what a steal!

Ahh...every little girl's dream, right....the dollhouse.  I can still remember with great pleasure my dollhouse as a kid, even the little one I had with little figurine bears as the family.  I brag about Katie's fine motor skills all the time, but she really is so good at manipulating small things that I decided this year would be a good year.  My wallet, on the other hand, did not agree.
One thing to say people: http://www.craigslist.org/
Go there.  Find the things you want but that you never ever think you could afford and be amazed.  This entire dollhouse WITH all included furniture, a mommy, little girl and baby...all for (drumroll please) $50.
I am quite pleased with myself but even more pleased with the look on KJ's face when she saw her dollhouse, how she hasn't stopped playing with it since and mostly how it turned on her imagination like a light bulb!  Hundreds and hundreds of dollars of toys that I would never have been able to afford...
I am grateful for small blessings.

hey..don't knock it 'till you try it

I have admittedly mocked the 'snuggie' or whatever the heck the really long blanket with arms is.  However, when I asked for a new 'couch blankie' for Christmas, and I received this from my Eric...I realized they are simply amazing!  And not really because "you can answer the phone and stay warm" but because you just are so warm...and so wonderfully comfortable with blanket everywhere.  All 6'2 of me enjoys this, even if I had made fun of it, and probably still will ;)

go colts

christmas card 2009

NO....I do not have this much free time on my hands.  But every year...I just can't help it.  The stamps and glue and embossing powder just call my name! 

So...if you didn't receive one, don't be discouraged, my hands were just tired!

(or I didn't have your address)

already thinking about next year's card...

cookies with aunt britty!

This year on my birthday, Aunt Britty came over to make cookies with us!  Thank you Brittany for reminding me to check if I had cookie cutters, icing and food coloring (which I did not).  We had a lot of fun watching the kids be creative with sprinkles, and candies and more sprinkles...
It was a very nice birthday afternoon.

is she here yet, asks Katie, Carter and Abbykins


Carter found his way into the chocolate chip cookies (clearly) while the sugar ones were baking and cooling.

I like these pictures.  Little fingers, lots of color=happy.

of my collection that day, my own personal favorite ha ha!

Thank you Aunt Britty for sharing this day with us.
we love you.

(i think we might have made Santa happy :)

latkes and applesauce

Every year the kid's preschool puts on a Chanukah Play (click link to remember last year's if you wish) and this year's performance was an adaptation of the play "Latkes and Applesauce."  Too cute for words.  Katie's class was dressed all in black, the boys in suits, and the girls with pink feather boas.  They song a song about an evil man that "wouldn't let them read their Torah or dance their Horah" (you can't make this stuff up)...and half of the lyrics were "no...no....no...no" complete with hand motions.  My KJ should have definitely had that mastered, since it seems to be something I hear often.
Carter was dressed as a menorah, and thus sang a song about it, but I can't remember a single lyric, and apparently neither could Carter because he didn't sing a single word of the song.  He was still cute.  Adorable, actually.  After the kids sang their songs, they went to sit on the sides of the temple stage to make room for the other classes, and my little flirt Katie had to keep being told to be quiet by her teacher because she was talking to the BOY next to her!  What!  I am not ready for flirting.  Ugh.  Carter was not into any girls, just his hat which he turned upside down so the flame of his menorah was covering his nose and then made silly faces.  He's the light of my life...(no pun intended :)

I am a proud momma.  

the Temple decorated with the backdrop of the play

two adorable little kindergartners bringing in the introduction
to the play...

Katie's class (I've labeled her if you click on the picture) with the adorable
no-no-no motion.

My little guy being led out first of his class by his teacher.

This would be Carter NOT singing, but otherwise still adorable.

Okay, so I'm seriosly impressed....this was a song both KJ and Carter's class sang
and I couldn't understand a word of it because it was all in Hebrew, but KJ actually sang it
and a few times I think I saw Carter's lips move just a hair....not sure, but maybe.  My kids are smart, and well-rounded.  I'm glad they're learning about Jewish customs and traditions.

I would have loved to have had an equally cute picture of my son and I, but he refused.
She is my lovie.

Always, proud.

the big 2-9

today I turned 29.
i feel exactly the same as I did at 28.
i think i say that every year, but i hope that's not true.  i hope i'm a better person than i was at 28.

here's to another year of wanting to do, act, be better.

our new tree skirt!

sorry, abbykins...there just isn't room for you anymore

in case you wondered what i have been doing for the past few days about ten hours a day, this is it.

surely this can not be real, right?

is this normal?

