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.)