Tooth Fairy

We've had a busy month for the Tooth Fairy in our house, as both Addison and Colbie have lost their first teeth!   Back on November 30th, Addy lost her first tooth...by swallowing it unfortunately.   But the Tooth Fairy some how found her anyways, and presented her with a certificate for her first tooth, 3 dollar coins and 2 chocolate coins.   Colbie was pretty jealous, especially when Addy lost her second bottom front tooth two weeks later!   Well, right before Christmas, Colbie finally had some seriously loose teeth.   We thought one of them might pop out on Christmas, but Colbie was too nervous for us to pull it out for her.  Well, last night, nearly a month after her twin sister lost her first tooth, Colbie lost her first tooth!  She was wiggling it at bedtime, and pop, it just fell right out in her hand, no blood and no pain!   The Tooth Fairy thankfully was reminded of exactly what Addison got for her first tooth, so she was able to bring exactly the same thing for Colbie last night. 

Addy- no picture since she swallowed the tooth, and her permanent tooth was nearly fully grown in at the time (so there was no real hole in her mouth).  But, she did write this note to the Tooth Fairy explaining what happened. 

Here is Colbie, last night (12/27/17) holding her very first lost tooth! 

Christmas

For Christmas Eve we went up to my parent's home for some playtime, dinner and gift exchange.   There was some serious ping pong playing prior to gift opening! 

 

 

 

 Everyone went to bed pretty quickly that evening in anticipation for Santa's arrival.   Josh and I were up late wrapping and wrapping of course.   I was up at 5:00am baking pie, and around 5:15 Jake came downstairs crying about having a bad dream.   Apparently all three kids were in Jake's bed by that time, so the girls came down too.   Well...that was wayyyyy too early to start the present opening so Josh convinced them to climb into our bed and watch Home Alone for an hour while I baked and while he tried to rest.   Well, around 6:15 Jake went to the bathroom and all of a sudden was feeling like he needed to throw up.   His stomach was empty so nothing happened, but he was incredibly upset about feeling so gross on Christmas morning.   I gave him some Tylenol and he sat on my lap as we started to open stockings, and he actually fell asleep.   That's when we decided to halt Christmas present opening until Jake was ok, as his excitement, enthusiasm and energy are half the fun of any holiday in our house.   Bizarrely at 7:30, he woke up and was running around with excitement as if nothing had happened, ready to open gifts right away.   So, we proceeded with the madness, with everyone enjoying their gifts this year (we kept things small and simple this year, with the theme really around games, games and more games).   After presents, we all had breakfast and started the cleanup process.   Due to Jake's little untimely bug, Lindsay, Duke and Jonathan opted to skip our traditional family Christmas dinner at our house, totally understandably.   We're so sorry! 
Christmas dinner with the grandparents was great.   Board games before dinner and yummy food.   Jake was fading by the end of the night, and by 8:00pm all THREE kids were asleep which us unheard of in our house.   What a Christmas!!

 

 

Christmas With the Goines'

We had our little celebration and gift exchange with Grandma Lee Lee and Grandpa Bill yesterday.   The kids were in extremely good and excitable spirits with Christmas finally here.   It was a great celebration day.  Thank you Lee and Bill for hosting our dinner and for the generous gifts!

Class Party Time

Yesterday was the last day of school before holiday break...which means class party time!   For the first time this year, the party times were not overlapping, so I could help out at both, yippee!

Jake's was first.  His teachers labeled it a New Years Eve party, so they strung up balloons and dropped them at noon just like we do every year at home.   The kids were invited to dress up in their New Year's Eve best, which Jake of course opted to ignore.   There were five stations of fun- cookie decorating, mask making, minute to win it games, glitter slime making and marshmallow popper making station.  The kids had a blast!
Here is Jake in the photo booth (a Mom is a professional photographer and amazing!):

The girl's class was an afternoon party with stations of fun as well.   Cookie decorating was the hit, but we also played dreidel games, made Santas, made reindeer food and played holiday bingo. 

Now we're on to 2.5 weeks of vacation! 

Holiday Party with Bill and Lee

Yesterday was the annual holiday event at Grandma Lee and Grandpa Bill's Golf Club.   Every year this event gets a bit more fun and a bit more relaxing for us as the kids grow up.   This year was certainly the best so far, as all three kids were super excited about participating in the fun group games and dances, crafts, food and of course Santa!   This year was the first year EVER that we've been able to take a family picture with Santa without any tears or kids running off.   Quite a fun event, great table and wonderful memories!

 

 

Getaway Day to SF

Josh has been on a "business trip" up in San Francisco for the later half of this week, and he invited the kids and I to come up and stay with him on Friday.   I pulled the kids out of school early (I never do this I swear!) and we headed up to SF to find an amazing suite waiting for us.   While Josh finished up his work, we went next door to the SF MOMA (free tickets thanks to the San Carlos library).   I hadn't been in years and the kids and I had a fun, but quite, tour through. 

 

 

Afterwards, we hiked up to Union Square to watch some ice skating, and then up the hill to the Fairmont to see the amazing two story gingerbread house.   Lots of Christmas cheer around the city right now!   Josh was feeling well, so I took the kiddos for an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory up at the top of Macy's.  Afterwards, we of course had to go and see Santa and write a last "reminder" letter about how well behaved we've been recently.

 

 

 

It was a great mini getaway.   I just love being back in the city amongst the hustle and bustle of downtown.   The top floor suite was an amazing way to top off the night- if only Josh wasn't feeling so ill!