"I don't think Santa is going to stop at our house."

"I don't think Santa is going to stop at our house."--That's exactly what my 4 year old said to me on the way to preschool this morning. We were driving along...having a nice conversation about where Santa lives...where he sits in his sleigh...how the reindeer pull his sleigh...and then she hits me with..."I don't think Santa is going to stop at our house." When I asked her why...she said "because sometimes we're bad." OK...put on the brakes...now I'm thinking my husband and I need to rethink this Christmas-threatening that we've been doing lately--"better be good...Santa's watching." So...we haven't said "you're being bad" to either of our kids, but I guess "you better be good" translates to "you're being bad" in a 4-year-old's mind. To finish the story about this morning...I assured her that Santa would be stopping at our house--now we need to get to writing a letter to Santa so he knows what to bring!

A Christmas Decoration Swap--sounds like fun!

http://www.clemsongirlandthecoach.blogspot.com/

I came across this blog by way of a friend's blog. What could be more fun---a Christmas decoration swap??? Love the idea...can't wait to get started! The deadline to sign up is this Sunday night, November 9--hurry to sign up--you don't have a to have a blog to do it!!

PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSE MOM???????

Today, when I got home from school, the first thing our girl said to me was..."Mama, can I paint my hands and put them on paper?" I asked her if she had done that at school today, and she said she had. So I was thinking..."You've already done that today at school--do we really have to do it again right now?--I just got home!" After a few minutes of "Please mom!!!", I went to get the paint supplies. I'm really glad I did...check out her masterpiece of hand prints and fingerprints. I just helped her squeeze the paint out of the tubes and wash between colors...she did the rest!

Have You Wrangled Any Reptiles Lately?

No really...have you??? We went to Connor's birthday party last weekend. We were entertained by a Reptile Wrangler! He took each animal out one at a time from of a basket--out of a pillowcase tied shut. He had 2 snakes, 1 iguana, 1 alligator, and another reptile (but I forgot it's name)! The kids LOVED it! Our boy is usually the conservative one and our girl is the adventure-seeker, but NOT this time! Our boy loved touching the animals and checking them out up close. Our girl (on the other hand) was right next to me--usually in my lap (I think that was after the Wrangler said the alligator didn't like him as it thrashed around)! After the show, all the kids ran off to play--then that's when the Wrangler proceeds to tell the adults how the 160 lb. python attacked him the week prior! Oh my...I'm glad we weren't on the news!! Happy 6th Birthday to Connor!
Here's that mean 'ol alligator...you can see in his eyes that he's not happy! I guess I wouldn't be too happy with my mouth taped shut either!Here's the mystery reptile...I cannot remember what he's called!Here's a shot of how close we were sitting to the reptiles. Yes...that's the python that attacked the Wrangler last week!
Now this is the kind of reptile I'm talking about--one made of cake and icing!!! Looks like our girl (in the pink bow) likes this "snake" too!

Happy Halloween 2008!

I love Halloween...I think it's because my birthday is close to Halloween--so growing up my birthday treats at school were usually Halloween themed. My mom used to order these sugar cookies from a bakery close to our house. The cookies had a hard-sugar-Halloween decoration on top. My sister always fusses at me because she says I don't remember anything from our childhood...but I do remember those sugar cookies!

So...back to 2008...we all dressed up for trick-or-treating this year. We had our costumes from our Disney trip in Sept. when we went trick-or-treating there...so we pulled them out again! I think it's the first time since Hubby and I have been together that we have dressed up for Halloween. The kids loved it, but our daughter was NOT in favor of my husband's fake-mustache! She kept saying, "Dad...that's disgusting!" Check it out (along with some other pictures):

Darth and Princess Leia heading out to trick-or-treat:Here's one of my favorite things we've done the past few years at Halloween...we have 2 containers---the one on the bottom is labeled "Tricks" and the one on top is labeled "Treats." We give out both!!! The "tricks" are spider rings and other plastic toys-snakes, bugs, etc. The "treats" are all candy! Notice the pumpkin on the bottom-right...that's the one we paid $16 for at the farm. I couldn't bear to carve it!!!I bought this fun orange ribbon this year to use for decoration. I was trying to decide where to put these bows...they ended up on the mantel bringing Halloween cheer!Halloween night ended with me driving to the drug store to pick up antibiotics--oral and a cream. I carved so many pumpkins (at school)...that I got an infection on my finger! When I started having pain run up my arm...my sister insisted I call the doctor. It was feeling much better this morning! No pain...no Halloween fun! I hope you had a safe, fun night!!!

A day at the farm

On Sunday afternoon, we went to a local farm for a birthday party. We had the best time, and the weather was perfect--seems like it's gone from summer to winter in our area lately, but the weather was nice on Sunday. The kids had the best time on the hayride, shooting corn from the "Corn Cannon," racing rubber ducks with water pumps, riding 4-wheeled pedal carts, jumping in corn kernels, riding in a cow train, and picking out pumpkins-whew--I'm telling you--lots of fun stuff at the farm! Here are some photos from our fun day:

On the hayride...

Shooting the "Corn Cannon"...
Riding the cow train...
Picking out pumpkins... (we ended up with $32 worth of pumpkins; 2 large and 5 small)

A fun day at the farm (and a new family photo for my profile!)...

Thanks Lily for a great time at your party!

Our baby is NOT a baby anymore!!

Somehow I blinked and my baby is now four years old!!!!! We've been telling her all day about the day she was born. Here are a couple of thoughts from a four year old...

1. She's concerned that she was born at the hospital--I assured her that all babies are born in a hospital.

2. She insisted that she wouldn't be 4 until her birthday party started (despite the fact that her party was at 12:30pm and she was born around 8am).

Here are some pictures from her party:

Look at the gumballs--she's pointing to a pink one for her and a blue one for her brother

The look of excitement--anxiously awaiting lots of toppings to come her way on a lazy-susan in the middle of the table.

Cupcakes too--you can see Belle in this photo from her pull-a-part cupcake cake mentioned in the last post.

Check out this sugar straw. You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces when they got a mouthful of the sour sugar--oh wow!