Crazy Talk

My children are incredibly into talking about being crazy or loco. My nanny told me that the other day, she was in the bathroom, and the kids busted in on her and kept trying to get in her lap. She explained that the bathroom was private time, and they couldn't just come running in when she was in there. She said Will and Marie just ran off to play, but Abby looked at her, started backing out of the bathroom, and shouted, "Goodbye, CRAZY." I guess she thought it was crazy that anyone would have private time. I always let them in when I'm in the potty so they must figure that's totally cool.

A few weeks ago, I was putting Will to bed, and Abby kept running in his room. Will kept telling her to leave, and she would just come back. Finally, Will turned to me and said, "Abby es loca." I asked it back, "Si? Abby se esta portando como una loca?" (Yes? Abby is acting like a crazy person?), and he said, "Yeah mama, Abby is crazy." I guess he thought I might need a translation since I was repeating it back in question form. Too funny.

The other day, we were in the car, and there was someone out walking, and Marie said, "Hola crazy lady."

What's with the crazies? I must say it and/or Michele (our nanny) must use the phrase because it's definitely a fave around our house these days.

They just have so many funny things they say now. I'm always cracking up. Will is probably the biggest talker. He's constantly saying something. Lately, he's been obsessed with talking about the time that Mimi fell down at our house. We had a broken chair in the dining room, and she was sitting in it while they had dinner. The thing collapsed, and she fell. The kids were amazed by the whole thing. Then, a couple of nights later, it happened to Bill. Needless to say, that chair went out with the trash this week. Will keeps saying, "Mimi fall down. Silla mala (bad chair)" or "Pop pop Beel fall down. Boo-boo head."

It's also funny how they haven't figured out "you" versus "me." Marie will run up to me and say, "Mama carry you please." They all say, "Mama help you please" when they need my assistance. I guess that milestone comes later.

Last night, after I had put Abby in bed, I heard her scream, "Help mama. I stuck." Maybe she's starting to get it. When I got up to her room, I discovered that she had wrapped her hair around her little finger. She twirls her hair to go to sleep at night, but this time, it was too much twirling. I almost had to cut the hair or amputate the finger--big decision to make. I mean, it's hard to recover from a bad haircut when you are a chick. She's got a bunch of other fingers. Luckily, I was able to wiggle it out.

Okay, I owe some Christmas posts. I need to download those photos and get them up here. Stay tuned....

Cookie Decorating

We went to a cookie decorating party with the kids a couple of weeks before Christmas. It was really funny and a huge mess! These were the final products. They looked pretty good in the end.

Here we are hard at work on the cookies. Marie is reaching in the cup that has M&Ms in it for decorating. However, she just preferred to eat the M&Ms. Abby was being helped by the professional help, and she was totally into it for a while. She was pausing to take a juice break. All that decorating made her thirsty!

After eating M&Ms, Marie proceeded to squirt large amounts of frosting straight into her mouth. Billy said she looked like a Christmas hooker here. All those M&Ms and frosting squirts gave her a serious case of the squirts that night. Lucky for us, she was at Pop-pop's house. Sorry about that, grandpa. :)

Will basically poured sprinkled back and forth out of cups the whole time. That was serious entertainment for him. Then, he started chasing around girls at the party and flirting. He wasn't interested in the cookies.

Here's Abby helping herself to the frosting.

Oh yeah, they wore these aprons to keep them clean. Maybe a face mask and haz-mat suit would have been more appropriate!

Little Mouseketeers

Dada traveled to Orlando on business and returned with ears for everyone! They loved them. They each also got a baby Minnie or Mickey swaddled in a blanket. They decided to make their shopping carts baby strollers. Young imaginations at work!!



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Escapee

A few hours after I tucked Abby into bed and kissed her goodnight, I discovered that she preferred alternate sleeping arrangements.



I found her passed out at the top of the stairs. She made this move silently. I now lock her in her bedroom when I leave.

This always happens in December

Every year, it seems like my blogging becomes very sporadic by end the end of November. The problem is, I get busy online shopping for Christmas, and I neglect my blogging audience. Sorry folks, but there are lots of gifts to buy and not a lot of computer time for me. I'll have to hit the highlights since the last time I blogged.

1. Thanksgiving happened. We went to my dad's for lunch and then, came home for naps. After that, we headed to the Eklund's for an afternoon snack and goodies. By goodies, I mean wine. Yum. We thought the kids would be exhausted, but as usual, they were jacked up and didn't sleep well. Check out my little turkeys below...

2. We still don't sleep. I'm still tired. All the time. Abby is the worst. Sleep training is in full force (again). When she cries, she gets one warning, and if she doesn't quiet down, she goes into the one crib that we still have set up in the office. After a few nights, she got the point, but it took about 4 trips to the crib. The next night, she threw up in the middle of the night, and I brought her to our bed to keep an eye on her. This set us back, and she started to think she could sleep with us again. After that, she ended up in the crib several times the next couple of nights. Still working on it.

Will, on the other hand, is sleeping like a baby.....

