Happy New Year

Ok, I'm really going to try to get back into this.....Over the past couple of years, I have had every intention of "starting again" and I found that I was so overwhelmed with "catching up" that the starting again never happened.  So I'm just going to try to look from this moment forward and if I have time to catch up, I will.

New Year's was a little bit of a bust this year.  We had plans to hang out with friends but had to cancel them because we had been exposed to what we think was the flu (and we certainly didn't want to spread the love).  The kids were really bummed, but in the end we made the best of it and headed to a local pizza joint to ring in the new year (early).  They had an 8 p.m. celebration, which left us plenty of time to be home and in bed by 10 p.m.  New Year's party animals here!  At least we did get out for a little bit.  We had spent the past couple of days leading up to the New Year cleaning and doing a ton of laundry hoping to ward off starting the new year sick.  Maybe next year we will plan something a little more exciting.

Here is a shot of us documenting the occasion.  The kids were not super thrilled to have their picture taken and after a frustrating couple of shots with some silly faces, this is what we got :)

Apple Picking

Lately our weekends have been really busy.  Well, I take that back...Saturday's have been really busy.  We start the day out with a T-ball game at 9, swim at 1 p.m. and soccer at 2:45.  Sprinkle a run for this marathon training and you have yourself a full day.  Usually by Sunday we are so worn out that we don't do too much besides clean house and lay around.  I've been kind of missing the family day trips and it seemed like forever since we took one (when in all reality it was probably last month).  Anyway, Sunday promised to be a beautiful day and we decided to head to the mountains for some apple picking.  The kids had never done this before, so it seemed like a fun little adventure. 

The weather ended up being perfect and we managed to pick about 20 pounds of apples.  I sure hope I can find enough recipes to use them all!  The kids really enjoyed picking them and really took care in making sure the apples were the best of the best.  I will have to say, we did have to have a little conversation after it was obvious they were so excited that they were going to pick whatever they could reach.  Some of the first ones that got tossed in the basket looked like they were on their last legs.  But after awhile, they really took care in finding the perfect apples....with no bruises!

Miss C found the most perfect apple ever (according to her) and named him Red Ripe.  We have been sworn to make sure no one eats this apple!  Wonder how long it's gonna last...

After apple picking and visiting the local farm animals, we headed out for lunch and a little light shopping before we headed home.  It was a great way to end the weekend!

After conferring with the people that worked at the apple orchard, we determined that Jona Golds were going to be the tastiest apples.  Sure hope they are right since we have 20 pounds of them!

Colored bubbles

Have you heard of the new colored bubbles that are out? Well, we got a chance to try them out. All I've got to say is there is not enough Tide in the world to handle the colored bubbles! They were interested in them for about 3 minutes and then decided it was more fun to make a magic potion with them. Since I'm a one and done girl with the colored bubbles, I didn't mind them doing this because we weren't going to be using them again (save your money!) They don't work very well and they are a huge mess! But the kids sure did have a fun afternoon making a potion.

Exchange rate

The exchange rate in this household is, well, let's just say it doesn't favor the house. Miss C and Little J have been interested in having a $20 bill and have tried every which way to Sunday to get one without having to actually "exchange" $20 of their own money for it. They have quite a few $1 bills and coins that they have collected over the years....all amounting to just a little over $20. I think they understand that they have to exchange their money to get that $20 bill, but they fall short on realizing that you have to exchange $20 to get $20. Miss C has protested on several occasions that if she exchanges all her money for that $20 bill, she won't have any money left over. Silly girl. She is having a hard time conceptualizing that 20 $1 bills is the same as 1 $20 bill. Well, at least I'm guessing she is having a hard time conceptualizing it. Who knows, she could just be bamboozling us. So she's laid the full court press on trying to negotiate only giving us 5 or 10 $1 bills to get that $20 so that she still has money left over. She's even resorted to counting the coins and trying to figure out the perfect combination of dollars and coins to make that $20 so she has some of each left over. She just came up to me and handed me $3 dollar bills and 16 pennies and 1 dime and told me that she was ready to get that $20. Man, the exchange rate has really plummeted! The dollar is hardly worth anything in this house! After about 30 minutes of going back and forth, we finally negotiated 15 $1 bills and 20 quarters. She seemed satisfied with that because she still has 5 $1 bills left and a handful of coins....and that shiny new $20 bill!

wishing snow

So we have done all we can around here to wish for snow tomorrow.  The kids really, really, really want to see snow.  The last time there was a chance (which never happened) the teachers assistant in Miss C's class told them to all wear their pajamas backwards.  We didn't do it that night, and there was no snow the next day.  I had two very disappointed little children.  We aren't taking any chances this time around.  The forecast is calling for a wintery mix tomorrow so tonight we sleep with our jammies inside out.  I also read that if you put a spoon under your pillow and an ice cube in the toilet, your chances of snow dramatically increase.  So instead of sugarplums dancing in our heads, we'll have visions of snow flurries instead.

The sweetest thing

Little J has a big heart.  Always has and I hope he always will.  He's a little rough and tumble around the edges, but deep down he has a pretty big sensitive side.

Lately Miss C's friends at school have been talking about American Girl Dolls.  Miss C doesn't have one and I've resisted getting her one because she is just really not that into dolls.  She has had dolls over the years, but usually they are played with once maybe twice and then banished to the dark depths of her closet under a mountain of clothes.  With the steep price tag, we just haven't had any interest in getting one for her.  Since her friends have been talking about it, she's really put on the hard core press to get one.  Of course I've tried distracting her, but ultimately she's decided that she is going to save her money to buy one.

After counting what she has in her piggy bank, we calculated she's about $20 short.  Over the past couple of weeks we've had several discussions about an allowance and ways she can earn money.  Of course none of that is fast enough for her and she is not afraid to express her opinion to me on that one. Never-the-less, we haven't caved and are really trying to impress the value of working hard, earning your own money, and buying the things you really want with it.  We've even talked about the value of saving money and using some of what you saved to help others.  She doesn't really love that part right now because she realizes she needs to have more than what it costs to buy the doll because there has to be money left over in savings.  But at least it's been a good lesson.

Over the past several weeks, she has also started this system of passing notes back and forth.  She taped envelopes on all of our doors (the mailboxes) and at night we slip little notes back and forth to each other.  Even Little J gets in on the fun.  A couple of nights ago, she came to me and said there was $3 in her mailbox and wanted to know if I put it there.  I didn't and thought that maybe J had done it.  Well, the next night, there was another couple of dollars.  Finally I asked J if he was the one stuffing money in her mailbox.  He wasn't either.  Then it dawned on me that sweet Little J had been taking money out of his own piggy bank and giving it to her so that she could get that American Girl Doll.  How sweet is he?!  I hope he never grows out of that.  Of all the things with him, that just made my heart burst.  I'm so proud of the little guy he's become :)

MLK and the Bobcats

Today was MLK day and the kids had off of school.  We decided to make the most of it and head uptown to the Bobcats game.  We've been a few times in the past and with the game starting at 2 p.m. it was a perfect opportunity to actually stay for the whole thing.  The game was great and the kids really had a good time.  I swear though half the time they want to go to these games is for the concession fare.  They think it's a license to raid the snack bar and eat just about every piece of junk imaginable.  Of course with it being a special occasion we allow it within reason.

Here are my little monkeys doing what they do best.....eating cotton candy and popcorn.

Oh yeah, there was a game going on too :)