The Polar Express

It's been a whirlwind since last Thursday. I'm going to try to post one day at a time until I get caught up. That being said...

Last Thursday we went to the Polar Express. It's a train ride out of Williams, Arizona that replicates the book and movie. We went two years ago. We did not go last year. Noah, preemie, swine flu, small train cars, need I say more? The kids really enjoy this experience.

I didn't tell them until an hour before we left. I didn't want to be asked 100 times when we were leaving. I'm learning. I let them open a few gifts to see if they would catch on.

First they each got robes. The kids all dress in pajamas and robes like in the book. Oh ok, I wore my pajamas too!

Then, they opened the book.

They still didn't quite get it, so I had to tell them. They were super excited. They ran and got pajamas on and their robes.

They were all ready.


Williams is a 70 minute drive North of us, so the kids watched the Polar Express movie on our portable DVD players on the way there. Then we had to get our tickets and walk to our train car. We finally got on our train and the kids got settled.


Noah who has been fussy with a cold and teething perked right up. He loved it. David accidentally grabbed Ben's jacket for him, so he was swimming it it.

The train conductor comes through each car and punches each ticket. It's supposed to be a letter and when put together with other tickets spells something like "believe". We couldn't make out a letter on either ticket. Emily's looked like a funky Q. But whatever. Maybe it was supposed to be a lower case b.


They served everyone hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies. Then, Emily wrote her name on the foggy window.

Ben wrote his name too.

The train probably goes 3-4 miles and you pass the "North Pole" and see Santa on a sleigh out the window. The train stops and starts to head back and Santa is no longer on the sleigh. Everyone sings Christmas carols and waits for Santa.

Emily finally spotted Santa.

He walks through the train and gives everyone a bell.


And he hands out high fives.

And hugs.

Noah wanted to eat his bell.

And throw it.

It was a fun trip and we all had a great time.

Around Our House

David's Mom came in from Orlando for a visit. She has been playing non stop games with Emily. They took a break yesterday morning to build a gingerbread house. We do this every year. Grammie wasn't here last year, but she helped out two years ago. Which our prozac dog Roxie (God rest her crazy soul)
ate two days later. The kids had fun and ate more candy than they put on the house. But, that's what it's all about, right?



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My best best friend Pam was supposed to come up last weekend to visit for the night. Since everyone was puking, she decided to stay home. Wimp. HA! But, she had gifts for the kids, so David picked them up on the way to get his Mom in Phoenix. Aunt Pam always buys the kids pajamas and books for Christmas. This year was a monkey theme with the pajamas, which is very appropriate for my three monkeys.



Noah got right to work reading his book.

Thanks Aunt Pam for all the gifts and the snicker doodles. We have 3 left! Oh wait, now we only have 2. Update: 90 seconds later, they are gone.
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We woke up this morning to a blanket of snow. We always get snow when they say we won't and we don't get snow when they say we will. What do they know? It was the tiniest amount of snow, but enough for the kids to go out and have a good time for a few hours. Grammie was thrilled to get a break from games!


I love that my new camera can capture a series of photos like this:




It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around our house.

Heaven

Every once in a while, my husband will get a hankering for something. A month ago it was meatloaf. Every night when I'd ask him what I should make for dinner. He said the same thing...meatloaf. The kids don't care for meatloaf. I like it fine, but it has to cook for an hour plus 30 minutes of prep and that is a lot of preplanning on my part. I finally gave in last week and made him a meatloaf. He had leftovers on the night he threw up, so I'm pretty sure he will have an aversion to meatloaf for the next year. Cha ching!

Now on to his next hankering...he's been requesting one of those Libby's Pumpkin Rolls since Thanksgiving. I've never made a pumpkin roll before. It looks really complicated. I don't bake. I barely cook. I was completely intimidated by the cute picture on the side of the pumpkin can.

Today was the first day of winter break. I needed to do something with the kids. Noah is teething and driving us all crazy being Mr. Fussy Butts. While he was taking a much needed nap (I needed it more than he did), I decided to bake with the kids. Pumpkin roll here we come!

