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!