Christmas Fun

After dinner we decided to have some fun so we popped some popcorn, mixed it with gumdrops, and got ready to party!

The kids hopped in the baths and got all sparkly clean which took some time! Then they all came scurrying downstairs in their Christmas pjs. So being the paparazzi that I have been accused of being, I took out the camera!

Here is an outake! I believe someone tooted while I was taking this photo. And, something tells me it was the child not in the photo!

And then I caught the leftover giggles! You see I've trained the kiddos that they can only toot in their bedrooms, the bathroom or outdoors. The problem is that the downstairs bathroom is right off the kitchen area so off they run, and then the others get super quiet to listen! Then the giggling ensues! Nothing like making training fun I guess!

Can you see Sophia's personality in this shot? This is SO HER! She is a little Allie Burke!

And the classic crazy photos, I always promise them!

Now, this is totally my little angel here - notice her sniffing the cats bottom!!!!!

And, now she dramatically moves away and plugs her nose. This is just who Sophia is!! She is CRAZY. She will certainly be the life of the party one day! Oi, I have some training to do!

And, here is some more acting - "Oh, no, don't kiss me"! "Okay, if you must"! This is all her without prodding.

Gumdrops!!! The girl can eat!!!

"Can I help you, Lucky"?

And here is the one shot I got with the tripod and no flash!!! The background looks so festive but the human subject of the photo could not stay still for the shutter!

Tomorrow, Sophia, Josh, and Ken are going with Steph to the Neiman Marcus Children's Parade in Dallas. Zack, Mike and I are going to Zack's first basketball game. He is jazzed. He has never played so we'll see how it goes!

During this season, we always watch The Grinch, The Polar Express, Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown's Christmas, Jingle all the Way (with Arnald Swarzenager sp?), the Santa Clause trilogy, and a few others that we pull out at this time of year. I watch The Sound of Music and just may get the kids to watch it all with me this year!

We also do a big puzzle that takes us a few hour long sittings throughout the season. Then there is the train around the tree that Zack is just begging to have put together!

This is Zack and Sophia's first Christmas so please share some of your Christmas traditions. I'd love to add to the fun! And, if anyone knows of an EASY Russian recipe, I'd love to make something for the kiddos on January 7th which is when the celebrations happen in Russia.

Girlfriends...

Zack and Sophia keeping warm after bath time. I think I missed a spot on the tree. he he :)

Here is our afternoon conversation in the car on the way home from Josh and Zack's school:

Josh: Zack likes Andrea.
Zack: YES, I do. (said with glee)
Josh: But, he said his girlfriends are Kennedy A., Kennedy T., and Andrea. I told him he should only have one girlfriend, but I didn't tell him having a lot is bad because I wanted to ask you first to see if you agree.
D: Well, I do agree that boys should have only one girlfriend at a time. I mean isn't the point of girlfriend that she is you favorite girl in the world?
Josh: Yes, that is what I think. I really like Allison. She is my one for all of second grade. We just play and stuff but if I were older, I think I'd kiss her.
D: Woe, now, buddy. Save those kisses for the girl you'll marry.
Zack: When I am big I will smoochy, smoochy. giggle
Josh: Well, you should choose one girlfriend, Zack, because girls aren't like things. You can't have a lot. They are people so you can't just collect them. I think you should choose Andrea because she is hot (word passed down from Ken).
Zack: Josh, you know Kennedy is who I like best. Mom, sometimes when I look over in class, Kennedy smiles a big smile. Mom, she is a beauty!! (all giddy)
Mom: Do you smile back?
Zack: No, I am VERY shy!
Mom: You are so silly!

Josh: When Allison looks at me, I just look at her like this (he smiles and looks out of the corner of his eyes).
D/Mom: So, what did you two learn at school today?
Boys: (almost in unison) I don't know.

For the record, Kennedy is a chubby little blond in his class!!! I love it!!!! I hope he stays as open minded when he is grown and further exposed to our culture!

Zack has had a crush on Kennedy since the second day of school, and he learned nothing of girlfiends from me! He is smitten. It is craziness! However, it gives me a very long time to teach him how to respect young ladies and how to see them as God does.

