AGAIN...

Not my car this time, but Tadj's new one. Sometime between 8:30p and 8:30 this morning some punk kids tried to steal Tadj's car right out of the driveway!! Luckily his new Dodge has a key with a chip in it that prevents the car from starting without it. They did enough damage to the ignition and steering column though, that it had to be towed in to the shop. UGH! Neighborhood vandalism... STRIKE 2! One more time and we're out.

I'm Dreaming of a ...

WHITE CHRISTMAS?... CHECK! (Now I regret the dreaming)

Snow Day...

It started snowing VERY early this morning and still hasn't stopped. We're getting 2 inches an hour. We had plans for Pump-IT-Up this morning, but had to cancel :(

Here's what it looks like outside.

Here's what we're doing inside... PLAY-DOH!!

Here's what I'll be doing at naptime.

COOKIE CRAZY!!!

I went to a Cookie Exchange last night that Sofia and I baked 10 DOZEN cookies for. Surprise package cookies...yum. Basically, it's a choc.chip cookie dough minues the choco. chips. Instead, you wrap the dough around an Andes chocolate mint, bake, and drizzel melted Andes Mints on top. Sofia was my official candy un-wrapper-er.

Here she is working diligently to get them all (200 of them) unwrapped before bedtime.

Here were her chocolate hands when she was done.

Cookies cooling on the counter.

The finished product. Lot's of hard work, but so delicious.

Jingle Bells

Sofia's preschool had a special "Jingle Suprise" today. We came to pick the kids up 15 minutes early so they could do their Christmas songs and dances. There was 1 kid who was really misbehaving and he ruined my shot for most of the videos I got. I've uploaded one good one, and 2 other not so good ones. Enjoy.

Here's the little start posing with her bell and then running to greet us after the show.

Ok. I got one other good video... but it's sideways and I can't turn it. Sorry.

This one would have been good if not for you-know-who, but kind of funny I guess.

Sunday dress

The kids wanted their pictures taken after getting dressed for church yesterday. They were so cute that I just couldn't say no.

Here's Sofia. She can never just smile, she always has some sort of look on her face that expresss her entire mood.

Grayson is just wild as ever... and now he has the hair to match.

Scarlett looking just like an angel sent from heaven.

...not quite as angelic here.

40 sq. feet and 2 1/2 hours...

...at least I think that's about the size of my bathroom. I know people with closets bigger than that. Yes, 2 1/2 hours to CLEAN MY BATHROOM!! How can such a small area become soooo gross? I scrubbed the tub and shower for nearly an hour alone. Whoever invented shower doors should be shot. I never thought I'd long for the shower curtain again, but at least I could throw that moldy thing out and buy a new one at the dollar store. The doors are pretty, but so not worth it. Toilet, mirrors, sink, cabinets, floor, finally all done. It's days like these that although I often wish with all my might for a big house with ample rooms and toilets for my growing family, that I'm grateful for a few minutes that my house is so small.

...onto the kitchen...again.

You better watch out, you better not cry...

I took the kids to see Santa the weekend after Thanksgiving, expecting a pretty good line for a Saturday afternoon. I loaded the 2 little ones in the double stroller and set them up with crackers and suckers to keep them happy until it was their turn. My careful planning was unnecessary. As we were walking towards Santa's storefront, we could clearly see from about 25 yards away that no one was there. The workers/elves saw us coming and were so thrilled that they were welcoming us before we were even 10 yards from the set-up... "Are you coming to see Santa?" they yelled. Of course we were and they were so excited. My brother, who encountered this similar scenario a few days prior to ours described these elves best... as if they'd never seen people before. They were THAT excited. I guess in a slowed economy, nobody is shopping Eastland Mall to even see Santa. They were so nice to us, we even bought the $10 picture. It was worth it though. The kids sat on Santa's lap and chatted away for a good 10 minutes and they each got a Christmas stocking, full-size candy cane, and bubbles. FUN!

Oh Grayson...

...you drive me crazy jumping on the couch (or any other surface for that matter), spinning circles, turning light switches on and off, and really just being a wild boy... but man are you cute. So snuggly, if only for a few seconds and I just can't get enough of your kisses and "I love you's".

The past few weeks Grayson has been entertaining us with his verbal skills. He's learning Christmas carols:

-Santa Claus is Coming to town: "you better watch out, you better watch out, you better watch out, you better watch out...to town!"
-Jingle Bells: "jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells...the way, HEY!"

He's also surprised me with a new word this week, but it took a while to figure out what it was. He sat down to breakfast and said "my oatmeal... bubbly, bubbly hot"...ok Grayson. Later, in reference to a Ghost Train on Geo-tracks he says "it's bubbly, bubbly scary"...alrighty. Have you guessed the new word yet? PROBABLY!!! ...Probably hot, probably scary. I've since learned that I say that a lot.

LOVE YOU LITTLE MAN!!