Snow

We have had two small snow storms recently. The one we had last week was only about 1.5 inches but the weather had been so cold that the roads were too slick for buses and such so school was cancelled for the last two days before winter break. Macie was sad about not having her class party.

The kids had fun and thankfully none of my kids complained that their toes were cold. We don't have boots/snow pants for anyone and have no intention of getting any either (mean? maybe!). I think of it as practical.

The kids had fun playing with our neighbor Lulu.

Cookies & Houses

Two of our favorite and messy traditions are to make and frost sugar cookies and to decorate gingerbread houses. We also made and painted salt dough ornaments but didn't get any picutres of that.

Christmas Parade

I took Macie, Dom, and Tessa to the Christmas Parade this year. The weather was cold and sunny, much better than the pouring rain last year. Cole stayed home with Claire. We figured that walking 10+ blocks on crutches just wasn't worth it for him. I wondered the same thing myself walking that far with these three. 

After block two Tessa was in full blown melt down mode. She screamed and cried that her legs hurt the whole time and would randomly drop to the ground. We had already missed half of the parade so I basically dragged her the rest of the why (my hands were full with blankets). She was screaming so loud that when we passed one house a lady came rushing out thinking that some kid was lost.

Once we arrived and got settled everyone was happy and I was happy to be there too. We sat right near the start where the balloons and people were waiting for their turn. It was actually the perfect spot.

The kids were so excited to see Santa. We left early last year and didn't get to see him. Tessa kept waving at him annd turned to me and said " Mom, he's not waving at me." Thankfully he turned our way and it was happy ending to the parade. The walk back to the car was calm and no one shed a tear. The parade was the perfect way to start the holiday season!

Things They Say

So I don't forget.

Dominic:

"Mom I'm really going ot miss Papi when he is gone on his trip." And then he buried his head in the couch and got all teary eyed and embarrased. It was so sweet and not typical of him at all. I asked him what he was going to miss. He said playing football and wrestling at night.

"Mom, I think Papi is my best friend."

He walks in on me getting dressed: "Mom, you have knuckles like a gorilla."

After sounding out some words he looks at me and says "My brain is really smart."

Doms came up really close to me and whispered, "Mom, I'm really worried about you." Why? "Becasue you keep putting me in timeout and I don't like it."

Tessa:
Constantly screams mom until she can see me when I am talking to her. Annoying to say the least.

We were eating Oreos today and she took off the top and was holding it gently in her fingers. "I'm eating it like toast mom."

Claire: 16 months - the words she says,
hello
hi
goodbye
eye
mama
please
uh-oh

occasionally she'll say:
football
papi
up

the Littlest Jingle Bell

My kids love this Christmas story that Cole finally made into a video this year.  A heartwarming tale for the ages along the lines of "A Christmas Carol," "It's a Wonderful Life," "Elf" I give you . . . "the Littlest Jingle Bell."



Again, apologies to people who don't know Cole very well....Merry Christmas!!!

Raccoons

About 2 months ago I saw a raccoon crawl up into the eave over the neighbors patio. Then a few days later Tessa spotted it walking across our patio while we were eating dinner.

We didn't see it again until about 2 weeks ago. I was upstairs in the shower and the kids come yelling that the raccoon was by our trash. I told Macie to grab the camera and see if she could get a pic. She took this one and then it made it's way into the trees without making too much of a mess (our garbage can was full).

Last weekend I kept being woken up in the middle of the night to bumps and noises which I thought were the kids. I went to check and everyone was still and sound asleep. All weekend we heard rustling, thumping and nails and paws scurrying around in the eaves. It was quite annoying. On Tuesday morning we were treated to a 20 minute show by a mother raccoon and her 3 babies trying to scale our screen door, jump up on on top of the air conditioner to climb up to the pipe and get in the eaves to sleep. They didn't have any luck on our side of the patio so the mom lead them the next patio over. I could just barely see her shove them up into the hole as I pressed my face against the glass.

It was so fun to watch. They didn't mind at all that we were just staring at them on the other side of the glass. It was a fascinating and neat experience getting to be face to face with these creatures.

One particular night several of the raccoons made there way into the small half wall (we are an outside unit) that houses our bath tub pipes (which has an access door into our room) about 2 feet from our bed. At 2 am those annoying babies crawled there way into the area to play or whatever and it was the noisiest thing we've ever heard. We tried banging on the wall and turning on the bathtub, but they never left or stopped making noise for more than a minute or two. Cole said he wanted to open the panel door and scare them. Not a good idea, thankfully he didn't. After an hour of unrelenting madness Cole headed to Tessa's bed and I went down stairs to the couch. I didn't fall asleep for at least another hour or more as I could still here them in the wall etc . . . I heard them in this same area several other times during the day and could even hear them meowing (is that what they do?).

The critter guys were called in to catch these guys. It took about a week and half to get them all. They tired to play nice by setting out cages, but they never got them that way. They finally had to put a trap up in the hole the coons climb in. That did the trick. Unfortunately I happened to walk downstairs two nights in a row as a raccoon got nabbed and made it's deathly screech. Kinda sad, but not really. At least the trap was by the neighbors patio door and not ours.


It was quite an eventful 2 weeks with those critters around. The kids loved it all, even seeing them dead in the trap. I'm just glad they are gone now!

What's Your Favorite Healthy Snack?

Sugar overload is upon us and I love it and hate it! I LOVE to eat sweet/chocolatey goodies, but hate the feeling of the over eating of the sugary stuff. (You know that bloated tummy ache feeling, right? It happens way too much.)

If I'm hungry or tired or stressed or happy or loney or content I hands down go for the sweet goodies first. I probably just shouldn't buy and make so much of that stuff, but I'm not ready to be that dramatic. I'm just needing some help coming up with some new healthy snack/lunch ideas that will curb my appetite that is always craving the sweets first.

So I'd love to hear your favorite simple healthy snack ideas! You'll help a chocolate addit out won't ya?!

Here are a few of my fav snack ideas:

*Hummus and veggies - this is the best after I've eaten something sweet. The hummus taste kills the sweet tastebuds instantly.

*Cottage Cheese with Tomatoes or fruit - a classic from childhood

* Rice cake with natural peanut butter - this is new for me, but I really like it cuz it fills me up fast. You gotta go with the natural peanut butter as it no aded oils and sugars.

I can think of a lot of other things I like to snack on (goldfish, cheddar cheese, ritz, cereal) but clearly they aren't the best options out there.

I'm not picky so share your ideas - please.