Great Wolf Lodge and SNOW!

We spent a fun filled Christmas weekend at Great Wolf Lodge, where we enjoyed the water park, the arcade, the MagiQuest scavenger hunt, and SNOW! Not only does it "snow" in the lobby several times a day (it's actually little bubbles), but we got real snow as well - about 3 inches during the night last night and into the morning today. The kids were thrilled; I was not so thrilled when I realized that I was very ill-equipped to brush the snow off of my car, not having had to do so in years. Even when it does occasionally snow here, my car is kept in the garage. Since we were at Great Wolf Lodge during the time it snowed, my car had a couple inches of snow on the windshield and I had to use a windbreaker of Ben's to clean it off before we left to drive home today. Without gloves. It was cold. Ben enjoyed throwing some snowballs once we got home. Rebecca enjoyed (is enjoying still I might add) a nap, having gone to bed at 10pm last night and woken up shortly after 6 this morning. Joel had to work this weekend, but he met us for part of the afternoon yesterday and stayed for dinner, and then met us again for a couple hours beginning late this morning, had lunch with us, and then we all headed for home.

Ben went on all the water slides this year, even the "howlin' tornado" which Joel and I each took a turn on with him-- it was scary!! This morning he found a friend - a kid who goes to the J Team after school program with him - and they buddied up and went on all the slides together which was good since Joel and I didn't get changed into our swim suits today. I also broke down and bought him the MagiQuest wand and I did the scavenger hunt with him for about an hour or so, which he was really into but which Rebecca was way too young to understand and she got bored and cranky very quickly especially when Ben wasn't too keen on letting her share the wand. Three is still a bit young for Great Wolf Lodge -- she had fun, but wasn't able to participate nearly as fully as Ben did. I think it's definitely a Christmas tradition I am going to continue though -- it's close by enough that Joel can join us when he is done at work (and he always has to work Christmas weekend) and it's a ton of fun for the kids and just gets even more fun for them as they get older. We had a great weekend!

Christmas Lights

Tonight after the obligatory Chinese-food-on-Christmas Eve, we decided to drive by a Christmas Light display a friend had told me about, since we were near that neighborhood. (Click on the link and watch a couple of the videos, they're cool). We thought the kids would enjoy it, being not only lots of lights but set to music also.

But the kids were in one of THOSE MOODS apparently, where nothing is good enough. We parked and tuned the radio to the correct frequency, and watched the lights for a while but Ben kept asking inane questions about Christmas lights, pretending not to understand the concept.

Becca was quiet and watched intently and bopped to the music so I thought at least she was appreciative. But then as we were driving away she started singing to herself one of her made-up songs -- "That was not beautiful/ That was not beautiful/ It was scary/ I want to go home...." The tune was remarkably close to Carol of the Bells.

To top it off as we arrived back in our own neighborhood and drove past a particularly garish display of lights and lawn ornaments, both kids plastered their faces to the window and were all, "WHOA! Look at THOSE lights! That's AWESOME!" Ben was doing it to be obnoxious I am sure, but maybe Becca really does like those lights better. Or maybe she is learning how to be obnoxious, too.

Come to think of it, she is definitely learning how to be obnoxious, too.

Terrible 3's

The first hour of my day went something like this:

7:35 a.m -- Becca throws a tantrum because Ben beats her to the bathroom. She tries to skulk downstairs without waiting to use the bathroom or get dressed, gets scolded, and sulks some more.

7:40 a.m -- Becca sulks through her morning "business", yelling at me to leave her alone.

7:45 a.m -- Becca throws a tantrum over the clothes I picked out for her, because she wants to wear one of her summer dresses and it's 35 degrees out. tantrum ends in her hitting me twice while I'm trying to get her in her clothes (I think she's yelling "they don't match! they don't match!" as I am trying to shove her into her pants). The hitting earns her a swat on the bottom. More sulking.

(7:46 a.m. -- BEN: I'm being good, right Mom?)

7:55 a.m -- Another tantrum because the pancakes I fixed for her breakfast are on an orange plate, and she wanted them on a pink plate. BIG tantrum. Joel sends her to sit in time out. She eventually comes back to the table, but only takes one bite of breakfast.

8:25 a.m -- tantrum over what coat to wear today narrowly averted, because I give in and let her wear the puffy vest with the hearts on it even though she really should be wearing something warmer.

8:35 a.m -- Preschool drop-off! Someone else gets to put up with her tantrums for the rest of the day, though (as usual) by the time we get to school her disposition becomes charming and sunny. It seems as though she saves all of her tantrums for me!

Kindle, How I Love Thee

My Kindle arrived on Monday. Since then I've been spending a lot more of my evenings reading rather than watching television. I love how you can choose one of several fonts in addition to being able to adjust the size. It's much easier for me to read in low light not only because of this but because there's no shadow across the page like there would be with a paperback. And I love how you can download a free sample chapter of any book before you decide to buy it. I downloaded a few samples of different books I'd heard about from various sources, and decided on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for my first Kindle read... it's a quick, entertaining story. Since it's been years since I actually managed to finish a book, I figured I better ease my way into it. So far, so good!

No Jerks

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Love Story

Ben discovers Taylor Swift, and the infatuation begins...

