Making every moment count

Between jobs and school and all of those other "have to's" in life, it can be hard to find time for those "want to's" that make life so good. We may not have as much time as we would like to enjoy all of our holiday traditions, but I think we did a pretty good job of enjoying our favorites...especially the Decorating of the Christmas Cookies! And thank you Kiley for letting us destroy...no utterly massacre...your kitchen!
My pretty little cookie designer/icing taster/sprinkle sampler extraordinaire
Brooke and Ava enjoy some candy coated happiness!
The next morning I woke up to find that I had been invaded by kitchen monkeys. Beware of these creatures, they crawl all over your counter tops and sneak inside your cupboards looking for tasty snacks.
Saturday we visited the Children's museum to see the Jolly Days of Christmas. And what kid doesn't love a nice long ride down the Christmas slide?
Good for Momma's too!
Unlimited carousel rides! What fun!
A rare shot of Eli's "real" smile....what a cutie pie!
Every time we go, the kids (Ava) has to listen to Buckey talk about finding his T-Rex on his farm in Montana. She knows the answer to every question he asks and the story by heart. Yet she must listen every time! Eli was hungry and wanted Ava to leave the presentation and go have lunch. She said "please be patient Eli" and gently pulled him onto her lap where he sat quietly for the rest of the talk. What a little Momma she is!
Later the kids and I made Christmas wreathes and more cookies to take to all of the neighbors. My little Elves had a ball and Ava insisted singing the 12 Days of Christmas to each household we visited. The whole thing. Start to finish. Now every house in our neighborhood is decorated in Griswold type fashion, except for one. When the kids asked about it(weeks ago), I explained that the man that lived there had lost his wife this year and did not much feel like decorating. So, imagine my mortification when Eli greeted the man with "are you sad about your wife dying" instead of Merry Christmas. Fortunately the man was very understanding about the Bluntness of Children.
The wreathes that the kids and I made. Not too shabby eh? Their crafty grandma's would be proud I think...
In order to squeeze in all of that holiday fun, Ava and I were up late making snow men by the light of the neighborhood Christmas lights. I believe a recent argument with Eli may have inspired this...
Having dinner with my old friend Sah who just graduated from nursing school. Way to go girl!
Kids digging for dino bones at the children's museum....and I will have another post up soon about the newest addition to our family...

It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

Yes Christmas is certainly just around the corner now! And so life has been very busy! But with each successive Christmas the kids seem to get it more and more. And the Christmas songs get louder and a little more accurate! (But "Deck The Halls" still goes fa ra tooo la moooo ba shi sha shooooo!)

Who's that coming to the window? Whoever it is certainly has the kids attention! These four are 2nd cousins BTW but I think they're more like best friends after only one overnighter.

That's right. Santa was in town. Here Ava is telling Santa to give her a trumpet. Luckily, a parental intervention has that changed to a flute ... maybe. But I think she was also negotiating a level of naughtiness that would still entitle her to presents.

I'm not even going to joke about Eli- because he was one serious dude up on that lap! He sat there very comfortably and told (yes - told not asked) Santa everything he wanted. He was very emphatic about it too. Cracked me up. Hand gestures were involved and everything. When he got off Santa's lap he was obviously very confident he got his message across!

This, everyone, is Ava's 2nd cousin Mackenzie. After one day together they were absolutely inseparable. They spent the night together. They got their ears pierced together. They laughed. They cried. And when we had to go Ava WAILED for almost a whole hour about missing her. And she is already counting down the days until their reunion. 9 days and counting!

Did anyone ever tell these people in Indiana that it gets COLD here?!?!? But with the cold weather come some perks like playing in snow and then having hot chocolate with marshmellows. Almost makes the sub-zero wind chill worth it ... almost.

Here's the tree. It's real so it smells very nice and the kids dressed it up real pretty. So here's Eli after finishing the last touches. (I believe Ava is very closely analyzing the composition of the wall in a corner of the house somewhere.)

It's not a fireplace mantle but it'll do.

And what would Christmas be without a children's Christmas concert. I was very impressed with Ava and her fellow first graders. They sang 3 songs and it was honestly pretty good. And poor Ava tried soooooo hard to stand still while performing! Wiggled the whole time. That one has so much energy it must have been hard, but she did it. And the whole evening went off without a hitch.

And so Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year. And get ready for the next post early next year when the kids and I will attempt to see how tan we can get spending five days in Florida.

Countdown to Christmas!!!

