Santa Rocks. . .

but not as much as Grandmas! Well, I should say that since the kids get so much from both Grandmas, Santa doesn't have to rock as hard, which is nice for Santa! Santa delivered a ride-on car for Ellie (very cute and purple, I might add!), a pink Big Wheel for Chloe, and a classic Big Wheel for Hayden. Hayden will probably outgrow his in a few months, but he has fun riding it now. Of course, it was raining all Christmas Day, and in the 40s (yes, I said 40s!!) yesterday and today, so they haven't had much fun riding their new toys yet. That's okay, of course, because both Grandmas followed through in a big way. We have babies and cradles and cribs and games and movies and Groovy Girls and Star Wars toys and puzzles, and the kids are having fun. Oh, and we can't forget Hayden's new obsession- the Wii. Grandma and Grandpa gave one to our family for Christmas and Hayden is in heaven. We also got the Wii fit, which looks really fun as well. So, thank you Santa, thank you Nana and Papa, and thank you Granmda and Grandpa. Our kids had a magical, fun, exciting and entertaining Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a very Merry Chrsitmas! Here are a few pictures of the kids on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at Grandma's. The cousins had a good time, as always, and managed to make a lot of noise and open a LOT of presents!

Men in the Kitchen

I am taking a break of my usual adorable kid photos to brag a bit about the men in my kitchen. My esteemed father-in-law, Steve, spent yesterday afternoon making his DE-LIC-IOUS chocolate cookies and vanilla pretzels. They are the only Christmas cookies I ever need. To top it off, AC decides to cook the turkey we had in our freezer, with homemade sausage stuffing. All I had to do was whip up some mashed potatoes, and then our feast was ready. Anyone jealous yet?

I must say I am a lucky, lucky girl.

My Princess

I know what you all are saying . . . "We know, we know, Erin, the kids had fun at Disneyland! Can you move on already???" I just had to include these last few pictures of Chloe and the Princesses. I never thought I'd encourage the whole "pictures and autographs with the characters" thing, but if Chloe wants to talk to someone, I'm all for it! So when she decided that a 25 minute wait to meet 3 princesses was worth, then buy gum, so did I. The picture with Jasmine didn't turn out, so here are Cinderella and Snow White.

She also waited in a much shorter line to meet Minnie and Goofy. Chloe LOVES Minnie Mouse, and spent a lot of time in her house in toontown. She was very happy to meet her in person, but she was very wary of Goofy.

Okay, that's it for the Disneyland pictures, I promise. We have a few busy days here, but I'll be back soon . . . be prepared for the onslaught of Christmas pictures!

My Little Padawan

Hayden's favorite thing at Disneyland was probably the Jedi Knight Training. At first AC said no, we weren't going to wait to be a part of it, but we watched one show and Hayden was hooked. We then waited 30 minutes saving our spots right in the front. They told us that random kids would be chosen from the crowd, and the Jedi Master picked the most energetic. Hayden was pretty nervous that he wouldn't get chosen! (And I was nervous that we would have to wait around again until he was chosen!!!) However, when the Master Jedi came out and asked for volunteers, Hayden was chosen first and was the first one on the stage! He got to fight Darth Vader (although Hayden kept trying to sneak in the Darth Maul line) and earned a certificate showing that he was now a Padawan training to be a Jedi. It is a very neat show, and Hayden LOVED it!

The girls were pretty impressed with Hayden's abilities, and slightly scared of Darth Maul and Darth Vader. I was impressed with Disneyland for putting on such a neat program that the kids loved. Oh, and of course . . .

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU . . . ALWAYS.

( I love Star Wars, too!!!)

The Mouse is In the House!!

We had a BLAST at Disneyland! Grandma kept Ellie for us, which I felt guilty about until the joy of not worrying about naps, or weird food, or just a strong-willed 2 year old dictating our every move became evident. Ellie had fun with Grandma (and maybe Grandpa, but she won't admit it) and AC and I had so much fun with Hayden and Chloe. They were the perfect children- no pouting, crying, or fighting. (well, we had a few minor issues with Hayden and his toy sword I stupidly let him buy, but very minor.) Chloe was a trooper and went on almost every ride that she could, even though she was a bit scared. She ended up liking them all except Space Mountain. She LOVED Pirates this time (last time, when she was almost 3, she covered her eyes the whole time and repeated "I no LIKE Pirates! I no LIKE pirates!" for the next 3 days. ) She even bravely went on Splash Mountain, with her little hands gripping mine in a death grip, but ending up with a huge smile.
I was mostly suprised by her willlingness to meet some of the characters and have her picture taken. Those of you who know Chloe know that her shyness is legendary. Not only did she get her picture taken, it was her idea. She even wanted to get an autograph book, which I promised her for next time. She never ceases to amaze me.

