An amazing thing happens when you have a chance to get away from your kids...

You want to be with your kids!!! My mother-in-law watched the kiddos last Monday since Daniel had the day off. I somehow convinced him to go see Twilight with me and then we enjoyed some yummy Red Robin. Mark and Rosie watched the kiddos on Friday so Daniel and I could go to the temple and to Macaroni Grill. The results: some quality time with my hubby, a break from the usual demands of two children, and a new resolve to have more quality time with my children. Friday night we made the most delecious cake balls ever!!! Crushed mint Oreos +cream cheese, dipped in chocolate almond bark....lets just say i had a tummy ache from eating sooooo many! Afterwards we watched Kung Fu Panda and the kiddos had so much fun staying up late with us. Saturday Daniel had to work so i was gonna clean my house. Then I decided to make playdough with the kids first and clean later. Too bad i can't have date nights twice a week every week:)

Who's Ready for Monster Jam?!!!

Last Saturday the boys (+ Mia and Aidyn) went to Monster Jam. Its this annual bonding thing for Daniel and Kolby. Last year when kolby got home he actually starting talking, I suppose he just couldn't hold back his excitement about Grave Digger and fire-breathing dragons. Its been a whole year of monster truck movies, books, u-tube clips, about 20 hotwheels trucks, and a monster truck stadium for Christmas. I had no idea the obession would last so long. Sure enough Sunday morning Kolby came racing into my room and told me all about Monster Jam, with hand actions and all. Now we all have a monster truck name in our house:

Daniel= Grave Digger, Kolby=Bounty Hunter, Sabrina= Bandit, Olivia= Monster Mutt.

Of course since the boys were in charge there are no pictures to document the event:)

If you're wondering what Olivia and I did, we ate a ton of chocolate, and enjoyed a "spa treatment" (olivia had a bubble bath and i gave my self a pedicure). We think boys are wierd.

Let's Play School (2nd edition)

I posted awhile back how i found this awesome pre-preschool curriculum. http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html The program has pre-selected weekly themes, vocab, shapes/colors, letters, numbers, and rhymes. Even though the themes are really cute the last few weeks we've been choosing our own themes. (November was all about Thanksgiving and pilgrims, December was Christmas...then we painted our play room....and the last two weeks were special requests from Kolby himself).

We had Shark week.

-watched Discovery Channel shark movies online

-read shark books

-learned about 7 different species of sharks

-identified what type of shark tooth i have in my random collection

-ate shark fruit snacks

-learned how to spell shark

After a visit to NASA Kolby begged to learn all about rockets, and astronauts , and space shuttles.

We had Space Exploration Week

-watched October Sky

-read a billion library books

-made little rockets shoot up with air

-sent rockets off the stairs ....3...2...1....BLAST OFF

-kolby even dreamt he was an astronaut:)

Some day i'm sure kolby will get sick of all this "learning" but for now i'm lovn' it!

Sigh......

Every once in awhile, ok maybe more than that...it feels good to just vent on this blog thing. I see it as a good thing sense i usually take out less anger on my children and hubby when i do so. Daniel worked late last night. not that big of a deal but i seem to have less and less patience with my children the more and more alone time i have with them. Needless to say i was really ready to put olivia down at 8:30, and i should mention that this was thoroughly communicated over the phone with my hubby. Just as I sang "...to live with him someday" in pops daniel with big hellos and hugs and kisses for olivia. Then he puts her in her crib and walks away. Olivia screamed so hard she almost threw up and I gave daniel a look that could kill. What was he thinking?! I started the bedtime routine all over again. Today my kiddos woke up at 8:00 and started fighting at 8:01. We went to Target where kolby "helped" me pick out a b-day present. While i bent down to have him choose between 3 different Lightning McQueen gifts that his friend just had to have, Olivia (who was standing in the cart) took off her pants and her diaper. Luckily nothing came out of her little naked bum before i could cover her back up. Kolby then insisted on zigzagging in front of the cart until the inevitable happened, I bumped into him, he tripped and dropped his precious bubble bath. He screamed, "Mommy don't hit me!" I scooped him up and set him in the cart with olivia where she stole the coveted bubble bath and then round 2 of the fighting began. I let out a huge SIGH for all the staring shoppers. Now we're home and both children are down for naps and I think i will join them shortly. Daniel will be gone til 11 or later tonight too. The one thing that keeps me going? American Idol starts tonight!!!!!

Children's Museum

(This post is way out of order but i need it for the blurb book so please endure.) On jan. 2, I'm not sure who had more fun at the CHILDREN'S museum, the children or me & britt. My lil' sis is a preschool major and I am an El. Ed so put us in an educational play place for kids and we go crazy:)

The money picture might be a bit too realistic. Does anyone else feel that all their problems could be solved if they never had to worry about money again??? Oh to be a child again and think that money is just little metal circles that your mom lets you throw in a fountain:)OH well, at least i still have fun pretending.

OSU vs UT

It all started around 3rd grade when my teacher began having us recite the Ohio State fight song, and chant "Let's Go Bucks" with our brown bag OSU cheerleader and football player puppets, instead of say practicing our time tables. Basically if you grow up in Ohio you bleed scarlet and gray, and have an odd obsession with buckeyes. This was never a problem until the day we brought Kolby home from the hospital. That day OSU played UT and, gulp, lost. Since then my hubby has found new motivation to be a UT fan. Last night they played in the Tostitos Bowl and somehow UT won again :( Unfortunately I don't think I can brainwash Olivia to be on my side since she's really the only one of us to be born here in Texas. Guess they'll all just gain up on me.

New Year's Eve

We decided to have a "Chinese New Year's" on New Year's Eve and enjoyed some yummy food. The pics of everyone kissing at midnight are too graphic to post, esp of my parents...sick! :) Here's to a fabulous 2009!

I got the ...taking-the-tree-down-christmas-is-over-my-family-all-flew-home-now-i-have-to-clean-my-house-and-snap-back-to-reality....BLUES

Hmmm maybe these amazing pictures (taken by rosie of course!) will cheer me up...or maybe I'll just start crying again. (somehow my brother magically turned this frown upside down by acting like a monkey...sometimes it pays to have a brother who's a freak) If we're not being super competitive over a board game or talking smack on the pickleball court we're most likely to be laughing at or with each other:) gotta love family!