Mommathon

We're not going to be build the house we originally wanted to build in the subdivision we were going to build in. We went to go check out our lot yesterday and there was a big pit that had been dug across the street from our house that did not look like they were digging a basement. When I asked in the sales office about it they said it was going to be a construction waste pit that will also collect rain runoff and it will be that way for atleast the next few years. Ummm.....what???? I have two small boys who like to explore and what better thing to explore than a pit of trash that is right across the street from your house. We were (remarkably) able to get all of our money back since they hadn't really done anything yet. So...now we are building a house a little northeast of the original subdivision in a different subdivision. That's okay, it will be more liveable...the kids' rooms will be bigger, it has a hearth room, it has a living room, there's a community clubhouse and on and on. :)

Liam has such a tender soul. We went to see Charlotte's Web today and Liam was SOBBING at the end and he wasn't crying because Charlotte died. He was crying because Charlotte didn't get to go back to the farm with her friends because she was going to die. We had to sit in the theater for a while after the movie, he cried all the way home, he laid down on the couch and cried for a little while, too. Then, this is the real heartbreaker, he found his plastic Charlotte that he got in his kid's meal from Wendy's and carried it around with him and then later took it to bed with him. Is your heart not breaking?!

We spent Christmas evening with Grandma and Grandad. We had a yummy dinner with scrumptious pie for dessert.



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We had a scrumptious brunch which included quiche, bacon, coffee, juice, cinnamon rolls, Povatica (sp?) bread and some wonderful apple-stuffed bread from Panera. What made it extra special is Sean's sister and her kids, who used to live down the street from us but now live in North Carolina, were in for the holidays.

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Sean trying to figure out how to put Colm's workbench together.

Finally...Christmas pics. We had a Rescue Heroes/Dora/Diego Christmas this year.

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Yes!

Is there anything left?

Now that we have ripped open all of the packages, we can finally play.

This is a cute story with a good rhyme, but sometimes the illustrations are the star of a book and this is one of them. The illustrations are great and the looks on the animals' faces as they are trying to push Santa out of the chimney are hilarious! The combo of the story and the illustrations are going to make you want to read this story again and again. Ages 3-6.

This is a spin on the Goldilocks version, but with no Goldilocks. The bears make some gingerbread cookies, but they are too hot, so they go for a walk on Christmas Eve while they wait for the cookies to cool off. Someone comes to their house, however, while they are out and eats their gingerbread. There are clues while they are on their walk that Santa is in the neighborhood as well as clues left around the house that point to Santa being the one who ate the cookies. This is a cute story that is also a good book to work with kids on making predicitons. I got this one at the library. Ages 2-5.

Kids love it when you change the words to songs and that is what this book is all about. Songs such as "Our Friendly Mailman" set to the tune of "Frosty the Snowman", "Toy Catalogs" set to the tune of "O Tannenbaum" and "Something in My Brother's Underpants" set to the tune of "Winter Wonderland". Liam thought most of the songs were hilarious. Two thumbs up! I got this one at the library. Ages 3-8.

What to do, what to do...I have a friend whose oldest son is the same age as Liam and they have been "friends" since they were born. We have had playdates fairly consistently for the past almost five years. The problem lately has been that they have opposite schedules...Liam has preschool in the morning and the other kiddo has preschool in the afternoon, so they haven't seen each other in a while and they are getting to the age now where they have their own thoughts, ideas and interests and they want friends who have the same interests they do. In the middle of their playdate today Liam said, "This is the worst playdate ever!" Okay, maybe we need to work on our manners, but honesty is the best policy, right? We had a talk after the playdate today about how you might not like to play with everyone, but it is still important to be nice to everyone. He's growing up...

Liam has been playing with his Nativity set during naptime and I noticed that Mary and the angel were kind of off to one side with Baby Jesus. I asked him why they were over there and he said that Mary and the angel had to talk before Mary could decide when everyone else could come and see the baby. I guess Mary's a little possesive.

It took me to almost the end of the book to figure out why the author gave the book this title, but I think it is pretty fitting. This was a good book. It was not a page turner that you can't put down and you must keep reading it to find out what happens in the end kind of book. It was just a good story about a young woman living in Manitoba and learning what it means to be a mother, a daughter and a friend.

