Looking forward to the New Year

The chair rail is finally done...I finished painting yesterday with some help.  Thankfully no little ones were too interested in this project.  

Here is a before....

and then the after....not a huge difference.

The problem with our house is it is painted with builder grade paint.  So no handprints, scuff marks or base ball bat marks come off the walls (thank you Jackson)...so this will allow me to wash the lower part of the wall since the paint is much better...

We have kept Ryans parents busy busy while they have been here...tonight we head out to celebrate new years with some friends..HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sometimes...

Life gets in the way...in a good way.  We have spent most of this week together...in pjs, playing with new toys and enjoying the pleasant December weather.  We did not travel this holiday which was really awesome.  I do not think ANYTHING beats the joy in faces on Christmas morning.

This was Aly finding out that Santa had brought her an American Doll....and let me say that she has taken it everywhere so far.  Julie has not left her side...well worth the investment.

Jack got more noisy trucks and trains....and loves every minute of them

especially when he loses one between the refrigerator and the ovens...which took a vacuum to extricate it. 

Brianna has been loving the cars and trucks just like Jack.

I was able to get in a little home improvement project I had put on hold...new chair rail in the foyer...more pics to come.

Santa, Gingerbread and ....Jackson

This weekend Santa appeared by fire truck in our neighborhood.  Jack was in HEAVEN.  A truck and the ho, ho, ho...as he calls Santa.

On Sat night we had 15 of our closest friends under the age of 6 over for a little gingerbread decorating.  

We decorated lots of houses and had fun. I might be finding sugar and frosting in July....

Finally, I sent Ryan with the three kids to the grocery store on Sat morning before the party.  Simple instructions...you must be gone more than 1.5 hours (so I can get the house ready) and PLEASE buy only what is on the list.  I should have known better.  A little birdie told me that he started the trip in the Ice Cream  Aisle...anyone that knows Ryan that will not come as any surprise.  Not only did he come home with  things not on the list HELLO 5 gallons of ice cream...he brought back cheese balls...apparently for the party and somehow they never made it out.

No worries though..Jackson has found them quite useful.

Time to turn on the door alarm!

If I did not do triathlons.......

I would bake full time!  I like to cook but I LOVE baking...

This weekend is our annual gingerbread decorating party and I am SO excited.  Today we built the houses...complete with a snowman on each front yard.  It was so much fun...and in between I have been working on perfecting the whoopie pie.  I sent a bunch of gingerbread ones with cream cheese frosting to preschool this morning...with specific instructions...the frosting is just not right.    We made several dozen chocolate ones yesterday and I will fill them with peppermint, peanut butter, and some undecided flavor.   I can't seem to get the gingerbread filling right though.

All the while...the monkeys were home acting like this:

Jack thinks he is a dragon with the elephant on....he runs around the house roaring...while pushing the doll carriage.

Random Tidbits....

We have a studious bunch right?  This week has been filled with random funny moments.....

Jack is out of the crib..happily climbing out and excited that he has figured out how to do so.  The problem though is he wants to sleep in the crib and cannot figure out how to get back in...so currently is bed of choice is the floor of his bedroom.

Brianna keeps telling me that she wants Santa to bring her a Cars bike.  I explained that Santa brought her a bike last year....the problem is i tis Tinkerbell not Cars.  She recently told me that she was going to write Santa a note and tell him to take the Tinkerbell one back and bring a Cars one...oh dear.

Aly had homework for girl scouts last week where she needed to draw a picture of a strong and courageous person.  When I asked her who she was going to draw she was not really sure.  Brianna piped in and said she should draw God since that is the person that sees you when you do bad things.  Then she stated that Aly just needed to draw the sky since he lived up there somewhere.  Somehow we ended up with Amelia Earheart.

Someone is a having a little identity crisis.....or so I thought until he threw the stroller across the room...nope he is ALL BOY!

Check out this HUGE bowl of ice cream my mom gave Jack!  She is here for the week while Ryan is in London....our house currently smells like COOKIES! YUM!

Weekend Fun

This morning, I headed out on a longer bike ride with a couple of friends.  It was a toasty 21 degrees out!  Two layers of pants, shirts, a neck warmer and mittens and we were pretty warm.  My toes were the only thing that got really cold, even with two pairs of socks on.  It certainly beat riding inside on the trainer though.

We road out to Peace Valley Park and then headed up to Lake Nockamixon.  We did climb some hills and saw plenty of black ice out but no snow yet!

Ryan left for London last night and I was in NYC all day yesterday.  I was able to finish up my shopping and we saw Jersey Boys, which was really good.  We are spending the rest of the weekend wrapping, wrapping and more wrapping!

Sugar, Sugar, everywhere

If we can't avoid it...lets partake!

We had lots of friends over this morning to make holiday sugar cookies....Of course more decorations on the floor and the table than on the cookies I think.

Jackson ate all the decorations that I gave him then the cookie and promptly signed more over and over and over!

We had a great time and dad was thankful when he got home from work!

So Proud

I often think with parenting there are not a whole lot of moments where you stop and think..I must be doing something right.  Too often our days are filled with please put away this or take your dishes here.  We talk a lot in our family about manners, being nice, and giving to people. 

Today was one of those moments where I was just so proud!  We had a fun day planned with a classmate of Aly's.  We were going to get haircuts, out to lunch and then to paint pottery.  A girls day out...well plus Jack!

Aly has never cut her hair.  Lots of people comment on how long it is or how pretty - she obviously did not get the blond from me  - ha.  The last few times were have been for a trim she has talked about cutting it short.  I really did not care but I wanted it to be her decision.  I will say I was DEATHLY afraid of the first cut and the tears if she did not like it.

This morning, she talked nonstop that she had agreed with Gianna that they were going to cut their hair.  Gianna has beautiful long curly hair as well.  Then Chrissy, Giannas mom told me that we can donate her hair if we cut more than 8 inches.  I explained to Aly what that meant and then we measured out her hair...it was plenty long enough! 

I'll be honest.. I was having a slight heart attack.  Not over the hair, honestly it will make my mornings so much easier.  I was worried if she decided she did not want it that short midway through...when it was too late.  I know that it is another life lesson but I was hoping for a meltdown free day and we had not had that this week.  She did great though..we talked a lot about who she was helping and what a nice gift it was.  Look how long...I will NOT miss the hours I spent braiding and brushing AT all!

Let the cutting begin!

In the end, she loved the cut and so did mom...we mailed off her hair this evening...a great lesson!





On the Move

Literally...we have not stopped this week.  It has been busy, busy, busy.  The kids are so EXCITED about Christmas they are talking about it nonstop, every day and all.the.time.

I LOVE IT!  and the Elf on the Shelf made it return to our house.  So far it has made it back from the North Pole every night....I caught Aly talking to it the first day...of course in Aly fashion she was telling the Elf how good she has been and how everyone else has done this or done that.

On the training front I am back in full swing...hoping the hip is going be okay.  Looking forward to a fun winter of training and getting ready for next spring.

Ryan is home this week...sick, sick, sick.  Of course he is still working hard and heads back out to London next week.  Hopefully he will be better by then.