Merry Christmas!

We've scattered our Reindeer Dust in our yard,
we've set out our cookies, milk & carrots ...
we're all ready for Santa.

Poor Daddy got re-routed & wasn't able to be with us as we had hoped. But he told us he'll keep an eye out for Santa's sleigh while he's out flyin' around. Hopefully, Santa won't get re-routed! ;)

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Davis's Christmas Program

The Pre-K & Preschool put on a Christmas Program & Davis was one of the 3 Kings! He even had a line! Which I missed getting on video... I had just set the camera down to grab little sister who was distracting brother by standing in the middle of the aisle 1/2 way to the front fussing & pointing at Davis, who in turn was yelling & motioning "Go BACK, LIBBY! Go BACK, LIBBY!" I finally put down the video camera so that I could get her when I heard "And the 2nd King said..." :( There's only so much you can do when juggling a digital camera, a video camera & an unruly 21 month old.

But Davis did a great job delivering his line. :) I was so proud of him! We then enjoyed mingling with his friends & their parents while eating cookies & milk.

Davis's Bowling Party

When we moved here last year, some things got put in random places. Well, this bowling set was one of those things. :) I believe we got this from my friend Kristen as a "big brother" gift for Brett when Davis was born! The boys have played with it a bunch since then... but it's been M.I.A. since the move of August '07.

Last night I found it! It's kept in a purple bag & I just casually set the bag out in the boys' room, leaning against their toy box ... waiting for them to notice it. (it's more fun that way - they love making discoveries) This morning I woke up to bowling pins being knocked down, electronic giggles from the "Silly Pins", and the boys cheering each other on, etc. I smiled, then rolled over & went back to sleep for a bit. When the boys came downstairs, Davis had a big announcement for me.

"Hey MOM! WE DON'T HAVE TO HAVE MY BIRTHDAY PARTY AT THE BOWLING ALLEY." [that was one of the ideas for his Birthday Party last April] We don't need to GO to the bowling alley! We can have the party HERE!" then he went on & pointing to the bathroom he said "And if anyone needs to go to the bathroom, they can go in there!!!!! And if anyone gets tired [pointing upstairs to the bedrooms], they can go up there!!!! And anyone who wants to do bowling can do it in the Living Room!!!!!!!!"

Problems solved. Party planned. We all get turns at the Silly6Pins Game! And the bathroom & beds are open to everyone. Just add cake & it's the perfect party! :) [I love Davis & his big ideas!!!!!!!]

BOYS DAY 2008

The boys had a day off school last week ... but guess which day it was? Monday. Libby's only day of the week that she goes. :) I felt bad putting her in school that day... but it was only her 5th time going or so, so I knew it'd be good for her.

So, I decided to do something fun with the boys. I let them choose where to go to lunch by looking at the websites. They passed up the opportunity to go to the T-Rex Cafe & the Rainforest Cafe and decided on Fritz's Train Restaurant. It was a HIT. The boys hadn't been there in a couple years, so it was like new to them.

Fritz's has been around in Kansas City for over 50 years. A man devised a system with TRAINS delivering food, when his restaurant was dealing with a shortage of workers. (so cool) You call in your order using the telephone (which concerned me since I had lost my voice the day before - but it worked out). There's a track system that snakes around the entire restaurant & each table has its own elevator. When your food has arrived, a flag comes down to "bump" your food tray off of the train's carrier, then it comes down the elevator to your table! This place is soooo fun. The boys & I actually stood in a line (about 50 strollers long) for 45 minutes before we could get seated. I was actually glad Miss Libs wasn't with us because we wouldn't have lasted that long. But the boys were anxious & very patient!

Photo of the train delivering our lunch!

(and the other train passing by in our window!)

We lived it up. I even upgraded the boys kids meals to include CHOCOLATE SHAKES! Oh & when the hostess tried to sit us at an interior table (with no "window view") after passing by an empty table with a window view, I politely asked if we could sit by the window (there are trains that pass by the windows, too). Nothing but the BEST for my boys. As I sat across from them watching them drink their chocolate shakes, wearing their train conductor hats, enjoying every bit of their outing ... it occured to me that this was the 1st time probably since Libby was born (March 5, 2007) that I had done something FUN with JUST THE BOYS. I no longer felt guilty that Libby had to go to school that day. :)




We then walked around, took a peek at Santa (didn't get photos taken - HEY I didn't forget we were missing our little girl!), looked at the Gingerbread Village and even went to The Candy Store where I let the boys pick out a treat. Davis got mini peanut butter cups, Brett got green gummi frogs & Mommy got red cinnamon bears. We took our candy outside to eat by the fountains.