Chloe came over and made cookies with Liam today. Liam has been looking forward to doing this for quite some time, so he was very excited. It was a sticky mess...they kept spilling sprinkles everywhere and licking icing off of everything, Chloe had icing in her hair, Liam had icing all over his shirt...but they had a good time.

Look at how much he is concentrating.


I made one of these, can you guess which one?

I usually only write about books that I am reading for myself, but decided to add to the list of books I review. I thought I would add children's books that I think are quality books. I may review them because they have a great theme, they use rhyme and repetition, or what have you. I will try to chose books that are new as well as oldies, but goodies. I figured I would make myself useful since I am getting an entire degree dedicated to teaching children how to read and since I don't have any students I thought I would share my thoughts concerning children's literature with you. So, my first book is Are You Grumpy, Santa? This is a great book not only because it is cute and is a twist on the normal Santa delivering presents story, but it also uses rhyme which is important in teaching children how language works. When children start to understand rhyme, they can be read a story like this that uses rhyme and based on what they know about rhyming words put together with what they know about the plot of the story, they can start to fill in the blanks of the story if the reader stops and allows the child to finish the rhyming phrase. I found this book at Barnes and Noble. Ages 3-7

...it just looks that way. This is what our basement looks like right now. Notice that the shelves (which are meant for storing the toys) are almost completely bare. How am I ever going to be able to keep this house clean enough to sell it?

Liam has been busy cutting pictures from magazines so that he can use them as visual aides when writing his letter to Santa. He said he wanted to make sure that Santa knew what the toys looked like. He was also sure to include the descriptions of the toys so that Santa would know what else came with the toy. Someone is going to be very disappointed on Christmas morning. Hopefully he will forget about some of the things he cut out and perhaps he will get some of them for his birthday which is what Santa had to do last year because Liam sent his letter too late.

These are the pictures he has cut out. He has started glueing them to paper. He has quite a little operation going here.

Last night in the car we were listening to a beautiful rendition of O, Holy Night when Liam said, "Mom, doesn't this song make you want to just sway your head from side to side?" So, we were driving around listening to Christmas music swaying our heads from side to side and probably getting a few stares from other drivers. Oh well, I guess they just aren't in the groove of the holiday season yet.

This is the diary of a girl who grew up in the 70's. The diary is from when she is 13 until she is 18. It is easy to relate to the angst she goes through while dealing with her family, friends, boys, and her faith. I think it reflects the troubles, worries, ups and downs, joys and sorrows that every teenage girl experiences.

I finished another class tonight! Yippee! I have two more semesters (this spring and summer) to go and then I will be done! The last two are going to be the most time consuming, too, since I have to do three case studies, two of which are VERY in depth and I also have to take a comprehensive test in there somewhere to prove that I actually learned something, oh, and then we are going to be moving in the middle of all of that. Sounds like fun, huh? I am sure I will look back at all of it in September and smile.

Liam HAD to decorate the tree today. So we dragged it out of the basement and let the festivities begin. Liam did most of the decorating and Sean put the star on top. Colm wasn't interested in decorating, so he played us a tune on his whistle-instrument thing.





You have absolutely no idea what I went through to get this picture. I tried to take a pic of the boys together, but it was clear that that was not going to happen...so I did them separately. Colm was doing everything but sitting up nicely and smiling for several pictures (God bless digital cameras!) The promise of an M&M got him to sit like this...finally!

Today was our church's Christmas Family Festival. First, we went and talked to Santa. Liam had a list for him which included two walking hands (it's a Halloween toy he saw in a catalog) and a truck. Colm was not happy about sitting with Santa, so we made it a family portrait instead of just the boys.

Then we had a yummy pancake breakfast provided by the K of C.

Then the boys made some crafts, like a sticker nativity scene, a Christmas button and a Christmas lace-up project. We also colored some Christmas coloring sheets.

They also had a cookie walk (both the boys won some cookies) and we decorated birthday cupcakes for Jesus' birthday.


A good time was had by all!

We finally went outside and played in the white stuff this afternoon after naps. The boys wanted to play in it this morning, but it was only 19 degrees outside, after naps it was 32 degrees so I figured we had better seize the moment. It was still cold though and it took us longer to get ready to go outside than we actually spent outside.