Priorities

I have a blog set up, but it's 930p and I have a chance to go to sleep now. I think I should take this chance because tomorrow all six of us are going to attempt to sleep in ONE room at my parents. For some this is no problem, but for my group of sleep trained kids, this is a nightmare. I can almost hear Kevin telling me that if I'm going to be negative about it, then it's going to turn out to be negative. Oh well, I am NOT looking forward to it.

Just for naps at my parents, we tried to put Logan down after Marley had gone to sleep (or so we thought). Logan ended up standing there and playing with Marley rather than sleeping or letting Marley sleep. I'm just not looking forward to it. Logan will be on one side of the king bed in a playpen, Marley will be on the other side in a playpen, Kaelyn will be at the foot of the bed on an air mattress, and Rory will sleep in the bed with Kevin and I. That basically means no sleep for me or Kevin. So stay tuned because this is going to be interesting. I'll prolly not blog again until a special Friday night edition to let you all know how it went. Unless I'm too tired from no sleep Thursday night. Here's hopin'!

Christmas Goodies

Here are some shots of the kids playing with their toys. There's not many here so forgive me. I'm sure there'll be more to come.

Santa got Marley an Aquadoodle. Wasn't that a great idea?! It's just water and a huge area for her to write on...not some little DS screen.


Here's another shot with Logan waiting patiently for his turn.


I don't even have to worry about this because it's just water!


What's Kevin hiding?


He's making a potholder! It's our latest obsession. Rory got it for Christmas. So far Kevin and I have both made 4 potholders each. We're at a standstill though because we're running out of loopers.



Rory got a new American girl doll, Rebecca and this spiffy new horse that she fits on. If you'll notice Kit's leg has been hit by the band aid bandit otherwise known as Rory.


Marley got new bath toys too. This is the first bath Marley and Logan have taken together.


Logan also got these new jammies. They're the old fashioned ones with his name on his bottom. He didn't like them. :(

So there's a sneak peak into what we've been up to since Christmas with our toys. Hope you got some good presents also. Catch ya tomorrow!

By the way...in case you're wondering...Kaelyn's been holed up in her room with her new toys. That's why there's no pics of her with her new things. I'll make it my mission to get something for you to see.

Merry Christmas !!!!!! Part 2

Sorry about the delay in this, but I have no idea what day it is...or was yesterday, so I forgot to blog. :O Anyway, here is Christmas part 2...Nana and Papa's and Grandma and Gekko's.

A tradition at Nana and Papa's is to shoot each other before present opening. This is usually done with Nerf guns that require ammo. The adults normally go at it and the kids run around collecting the ammo. Here...Papa helps Logan reload his gun.


Check out Brian hoarding the ammo in the desk drawer!


Kevin ended up needing to put his hood up because someone shot at him and the ammo stuck to his forehead. It was really funny. A lot of the ammo stuck to the TV behind Kevin too.


Marley ended up getting impatient and started opening gifts herself.

We had breakfast after gift opening. I didn't get many pics because I was trying to get Marley's things opened to put her down for nap. On to Grandma and Gekko's.

This was our living room (and not even all of it) Christmas night. It still looks pretty bad, but not this bad.

It was a great Christmas. I feel like we haven't stopped since Maria came in the day after Christmas. Kevin has off this week, so we're trying to get down to my parents to see then as much as possible. It's a marathon alright. I wouldn't have it any other way. Hasta La Vista, Baby.

Merry Christmas!!!!! Part 1

If I tried to do the whole Christmas post tonight, it would never end. Be thankful I am splitting it up. It's a lot! First up are pictures of Christmas Eve present opening at our house. I'm just going to post pics and move on. It's best for everyone involved.

This is what Marley was doing while we were opening presents. She could be a poster kid for what your 15 month old SHOULDN'T do...play computer games. Let's blame her geek dad! :)

Now onto Christmas morning at our house.

The only 6yo I know asking for pickles in her stocking.






I have no idea what's got Marley laughing.

Monday's blog will have Christmas part 2...Nana and Papa's and Grandma and Gekko's. And now I leave you with this...Logan got animal masks that you wear on your face and when you press the nose, they make sounds. I got a video for you.

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas...

Christmas Eve!

Well, we had our Christmas today because we're going to be too busy tomorrow. Of course the kids will open Santa's presents, but then it's off on the Christmas marathon of visiting family. The kids enjoyed their presents with Kaelyn coming in as best present of the year. She got hamsters that run around in a ball. When they run into something, they bounce off and go the other direction. They're not Zuzu pets or whatever those things are called. They're a knock off and much more entertaining from what I hear.

