Girl Scout Fun

Addy had a really fun December with Girl Scouts. For one meeting we went to a church and decorated cookies to give to families along with toys. The girls had a great time decorating all of the cookies and they turned out beautifully. The very next week each girl got to decorate their own gingerbread house and they did secret sister gifts. It was a fun month for Girl Scouts and the cookie season starts next month!

Party, Party, Party

This has been a crazy month of parties! I think there have been 5 birthday parties, 3 candy parties and a sleep over! The kids made homemade hard candies, decorated gingerbread houses, went bowling, went to a parade and to Pump it Up. It has been a whirlwind of a month, but tons of fun.

 A bowling birthday party!

 The candy making party!

 Gingerbread party

 Pump It up Party

Addy before her "old fashioned" birthday party wearing a dress that was her Aunt Heather's when she was a kid. 

Field Trip Downtown!

Cameron's class went on a field trip last week and both Brian and I got to go with his class. We did lots of stuff on one trip. We started by the Space Needle and saw the Christmas Village & Train, then took the monorail downtown and enjoyed some hot chocolate in front of the big Christmas tree. Then we walked to see the Gingerbread houses. The kids enjoyed lunch at McDonald's and we finished the trip riding the Christmas Carousal. It was a lot of waiting in lines which was hard for one of us (me) but we had a great time and enjoyed the downtown holiday sites!

Gymnastics Girl

Addy has been taking gymnastics this school year and last week was her last class of this session. I got to watch this class and see all of the amazing things that she has learned this year. She has really improved and loves the class. Her favorite is the tumbling part and her least favorite is the balance beam. She has gotten really good at cartwheels, handstands and the bar.

Birthday Boy

I can't believe my baby boy is 5 years old. He was charming on day 1 and certainly hasn't changed. A few days before he turned 5 I told him that I was really going to miss 4 year old Cameron and he said, "You'll love 5 year old Cameron even more, he'll be really sweet to you." And another night he said, "I can't wait to be 5 because I'll be more confident when I'm 5, because the older you are the more confident you are, so when I'm 25 I'll be really confident." Confidence has never been a problem for this sweet, funny, smart and handsome boy. 

We followed our tradition of opening presents first thing in the morning and he got tons of cool stuff. He had already picked out some super hero pictures to redecorate his room so the theme continued. He got his favorite scones for breakfast (raspberry chocolate chip) and got to pick whatever he wanted for dinner (fettuccini alfredo with shrimp) and had a wonderful birthday! I truly can't believe how fast the last 5 years have gone.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

We had Cameron's birthday party last weekend and it was awesome! We had it at a gymnastics gym and the kids had a blast. There were lots of (not so little) brothers and big sisters. Usually it's hard to predict who can come since his birthday is so close to Christmas, but everyone we invited came. The kids were great and Cameron got tons of cool stuff and we survived another successful birthday party.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Christmas fever has hit me again and nothing makes me happier than seeing my kids get just as excited. Last weekend we put up the tree and decorations and the kids were thrilled to help out. Now they are actually old enough to actually be helpful and it's great. We have Christmas music playing every day and we even watched Home Alone. Cameron does a perfect imitation of the bathroom scene with the aftershave.
Today we set up a "Christmas Card Factory" and the kids did all of the stuffing, stamping, labeling and sealing of our Christmas cards. This morning when I said this was something that we needed to do, Cameron said,"YES! I love this day, this is my favorite day of the whole part of Christmas!" When I asked him if he liked it even more than when Santa came he enthusiastically said, "YES! I love this day when we can we start stamping the cards!" They worked really hard and we got all of the cards done.
Brian got all the outdoor lights up so I smile every time I drive home form work seeing our house lit up from the street. I can't believe it's already December, but I'm pretty excited that it is.

Icy Surprise

A couple of weekends ago, I was feeling guilty that I had been working so much and instead of spending time with the kids.  I decided to surprise them and take them to Disney on Ice. It was happening at the event center by the children's museum so I told them we were going there and then I was going to surprise them. When we got close I said we were going to make a quick stop to get Daddy tickets to a hockey game. As we were waiting for the tickets there were complaining about how long it was taking and that they just wanted to go to the museum. After I bought the tickets I surprised them and told them that we were going to see Disney on Ice. They were super excited....for about 5 minutes. 

They picked out some toys (with their own money) and we went and found our seats. About 10 minutes into the show Cameron was whining and said, "I wish we were at the children's museum instead. I can't believe you lied to me, you're a bad mommy." 

So much for my attempt to feel less guilty. 

The show was pretty amazing, the kids were pretty whiny. Between wanting more food and drink and toys and still being upset about not going to the children's museum, I think I could save a lot of money and guilt by finding a different surprise. Lesson learned by all. 

Happy Halloween!

How is November half way over and I'm just getting to the Halloween post! This year is truly flying by. The kids had a great Halloween as the super hero duo. Brian carved pumpkins with them and we did the annual trick or treating downtown. I think we broke records this year for how much candy they got and I'm so proud of them as I successfully convinced them to donate some of their candy. It was a fierce and emotional negotiation but Addy gave a ton of candy to her girl scout troop who is donating it to a cancer care group.