Every home needs one of these

Some people rave about how they have the best kids ever, well I truly do have the best dog ever. Loving, loyal, protective and tolerant. She gets dressed up, loved on, kissed, and sometimes pulled on by our kids and barely even blinks an eye. She was our only baby for years before the kids came along and adjusted to the change seamlessly. She got used to Daniel first and then I remember saying when we brought Elizabeth home from the hospital that Providence was thinking, "so is this the last one?" She has done great though, a true blessing to our whole family. Oh and also I do have the best kids ever!

"Seeing" Santa

Please forgive that this post is so long after Christmas, I mean how embarassing, but hey, one of our neighbors still has Christmas lights on his house so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad.

I have a super cute video of Christmas morning where the kids first discover their Santa gifts, but it's too big to load onto my blog. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas, it's always been my favorite time of year even before kids, but now that we have kids, it just makes it better.

I have never been a huge Santa promoter with my kids, I don't want them to be all about Santa and the gifts and forget the real and only reason we celebrate, the birth of our wonderful Saviour. Anyway, we decided to check out Bass Pro's Christmas setup this year, it was pretty impressive and they had a Santa there, a Santa with a really long line I had zero desire to stand in. We had told the kids on the way that we were going to see Santa, we never promised them a seat on his lap, so they weren't disappointed when we "saw" Santa from afar. This was my idea of "seeing Santa."

But Chris really wanted them to have a traditional Santa experience so we took them to the mall by our house, Chris went early to save a spot in line, so when we got there we only had to wait a few minutes. The kids were very excited and loved sitting with Santa, they didn't talk to him or tell him what they wanted for Christmas, but it was an improvement over the last two years when they wouldn't even sit with him. It was a great experience and I am so glad we did it!

Elizabeth was so enchanted by her Santa experience that she created her own at home. Love how she put dolly and Mickey on Santa's knees and snowman and Jessie were able to join the party too. I mean look how happy Jessie is to be on Santa's lap! I guess maybe Santa is not so bad after all...

Master Mixer

With all of our recent snow and subzero temps, the kids and I stayed inside doing quite a bit of baking. After three batches of chocolate chip cookies in the last week, they are pretty much pros, especially Daniel who as you can see is a master mixer, except of course when it comes to figuring out how to turn the darn thing off!

I should mention that Elizabeth is not a fan of the mixer, I don't think she likes that it shakes her whole body. But Daniel in typical boy fashion, loves anything electronic!

Peanut Butter Playdough

I try to get the kids involved in the kitchen as much as possible, hey, anything to make my job easier. They both love to be involved in anything I am doing anyway, especially Daniel who insists on pulling his stepstool up to the counter even when I am making something as simple as a PB&J. So when I decided to make peanut butter playdough one day, I let them do all the work. They loved it! Doing the work and the peanut butter playdough, let me tell ya - it was yummy! There was a little, no, alot of eating going on, but that's what it was for, right?

Bedtime

We are still having some bedtime issues around here, Elizabeth is getting a lot better, she usually goes right to sleep even sometimes before I have turned out the light. She has to have her whole "family" in her bed which consists of Santa, Woody, Buzz, Jesse, baby doll, bunny, Mickey and probably a few more I can't remember. She is back in a Pull Up b/c I realized she just wasn't ready to stay dry all night, we will try again in a few months. D on the other hand has done great staying dry, he gets up by himself at night and goes in his potty, so proud of him! But getting him to stay in bed at bedtime is such a challenge, it's the same thing night after night after night. I mean really, when will this end? He is obviously a night owl like his daddy, I can live with that. But the constant coming out of his room not wanting to miss a single thing going on out here drives me nuts! I mean the kid even comes down the stairs and tries to help me do laundry when he is supposed to be in bed. I don't need your help, go to sleep already! I am trying REALLY hard to be patient and realize he's 3 years old, this is normal, he is normal - thank God - but really, when will this end?