Christmas 2010

The close to another wonderful Christmas is here. We anticipate this one day all year long and it is the fastest day of the year! This year I blinked and it was gone:( We had friends over on Christmas Eve and had a terrific night. When you don't have family nearby, it is such a blessing to have great friends to share the holidays with. The kids were all up way too late, even Joelle. They got to open their gifts from Grandma Pratt and Grandpa Bob and Grandma Ginny on Christmas Eve. The kids loved being able to open some presents early. After opening the presents, everyone went to bed. I woke up at about 7am. The house was still, not a creature was stirring, not even the kids. I quietly got out of bed (so I did not wake Steve) and went downstairs. I had a cup of coffee and a chance to relax a moment before the chaos hit. I actually got more than a moment, Steve finally had to wake the kids up at about 8am. I got Joelle up and she was NOT happy, but as soon as I said that Santa came and left presents to open- she popped right out of bed. It was a great morning. The kids all loved their gifts and we spent the rest of the day eating, playing, and resting. I blinked and it was time for bed.

Mom......Mom......Mom.......MOM!!!!!

So, last night Joelle went to bed very well. We showed her an email that Santa had sent her and the email talks about how she is supposed to go to bed when she is told. She has been going to bed really well since she saw that little movie. After about an hour, Joelle began calling Mom, Mom, Mom!!! I went up to her room and opened the door. I saw her laying on her bed with her diaper in her hand. I asked her what she was doing and this was the conversation that followed:
Joelle: My diapers all full.
Me: What happened?
Joelle: My diapers full mom.
Me: Why didn't you go pee in the potty?
Joelle: Cause I pee in my diaper. (duh)
Me: Okay, let's get a new diaper on. Don't take this off okay?
Joelle: Okay.
Problem solved right? Wrong
At approximately 4 am I woke up to a quiet voice calling my name over the monitor. I got up and went to her room. She was again laying on her bed, only this time she looked a little disgusted as she whined, It's all wet mom. At this point I noticed that she no longer had a diaper on, but a pair of underwear! Funny, cause I put on a diaper.
Me: What happened to your diaper?
Joelle: It's in the garbage.
Me: Why is it in the garbage?
Joelle: Cause I pee in it.
Me: Well, look what happens when you pee in your underwear. You need to leave you diapers on.
Joelle: Okay mom.
Hopefully tomorrow night she will!

It's Just the Icing on the Cookie

Today was the day for decorating cookies! You may notice (or not) that all of the cookies are circles. There is a reason for this. I am not a baker. I have tried to make cookies from scratch way to many times and they just don't work. Especially roll out sugar cookies. Usually we get the Shapes cookies from the store, but when you buy cookies at the last minute, they are usually gone (note to self- buy cookies earlier next year)! Besides, everyone knows the best part of making cookies is decorating, not the actual baking. As you can see the kids had a good time.


David was the power icer. He probably iced 3/4ths of the cookies on his own.

Megan was slow but steady in her icing. She decorated each with the utmost care.

Joelle grossed her brother and sister out by licking the knife and then continuing to put icing on the cookies.



This is the final product. I will have to admire the work the kids did and keep this photo close at hand, because they are not going to last long:)

Joelle is 3 Years Old Today!

I am not sure exactly where to begin...... it seems like only yesterday that I was waiting in the recovery room, after my C-section, for Joelle to make her first real appearance to me. I remember Steve coming in and I looked frantically past him to see my baby girl, but she was not there. A few minutes later my wait was finally over. I had seen her in the operating room, but they took her away right away to do all the testing and to clean her up, so I really did not get more than a quick look at my beautiful baby. I have been looking forward to this birthday and dreading it all at the same time. I love the fact that Joelle is growing up and turning into this intelligent, mature, and outgoing child, but every year that passes makes my memories of her infancy harder to remember. I think that since she is the only child I have been able to experience that with, I want to remember and relish every moment that I can. Joelle went through a lot this year. In January she began getting ear infections that would NOT go away. She was on medication non stop for 4 months. And thank goodness she took her medicine and rarely complained. In April she finally got tubes in her ear. I was worried about how that was going to work since she loves swimming in the pool. She did great. She wore her ear plugs and never fussed about them. She was a trooper! In early December we discovered after months of dry coughs that she probably had some type of allergies. So, here we are again with tons of medications- she takes a pill every morning and a liquid Zyrtek every night. Sometimes she still wakes up coughing and I have to give her cough syrup just so she can sleep. It is at the point now that she will look at me and say,"Mom, I need my medicine Mom." She is such a good girl. She deserved to have a GREAT birthday. We went to an indoor amusement park! Joelle was so excited for her party. On the drive over to the park, she fell asleep in the car! I took her out of the car and she cuddled like she was going to go back to sleep on my shoulder, and I said, we are at your party. She looked at the building and her eyes lit up. She was so excited. We walked in the door and she did not know where to go first. There was a carousel, mini roller coasters, a train ride, and lots of video games! She had a blast. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Here is Joelle opening her presents:) She got to wear a birthday princess sash and a sparkly crown!