So, in case there is any confusion, four and six are the BY FAR most fun ages ever! The kids are sooooo excited about Christmas! We count houses decorated in lights every time we drive anywhere and the kids turn lights off as fast as I can turn them on so that the house is dark (so as to enjoy the full effects of the Christmas tree and Christmas village). I braved Walmart on Black Friday and have already made Christmas wreathes and planned out this years baking agenda...so I guess the apple doesn't fall far....
Just a cute random shot of the kids reenacting trick-or-treating (why they are tied together by a jump rope is anyone's guess!)
Eli had taken a looooongggg nap at daycare on this particular day...so (at 930pm) he was up holding a dinosaur meeting. He assured me that it was highly important that he empty the game closet, toy box, and his sister's underwear drawer in order to do this.
Yet he was full of, um, something by 630 am the next morning. Mommy's little insomniac! Kids sure are exhaustingly delightful, huh?

More Birthday Treats

Well, snakes and all the kids had great birthdays!! And of course the gifts didn't end with the reptilian fiesta. As I am sure Ness did, I had a special "less ordinary" present for them! Both children got the opportunity to paint a section of their bedroom wall. And as always, it wouldn't be a Conderman blog with the pics in order!

One of the benefits of living in the country. Gorgeous sunsets just about every night.
Ava - ever the expert climber - has a resting place in this tree. It is so perfect for her that she can practially take naps up there. But on this particular night she seemed content to enjoy the sunset as well.
We have had an Indian Summer this week. And so we had a last fire outside. Marshmellows eaten and yet the sugared up kids managed to stay relatively calm. Except all the stick throwing. Oh well ...
Here is the picture of their art area before the paint was flung. I would be lying if I said I was completely confident that it would work without a hitch. And yet it did. Yeah :)

This is Eli's masterpiece. He calls it his rocket. As he finished it, he declared (and I quote) "Oh this is SO AWESOME!" On the abstract art market I'm sure it would fetch a large prize. And as for the rocket ... I see it Little Man. Oh yes, I see it.

And here is Ava's masterpiece. It has everything she thinks is important. A T-Rex, flowers and a sunrise, and love. Well done sweetie.

Note the detail on the T-rex. Monet would be proud.

And so the kids are now officially 4 and 6. I don't know where the time goes, but if everyone is telling the truth, they will be 14 and 16 before we all blink our eyes. Sigh ...

Snakes alive! Birthday kids!

Last week we raked up the "worlds biggest pile of leaves". The kids in true Tasmanian devil form were very quick to "redistribute" them around the yard!
Kinda forgot to post Halloween pictures. So, for those of you who don't have a little girl, Halloween is really just an excuse to get another princess costume. So, for the 3rd year in a row, Ava went as a pretty princess. Eli is a dragon. He insisted trick-or-treating in dragon speak. RRRRRAAWWWRRR he would growl at each door, startling old ladies and scaring small children. Darling aren't they?
So....on Saturday we had a joint birthday party for my birthday kiddos...Because I only have to have one birthday party a year, I try to make it good! The kids are enthralled by snakes right now and begged for a snake-themed birthday party. I combed websites, newspapers, and picked my friends' brains to come up with ideas....
Ok, so the yellow python that may or may not have slight facial deformities was not my plan A...not really my plan B either. But, through a combination of unfortunate events, this is what we ended up with. Thankfully my kids aren't too harsh of critics!
Anything with candles and frosting is okay in their book! Whew...praying Ava doesn't ask for a Hannah Montana cake next year....
So, I found the MOST AMAZING entertainment for my group of 3-7 year olds. This guy brought 7 snakes, a baby alligator, a funny bird, rabbit, albino skunk, sticky frog, and lizard for the kids to play with. And I do mean play with! Yes that is my daughter convincing my step-mom to hold a little snake...and she did!
I just adored the little crocodile (or maybe alligator?) that would let you hold him on his back like a baby!
Ava, Aunt Ellen, and one of the snakes!
Daddy helps Eli keep his hands on a bull python. That was Eli's favorite animal!
Grammy sits behind Ava to learn about some of the snakes.
Karyn and I not to freak out when one kid drops the big black rat snake on my garage floor. It was amazing how good all of the animals were with the kids. No one got bitten, but the bird did leave a nasty gift on my garage floor...
This guy was hysterical. If he thought he was being left out, he would hop up and down on his perch yelling HELLO HELLO PRETTY BIRD PRETTY BIRD!
So creepy!
I wanted to steal this little guy...so cute!
All of the kids with their eyes on the snakes!
Ava's favorite animal turned out to be the bunny...but Eli loved the ball python! Don't get any ideas little man!
Sweet Ava with her favorite snake. Happy Birthday Babies! I can't believe how old you are...seems like just the other day we were having our "one is fun" parties...sniff....sniff....