baby love

Look at this sweet little angel! Her name is Estelle Georgia. My good friend Maggie and her husband Dan welcomed her into their family 2 months ago. And I've been holding her every chance I get ever since! Much to our delight Maggie and Dan asked John and I if we would be little Estelle's godparents! We feel very blessed and are excited to be a special part of her life. On Saturday I gave Maggie and Estelle a baby shower and then on Sunday she was Baptised and we got to participate in that also. It was a fun and wonderful weekend.

Pictures to come tomorrow!

CBH Ice Skating Classic 2011

Every year the kids' school puts on an "Ice Skating Classic" after grades 1-5 go through 1 week of ice skating practice in gym class. Even though both boys know how to skate without using chairs, they still insist on using them... Jeffrey explained that it helped him go faster. :)

Mickey always opts not to participate in the racing segment. He says he he doesn't like racing.
Probably meaning the competition part...

Jeffrey with his best buddy Shia.

I guess Jeffrey's theory about the chair worked because he won 2nd place in his race!

He got 4th last year so he was sooo happy! He got a red ribbon too- his favorite color.

At the end the boys found a giat snow mound that had a deep tunnel in it and played there for a long time. If you didn't know where to look it was virtually impossible to find it in the field of endless deep snow.

It was a fun afternoon- and thankfully it was 36 degrees that day(or more!). We were in the middle of a heat wave here in Fargo and I was sooo grateful since I HATE being cold.

Next year all 3 of them will be able to participate together! But just that one time because after that Mickey will be off to middle school. (gasp) I don't want to talk about that though.

tooth journal

Mary Beth got to fill out a page in the Kindergarten tooth journal:

water park 2011

the kids had THE BEST time!!

enjoy this time {before it's gone}

An Erma Bombeck Column:


A young mother writes: "I know you've written before about the empty-nest syndrome --that lonely period after the children are grown and gone. Right now, I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry and muddy boots. The baby is teething; the boys are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat without him, and I fell off my diet. Lay it on me again, will you?"

OK.
One of these days, you'll shout, "Why don't you kids grow up and act your age!"
And they will.


Or, "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do ... and don't slam the door!"
And they won't.


You'll straighten up the boys' bedroom neat and tidy -- bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and smooth, toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you'll say out loud, "Now I want it to stay this way."
And it will.


You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you'll say, "Now, there's a meal for company."
And you'll eat it alone.


You'll say: "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?" And you'll have it.


No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti.
No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms.
No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps.
No more clothespins under the sofa.
No more playpens to arrange a room around.


No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent.
No more sand on the sheets or Popeye movies in the bathrooms.
No more iron-on patches, wet, knotted shoestrings, tight boots, or rubber bands for ponytails.


Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it. No baby sitter for New Year's Eve. Washing only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn't ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.


No PTA meetings.
No car pools.
No blaring radios.
No one washing her hair at 11 o'clock at night.
Having your own roll of Scotch tape.


Think about it. No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste.
No more sloppy oatmeal kisses.
No more tooth fairy.
No giggles in the dark.
No knees to heal, no responsibility.


Only a voice crying, "Why don't you grow up?"


and the silence echoing, "I did."

cousins

"life cycle of a kid connect"

by Jeffrey

Mary Beth lost her first baby tooth!!

She's so happy and I'm pretty sad- another big change for our youngest little peanut... her first itty bitty baby tooth got pulled out by me tonight. I'm the tooth puller in the family for some reason and so I tried several times since a. it was pretty loose b. her big tooth was coming in behind it and c. she was SO excited to loose her first tooth so she can get the pink tooth necklace and special song at kindergarten. :) Oh yeah, and she's really happy about the toothfairy coming tonight too. She didn't shed one tear and kept letting me try even though she said it hurt. I didn't even have to talk her into it. BIG difference from pulling the boys' first teeth. They were basket cases. That's Mary Beth- she's a tough-y! She called her Nonna and Nonno right away to tell them and kept smiling and smiling. I hope she has a great day tomorrow with her class celebrating the big event. Isn't kindergarten cute?

skating fun!

My sisters are visiting and yesterday we went roller skating.

Sisters...

So fun!

water water everywhere

Sorry I haven't been posting much this week but we've been busy dealing with

this
and this
and this

and this

this

and this. In case you are wondering, yes, we did take it upon our selves to cut open the walls. It was terrifying hearing fast dripping noises behind walls and not being able to stop it(on the top floor!) so I told John we had to get in there and see what was going on. NOT GOOD.

Update: 3 guys came and shoveled the snow off the roof and then with what sounded a lot like sledgehammers broke off a TON of ice and removed that too. And ta-da! the water stopped coming in the house! 2 minutes after they got into their trucks and drove away it started snowing heavily again.... ugh.

a great lunchbox survey

I found this idea in a parenting magazine and then found this artist's blog. You can print out your own surveys here. I did this for the boys and they LOVED it! We colored the little pictures and I rolled it up with a pencil and included it in their lunchbox. It also really helped us to learn how Mickey's lunch period was since he claims he never remembers. :) Oh- and a helpful hint for you: I had to print it at 75 % to make it all fit on the paper.

kindergarten holiday craft day

There are a couple holiday activities that I haven't blogged about yet so here is one of them:

Mary Beth's craft day- the parents each had a station and a craft project they were in charge of. The kids rotated around the room and completed a bunch of super cute crafts.

This was right of Mary Beth's alley. She LOVES craft projects!

Here's her Hanukkah candle.

She had this outfit all picked out for weeks- just for this day.

Here's her Grinch- she had me take a picture of it(it was hanging up out in the hallway).

Then the class had their little Christmas snack. All the parents had pretty much left by this time but I insisted on staying because I needed to take pictures and I never want to miss a second of anything special the kids do. (especially when I'm still allowed in their rooms- and they still want me there!)

It was a very fun morning in Kindergarten!