Pink Solution - Dec 13

I was at Costco one day and walked past a booth where a couple were selling The Pink Solution. 
I stood and watched the schpeal about how this was an all natural cleaning product, great for household with children as it is non-toxic. 
They showed me how well it could work by cleaning my kids leather shoes which at the time were embarrassingly dirty, but they came out spotless.  They also showed how, with very minimal effort, how quickly you could clean the old black grease off of a stove. 
I was sold. 
I have recently realized my wood floors are very dirty. They essentially had "grout" of dirt in between each board. Grosse!  Not my dirt either, that would be easier to handle. 
So after realizing how dirty my floors were - and realizing I was hosting Christmas dinner soon- I set out to clean my floors, by hand, with a little scrub brush and my Pink Solution in a spritz bottle. 


                                                             Here is my "before picture" 

Here is the "after picture"

It took me 4 evenings to scrub the entire floor. I did about 3ft squared areas.  Now I know it has been cleaned once, I can try to keep it up instead of having to do the entire floor on my hands and knees anytime soon. Hopefully. 

Kids Christmas Party - Dec 11

We attended C's work sponsored kids Christmas party this weekend. 

Just like last year, it did not disappoint. Adults or kids! 

It was held in the newest part of the Shaw Conference Center. A huge room with two walls of windows looking out onto the river valley. Gorgeous! 

There is a kids food buffet, mac and cheese, hot dogs, pizza, veggies sticks and dips. Chocolate milk, milk, pop, ice cream. The kids just love it. 

They had bouncy castles again this year and a few more games to play, manned by staff who could stamp a participation card for the kids and they could go pick out a prize, in addition to their gift from Santa. 

Really, I have looked forward to it since last year. E was big enough this year to run through the whole place and be entertained by just visiting with people. J had a great time with the games and castles. 

 Big bouncy castles. This was just half of them. 

Pretty, decorated room. 

 E pretty much just ran the whole first half of the party. Luckily for me, her running is still pretty slow. 

  J got his hair done red this year. 

 E's spot for the last half of the afternoon. It was nap time. 

Santa was a bit late this year and since the entire party ran over E's nap time, we left before his big arrival but our kids didn't seem to nice and had a blast anyway. 

Playing together - Dec 10

I love watching my kids play together. It's somehow liberating to know they are getting old enough to not only play together, but to be entertained by each other.  It seems to give me a sense of relief knowing I might be able to sit and read a book someday and be able to "supervise" without "refereeing."  I am sure this is every parents wish! 

This new found freedom for me didn't last long ... but I feel it near. 

Family room - December 9

I know this picture won't mean much to many, but to me I see ... room.
Room to play, room to run, room to dance. Just room.
I took this picture exactly for that reason. To remember just how much room we all had to play in our new house while the kids were little and wanted to play.  That was such an important part of our move and our entire last 6 months. 


Here is J, awake especially early, and watching "Bo on the Go."  A show I don't particularly like, but it encourages kids to get active with the little girl Bo.  A J likes to dance and move along.

I just can't say enough, how much I love having room to allow him to "Go."

Family tobogganing party- Dec 4

We had a great time spending time with our family #21 and had afternoon/evening of winter fun. 
E had a blast playing with this singing Christmas tree. She kept trying to get him to eat her fingers while I yelled "ouch, ouch, ouch." She thought it was hilarious. 

J has a new snowsuit this year and it was our first time to try it out. It worked great!! The snow pants come up really high so he was very warm even without the fleece jacket zipped inside. 

J hated his first tobogganing experience (at E's age) and so we never really gave it another try until this night.  It made me a bit nervous to take him down a real hill and it also made me a bit nervous to try E in a toboggan.  

Borrowed this snowsuit. Adorable!! 

E was worried we were leaving without J. 

Ready to try out the new sled. $10 Walmart special! 

Uncle F and cousin A. She had so much fun, I wish I had tried taking J last year. It never even occurred to me. 

Uh no! Walmart sled only lasted 2 runs! 

E enjoyed the ride. That and dipping her snowsuit in the snow and licking it. 

Very happy.

Sharing. 

The kids had a great time. 
It is so fun seeing them have a great time! 
We got a picture of the 6 grandkids. Not a perfect one, but I think the only one of all 6 grandkids.

Fun family times. Creating holiday memories!

Festival of Trees - Dec 2

We made a point to get to the Festival of Trees this year. I have taken J the last 2 years and wanted to go this year, thinking he would finally enjoy it. 
E was teeny last year and she slept most of the time, this year she seemed to really enjoy it too. The lights and trees look amazing. They have lots of things for kids to do and it's really not too expensive. J had a great time decorating cookies, sending a letter to Santa, "fishing" for presents, and going through the kids hospital.  E got to share a decorated cookie and she got her own little Christmas tree- which she can't go near because she tries to eat it!  They have a gingerbread decorating contest we didn't walk through this year, but some of those are completely amazing. 

Writing to Santa. He would like an orange camera and Cars number two. Too cute.

Giving the stuffed animal a needle before he sews him back up.

Snacks and gingerbread keep this little girl happy. 

E's girly tree. 

Fun! Really, if you can go, you should. The proceeds support the hospital foundation. Always a good cause.

Christmas photo attempt #2 - Nov 27

Okay, so the pre-bedtime Christmas photo shoot didn't work out very well. So I attempted a day time photo shoot which was only marginally more successful. 
They had the cutest Christmasy outfits. A woven sweater and a sweater dress. I love them dressed up. Who am I kidding, I love them always. 
A few better shots. Cute shots. A few peeking panty shots (oops). I had to try to get separate photos, J was more helpful this time around. E is just quick and trouble. 

Too busy walking to get her picture taken. 

Cousins - November 25

We had our cousins come over for a play date the other day. 

It went surprisingly well for 4 kids, all nearly a year apart to "play" together. 

E is absolutely in love with little baby S. She says "baby, baby, baby" over and over and tried to kiss her. So cute!! Today actually, she did the same thing with a baby picture of S on the fridge. She loved it and gave her kisses. 

J and A played well together. No fighting. No crying. Sharing. It was great. L and I even had the ability to chat while the kids played. Such a nice treat! 

We tried to get a picture of the two birthday buddies. It was less than a success but the outtakes (as I seem to have LOTS of outtakes) are pretty darn cute. 

Whoops. We lost one. 

Seriously, these 2 could pass as siblings. 

Christmas photo attempt #1 - Nov 21

Well, last years Christmas photos were tough. Trying to get a two year old and a two month old both smiling was not easy.... 

But compared to my attempts so far, last year was a breeze. 

With now two, fully mobile, and quick kids, my Christmas photos are not going smoothly. 

Outtakes! 

Escapee!

Grump.

Distracted by the bells.

Birthday party! - Nov 13

We were able to attend a very fun birthday party at Chuck E Cheese! A rare non-family birthday party. I hadn't been to a Chuck E Cheese since I was a little kid myself. 

So fun. The kids had a blast. It was definitely an action packed afternoon. 

Both E and J had fun. J and Daddy had lots of fun playing games together and E and I spent the afternoon sitting on the rides. 

J was very good at the basket ball game and really enjoyed the car racing. 

E's favorite "ride" was a broken Barney ride. She just wanted to sit next to him all afternoon. 

Dressed up for the party!

She loved all the rides! 

J having a great time. 

I was crouched down, holding down the gas pedal! 

Barney love.

Out cold before we got out of the parking lot. 

Such a fun day.