Getting ready for Santa

Christmas Eve is finally here and the kids are anxiously awaiting for Santa's arrival. However, we had to do a few things before he gets here. First we made a gingerbread house. I know that has nothing to do with Santa coming but I thought it would be a fun activity for the kids. They had fun decorating the house and towards the end couldn't resist a couple pieces of candy. Then we had to sprinkle reindeer food on our lawn so the reindeer would have something to munch on. Next we made cookies for Santa (we can't forget about that!). Alex and Ava had a few as well. I told them it was okay because Santa couldn't eat all those cookies himself. Before the kids went to bed we put the cookies in the living room near the Christmas tree. Now we are ready and looking forward to Christmas morning.

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

Ah, the power of advertising. Tonight Alex informed me that he wanted a Chia Pet for Christmas. Seriously? A Chia Pet? He has also been telling me for over a month now that he wants Moon Sand as well and that it 'never dries up'. How convenient. And when I mentioned that I couldn't grow anything, he told me that I should get Aquaglobes because they help water the plants for you. Huh. The child is like a walking advertisement for those As Seen on TV products. Well, as for Alex and his random wish list, I told him that Santa has already gotten all of his presents (which is completely true!), so the Chia Pet will have to wait.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the kids and the Christmas tree. We actually put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving but in my laziness, I am only now just posting it.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving, maybe even a little bit more than Christmas. Why, you may ask? Because it is the only day of the year where you can eat yourself silly and not feel guilty afterward. Anyway, we had a lovely Thanksgiving with Shane's parents and what made it so lovely, besides spending time with them, was that I only had to bring an apple pie (at least it was made from scratch!). I don't have any pictures to share because I forgot my camera but I'm including something Alex did at school. It's a turkey feather which reads: Alex N. is thankful for, and he wrote in 'my Ava'. I thought that was really sweet and it makes me remember how grateful I am for my two little kids and the great relationship they have with each other.

First snow

We here in Valparaiso, IN live in some weird Bermuda Triangle of weather. Whenever there is a storm heading for the Chicago area, we seem to get the worst of it. Today was no different. While Chicago got nothing, we woke up to 6 inches of snow. SNOW! :( In my opinion, November is way too early for that sort of thing. However, I'm sure you can guess what was Alex and Ava's reaction. Yup. SNOW! : ) Of course we had to go outside, it was the first snowfall. The kids had fun playing and sledding down the hill in our front yard but now it is time for the snow to melt and not return until next year (I know, wishful thinking).

Bye-bye, Binkie!

At last! We are done with binkies! Any of you who have children with this attachment disorder know how difficult it can be to rid them of the binkie. I am pleased to say that things went very smoothly with Ava. She still will ask for it at nap time and bedtime, (it's only been 2 days) but I tell her that it's broken and we had to throw it away (she did bite a rather large hole in it). Then she'll say, "All gone?" and I say "Yes, all gone." And that's that. No tears, no tantrum. Now if we can only get her to use the potty...

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. I think it's partly because my birthday is a few days before but also because it ushers in the whole holiday season. As a kid I loved trick or treating (hey, who didn't?) and now I love dressing up my own children and taking them out. We had a fun week filled with pumpkin carving, the annual trunk or treating party at our church, a Halloween party and parade for Alex at his school, and to top it all off, trick or treating in our neighborhood. For their costumes this year, Alex was a Power Ranger, which is kind of funny because he doesn't even watch the show, and Ava was a ladybug. I didn't mean for them to color coordinate so well, it just happened that way.

Oooooooh, GHOSTS!

Did you know that our house is haunted? Yes, it's true. I've never been a big believer in paranormal activity but after seeing these two apparitions, I can no longer deny it. However, I did expect the ghosts to be a little taller.