Visit with Uncle Mike

Joel's brother Mike came for a visit this weekend, and the kids had lots of fun fighting over who got to sit next to Uncle Mike in the car, at restaurants, etc. We had more than the usual number of meals out this weekend -- Chinese at Mama Fu's, burgers at Big Daddy's, and pizza at Mario's -- which was a treat for the kids. Oh, and Pinkberry! (Though my Pinkberry cravings of late have been diminished by the exceedingly cold weather, even though there's now a Pinkberry two minutes from the house). We also played laser tag and video games (Ben) and bounced in the inflatables room (Becca) at Sports Connection.

Ben had his first real basketball practice -- games start after the holidays -- and Becca spent her first weekend in underpants 100% of the time (except for bedtime) and had only two accidents. Good job Becca! After resisting mightily, I think she's finally boarded that potty train. (Knock on wood). She went to school in underpants most of last week, and averaged about two accidents a day until Friday, when she stayed dry the entire day and thus earned her heart's desire, a yellow Zhu Zhu pet with a pink nose.

Becca also attended her friend Raymond's Star Wars themed birthday party this weekend, and Ben discovered (actually I discovered this also) that if you go on YouTube and type in any artist and song, you can pretty much watch any music video you want. Who knew? Okay, probably everyone but me. This new found discovery was made more palatable with the introduction of a pair of headphones so that we all did not have to listen to Ben's favorite songs ad nauseum.

In summary, a good weekend!

dry underpants girl

Becca stayed dry all day today! Yay Becca!

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DIY

This lovely corner desk and chair (from Target) was delivered yesterday. Joel opened the box for the desk, took one look at the instructions and all the pieces, and announced he was tired and needed to go to bed. So I stayed up late and did the project myself. I am pretty proud of myself! Just don't breathe too hard on it, OK?

Too Many Errands

This weekend involved way too many errands. There was a trip to BJ's in addition to the usual grocery shopping, a trip to Dick's to get basketball shoes for Ben, a trip to Trader Joe's to pick up something to bring to a holiday party we went to Saturday night, and Joel made a separate trip for some new clothes and to the wine store. Ben had basketball and cub scouts, and I did a good bit of online shopping this weekend as well -- ordering a desk and chair for our new iMac (it's set up on a folding card table at the moment), a new printer (ours is broken and we've been printing stuff out at Joel's work or at the neighbor's house when necessary), and a treat for me - a Kindle! Very excited about that last one. It seemed like a really busy weekend, though aside from the holiday party we went to we really didn't *do* a whole lot. Other than running around. We are excited to have Uncle Mike visiting next weekend, and looking forward to it already!!

Bundled Up

***Disclaimer*** I did not take this pic, thanks to Becca's classmate Laney's Dad for this photo-op at a recent birthday party.

Honorary Cub Scout

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School Pic

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Hanukkah, Night 8

The grand finale....

Sleepover

Hanukkah, Night 7

(Brought to you by Grandma and Grandpa).

Weird... Ben's claws were moving so fast they're just a blur?

Hanukkah Night 6

Hanukkah, Night 5

No pictures or videos to share this time because I was being lazy -- but we had a great visit from Nanny and Papa for night 5 of Hanukkah last night, and not only did they bring presents for the kids but they also brought an entire Hanukkah meal including brisket and latkes! I am already looking at the time wondering if it's too early to get some leftovers out of the fridge... mmmm.... For dessert we broke into the Hanukkah tower from Harry & David that my parents sent us (thanks mom and dad!) - which included all kinds of goodies like chocolate covered pretzels, caramel corn, peppermint bark, and cookies. Ben got a remote control robot and a science kit, and Rebecca got a Barbie doll and some Barbie clothes. Ben rallied from not feeling well earlier in the afternoon and ate all of his brisket, but Rebecca chose to subsist entirely on broccoli for dinner last night. Thanks for the great visit Nanny and Papa!

Hanukkah Night 4

Ben's new bike....



And Rebecca's microphone....

Lazy 5 Ranch

Rebecca attended a birthday party at the Lazy 5 Ranch about an hour north of here this morning. It was a little chilly (okay a lot) but fun nonetheless.

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Hanukkah, Night 3

I asked Rebecca to model her new coat and boots, and this is what she came up with.

Hannukkah, Night 2

(Brought to you by Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Mike):

opening the Millenium Falcon...



and the Dippin' Dot Maker...



Flying the Falcon...

Just One More...

Hanukkah Night 1

For the first night of Hanukkah we gave the kids each a Pillow Pet, which they had both asked for. Ben likes to sleep with stuffed animals just as much as Becca does, and the pillow pets were a big hit. They had previously indicated which animal they wanted (Ben wanted a penguin and Becca wanted a purple unicorn). When I checked on them before I went to bed last night, they were both indeed fast asleep with their heads on their pillow pets ;) It was very cute. But I didn't get any pictures of that for fear of waking them up with the flash. Here instead is a short video of the candle lighting, and a pic of the kids with their presents:

Spying in the Age of Technology

Back in the old days we used to snoop around our parents' bedroom and in the attic looking to see where the birthday and Christmas presents might be stashed. I am sure Ben does this as well, but a couple of days ago I caught him perusing my blog and asked him what he was doing. To which he replied, "I'm looking to see if you wrote what you're giving me for Hanukkah!" (A panicked moment following during which I tried to recall if I had indeed written about any Hanukkah gifts, but I don't think I have). Ben, if you're reading this - YOU ARE GETTING WAY TOO SMART FOR ME!