Bye Bye Paci!

We decided it was finally time that Olivia needed to say goodbye to her paci. I knew it was going to be hard but she's a big girl now and shouldn't need it anymore for naps and bedtime. It took her an hour and a half to fall asleep last night for bed but she finally did it. So we took the kids to Build a Bear for the 1st time as a reward for Olivia.

Luca of course picked out a monkey to add to his collection.

Olivia was so excited she was dancing.

About to put the heart in her bear and give it a kiss.

All done!

Time to give the bear a bath!

Brushing the bear.

The pics I have of Luca are all vertical and blogger always gives me problems with vertical pictures so there isn't much of him in here.  But at the end of the process you get to give your bear a Birth Certificate so if you lose your bear someone can return it to the store and they will scan the bar code inside and return it to us.  They said they return 200-300 bears a year!  I asked Olivia what she wanted to name her bear and she said "Teddy Bear."  Corey asked Luca what he wanted to name his bear and he said "Harold?"  We had no idea where he got the name from?  I asked him and he said something about Frosty the Snowman...I'll have to watch it to see but there must be a Harold character in that movie.  Anyway...it was really cute. The lady who stuffed the bears told us that some poeple put the paci in the bear which I thought was a good idea but then Corey said that Olivia probably would've figured out how to rip the bear to get it so maybe not.  My little baby is growing up to be such a big girl!

Christmas Day

Unfortunately, I only have one picture of Xmas because I ended up video taping the kids opening up their presents that I failed to take any pictures.  They obviously were very happy especially since Luca only asked for three things (Buzz Light Year Spaceship, bubbles for his lawnmover and a color wonder coloring book) and Olivia only asked for a Princess Castle. Since they didn't ask for that much they obviously got a ton of things in addtion to what they asked for so I think they were pretty happy.

Olivia admiring her little dancing ballerina in her new jewelry box that Uncle Leo bought her.  She loves this thing!

Christmas Eve

We started a tradition of making Xmas cookies for Santa on Xmas Eve last year. Here are the kids decorating their cookies.

Luca kept asking me not to forget to give the reindeer carrots!

Cookies are all ready!

Celebrating Xmas early w/fam

This would be a great Xmas card! :) What's funny is that Gabri didn't cry when she met Santa at the mall, but when her DAD dressed up at our house she was not liking it.

All suited up and ready for dinner.

Santa visiting our house and Luca says "Santa!  Why didn't you come down the chimney and where are your gloves?

Sitting at their new toddler table!  I love that this table matches our big table perfectly!  It was just a little smaller than I thought it would be from the online pictures but the kids love it so that's all that matters.

Zoo Lights!

My family is in town for the holidays and we went to see the zoo lights!

Gabriella's Elf, Ella, was able to play with Buddy, our Elf.  They were getting into mischief.

Cute things my kids say...

We recently had my sister, niece and brother-in-law, plus my parents over to celebrate Xmas the past couple days.  I will post pictures soon.  But  I had to write this down before I forget...

Santa made a visit to our house.  He rang the doorbell and the kids yelled "Santa!"  They were so excited!  Then Luca said "Why didn't you come down the chimney?"  Where are your gloves? Where's your reindeer?"  I was surprised at how much he was questioning him at such a young age!  Gabriella, my niece, wasn't a fan of Santa but if she only knew it was actually her Daddy!  I'll post pics soon so you can see, it's the cutest pic.

I took each of the kids on a separate trip to Target when one of them had school the other went to Target with me.  I told them I wanted them to buy each other a Xmas present. I asked Olivia "What does Luca like?"  She said all the things he liked such as Buzz Light Year, and trains, etc.  And she ended up buying him a doctor set which is perfect b/c they always play doctor with the stethoscope that Luca had when he was a doctor for Halloween 2 years ago.  When I took Luca he said Olivia liked princesses and he ended up buying her a tea set which is perfect because she love playing tea party. 

