Holidays are fast upon us

at this moment, I have only 3 more presents I have left to buy for Christmas. I have 1 more birthday present to worry about.
I have to say that I love the internet. there are it's down sides, but Christmas is made so much easier. but at the same time it does make my shopping far more complicated.

Yesterday I asked Ronan (3 years old) what he would like for Christmas. He said that he wanted Doctor Who ~ yes my children are scifi geeks. I asked him what kind of Doctor Who toy and he said he wanted a TARDIS. That's my boy!
I looked. I found. I bought.
after I bought it I realized that we are going to have a mini-Dr.Who theme this year since I have been working on a TARDIS blanket (if you don't know Doctor Who is one of the best science fiction TV shows that was ever made. a TARDIS is his space ship/time machine shaped like an old british police box) awesome.

you might be wondering why, since I was able to find such a strange present, does the internet make things more complicated. well it's like this
several years ago I had decided that I didn't like the meager options for toys in our area. I looked on the internet and that was the end of my shopping for Christmas in Walmart.
my kids still have relatively normal requests on their Christmas and Birthday lists. but I have a hard time just getting a regular Barbie or Hot Wheels, I believe I can do better/cooler. don't get me wrong, dolls and cars are great toys. we have many of them and when I say many I mean many.

I guess part of my reasoning for wanting something so different for my kids is that I want them to expand their minds, stretch their creativity and know that there is more to life and the world than what our part of the world can offer.

back to the planning and presents left.....
I am certainly feeling infinitely calmer this year than last year. I had been pretty much cursing the entire month of December last year.
at this rate I will have all gift shopping done in a couple of weeks, then I can wrap things all December. *sigh*

kinda gross... but he is 12

Timothy has a camera that he got a couple of years ago.
he usually doesn't take pictures but this summer he was very bored and got an idea to alleviate the boredom. he had modeling clay and a camera and thus was created this poor little clay person... then he died

I think with a little encouragement (and a new topic) he just might have a career.

when you just can't play one more second

the other night we were all in the living room - some watching TV, others working on other projects - when someone realized that Ronan hadn't been heard from for a while.
you know how it goes... quiet child usually means trouble.

the only trouble coming from this is a sore neck

Iron Toddler

If you know my kids you'll know that they tend to obsess a bit. My boys find a super hero that is way awesome and like any boy will pretend to be that hero.
such is the case with Ronan and Iron Man. last year I made him mittens with white circles on the palms because he loved to pretend to shoot things with his little Iron Man flight stabilizers - like Iron Man does.
you should see him go with those things. he put's Tony Stark to shame

while I was working on a pattern/tutorial today and taking pictures of the steps needed he took my lens cap because it is the perfect size for a mini arc reactor.

he says this is his iron man heart

a bit about the baptism

the baptism was a wonderful experience for us all. I'm sure there is very little that Emma will remember about this day, there was a lot going on. but one thing she is sure to remember is that the water was cold. the hot water heater wasn't able to keep up with the demand, I guess.

there were a lot of friends and family there.
and of course we were asked to pose for a family picture. my family is pretty good looking.

but there is a reason that I am always behind the camera

about the birthday party

Emma is the girliest girl there ever was. okay, maybe not, but she is does love sparkly, swirly, lofty kinds of things. This is why her cake has princess sprinkles. she decided that it would be best if the sprinkles were not all mixed together so she put them the cake herself.
if you're wondering what they are, they are white pearls, yellow crowns/tiaras, blue glass slippers, and red apples (from snow white - no one was poisoned eating these apples)

Connor and Emma are always giggling together. It often makes me crazy... they kind of get themselves worked into a squealing, giggling frenzy. I have to remind myself - often - that it could be worse, they could be fighting non stop. at least they like each other.

her presents were a barbie with a kitchen set. she says that she can pretend that the kitchen is in Barbie's house or it is her cafeteria that she apparently owns and operates :)

she also received some wonderful art supplies which included a sketch pad, color pencils, a very nice artist's eraser, and a book with instructions on how to draw different kinds of pets.
she has been drawing a lot and she is pretty good. (I still need to take pictures of her drawings)

she had a great time

it was a great birthday

for Emma.
I, on the other hand, suffer from sensory overload with every birthday that happens in this house.
but this one is extra special. Emma is 8, so along with her birthday I get to organize - to some degree - a baptism. so I've been kind of swamped for the last week and I will go over birthday pictures when I finally have a minute after the baptism is done.

I'll try to blog tomorrow, complete with pictures

This day is such a special one....

it's birthday time for you

it wasn't all bad (a lot of pictures)

the day we went out to the falls we hadn't even left home yet and Connor came running back in the house and was so excited. he told me that I had to come and see what Emma had. with the cooler temperatures everything is a bit sluggish.

she caught a leopard frog. those things are tricky to get a hold of. the longer she held it the more it warmed up and struggled to get away. it would kick and push the hand she had supporting his legs

she giggled a lot.

then we went out to see the falls. the kids had so much fun and I wasn't a complete tyrant the entire time. As soon as they got out of the car they were climbing and running.
there were a couple of places that I could allow them to freely run and have fun.

Ronan and Emma started it.
see them running in the background of this picture of Connor being Farmer Brown
they were running through the picnic area and Emma ran too close to the tree...(maybe she meant to do it) but she put her foot up on the tree and bounced off and kept running. everyone saw her do it and it was so cool! every one of the kids had to have their turn, then it turned into 'how high up the tree can I run'I really should have stopped them because it is a State Park. but I think that I was just so relieved to not have to keep them away from the fences and railings that I just didn't care if they were abusing the tree a little.....
just so long as they weren't risking falling into this churning wateror off a cliff


so I let them get it out of their systems


Connor may have gotten a little worn out from all the running around.
I was secretly hoping for this. let them wear themselves out and they might not give me trouble when it's time for bedsome might call this cheating, but Ronan is the winner... although Timothy did run the highest without any help
in the bike rack. yeah.... you're guess is as good as mine.
:)

MN water torture

Yesterday Tim got home from work and suggested that we should go and see the falls (since they currently have water).
I've may have mentioned before that on their best days my kids are fairly klutzy. and I have mentioned in the past that having my kids near the falls causes me to panic a bit. but even with that nervous disorder of motherhood we went and I had a full blown nervous break down.
last week after all the rain we had in this area there has been severe flooding. (We have been blessed not to have sustained any flood damage to our house. we haven't been affected by the road closures or power outages or water and sewer restrictions)
the Falls have been real busy since the rain.

this is a picture (from the link above) of the falls in August of last year. the water was barely a dribble.
and I was about freaking out on this day.


this is the exact same spot yesterday. you know this equation... kids + water = throw rocks and acorns in water. my mommy imagination was going nuts picturing my kids in mid throw tripping on the air around their feet and plunging head long into the rushing water.
and this is before you reach the bridge.
that's another equally famous equation. kids + bridge = kids climb the rail on the bridge.


I don't have to tell you what I was picturing. ugh! Ronan is still mad at me for screaming at him not to climb up the railing. He says "I was trying to see the water and I couldn't see the water because I'm tiny"
well, that may be, but my fear was enormous.