The TV Ban

So Matty has been watching about six straight days of movies and TV since he's been sick, and it's obviously had a negative impact on his behavior. Since he was well enough to go to school today, I decided he was also too well for ANY TV. I usually let him watch some cartoons while Sofia's napping, since that is one of the few moments in my day I can get anything done, without being up too late. Instead, today we did crafts; Sofia even learned to not eat Play-Doh, which is a huge accomplishment for her! I've decided that she generally only puts things in her mouth now for two reasons - habit, and to get me to chase her.
Here are some pictures of the kids being crafty, and yes, Sofia colored on my white Pottery Barn table with a black crayon. But it's all good....that's how we roll here (and besides, some Soft Scrub got it right up).

"That's Cute"

I got a Hoth Han Solo....yeah!! I feel pretty done for Matty now for gifts. I feel this is really a special Christmas, since I'm not sure how much longer Santa will be real for him.
Sofia and I took this picture today with Photo Booth on my Mac...she was having a blast with it, we took probably 10 pictures in a row. This is the one she seemed to like best; when I showed it to her she said "that's cute", which is fun since it's one of the few things she can say!
Have a great evening all.

Star Wars and the evils of Ebay

This is day three of Matty home sick, and he's watching Star Wars for the 3rd time. In fact, he's watched the original trilogy twice, and it looks like he'll do it again today!
As Christmas is fast approaching, and considering Matty's new Star Wars addiction, I've developed a small Ebay addiction. Matty hasn't seen any of the new trilogy, and knows nothing about it; but most of the Star Wars toys now available in stores are for the newer movies. John is a purist, and I prefer the originals myself, so finding the toys to go with them is a struggle. I'm hoping to win a Hoth Han Solo, to go with the Tauntaun I've already found. I swore I wouldn't get too involved in finding toys this year (I really didn't want to relive the CARs madness of last Christmas!), but I know it will be worth it on Christmas morning!

New mug

Just one of my purchases from SF on Friday; a new Tinkerbell mug. Sofia is in love with my new mug, I had to abandon my coffee this morning, for fear she would dump it on herself.
BG ornaments done, now to finish a few gifts, and maybe play with my new grungeboard!

Almost December :)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and maybe got some shopping in! John and I spent all day in San Francisco roaming around Union Square, shopping, and seeing all the beautiful decorations. We actually almost got all of our shopping done, which is so satisfying, and I'm hoping to spend the rest of the month playing with the kids, scrapping, and baking!

John has safely landed, and should hopefully be home soon...with both the kids home sick, it will be a relief to have the poor man home! Unfortunately, he sounds as bad as they do; and after I mistakenly drank from Matty's straw, I'll probably be sick by the end of week.

Right now I'm making Basic Grey ornaments, I'll take pictures and upload them soon. They are so gorgeous, Figgy Pudding is fantastic. I'm going to have to find something to do with all the leftover Christmas paper from last year, because between Figgy Pudding, and Elsie's Noel, I'm going to have far more Christmas paper than one woman needs!

Thanksgiving

Another great Thanksgiving, though it wasn't the same without my stepmom, Suzi, who was home ill. Suzi, I hope your dinner reaches you in one piece!
Once again, Matty sort of touched his dinner, and shockingly he did not touch the apple pie, which he's been begging a piece from since we made it. Nana Suzi sent a wine cake, a family favorite, so that trumped any thing else at the table :)
It's a stressful moment for John every year, but with the help of Bob, the carving went smoothly.

Trimming the Tree

This year I was inspired to start decorating for the holidays early, and I'm fortunate to have a very patient husband! And Matty is very confused, and it took several days to assure him that Christmas is not suddenly happening before Thanksgiving.
Last night several friends came over, and we made huge headway getting Christmas cards done. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), I didn't send out the cards I almost finished last year, so my cards should be sent out by Thanksgiving! Yeah!!
I've also managed to get most of the gifts I've purchased wrapped, and what concerns me is that since so far I seem to be ahead of the game for the holidays, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hopefully, it will be a smooth and happy holiday season!
My favorite part of decorating the tree is getting out the ornaments, as almost every single one has a story attached to it. Poor Sofia got the idea of how to decorate the tree, but she doesn't quite have the necessary dexterity to hang the ornaments. We have to hang everything with ribbons, since she put just about everything she can find into her mouth, so hooks are too dangerous even if they are easier to use!
Now we get ready for a week of more decorating, turkey buying and pie baking!