I had done some preparation for this. I watched several videos on you tube. The best being this one from very best baker. Once you get past the fact that her voice and lips moving don't match, it really is very informative. The kids and I got to work.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that it was going to crack and I'd have a heap of cake with some frosting on it by the time David got home. But, it didn't crack and it worked out perfectly. It was actually pretty easy. The hardest part was waiting for it to cool and set up in the fridge. I did half with nuts and half without.

But oh the payoff...seriously, I don't know if I've ever tasted a dessert so delicious.

If you have never tried it, you must.
The recipe is here.
It is heaven.
I'm not even kidding...whoever is the hostess at the pearly gates should offer people pumpkin rolls. It is that good.

Best Best Friend

Last year, Emily made her first best friend. Ellie was in her class and lived just a few blocks from us. I was thrilled for my girl. Then, Ellie moved to Mesa, a 2 hour drive from us one way. I doubted that they would keep in touch or see each other again. It made me sad. But, I thought Emily would just find a new best friend in first grade and move on.

Emily has yet to make another friend like Ellie. Sure, she has friends, but nobody that she clicked with like Ellie. Much to my surprise, the two girls are staying in touch. They send letters, draw pictures and talk on the phone. In this day and age, there really is no reason they can't stay friends. They can even skype. How fun is that? Totally cool.

Ellie's family came up here to visit some friends on Saturday, which meant Ellie and Emily got to have a playdate. Emily was so excited. She asked me every 10 minutes when Ellie would get here. She even sat in Ben's bedroom looking out the window for awhile waiting.

Then Ellie arrived. And they stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then they hugged and even though they hadn't seen each other in six months, it was like no time had passed.

They got right to playing.

I asked Ellie if she had made new friends.
She said, "Yes, but Emily is my best best friend."
And maybe just maybe, this friendship can last.

Another One (or two) Bites The Dust

And David has been bitten by the vomit monster. He tried to go to work today, but came home to do this...

We were supposed to host his work Christmas party tonight, but having 20 people at our house is not a good idea. We'd probably get everyone sick just in time for Christmas. Luckily somebody in his office volunteered to have it at their house. We don't know what Noah's deal is yet. His cheeks are really red. But they do that when he gets too warm and laying next to David under an electric blanket is about as warm as one can get. We thought he caught this bug on Sunday, but all he wants to do today is sleep on David. Let's hope he is teething, hot or just in the mood to cuddle.

And speaking of cuddling...
Rocko is an inside/outside dog. Which means, he comes inside when we are home and stays outside when we are not home. Otherwise, he does things like this. It's been cold here. I guess he thought so too because he somehow got the pillow off the hammock and decided he needed to cuddle with it.

But not everyone in the house is down and out. Ben is still practicing his flying.

It's nice to know some things never change.

Emily's Concert

Last night was Emily's Christmas concert at her school.

She looked so pretty.

The first grade had three songs to sing, Jingle Bells, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and Light the Candle.

She did great. She sung her songs so well and we are so proud of her.

I had to get a picture with my girl too. I realize I am not in enough photos with my kids. I'm trying to do something about it.

Then three minutes after that photo was taken, I got terribly sick. Whatever Emily and Noah had on Sunday, I got, but way worse. Why is it that I always get it last and by then it mutates into something horrendous?

I am just thrilled that it happened 30 minutes after we got home. I would've been devastated if I couldn't make it to her concert. And I gave Noah a sucker during the concert to keep him quiet, but he insisted on putting it in David's mouth, then mine, then his own. I think I should stock up on Gatorade now.

When one of the kids are sick, David or I always sleep with them. Last night, Emily asked if she could sleep with me so she could take care of me. My girl is the greatest.

Elves

My niece (thanks Tiffy) put our photos in an Officemax elf yourself video. I've watched it several times and just keep laughing. Especially when my husband does those little jumps forward and shimmies his shoulders. Hysterical. And I die laughing when I see him sitting on a bale of hay clapping his hands to the music. My husband would never do that which makes it all the more funny. You can check it out here. Go ahead, you could use a laugh. And make one of yourself while you are at it.