Tyler's Christmas party

Monday was Tyler's school Christmas party. They didn't have a Christmas program, but the Kidnergardener's did sing a few Christmas songs for the parents before their class party!

No--Tyler's not yawning.....he is really into his song !!
After singing Christmas songs, the kids made reindeers to glue on their treat sacks, we ate, and then played Christmas Bingo before heading home!

I was in charge of the Christmas party because the room mom was not going to be able to come to the party! I liked being in charge, but I decided later, I wasn't able to actually do anything with Tyler. Thank goodness Steve was there to help him with his art project and Bingo!

Since I was in charge, that's why we played BINGO--since Tyler is loving Bingo, after playing it at Grandma Balzer's on Thanksgiving. We gave Chocholate Santa's for those who got "Santa" (yes, Santa, not Bingo)

Here's Tyler with his school box.

And, loading up his backpack.

And, we had to be sure to get a picture of his best-friend, Megan!! They are something! Tyler is excited because Megan's mom said he could come over during Christmas break to play. So, he is already asking, when he can go to Megan's!!

Santa brings us treats

We had finished Steve's b-day dinner and were trying to get the kids ready to go to the neighbors for a bit. Of course, they were being slow and not cooperating...but it's a good thing we didn't get out of the house on time..... or we would have missed Santa coming to our house!!

The doorbell rang, and I told Tyler in a stern voice, "do not open the door until you tell me who it is." (We have had problems with them opening the front door for people they do not know.) So, Tyler (our jokester) yells, "It's Santa!!!". yeah, right!

So, Steve and I go to the door and ....it really is Santa (and my jeweler friend Pennie Epperson). So, of course we open the door for Santa.

He knew the kids names and had a candy cane for each one of them and a plate of brownies and cookies. My kids love brownies more than ANYTHING!!

I ran and got my camera, but I didn't get very good pictures. We invited Santa in, but I didn't want to keep him. I would have loved to have them come in the family room and sit down with us. But, I was just as shocked as the kids, that Santa was at our house, that I wasn't thinking either! We took a few pictures and they were on their way! What a delightful surprise!
Now, Jaden sat on Santa's lap at the mall, but he wouldn't stand with him here? not sure why...So, here's Tyler and Paige standing with Santa.

The kids of course, LOVED THIS!! We went to the neighborhood party and they told everyone Santa had just come to their house. Then, they would say the next day, "can I have a brownie that Santa brought me." So cute.

I emailed my friend Pennie later that night to THANK HER and here is part of her response to me:

Your children were a delight and really made our Santa experience something we will always remember and treasure. I wish you could have seen Tyler's face looking out the window at Santa--- it was pure magic. His eyes were huge and his mouth formed the perfect "0". I want to always remember that look.

Thank you Santa for coming to our house and making our day extra Special!!!

Happy Birthday Steve!!

December 22 is Steve's b-day!! (and his older sister's b-day too!) I tried to make his 36th birthday special for him. He has been working A TON lately. He's worked late every night last week, most of Saturday, and Sunday morning. He is tired and I wanted to have a special day for him--or evening!

In the morning, Tyler had his school Christmas party and his class sang songs, so we both went up to the school for that. Then, we went to lunch at Carlos 'O Kelly's and then Steve was off in a hurry, back to work.
Here's the kids, waiting for daddy when he came in the back door. They had been working for nearly an hour making him all kinds of birthday pictures. Tyler made this little sign he held up that says, "I love you". Tyler was so proud he could write that all by himself, without me helping him spell it!
The kids grabbed their MANY gifts they had just made and insisted dad open them right away. Steve barely got his shoes off. The kids had made pictures and then they wanted to wrap the gifts in Power Ranger wrapping paper. So, each picture they made was individually wrapped. It think Steve had 7 or so gifts from the kids. I'm not sure Steve opened any of his own presents and there were many fights on who got to help open the next one. Steve also got: K-state magnets for his truck, a K-state calendar (that plays music), and a K-state shirt. Go K-state!!


After presents we had lasagna, garlic bread, and salad--Steve's favorite meal. I didn't tell Steve I was making it. I played like I hadn't planned anything. (I think he thought I really wasn't going to do anything for him. At lunch he told me we could just make spaghetti--our favorite, easy, last minute meal! But, not for his birthday!!) So, we ate.

