Aren't my kid's just adorable!?

Ally has been into playing "mom" lately. You can see her baby boy she calls Xavier, in the picture. Apparently her and her husband are so poor that they have to use paper towels for diapers and only have $67 to last them for the rest of the month... I don't know where she gets it from!



Devin really likes to do what his sister does, so he had to have a baby too... Only he didn't want to have a doll, he wanted to have a stuffed animal. He is called Baby Jaguar (yes, he's a Dora and Diego fan).

And I just had to include this one because it is so sweet.... AND they will be embarassed by it when they are older.



Ally also had an invention fair in her classroom. It had to be an invention and include 2 simple machines only with materials around the house. This is SO not my thing. Ask me to do something creative, like an art project or write a story and I am so there, but this was NOT for me! After much deliberation, she decided to make a dog feeder. We used a paper towel tube to be an inclined plane that the dog food slides down into and drops in a cup. Then using a wheel and axle the dog food spins around and drops into the dog bowl. Luckily my dad did the wheel and axle part for me and then the rest was me trying to throw it all together. It took me forever to find the right way to line it all up so the dog food didn't end all over the floor. I didn't think it was very good, but hey at least it worked. (By the way, how is this homework for a child?)



So, the parents were invited to her classroom to watch the kids present at 2:30. I had to wake Devin up from his nap to go and he screamed the ENTIRE time we were in her classroom, sigh. Luckily her teacher let her go first so we could watch and then we left without seeing the rest. So as I took a bunch of pictures, I was holding a screaming, kicking two-year-old in one arm and my heavy camera in the other, and well, nothing turned out great.

And do you know WHAT!? Ninety percent of the kids made something out of legos that looked nothing like an invention... just simple machines. I stressed and we went to so much work for nothing?

Red, Yellow, Blue... Dump Truck, Back Hoe and Crane

Devin doesn't "do" colors. I have done every lesson I can think of, read books, sorted objects but when it comes down to it, Devin could care less. He has NO desire to learn his colors.

At first I was worried... is he not smart enough? Ally knew all her colors, shapes, a bunch of letters... she was definitely over prepared for preschool. But one day as he we were driving past the never-ending construction and Devin was pointing out every construction vehicle and naming them I realized something... he IS smart, just not in the same way. Don't even try and try and tell him a front loader is a back hoe, because he will laugh at you. And he when he hands you an allen wrench, don't call it just a wrench. He also knows all of his tools by specific name. So, no more worrying, he is just going to learn what he wants, when he wants it.




He has definitely hit his "terrible two's" though, and where he used to be so mellow and easy going, he can now throw a massive temper tantrum.

He's also really good at getting in trouble.



And while I fall in to bed every night exhausted, I am in SO in love with him!

Someone to look up to

I have some pretty amazing people in my life.... no, that doesn't even come close to describing it. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many people that I love and love me unconditionally.

But there is just one person that I just need to write about... my sister, Wendy. She is such an amazing person. She is just one of those people that you can't help but love and want to be around all the time. She just radiates warmth and happiness, love and devotion...



I have to admit, as children (and especially teenagers) she drove me nuts. She was, and still is a perfectionist. I remember dreading morning when I would have to do her hair for her before school and I always new she was going to get mad because it wasn't perfect enough... and dang, was that girl BOY CRAZY! I know I saw it all through foggy adolescent eyes, and even though we were great friends, we were also pretty good enemies... it happens when you are 18 months apart.

But now, I have to say she is one of the most amazing people I have ever known. If there was ever a big sister to look up to, she is it. Maybe I see her through foggy, sisterly adoring eyes, but she seems pretty close to getting her perfection dreams. Thank you, Wendy, for being the kind of sister that every girl deserves, and only I am lucky enough to have.

Christmas 2010

Like I said earlier, I have most definitely not been in a picture-taking mood and sadly that was the same for Christmas... I knew I would regret it later, but at the time is still wasn't enough motivation to pull my camera out of it's bag. I took a couple of pictures Christmas morning, but that's it.

And I was right, I really do regret it.

Anyway, we had a great Christmas break!

Ally's last day if school was on the 21st... unfortunately we got almost two feet of snow that day. We told her she could stay home, but of course she didn't want to.
Alex trying to dig us out.

The we went to her school to see her sing her Christmas song.

Then we came back and about an hour after that it was time for me to head back to her school, since I was in charge of her class Christmas party... but the roads were just too bad to drive on. Luckily we only live a couple of blocks from the school... but man did I get a workout! Remember it was almost 2 feet deep? So I had to trudge through it, carrying Devin because it was too deep for him to walk in, a backpack full of treats for Ally's class and a present for her teacher. I really wasn't sure I was going to make it!
Here is a picture of what my sister helped me make for presents. The small one is for Ally's teacher and the bigger one was for Alex's step-mom.

(My sister made one for Ally for her birthday as a scripture carrying case... now I just want to make me one!!!)

Alex's birthday was on the 22nd and he had it off work. (He actually had Dec. 22-27 off which was incredible!) But my parents came for dinner and watched the kids so we could go see TRON... Alex liked it, but I was SO bored and it felt like it would never end!

On Christmas Eve we do our usual extremely busy day. We woke up and Ally helped clean the entire house so she could open a couple of presents. He, he, he I love that tradition!
Devin had a fever for 2 days before (and was up all night which added to my exhaustion and no-desire to take pictures on Christmas Eve). He got an extension to his railroad set from Ally and while he loved it, he didn't feel well enough to do anything but this:

(See the blanket in the picture? He got it for Christmas Eve from us... it's his "dump truck blankie" and man I already hate that thing! He was never attached to a blanket before but he is obsesses with that thing now and won't go to sleep without it! Why did I ever get it for him!?)

By noon we were out the door and on our way to "Aunt" Kristie's house, to celebrate with Alex's side of the family. We had fabulous food there and it was fun to see everyone... but time was too short and we had to hurry and leave to go visit my side of the family. Again, the food was too yummy and we had a lot of fun, playing Bingo, opening presents, and drinking the traditional red and green Sprite. The grandkids all opened their matching pajamas too. The we left really late to head home to wait for Santa.

This is the first year that Ally knew there was no Santa bringing her presents... I wasn't prepared for the little sadness that accompanied her realization. She is just growing up too fast and I still want her to stay little.

Christmas morning my parents drove down to watch the kids open their presents. They were thoroughly spoiled, of course, and it was great. Ally wanted to rip through her presents and Devin took forever because he wanted every new thing opened and played with before he could move on. Ally's favorite was her new skateboard and scooter and I'm not sure what Devin's favorite toy from Santa was... maybe the package of M&M's... no, he loved it all and played with all of it. The we spent the rest of Christmas day relaxing at home and letting the kids play with their presents.

I end with the few pictures I took of Christmas morning, and while I do regret all the pictures I missed, I am still very thankful for the magic of Christmas that I can feel without an actual photograph to remember it.

Some Family Pictures

I've been kind of in a picture taking rut, too busy, too tired and just not in the mood. But here are some family pictures:

All of My Parents Grandkids

I couldn't post this earlier, because I gave my parents this picture as part of their Christmas present, but here is a picture I took of all 8 of my parent's grandchildren. Devin refused to cooperate and I had to crop him in from a different picture, Cameron put bunny ears on his sister Emily and I had to smooth them out, the background didn't reach far enough and I had to paste a new one in... so it is way too rough, but here it is anyway: