Holiday Fun and Snow!

Angela here!  I know I say it in almost in every post, but WOW have we been busy this past month.  Christmas activities have taken over our house, our schedule and our weekends.  But the kids adore it.  Damien, The Elf on the Shelf, returned the day after Thanksgiving and the kids are now obsessed.  They run downstairs every morning searching for where he landed.  Adley screams out his name while Hudson frantically opens every door trying to find the little guy.  Chris gets creative and puts the elf in funny spots; I just try to remember to move him (one time I forgot and convinced Hud that the elf just realllllly liked sitting in the tree.  And every few days, they will get a small gift from Damien.  The matching pjs have been the favorite so far.

One day Hudson was scrolling though my Instagram account and stumbled across a picture of himself when he was two and had touched Damien the Elf.  Now anyone who has bought into this marketing scam knows that if a kid touches their elf, he loses his powers.  And according to the movie, the elf has to go to the elf hospital and get an IV of peppermint medicine before he feels better.  Poor Hudson was beside himself when he found out he hurt his elf...just distraught...as deeply disappointed as a 4 year old could be.  We talked about it for about 20 minutes before I could convince him he was just little and didn't know any better at the time.  

"I shouldn't have done it mama.  Is Damien still upset with me?  Does daddy know what I did?  Please don't let daddy touch Damien!"

Chris always pretends he is about to touch the elf and the kids flip out and go ballistic.  Adley cries and Hudson tries to tackle Chris before he touches him.  For some reason, Chris finds humor in torturing these poor kids.  But after the picture incident, he's had to since stop.  Even the next day, Hudson came home after school and apologized again to Damien and us.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  Below is the evidence.  Chris and I can't stop laughing about the whole situation...

Now going to give a quick rundown of everything else we've been doing....

WinterFest - Kings Island

Woodland Lights - Washingtown Township

Brunch with Santa - Hilton Garden Inn

Adley was so excited to get dressed up and wear matching outfits with cousin Claire.  But as soon as she saw the big guy in red, she screamed so loud that windows should have shattered.

The four best cousins in the world!  They literally see each almost other everyday (between school, sports and weekends) and they still are always requesting to have play dates and sleepovers.  Love them so much!

First Snowfall

Adley continues to be scared of everything.  The latest being white socks.  Like, really?!?  Pink socks are OK, but white socks send her into hysteria.  Snow did the same thing.

Hudson loved the snow.  It was strange because he kept eating it.  His response: "Mom! You gotta try this stuff!  It tastes just like ice cream!"  Instead of fighting the weird comment of plain snow having a flavor, we instead brought some inside, poured it in cups and then covered it with fun dip, aka we made snow cones!  That scared Adley as well.  

Kids-R-Kids Holiday Program

We practiced for two weeks singing Must Be Santa and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  Hudson kept saying he was scared people would laugh at him, but he overcame his fears and rocked out on stage with his best buds Sammy and Caleb.  Cousins Anderson and Claire also gave solid performances so it was a fun evening.  Their love for the holidays make this time of year so special for me.

Only 9 more days till Santa comes!  We are headed to Kentucky to see the Wilson's and extended family.  Then we'll be back to celebrate with the Ohio crew.  Hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday!

Halloween

Halloween 2017

As the kids get older, Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays.  There is just so much excitement and joy that overpowers a four year old and his imagination (Adley hasn't reached that "excitement" stage yet, only fear).  All month long, Hudson wanted to wear his costumes and practice how he would knock on and answer doors on Halloween night.  He loved matching outfits with his cousins and his besties.  He was on a mission to get Adley all hyped about the day, but failed miserably; she wanted nothing to do it.  Maybe next year the princess will enjoy the chaos of Halloween.

  We started off the day with a school parade.  Hudson and is best bud Caleb coordinated their costumes and it was adorable!  Hudson had three costumes, so these boys legit spent last Saturday afternoon talking and deciding what they wanted to wear. 

 

 

Poor poor Adley, again afraid of everything, cried instantly when she saw me.  The parade consisted of the kids walking around the facility numerous times as they donned their fabulous costumes.  Adley refused to wear her princess costume, so she once again wore Elsa pjs.  And only the blue Elsa, as she will tell you the pink Elsa pjs are "too skeery!"  Adley's teacher, Ms Shena rocked a costume as well...

Hudson has developed this knack for rubbing Adley's head to calm her down.  And even though it destroys any cute hairdo, I think it actually works!

