On the Second Visit of Christmas...

Here is Mr. Pirate Cowboy Andrew intently exploring the workings of his new fire truck. (Unfortunately, this fire truck was promptly broken-but that's kids for you!).

Here's me and Zack at our silliest!

Michael was not camera shy that night! :)

Philamena loaded up on jewelry-every little girl's dream!

So after Zack came and Jason's family left, the kids went to work at opening gifts from their uncle (in Philamena's case, gifts that he'd been storing up on since her birthday-including a purple parasol with her name handpainted on it, from Disneyland no less) and continued to play with their other new gifts. Then we had a lovely Chinese dinner, made by our in house gourmet, Jason. :) Then it was bedtime for the boys, and a salsa lesson for the ladies! We got Philamena's on video but mine were taken by my Mom, who I forgot to tell not to tip the camera on it's side during a video as it will just come out sideways. But what can you do? Zack is really tall, and I was struggling to accommodate his height when recording him teaching Philamena. It was a fun and busy night. Philamena has all the necklaces and bracelets a girl could hope for-as you will see in the pictures-and I got a chance to learn a new dance step! It was great fun! Visions of salsa dancers were what played in my head that night, and now that new step is memorized!

On the First Visit of Christmas...

On December 23rd Jason's dad Robert and his wife Pam came up with Auntie Leah to give the kids their Christmas gifts. The kids were pretty excited by the big, wrapped presents, and even Michael got the technique for opening gifts down without a hitch! There were super heroes, little people (the brand) and fairies galore! No mess marker books a new toy car garage, and even an accidental doubled gift to Philamena that will come into play in a couple of blog entries! The kids had a great time and just before dinner as my brother Zack was scooting in for his visit and Robert, Pam, and Leah were scooting out at the end of theirs, I asked Zack to take a few pictures. Take a few pictures he did! He took a random series in close succession, no one was ever exactly ready, but by odds alone we were bound to get a few good ones! the top picks are what follows! :)

Andrew Starts Potty Training!!!-Third Times A Charm!!!

On December 11th I explained to Andrew that I don't have any more babies, that I only have big kids, and that I really don't want anymore babies because you can do so. many. MORE. things with big kids than little. I told him about train trips and other adventures we could plan when everyone is potty trained. Then the next day I went at it and put him in plain unders-he doesn't need anything fancy, no more rewards until he is trained! So he's really getting what he needs to do-he even gets offended when we put him in a diaper for an occasional nap-we have to put his underwear on over the diaper and then his pants. Yay for big boys!!!!!

Andrew Starting Preschool!

After my little "conversation" with Andrew on Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to start doing preschool with him so he could see how fun it is to be a "big kid". I also want him to be prepared for kindergarten. On Monday December 1st is the day I started. I use a book called 30 Minute A Day Learning System-at least I think that's what it's called! We cut up the cover the first day to make little animal puppets that appear throughout the book to cheer him on. The pages are perforated, so I put them on the wall everyday when we finish so Daddy can see his progress when he gets home from work. So now when Michael goes down for his nap Andrew has some special big boy time. We first do his preschool lesson together and then practice writing letters, numbers, drawing, and coloring. One thing I've learned about Andrew during this process is that he is ambidextrous like I was when I was little, but his preference is his left hand. I'm going with it even though it is my personal opinion that English is easier to write with your right hand. While he does perfectly well using his right hand when he forgets to use his left, it is still uncomfortable because he does it less, and I figure it's best to make this experience as smooth as possible! :)

Jason was teasing him about being a big baby, this first week of preschool and he said, "No! I not a baby!" That is what I call progress! :) Right now we're working on abc order, number recognition, and the letters in his name. After the preschool pages are done I write the numbers or letters we are working on or his name and have him trace them with every color pen of his choice. Not only is he thrilled to have his very own special markers but he's really picking up how to write his letters and numbers-he's going to be caught up to Philamena in no time!

Thanksgiving Catch Up...

Thanksgiving was busy, busy, busy! We had Jason's family over and got to catch up with Marco a little bit before he had to go back to Japan to get ready for his tour in Iraq. That day I got sick and was ill for several weeks after. What stuck out to me the most from that day was the most unanticipated conversation of the day. When I was changing a diaper on Andrew (yes the four-year-old, sigh.) he was on one part of our L shaped couch while his cousin, baby Ayden, was sleeping on the other with Monique keeping an eye on him. When we pointed him out to Andrew as the "baby" he said, "No! He not the baby. I the baby!" Well, all my suspicions were confirmed. Andrew has purposefully dragged his feet in some areas because he doesn't much like the middle child thing. I have been trying to be extra aware of this so that he can have all the praise and encouragement he needs and deserves.

Philamena's First Right of Passage.

The day before Thanksgiving Philamena, Monique, and I took a special trip to Claire's to get Philamena's ears pierced! She was excited and also a little nervous. As we waited our turn an older man (grandfatherly in age) was getting one ear pierced, and as his wife waited she joked with us that if he could get through it without crying, she should do just fine. We had a good time laughing about that. When she was up she sat in the chair and held the "I'm getting my ears pierced and need comfort" teddy bear. I filled out the paperwork and then checked the penned dots in her ears. She was really nervous by this time, but as it happened, I had to have the gal change one of the dots no less than five times. During this time Philamena settled down quite a bit, and I was able to make sure the holes would be in the same spot on both sides. We had two ladies so that she could get pierced at the same time. She cried anyway, but after all she did have the bear to cuddle with. After a few minutes she resolved that it was worth it and only hurt a little anyway. Then we looked at all the fun jewelry and accessories in the store before picking out a headband and heading to dinner. We had a great time together-just us girls! It was really wonderful for her Meme (Monique) to share that experience with us!

Halloween Was...

On Halloween Auntie Leah drove all the way from San Fransisco and met us just in time for costuming up. Neal, Mary, Danny, and Ayden also joined us and we had the BEST time! We had a Neverland Fairies and Pirates theme for our family, and Danny was an astronaut. We went up and down our neighborhood, saw all kinds of fun costumes, got lots of candy, laughed, saw some pretty elaborate and spooky decorations, and then came back. It rained on Halloween but cleared up just in time for our little adventure, and then proceeded to rain once more just as we were finishing up! Absolutely providential! Back at our house we sampled candy, talked and joked together for a while, and then Neal and Mary had to get going to put their boys to bed. We put our boys to bed too, and then watched the Tinkerbell movie, me, Philamena, and Leah. Leah spent the night and we had a great time catching up after our "Phipher" was in bed.
All in all this was the most fun I've had on Halloween in many years! We can't wait till next year!!!