Breaking the news

The kids are finally settling in and happy at daycare.  Eve talks about her teacher and classmates all the time and Lex even started making friends.  Needless to say I’m wondering how they will be affected by me no longer working and them no longer going to daycare.  I told Eve this morning that I wouldn’t be working any more and she asked if I could come to daycare with her :)  When I explained the whole situation she said, “oh,ok.”  Lex’s response… “Great! Now I can come home with you in the afternoons!”  They are such awesome kids.  I still wonder if I’m going to feel the effects down the road, but we’ll see.  I know they have fun there and it’s a great social opportunity for them.  I’m also thinking of asking Eve’s teacher if she babysits.  We need a new babysitter and both of the kids love her (and I know she’s gone through background checks already! :) )  One more week and thus ends another chapter in this crazy life.

Merry Christmas!

I’m a little behind here, I know, and I’m going to take the lazy way out and put up a big photo collage.  I may get motivated and post more pics later, but this is all I’ve got for now.

We had a fun, hectic Christmas, as usual.  Santa was kind and generous to all of us, the family was happy, the food was plentiful and the wine was flowing.  What more can you ask for!

We are now trying to get back to routine.  I threw out all of the cookies and candy on Sunday night, after a little binge of my own.  The kids were not happy to discover the chocolate gone on Monday.  Detox is not pretty.  At one point Lex was laying on the bathroom floor, kicking the cabinets, and yelling “I want chocolate!”  I simply replied, “You and me both kid, but it’s gone.”  Sigh.  Today they were back in daycare and happy enough.  I went back to work to discover they are cutting contractors (ie: me!) and tomorrow will be my last day.  Oh well.  On to bigger and better things for 2010!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Holiday playdates

Lex has requested to have two friends over for playdates during vacation.  The first came over this morning and the next will be next week.  He was so excited to see his friend and show her all of his toys.  Her mom dropped her off and left, a first in our playdate world.  She was chatty with Lex, but very quiet with the rest of us.  It was cute.  I had to nudge Lex a few times and remind him to play with his friend, but overall he was a great host.

Coloring

Coloring together. The decided to share a chair, even though I arranged the chairs such that they both could reach the crayons.

Holiday weekend

We had a fun-filled holiday weekend!  On Friday afternoon we went to a kid party at Michelle’s house.  She had snacks and played the classic holiday TV shows and we envisioned kids in PJs, cuddled under blankets with snacks and shows.  Instead we got 7 kids in various forms of dressed and undressed, running wildly through the house, making brief pit-stops for food and TV before off and running again.  It was great!  Everyone came home feeling festive and exhausted!  On the drive home Lex proposed we go out to dinner.  Alan was working late and I had no dinner plans, so I made them promise to behave and they did!!  We had a nice dinner at Panera (surprise!) and a nice, easy bedtime at home.  It was great!

Eve watching TV

Eve played for awhile and then settled herself down with several plates of snacks. These little chairs are very popular with the little kids.

Kids watching TV

I didn't get many pics of them running around, but here is a nice one of them watching TV for a few minutes. This is actually just half of them, the others were still going.

Saturday we scurried and cleaned and prepared for our annual cookie party.  This year involved four families with seven kids.  Very little baking actually took place, but everyone baked beforehand and there was no shortage of cookies.  Everyone (except me!) did an awesome job decorating the countless cookies that were prebaked and ready for “the kids to decorate.”  :)  The kids, and everyone else, had a blast.  At one point Lex, who was working quietly with Julie to decorate cookies, stood up and announced loudly to me that he is decorating cookies, putting sprinkles on them, and then eating them.  Oh joy!  Once again everyone was throughly exhausted by the end of the night and we had more easy bedtimes.

Decorating cookies

The decorating begins

Sweet girls

Eve and Molly on Jim's lap

The whole crowd

This is just about the whole crowd, minus a few grownups.

Blue drool

Blue drool? Time to remove her from the cookie table!

Caitlin

Caitlin - Isn't she adorable?!

Cookies!

Cookies! These were just the gingerbread cookies that were being decorated. I didn't get a final photo of ALL the cookies.

Molly

Molly - so sweet!

Hugs

Molly really wanted a goodbye hug. Eve was a bit reserved, but after Molly followed her around for several minutes saying "Molly hug. Molly hug Eve," Eve finally gave in and submitted to hugs :)

Take-down hugs

The hug lasted for awhile! Molly hugged Eve right over into Julie's lap and they just stayed there while we all chatted. They are so cute!

