A Gift For Jesus

I love the conversations I have with my son in the car.  Here’s one from the ride home tonight that was particularly memorable:

Baby M: Mommy, what are we getting Jesus for Christmas?

Me: I don’t know… what do you want to get him?

Baby M: How about a bush?

Me: A bush??? What is Jesus going to do with a bush?

Baby M: Play with it?

Me: Umm… I don’t think Jesus needs a bush.

Baby M: How about grass?
Me: [Silence… as I let him think it over…]

Baby M: Does Jesus have grass already?

Me: Yes, Jesus probably has grass already.

Baby M: Okay.  How about a phone?  A REAL phone.  Mommy, let's get Jesus a real phone!

Me: Why do you want to get Jesus a real phone?

Baby M: So he can talk to the angel.

On another note, big sister K was talking about her writing in class, and she chose “Christmas” as the topic.  We asked what she was writing about, and she started talking about presents, Santa Claus, and how Santa Claus is really St. Nicholas… then she goes on to say that that is not really what Christmas is all about, that Christmas is about Jesus and His birth, but then she said that it was inappropriate to write about that in class.  At first, we thought this direction came from her teacher (without us really knowing the context of the writing assignment), but after a bit more probing, we came to learn that one of her friends (who happens to be Jewish) in class told her it was inappropriate.  Big sister K said not everyone goes to church and believes in Jesus, so she shouldn’t write about it.  This started a whole new discussion about not letting her friends (who could be wrong) influence her.  People can write freely about Chanukah, Diwali, and other beliefs without worry of being chastised… why should one’s Christian faith be any different?  I told big sister K that unless the teacher (or some other authoritative figure) tells her it is inappropriate, she can write about anything she wants.  Hopefully she will take this to heart and show some gumption next time!

Baby M Turns 4!

Baby M's birthday fell smack in the middle of the week this year.  On Wednesday, I stopped by ShopRite during lunch and picked up a box of popsicles to bring to his class to celebrate (seems like all other food items are banned at this place!).  I arrived just in time as the kids were starting their snack time.  Baby M was so excited about his Avengers popsicles that he didn't even have his regular snack!

My birthday boy - king of the day!

On Saturday, we had baby M's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's - not my preference, but he chose it.  I've never been there for a birthday party, so I didn't know what to expect, but the place is an absolute madhouse!  There were so many kids running around, so many parties going on at the same time, I couldn't keep track of anything!  The kids had a great time, but I was totally stressed and couldn't wait for it to be over!  Add to that, baby M was sick (we wanted to postpone, but it was too late to do so), and that was just one extra worry we didn't need.  He made it through the evening fine until we were about to leave, when he decided to throw up.  Fortunately, all the guests had left by that time.

Pinata time!

This was the best kids photo I could do with 13 impatient youngsters...

Blowing out his birthday candles:

Photo op with Chuck E. Cheese himself.

Happy Early B-day Big Sister K!

We celebrated big sister K's birthday about a week and a half early with her friends from school in order to accommodate her busy Saturday schedule.  After much research and contemplation, we decided to have it at ProSkate, an ice skating arena.  Since NJ public schools were closed the majority of the week due to a teacher's convention (and a lot of families took the opportunity to take a mini-vacation), I wasn't sure how many people would be able to make it.  Fortunately, a good number did show up, and they all seemed to have had a blast.

Singing to the birthday girl:

Baby M was actually willing to go on the ice, and he did pretty well too!  Granted, he held onto the walker most of the time, but he wanted to do it on his own and wasn't afraid to fall, as he had been when we went skating back in January.  I would say it's quite an accomplishment from 10 months ago, where he refused to step foot onto the ice after the first try.  I was so proud of him yesterday!  Now M wants to start him on skating lessons...

My fearless girl!