Then, we had to go to the neighbors for a Christmas party. It was just a come and go, but we thought we should make an appearance. This is where Steve's b-day went down hill. Well, it started going down-hill when the kids wouldn't eat dinner. (We hate dinner time at our house. It is anything but pleasant.) Then, they were not well behaved at the Christmas party. Just a mess..... So we were both upset.

We did manage to come home and have Birthday PIE!! Steve doesn't really like cake, but he LOVES apple pie. The kids put the Happy Birthday candles in the pie, we sang, and had pie and ice-cream!! Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim came to baby-sit Jaden and Paige this morning so I could go to the school. Whenever they come to watch the kids, Aunt Barb always brings dinner for that night. We have told her not too, but she just does. (We do love it though!!!) So, knowing this--when I called her to baby-sit, I asked if she would make an apple pie instead of bringing dinner. Of course, she would say yes!! So, I saved Steve from my probably not so good pie for a good homemade pie! Thanks Aunt Barb! OH---and she did bring us ham-loaf for another dinner this week.

The kids went to bed and we headed to the basement to watch a movie. I fell asleep on the couch at 9:30 and poor Steve had to watch a movie by himself.

So, that's how his b-day went. With 3 kids, our GRAND and wonderful plans don't always turn out the way we hope.

Happy Birthday Babe!!! We love you!

Tyler's phone call

Tyler loves to talk on the phone. He talks to Grandpa and Grandma's, Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim, us when we are out of town, he has even talked to Hallie a couple of times on the phone--his good friend and neighbor. However, he hasn't had what I would call a "real" phone call---until Monday night.

Megan is his best friend at school. (I blogged about Megan earlier in the year.) So, Monday night, Megan called to talk to Tyler. Steve and I were CRACKING up at Tyler. At first I gave Tyler the phone and had it on speaker so I could hear what they were saying.

Then, as Tyler was running away from us towards the basement, he said, "I need to talk to Megan alone, in my room." Honestly... he's 5.

So, knowing I was going to blog about this event, here are a few pictures I took of Tyler on the phone.

Of course...being silly when he saw me taking his picture.

Here he is in the basement, on the floor. He went from my office, the basement, the kitchen, and then under his desk in his room. I made him get off the phone after 20 minutes. They just talked and laughed. Oh, what is to come???

Fun in the Snow

Last week it snowed and you would have thought a million dollars was falling from the sky. The kids were SO excited to go outside and play. Of course, my usual response is---when your dad gets home. (I don't want him to miss out on all the fun--or I want him to help me get 3 kids zipped up and then unzipped.) The ground was barely covered with snow, but there was snow on the ground--so out they went!

Tyler loves to make snow angels! Burrrrr!!!

Jason and Stacy gave us 2 snow-suits that they outgrew. They will be perfect for this year. So, I need to go buy one more, so they all have them. And boots, do I want to buy them all snow boots? But, they sure would love them. If I do buy them--I'll buy BIG so they can hopefully wear them next year too.

Paige is the one without the snow suit---so she wore her "slick" pants and a heavy rain coat. She could hardly move. And, Jaden's K-state jacket is so thick, the only place you can wear it, is outside to play. He would never fit in a car seat with that coat on.

And, here's Jaden the next morning. He thought he needed to put on his snow-suit so he could go outside and wave to Tyler when he got on the bus. Maybe he could shovel while he's out there!

So, as I look outside and see LOTS of snow today---I know tomorrow we will be playing outside again. They are dying to make a snowman and use their sled. Happy Winter!

Christmas pictures

It's that time of year---Christmas pictures. I just LOVE this picture. I have framed it and I will pull it out every year as a Christmas decoration. They are all smiling and just so darn cute!!! We had to do this picture in black and white because Paige's hat was pink and boys' were red. They couldn't find another red santa hat. But I LOVE IT!!!Last year was the first year we sent Christmas cards. I decided we had 3 kids, had been married 7 years and we were in our 3rd house....we should probably send Christmas cards. We had professional pictures taken outside and I LOVED my pics.

This year we went to JCP for our family pics and they turned out great as well---especially the kids. However, I stressed-- wanting cute matching/but not matching clothes for everyone and then I bought mostly sepia and black and white pics, so you can't even tell what clothes we have on.

LOVE THIS ONE!!! How in the world we got them all looking and smiling so cute, is beyond me.

Next year when I go to order pictures, I am going to take a list of who needs pictures and what sizes. I get TOTALLY OVERWHELMED when I go to order and I probably (ok, there's no probably) I do buy twice as many as I really need. But, I just keep thinking....that's so cute, I gotta have that one, and that one, and that one.....