Games in the living room

Alan did a good job entertaining the kids with games in the living room. I think he had the older kids all playing poker :)

On Sunday, Alan and I took advantage of our local babysitter, home from college for Christmas, and we went out to dinner and some final Christmas shopping.  We came home to a happy babysitter and two sleeping kids.  That was nice.  A few hours later we awoke to a crying baby (toddler, really) who had just thrown up all over her bed.  Sigh.  She did a great job of staying in bed (usually she gets out of bed and leaves a trail across her room and into our) but I’ve begged and pleaded with her to stay in bed and call me.  She did a very good job of that, unfortunately this time she must have been laying near the side of the bed because it was all down the edge and pooling on the floor.  Oh well.  We knew when we installed those white carpets that they wouldn’t last long!  Fortunately the sickness didn’t seem to last long either.  She slept in a bit this morning and seems to be at about 90% now.  UNFortunately, Lex took a very long nap this afternoon and woke up feverish.  He went back to bed a few hours later, on his own request (unheard of!!!!) and I’m hoping and praying for a vomit-free night!  I’m also hoping this all slides past and they are both feeling top notch for Christmas!!!

Now off to do some Santa work and then bed.  Sweet, sweet bed, how I miss thee.

New toy

Eve opened an early Christmas present and it was a huge hit. They have gotten very creative with it in the past few days. Thanks Jim, Julie, and Molly!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI4Gm_2urSc&feature=player_embedded

Daycare

I’ve been thinking about work lately and whether or not I should continue with my two days a week.  The job is fine and covers the costs of daycare, but not much more.  Working makes it more difficult to schedule appointments, lessons, and playdates, but the kids seem to finally like daycare and I hate to mess up the routine.  Today I felt very reassured in my decision.  I dropped Lex at school and then brought Eve to daycare.  We missed one day last week and I guess her teacher missed the other because when we came in the whole room was excited to see Eve.  I was worried about her fussing because she woke up late (really late!) and ate breakfast in the car, but when she saw the Christmas tree (much nicer than ours!) and a room full of smiling faces, she lit right up.  When I dropped Lex off after school he saw some kids sledding and decided (rightfully) that it was his group because he saw some of his friends there!  He has daycare friends!  Wheee!!  He made school friends quickly but seems to be slower at making daycare friends (for reasons I fully understand).  It made me really happy to see him happy to see them.  He gave me hugs and grabbed a sled and as I drove away I saw him sledding on his belly down a little hill and laughing!!  These are experiences they don’t get at home and I’m really happy that we’ve found a daycare that everyone likes.  It’s been a long, hard road, as you regular readers know, but I think it was worth it and now we can enjoy the benefits.  Whew!  Just in time for Christmas break ;)

Date night!

All dolled up for date night.  Eve put on her pretty Christmas dress from Grammy Lynn and Lex... well, Lex stayed in the PJs he wore all day (even to school!)  I reminded myself its the company that counts, not the clothes :)

All dolled up for date night. Eve put on her pretty Christmas dress from Grammy Lynn and Lex... well, Lex stayed in the PJs he wore all day (even to school!) I reminded myself its the company that counts, not the clothes :)

We had a very special, parent-child date night tonight.  Lex and I went for haircuts, dinner, and Christmas shopping while Alan took Eve out to dinner.  Alan was excited to take her out for Indian food (I hate Indian food!) but I think they may have ended up at Chilis.  Eve’s most exciting moment, according to her, was when the cake came while they were in the bathroom.  (I presume it came to the table, not the bathroom).  She was very excited about and told me the story several times.

Lex and I had a great night.  Haircuts for both of us and he was awesome!  He sat in the chair for a new lady and even let her use the clippers.  Then he explored the place, quietly and calmly, while I got my hair cut.  He was even saying hello to random people and chatting it up with the stylist.  :)  So cute!!  Then we went to the toystore where I was able to sneak a few little things for him into my purchase.  He was absorbed with the cool train table.  Then to dinner and the bookstore, where we discovered TONS of TOYS!!  He was thrilled!  But tired, and ended up sitting quietly reading books while I browsed.  It was such a sweet night and he was sooo happy to be on a date with mommy that he was on his best behavior.  I loved it!!