What a week

I've wanted to post all week, but it's just been one of those weeks! I love this picture of John and Sofia playing together, she loves sitting in this tent reading stories.
We trimmed the Christmas tree Friday night, I'll be posting some pictures this weekend.

Awards Ceremony

The awards ceremony this morning was very nice. Matty's friend, Megan, also received an award, and I'm very thrilled for her, she's such a sweet girl. Matty received an award for displaying mutual respect for everyone at school. Since he's been on the sassy side at home, it's fabulous he's being so good at school! He was so proud of himself, and when his class was getting ready to return to their room, he came over to me, and thanked me for coming - he's so cute!!
Sofie was behaving pretty well, for having to sit there for half an hour, and she wasn't too interested until she heard Matty's name, and she started clapping and yelling "yeah!!". She is so thrilled with her brother, she seems to think everything he does is wonderful. I'm so glad they like each other so much!

The Awards Dinner

As I was going through Matty's backpack yesterday before school, I found a note that he would be receiving an award Thursday morning. Needless to say, I was thrilled! If your child receives an award in November, then you know they really, really earned it, and it's not something they're given at the end of the year for their self-esteem (that happend to us last year!). No one can make me laugh like Matty can, and when I told him about the award he looked genuinely confused and said "but I thought I was really bad at school yesterday". I have no idea what he meant, and he refused to elaborate, but it was hilarious (I don't think he actually did anything naughty the day before, so I'm not very worried).
In honor of his award me and John took the kids out to dinner last night; one of Matty's favorite things to do is to go to restaurants, he asks every day to go to one. It was a very nice dinner, no one had a tantrum, only a few things were thrown on the floor (Sofie's table manners still need work), and everyone colored very nicely throughout the meal.
I'll update the blog later today with news of Matty's award, as we have no idea what it's for, and I'll include some pictures if they turn out.

End of the soccer season...

Matty played his last soccer game today, and did a great job. He made several fantastic saves for his team, and is getting better and better at defense! After the game the team had a pizza party, played video games, and generally wreaked havoc at a local pizza parlor. I'm really going to miss his Saturday games, his team and everyone's parents and siblings are so much fun to spend time with, and all really, really love soccer. And Sandra, the team mom, did an extraordinary job making this season special for the boys; because of her, everyone had their names on their jerseys and an awesome banner to display at the games. We were really lucky to have her. Coach Steve has the patience of a saint, and really helped the boys to learn how to play a good, clean game, and have fun doing it.

And my wonderful husband really made my day today....I woke up to a clean kitchen, and a vacuumed family room! He's the greatest!!

Cool photos

My grandma gave me these photos a few years ago, and today I scanned them into the computer, so I can play with scrapping them. I especially love the one of me and my mom, even though I was clearly not the cutest baby! But because I was a spoiled baby, I was very beautifully dressed!
And this photo of my grandparents is my all-time favorite photo of them. This is actually their wedding picture, and they both look so fantastic, and so very happy. This photo was taken in 1950, and the one of me and my mom was taken in 1976.
This is the only wedding picture I have of my parents, and though my mom looks beautiful, I'm glad these hats were not in style when I got married! And I think my dad wore that suit for the next ten years!
I can't wait for the November Jenni Bowlin kit, it looks like it would look great with these black and white pictures.

What a happy Halloween!

Sofia had a blast trick-or-treating for the first time, and she's nearly perfected saying "thank you" and "good-bye" when given candy! And she only tried to enter one home, and in her defense it looked exactly like ours from the outside.

Matty and Inder declared (several times) that Halloween is BETTER than Christmas! Matty made an awesome looking Obiwan Kenobi, and I had so much fun dressing up with the kids. I went as a Tavern Wench, to match my little Pirate Wench (aka Sofia). John made it about a block and a half before going home to change, since he felt silly; I thought he made a great Darth Vadar, but I have to agree the mask was really suffocating. I'll have pictures of John up in a few days.

And we were lucky enough to get rid of all the Halloween candy we bought, so all in all this year was a success!