Today, Corey wanted the kids to buy me a gift so he took them to Target.  First he asked them "What do you want to buy Mommy?"  Luca said "A butterfly!"  Then Corey asked them "What are some things Mommy likes to do?"  Luca said "Well, Mommy like to drive me around places...maybe we should buy her a car?  A pink one!"  That's my boy!! :)  Then he said "She likes to wash dishes and cook for us...maybe we should buy her a kitchen set?"  I love their responses.  Olivia said "Mommy likes to color and play with me. Let's get her a princess!"

My 1st Ugly Xmas Sweater Party...

My friend Kelly, from Moms N' Munchkins hosted an Ugly Xmas sweater party. It was so much fun! Here's the entire group.

My friend Angie had THE SAME turtle neck on as me!  She had a sweater to go over it as I did not. 

These Ugly Sweater Xmas parties must be popular b/c I went to two consignment shops to look for an 80's type of sweater and the lady told me they only had 6 left out of the 60 they had!  I also was in shock how much a USED sweater was...just as much as a new one would be.  So instead, I just went with this super ugly turtleneck I found at Kohls.  I also added a super gaudy snowman pin and "Jingle Bell" earrings from Wal-Mart.  Then I added Olivia's bow even though I was hoping to find one of those 80's scrunchies of course I didn't have one, though! ;)  BTW...we all had to walk the runway and model our clothes, hence the pose in the following picture.

Christmas Pictures!

Santa and Brunch at the Gym!

We belong to a really great gym. They had a member appreciation brunch with Santa, a balloon artist, crafts and cookie decorating. The kids had a blast!

Decorating cookies with our friends.  (A lot of MnM's are also members of this gym which is a huge plus, too!)

Luca giving me a naughty look!

Olivia's focused on eating her cookie.

She was waving to Santa here.

They are definitely not afraid of Santa!

Luca was so excited that the Balloon lady made him a Buzz Light Year jet pack!

Olivia asked for a princess so she got Cinderella and said she wanted to wear it so the Balloon lady put it on her head!

The best way to wake up in the morning....

This morning Luca came into my room and I said "Good Morning, Luca!" and he said "Good Morning, Mommy.  You look pretty."  I can't ask for a better start to my day.  Love my kids!

Adopt a Family

Every year the Moms N' Munchkins group donates to a needy family. This year we decided to give to two families. Childrens services told us these two families were in need because the parents had some medical issues. I think they will have a great Christmas this year! We always have a Wine and Wrap party where we'll drink wine and wrap all the presents. There were over 150 presents plus a bag FULL of gift cards! It's a nice thing that my moms group does every year. It always makes me stop and think how blessed we are to have a healthy family, a beautiful and warm home to live in and warm food on the table. There are lots of people out there that don't have this and we should all be grateful for what we have!

Olivia's Mid Year Evaluation

I'm very happy to report that Olivia did excellent in all the areas like Luca's.  Here's the comments that the teacher wrote about Olivia.

Olivia is always smiling and having fun!  She listens well, follows directions, socializes with our friends and tries everything.

I'm so proud of them!

Luca's Mid Year Evaluation for Extended Movement

Luca received his "report card" today and I'm so proud of him!

N - Needs Improving
I- Is Improving
E- Excellent

Listening Skills Focus -  E
Confidence/Comfort Socially - E
Awareness of body and it's capability to move - E

Comments:  Luca loves to move and he loves playing with his friends.  He is very eager to learn.  As a class, we are working on staying focused during large motor activity. 

I'm interested to see Olivia's report card tomorrow! :)

My 1st Do It Yourself Project - Xmas Gift!

I saw this idea on pinterest where they glued crayons around a can to give as a gift for a teacher. I thought it was a cute idea, but what teacher wants crayons?  So I decided to use Candy Canes! 

Luca and Olivia will give this to their teacher and I will also add some Monkey Munch, and candy dipped pretzels in a bag in the center of this little candy cane gift! 

The finished product with glittery paper wrapped around it and I used a gift tag for decoration.  Isn't cute?   And look, you can see Buddy The Elf in the background!

Reading one of her favorite books before bedtime! :)

She's my little doll!

In their festive jammies!

Look how big my babies are getting!  Makes me so sad how fast they are growing up.

This was 2 years ago.......