Hayden went on every ride in Disneyland, and any that he could in California Adventure. That boy likes his roller coasters. He even went on the Tower of Terror! That one he kept saying was okay, it wasn't scary or anything, but VERY quickly would say NO! when asked if he wanted to ride it again. AC said Hayden's face was a bit white on that one!

All in all, we had a great time. We even had leftover points from our credit card so a few lunches were paid for, which made AC very happy. He would also make us all eat a huge breakfast at the hotel (Residence Inns are great!) and then he'd stuff his pockets and my purse with bagels and fruit. There is a thin line between "Frugal" and "Cheapskate" and AC has been skating dangerously close to the "cheapskate" side lately, but I keep pulling him back. To see the crowds at Disneyland, you would never know that we are in a deep recession.

Disneyland lived up to its "Happiest Place on Earth" moniker, even though I had a castmember roll her eyes at me. I've never seen a grumpy cast member before, and we actually ran into a few on this trip. But it was totally spotless as always, which I love.

Disneyland, we'll be back in two years, with Ellie in tow!

Ooohhh, that's cold!!

We just got back from our fabulous trip to Disneyland. More pictures of that to follow. We stayed in Carlsbad on Sunday and Monday night first, and so of course went to the beach on Monday. Unlike my sister-in-law, (see blog entitled "Exhausted x3") I know that my kids, Hayden especially, cannot be near the ocean without becoming intimately involved with water. I warned him that he would be cold if he got wet, and he assured me that he would only play in the sand. Knowing better, I brought extra clothes and dry towels for all.
Well, there he was playing in the sand, la-di-da-di-da, hardly noticing that the waves were getting closer and closer . . . when he stops and looks and says, "Uh-oh! Its a big one!!"

And he was right!

He said it was pretty darn cold, but he didn't mind. We stayed for another 30 minutes or so, and he didn't complain once. The girls only got wet from the sand, so they weren't too bad. I, the big wimp that I am, was hiding out in the car while AC and the kids picked up rocks and such, then we all went home to a warm shower and lunch. Frankly, I prefer the beach in August, but Hayden will take the beach any time, any day, any weather.

Birthday Boy!!!

Billy turned 3 last weekend and celebrated with a rowdy, kid filled party. Okay, all of the kids were his cousins, but that still makes for a full house. Hayden figured out that right now the cousins (including Megan's kids) are stair steps in ages- We have a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8 year old! Oh- a 15 year old, too! Happy Birthday Billy, we love you and your smiling face!

Christmas Card Outtakes

Here are just a couple of the pictures that did NOT make it onto the Christmas Card this year. I was truly tempted to put the one of Ellie picking her nose, but not everyone shares my sense of humor.

Harry Monster and Pink Kitty

While at my parents' house the other night (see previous post) my mom handed me a box with a few of my old things in it. I found my old bestest friends, Harry Monster and Pink Kitty. As frightening as they look now, they were my pals from around 3- 6 years of age. I used to sleep with them and brush their very matted and not brushable fur, and I distinctly remember Harry Monster watching Sesame Street with me on a daily basis, hence his creative name. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these two, but I can't just throw them away. And I have a feeling that in about 30 years I'll be giving Hayden a scraggly Mr. Bear, Chloe a decrepit Lambie, and Ellie an entire box of Mo-Mos. I never loved these two as much as my kids love their lovies, but I understand how they feel, and they can drag Mr. Bear, Lambie and MoMo everywhere they go for as long as they like. And Mommy will keep them forever.

World's Worst Auntie!

