Christmas 2012 & A Jelly Belly Visit!

I didn't take very many pictures this Christmas...but it was one of the best Christmases ever!  No drama, no anxiety, no exhaustion...it was pretty much perfect.  Even though we did Christmas at my Dad & Mom's (Sush) one weekend, then Christmas with Robert's (MY) family the next day, then our own Christmas the next day and Christmas again with my Mom & Dad (Stephen) that weekend...it all was so much fun!! :)
The kids got what they wanted most from Santa: A Monster High Doll for Alexya & The Avengers Collection for Sonny.

 

there was Christmas Morning Chaos (I took mostly video so it seems this is the only picture I ended up with).
And getting the kids ready to go to another get together...

 

They are SO lucky to have 2 of the most AWESOME Uncles on Earth!

A happy & excited Grandma opens her present from Alexya :)

Sonny gets a Thor hammer!...to go along with his Iron Man mask & Captain America mask and sheild!  He takes turns dressing up as different Avengers!

We went to visit my cousin, Amy, who works at the Jelly Belly Factory!  We had the best time and so much fun exploring and watching Amy do an incredible tour!  Alexya and Sonny really love being around her, so it was really fun to take them to see her at work...and in such a cool place!
Thanks Amy for the adventure!! :)

 

Alexya's 6th Birthday Party (girls only~glam & dance)

Alexya only invited her 4 BFFs to her B-day party this year: Teresa, Sara, Kayla and Julie.  And my God-daughter, Isabel, her friend since birth!
We had a glam/dance party where we got the girls glamed up with sparkling nails, face paint, hair color and Monster High tattoos!  Then they danced and played to music with balloons.  We had stations with my sister and my favorite Mom's of Lexy's friends helping out!  It was such a great time...fun for everyone, even us moms! :)

Teresa, Kayla and Sara

 

This reaction to one of Alexya's presents is the best...check out Julie's face in the left hand corner...and just keep looking at it for the next couple pictures...

 

...priceless.

The Monster High Doll...it's her new thing she's into...I don't know how to explain them since I really don't know what they are other than barbies/brats that are glamour monsters?  Anyway, she loves them and now has 3. :)

"What?  I have to do all the clean-up?"

Alexya got her Ears Pierced!! Happy 6th Birthday!~love mom

Alexya had asked me if she could get her ears pierced, because her 2 BFFs have them pierced.  I told her only if she would take care of them (cleaning every morning and night-get up, get dressed, brush teeth, clean earrings, eat breakfast)  not an easy thing.  So she thought about it for a while and then came back to me a couple weeks later and asked me again and told me she'd take care of them.  So I agreed and we went to get them pierced a week before her b-day.  I asked her which kind of earrings she would want and she said, without hesitating, "pink sparkly flowers".  Umm I don't think they pierce ears with that kind of earing I said, but as soon as we got there and saw the selection, there was a "pink sparkly flower" as a choice...the most expensive choice!!  ...but how could I say no now?!?!  so... you can see below the experience from start to finish...and she was so excited and brave and then jumped when they pierced them and then almost cried, but held it in and just said,"mommy, that hurt?"  But by then it was over and she was so happy and has been happy with them and taking good care of them ever since :)

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2012

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my dad and Sush's house this year.  It was so much fun just playing cards, eating, drinking, talking, eating and eating!  Did I mention how AMAZING the food was!!!  It's official, the best cook in the world is Sushuma Kistner, aka Grandma Sush!  I have no idea how the same woman can create an amazing horderve, then main course with insanely delicious side dishes that you can't even begin to count there are so many, and then finish it off with a variety of desserts that you don't have room for, but are so good you have to keep eating them and trying not to explode!  Usually people have a specialty, but somehow Sushuma is the complete gourmet!!  and, oh darn, we have to eat all her food!!! :) :)

love for grandma sush!

Happy cousins!
Primo and Kenobi were playing the WHOLE TIME!!!
...it's fun to play with someone your size...

....and then....
...Sonny got a hold of the camera....
enjoy the candid moments and one that I decided to take of him so he could see himself...

 

 

 

 

 

Sonny loves to Vacuum & more Halloween

You can tell by the look on his face that he's having a great time...Actually it's misleading, because he WAS having a great time!  In fact he wanted to do the whole house!  So I had to unplug and plug the vacuum into every room for him to be able to go crazy...and then he started ordering me and alexya to pick stuff up so he could vacuum (I have no idea who he was imitating there).

 

Sara, Sonny and Alexya going to Lexy's school Halloween celebration

Pumpkins!  They drew the faces and we carved them out...time consuming, messy and FUN! :)

Sara, Lexy, Teresa (BFFs) and Andrew (Teresa's little brother and Sonny's BFF)

Going out to Trick or Treat!  They were brave until the house with the scary sounds that activated when you rung the doorbell...then it was over.  3 huge bags of candy was not a bad turnout though :)

Happy Halloween, Big Wheels & Sonny starts Pre-school!!

Sonny started preschool today and he was very excited!  We were referred to a school by Alexya's former Kindergarten teacher and so we went to check it out last week.  They only had one spot open, so we grabbed it!  Sonny loved it on our visit so much that he was asking every day when he could go to school...and was up and dressed with shoes and backpack on waiting by the front door at 7:45.  We dropped off Alexya at school then took Sonny to school.  As soon as we got there he walks in and says "bye mom, bye dad."  We're like "wait, we have to talk to your teacher, it's your first day!"  He didn't even know where to put his stuff yet!
Anyway, he had a great day and the school is really wonderful!!  We really lucked out, it's way better than the preschool Alexya went to and the same price!!  They have 5 different rooms and teachers and they do different activities in each room like: homeroom/letters/language, dress up/dramatic play, arts & crafts, math & science, and music!  And they have a huge outdoor/covered play area with so many things to do.  It's really amazing and Sonny was non-stop talking about all the stuff he did the whole way home from picking him up (15 min drive).
The other great thing is that since Alexya has so many friends, Sonny really wants some of his own friends...so this is a great opportunity for him and he pointed out some of his "preschool friends" even before talking to them this morning. ;)

Here are some pics of Alexya & Sonny in their halloween costumes (princess and iron man...when he takes the mask off, he's tony stark)
She is beautiful and gets in trouble and he saves her, is what they told me.

Sonny loves this picture because it looks like his heart is glowing so he's "actually real!"

Alexya had a "big wheels day" at her school where the kids got to see up close, all the big trucks and stuff they normally don't get to see like....

...Sonny's favorite, the Police Motorcycle...

...sit in the police car...

...stand in front of a bus (and not get run over)...

...drive a garbage truck...

...and after an exhausting day of exploring they get to relax and enjoy popcorn and lemonade.  BTW I didn't include the photo of them in the ambulance because they were so excited to be inside "daddy's work" that they would NOT STAND STILL!!