We had a great time. We still had one more fun thing left, though, and that was to pick up little sister from school. :) The boys thoroughly enjoyed seeing Libby's school for the 1st time! They might have even liked that as much as their chocolate shakes! :)

My Sister - Better than Martha

Our Little Romeo

This past Thanksgiving, my sister's mantra was "Martha doesn't live here anymore". :) She just meant that this Thanksgiving, things might not be decorated like they would've pre-Roman, she might not have been able to make the 32 appetizers & 9 gourmet side-dishes as she could have pre-Roman. Yes, Roman has taught my sister many, many things ... and one of them, is when you become a parent, a lot of life's PERFECTION goes to the wayside.

My sister is ultra talented with cooking & decorating - she really is a Martha. This is their 1st Christmas with Roman ... which is super exciting [don't worry we're not missing the point of that], but it also means Becky's Christmas decorations had to be altered. Because, let's face it, not all of us are blessed with children who mind their parents when they say "No no touch. Those are Mommy's pretties." Not my children, not most of my friends' children & not Roman.

Roman is not the quiet, reserved type who quietly reads books, or imaginatively acts out scenes with his Fisher Price Little People Parking Garage [that we got him last year when he was still just a twinkle in his parents' eyes], or watches a movie from beginning to end, or a 22-minute episode of Handy Manny for that matter.

What Roman is, however... is a BOY, that's TWO, with enough SPUNK to share with the rest of us [& he'd still have enough for himself]. He is adorable, so fun & so confident ... as my mom says, he's a "born leader". He will go far in life... and we all know that. He will go far, he will get there quickly & faster than an adult man in full stride. So sometimes, it's just easier to strap him down in his 5-point harness strap on his stroller. [Which I think he can still get out of? Did I mention he is clever?]

My sister Becky is not the type who 1/2-way celebrates the holidays. She lives & breathes the holidays with all of her 5 senses. She doesn't want anyone to come over to her house for a party or get-together and not enjoy themselves, nor does she ever want a guest to feel like the red carpet wasn't rolled out for them. [see Exhibit A]

But what my sister is, however, is a new mom, super-creative, and is someone who is learning every day to pick & choose her battles. One of which is... giving up the Christmas Tree this year. Does that mean giving up Christmas Decorations? Oh hale no. [as she would say]

See here... and Martha, eat your heart out!

P.S. for a funny Roman story, check back soon!

Making Lists for Santa

A few weeks ago [yeah - totally catching up...] the boys had sooo much fun going through toy catalogs looking for fun things to put on their wish lists. :) I taught them how to do it... circling what it was they wanted, then putting their 1st initial by the item.

Funny, I didn't get any pictures of them circling items that they themselves wanted... but there was certainly a lot of items picked out for B & D. But what I loved... was that they found stuff for their dear sister & circled it, putting an L on the item.


And they even found stuff for me, giving it an M for "Mommy". [so sweet - it was a jewelry box with tons of jewelry!]



Davis cracked me up... what a tease. He circled a girls' Bratz bike & put a B {with a total smirk on his face}. This did make Brett mad. Ahhhhh somehow reminds me of how I often teased my older sister. :) Davis is so much like me sometimes, it scares me.


Anyway, this was so fun watching the boys making their 1st real wish lists. In years past, I've always just written down what I THINK they'd enjoy. But this was so much more fun!

P.S. Here are some pics from our 1st Snow... Sorry, had to spread the wealth around the blogs. Click here.

Finally, at long last...

Here is Davis's Turkey you've ALL been waiting for.

Sorry...

Long time, no post.  Sorry!  :)  Busy busy busy... I will post some fun Thanksgiving pics soon!

Also - we sincerely apologize to Mr. Brett Twenter & Mr. Davis Twenter... we mistakingly gave Davis credit for the "Potato Turkey" & it has been brought to my attention that it was indeed Brett's creation.  Expect a new turkey a la Davis very soon.  :)