Okay, so we were at my parents' house the other night for dinner with the rest of the family for no reason other than Bill and Bette were actually in town. I was in the front driveway chatting with Babs and Natalie and her kids (mine weren't there yet) when sweet Abi heads toward the large fountain. "She's going to get her hands wet" was the general consensus from the adults as we watched her progress. Well, seeing that Abi has just learned to walk, her balance isn't quite 100% yet, and when she leaned in to put her hands in the fountain, she did a header and her whole little self plunged in. Natalie, being the super mom that she is, rushed over and pulled her out. Me, being the worst auntie ever, rushed to my bag and pulled my camera out. I SWEAR that if there hadn't been two other capable adults nearby, I would have gone for the baby first. But, seeing that all's well that ends well, I got a great picture of a soaking and (rare) crying Abi- and she's wearing the perfect shirt. Well, she was scared and cried for about 1 minute (that's a lOOOOONG cry for Abi) then got her shoes and was happy again. I think we have a Carrie Bradshaw in the making- shoes make her very happy. I love you Abi, and I love this picture!

Chloe's last game

Saturday was Chloe's last soccer game of the season. The last 10 minutes of the second game, AC parked Chloe RIGHT in front of the goal, and our 2 good players tried and tried and tried to help Chloe score a goal. They would kick the ball directly to her, and she would turn around, get ready to kick . . . and someone else would kick it away. So sad. Even all of the parents were cheering, "Get it Chloe! Score a goal, Chloe! There it is Chloe! Ahhhh nooo . . .". It was quite funny. I think the OTHER team's parents might have been cheering as well. Drew and Connor, Chloe's teammates, were so awesome- really good sports. They could have each scored about 10 times, but tried to get it to Chloe instead. Alas, she didn't score, but she was VERY excited about how close she came to a goal. Maybe next year!

Papa's Girls

ACs parents were here for a visit last week. The kids had a blast, and I was the only lady on the block to have my very own "Manny". He played with the kids, took Hayden to the bus stop every morning, ate breakfast with the kids and even got them up in the morning and let me sleep in. By the time they left I was a lazy mom- it was quite the shock to my system to get up with the kids in the morning after they left! Good thing Nana and Papa will be back in a few weeks, so I can relax a bit around here!

Looking Good, Hollywood!

Ellie was ust too cute in her shades and "necklates" (bracelets, of course) that we had to have a mini-photo shoot. Can you believe this sweet face EVER gives me trouble??

Green Goblins

Some pictures from Hayden's game today. The Goblins are pretty fun to watch, and not because they are scoring a lot of goals (because they are not!!) Hayden loves defense, and will get in there and stop just about anybody. Today was also the day he had his quarter in the goal- and he did not like it. One thing I know, he sure is the best lookin' Green Goblin out there!

The Halloween Letdown

Our sad little Jack 'o Lanterns on halloween morning. Due to the heatwave (mid-90s all week) our little pumpkins sagged from smiles to grimaces in about 2 days. Throw some mold and icky goo, and we had a lovely little display. We also have sad Ellie at Hayden's school halloween party. I guess she was done with all the merrymaking, and just wanted her nap. She did great at the party, though, and even joined in the dancing with her very special "Bottom Dance". She of course Yelled out "BOTTOM DANCE!!" and you can imagine how excited the 1st graders were to hear that.

BOO!!!!

Our little munchkins dressed and ready to go! Hayden was a football player, complete with balloon shoulder pads, Chloe was a princess, and Ellie was Tinker Bell for the 2nd year running. Her Tinker Bell costume is getting little bit on the small side. We went to Auntie Natalie and Uncle Travis's house for Trick or Treating, followed by a party. We had a great time, got a load of candy, and tons of Natalie's WONDERFUL food. Thanks for having us! Billy was an awesome Buzz lightyear, Emi was a gorgeous princess, and Abi the cutest little fairy ever.

Ellie giving Abi a Fairy Kiss.

It's Halloween!!!

We carved our pumpkins last night. I say "we" but I mean "AC". I have no carving skills, and Hayden isn't quite big enough for a knife yet. He and Chloe love getting the guts out, but Ellie is 100% against pumpkin goo.

I had good intentions of taking the kids to a pumpkin patch, but it didn't happen. They had to settle instead of a fun-filled trip to the Home Depot. Hey, a pumpkin is a pumpkin, right?

Looking forward to Trick or Treats!