I see no reason to squelch their little crushes as long as they aren't being inappropriate. It is actually quite cute to see Zack at the park when he notices Kennedy has arrived. He all of a sudden is so giddy and can do ANYTHING she asks! It doesn't matter how short his arms are, he will skip two bars if she asks! I get a kick out of watching the testosterone in motion.

Someday, I pray both boys will be godly men who respect and love their wives and families. And, I hope Sophia will love Jesus and know well how to nurture a family.

Thursday's Theme Cozy

My niece Torie Ann Marie

I wonder what she's dreaming? Something tells me it may have to do with mother's milk!

Check out other cozy pics at http://picturethis.clubmom.com/picture_this/2007/11/yes-thursday-is.html

Simple Questions...

This question came up with the kids' worship cd playing softly. I have gone back to putting them to bed with it playing. Strangely enough when they get up in the morning, they are in better moods, and the tunes they hum and sing all day are productive. I mean even a non-Christian can't complain about a kid singing, "Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted forgiving one another..." I like it much better than hearing Zack sing, "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me." Hey, I guess he'll be well balanced!

Zack: "Mom, why is all of your music about Jesus"?
Mom: "I love Jesus, and I like to sing about him too."
Zack: "I like this music too." "Can I sing about Jesus in bed"? "Will He hear me"?
Mom: "Yes, he listens to you even when you snore"!!!
Zack: "Mom, you are silly."

Kaylie (my niece): "Auntie D, can I pray tonight"?
Auntie D: "Yes, of course sweetie." "Do you want me to help you"?
Kaylie: "No thanks, I know what I want to say."
Auntie D: "Cool, go for it"!
Kaylie: "Dear God...I forgot what I was going to say"!!!

Kenny: "Do you know what the largest religion is in the world"?
D: "No, what is it"?
Kenny: "It is Christianity." "Over 81% of the world is Christian." "Isn't that sweet"?
D: "I think that is cool." "Kind of makes you wonder why the world isn't a nicer place."
Kenny: "That's what I was thinking"!!!!

Josh: "Can I read Sophia's book during reading time today"?
D: "Sure."
Josh: "Can I read one page out loud and then teach Zack to read the next page."
D: "Sure, do I have to pay you"????
Josh with a very confused look on his face: "Well, if you want to you could"!!!
D: "If you teach Zack to read, I'll give you $50!!!
Josh: "Okay, I gotta run"!!!

Sophia: "Mom, can you write Auntie Gina's name on my paper"?
Mom: "Sure thing, baby girl."
Sophia: "Sank you, I am going to draw her a picture"!

You Won't Believe This!

Zack hopped in the car today after school and said, "Mom, school was fun today"!!! He said, "I was rhyming cat and bat and cake and bake." "It was really fun."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing!

Also, I noticed his pants are getting a wee bit shorter on him. His goal is to eat healthy and drink milk so he can get tall because as he says, "I want to go on the roller coasters, mom." "I am NOT afraid." "I am just too little"!

Sophia's latest thing is pickles for breakfast! Her favorite breakfast is pickles, yogurt and string cheese!!!! Crazy girl, but it's all healthy so she can have at it! Honestly, it is kind of like the breakfast buffets in Nizhky Novgorod.

Thanks for commenting! You all make my day.

Here are a few oldies but goodies:

Have they grown?

Look at Zack's baby face!

Yep, Sophia still has the ear fetish!!! She especially LOVES Kenny's ear lobes!

Seeing this pic again inspired me to get out a puzzle for the Christmas season! Puzzles are so good for kids!!! And, Zack is super good at them!

Is that one of the Chipmunks?!!! The kids can't wait for that movie to come out!!!

And, these two are still skinny minnies!

These pants are not long on Zack anymore and Sophia can't fit into that outfit at all. She is long wasted and getting tall quickly! Her hair has grown a lot too! Steph, well lets just say Texas has been good to her! She's shrinking right before my eyes!

Table Talk

I make a point of making dinner each night and having all of the family sit at the table to eat together. This is where Zack and Sophia first learned to pray. It is also where they have learned a ton about manners! But mostly it has been a place where we have great conversations and fun.