(and no...although they would enjoy it that way, they are not all for katie and carter).

mama deb's book

One of mama deb's very special presents to the kids last Christmas was a children's book called "The Bear Snores On."  It has become one of the kid's favorite books to read at night, and they have special memories of reading it with her.  This season, while Christmas shopping, Eric and I were happy to find that the book is actually part of a series, so we bought one more of the four book set, and also a special Christmas edition.  Looks like we will be having many more nights of fake snoring sounds and sweet memories of mama deb.

We miss you.
Very much.

oh christmas tree...

Okay, I promise we didn't really wait this long to put up our tree...I'm just a little blogging-backlogged (that sounds like a serious and uncomfortable medical condition...ha ha).  This year we got to decorate the tree with the kids, and they had an absolute blast.  Only one ornament got broken, and the kids thought it was really funny to see some of Mommy's really old ornaments that I made as a kid (with pictures and all).  Katie kept thinking the pictures were her :) 

So welcome our LIVE Frasier Fir Tree (I will not mention the cost, but it was insane.  I would say I think it's time to go for an after-holiday clearance artificial tree, but this is a tradition Eric and I promised we would continue in our own family, as each of our parents' had done with us...so we dug a little deeper into our pockets...and the fragrance ever since has made me so glad we did).

welcome to our office/playroom/library/place to put all of our other crap/Christmas tree room!

lights on...ready to decorate.

Katie got the honor of putting the angel on the tree this year as the oldest child.  She was very excited and did a perfect job!

(note:  apologies for the blurriness in the pictures...this would be when I started playing with the manual settings on my camera.  Needless to say, I need to do some more research/training on how to use this ridiculously expensive camera.)

Carter got to help "make the angel straight" :)  (Don't worry, next year will be his turn)

Our stockings

the kid's stockings (notice the difference in SIZE...they are so spoiled!!!).  Katie is the snowman, and Carter is Santa, in case you wondered ;)

KJ putting on her 'special' Shrek ornament...reminiscent of the six months when she watched Shrek every single day of her life....I mean it....every single day.  Now her little OCD self won't touch it with a ten-foot pole, but I guess I'll always have a special place in my heart for that green swamp monster and his donkey :)

one of my favorite ornaments that I bought the kids right after Carter was born.  It's called "cocoa for two."  My nickname is coco (long story) and KJ has always been my piglet...goes back to long ago days of her in the NICU....it's just a special ornament to me (and the only pic of an ornament I took).

And...making cookies sounds like the perfect way to end the night!

(notice careful spacing :)

It was a wonderful evening and a tradition continued. 
I think I'm ready to face these hellidays...I mean holidays :)

joy

"A photo says, you were happy, and I wanted to catch that. A photo says, you were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch."
(jodi piccoult)

merry christmas

Wishing all of you a very merry Christmas!

now this I could get used to...

the cutest thing of all...the kids BEGGED to help me clean the floors :)  they are so cute...always wanting to help, always wanting to do everything that Eric and I do.  My little helpers....now if I could just teach them to do laundry....hmm....

the land called imagination...

One of my favorite things about being a mom right now is watching my children mature into playing by themselves.  They no longer need me involved in every second of every activity they do (which is actually quite refreshing).  Eric and I like to call it "imagination land."  Katie, or Carter, depending on the night will usually come up with a "plan" and they will go headfirst into it (for example last week I discovered through careful listening that SpongeBob and Patrick would be delivering the presents this year...just in case you wondered ;) 
This night, as they were unwinding before bed, Katie decided to put her baby doll through the same ritual she goes through.  She carefully dressed in her jammies, let her "pick out" a book, "read" it to her, and then tucked her in for the night.  Carter was quick to follow along, except he had some different ideas for his baby.  She's already dressed, and he wanted her to sit up in the highchair and listen to her story.  He kept getting "mad" at her because she would fall forward and he would say "baby...you have to listen!" 

Honestly, this was sincerely adorable. 


I love that she picked this book!

yes, her legs really are that long
(did you think she had a chance?)


carefully tucking in baby for the night


Carter "reading" his story to his baby on his special green chair. 


He is just too cute.

goodnight, baby.

I'm watching my babies grow up before my eyes.