Birthday Wishes

Last year when we asked Tate what he wanted for his (5th) birthday, he said, "An American Express card". This year I asked him what he wanted, "An XBox 360". I had no idea he even knew what that was! So I said, "Tate, what is that?" He said, "I don't know but Michael (his friend from school) has one and he says it is cool."

Santa

Marissa told Kevin in a very endearing way and she meant this as a total compliment, "Daddy, I love you. Almost as much as Santa."

An early Christmas package!

Drums

If you thought spoons and pots were for toddlers you were wrong. This has become a new old favorite. The only problem is we are much stronger than we were at age 2 and we have broken 2 of Mom's spoons!

Christmas Cards

If you are wondering why your stamp was in the middle of the page or your address was a little crooked, I had lots of help this year with assembling the Christmas cards. We had tons of fun!

My amazing Christmas lights!

Okay- so I had a little help with the evergreen, but all the rest of the lights I succeeded in putting up myself.

3's

Tate passed his 3's today!!! He takes a "Math Minutes" test about every day and has to add 3's to other numbers 25 times in 1 minute in writing. He passed today so now he is on 4's.

Two hundred nineteen

The number of times Garett can jump up and down without stopping.

Happy Juice

Over Thanksgiving we were taking a walk and Marissa was ahead of us on her bike. A car came around the curve and she happened to be in the middle of the street! I screamed "Marissa" and we all started running toward her. She, fortunately, got over in time. When we got up to her she had tears in her eyes. We talked to her for a bit about I screamed at her and how important it was that she keep herself to the side of the street. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and told her dad not to worry, she was just wiping away the juice. So this morning at breakfast I look over at her and see that she has tears in her eyes and asked her about it. She said it was "happy juice" this time.

Tate loves the Rockets

Tricks from the basement

The haircut

Nice hairdo, huh? Garett helped by cutting her hair on top.

Garett says that if we are tired of calling him "Bomb" it would be okay if we called him "Arrow".

Tate's Santas

O Christmas Tree!!!

Fondue Night

If you're wondering what the weather is- we have one in a snowsuit and 2 in underwear- we celebrate all seasons and weather in our home!

Cut-Your-Own-Christmas-Tree

Here we are trudging through the snow to chop down our own Christmas tree. Good thing we had our gun to shoot down anything that got in our way of our all important mission!

Garett's own creation- his hairdo

Garett's name change

Garett told me while we were driving that he wanted me to know that he would prefer if I did not call him Garett anymore. He would rather me call him "Bomb". He said he realized we could not call him that on an airplane so when we were on the airplane, we could call him "Kilroy". But most importantly, no matter what we called him- to not ever call him "Baby" but if I really wanted, I could call him "Pumpkin Pie". These were his words exactly!

Garett's bath

Garett decided to go the unconventional route with his bath- he hopped in the sink!!! When the boys had come in from playing outside their feet were so cold that we had soaked them in the sink in lukewarm water. We turned around and Garett had gone al natural. Bathing in the kitchen sink is not just for babies I guess- it can be a bathing alternative for 4 year olds!

My new chairs

I found these darling chairs at a shop in McHenry but there was one problem- they were RED VELVET. So, with a lot of coaching and help from Linda (she basically did one and then I did the 2nd one) I've got 2 really cute chairs for my living room! I am going to make a little lumbar pillow to sit in the middle of each chair with a stripe pattern and put ball fringe around it.

Tate lost a tooth!!!

Tate lost his 3rd tooth today!!! He was working on a popsicle and then came in to show me that his tooth was bloody. Sure enough, a little tug took the tooth right off. He wrote a note to the tooth fairy on "Tooth Lane" and put his tooth in an envelope to make sure it didn't get lost.

Marissa swining

Marissa swinging in our front yard. November has been amazingly warm. It snowed on Ocotber 6th and we thought we were doomed! Yet, the weather over this Thanksgiving week has been in the 60s!!! We have taken full advantage of playing in the yard today.

Football princess

More football pictures

The big football game

Puppet show at the library

Marissa making rolls

Garett making rolls

Rolls

Tate has mastered the art of making homemade crescent rolls. This is a picture of him doing it. He took the dough, made a ball, rolled it out, cut it into pie pieces and rolled it. They were yummy!

Step stool

Marissa gains access via her best friend: the step stool.

Too much work

When Garett went to take a bath last night I realized that he only had pants on, not underwear and pants. I asked him why he didn't have underwear on. He said because it was too much work to have 2 things on to pull up and down all day. His life was WAY simpler if he just had pants on.

