Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Brian had the kids Christmas morning and I couldn't wait for them to come over and help me tear into the presents under the tree this afternoon!

My cat was nice enough to get me something:

And I LOVED what he got me!  An archival storage binder for my Broadway playbills!  How did he know?!?

My mom made me a fabulous quilt, which I curled up under tonight in front of the TV!

Chloe got a baby doll from her Grandma K, which she loves:

She had a blast pushing her around in her new shopping cart:

Grandma also got her a couple pair of shoes I wish came in my size!

Chase got a couple Beyblades... his new obsession.  I had no idea what these were until a kid got him some for his birthday, but they are pretty cool.

We got a lot of games this year, which we love!

Chase also got a remote control car, which he loved...

...but Chloe did not!

Merry Christmas!  There are more photos in our Photo Album if you're interested!

School Pictures

The kids had their winter school pictures taken and I just had to share! Chase is flashing some sort of gang sign, but other than that they turned out pretty cute.  Enjoy!

Have a Merry Christmas!

Big Birthday Bash!

Today was Chase's big birthday party at the planetarium. My motherly baking duty turned out pretty decent this time... WOO HOO!!  Meet my aliens!

Chase requested another trick candle for his cupcake and he was super excited to blow it out again!

Then we opened presents.  Chase was most excited about the $10.00 bill he got, and it was hard to get him to let go!

I personally liked the Spiderman mask the best!

Chloe entertained herself with balloons...

...while Chase and his crew watched a couple shows!

The kids had a great time!  Happy Birthday (again), Chase!

Happy 5th Birthday, Chase!

I can't believe it. Chase is FIVE. How did this happen? When he got up this morning he asked me to measure him because he was sure he grew taller overnight. We had a low-key birthday with a small cake and presents, because his big birthday bash is Sunday at the planetarium.

The face on this cake cracks me up.  I think it's me saying, "Seriously?  Five?!?  Omigod omigod omigod omigod...."  We bought it from Wal-Mart (Chase picked it out!) because I decided to save my traditional motherly baking duty for the big party Sunday (so check back then for pictures... and pray they turn out better than Chloe's did)!  I did have a little fun with trick candles, though, which turned out to be a hilarious hit!

After cake we opened presents.  He got a "huggy monster" from his Grandma K, which he loved...

...and Chloe loved!

She got her own this summer from her Aunt Julia, but apparently now she thinks she has TWO!  That's OK, because Chase plays with hers all the time, too.  Huggy Monsters are apparently very popular.

Anyway, the birthday festivities have just begun.  Check back in a couple days to find out how the big planetarium party went!

Happy Birthday, my little man!

Oh, and there are more pictures in our Photo Album if you're interested!

Conversations With a 4-Year-Old: Growing Up

Short and sweet:

ME: Chase, you're acting like you're 2 years old.

CHASE: No, YOU are!

ME: Exactly.

Chase will be five in three days, so this may be his last "Conversations With a 4-Year-Old" post. My baby is growing up (well, in numbers anyway... the conversation today says differently)!

I love irony.

Let the Holidays Begin!

Today I took the kids to pick out a Christmas tree. In the rain. Fun times! But I knew if I didn't do it this weekend I wouldn't be able to do it for two more weeks... and that just wasn't an option!

First of all, I found out today that my son has expensive taste in Christmas trees.  But he finally chose one we could afford and they strapped it on top of my car.  I pulled into my driveway, took the kids inside and then looked back at the car, thinking, "How am I going to do this by myself?"  I was most concerned about getting it off the car without it falling on my head.

Well, I'm happy to report that I DID IT!  And without any cussing, even!  It was a proud moment.  So I took a picture:

After the kids' naps we decorated it with the lights Chase picked out (I was voting for the white lights look, but... *sigh*... kids always win).  Chase helped put the ornaments on while Chloe took them all off (so it took awhile)!  The tree looks pretty funny in the light, without any ornaments on the bottom!

When it got dark Chase turned off all the lights and it was so sweet to watch them both totally enthralled by the tree:

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was very nice. I made a lasagna, figuring the kids wouldn't eat turkey, anyway (and I'm not really a big fan of it myself). Turns out Chase was very disappointed we didn't have turkey because somewhere he learned that you have to have turkey on Thanksgiving! Great. Guess what I have to do next time? Anyway, we invited Daddy over and we all ate together, which was nice.

I decided to tackle another creative holiday treat, but these were much easier and Chase got to help! Chloe watched, while whimpering because she wanted to taste. Well, Chase whimpered for that reason, too.

Do you like our pilgrim hats?

This year I am thankful for so much: My beautiful children, Brian for being so involved in their lives, my friends and family, my health, my job.... There's just so much to be thankful for.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

God of Patience

So I made a little movie about the drama-filled relationship that has blossomed between my daughter and my cat.  I hope you enjoy it!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! Brian brought the kids over to my house before trick-or-treating so I could get some pictures of them in their costumes.  I made Chase's costume again this year and Brian was in charge of Chloe's. 

Chase obviously chose his costume, and he also chose Chloe's to match.  I am proud to say that BOTH of our kids won the best costume awards in their classes this year!  That's twice in a row for Chase (SCORE)!  Yes, I'm proud.  Anyway, I present to you... Mario and Princess Peach!

(I posted both of those pictures to show how impossible it is to get both of them smiling at the same time!  When one is happy, the other is either unhappy or making a crazy face.  Ah, well.)

Then we attempted one with me!  Chloe would not stay still, and Chase just watched our struggle, apparently enjoying the show:

(He looks like a little farmer!  Ha ha!)

We took a ton of photos, hoping to get just one decent one.  This is the last one we took, which is a pretty good reflection of how we were laughing at the pure insanity of the wiggle worm situation:

Chloe had a great time playing with the pumpkins on the porch, and decided Chase's jack-o-lantern was a chair! Chase was not a fan of that idea ("No, Chloe!  You're going to squash it!!").

More photos are in our Photo Album if you're interested.  Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Eve!

Tomorrow is Halloween! We had an eventful weekend preparing for the day.

My amazing friend Katie came for the weekend and I made her be domestic with us. I mean, we had pumpkin carving that had to be done!  Chase was so sweet at the pumpkin patch.  I picked my pumpkin out right away, and so did he... but then it took forever for Chase to find the perfect pumpkin for his baby sister.  It was so sweet because nothing he found was good enough for her.  I'm so glad we finally found one that was up to his standards!

My mom made me a "pumpkin carving apron" (because she knows I don't do much of anything else in the kitchen that would warrant an apron) and Chase loved it, so he got to wear it:

Gutting is the fun part (ha!) but Chase does not like to touch the goo. Katie gutted Chloe's and Chloe just sat there and watched us all get messy!

Chase got to design his own jack-o-lantern face this year, and he also drew his sister's!

And here are the finished products!  All original artwork by the three (OK, two of the three) C's, with special thanks to Katie, our gutter/carver assistant!

After pumpkin carving we started working on cupcakes! Now, you know my history with cupcakes... it's hit or miss. This year I decided to make jack-o-lanterns, which required a lot of candy carving... which Katie was so kind to help me with!

We screwed up the first batch of orange frosting trying to get the right color, and on the second attempt I still didn't get it the color I wanted (it looks a bit like silly putty) but it works:

Then last night Katie and I went to a Halloween party! We were the cutest ceiling fans EVER:

I can't wait for you all to see the kids in their costumes tomorrow! They are going to be so cute! (Oh, the suspense!)

More photos of our weekend are in our Photo Album if you're interested!