So tonight, the kids requested to do the tongue thing after we finished eating so we took turns sticking out our tongues and giving each other animal names based on the size and shape of our tongues. They are stuck on this game! This took place only after we played the "girls rule and boys drool" game! This was just a "race" to see who could eat all of their salad and fruit first without showing poor table manners!

This in part was because Kaylie is visiting, and I know she doesn't like "red things" (tomatoes) which were in the salad. So, I decided to make it fun. Zack, Sophia and Kenny LOVE tomatoes, but Josh, Mike and Kaylie eat them with less gusto!!! However, I'm one of those moms that sees a need for kids to eat the allotted amount of fresh fruits and veggies each day. The girls did indeed win, and Kayie did not even notice she was eating tomatoes. She said she LIKED them! Oh my word, it was crazy!

After the fun, we enjoyed our spaghetti, garlic bread and washed it down with triple chocolate cake!

We sat there chatting as usual about the school day. The kids also asked each adult how their day was with specific questions. I especially love that! Most kids don't care how grown ups days go, but these kids have picked up on our caring for one another and are displaying the ability to be less than self absorbed at such young ages. Ken is 12 1/2 (knock on wood)!

Anyhow, we usually get to talking about Kennedy, Nicole, and April (the three "girlfriends" of Zack, Josh, and Ken). So we start that conversation, and Zack is sure to say no smoochy smoochy because I am too little, right mom? Then he says with a smile, "Mom, you are my girlfriend"! To which I say well you are a cutie so okay my handsome man. We giggle. Steph says something to Mike, and Mike says Steph if you go there, I am going to tell everyone everything you told me yesterday. So I guess a couple of times, and then give up.

Then I remembered Steph calling me yesterday after having all 5 kids out. She said, "I have decided NOT to have kids." She said, "These are excellent kids, and it is a lot of work and a lot of money"!!!!

So I say to Mike, "She already told me she doesn't want kids" thinking that this is the big secret he was keeping. He lets me know that she did not tell him that.

We move on with a different topic and talk for a good five minutes. Then out of the blue Zack gets up on his knees and looks Stepha in the eyes and says, "You don't want us"? He has big tears welling up in his eyes, and he quickly covered his eyes and smiled which is what he does to stop from crying.

Steph starts to tear up as do I. She tells him YES I WANT YOU GUYS. I was talking about other babies. I don't need anymore because I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! He didn't seem convinced. She cut her eyes over at me and gave me that look that only my mother can give! I felt so horrible. I had no idea how that would be interpreted.

Zack is such a tender kid. Sophia just said, "Stepha, I beat you up, and she shook her fist and grinned".

Here is the difference between Zack and Sophia:

Stepha gets home which always causes all of the kids to come running downstairs to greet her. Sophia says, "Stepha, did you bring me cookies"? Stepha says, "No, not today". Sophia shakes her little fist in the air turns on her heels and goes back up to play.

And, those of you who know Auntie Stepha know that she did what a good auntie would do. She called her right back down and asked Sophia is she made Stepha a cookie!!!! When Sophia said no, Stepha shook her fist and hugged her tight.

The resolution for Zack: A date with Auntie Stepha just the two of them so she can love on him. She takes them each out on their own and just decided to expedite his turn. She is a WONDERFUL aunt. I am so FORTUNATE as are the kiddos!

Pics for my friends in Italy - Grazi!!!

The following are some pics or our tree this year. When we traveled to Italy in February, we took a long journey north of Milan to the DeCarlini factory where we were able to meet the entire DeCarlini family. They are such kind people. They welcomed us in as though we were family. We got to take a tour of their small factory and were able to meet some of the ornament blowers that have worked there for decades. I will inlcude some pics from Italy below.

I am a crazy person when it comes to Christmas, and I am even crazier about my Italian ornaments and my Byers Choice Carolers. I have visited both factories and enjoyed each trip.

Some asked how my kids liked decorating the tree. Well, they haven't decorated one yet. They decorated the entire house and left the tree to me. Zack said, "Mom, when you are done, call me to see if you did a good job"!!! They wanted to watch a Christmas movie upstairs. I plan to get a small tree for upstairs which they will decorate with all kinds of fun stuff including popcorn!

Well, Auntie Gina has gone back to CA, and the kids are back to school so it's awfully lonely here! I think I'll go enjoy a cup of coffee by the tree before picking up the kiddos.

