No pictures today but a wallop of a story. I have been waiting for this. This is the story your child hears 1000 times before their 18 birthday. The kind that get told at almost every family function. It is just one of those classic storys. The only way it would be any better is if I had caught it on film, sent it to funniest home video, and won me some money! Well anyway, hopefully after that long introduction no one thinks it's a dud. I think it is hilarious, and to be honest I am just glad that I am not writing this from a jail cell. So anyway....
 Just so you know, here are some primers for the story. Alice was a cow girl for Halloween complete with all cowgirl style accessories, and on this particular car ride she was carrying a long cyclindrical flashlight. So... we are on our way to get some cheese burgers for a fun treat. Derek places his order and I am still examining the menu quietly. Alice decides to break the silence, she point her flash light at the order box and screams "I"VE GOT A GUN!"  
   WHAT!!! Derek and I just busted up laughing. The employee either didn't hear it, or choose to ignore it thinking we were a bunch of idiots playing an innapropriate joke. Luckily it didn't escalate into anything at all. We got our food and went our merry way. Silly Alice.....

We had a really good Christmas this year. The kids got up at the first light of dawn and ran out to the tree and started ripping things open. We pulled them back and tried to salvage the presents seeing as how not all the ones they were opening were theirs. Oops. We were able to get them to wait until everyone showed up and then we went at it. The kids got mega spolied this year and so did everyone else. The best part was Alice ripping of her PJs so she could get on a new outfit she got vs Jude who opened up his clothes and just threw them to the floor like it was tissue paper and the real present was waiting inside. After presents we ate breakfast and just lounged around and enjoyed eachother. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

This year for Christmas eve presents everyone got a new comfy pillow. Derek and I got body pillows (I am still in the process of making the covers) and the kids got these giant pillow pets. Never did I think that they would use them like this. The first thing Jude does is gets super excited and says "You got me a tiger to ride!!!" it was so funny! He then goes and grabs his coyboy hat and begins to ride his tiger around the room. Alice was so intrigued by the idea that she did the same. We convinced Jude to get some clothes on before pictures but we couldn't get Alice to do it. Silly girl. Brings new perspective to the words "Bare back riding"

Merry Christmas eve!! This was my first ever turn hosting a holiday party and it was a pretty good one. We had more food then we knew what to do with and if I might brag it was all very yummy. Our activity for the night was for all of us to decorate the tree. Itwas a huge massive room taking over tree. When we first put it up I thought, no way can this be our tree. It fills the whole room, you can't see anything else! But as the days have gone by I have found it to be quite beautiful. I love that it is a Christmas take over. Especially now that it is decorted. It is just such a beauty! Speaking of decorating, we had such a good time. Everyone helped to make the tree beautiful and it turned out like a picture on a postcard. The kids were really into it. Jude kept asking to be lifted so he could get his ornaments up high. And Alice had found a nice spot for and just kept returning to it. There were about 5 baubles in one spot. And we left it just like that becase it was perfect. Merry Christmas!

We had just finished with our massive clean-a-thon, we were putting everything back in it's place. Jude and Alice were still doing their very best to be helpful and contribute. Well unfortunately while Jude was putting some blankets away he caught the blanket on our Christmas tree. He just kept pulling and pulling trying to get the tree to let go of his blanket and.....SNAP! He broke our Christmas tree. He snapped it right off the base. To be fair it was an old Christmas tree, so it probably already had one foot in the ground. And my mom is getting rid of her tree so this ws a good a time as any to get rid of this one. All the same I think I want to make this my family Christmas card with the title "MERRY CHRISTMAS, from families with small children everywhere!"

We had a massive house cleaning to get ready for the Christmas eve party we were throwing. We pulled out every peice of furniture so that we could get behind and vaccum. The house had couches in the kitchen and computers in the dining area. It looked like we were moving, such a mess. But it was so worth it, honestly some of these areas were over due for a spring cleaning.  The kids were having a ball in the newly arranged room. All of a sudden there was a jungle gym of things to climb on or hide under. The kids were always (and have always) been super amused by the vaccum. They want to watch it suck up all the dirt and they love to help and be a part of it. At first they were doing some legitimite helping but soon it transformed into a lot of silliness. They started vaccuming bellys, cheeks, and hair. The hair was the best part. When they were done they had these huge massive afros of pure volume. I wish it was closer to april fools day, I would post these pictures and tell everyone that this is the secret to my children's beautiful curls. Get everyone to intentionally vaccum their kids hair while I just sit back and laugh.  

