WII Fest

John marries Lynnette and his birthday changes to November 29. How sweet it is to be married to me and get yourself a WII! The kids and I got John a wii for his birthday which is actually December 1 but I convinced him that he would be at work all day Monday and the kids were so excited to be with him and make birthday breakfast and have brownies, (John doesn't like cake, silly boy) and he agreed. Ella is back to napping everyday so she got to stay up late and bowl, play tennis and box a little with Daddy. Very fun. I beat John in bowling, which is great because it wouldn't happen in real life. So I am hooked. Now I need a wii fit. Santa???

We went from warm Thanksgiving to cold put your lights up Christmas. Here the kids are watching John on the roof light the place up. Tonight we went out to dinner with our friends and when we came home it was dark and the lights were on. The kids starting clapping for John and Jack says "You did a great job Daddy" CUTE!

Fancy Nancy

We went to Katie's FANCY NANCY birthday party. The kids liked the dress up. Here they are in their glory!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving. We are fortunate enough to celebrate this holiday Canadian and American style. We seem to have more Canadians than Americans always and this year we brought in the Australians to spice it up. I am so thankful for my friends who fill in the family gap. I am so grateful for my kids and John who are just amazing and make me laugh everyday.

John and I were doing our best to get ready and we had 3 fantastic little helpers but we thought it might get done a little faster if they had a little show. Well in the end that was not the case, the show was 20 minutes, it took me 5 to make their fort, then I had to referee who was sleeping in whose house, then the blankets fell, and well they needed a snack. SOOOOO I didn't really save myself anytime, but I did get a cute picture and they had fun in their homes! Ella keeps asking Jack to play neighbors now.

We moved the house around a bit to accommodate 18 people, the kids thought a magic carpet ride would be fun so John gave them a couple spins!

Ella and Jack made chocolate chip cookies for the kids. They were very big helpers... They helped make 40+ cookies and eat them too. Within minutes it seemed, 9 kids had devoured them.
Ella was pretty excited that there were place cards for the adults and now she wants a set for her and her friends. Maybe Santa will grant her wish or grandma???
Good thing it was hot on Thanksgiving, Ella chose a summer dress. She looks beautiful as always. She was so excited about Thanksgiving, I said its so much work and we don't have any extended family, but in the end it was so worth it, the kids loved it and Ella planned all day, she set the kids table 5 times! She wanted everything perfect.

The kids played dress up. Christopher followed Michelle around most of the night. She was a great sport about playing with him.

Thanksgiving School Feast

I have 2 turkeys and a pilgrim. They had so much fun at their school feast and I got a hot deal at Pottery Barn kids. They had their thanksgiving items on 50% so they scored some plates and utensils. Well lets just say - they were excited. Kids are so easy to please!

This is Christopher before I changed him into shorts and the bottom is him much happier in shorts.

Mental Health Day

Here are some pictures of Ella from her Mental Health day last week. She had a lot of fun and I enjoyed being with her - just the girls!

Today I had my nuclear medicine so I am having fun saying that I am radioactive. I go back tomorrow to do it again. Fun stuff!

Greek Festival

We took the kids to the Greek Festival last week and here are some photos. You have to imagine all the dancing they did. They had so much fun and we ate great food... SUCCESS!

HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY ELLA!

Today Ella was most pleasantly surprised when she woke up and we sang Happy Half Birthday to you.... She is 4 and a half today. I can't believe it. Well we made a big deal about it and called some friends to go celebrate. She wanted donuts so off we went and then to the park. We had balloons and lots of fun. She got herself all dressed up and told everyone about her half birthday. I am so glad we made the effort to notice this important day for her, she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cute kids...

Owen thought he was being funny putting balloons in his coat, well two can play that game... It looked better on him though, me pregnant YIKES!

Christopher

Christopher is very opinionated on his wardrobe, this was this mornings pick. He is our fashion guru!

Wish List

Ella asked me today what was on my list to send to Santa, I said oh that's a great question. HMMMMMM... so I think for a minute and say well I don't want the same thing I got for my birthday... A HURRICANE. Nope won't do, so i say well maybe i want new carpet. Ella looks at me in utter horror and says Mommy, Santa does not bring furniture. He only brings us toys and jewelery. Amen sister! Tell you father about TIFFANYS!