Tis the Beginning of the Christmas Season!!!

The tree is up!!! It is always so fun to decorate the tree! There are so many memories in the boxes of ornaments. This year, Gina and Steph unwrapped each ornament, hooked them, and handed them to me to hang. They're afraid to do any more than that!

The ornaments as many of you know are from Italy. They are handblown. Last February, I went to Italy and traveled north to the DeCarlini shop where I met the wonderful Italian family who makes the ornaments. It was one of the most awesome experiences I've had in my travels. The DeCarlinis even make many of the Radko ornaments now days. I'm not a fan of Radko as they're just too easy to find and not as detailed as the Italian ornaments I love.

And, if you're wondering, yes, I'm obsessed!

This isn't a great picture, but you can see Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion all of which I brought back from Italy last year! :)

Here is our Christmas table. We've already had two incredible meals around the table! Good times!

We also put out the carolers. Notice the pic in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. It is Gina, Del, Drew and me in Italy last year!

More carolers...

And, here are a few of our stockings. The rest are hung upstairs!

Here is one of my favorite nativities. It is a little matchbox. I found it in Canada a few years ago.

And, this is my favorite nativity. The kids look at it often and ask so many questions about the baby Jesus. It is such a great opportunity to share!!!

And, here is the family room where we spend so much time together. We are looking forward to putting some presents under the tree, and also to reading the story of Christmas to the kids.

This is a Santa Clause I got from Tiffany (now a cheerleader for the LA Clippers) who was in my class 10 years ago! I always thought it was funny that it said, "Just say ho." This year it is even more funny because I heard on the news that some Santas are being required to say, "ha ha ha" instead of "ho ho ho" so they don't offend women! Give me a break!!!! In this house we say, "Ho ho ho and a merry Christmas"!!!! So if you fit the description of a modern day word, make sure you don't visit. That way you won't be offended!!!! :)

Thanksgiving Day

Here are a few pics from our Thanksgiving Day celebration. We had a casual dinner at Humperdinks in Richardson, Texas. It was great as each person could order Thanksgiving food or whatever else they wanted. The kids were grateful that they could order pizza and corn dogs! Zack and Sophia don't much care for Thanksgiving fare.

After dinner, we went to Uncle Jerry's house to lounge a bit before we went to the movies to see Enchanted (great movie!). It has been a tradition for years that we go to the movies on Thanksgiving evening. It is a great way to unwind, and there is typically a great kids' movie showing.

On the day after Thanksgiving, there was no shopping for us. We made a Thanksgiving meal to eat at home so we could do the traditional "what are you thankful for" traditions. So after we each said what we were thankful for, we decided to do a few other rounds.

First we each stuck our tongue out as far as we could while the others decided what animal we were! Strange yes, but the kids loved it! We had a panda, an anteater, a lizard, a giraffe, a gorilla, and a hyena!!!!

After that, we went around the table and using the first letter of the person's name, we each gave an adjective for that person. Stephanie was sweet, sappy, snake, smiley, sporty... Mike was mellow, manly, masculine, messy (stepha said this one!)... Zack was zesty, zealous, zecial (we had to stretch this!!!), zrazy... Sophia was sneaky, stubborn, silly, stinky, sweet... Josh was jovial, jammin', jubilant... Ken was kind, kenetic, knight, kute (LOL) ... I was darling, determined, darn stubborn, delightful... Gina was gigantic (lol), gorgeous, giraffe, goofy...

The kids just have a royal blast doing crazy stuff like this, and it teaches them so many things! Besides teaching Zack and Sophia their letters and sounds, it teaches the kids to think, and to encourage. It also deepens the silly bones we have in this house!

This year I am so thankful for family! I am thankful for those God created as part of my blood relatives, but I am also incredibly thankful for those God has hand chosen to bring into my family for life! On November 23rd last year, I got an email stating that I was registered with the Ministry of Education in Moscow. I had just found out I was eligible to travel to meet Zack and Sophia for the first time! Thank you Jesus!!! Hearing their little voices pray at the dinner table makes my heart sing!

I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

"My Hero"

Autumn Love and more pics...

Life is Good and LOTS of pics follow this one!!!