Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 marked the first year we did Elf on the Shelf!  The kids were introduced to our elf Tinsel with a special North Pole breakfast complete with donuts, pajamas and toys!  They were so excited.  Tinsel got into all kinds of trouble leading up to Christmas and Finnegan really enjoyed waking up each day to find out what Tinsel had done while he was asleep.

We also made a gingerbread house as a family.  Anyone who knows the story of the art class Brandon and I had together in high school knows that gingerbread houses are a touchy subject with us!  :)  Obviously, Finnegan has inherited our natural talent for gingerbread house decorating.  

One of our other pre-Christmas projects was making Gingerbread play-doh.  It was a lot of fun and smelled like gingerbread.  Definitely a Pinterest success.

Christmas Eve with Nana and Papa was a lot of fun.  They were spoiled as usual and loved every minute of it.  I love Lorelai and Papa checking out her new vanity.

Christmas morning at our house was the most fun we have had yet.  Finnegan was really into it.  Lorelai is NOT a morning person and did not appreciate all the cameras before she had eaten her breakfast.  Diva!

Fall Photo Shoot 2012

Fall 2012 seem like so long ago now!  When I look back at these picture it's amazing how much they have changed (mostly Lorelai).  Here are some pictures from our fall photo shoot last year.  We got some really good ones!  They were very sweet to each other and played well even though it was SOOO cold!

It's Been Too Long...

It's pretty shameful that I only managed to maintain this blog from February to August of one year!  It has been a year and a half since my last post and the kids have both changed so much!  I am embarrassed to say that I haven't recorded any of it on here.  I have been keeping up with the cute things they do on Facebook, but I want to get back into blogging about it.

I re-read my blog posts and I can't believe how little they were!  Lorelai is now the age that Finnegan was in my previous posts.   She will be 4 in April and is a fiesty, lovable, little girl.  Finnegan is just as sweet and "by the book" as ever.  He is 5 and in his last year of preschool.  He will start kindergarten at Lexington Christian Academy next year.  Lorelai will start her last year of preschool next year also at LCA.  Brandon and I are so proud of them and excited for them attend our old school.  Things with work are going really well and we are busier than ever.  Life is good and we are so blessed.

I would like to do a few posts that catch up on the highlights from the last year and a half.

We took a vacation to Florida in October 2012 to spend time at my parent's condo.  The kids had a lot of fun catching lizards and playing in the pool/beach.  Here are a couple pictures of our fun!

When we got back it was time for Halloween!  Finnegan was Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lorelai was a cute little owl.  She was NOT a fan of her costume even though she picked it out earlier in the month.  Of course!  

Does it get any better than Halloween candy and pizza?

Thanksgiving was hosted at our house in 2012 and we had a lot of fun.  We made a gratitude tree where we each wrote down things we were thankful for.  It was a great way to keep the focus on giving thanks for all our many blessings.  The kids loved writing things they are thankful for like "nuggets" and "Jesus" and "Christmas".  My favorite was when Finnegan said he was thankful for "Thursdays" because that is my day off.  :)

The kids table at Thanksgiving.  I am pretty sure Spider-Man was actually at the first thanksgiving!

They had fun decorating their table.  They really loved the cornucopias that had candy corn in them!

More of 2012 to come....

Make Your Own Pizza Night!

Today I was at the grocery and I saw individual sized pizza crusts.  I always see them and think "someday we'll actually do that, but I don't have time".  I had been trying to think of something to do with the kids tonight, so I decided to make time to make pizza!  We got individual sized pizzas so each kid could have and make their own.  To get started, we took some pictures of my helpers!  They were being super silly and loving so we had to capture it.

Here are our pizzas waiting for the oven to heat up the rest of the way.  Obviously I helped them, but they spread the sauce and sprinkled the cheese by themselves.

This is her saying "I want PIZZA!"

And......the finished product!  They did good!  And they tasted pretty amazing...

Back to School

 This week was our first week back to school!  The kids were excited to meet their teachers last week and see their classrooms.  This year, Finnegan is in the Elephant Room and Lorelai is in the Zebra room.  They both did really well at orientation and were ready for school on Monday.  That is...until Monday morning came.  Finnegan started getting nervous and said he didn't think he wanted to go to school this year.  Of course I told him that isn't an option and he would have fun.  But he still cried and got really scared as Brandon dropped him off in his room.  He sobbed and begged us not to leave.  Lorelai was quite the opposite.  She started getting more and more excited with every step toward her room.  She got down and ran right into her class.  She was exploring the toys and puzzles and books and didn't even notice me slip out the door.  No tears whatsoever.

By the time we picked them up at the end of the day (well, at the end of 3 hours), they were both having a lot of fun.  Finnegan's best friend from last year (Audrey) is in his class again this year.  He knew quite a few kids and had a great day.  When we asked him about school he said "I want to go back tomorrow!"  Lorelai had fun but we didn't get much out of her about school.  She had some separation anxiety the next two mornings but her teachers said it was short lived and she did really well.  Overall, our first week of school was a success!  We celebrated the end of the week with a trip to Orange Leaf for some after school frozen yogurt.  Good week!

Finnegan's friend Audrey.

Taking a first day of school picture at school.  He was a little upset so they let him have his Mommy Bunny.

Lorelai just hanging out with a friend at school.