Alarm Clocks

I really dislike alarm clocks...I love days when I don't have to use mine...like summer and days off of school. I bought Dave a new alarm clock a couple of years ago.

It is a very cool clock. It tells the temperature outside, inside and the humidity inside. (It even attempts to forecast whether or not it is going to rain the next day or not, but that part is not very predictable.)

When Dave got that alarm clock we passed "his" old one (which was his Grandpa's before that) to Amber. Amber loved it. We didn't really set the alarm, for her, but we could tell her stay in your room until your clock says 8:00. (I like to sleep in.) My Amber is very much a rule follower and would never come out until 8:00.

So now that she is going to school, she requested a new alarm clock for her room.

Grandma and Grandpa bought her one for Christmas. Talk about a cool clock! The only problem is she totally sleeps through the alarm. Her alarm wakes me up in my room and I will go in 15 minutes later and she will still be sound asleep. That's OK though because I can get a couple of snuggles out of her while she is still half asleep.

What happened to Grandpa's clock?

It is in Amy's room now. Too bad it never has the right time, she likes to press the buttons...

Presents

I thought I would do a post about all the presents that were hot for the girls to have this year for Christmas, as well as the ones we made and those in which we are most thankful.

Our holiday break began with 2 of my sisters-in-law, and nieces and I feverishly putting together scrapbook of our summer vacation for my mother and father-in-law. We spent a week in a beach house this past July as a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for them. The scrapbook was a huge hit. It turned out wonderful and really brought some memories back. My mother and father-in-law also received a flag that was flown over the Capital in Washington D.C. on October 31, 2009, the day of their actual 50th wedding anniversary. Awesome gift.

My mother-in-law must have been EXTREMELY busy over the last year. She made these "no-sew" blankets for EVERYONE. I watched at least 12 of them be opened and I know she made at least 2 others beyond that. I cannot imagine how she did all that. I have a made a few for charity though my MOPS Group and I thought that my hands were going to fall off after cutting and tying 1-2 blankets with help!

Onto a few of the gifts that made the list at our house. Amy's Christmas list went on and on...every time a new commercial came on all I would here is "I want that". Thankfully that has stopped since the holidays are over. Her big items were, a Nintendo DS and a "2-wheeled scooter". These were also the two big items that Amber got for her birthday in October...I am a bit afraid of the pattern this might be turning into.

Amber's bigger gifts included Mario Kart for her DS and roller skates. She loved playing her cousins MarioKart over the summer so now she and Amy can play together. HA HA!! Playing together is usually not the problem, it is playing together without and argument developing.

Wish I could say that my children are not spoiled rotten, but unfortunately they are. I prefer to call them "extremely loved".

Holiday Vacation

Over the holidays, we spent 10 wonderful days in Ohio. Dave is from Canton, Ohio, so we travel there usually twice a year. Every other year, we spend Christmas in Canton...this was our year to pack up everything, including all presents, and head to Canton for the holidays. As always we had a wonderful trip. The girls LOVE spending time with their grandparents and cousins. I am always so amazed at how these kids all pick up and start playing as if they saw one another yesterday. In reality, we haven't seen anyone, except Grandma and Grandpa, since July. I know when I was young and hadn't seen my cousins in a while, I was a little shy to begin with, but not these kids. It is really something to see their relationships.

We came home on Saturday, but it was a rough trip. Poor Amber has figured out that when we leave it is going to be a few months before she sees her grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. The poor thing cried herself to sleep the night before we left, because she didn't want to come home. She woke up "OK"...that was until Aunt Tammy, Uncle Guy, Missy and Johnathan left for Florida about 30 minutes before us. Then the tears really started again. The poor thing was so sad, and it was absolutely heartbreaking for us to see how sad she was and not be able to do anything about it. She cried herself to sleep in the car again about an hour after we left. And then at bedtime once we were home. She really misses her family. It makes me sad that we live so far away, but yet I am happy that the girls have such a closeness with their grandparents that they do care.

I was particularly close to my Grandma Rahm. I can remember as a child praying that she would never die because I didn't know how I could go about my life without her. As a child she was my best friend. To this day, when things get really challenging, I often wish I still had her to talk to.

This is a picture of me and B.J., my cousins Meredith and Stephanie and my Grandma Rahm. I am the only one not looking at the camera.

Fencing...not interesting to the 4 year old

Apparently Amber has been learning some fencing in P.E. at school. (Don't worry, they are using swim noodles.)

So, Dave has decided it would be a great idea to bring our swimming noodles into the house and let the girls practice "fencing" (Don't worry that we do have a Christmas Tree, but nothing has been broken, YET).

