Happy Birthday to ME!

Today I turned 38.

It didn't bother me one bit. In fact I think 38 will be an awesome year! Dare I say I feel content? After 3 years of living in limbo I am finally feeling settled. We are settling nicely into our new house as boxes are unpacked and various things are placed in "storage"...not "storage til we buy a house" or "storage cause we have no place to put it here" but storage til we need it in our new house type storage. Does that even make sense? Probably not?

Anywho. I took my best girl and headed out for an early morning pedi. I even let her pick our color - OPI Excuse Moi!




She also gave me a really sweet gift. It is a necklace that when put together is a heart that says "Mother Daughter". My half is red, my favorite color, and Izzy's is pink, her favorite color. She wanted to buy it with her own money (a gift card she got for Christmas) but Pete was so touched that he paid for it and she was able to get herself something. Rightfully so as I was touched she wanted to spend her money on me. (we are holding the necklace together below)


My afternoon was spent with 4 kids. Nothing says "happy birthday" like agreeing to take on two extra kids. Drew had his buddy Jack over (his sister broke her arm and needed to get a cast on) and Izzy had her friend Brianna over. 9/10 times it is easier to have friends over and this proved to be one of those times. My most difficult task was sitting outside so the kids could ride bikes/scooters...no worries though cause I caught up with my back issues of "US Weekly".

After the kids friends left and Pete returned home we headed out to the Festival of Lights. This festival is big in this town. Actually it isn't even in this town, but it's that big that it transpires across the neighboring towns :) We drove through a 3 mile stretch (I think) of lights/scenes of holiday happiness. There is a Santa's Workshop area to visit at the halfway point, but because my kids weren't aware of all the fun this area offered we chose to skip it. From what I've been told you can visit with Santa (up til the 25th), make smores, take a train ride, shop and do a few crafts. Next year we will let the kids know how much more fun this little gem of a place can be.

Once at home I got to open a couple more presents and have cake. My choice is always the same...DQ ice cream cake. In addition to Izzy's necklace, I to a candle from Drew and a new lens for my camera from Pete. I ALSO picked myself up a new pair of super stylish Ray Ban aviator glasses and my very generous mom got me a pair of Frye boots.





...and this is Izzy taking pictures of me with the itouch she got for Christmas...


38 ain't startin off too bad...

December - Izzy

Where did our December go?

Wait, it is coming back to me...we were moving (for the 2nd December in a row), trying to prepare for Christmas, packing up one house, unpacking at another house, putting up holiday decorations (indoor and out), attending parties, entertaining family/friends, and most importantly trying not to miss out on the joy of the season!

Since I already posted pictures of Drew's holiday concert it seems only fitting that we cover some of Izzy's December highlights.

Izzy had 4 hip hop concerts she was involved in around town. One was at a retirement facility, two were at daycare centers and the big performance was downtown at Marion Square. While we have been less than impressed with the dance company (she will begin at a new place in Feb) she certainly has loved dancing with two of her best friends (who will also be switching dance companies as well). *and I use the term "company" very very loosely! At age 6 she just wants to shake her groove thing to some fun music ...nothing too serious.









This is a video of her dance at Marion Square. Since I can't see her eyes I am not sure when she stops at the beginning if it is because she is confused, looking for me (I moved spots to video) or possibly had a seizure. No biggie though - she eventually figures out what step she should be on.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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and this is how Drew could be found passing the time during all the other dance numbers



I was in charge of Izzy's school holiday party, and was fortunate that many parents offered their time to help make it a huge success! Our theme was "Around the World" and it timed perfectly with Izzy's teacher's unit studying the same. It was really really neat!

Izzy and her teacher, Miss Allan.


The kids started the party by getting a chance to sample foods brought in from all around the world. While some of the kids were very adventurous with trying new foods, most gravitated to the chicken nuggets and cheetos we had on hand just so we knew they would eat something for lunch!


Izzy was probably most excited that I picked up Drew from his pj party at school and brought him along.






After lunch, Miss Allan read a couple books to the class (and Drew) while the adults set up four stations for the kids to take part in.


We played a Santa Bingo game, Dreidel (Germany), made "Year of" bracelets (China), and put cloves into oranges (Denmark).






Another fun moment was our Sunday afternoon trip to the Nutcracker (or so I had hoped it would be). Pete had to catch up on a monster load of work one weekend so I tried to keep the kids out of the house as much as possible. Thankfully it was a beautiful weekend and that wasn't too hard. After church we dropped Pete off at home and then the kids and I went to lunch and then downtown to see a kids performance of the Nutcracker.


While I wasn't too worried about it holding the kids attention (even though it was all dance and no words), what I didn't count on was it being too loud for Drew. Thankfully we were there with some friends so at intermission Drew and I headed out to King Street to do some shopping while Izzy watched the rest of the show.

Drew and I headed right across the street to the boot store. My mom had told me she wanted to buy me some Frye boots (have been drooling over them for a couple years now) for my birthday so it was the perfect opportunity to try some on. While I tried on Frye's, Drew clowned around in the boots I had worn that day.


December also found Izzy loosing her 6th tooth!


More to come, but that's enough for now...

Giggles 2011

Giggles arrival couldn't have been planned any better this year. The night before we returned how from Thanksgiving in Destin, FL the kids watched the Elf on a Shelf movie that was on tv. Both kids immediately began to wonder when Giggles would arrive at our house and thought how cool it would be if he was there when we got home.

Low and behold this was waiting for us when we walked in the door!


He arrived with Christmas pi's


The kids couldn't barely contain their excitement!


Don't they make the cutest little elves :)


Here are some of the fun hiding spots and pranks Giggles pulled on us this year.















































With only a couple days until Christmas, Giggle's hid outside a window to watch the kids.


Finally on Giggle's last night at our house he got the gingerbread houses ready for us to decorate.