Jamin's 6th birthday

Yesterday, Jamin had the "best birthday ever."

We brought cupcakes to his kindergarten class to celebrate.

He got some great presents: Mario & Yoshi stuff, baseball equipment, art supplies, and new card games.

Jamin selected macaroni & cheese, fruit salad, and root beer for his birthday dinner. For dessert, he wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Thanks to everyone who made his day extra special!

Jamin turns 6

Our big boy is 6 today. As Jamin ate his breakfast of choice (applesauce), I asked him a few questions.

1.What is your favorite color?
Blue

2.What is your favorite toy?
Littles, Skittles, and Spotty (his stuffed cougars and stuffed dog)

3. What is your favorite tv show?
Curious George

4. What is your favorite game?
Mario Super Sluggers

5. What is your favorite animal?
Dogs and cats

6. What is your favorite song?
Bingo

7. What is your favorite book?
Bounce (by Doreen Cronin)

8. Who are your best friends?
Brock, Milo, Luke, and Zac

9. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Jump on the trampoline

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A football player


Happy birthday, Benjamin! We sure love you.

Snow day

Our first serious winter storm hit yesterday. We played in the snow all morning.

In the afternoon, we watched Christmas movies, snuggled under blankets, and munched on popcorn.

The five of us piled into the hot tub once Scott finished shoveling the driveway after work. By that time, the snow had turned to rain.

I Love You Because

by Jamin, age 5

I love you because

I like you Mama

You are my friend

Mouse blud (?)

Do you like Yoshis

I love Yoshis

Do you like to play the Wii

I like you

Do you like poop (??)

Do you like Mario

I like Mario

I love Mario The End

In the trenches

This little guy is sick. He has a bad ear infection; his ear drum has been bulging (on the verge of rupturing) for 4 days. Travis is usually so easygoing that having him cry all day and night for nearly a week has been tough. Poor boy.

So we're laying low. Our days consist of watching movies, coloring, reading books, making smoothies, dozing off on the couch, and crossing our fingers that his amoxicillin starts to help soon.

Two things

1. I loathe snow.

2. Our kids love it.

This winter has been particularly dry. We've even had a few warm spells. (By warm, I mean a high of 50.) This lack of snow means less shoveling, scraping, and bundling. It also means that our boys huddle together by the window each morning, searching for any sign of the white stuff.

Last week, Mother Nature listened: we woke up to just enough snow to play with, and it melted by noon. Excellent.

Side note: Libby wears this hat and these boots 24/7. We pry them off of her at bedtime each night.

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve eve

We made paper snowflakes,

baked,

and drove around to check out Christmas lights. When we had ventured about 30 minutes away from home, both boys announced that they had to go to the bathroom. Now. They were in their pajamas, so we made a mad dash home and called it a night.

Christmas Eve

We wrapped presents, baked more, and prepared for Nanay & Papa's Christmas Eve extravaganza.

They put together a scrumptious antipasto spread. Then, Papa read The Night before Christmas, and we played games and exchanged gifts. We had a blast! I was too busy stuffing my face and holding sweet Cami to take any pictures.

Once everyone left, the kids opened their Christmas pajamas. They went to bed, then Scott and I finished wrapping, set out presents, and gave each other our gifts. That's a tradition we both treasure.

Christmas

At 5:30 in the morning, we awoke to chatter coming from the boys' room. We all stumbled out of bed to see if Santa came.

After opening presents, we ate our traditional panettone breakfast and got ready for church.

I envisioned the children smiling in front of the tree for Christmas pictures. This is the closest we got:

Our church service was beautiful: lovely music and moving words.

The rest of the day, we rested, played, watched movies, and ate... followed by an early bedtime. We had a very merry Christmas!