Christmas Time 2012

Decorating the Christmas tree this year was fun.  The kids got into it and weren't trying to destroy the ornaments or the triee this time.

 

They even sat for a picture together that is adorable.

We had our Ward Christmas Party and the kids got their picture taken with Santa!  I love this picture of Emeree so focused on coloring.

 

 

Emeree's 3rd Birthday Party

Emeree has been into Hello Kitty for a while, so I decided that would be a good theme for her birthday party.  Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to compile several great ideas from those around the blogosphere.

She had a great time and I actually had fun making all the decorations (except the tissue paper flowers - those took too long to make)

 

 

 

Becky made Emeree a Hello Kitty hat - my favorite hat ever!  She looks adorable in it and it fit perfectly with the theme.  My favorite decoration was "pin the bow on Hello Kitty"  It was fun to make, even though it didn't get played with much - probably because I had it in the hallway since there was no where else to put it.

Halloween Costumes

This year, the costumes were a combined effort of Me, Michael, and my Mom.  Ethan's didn't involve any sewing whatsoever, but all that spray painting was frustrating.  He turned out awesome.  So, without further adieu...

One Green Plastic Army Man

and One Pretty Peacock

Emeree kept strutting around sticking out her chest and clasping her hands together.  And of course, Nathan had to point out that technically, she was dressed as a male peacock.

Michael made the bazooka out of wood and pvc pipes.  It turned out cool, but Ethan didn't want to carry it around so it stayed in the car when we trick-or-treated.  We had 3 different events the week of Halloween - trunk-or-treat, a carnival, and Halloween.  So we tried 3 options for Ethan's face...a green mask, face paint, and then finally...nothing.   My vision was to have his face and hands green like the clothes so that he was all one uniform color to look like a plastic toy.

Pumpkin Patch '12

We usually go to the pumpkin patch with my in-laws.  But they were in Italy, so we had to go alone...sniff, sniff.  Anyway, so that meant we had to take our family picture as 2 pics and we weren't there as long without grandparents to help follow the kids around.  But we did manage to get a few great pictures of the kids.

 It was really calm and there weren't a lot of people there that day.  It was supposed to rain, but ended up getting really sunny about 5 minutes after getting out of the car.  So that was nice to not have a lot of people around in the background of all the pictures.

 Ethan found a really warty-bumpy pumpkin.

Emeree seemed like she was having a conversation with the chickens.

 Water duckie races - Ethan had fun with that.

Pre-School Field Trip

Ethan had his first field trip today for pre-school.  I tagged along as a working parent, but most parents tend to stay for the whole field trip anyway since it's only about an hour long as opposed to school that is 2 hours each day.  Siblings couldn't come, but that was kinda nice to have some Mommy & Ethan time anyway.  And I enjoyed it a bit more without chasing Emeree around. :)

It was rainy and muddy, so we sure were glad to have our rain boots.

The kids all packed in a wagon pulled by a tractor - which was most of their favorite parts.  Or as Ethan kept telling me, it was his "favorite adventure" of the trip.  Falling in the mud was "not his favorite adventure".

He got to pick 2 Apples, dig out 2 red carrots, and 2 potatoes.  He wasn't too happy about pulling the carrots and potatoes out of the ground since that meant his hands were going to get muddy...yep, Ethan hates being dirty, but Emeree would play in the mud all day if I let her.  He also got to pick out a pumpkin to bring home with his other fruits and veggies.

He got to feed some bread to the chickens - there were a ton of chickens!

Ethan's First Day of Preschool

Ethan started preschool last month (yay me for blogging about now instead of in 6-8 months.)  He goes three days a week and he is loving it.  We worked really hard the month leading up to school to get him to write his name on his own (without me writing it first and him copying it below mine).  So now he can write it without any assistance.

Each kid has a job at school that rotates every 2 weeks.  His current job is the abacus.  He gets to take attendance, record the weather and count how many days they've been in school so far on a giant abacus.  The parents can stay for the beginning of school while they do this part and show and tell.  So it's been fun being able to watch him do his job. 

I asked him to show me his backpack - and he just tilted to the side a little.  :)

Just like when he went to nursery the first time at church, he never looked back - no separation problems there.  But I think I had a little trouble letting him go.  It's a co-op, so the parents are trained and take turns working in the classroom.  I just happened to be assigned the first day of school as one of my work days, so that helped me get through the first day of school.  Day 2 was my first day leaving him there.  So Emeree and I went shopping - and guess what?  She is an awesome shopper if it's just her and me.  She doesn't throw any tantrums or try to jump out of the cart head first (even if she's buckled in).  So we are getting to enjoy our "girl days."

Here's a pic of Ethan with his teacher...he was so busy looking at everything I couldn't get him to look at the camera.

"picture perfect"...not so much

So we decided to get a "cousin" picture since all the kids were in town.  We had such plans for cute props and awesome pictures.  But that didn't go as planned.  First off, I wouldn't suggest doing balloons as a prop when the kids are so young.  In my head, this was going to be a great picture.  Maybe one of them all in the air at different heights, or all the kiddos walking away from the camera and we get a shot from behind with the balloons in the air.  Well, here was our best shot with the balloons.  They were pretty much just a distraction.

And of course, my kids were the worst to get a smile out of (mostly Emeree).  Here are 3 pictures as proof that she won't smile (let alone look normal) for the camera.

Flying and a picnic table

Here's some pics of Ethan "flying" from the couch to the beanbag.

And we built a picnic table this weekend...it's so nice to go outside and play puzzles or eat lunch/dinner outside.  A fun change with the nice weather we've been having.