As always, Amber is very serious about teaching us what she has learned. Which is fine as long as she is talking to Dave or myself. She holds her noodle in very straight posture and shouts "HONOR POSITION", and then proceeds to show us how to gallop across the room in the stance that I am sure is exactly like her P.E. teacher has shown her and explains to us that we can only score is we touch her in the chest or belly.

Of course, her seriousness on the sport is lost on Amy and boy is that frustrating for Amber. Amy thinks fencing is a great sport because she can run through the house whacking anyone that might get in her way. Meanwhile, Amber stands in the middle of the living room screaming very impatiently "HONOR POSITION" in her very straight posture waiting for Amy to return and listen to the remainder of her instruction. Of course this ends in tears because Amy just won't listen to her.

Last night Amber and I had a very intense conversation, where I explained to her that there is a reason you don't learn fencing in preschool. She finally did recover from her impatience when we told her that if they did teach fencing in preschool it would involve chasing one another and whacking each other with a noodle. She thought that sounded OK, so the evening was saved. Such a rule-follower, that girl.

Since today was a P.E. day, I can't wait to see what I learn about fencing tonight!

St. Charles Christmas Traditions

I have to start by saying that I have never heard of this happening on Main Street in St. Charles, but apparently it has been going on for years. Dave and I saw an ad a couple of weeks ago about the Christmas Traditions in Old St. Charles and thought, "that might be something fun to do with the girls". I am so glad we decided to go. Everything was SO festive and just right for getting us all into the holiday spirit.We knew that there was going to be a parade of Christmas Characters on Main Street, but what we didn't know is that the characters were walking up and down main street "in character" giving the kids collectors cards. One of the Santa Claus even came up to Dave and totally wrapped him into a huge hug. For anyone who knows Dave, I, like you was not sure how he would react to this. He took it all in stride though and hugged back with a grin of embarrassment on his face. I loved it. In case, you didn't know, I am the outgoing one in our family. Don't laugh! Someone may not know that! Dave is VERY reserved. A lot of people that meet us say that he is SO quiet because I am SO not. But whatever, I enjoyed every minute of him being teased by this Santa. Too bad I didn't have my camera ready at that point.

After collecting cards for a while, we found a place to watch the parade of characters. Amy didn't like the spot that we chose for some reason, so she pouted for a while.

She finally gave up when we offered to let her take a few pictures with our camera. She loves to take pictures of crazy things. We had several of the license plate on the car we were sitting next to. But beyond being crooked, she did get a good one of Dave and I. After a late lunch/early dinner, we took the girls down to the riverfront where they had an outdoor skating rink set up. Amber and Amy have only been ice skating one other time and that was last year in Ohio. It started out a little rough, because they both wanted to skate with Dave. I don't blame them because #1, he is a better skater than I, and #2 he will hold them up, where I just cushion their falls. They both did really good. Amy was her usual kamikaze self...she really has no fear of getting hurt. And Amber was skating by herself, not fast, but on her own by the end.

We ended the evening with hot chocolate for the car ride home. It was a great time and something that we will definitely do again next year.

Gingerbread Tradition

Since this is our last year of Gingerbread Houses with Parents as Teachers, I've been thinking about a way we could continue the tradition of building the houses to prepare us for the holidays. I love tradition and I don't always feel like I am passing on traditions from my childhood. I want to have some traditions that Amber and Amy can pass onto their children.

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I were invited to a gingerbread house making party. (Dave was invited too, but opted not to go.) The concept was very much like a home show type thing, except you knew what you were going to buy. All we had to do was show up. The houses were already built by "the gingerbread lady".

The gingerbread lady brought bagged icing and had a tray of candy and you could decorate your house any way you wanted. The girls had a LOT of fun. They LOVED squeezing the bagged icing.

And you can see they turned out quite a masterpiece.

So now that there is are options out there, I will have to decide how to carry on our gingerbread house tradition. Have a party, or make my own?

I knew this would happen...

I would get behind and get overwhelmed, but I am still plugging away. I think the holidays were just a bad time to start this blog. We have been busy doing lots of holiday things, so I am hoping to catch up.

One of our favorite holiday traditions is attending our Parents as Teachers, Arts and Crafts with Santa. We have gone to it since Amy was an infant. Since Amy will be in Kindergarten next year, this was our last year. Besides cute and easy crafts, one of the favorite things that we love to do is build a graham cracker gingerbread house. The girls concentrate very hard on the exact way they want their gingerbread houses to look, but every once in a while you have to take a taste.

Of course, Santa is there, and the girls were both willing to sit on the strangers lap this year.

I always love to hear what the girls will tell Santa that they want for Christmas. Tonight, Amber told Santa she wanted a Three Musketeer's Barbie (which she got for her birthday in October, by the way???). Amy told Santa she wanted a Barbie...nothing specific, just a Barbie.