Pictures of Old.

Apparently I don't have enough to do, so I've decided to do a "Family 2010" photo album, which means deleting, editing, saving and uploading thousands of pictures from this year. It's fun to take a stroll down memory lane, though, and also scary to see how fast my kiddos have grown in just one year. One particular set of pictures I love is when we went on a short, local hiking trip in January. Here's the two pics that caught my eye:
I'm sure I'll be posting frequently with these kind of pictures, as I am uploading them one month at a time. Looking at photos is so fun.

Pinkalicious.

Do you parents of small children ever want to throw a book away because you have read it over and over? The "Pinkalicious" books are like that with me. Juliet discovered them a few weeks ago and I thought she was just pulling the same book over and over out because it was on top of the pile. Wrong. This was the beginning of a very repetitive trend. Juliet brings us this book once a day. Which doesn't sound so bad, right? Well, she insists we read it to her about five times in a row. And the most astonishing part is that she sits through the whole thing. As soon as the book makes its appearance, Colin or I say "Bring it to Mama!". Or "Bring it to Papa! He wants to read it!" Don't judge us until you've endured the Pinkalicious curse.
I have to say that I do love that she is so into books. More so than her brothers, even. So today I will discreetly put "Goldilicious" and "Purplicious" to the front and center of the bookshelf.

I Want To Remember...

I want to remember a brief few minutes last night. It was about 7:30 and we discovered "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" was on TV. And as a family, Colin and I settled into the couch and the boys on the floor, everyone with bowls of popcorn. The room was lit only by the Christmas tree. It was just one of those moments that felt so Christmas-y.
You know your kids are growing up when you can sit and eat popcorn and watch a movie at night. What a sweet time it was.

The Visit to the Reindeer.

Yesterday, the kids and I made a trip to Seven Dees in Lake Oswego to visit their live reindeer. I am completely overwhelmed with how many things I want the kids to do for Christmas (cookies, tree decorating, present wrapping, gingerbread house making, etc.), but I knew this was a no-brainer for a kid holiday activity. Unfortunately, they were in cages and the kids couldn't ride them like Colin suggested, but it was still lots of fun. Samuel won a prize for playing a game The Fish (the radio stations was broadcasting live there) offered. The prize was a insanely noisy toy.


Call me a softie, but I felt a bit bad for these Arctic creatures to be caged in a small area. They didn't seem too chipper.


Juliet squealed in delight while looking at them.
Up next is Juliet's party tomorrow - she will be officially 2 on Monday. I can't believe how fast time has gone with her!

Breakfast Of Champions

I asked Samuel to make breakfast this morning and this is what he served. Great idea, until he brought a pair of metal tongs to me and asked if he could pull the toast out of the toaster with them. After a hasty life lesson, I helped him retrieve the toast and he and Jude ate happily. I love having an almost 6 year old - they are so helpful when you need them.

Today's to-do list is long, but I'm running on a strong cup of coffee, and good B-12 vitamin and the excitement of a very theme-y party tonight (which I purchased a special shirt for and will be making special cookies for (hint: the cookies have very red jam in the middle)).

Have a great Monday!

Today.

Today my house is a disaster. Not a dirty disaster, but a toy cluttery disaster. Which usually means my kids have been having loads of fun.

Today I went to five stores with a three 1/2 year old and a two year old. Do not judge me. We had no food and it had to be done. Yes, I was that mom that had the baby with one foot out of the cart through half of Costco.

Today, I rewarded Jude for being such a trooper with chocolate from Trader Joe's. He had to eat it outside in the cold so the baby wouldn't see it - I will congratulate myself for not feeding it to her as well. Today I rewarded myself by sitting by the fire during naptime with a pile of entertainment magazines and "Harry Potter" and read until my heart was content.

Today my baby girl insisted on wearing her brother's shirt. It looks weird. It looks completely ungirly. I took her out in public this way. But today, it makes her super happy. And I'm afraid in a flash of time that feels as if it's been just a few short moments, she will be a teen and I will not even be cool enough to talk to. So I will take these certain moments and indulge her.
Today was a chaotic day. Today was a messy day. Today was a very, very good day spent with two of the sweetest, craziest, most impulsive kids.

And I wouldn't trade today for anything in the world.