This one of Paige is one of those I really didn't "NEED", but seriously, it's SO cute. How could I not buy it??

Checkers with Tyler

I am 31 years old and I just learned to play checkers a few months ago. At 5 1/2 Tyler learned to play checkers and beats me EVERY time. I can...maybe...count on one hand how many times I have beat him--actually, I think I have only won 1 or 2 times. I really don't like checkers. Actually, it's a bit annoying to me. In the end, you just chase each other around the board--until I just give up. Tyler hasn't figured out yet, that I give up. And, what's more annoying is after I move, Tyler will say, "you could have jumped me" or " you should have gone here and then ......" One day I asked him how he got so good at Checkers. He looked straight at my and said without hesitation, "you should ask Grandpa Balzer to teach you." Well, there you have it. I guess I'll ask my dad !!

Here's Tyler after beating me last week. Notice all the black on the board....I was not black!

I try very hard every afternoon to do something alone with Tyler while the little ones are sleeping. I will work in my office first and then make sure I leave time to play a game with him or do something he wants to do. He usually wants to play Checkers. Lately, I have been asking, "can we play any game but Checkers." I'm glad Christmas is around the corner, maybe we'll get a few new games to play.

One day last week, I was getting beat quite badly and I think I was getting a little upset that he kept double jumping me. Tyler says to me, "it's ok if you get jumped mom, as long as you have fun." WELL----not really! and who taught him that anyway? (I guess he does listen to me.)

Christmas Traditions

I love traditions, especially Christmas traditions. Traditions like we always open gifts on Christmas Eve with the Balzers and we always go to Christmas Eve service first and we always have chilli for dinner. (Mom has tried to change to a "nice" Christmas dinner, now that no one is home on Christmas Day, but everyone voted against it...because it has been a tradition since I was young, to have chilli before church on Christmas Eve.

It is tradition that we always go to Steve's parents Christmas Day and have a big noon Christmas meal. Another tradition that Steve's mom does is stockings for everyone. She works hard to find great stocking stuffers for kids of all ages...baby to 37--oh, actually she has one for Larry too.

A tradition we started 2 years ago--is that we declare Dec 23rd our family night. Dec 22nd is Steve's b-day. The 24th is Balzer Christmas and the 25th is Roth Christmas. In between all this, we spend lots of time in Newton because Jason and his family are home for approximately 2 weeks, from Michigan. So, we never had our own time. So, Dec. 23rd we let the kids open a present each--we had planned to always have it be matching PJ's. Although last year we couldn't find any, so we bought everyone a new movie. We eat "junk food" for dinner (pizza rolls, cheese dip, salami, cheese, popcorn, cookies, etc) The food tradition came from Steve's family because this is what they used to eat Christmas Eve--and now he can't do that because he is with my family. It's fun to mix all the traditions to make them our own now. So, we eat junk food and have family movie/game night. The first year we did this we had a 6 month old, 1 1/2 old, and an almost 4 year old--so it was exciting. We had fish crackers and a bottle (for Paige). But, at least we started a tradition and we are much more excited for this year.

A tradition we started last year was making a Christmas chain to count down to Christmas. Inside each chain is something "fun" to do for the day. So, for 24 days we do something special each day to count down til Christmas. Our count-down activites include: reading a Christmas book, reading the Christmas story from the bible, making cookies, getting ice-cream, looking at Christmas lights, renting a movie, making popcorn, visiting Santa at the Mall, riding the train at the Mall, etc. Two of my other friends, Danielle and Becky, also do this with their families so we came up with our list of activities together. This year we are adding, a candy cane hunt with flashlights (the boys will LOVE this) and a candlelight dinner (Becky and Danielle both did this last year and said their kids LOVED it!)

Here's Tyler with the chain that he made. He got to cut the pieces of paper and staple them together. He was so proud.

Our new tradition this year--The Elf of the Shelf. EVERYONE needs to go buy this book. It cost $30 and it was the best $30 I have spent this holiday season. Below is the picture of the book you get and the actual elf.

