Gotta Love Them

Tonight, I was rocking the kids. They like to both sit on Drew or I's lap in the rocker recliner sometimes; they think it's hilarious. But tonight, Alex asked me to tell them a story. So I told a story for a few minutes about 2 kids named Alex and Lauren who had a mom and dad who loved them so much, blah blah blah. When I finished, Alex said, "That's a really nice story mom." Then he said, "I SO love you mom!" Too cute, made me want to never let them go! They are growing so fast. We are excited for Christmas, it's so fun to see the kids get excited about it, makes me realize that Christmas really is for the kids. I hope you all have a fantastic holiday too!!

Winter Fun

Last Saturday, Drew and I took the kids outside to play in the snow. They have never played in the snow before. Last year, Alex wasn't really into it and Lauren was so small so this is actually the first year that they had interest in going outside. So we dressed them up in their snowsuits, put on their boots, and headed outdoors. THEY LOVED IT!!!! Absolutely loved it. We were outside for nearly 2 hours. We built a fantastic snowman if I do say so myself and went sledding. They absolutely loved building "Frosty" in their front yard and they thought sledding was a riot. They really have no fears when it comes to barreling down the hill on a sled! We had a great time and I look forward to another "warmer" winter day where we can do it again!

Holidazzle Parade

Drew and I, along with Nana and Grandpa Vohs and Aunt Betsy, took the kids to the free Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis last weekend. The kids loved the parade though their dad is a bit of a scrooge (he hates crowds, hates parades, hates parking downtown, etc). Just teasing honey, kind of. :) But the kids loved looking at all the Xmas floats and all the Xmas lights. Here's a couple of pics from dinner before the parade - the reindeer headband is compliments of Aunt Kate, who we met for dinner before the parade. Yes, Lauren was not happy about the headband!

Alex and mom's date on the town

Last week, Lauren went and spent the night at Nana and Grandpa Vohs' house so that Drew and I could spend some one-on-one time with Alex. It was much needed and we had such a nice time! First, Alex and I went to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America - it's a big indoor amusement park with all the rides related to characters on Nickelodeon. Alex LOVED it! At first, he was a little hesitant to ride any of the rides, and I'm talking rides that were made for toddlers and small children, but he just didn't see into it. So, we went and had lunch just the 2 of us and then came back for more. And he completely bypassed the "little kid" rides and went straight to the BIG rides. He so wanted to go on the Log Ride - you all know the one, where you ride in a log boat in water and go down huge 40-foot drops into a pond of water. I was like, "Alex, I really don't think you want to do that." I didn't want to pay for it and then have him not want to do it but he promised me that he wanted to. So, we walked up to it, got in the log boat, and off we went. I was terrified. Now, I have always loved rides but I was scared of holding him in (no seatbelts) and I was worried he'd freak out! But we did it and he loved it! Even though he got splashed and we got wet (for those of you who don't know - Alex hates getting his face wet). And after that, he wanted to go on EVERYTHING!!!! Little kid rides and all the big rides - we had a blast. It reminded me that I'm not as young as I once was - I was more scared than I wanted to admit, but watching Alex get such enjoyment out of it was worth every dollar that I spent that day. He was so excited and just loved it. We were there for 5 hours!!!!! I needed a Dramamine when I got home to get rid of my motion-sickness. :) And then that evening, Drew and I took him to his favorite restaurant (behind McDonald's), Panera for dinner that night. Alex couldn't believe it that just the 3 of us were going to dinner. It was so cute. But even though he loved basking in all the attention, he kept asking when Lauren was going to get home and told us that he missed her. It was a great day!

Santa Visit

We went and saw Santa today. As much as the kids were excited, as soon as they saw him sitting in his chair, they stopped dead in their tracks. They were scared to death. Lauren started bawling when we moved closer to Santa - just like Alex did at her age. And Alex was adament about not talking to him, but he agreed to the photo op. So, dad has been in past Santa pictures, I guess it was my turn today. Lauren cried and Alex did manage to let Santa know he wanted a train table. Other than that, it was take the picture so I can get outta here! These are scanned pictures from the ones they gave us so excuse the poor quality.

Toys for Tots

Here's a couple of pictures with the kids and their toys that they picked out at the store today to be donated to Toys for Tots. We had Alex and Lauren each pick out a toy at the store today that they would want and then we will donate them to Toys for Tots. Lauren was cool with it, Alex had a hard time parting with his new car. We explained that some kids don't get new toys for Xmas and they aren't as lucky as him. He said he's not lucky and that he's going to get lots of new toys for Xmas. Typical 3-year old: egocentric. But he wasn't happy that Xmas is "too long away." But we finally convinced him as now he's ready to donate the new car. Good lesson for them to learn definitely!