2015 Halloween

The kids' Halloween parades in school has been an annual tradition of mine not to miss.  It was easier in the past when they were both at the same daycare, but for the second year in a row, I've had to split my time in two different places.  Fortunately, the parade times were far enough apart that I was able to make it to both.  On Friday, I took the afternoon off and drove to big sister K's school to watch their parade, followed by a Halloween party in her class.

My Spider Girl and me:

Afterwards, we went to baby M's daycare to enjoy our second parade of the day.  We couldn't have asked for better weather!

 Love my babies!

A Day of Play

Big sister K didn't have school on Columbus Day, so I took the day off in order to watch her.  In doing so, I didn't bother bringing baby M into daycare.  Having one of them home with me is manageable, even enjoyable.  Having both of them home with me... what was I thinking???  I had some work to take care of in the morning, and the two were just creating a ruckus all over the house.  Finally, I offered to take them to the library, much to their delight.  They picked out a few books, I read to baby M, and then we headed out to meet M for lunch by his work place.  We ate at Chick-Fil-A (pretty much out staple whenever we get a chance to have lunch with him), and afterwards, I walked around Woodbridge Center mall with the kids.

Having fun with some Halloween displays:

 

 

Labor Day Weekend

My brother had recently bought a house in the Poconos, so we decided to take advantage of the 3-day weekend and head up there to pay them a visit.  We left Saturday mid-morning and surprisingly got stuck in a lot of traffic.  The drive should've normally taken us two hours or so, but it seemed like every road we turned on, we'd be going at a snail's pace.  The trip took us probably double the amount of time it should've, and this is without making any stops.  The kids were asleep for the most part, but halfway there, baby M woke up yelling that he had to go potty.  Of course, this had to happen right after we hopped onto I-80, where we were moving at five miles an hour, all the way on the left lane (unable to exit) and no shoulder to stop at.  I refused to let him pee in the car, so I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped to the back, where I got him out of his car seat and took out a half empty water bottle for him to pee in (fortunately, we literally were moving at 5 miles an hour, otherwise I would not have risked taking him out of his car seat).  He peed and stopped, so I proceeded to pull the water bottle out... BIG BIG mistake.  It turns out he wasn't completely done yet, so as he continued peeing, urine went all over the car... mostly on me.  Thank goodness for sani-wipes!

Other than the pee incident in the car, the rest of the day went smoothly.  We got to my brother's place, had lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon in their community beach/lake. The kids were in the water trying to catch the fish.  Baby M wasn't too interested, so M and I took him on a paddle boat ride.  It didn't last long though, as he got bored sitting in the boat and wanted to go back on shore to play with his sister and cousins.  Afterwards, we checked out big sister K's tennis skills by the courts (as she spent the entire month of August in tennis camp).  To my disappointment, she did not progress as much as I would have hoped (though my expectations of her are at times unrealistic and I need to remind myself that she is only 6).  When the kids got tired, we took them to the pool to cool off, then went back to the house to shower and get ready for dinner.  The day went by quickly.  Baby M and big sister K got to have a sleepover in their cousins' room, and they loved it.  Sadly, we had to leave the next day...

Getting ready to serve:

One last photo of the kids before we left:

PHOTO-BOMBED!

On Monday, we made an impromptu decision to go apple-picking at Battleview Orchard.  We went early enough that it hadn't gotten too crowded yet, so that was nice.  They had a few varieties to pick from, but our favorite was the Honey Crisp apples.  The kids had a great time "taste testing" everything:

First Day of School - 2nd Grade

Summer just kind of came and went... and now it's back to school time for the kids already!  Big sister K started her first day of school on Wednesday.  She was so excited that she got out of bed all on her own, got dressed, brushed her teeth, and was all ready to go before the rest of us barely got started!  This year I let M do the drop-off and didn't tag along as I had previously.  M told me she just ran off after he signed her in, not looking back once to wave bye.  SIGH... all grown up!

Great Adventure

Big sister K had gotten a free ticket to Six Flags Great Adventure for reading a certain number of books a few months ago. We've been so busy all summer that we never got a chance to go.  The ticket expired on August 16, so we shifted some things around in order to free up the 15th to go.

