Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas...
Treats were left out for Santa Claus, Santa Dog, Santa Cat and the reindeer.


Sometime the next morning Scott discovered that all the Santas made an appearance the night before!

We enjoyed a slow moving morning of opening gifts and having breakfast.
(Currently it's 3:30pm and Sydney still has presents left to open :o))

The fire was nice until the smoke took over the house and we had to shut down Christmas operations in order to put out the flames, clean ashes and eliminate smoke from the house. 

Good thing we had a firefighter on hand if needed!

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Sydney after Hours

Most of you know that if Sydney has a nap she doesn't go to bed on time.  Thankfully this child can entertain herself for quite awhile after Scott goes to bed.  I guess on the flip side--it's nice that Scott doesn't care that Sydney is still up when he goes to bed :o)

A bucket of books can last awhile.

Last night she spent almost 2 hours playing with scraps of fabric from the material I was cutting.  She loves to lay them out just so...


Until she has a nice neat pile.

She does this over and over and over...

Then she started wearing the scraps.

And finally moved away from me so I would leave her alone.  I asked her if I could use a couple and II was told they were now hers and mine were over there.

A few favorites...




And more big box fun!

I'm telling you I don't know what I'm going to do when we don't have any more big shipping boxes to play with. The kids were feeling handy after I opened my birthday present of power tools so they went to work on some boxes.




to the dentist

Scott had his first dentist appointment earlier this week.  No cavities!  He did pretty good besides the fact that he was shy and nervous so he wanted to put his hands in his mouth.  The dentist sun glasses also eased his anxiety.  I will say that The Berenstain Bears Go To the Dentist is an excellent book to read before going to the dentist!

Trying to patiently wait for the dentist to check these clean teeth.

Even Sydney got a tooth brush...and a sticker and a toy.  You make out like a bandit at the dentist office these days!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

This year's Santa visit...

Tonight we headed out to visit Santa.  This is our second year to ride the Christmas train put on by a local church.

So to recap, this is last year's Santa photo:


I just couldn't get over Sydney's change in a year and had to include this comparison picture.  



Alrighty and now Santa visit 2010...
I managed to get a family photo before we left just minutes before double meltdowns.  Both children slept in the car and awoke much happier.

First up was the train ride.  

Then to the model trains.  Of course Scott said we need to build this at home.  I better put some more effort into my box buildings.  He's expecting big things tomorrow!


Next up is Santa!  
Who's in?

Scott, "No, not today.  Some other day."
Sydney, "YES!"  

She anxiously paces around not knowing where to go.  Does she run to this bearded man?  How to get around the people?  Oh, we wait in line.  (hands on hips)
Honestly I'm shocked that she didn't back down once she knew Scott was not going.  Maybe 2011 will be the year she is no longer Scott's shadow.

While she's waiting, Scott has wandered back to...

It's her turn and she runs to Santa!

I imagine he's asking her what she wants for Christmas and she's now shy.


They had an area where kids could write Santa a letter or color him a picture.  When you were finished, you dropped it off in his mailbox.


Whew!  After all that of course you need to have a snack.


pizza, pizza!

Pizza for breakfast?  
The kids say, "Why not?!" 
Sydney has got all your favorite ingredients covered...cheese, peppers, pepperoni, sausage.


I know your mouth is watering with anticipation.  Don't worry they are almost done piling.
Pop it in the oven...


Smart boy.  He lets his sister take the first taste!

A picture perfect winter day


If you can't tell, they are playing with a sprinkler and yes that was today, December 16th.  I had to crop the picture since they had no pants :o)

Monday, December 13, 2010

Soup anyone?

Once the lever fun was over that day Scott wanted to build a chimney.  Sydney LOVES Mary Poppins so they have seen the chimney sweep part many a times.  He was now using his lever as a broom to clean out a chimney.  He didn't like any of my suggestions so I said I couldn't do a chimney but here's a stove.  They went to work making some soup...

First you must gather your ingredients: 

Next, mix together and let simmer for awhile.

When the flavors have mixed really well give it a little taste test.

Mmmm...that's some yummy soup!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Levers

Scott has been into levers lately.   He wanted to make one outside so I raided the trashcan and came up with a few pieces.  We screwed a cup onto the end of old laminate wood flooring and put that on top of a brick and piece of wood.  



Yea!  It works!

Will the lever last??  The wiffle ball seems to be pushing it to breaking point.

 No, the wiffle ball did not do this.  I did.  I tried hitting the lever with a bat.  I guess Scott's method was the better approach.

During this time Sydney was picking flowers :o)

And doing a little wood work.