Brrrr!

Ok, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, its not really that cold, but YIKES!! It was 17 degrees this morning!!

17!!!

This ties an all time record low for Redding. Brrrr!

Visits to Santa

Yup, its that time of year again! I snuck out to the gym Monday afternoon, which left Tom home with the kids. They decided it was time to visit the big man...

While they were waiting in line, Tom asks the kids what they wanted to ask Santa for Christmas. Meagan immediately pipes up with, "I want 3 Princess Barbies!" (We're not sure what the significance of 3 barbies is all about, other than maybe its because she is 3...1 is too many if you ask me!) Anyway, so they make it up to the front of the line, chit chat with Santa, take their pictures and off they go. I get home and ask her how it went. She looks up, very seriously, and says,"Not good, Mama." Uh-oh....After asking what happened, she says quietly, "He didn't give me the Barbies..." and is on the verge of tears. My very literal 3 year old thought she was getting her Barbies right then and there!! After several unsuccessful attempts not to laugh, it took a lot of quick talking on our parts to explain that Santa only brings presents on Christmas Eve. I'm still not sure she's sold on it though. She's not quite as excited about the whole Santa thing anymore. I'm sure she'll come around eventually....

Its a .....

Tony has finally earned his Wii!

Tony has been bugging us to buy him a Wii: "All my friends have Wiis", "Mom, I really need a Wii", "They are so much fun to play...I'll even let you play with it too!"

We couldn't quite bring ourselves to just go out and buy it for him. And then I remembered a while back something about a "marble jar" on my friend's blog...for every good deed, the kids earned a marble and when the jar was full they got to go on a special outing. It got us thinking....maybe he could earn it.

So....we came up with the Noodle Jar. We have a large jar on our counter that is full of noodlies, as the kids call them. We emptied out the jar and put the noodles into a bag. Every time Tony did a chore he earned a noodle to put into the jar. When the jar was full, we'd get him the Wii. Well, he did it. It was lots of bags of garbage taken out, and setting the table, and emptying the dishwasher, but he finally earned all his noodlies. We picked it up on Sunday, and he has been in Wii heaven ever since. Oh, and in order to play his Wii during the week (on school nights- after homework is finished, of course!), he has to earn a noodle. Each noodle is 15 minutes of Wii time.
Its hard to tell who likes playing the Wii more, Tony or us. It is a lot of fun! I'm so proud of all his hard work.

PS- thanks Rachel for the great idea!

Just a little quilt...

Ok, so school has been kicking my butt and I haven't really had much time to do anything besides write lesson plans and watch teachers teach. I started this over the summer, thinking I could work on it here and there and finish it quickly. WRONG!!! It is now December. I mean, really....it only measures 20" x 20", it should not have taken this long! Oh well. I finally finished it over Thanksgiving, and I am already plotting my next project...I have three more weeks of the semester and then a nice month long break.

More Pictures

We just got these back. We took Bunny along with us this time. Bunny is Meagan's bestest friend in the whole world. She has slept with her every night of her existence. Bunny is well loved, and I shudder at the thought of anything happening to her...

Enjoy....

Pictures

Finally! Here are some pictures from the last couple of months.

Here's the BIG 3 Year old Birthday Girl!

Visiting friends in Fresno...


The slideshow from Denver...

I'm still here, sort of...

Wow, its been a while and there is lots to write about. Things have been crazy but good. Going back to school is kicking my butt, but I'm enjoying it so I its ok. I'm halfway through the first semester and have finally managed to relax a bit. The classes I am taking this semester have a lot of classroom observation hours required on top of the rest of my classwork, so hopefully next semester won't be so hectic. Meagan is finally adjusting to staying at the sitter's and that helps a lot. She goes a couple days a week so I can visit schools and get some homework finished up. She wasn't too sure about it in the beginning, but now she doesn't even wait for me to shut the door of the car before she's racing up to the front door. She cries when I come to pick her up- she's not done playing with her friends and doesn't want to go home, so I guess that's a pretty good sign. Tom has been a superstar picking up all the pieces I'm dropping left and right and I couldn't do this without him. It has been quite an adjustment for all of us to say the least.

We had a great trip to Denver last month. My parents went with us and we all had a great time exploring museums, the aquarium, rode a train, saw the Rocky Mountain National Park, and drank lots of good beer: my mom and I got Tom and Dad tickets to the Great American Beer Festival for their birthdays. They were in heaven- sampling as many of the over 2000 beers in a five hour session- what's not to like?? I went to the Saturday session, and have to admit it was a lot of fun.

Tony's soccer season is just about wrapped up, the last game is on Saturday. I think he has more fun running around chasing his friends than actually playing the game, but hey he's still having a great time. Tom and I will be happy to have our Saturdays back, thats for sure!

Meagan is turning 3 on Friday. I can't believe how big she is getting. She's very excited for Halloween this year and can finally say trick or treat, its very cute.

I'll try to get some pictures up here soon, but don't hold your breath...