Getting ready for Xmas

We put up our Xmas tree this weekend with the kids' help. Unfortunately, we have to have a fake tree this year as Lauren still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and swallowing pine needles didn't sound like a good option. Hopefully next year, we can be back to the real tree - I miss it. But anyway, the kids had a blast - Alex put ornaments on the tree, Lauren took them off. And they loved the lights. It makes me really excited for Xmas since the kids are getting older, it's so much more fun. They are excited. And they were so excited to see their stockings and all the Xmas decorations. It reminds me that Xmas really is for the kids - such a fun holiday!

Lauren and her new friend

For those of you who don't know, Lauren is obsessed with Minnie Mouse, Elmo, and Winnie the Pooh. I mean obsessed. We have some large stuffed animals from Aunt Kate, Winnie the Pooh being one of them. We've had them stored for a little while and just got them back out this week and boy, Lauren LOVES her new friend! Keep in mind, it's as big as her!

Alex's first day of school

Alex started "preschool" this week. It's actually a preschool-prep class but it's the first time we've gone to school where I don't stay at all. So because he informed me a month ago that he's older now and ready for preschool, we enrolled him in this. And he LOVED it! Could have cared less that I wasn't there, which is great. He did inform me afterwards that he was a little sad that dad wasn't there but he had a great time. It helps that 5 of his friends from our other classes are in there. After us moms dropped them off, the 6 of them were in the corner of the classroom playing together - I guess cliques start early! He had a great day though. Here's a picture of him with his backpack before school...

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Iowa with my family. We went to my aunt and uncle's (Donna and Dennis) house for the big celebration with my entire extended family. We had a very nice day and a great weekend spending time with Gaga and Papa O'Brien. Here's a picture of my Grandma Betty with her 4 great-grandkids on Thanksgiving. I just love this picture. Every time Alex sees this picture, he always says, "There's GG (he calls her that - short for great-grandma), me, Lauren, Carly, and Baby Elise." We look forward to Xmas with both of our families!

Oh Kids Say the Darnest Things!!

First - here are 2 pictures of Alex "reading" to Lauren. He basically has every book memorized that we read to him and he recites it to Lauren. She loves it and he loves making her happy. He really is a fantastic big brother - he is so good to her, it's just amazing. He'll often tickle her tummy gently and say, "Hey cutie cutie." And he always asks how her day is going - her answer is always "good." So we must be doing something right??
Second - I often laugh at how funny my children are. So the last couple of days, I thought I'd make a list of some of the things that they have said or done. Here's a recap of just the last couple of days.....

1. Zeus is acting out a bit lately. This evening, he peed all over Lauren's dollhouse. Needless to say, I was ticked!! Alex said, "Zeus, dad is going to take you to a farm." Then he said, "I'd cry if I never saw Zeus again since dad is going to take him to a farm." Then in the next breath he said, "Zeus, I'm mad at you. But I'm going to need a new puppy - a yellow one."

2. On our way up the stairs last night, we were counting the stairs. Out of the blue, Alex said, "Mom, count in Spanish." I was like WHAT?? But ok, so I counted to ten in Spanish. I kid you not, his jaw dropped and he just looked amazed that I knew how to do that. He said, "Ahh mom, you are soooo smart." He was SHOCKED to see his mom was smart!

3. Yesterday, after we got dressed for the day - Alex took a look at Lauren and said, "Mom, she looks pretty today." Then looked at me and said, "Mom, you are supposed to be pretty, but you look bad today. Dirty." Apparently, my 3-year old now is aware of when I need to put more effort into the way I look! Keep in mind, this is also the 3-year old who told his Aunt K that she needed to wear black shoes with her outfit, not purple shoes. Fashion forward I guess!

4. Today, I wouldn't let Alex do something that he wanted to do so he told me, "Mom, you make me mad sometimes." Too bad!

5. Alex thinks he growing so fast now. Earlier this week, he said, "Mom, I'm older now, can I go to preschool?" And then today he said, "I'm almost big and then I'm going to go to college." Apparently he wants time to fly and he loves school!

6. Lauren and I were counting cheerios the other day and she, by herself, counted to 10. Clear as can be. I couldn't believe it. Alex couldn't do that until about 6 months ago. I guess I see the benefit of having an older sibling!!

Just thought I'd share a few things - my life is constantly entertaining! I need to remind myself of these moments when the hard ones seem to never end sometimes! :)

As promised...Bob the Builder and Wendy

As promised, here is the picture of Nana and Grandpa Vohs on Halloween aka Bob the Builder and Wendy. If you could have seen the looks on Alex and Lauren's faces....priceless.