There is a website called "Starfall" that the kids love. It teaches number, ABCs, and other principles all in game form. We love the website and have spent many happy hours learning together. On this certain day the kids discovered that if you puposely made an incorrect answer a voice would say "oops" and for whatever reason they were laughing and laughing about it. Silly little Munchkins.

Pink Elephants on parade!! It was a birthday of a friend of ours and they pulled out all the stops, there was a scavenger hunt with prizes, cup cake decorating, yummy food and a pinata. The pinata was my favorite part because it was such a gaudy awful thing. This giant pink elephant that was as big as any of the kids. They were so excited to take a swing at it and not one of the kids missed their turns. When the candy came pourining out Jude immediatley went for the lollipops, before we could say Happy birthday Jude had 3 lollipops in his mouth and more in his pocket. Silly thing. But that is what parties are for, having fun and letting go for an afternoon!

Holy Muddy messing monster Batman!!! I was over doing some floor ripping for my mom and the boys came along for some fun. They being the boys that they are decided to play in the dirt, and then all the kids asked for a drink of water and well.....needless to say they weren't very thirsty. They dumped all the water into the dirt whole they had made and comenced into making the biggest mess. These 3 little piggies were professionals. They got the mud on clothes, hair, toys, everywhere. We jst let them go for it. It was to late to save anything so we just let them go. After they finished cleaning up we had to do a pre hose down and then toss them into the bath. Messy little things.  

Fall is my most favorite season, easy! Soups, scarves, fire places, and leaves. Leaves are the best part of fall, just a beautiful rainbow of colors carpeting the floor. On this day, we had come out of church and the leaves were everywhere!! The kids had been sitting patient for 3 hours and had a major case of the wiggles. They startd running, chasing, burying, and throwing leaves. I loved it. They made it look so fun that some of the other kids joined in. Yeah for fall!!!

Derek and I are avid readers. And now that we have kids we are a family of readers. We just love to sit in the bed and pour over our literature. We go to the library every week and check out a huge stack of books. And then we cuddle in the bed and read every single one of them. Even when they go to bed the kids insist of having books. We give them flash lights and they will read themselves to sleep every night. I just adore it! There is so much wonder and magnificence held in their pages. I am so glad that I have kids that are going to find it!

Our Thanksgiving was pretty classic this year. A large gathering of people with a larger gethering of food. I don't think I took a single picture of it, but in the back yard of the Thansgiving hang out was ahuge trampoline. We spent so much time on it. I love a good jump and I passed that on to my kids. Jude and Alice just ran for it. We had to physically drag them away from it when it was time to eat, and as soon as they were done eating they were back on it. We were having such a good time bouncing together, we were poping Jude and ALice way up into the air. And they just laughed and luaghed and laughed. Happy Trampsgiving!

This was Disney princess Alice's new sighing spot. I came around the corner and she had chosen to mope here. What a silly goose.

Our cute doggy led all the kids on a very merry chase. Dogs are so wonderful. Every kid growing up needs a dog and our Duckets has been such a wonderful addition to our family.

Here is Derek's car. It is a real beaut and we love it a lot. It is not something the kids have gotten much of  a chance to be in, so it is kind of the "cool" thing. Well on this particular day, the kids decided that they wanted to play inside of it. Derek and I were happy to let them play in a contained space where we could keep an eye on them and we just let them go. They were having such a ball. They stayed in there for almost an hour: driving the car, messing with all the levers, and DESTROYING EVERYTHING!! The little poops were like a wrecking ball in the car. They tore off the shifter, ripped off the CD player, ripped out a switch, pulled of some of the fuzzy siding, and dislocated the trunkswitch. Little curly haired terrorists! To be fair though, the car is over 20 years old so maybe things aren't attached as well as they used to be. But still! Look at the pictures! How could they do all that! With the exception of the trunk lever I was able to get everything back in order but needless to say, no more unattened imaginary car trips for Jude and Alice. Sheesh!

 

 

 Jubilee of trees. I have gone to it every year since I was 12. I don't think it feels like Christmas unless I can go to this event. It is a just huge Christmas parade except it stays still and you are the one who marches around. There are trees, ginger bread houses, all sorts of festive displays. I just love it and can't miss it.