Marissa's nightie

Marissa in her new ice cream nightie.

Breakfast Buddies

Garett can't stand to sit far away from Tate. Most mornings he pushes his chair over to sit at the very edge of Tate's seat at breakfast.

Leaves

Marissa was a BIG help raking the leaves and pushing the wheelbarrow!

Upcouraging

The kids were playing in their room. Marissa was apparently doing something less than perfect because Garett was on her case about it. We hear Tate telling Garett, "Garett- don't downcourage her, upcourage her."

Our fears

The YMCA here has a rock wall that Tate and Garett have been dying to do. When we joined the Y, they said that there was no age restriction on climbing. So, we went during one of their Friday night sessions when it was open and saw a big sign that said, "Age 5 and up only". Garett was devastated. He tried not to cry, but he just couldn't help it. I promised I would ask the guy in charge if he would let a 4 1/2 yr old do it. I did ask the guy and he said they had had some bad experiences w/ kids under 5 doing it- mostly getting to the top and being too afraid to come down. I went back and told Garett all this. He said, "Mom, I am afraid of alive scorpions and volcanoes. But rock walls- I am not afraid of." Nonetheless, we had to follow the rule and sit this one out.

Gross

We had Cincinnati style spaghetti tonight for dinner. After a few bites, Tate says, "Mom, I don't know which is grosser- what you packed me for lunch or dinner." He followed that up by writing me a note so I would remember, "Tate does not like Cincinati Chili".

The purse

I told Marissa to put her candy away after she had looked at and inspected every single last piece of candy in her bag. She comes back a few minutes later with the bag over her shoulder. I said, "Marissa, did I just tell you to put your candy away? "Mom" she said, "This is just my purse." :)

The Cowgirl

This cowgirl doesn't "horse" around when it comes to her lollipops!

Samurai

Beware of the Samurai- he is an honorable warrior- he considers a fight for candy a worthy cause!

Spiderman

Spiderman caught a lot of loot in his webbing!

Halloween pics

We had our new neighbors over for Spaghetti on Halloween night. This is a picture of all of them. Garett, Zack, Tate, Marissa and Caroline.

Halloween Party at School

Parents AND siblings were invited to the Halloween party at Tate's school-very cool! ( in Connecticut only a few parents were allowed to go into the classroom at a time and never other siblings.) So, we showed up and they didn't turn us away. This is a picture of Tate, Garett and Marissa in Tate's classroom.

PJ Day for Tate

Tate got to go to school in PJ's for Red Ribbon Week. He was not so sure at first, but then he wanted to be a joiner- so we put him on the bus with pajamas on. Kevin's biggest concern? That I had the date right. He could see Tate being the only one going to school in pajamas. He also required the pajamas have no built-in slippers.

All tied up

Tate learned how to tie his shoelaces today!!! After much effort, he could not be prouder of himself.

"Coming"

Kevin said he was getting ready for work upstairs in the bathroom and Tate was talking to him. I was downstairs and called for Tate to come down and eat breakfast. Kevin said that Tate walked to the bannister, called down to me "Coming, Mom" and then mosied back to Kevin and resumed his conversation. Kevin said, "Tate, why did you tell Mom you were coming and then come back in here when she is expecting you?" Tate said, "Don't worry, Dad. She does the same thing all the time."

Oh the things you find to play with...

Marissa's 1st dentist appointment

Marissa was a fabulous patient at her dentist's office. Her teeth were very healthy. The doctor very gently encouraged her to let mommy help her brush. She even got the woven fabric type dental floss which is really cool!

Stripes and flowers

Marissa picked out her clothes this morning. She was proud of herself for how much they matched!!!

Posing for the camara

Garett and Mommy's date project

Garett and I carved this pumpkin today for our Mommy & Garett date. Oh by the way, Garett told me today that he didn't want to hurt my feelings but Annie (from Little Einsteins) had a nicer singing voice than me. :)

Garett's head

Garett jumped from a counter onto a mat on Saturday night. Unfortunately, he missed. He landed on a thin carpet which lay over the hard concrete floor in the basement. Of course, Sunday was the Primary Program.

Monday night he jumps from the arm of the sofa onto the seat cushions on the sofa. Well, he missed again. He landed on the hardwood floor- face first. So, in the exact same spot he hit his head again. After much icing and heating and ibuprofin, he is a various assortment of yellow and purple. We are getting quite the looks when we go out. The bruise travelled down under his eyes and the sides of the bridge of his nose. It looks like he got caught on the wrong side of the range at the driving range.