Lauren has a new backpack!

So Lauren's new favorite thing is Minnie Mouse (luckily she's getting one for Xmas). Nana and Grandpa Vohs were in Orlando last week and they brought her back a new Minnie Mouse backpack. She was SO excited. She's been wearing it all week, carrying her baby doll in it. She even had to wear it to school this week!

Halloween!

The kids had a great Halloween! They had a fantastic time and Lauren didn't even mind her costume this time! Grandpa and Nana Vohs showed up that evening dressed as Bob the Builder and Wendy (Drew and I were dying laughing and for the record, Drew says he's never seen them in costumes before - they must LOVE their grandkids!!). I'll post a picture soon of that, Drew took our camera hunting this weekend and it's still on there so it'll be a late addition. But nonetheless the kids were happy to have them here to help celebrate Halloween. We went to a few houses - neither kid said "Trick or treat" even though they had practiced all week on how to say it. But they loved getting candy and seeing the other kids in costumes. It was a lot of fun!!

Photo Shoot by Aunt Betsy

Here's some pictures from the kids latest photo shoot. Aunt Betsy took a ton of really good pictures at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis last weekend. The kids cooperated and Aunt Betsy made it as painless as possible. Here's a sample of some of the pics!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Drew made chocolate chip pancakes this morning for breakfast as a special treat for the kids. Can you tell who liked them? She picked out all the chocolate chips and kept saying, "cookie, cookie." What a mess!

Carving our pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins this weekend. As you can see, the kids were super into it!!

Our last fall day...hopefully not!

Well we enjoyed one of our last fall days (hopefully I'm wrong and more warm days are to come) at Grandpa and Nana Vohs' house. The kids loved running outside and playing by the lake, though Alex was surprised to see that the dock was out of the water and there weren't many boats on the lake. But nonetheless, we had a great visit and mom and dad were excited for some of Nana's cooking!!!!! The kids are growing fast. Lauren is now talking a bunch - her favorite words are dad, mommy, coat, hat, Zeus, puppy, baby, water. As cute as it is that I am now "mommy" and not mom, she uses it repeatedly every time she's mad, sad, upset, even happy and excited. So basically we hear it 100 times a day, it's funny. Some funny quotes from Alex this week....
*One day he just wanted to snack all day and not really eat at mealtimes so I told him that I do not run a buffet and he needs to eat his meals and not snack all day and he looked at me and said, "Mom, kids get hungry and then they eat, that's what kids do!" I didn't have much to say after that!!

*Out of the blue (seriously by no bribing by me), he asked his dad if we were going to get a new baby sometime. Drew said that new babies grow up and that he'd have to share his toys and he said that he's ok with babies growing up like Lauren and he would like another Lauren. DARLING!! Then he said that we could get a new baby at Target. So Drew thought he meant a doll but Alex said, "No dad, a REAL baby. There is lots of real babies there!" True enough, since we visit Target in the mornings, there usually are a lot of babies there!! If only it was that easy!

*At dinner now, he always says "Thanks for dinner mom" and then asks Drew, Lauren, and I how are days were. He's turning into a very polite little boy!

They are growing so fast but are so much fun. We're having a great time with them and Alex is VERY excited for Halloween this Friday. Lauren could care less and hated her costume when we tried it on today so it could be interesting! I'll put pics up next weekend of our Halloween experience!

Chuck-E-Cheese Playdate

Alex, Lauren, and I went and met a bunch of our friends from school at Chuck-E-Cheese Tuesday. The kids had a BLAST!!!! Alex talked about it all the way home and couldn't wait to tell his dad all about it. Both kids loved the Chuck-E-Cheese band and were dancing up a storm. The loved the rides and the games and then Alex turned in his tickets that he won for a new bug. An insect - he's such a boy. But the kids adore their friends from school and luckily, I adore their moms!! So it was a fun little lunch date with a bunch of 3 year olds running around and Lauren trying to keep up! Alex is the ever-present big brother and was teaching her how to play some things and then he actually said, "Very very very good job listening to me Lauren." Are you kidding me?? He's way too cute!

Johnnie football game

A couple of weekends ago, Drew and I along with Grandpa Vohs took the kids to a St. John's football game. It was a beautiful fall day and it was fun for mom and dad to show Alex and Lauren where we went to college. Alex had been there once when he was 5 weeks old but not since. We had a great time and the kids had a ball. Alex even told Grandpa Vohs that he wants to be a football player when he grows up with a football helmet, football pants, football shirt, and football shoes. Alex, dad, and Grandpa Vohs all got new St. John's hats and Alex proudly shows his off. It was a fantastic fall and as we sit homebound today, we are very grateful for incredible fall and summer we had!