My Very Own House!

One of the best presents that Santa brought this year was a house for the kids. It's not just any old house. This house is "my very own house" which means that the kids can do whatever they want to it. It is white with outlines of pictures, just waiting to be colored or painted. It has two doors, multiple windows, and the favorite mail slot.

Since Christmas day, the house has been used as a mail room, a fast food restaurant, a room for flashlight tag and slumber parties, a place for picnics, and of course, a coloring haven.

Santa, you definately hit the mark with this present. Thank you for endless hours of entertainment had by all.

The Desireable Christmas Cracker Hats!

More Christmas Fun!

The "Boys" Enjoy Christmas Too!

The Magic of Christmas!

Here's your food, Rudolph!

Santa delivered individual bags of reindeer food to Maya's school this year. The note attached instructed Maya and Kai to sprinkle the food in the front yard on Christmas Eve in anticipation of Santa's arrival. When we checked the yard on Christmas day, the food was indeed gone.

Cookies for Santa!

We spent most of Christmas Eve day preparing for Santa's arrival. First, Nanny helped the kids make a gingerbread tree and train. Afterwards, we made sugar cookies. The kids loved using the cookie cutters to make different shapes and picked their favorites for Santa's plate.

I Wanna Be Like Daddy!

Our Key Lime Cove Adventure!

We have been wanting to get together with our Godson Joe and his family, so we decided to meet half way (well almost) at a new waterpark near the Wisconsin/Illinois border. The place was spectacular.

When we arrived, we immediately went to explore the huge indoor hotel/waterpark equipped with restaurants, stores, a huge arcade, and kids zone. As we were looking through the windows at the waterpark, Dom and I excitedly pointed out all of attractions to Maya and Kai to which Maya responded..."Chill out guys. I'm just looking around" as though she was an embarrassed 13 year old on vacation with her parents. Well, it didn't take long for her to catch our enthusiasm. As soon as she saw the wave pool and small slides, she began jumping up and down and asked if she could go swimming right away, to which Dom and I responded..."Chill out. We're just looking around!". Maya actually got a good laugh out of it.

We had a great time reconnecting with Tim, Michelle, and Joe. The kids had an absolute blast swimming, participating in kids activities, getting their faces painted, going to a dance, playing in the arcade, and swimming again and again.

A White November?

Lake effect snow can do strange things. Today, this is what we woke up to...in November! The bizarre part about this snow is that 2 miles west of us, there wasn't even a flake.

Kai decided that he loves snow. The kids had a blast throwing snow balls, making snow angels, and trying to walk through deep drifts.

Meeting Oscar the Turkey!

Today, Maya's class took a trip to our local feed and garden center to meet Oscar the Turkey and to learn about birds and bird feeders.

What a great fieldtrip!

Shoveling Leaves!

Today was a beautiful fall day, so the kids decided that they wanted to make a pile of leaves...using shovels. Who are we to say that rakes are more functional than shovels.

See for yourselves, Maya and Kai made a wonderful leaf pile using their nifty old shovels.

I wonder if they'll be raking snow!

Our "Guitar Heroes"

So I decided to do something completely new and adventurous. That's right, I'm taking acoustic guitar lessons...and LOVE IT! Our local high school offers adult enrichment classes every fall and spring, one of the classes this fall is "Acoustic Guitar for the Beginner". I talked my neighbor into taking the class with me and it ended up that we're the only two in the class.

Our instructor is great. She had us playing 3 or 4 songs after our first lesson by teaching us some simple chords and strums.

Maya and Kai have been so interested since day one of my lessons. Every Friday morning, they beg me to play everything that I learned the night before at my lesson. They also take turns strumming my guitar and singing along to the familiar tunes. After a couple of weeks of this, we decided to get each of them their very own 20 inch acoustic guitar...and they LOVE playing too. Just about daily, the three of us sit in a circle on the living room floor and take turns requesting songs. We strum and sing our hearts out. If we're lucky, Daddy even chimes in on the pink plastic electric guitar.

It's been 5 weeks now since we've acquired our new hobby and everyone's interest is still steady. Maya even chose to bring her guitar to preschool to share with her class during show and tell. She also sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane", her new favorite song that she sings daily. Kai loves the song "Beans in My Ears" and just jams when we play it.