugh.

She is so much fun!