Today we had Tyler and Ryan over. Ella had so much fun and was completely worn out and at 5.45 pm was sound asleep on the couch.
Here is a picture of the two cuties!

Jack told my mom today that he wanted to go to her house in CANADA - he said it plain as day with no coaxing. My mom was quite pleased and said Why Jack, knowing that her darling grandson would say to see you Grandma, well not exactly - she asked him why and he said "To see a MOOSE. Nice one Jack.


On another note, I am reading Freakonomics. Quite an interesting read!

Its been a crazy couple of days, friends have been getting new jobs and hoping to get new jobs, slashing spending because of our most tumultuous economy and Ella is worried about her letters not being quite perfect so tomorrow its a MENTAL HEALTH DAY. Ella is not going to school and we are going to IHOP for breakfast (her choice) and to the bookstore and build a bear etc. We are both so excited. GIRL TIME.

SLEEP OVER

John has stated said that when he's away he's pretty sure the kids will end up in Mommy's bed. It's a pretty sure bet. I am the softy for letting the kids come into bed with us. I often remark on how the kids never go to his side and they never climb into the middle because if Daddy catches them he puts them back to their beds. I help hide them out on my side. Well tonight they are all 3 in my bed. When I tell John, he says oh you'll get some good sleep tonight (sarcastically) well actually I will since I am not dumb and I plan to sleep in Ella's room!!!

I mean honestly exactly where would I sleep?

ALMOST

In our house we seem to deal mostly in the ALMOST... Everyday Ella inquires about our trip to Disney, when is our second Thanksgiving, who can come to play, is it Christmas and when will she be able to drive... I feel like most of my answers are "its almost time to go, it''s almost Christmas, and no you can't drive. etc... WELL, today I decided the kids needed to have a bit of Christmas. Ella has been scouring magazines cutting out anything that resembles a toy and making a list for Santa and me! We spent over 2 hours in Target yesterday. I have no idea how that was actually possible but we did it. So tonight, I got them in their pj's and Christmas sheets spread, filled their bowls with popcorn and turned on the POLAR EXPRESS. We are taking the kids on the Polar Express, put on by the Texas State Railway and oh I am excited, I have been hunting for family christmas pajamas so we all match... John thinks its a bit dorky. TOO BAD BABE, he asked me what shoes he would wear and I said, oh i got all of us UGG boots. He didn't believe me but I am so finding us pjs, and tennis shoes are appropriate. WELL lets just say that we no longer live in the ALMOST, the Christmas season has arrived, I can barely stand it, I am reading to climb on the roof and light this place up!!! But John doesn't appear to be on the bandwagon so for now its hum drum boring!!!

Our new Christmas sheets. Ella had them last year but we had to go up in size and everyone got some, even me. They make King sized Christmas sheets. Greatest thing ever. Currently on sale at your local Target....

Ella and Christopher are nail biters and surprisingly Christopher was afraid of scenes from the movie, I would have thought it was Jack but he loved every minute of it.

Here's John giving Christopher (in his CLEAN, right out of the dryer tractor shorts)a little comfort. He started dancing at the end. We fast forwarded quite a bit because it is pretty long and I do agree that their are some scary parts for 2 years olds..

HUGS

Ella and "the brothers" (thats what she calls them) love to hug and dance and run around the house holding onto each other like choo choo, however not always do those brother want to be hugged. Here is one of those moments!

Here is Christopher asking to be excused from dinner, he is also saying that he is done his brownie. The dog got it in the end... Lucky Sam. Ella talked like a champ early as girls do apparently and Jack speaks really well HOARSE but well and then we have sweet Christopher who will get there - he spends so much energy on his expressions and venting his frustrations that he has allowed the language development to take a back seat!!!

Hairbows

Alexia, Cara and I decided to make the girls hairbows since they are adorable and a little bit addictive to make - here is a sampling of our goods, the last one with the blue polka dots and butterfly is my favorite, also the more difficult to make. I just have to say that Ella looked so CUTE with her pigtails adorned in the green with pink polka dots today.