Big sister K was all about going on the roller coasters, which M and I don't do, so we went with two other families and had big sister K go on the thrill rides with them. She had a blast, and my brave little girl wasn't afraid at all!  She even wanted to go on the ones where she didn't reach the height limit. They took her on El Toro and Skull Mountain. Afterwards, she showed me which ride was El Toro, and when I saw it, my mouth dropped:

Meanwhile, baby M had fun going on all the kiddie rides.  He enjoyed this one so much he went on it multiple times:

Big sister K and baby M didn't know who Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were (it's such a shame!), but they wanted to take a picture with them anyway:

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

I chopped off 10 inches of my hair back in March to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths:

When big sister K saw what I had done, she decided she wanted to do the same.  Her hair was not quite long enough at the time, so I told her she'd have to wait. It's grown out over the past five months... M has not been a fan of the long hair (complained about it every time he had to give her a bath) and wanted to cut it ages ago, but big sister K held her ground and refused, insisting on donating it.  I measured her hair recently and saw that she finally met the minimum length requirement.  Monday night, she randomly told me she wanted to cut her hair right then and there, so I did.

It came out shorter than I expected, but she didn't seem to mind:

I am super-proud of my little girl for her generous heart and selflessness.  I hope she stays this sweet always.

Savannah, GA

We left Orlando after breakfast and started to make our way to Savannah, GA on Monday.  The trip should've only taken us four hours, but ended up taking seven hours with baby M having to go potty every half an hour (or so it seemed).  In any event, by the time we got there, it was almost dinner time.  We checked in at the Marriott Fairfield Inn, which was a big disappointment (looked more like a Motel 6 than the 3-star rating it was given), then made our way to Publix supermarket to stock up on some snacks for the next few days.

First stop on Tuesday morning was to the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace, the founder of Girl Scouts.  I went in there not really expecting anything, but we had a good tour guide and I found myself actually enjoying listening to the little tidbits about Juliette Gordon Low.  Big sister K went along with it, but I think she was more interested in going back to the gift shop and picking out some patches for her Girl Scouts vest that I had promised I'd get her.

In the afternoon, we made our way to River Street, a historic part of Savannah that has many of its century-old buildings converted to tourism.  Of course with our luck, once we paid for parking and got out of the car, it started pouring.  We found shelter inside a hotel and stayed there for over an hour until the rain stopped.  A lot of time wasted, but it was better than getting soaked.  River Street was actually quite charming.  I could do without all the tourist traps, but I guess that's part of the charm.

Wednesday was spent at the Georgia State Railroad Museum, Savannah Children's Museum, and Savannah History Museum, followed by a few hours at the outlet mall.  The kids had a good time going on the trains and seeing their very first real roundhouse and turntable. It was another scorching day... you would think we'd be used to the heat by now, but it was still torture, especially with most of the activities being outdoors.

Enjoying a bit of air conditioning inside one of the train cars:

On the train going through the turntable... the roundhouse is behind the kids:

My little climber at the Savannah Children's Museum:

All smiles!

Legoland

Another hot and steamy day in sunny Orlando... off to Legoland we go!

 Big sister K on the carousel ride:

Lego Friends:

 Baby M's latest craze with Star Wars... he likes Darth Vader, but is afraid of him (took him a while before he was willing to stand next to the Lego statue):

Darth Maul:

Here's the Legoland version of a safari.  Some of the figures were pretty impressive, but still not quite the same as seeing real animals.

Kids got their first honorary drivers license after driving these mini-cars.

   Kids with their new minion dolls from a carnival game... which we didn't actually win (couldn't knock down three stacked cans with a softball after six tries), but the lady who worked there felt sorry for us.  She let the kids try and of course, they couldn't do it either, but then she gave them some "help" and knocked down the cans for them.  Big sister K ended up with a big minion doll and baby M a little one.  It totally made their day and was well worth the $10 spent!

 Me and my girl: