Panthers & Puzzles

And still in pjs! Lazy Sunday -- the best kind!

Christmas Tradition!

Great Wolf Lodge-- every year since Ben was five and Becca was two, minus the year Caroline was born :) I think that makes this our 6th Christmas at Great Wolf Lodge! (Yes Ben is here too, but posing for pictures with characters is apparently not his thing anymore, whatever ;)

Christmas Eve Tradition

Chinese food! 

Ice Skating

I took Ben and Rebecca ice skating this afternoon - neither of them had ever been, and I hadn't been on a pair of skates myself in probably 25 years ;) Becca got the hang of it (although not gracefully) pretty quickly, but Ben took a while longer. He spent the first hour gritting his teeth and staying by the wall and not looking like he was having any fun at all, but eventually got the hang of it and was able to skate without holding on and at a pretty good pace, although he did have a few wipeouts. He was smiling and enjoying it by the end. The best wipeout, unfortunately, was reserved for Mom, and if you ask Ben he will HAPPILY provide a re-enactment. I had the great misfortune also of having said,"Hey Ben can you do this?" right before it  happened, so I will definitely not ever live it down. Every time Ben sees me now he says "Hey mom, can you do this?" and then belly flops onto the ground. Which is pretty much exactly how it went down :(

Star Wars!

Makeover!

Hair, wardrobe, makeup, and off to a holiday party! Super big thanks to Abby for spending all day helping me get my hair done and then shopping with me! And then babysitting for me!

Wine Fridge!

Wine from mom and dad and fridge from Joel - happy Hanukkah to me :) :)

Something Special

A belated Hanukkah gift arrived today for Becca - she had been talking about Ulysses lately and saying how much she misses him and asked for a stuffed cat that looks like him (which I wasn't about to get because there aren't any stuffed blue Lynx point Balinese cats that I am aware of, and she already has a thousand stuffed animals). She'd also been asking for a special necklace. So I found a picture of Ulysses and ordered a custom necklace on Etsy. It arrived today and Becca was so happy! She said it was the best present she had ever gotten. Major mom points for me! I will enjoy being in her good graces for as long as that lasts which I am sure won't be very long :)

Here is my Ulysses, we still miss you!

Week in Review

Ben received a slightly-late Hanukkah present from Grandma and Grandpa  - a super soft Eagles blanket which he LOVES! It inspired him to use the rest of his report card/Hanukkah money to order a new Eagles Fathead for his room because neither of the players on his wall play for the Eagles anymore.

Rebecca and Amelia had a late night of holiday cookie baking, so that they can bring cookies to a cookie-decorating party they are invited to this weekend, and so that they could bring their teachers some cookies today, the last day before winter break.

A favorite birthday present - Caroline has slept with her arms wrapped around this adorable bear every night this week! 

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Birthday dress, favorite dinner, one more round of Happy Birthday to You, and a few more presents :) Happy birthday Caroline!! We love you so much!

Last Night of Hanukkah!

A birthday party AND Hanukkah?! Yes Caroline was pretty difficult to wrangle to bed tonight! The girls got their presents from Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Mike tonight, who (as Becca confidently announced before she had even unwrapped hers) "must have got me roller skates because I wanted roller skates and they always give us the best present!" Roller skates indeed!

Caroline's 4th Birthday Party

We had Caroline's birthday party at Noah's Art this afternoon. It was a mermaid theme, with a mermaid cake and mermaid art projects. Caroline enjoyed every minute of it! Her birthday outfit arrived just in the nick of time -- literally as we were loading the car to head to the party. I tossed the boxes to Abby and told her to change her-- thanks for coming through, Amazon Prime ;) Albeit with NO TIME TO SPARE. Thanks also to Joel's coworker Julie who made the most amazing gluten free cake and cupcakes for us!

Hanukkah Night #7

Brought to you by Grandma and Grandpa!

Pneumonia Day #6

Becca seemed to be much improved today, almost a week after first getting sick. She didn't start to feel bad till around dinner time, her temp stayed under 100 for the first time all week, and the words "I'm bored" were uttered for the first time all week ;) We'll decide in the morning whether she is well enough to try going to school. Here she is with the kitty cat Fat Heads she got for Hanukkah last night (Caroline got an Elsa Fat Head and also inherited Becca's princess Fat Heads so now her room is officially "the Princess room". 8 is apparently too old for princesses).

Night #4

Ben gets bean-boozled! I think this was a barf one. 

Pneumonia Girl

After 5 days of spiking fevers, headache, and stomach ache, I finally dragged Rebecca in to the pediatrician only to find out she has pneumonia! Despite a bit of a rattly cough pneumonia wasn't on my radar screen -- I was worried she had some weird presentation of strep without a sore throat. The pediatrician said pneumonia can cause stomach aches, a fact I was not aware of. 

The pictures below are a testament to the power of Motrin! On it, she feels great. When it wears off the fever comes back and she goes back to huddling on the couch. The ribs pictured below? Not a good idea. She just threw them up. Sigh. The doctor says she needs to be on antibiotics for a good 48 hours before she can go back to school. He said MAYBE Friday if she seems really well by then. 

Looking Sharp!

Ben ready for cotillion last night and getting in some last-minute hoverboard time ;) Nothing sharper than a guy in a suit on a hoverboard! Of course last night was the parent-child dance, meaning I had to go as well, which for those of you who are familiar with my dancing skills, was TOTAL PAYBACK for having signed Ben up for this in the first place. 

Night #2

Has someone been eating the orange PEZ out of Darth Vader?!?!

A more traditional menorah:

Caroline's eyes are almost as big as Ariel's:

Not pictured-- Ben, whizzing around on his Swagway so fast he was but a blur, and Becca who was curled up on the couch with a 101 fever :( Another sick day for her tomorrow, sigh. 

Ben on Wheels

Ben practicing on his Swagway. Hopefully my new floors didn't suffer, but he needed to be someplace where a wall was handy to grab onto at first - these things are not quite as easy as they look!

Hanukkah Night 1

Becca has been fighting off a virus all weekend; she rallied with the help of Motrin and managed to get her menorahs to religious school for the menorah contest, where she won "most artistic" and "best sci fi" and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch until it was time to go to Papa and Mary's house for Hanukkah. She is home with me today.

Caroline singing during the menorah lighting:

Ben's awesome -- and pretty much only -- Hanukkah present (video to follow):

Getting Ready for Billy Joel

Although, no one told her she wasn't going :)

Collaborating

This is the best drawing I have ever seen Joel do;)

Little Red Riding Hood

Or in this case, it looks like the wolf may have eaten Little Red Riding Hood :-) It was in the 30s this morning so I insisted she wear her new coat, and she insisted on the ears because, well, just because. 

DIY Menorahs

Look out second grade religious school menorah making contest-- Becca is taking you down!

Got Gelt?

I always order a particular brand of gelt for Hanukkah which is made by a Swiss company. I might have gotten a little too much this year especially since we just threw away all the Halloween candy. Anyway it's the only brand I know of that is gluten free for sure, having emailed the company to double check before I ordered it the first time. I was impressed when I received an email back very quickly from a company representative who was obviously in Switzerland and answering emails on his phone despite it being after regular business hours there. Ever since then, this is the only gelt for me! Maybe I have enough here for next year too :)