We left the amusement park and came home to have "cake" a huge cookie!! I so love this little girl!!

Greetings

Happy Holidays everyone. We have had a wonderful year. I hope that 2011 brings more good things to come. David turned 13 and had his Bar Mitzvah in September. He also started junior high in July. He was one of only seven 7th graders to make the flag football team in the fall. They had a great season and ended up playing in the conference title game.

Megan turned 11 and is in the 5th grade and enjoying school. She joined a group called Battle of the Books. They read 4 books per quarter and then get quizzed on them. Megan's group won the first battle by answering all the questions correctly. Megan has also joined the Newspaper Club and now writes for the Fulton Newspaper. She played softball in the spring and soccer in the fall. Oh yeah, and she plays the clarinet in the band! She has been keeping us very busy this year!

Joelle has also had a big year. She had tubes put in her ears in April. She became potty trained in October during my fall break:) Shortly after that her crib was converted into a "big girl" bed. She has been doing really well and has only gotten out of bed and come out of her room 3 or 4 times. We recently discovered that she may have some allergies so she is taking medicine every morning and night.

We hope that everyone is doing well. Cheers to a wonderful Christmas and a Terrific New Year!

Tournament Time!

Megan's soccer team had a tournament this weekend. They played 2 games on Saturday and 1 game today. All the girls on the team take turns playing each position so they all know the game and positions. Megan has always been a terrific keeper so this season it was a little disappointing that she did not get more playing time as a keeper. The up side to this was that she was able to score some goals this year! After losing the first game, Megan got a lot more playing time at keeper:) She is a born keeper. She sacrifices her body and dives after the ball, paying no attention to the fact that other players are coming at her face with their spikes!

Visiting Grandma Pratt

Last weekend we went to LA to see the family. The kids had not seen Grandma Pratt in over 2 months so they were very happy to see her. David and Megan got to hang out with their cousin Xavier and Joelle hung out with Grandma and Auntie Charmaine. Joelle was a total grammy's girl. She was non-stop Grandma, Grandma, Grandma. She sure kept Steve's mom on her toes through the weekend. When it was time to go to bed the first night we were there, I was getting the pack and play set up in Grandma's room and Joelle did not want to sleep in it. She looked at me and looked at Grandma and said, "I wanna sleep in Grandma's bed." And of course, Grandma moved over in her bed and made plenty of room for Joelle. It was so wonderful to see Joelle snuggled up with her Grandma. Lately Joelle has been obsessed with Looney Tunes. It is all she wants to watch on the DVD. She watched the movie 3 times on the way to LA! Charmaine remembered that they had a Tweety Bird and Putty Tat stuffed animals. Joelle loved them! She has slept with them every night since she got them. It is so hilarious to hear her say "I thought I saw a Putty Tat, I did, I did, see a Putty Tat." Oh and on the drive home, she watched Looney Tunes the whole way again!

Holiday Party in LA

WOW, can I just say how much I love going to LA for the weekend for Steve's work party. Not only do we get to see family, but we get a kid free night! We left the kids at Grandma's and went to the Hotel Sofitel. It is right across the street from the Beverly Center. We checked in early enough that we got to take a nap before the party. The party was terrific. It was at the Pacific Design Center. We had a huge banquet room and Wolfgang Puck Catering did the food. It was so nice to have a night out. We are terribly lucky that the owner of Steve's company believes in rewarding his workers the way he does. I am thankful because it gives Steve and I an opportunity to have a nice night out and enjoy each other.