You the read the book to your kids and it explains that this elf has been sent by Santa to live at your house and watch you. He then flies back home to the North Pole each night (while the kids are sleeping) and reports to Santa if you've been Naughty or Nice. Then, the fun part---when the elf returns each night, he hides in a different place. So, when my kids get up each morning it's a race to see who can find the elf first. THEY LOVE IT!!! (One day Paige found him first and she was SO EXCITED!) He started on the light over the dining room table, then the bookshelf, the top of a little Christmas tree, on top of a mirror and now he is on a light above the island. The kids LAUGH every morning and cannot believe were he hid today. They talk to the elf and Steve and I often talk to the elf and report on the kids behavior. It is fabulous. So, each year after Thanksgiving, when we get our Christmas decorations out, we will be excited to find the box where the "Elf on the Shelf" is.

We got our elf from Imagine That Toys in Wichita, but I have heard that book stores may also carry it.

The only downfall is that you have to remember to hide the elf when the kids go to bed. (no--it doesn't really fly on its own.) One night we forgot to re-hide it so we told the kids they were naughty that day (and they had been), so the elf didn't go back to the North Pole that night. What leverage we have now too, with this new tradition!

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day we went to Grandpa and Grandma Balzer's for lunch. My favorite part of the meal is the sausage. Dad and I aren't big turkey fans--we tried to vote for only sausage next year, but everyone else seems to think we need turkey. They are also the ones who think we need Pumpkin pie of some sort!! My grandma and Grandpa Balzer would always have Hillsboro sausage at Thanksgiving--that's where that tradition came from. Grandpa liked it with horseradish...I prefer it plain.

Grandma thought Tyler would enjoy the huge turkey leg, so here he is eating it! yum yum.

Grandpa and the little ones. I decided we need to take more pictures with the grandparents. I don't have very many pictures of my grandparents and I wish I did.

I think in my mom's next life, or in heaven, she will be a school teacher. She loves to plan games or activities for the kids to do. This year she bought a BINGO set and had prizes for the winners. Tyler LOVED this. I won the first game, but Tyler convinced me to let him have my prize. Tyler then won every game after that.

Grandpa Balzer is not fond of games. He probably rolls his eyes when mom comes up with all these great ideas! But, he will play with the grandkids. I remember growing up, mom and I always wanted to play games and my dad and brothers would rarely play.

This really was good for Tyler, saying and looking for all the numbers. I think he ended up winning 6 prizes. This included when he was the only one playing and I think he won 2 or 3 times, imagine that. He didn't care, he still won, and he still got to pick something out of the prize basket.

Paige tried to play BINGO, then decided to sit on Grandma's lap to roll the balls out and call the numbers. Jaden didn't care a lick about BINGO. He sat in his rocking chair in the family room....watching Barney, of course!

Naps were taken and then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Roth's house for Thanksgiving #2. I was tired and worn out by then and didn't take my camera in, so we don't have any pictures. Of course, we ate more. Linda made the best apple crisp, that was my favorite, oh and the wine!! Annie played Chess and Monopoly Jr. with Tyler and Linda and I played Candy Land with Paige and Jaden. I have never played Candy Land with those 2, it actually went ok. I will have to play that with them in the mornings while Tyler is at school.

It was a full day, but a fun day. We are thankful we both have AWESOME parents and families. I love going home for holidays and I hope my kids will love to come home to our house when they are older. Christmas will be fun because Jason and Stacy, Jeremy and Sydney will be there too! It gets crazy, but it always fun.

How can I be mad?

Nap time at our house is not always pleasant! Jaden is often a struggle to get down...because he gets wild and laughs at everything and will not listen. I yell (yes, once in awhile) and he laughs, I yell louder (and he laughs more.) Not sure what else to do.

Or--I will lay Jaden and Paige down for naps and a few minutes later hear laughing and giggling. I go into Jaden's room to find Jaden and Paige BOTH under the covers together. NOW--this is terribly cute and funny, so how can I be mad?? BUT, they are suppose to be SLEEPING!! So, I pick up Paige and put her back in her crib (yes, she climbs out of her crib often!)

Or--Today, after putting Paige back in her crib, I hear them YELLING (not singing), but SCREAMING "Jesus Loves me, this I know...." I mean screaming I can barely understand the words. It's sweet that they are singing and it's a nice song to "sing", but they are suppose to be SLEEPING!! So, it is so hard to get mad at them.

Almost every night after putting them to bed, we will hear, "goodnight" , "goodnight" , "love you" , "love you" ,and on and on.....usually until we tell them to quit talking! We are thankful that they love each other so much and they get along so well.

Steve and I often say, "it's a good thing they are so cute or they'd really get in trouble!"