After we opened presents, the kids went for nap...although Logan didn't sleep. This didn't play out as a problem until we got to 6pm Mass. I think they all broke down at one point or another. Logan having a continuous meltdown the whole time. Kaelyn didn't melt down of course. We were all dressed really nice and cute, and I DIDN'T GET ANY PICTURES!!! I know...I know. I have failed you again, but I'll have a great picture tomorrow...I promise.

So, good night and sleep tight, and God bless us every one.

The Elf on a Shelf

So Nana calls me up yesterday and tells me that she got the kids an "Elf on a Shelf." Have you heard about these things? They're apparently little elves that come with a story book about how they watch you all day and report back to Santa. They end up in a different spot each morning after their journey. You have to name them and put them some where.

Well, Nana decided that "Santa" should give the kids the elf, so she left it on our doorstep. I came up the stairs and made up some story about seeing lights outside and brought the book/elf in. I made a big deal about it and read the story to the kids. I noticed on the box that it said the elf came in different looks. This box was marked dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes. Nana had bought us an African/American elf. We named him Gabe and decided that he's Asian instead. Not that it matters, but I'm Asian, so we're going with it.

I called Nana and told her that Santa had brought the kids an African/American elf and she said, "Oh s*&$!" Nana doesn't curse very much to my knowledge, so this was funny to me. Anyway, Gabe traveled to the North Pole last night and came back to sit on top of our mirror on the fireplace mantle. Coincidentally, Mary and Joseph (who are traveling around the house on their journey to Bethlehem ((our Nativity scene on top of the piano)) ended up on the rocks above Gabe on the fireplace. Here's a picture to help you along...

Here is where Mary and Joseph are headed...
Jesus isn't here right now because...well, he's not born yet, is he? Jesus is going to be wrapped in a box and then put into another box that is wrapped and so on and so forth until he is wrapped in six boxes...one for each member of the family to open. So Christmas morning, we'll each unwrap Jesus as our present. It sounded like a cute tradition that Rory wanted to start. Anywho...Merry Christmas Eve eve!

Sleeping Beauty

So most of you know that my kids are on a nap schedule. Our outings and so forth are based around the nap schedule, so that the kids go down at a certain time (or close to) of the day. This is a blessing and a curse because we're tied to the kids needing a certain atmosphere for their naps...like a completely dark room, sound machines, their loveys and jammies. They don't fall asleep in any mobile things. They wait...wait until the dark room, sound machines, etc. This sometimes causes them not to get to sleep until wee hours of night.

On the flip side, we know when we (parents) will have time to do something...run out, take a nap, relax (or as Logan says...falax). We have our time at bedtime too. We watch tv, go to the gym, think, etc. It's nice to know it's there or coming up. It can push you through the witching hour...which around here are hours 7am-7pm...HA! Anyway, after all this...we have no pictures in any baby books of our kids sleeping. It's impossible to get a picture because of the whole pitch black room thing. However...Marley was sick...and sleeping...and I was sneaky...

She's our only thumb sucker. Kaelyn, Rory, and Logan had/have soothers. Kaelyn gave hers up at 5, Rory at 4, and Logan's giving his to the soother fairy this December 31st...which might have to be postponed for the night since we might be staying at Grandma and Gekkos. I guess we'll see. Good night and sweet dreams!

Snow Pics!

After many requests, I decided to give in and post some snow pics for you guys. Sorry it's been forever, but life keeps happening...over and over and over again. So without further ado...pics
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

I am a firm believer that the kids can be whatever kinds of doctor they want to be. I'll let them make that decision themselves. Just kidding. Marley does look pretty cute in this coat.

Sorry...I just wanted you to see how cute she was from the back too.

Marley's First Big Girl Bath

Tonight was the first night I put Marley in the bathtub and not the baby tub in the bathtub. I tried this once before, but she was sick when I tried it, and she freaked out. That's why I waited a while. She had seen Logan in the bath earlier, and all his toys were still in there. She loved playing with all of them. It went well. I was trying to wash her hair and she looked down and it went all over her face. I braced for the cry, but she laughed. Could I have produced another water baby after all? Logan screamed his head off when we got water on his face...he still sometimes does. It was definitely one of the more easier bathes that we've had.

Speaking of firsts, we had our first snow last Saturday. Marley has been out in the snow before, but since she couldn't walk, she couldn't play. That changed this time. I didn't put her in her snow suit because I only wanted Kevin to hold her for a couple minutes and then bring her in. Instead, he let her down and she played for a half hour...wearing only pants, socks, and shoes on her lower half. Poor kid was freezing when she came in. She seemed like she had fun. Enjoy the pics of these events! Don't mind the other two weaseling their way in.

I love her hair in this picture. It looks like a bunch of curls. Really it's just her straight hair refusing to be rinsed back.

On her way inside...look at that nose!


I love this picture for some reason. It's the look in his eyes or something.