Winter Break - Part 1

This is big sister K's first year in public school, so for the first time ever, we now have to follow the school schedule instead of being able to take off whenever we want (work permitting).  Big sister K has been off since Christmas Eve, and for most of those days, I've been fortunate enough that I could take off with her.  Thank goodness for my abundance of vacation days left over!

I scheduled a play-date with one of her classmates on Christmas Eve.  We dropped baby M off at daycare and headed over there in the morning.  I probably had just as good of a time chatting with the mom as big sister K had playing with her friend.  It was a struggle, but I eventually managed to tear her away so that we could met up with M for lunch.  In the midst of enjoying our waffle fries at Chick-fil-a, big sister K lost her very first tooth!  She was playing with the straw while drinking her milk, and the next thing you know, there's a tiny tooth in her hand and blood coming out of her mouth.  She was so excited for the the tooth fairy to come that that was the only thing she talked about the rest of the day.  She told me it's $5 for the first tooth, and $10 for the second.  Man, talk about inflation!

Big sister K was the first to wake up Christmas morning (which is a rarity).  You'd think she couldn't wait to get up so that she could open up her presents... but no... bright and early at 6:30 in the morning, she comes running into my room exclaiming she got something from the tooth fairy.  I had her open up the envelope and read the letter that accompanied a $5 bill (I gave into her wishes on the $5, contrary to M suggesting a buck, but I have to set expectations so that she won't be expecting $10 for the next one).  Big sister K was so thrilled with the tooth fairy's visit that it totally trumped Christmas morning (despite it truly being Christmas morning).

The kids opened up their presents after breakfast.  Loved seeing their happy faces.

On Friday post-Christmas, we went to Adventure Aquarium with the S family.  I didn't want baby M to miss out on the fun, so he played hooky from school that day and we all clambered into P's mini-van for the long drive there.  It was our first time to Adventure Aquarium and the kids had a blast.

Monday was another play-date, this time to the Liberty Science Center with the H family.  It was our second time carpooling in four days and I am becoming a pro at uninstalling/ reinstalling car seats.  Though I would probably never get one myself, I must admit, mini-vans do come in pretty handy.

 Who knew rice could be so much fun??

Four hungry kids anxiously awaiting lunch.

Rock climbing!

Baby M having his own fun.

The Infinity Climber was probably big sister K's favorite exhibit.

About halfway done with winter break!  More to come on the rest of big sister K's days off!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Rockefeller Center

We went to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center after church on Sunday.  While the kids didn't particularly mind going, I don't think they really appreciated it as much as we had hoped.  Baby M had more fun going on the subway than seeing the tree itself and big sister K kept asking what we were going to do next and why we were there.  Someone recently asked if we were going to make this an annual family tradition.  After seeing the kids' lack of interest, I'd have to say no for now.

Baby M's second time on the MTA... he loved it.  Big sister K had her hair flying all over the place when she took off her hat.

Family photo by the tree.  It was too crowded to get a decent one with the top of the tree, so this was the best we could do. 

Kids had more fun playing with their McDonald's Happy Meal toy than enjoying the sights of Manhattan.

Freshly Squeezed OJ

A few days ago, when I went to pick baby M up from school, his teacher told me that the kids were served oranges during snack time.  Rather than eating it, baby M took his and squeezed the liquid into a cup to make orange juice (and apparently, this isn't the first time he's done this... don't know where he got it from since he doesn't do this at home).  All the kids saw what he was doing and started copying him... soon enough, the whole class was making orange juice!  LOL!