 

That evening, we had the family over along with some more school buddies.  After filling up on pizza, we bundled up the daddies and children and sent them out into the neighborhood.  The mamas stayed back to pass out candy....ie we wanted to drink wine and stay warm.  It was fantastic!  And given the fact that the dads wanted the candy as much as the kids, we were childless for almost two hours.

Mommy-time!

Baby Rowan, one of Adley's BFF, even got in on the fun (along with Telgar the dragon pup!)

Hudson was one a mission to fill his bag to the tip top with candy.  Chris and I both politely told him that no child has ever completed that mission, as we all have tried to do so ourselves.  But he put in a strong effort and collected tons of goodies.  Once returning home, Hudson was beyond thrilled to plop his candy out on the carpet, investigate every piece and then give a squeal, jump or shimmy to express his jubilation.  I snapped the series of pics below and can't stop laughing when I look at him.  This is why I love Halloween...

Chris picking out his "payment" for taking the kids out that evening...

Chris also helped the kids carve a pumpkin and even roasted the seeds for us.  They were delicious!

Happy Fall Y'all!! Until next time...

Great Wolf Lodge and Over-Achievers

Great Wolf Lodge

Last month we took a fun weekend trip to Great Wolf Lodge, and brought LollyPop along for the ride.  The kids had a blast!  This place is an indoor water park with slides, a wave pool and lots of water activities.  There is an arcade room, a life-size tree that tells bedtime stories, restaurants and an ice cream shop.  By the end of the trip, all the adults were exhausted, but it was worth it to witness the endless giggles and smiles.  And of course, there was Halloween-fun sprinkled in as well.  Before we arrived at the lodge, we stopped at the Harley Davidson store across the street.  Hudson is currently obsessed with motorcycles and wants to be a "motorcycle man" when he grows up.  Praying that is just a phase.

Below is Adley at the edge of the wave pool.  She loved sticking her ears in the water, hilarious stuff for a two year old.

 Trick or treating was later that night.  Adley was scared of Hudson's Ninja Turtle costume, so he was considerate enough to be Captain America.  She could not keep her composure to wear a costume; only the wolf ears we received upon arrival were manageable to wear.  Even the Elsa pjs that are usually her "costume" were too much to handle that evening.  

We all slept in one suite and I thought I was being smart by having the kids in these cool log cabin-like bunk beds.  But poor Adley was again scared (of everything!) and had to sleep with Lolly.  Hudson couldn't fall asleep either so he ended up spooning me in the lower bunk.  Needless to say. when we arrived at the breakfast buffet, we got our money's worth with the amount of coffee that was needed.  And then we were right back into the water...

 

 

 Hudson had a ton of fun in the arcade and Chris gladly and proudly demonstrated how to get tons of tickets.  With his earnings, Hudson purchased a football, a heap of candy, and even cute sunglasses for Adley.

Soccer Season

Hudson finished his first season of club soccer and rocked the field at every game!  The team had a party at Marion's Pizza and trophies were delivered to each player.  It was sweet to witness all the excitement in their little faces when they received their reward.  Next up....basketball season!! 

Baby Geniuses?

I recently had parent teacher conferences at school and apparently my children are geniuses.  Like most kids, Adley lovessssss to color (she is currently a lefty).  But she may be the best scribbler in her class.  Why is this important you ask?  According the her teacher, toddlers who color with multiple crayons are able to stimulate more parts of their brain.  Below is the masterpiece Ms. Shena presented me.  And for the record, I'm not cashing in that 529 savings quite yet.  I'm just not convinced...

But Adley is a talker and a counter.  She can count to about 14 without skipping (most of the time), knows "right" and "left" and can recite all her colors.  Even though her favorite color is still yellow, she refuses to wear anything other than pink.  She continues to sleep 11 hours through the night and still takes a two hour nap in between.  She is Miss Independent but will follow and mimic Hudson in whatever he does.  She also loves to sing.  Not well, just loud.  She has only seen Frozen once, but it is her favorite...

https://youtu.be/RRaaM0kyc2Y

Now Hudson is an over-achiever because our man grew an extra tooth.  Clearly he had something to do with this, right?  But if you look closely, he has an extra central incisor, aka three 2-front teeth!  How weird and cool is that?  Apparently it's fairly uncommon as well.  His mouth appears to be so big that none of his teeth are crooked and he still has room for more.  All those chiclets should eventually fall out.  And as long as he doesn't have an extra adult tooth, we shouldn't we looking at braces.

Halloween blog coming next!