Buy One Get Two Free!: February 2018

I'll admit this Christmas was the best so far. We celebrated Christmas Eve at Vova and Vovo's house, and spent the day at Auntie Cathy's with my family. The kids were really into it. Making cookies for Santa, listening for reindeer, decorating, behaving so the Elf at school gave a good report and they stayed on the nice list. The whole shebang this year.

We got to meet Santa. A friend of Grammie's invited us over to their house, and what do you know? Santa was there! He even has a little workshop where the elves work to make the toys! How exciting!

We are big believers in a modest Christmas. The kids get 3 presents from us, and a stocking full of little stuff. This year we had to add 3 presents from Santa, so we kept them small and activity based, like coloring books and puzzles. We want the kids to enjoy opening each gift instead of a train of gifts they rip through to see what's next. The big hits this year were the home depot tool sets, came with a blower, a weed wacker, a chain saw, aprons and goggles. Within hours the sentence 'Safety first!' became the most repeated sentence of the month. The other winners were the dress up costumes. We had a construction man, a fireman, and a doctor already. We got them a train conductor, a chef, and an astronaut. Elsie also got Moana and a cowgirl outfit from her aunt, so everyday is dress up day! They also got legos from Auntie Cathy, and I was worried that was a little more advanced than we were. But low and behold Danny sits there for HOURS taking them apart and putting them back together. They have been a big hit. Santa brought us some playdoh tools, and that is another fun activity they do for hours. It's nice to see their creativity blossom while they play with these.

As awesome as it is the kids are old enough to understand Santa and all the fun stuff this year brings, there was some sadness this December. We sold our cribs. The kids have been in twin beds since April, and I finally got around to selling our set. It was bittersweet. I was pretty sad seeing it carried out of the house.

We had a great day going to Build-A-Bear with Uncle Pete, Auntie Char, Lana, and Joey using our gift cards. Sammy made 'Sparky' the firefighter bear, Danny made 'Dan the Man Spiderman' and Elsie made 'Poppy' from Trolls.

The kids are really loving preschool, and it shows. Elsie wrote her name the other day on the placemat while we were out for Grammie's birthday dinner. She didn't show a lot of interest in crayons or pencils until November, and all of a sudden all she wants to do all day is color and write on paper with pencils. I've seen her practicing shapes, and make the E for her name a few times, but I was stunned when she told me to look and there was her whole first name. You go girl. Sam has also made great strides. He finished last year at preschool with only 6 letters of recognition and not a lot of interest, and now he not only knows the whole alphabet, he sees a letter, says the letter and tells me a bunch of words that start with that letter. Danny keeps plowing along. He spells words and then sounds them out now. I think he'll be an early reader.

This past month has been filled with lots of silliness. Weird sounds and words, lots of goofy moves and spinning around. Walking backwards, laughing and being goofy about absolutely everything. I tell you, I love to see my kids laugh and play, but I'll be glad when it's not all theater to get a reaction from their siblings and anyone else in the room. It didn't help there was a blizzard followed by a super cold streak and the kids were stuck inside for days. We tried to be creative, we had a picnic, and went outside to the RV and watched movies to break things up.

We finally got past our Thanksgiving sickness. It lingered into the 2nd week of December but finally disappeared. Made it through this round of sickness without a hospital stay this year, so hallelujah to that. Winter is not over, but we have been doing lots of smoothies to keep our immune system up, taking vitamins, and extra naps. Come on March!

Riding in the car has become very informative lately. The entire car ride now consists of 3 toddlers rattling off every place we've ever been and what street we took to get there. Oh Mommy! This is the way to the dentist. Mommy- we went down that street to go the bakery. Hey Mommy look! That is the way we go to school. Repeat times 1000 or until we reach our destination, whichever is longer. And it is amazing how much they sponge up in the backseat. A few times they've mentioned street names that Miguel and I were talking about when driving. Too smart for their own good these kids.

Although we gave up naps last fall, after about a 5 month hiatus, the kids are back to napping, but only in the car. So I often say 'We're gonna go for a ride'. They know what it means because somedays I get immediate feedback of 'I DON'T WANT TO TAKE A REST MOMMY!' Followed by tears of agony, which last through the entire buckling in process and about a mile down the road until they start dropping like flies. We left preschool last week, and Elsie says to me as I put the car in drive. 'Mom, I might be a little bit tired. If you go for a ride maybe I'll probly rest' So I say Ok baby, do you want a snack first?' No response, I look back and she's out. Less than 1/4 mile from the parking lot at school. They are still sleeping well at night, usually 8pm to 7am every night. Their new morning routine is coming to snuggle Mommy when they wake up. Miguel is gone to work by then and they all crowd in with me and the dogs.

Danny's new thing is he says 'SammyElsie'. One word. Danny let's put our shoes on. Mommy, have SammyElsie go first. Danny are you going to play outside? Yea, is SammyElsie coming outside too? The other thing he's been saying is 'My Sammy'. Mommy, My Sammy doesn't want to play with me. Mommy, is My Sammy gonna come snuggle me in my bed? Sometimes when I say Sammy's name, Danny says 'My Sammy?' I'm not sure why as we have no other Sammy's we see or talk to every day, but Sammy is all his. He does not say My Elsie. He calls her 'Els' a lot. The others stick to everyone's given name, Elsie even goes as far as to call Daniel Michael when he is ignoring her. She's going to be the death of me that girl.

This blog post is late because Miguel and I are finishing the basement. We've been working most nights after the kids go to bed. It's coming along nicely and we should be done by mid-March. That is my goal. Pictures to come next blog post.

Decorating for Christmas

Should I tell him they're not real?

So excited for the lights

decorating the tree

trying to get a group shot

and the silliness

at least they are all looking in this one

so proud of her snow angel

helping Daddy shovel

they love the snow

Mommy loves long naps in the car

building on the stairs

Danny calls it going to work

We played outside on that really warm day and Danny was so upset he got his spiderman sweatshirt splattered in dirt

swimming lessons

making cookies for Santa

Mom's friend has a backyard workshop and dresses as Santa. We went to visit and the kids were super surprised they didn't even know how to react but were excited to tell Daddy they saw Santa