Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas. All of Michael's family joined us this year. Our Christmas was filled with fun, memories, family, and of course presents.

 

 

On Christmas night we played minute to win it games. Who can pull all the Kleenex's out of the box the fastest and who can unroll the toilet paper roll the fastest. Great games for kids. 

 

 

Happy New Year

 

Gingerbread cookie fun

We made gingerbread cookies this year for Christmas. I have never made gingerbread before so I was a little nervous but they turned out beautiful and very tasty. The kids had a blast doing the decorating. I think we will make this a Christmas tradition.

Did I mention they were tasty.

Children for Sale

One afternoon Ainsley decided to adventure into the linen closet and found a bag of travel size lotion, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste. She decided to open each bottle in our play room. Henry and Esther saw her doing this and instead of informing Daddy they decided to join in and get more stuff from the linen closet. Our whole upstairs smelt like bad toothpaste for days. We had to rent a carpet cleaner to get the carpet clean. Lesson learned; we have a child lock on the linen closet door and if the kids are playing upstairs I lock the bathroom door. Esther and Henry also learned their lesson, just because Ainsley is doing it does not make it right and you better tell Mommy or Daddy if Ainsley is into something she shouldn't be.

Growing up

Ainlsey decided that she was done with her crib the week before Michael's birthday. We would put her to bed and one minute later she would climb out and come walking down stairs. So the crib went out and a big girl bed went in. She is happier now and stays in her bed.

Michael's birthday and Zoo lights

Michael's birthday was back on Nov 19th and it was a lot of fun and the longest day ever. We started a tradition for Michael's birthday when we moved out to Arizona and that is going out to breakfast for his birthday. Our day started with breakfast at Village Inn. After breakfast we dropped Henry off to preschool and went to look for a twin mattress for Ainsley, who decided she was done with her crib. We found a great deal on a mattress and drove home with it strapped to the top of our minivan. Later that afternoon we took what was supposed to be a quick trip to IKEA, can you say quick and IKEA in the same sentence? We went to IKEA to buy a bed to go with the new mattress that we just bought for Ainsley. Of course it wasn't quick because it never is and that night we also had plans to go to the zoo and see the Christmas lights. It was a little past 7pm when we left IKEA and it was going to take about 20min to get to the zoo. This was the only night we were going to be able to go so even though the kids were falling asleep we dragged them to the zoo. It was so much fun. The lights were amazing and even though most of the animals were sleeping it was worth it just to see all the lights. There was an amazing light show over the lake that was coordinated to music and every time it started Ainsley just had to dance even though she was exhausted. I think this is going to become a yearly tradition too; just not all in the same day. The other 2 flashing lights in the background are Esther and Henry.

The Slide

We acquired this slide from our back door neighbors who were getting rid of it. One man's junk is another man’s treasure.

Watching planes

October/Halloween 2012

My Parents came for a visit in October. While they were here we visited an aviation museum. We went on the most perfect day. The day we went there were several old planes that were getting ready to take off to a air show in California. It was really fun watching them start up.

 

 

 Henry is wearing the Flight Suit that we bought for Halloween. He loves to wear it. Somedays he puts it on in the morning and goes to bed in it.

 Halloween. We had so much fun this Halloween. Ainsley was a wood sprite. She is wearing a tinker bell costume I found at good will. Michael's sister gave me a bag of old Halloween costumes and this cute hat was in there. She looked so cute that I had her wear it, and she would keep it on, So I called her a wood sprite.

 Esther went as a fairy and she was an adorable one. When we first bought the wand she wanted to know why it didn't spell like on "Super Why."

 Helicopter pilot Henry.

 The angle of this picture makes Ainsley look huge.

 We went trick-or-treating for about and hour and had more candy then they could carry so we went home and handed out candy. I think Esther liked doing that more than trick-or-treating. I think this will become a new family tradition. It was a beautiful warm night.

Monsoon Rain

We got up this morning with one goal in mind, get the lawn mowed. It was overcast and looked like it might rain but the weather forecast said there was only a small chance of rain today. Well after about 20 minutes of mowing it started to rain or more like down pour, so much for getting the lawn mowed, and since we were all ready wet we decided to go splash in the flood. These pictures were taken about 30 min after it started to rain and at about 8:30am. It was lots of fun but I felt like Ainsley was going to get washed away. After we played we went home for hot chocolate. I guess those rain boots do come in handy.

Turtle Song

Henry loves to sing this song.

Here are the lyrics in case you can't understand what he is saying.

I had a little turtle his name was tiny Tim. I put him in the bathtub to see if he can swim. He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap, now he's home sick in bed with a bubble in his throat.
Bubble, bubble, bubble, POP

August in Review

 Esther and Henry started preschool on August 20th(Esther) and 21st(Henry). Esther goes on Mon, Wed and Fri from 12:45-3:15 and Henry goes Tue and Thurs from 10-12. They love it and argue every day about who's day it is to go.

 I am not sure how one can fall off a thicycle but if one can Henry would be that one. He was going really fast and went flying off the curb and fell right over and got pinned under the bike. This was about 2 weeks ago and the bruise is still there.

 We were just out moving the lawn and not swimming. I think we said that a million times but did they listen, NO. It ended up being naked swimming.

 Esther decided she was going to comb her hair by herself, which usually isn't a problem. I am not sure how she got her hair all twisted up in the comb but after trying everything we could think of we just ended up cutting it out.  :( 

Esther's Birthday

I know I am a little late posting about Esther's birthday but better late than never. Esther's birthday was on July 29th but because it was on a Sunday we celebrated later that week. We took Esther to see her first in the theater movie, Henry came along too. We saw Ice Age: Continental Drift. Esther was so cute sitting in her seat with her popcorn on her lap and pure anticipation on her face; I wish I took a picture. We all enjoyed the movie and had a great time. After the movie we invited Jennifer's family over and had pizza and cake. We then got out the piñata. Esther picked out a princess castle, of course. This is the best video that I took. I was trying to video tape and keep and eye on Ainsley. I wish I had pictures of Esther opening her presents from Michael and I but she and Henry decided not to wait for us. I had wrapped Esther's presens and left them on the counter top. Michael and I were upstairs picking up and Esther and Henry decided to help themselves to the presents. Next thing we know Esther and Henry are in our bedroom showing us what was in the presents. We got Esther her own CD player and a couple of books on CD, the old version with the beep that tells you when to turn the page. She loves them. I think we will have to get her more for Christmas. Over all it was a great birthday. I can't believe she is already 4.