3. Speaking of Will, he fell in love this month. We had friends in town over Thanksgiving, and we visited with the Komorners who have a little girl, Katie. Well, the trio fell in love with her. She read to them, put on their leash backpacks and paraded them through the house, ate with them, etc. They asked about her for days. Look at the way Will is staring at her below. Okay, the outfit is bit crazy, but when you have boots that cool, you don't want to cover them with pants. Pull-ups and boots are a fashion statement. All the cool kids are pulling this off this season.

4. Will fell down one day and got a bloody lip. When the girls saw how you treat a bloody lip, they wanted in on that action.

5. Abby and Marie are deciding on career paths.

Marie may opt to be a scientist...see how she mixes stuff up in bowls and cups...or maybe a chef.

Abby may be going to vet school...at UGA, of course. Check her out as she examines Winnie.

Abby reconsidered and decided to be a swami. I'm not sure what a swami does, but this is the appropriate attire, correct? Ballerina jammies and a scarf wrapped around your head.

So Many Family Photos

We've been getting our picture taken all over the place in the past couple of months.

First, we did another photo shoot with Billy's friend, T.J. He did an amazing job with everyone, and we were thrilled with the pictures. These were taken in the Roswell Square.

There were lots of great pictures, and some of the best we saved for our Christmas card. You'll see those in a mailbox near you! We didn't want to spoil the surprise here.

We also had breakfast with Santa in the neighborhood. Abby was so excited to see Santa. She kept waving at him, and saying, "Hi, Santa!" Marie, on the other hand, not at all happy to see the big guy. She wanted me to tell him what she wanted, which was, "Um, choo-choo train rosado." (A pink choo-choo train). Interesting. We were able to convince her to get somewhat close, but she doesn't look happy about it.

Look at how Will and Abby are staring at Santa. They are signing "more" with their hands.

All 3 with Santa--it's a Christmas miracle that nobody is crying, and 2 of them are actually looking at the camera. This is FB profile worthy.

I love the little outfits I got them through Etsy! How cute are they?
Here we all are with Santa. All I want for Christmas is a few good nights of sleep. Is that too much to ask?

We also had a family photo shoot this month. Maureen wanted a picture of the entire family for their Christmas card. Holy cow, that was a lot of us. It was my dad, Maureen, the 4 girls in my family, plus their husbands and a total of 9 kids, the 4 girls on Maureen's side, plus their husbands, and a total of 13 kids. Okay, that's 18 adults and 22 children! They are going to need a very big Christmas card!

Mems' company had their annual holiday shindig, and we were invited to that. The kids were quite a hit there. Will got lots of compliments on his vest, tie, and cap. Look how happy Abby is to see Santa again.

School Pictures

Okay, these were too hilarious not to post. The kids look surprise, frightened, and/or like they might be pooping their pants in their first ever school pictures. The one above was the "best" one of the bunch.

Marie looks very uncomfortable with the poses.
Will, of course, is my little poser.


Marie's face cracks me up in the one above. She's like, "what the eff is going on here?"





















Abby is most likely to have had a butt explosion during these pictures. Look at the way she's kind of hunching over. That look of hers says, "I'm pushing one out and not to be bothered." Really, quite a Kodak moment.

Blast of winter

We got some cold weather which gave us an excuse to bundle up the trio and take cute pictures.








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November Updates

So, for some reason, the way pictures post is now different on the blog. Weird. Sorry if the caption that goes with the picture doesn't match up. I'll try to get this figured out.

Can you see the knot in Abby's hair? She twists and twists her hair to fall asleep, and the result is usually several knots. I've had to cut them out of her hair a few times. Her crazy hair is just getting crazier. She'll wake up, touch her hair, and say, "Abby nudo." Nudo is knot is Spanish.

Michele takes them out walking on their backpack leashes. It's so funny to watch them. I've tried, but they get all tangled up. It's like a pack of wild dogs. I guess Michele is the baby whisperer who can keep them all from getting mixed up.

Above left is the kids at the table drawing. They really like this, but we must use washable markers. It's quite a disaster! They had so much marker all over them after this activity that when I put them in the bath, the water turned grey from all the colors mixing together. Yuck.

Above right is Will removing his sock with his teeth. Nice. What wonderful manners.

Above left is Marie giving herself a yogurt facial. This is currently the latest trend in our house. Another favorite is the oatmeal facial. These treatments keep their skin young and wrinkle-free. It also keeps their hair dirty and crusty.

Here they are looking out the window at the "munkas," which is what they call chipmunks. Michele also set up a bird feeder off the deck, and they watch the "tweet, tweets" (birds) come and go all day. Lots of entertainment for them!

Look how incredibly helpful they are in the kitchen. They like to dry the tupperware that never gets dry in the dishwasher. This is just the first level of training for the chores they'll have to do in the future. Enjoy it now while it's fun!

Baby Jake

My kids love baby Jake! They beg to kiss him, hold him, and squeeze him--sometimes a little too hard. Look how excited they look to hold him. Also, notice that he is a giant baby!!! He looks like he's crushing them.





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