JINXED!!!!!!!!! I knew it was to good to be true. We tucked him into bed four times tonight. Although, I have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought the rebound was going to be. It was just bad compared to the oldest two, who NEVER got out of their big kid beds.

I'm not going to jinx it by just stating facts, am I??????????  O.K. here are just the facts.  Last night Cormac slept in the toddler bed.  No wake ups and no leaving the bed.  Today he fell asleep in the toddler bed for his nap and is still sleeping a hour and a half later.  

Christmas was wonderful and still not finished.  My parents get here on Mon and is starts all over again.  I took second in the Kings in the Corners tournament.  Connor play for the first time this year and took third.  He was trash talking the whole time.  D's brother has Rock Band and we were playing with it this week.  Earlier we had been over there and D was playing the guitar, Piper and I were playing the drums and Connor was singing with his Auntie Sara and Grandma Gwen.    Fast forward to Christmas Eve and Con is standing in front of the Christmas tree admiring the ornaments and absently mindedly singing to himself.  "dirty little secret, dirty little secret, your my dirty little secret".  Dang, I think we are going to get another call from the Principals office.  

Piper had a totally Disney Princess sponsored Christmas.  Princess books, Princess calendar, Princess computer, Princess puzzles etc.     

Cormac got to stay up late and run around like a crazy toddler.  There were seven older boy cousins to run down and tackle.  Life was good in the short set.    We have decided that it's time for the little one to move into a big boy bed.  He was excited and climbed in tonight and fell right asleep.  He hasn't gotten out bed yet, but the night is young.  Maybe this is the honeymoon period and he'll be running around tomorrow night.

O.K. for some reason the movie Racing Stripes is one of Connor's favorite movies.  Earlier I let them watch a movie and he picked it AGAIN.  Cormac came up stairs and gave me his run down of the movie.  "Horsies say neigh.  Zebra no neigh.  Horsies run fast.  Zebra run fast.  Lots of bugs."  And to tell you the truth, he hit all the high points.  I think he has a future as a movie critic.  Or maybe writing the blurbs for the DVD covers.

We had our Christmas photos taken again by the same awesome photographer.  Her name is Wendy B and she has www.wendybphotos.com .   We made her blog which is always fun.  

I was sick today and so the kids didn't get as much supervision as they normally do. If they were in another room, not making any noise as I was throwing up, then well, I guess I can't get too mad. Cormac came around the corner with these on his face. I couldn't get any really good pictures of it, but if you click on the pictures they will get bigger and you can see the marks a little better. Anyway, I asked Piper who drew on Cormacs face. She said "I did. Like face painting." Well, not thrilled with it, but it could be worse. I walked into her room and there was stuff hanging from all over her window. (She has a terrible wrapping tape fetish) I asked her who taped all the stuff to her window. She replied with "Weeeeeeel, I didn't see me do it." When will the Christmas preschool break be over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not going to last till Jan.

We survived Thanksgiving and are getting ready for Christmas. The tree is up, the stockings are up, but NO presents under the tree. I just can't get motivated to go to the mall this year. Connor told Santa this year he wants a football. Santa asked him if he was a Vikings fan and Connor said "I like the Vikings and Tampa Bay." The very Minnesotan Santa was a little flummoxed by the last part, but managed a hearty "Ho Ho, I like the Vikings too." Piper asked for a puzzle and Cormac asked for the candy cane that Santa was holding to give to him at the end of his visit. Since Cormac already got his present from Santa, I guess his stocking will be flat this year.

I finally got all 120 pictures of Cormac's last year in photo albums and sent off to his birthmother. I swore I was always going to do the mailing as part of his birthday celebration. I wasn't very successful this year.

If you are looking for a Christmas card from us, stop looking for awhile. I have a feeling they might be late this year also.

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!!

Downtown Holiday Jacket and Pant GIVEAWAY!!!! Everyone go, no rush to this blog to see the cutest jacket ever. she makes reversible skirts that are to die for. got my fingers crossed that I win the jacket give away.

These pictures show Piper at 1,2,3 and now nearly 4 years of age at an early birthday party with her grandparents. Her birthday is Dec 3rd. It seems like she has been her for much longer. Cari and I just realized today we had one kid for nearly 3 years before Piper and it is just about that same amount of time with 2+ kids since Piper came home. I can hardly remember having only the one.

The last picture shows her older brother in the background with a bored "I've already done that look" and a very excited Cormac trying to get in on the candle blowing action. We did not get any pictures of the pink vomit (connor threw up five times that day) on Grandma's Carole's comforter and pillow found the next morning. When we found that I realized why Connor wouldn't move to lay on his side of the bed in the middle of the night.

Donald

playing with trains is always better if you're dressed up like Tinkerbell.
Princesses always do their homework.

I love how having siblings affects you. When Piper was little she had a favorite NASCAR driver, because Connor did. She played football even though it consisted of her running around screaming in fear, because she didn't want to be tackled, but Connor was playing so she had to. She loved whatever Connor loved. Now Cormac wants to read the Disney Princess books and boy was he MAD when Connor got to the Belle outfit before he did. I saved the day, by pulling out the Tinkerbell costume. I love that the boys just go about their typical boy activities with the dresses on.

And another project is finished. Some of the kindergarden mommies wanted to learn how to knit so another friend and I taught a simple hat class. this is my sample, it's for cormac, but Connor put it on and said "It's warming my brains, so I can beat Dad at Rummy." And he did!

this is one of those projects that looks much better in person than in a photo. So much better that i'm totally tempted to keep it. I made if for Connor's student teacher who is leaving on Fri. I'm replacing the button with something pretty that I will go buy at the cool knit shop tomorrow night.

Cormac's new favorite book is "Red Truck". Towards the end of the book, there are some kids in rainboots who are "Splishy Splashing" in a puddle. For some reason that totally cracks him up. Every time I read that page he will belly laugh and then repeat "splishy splashing" for ten minutes, laughing everytime he repeats it.

We are proud to introduce to you the Room 107 October Student of the Month. Connor was nominated by his teacher for always choosing hard activities to challege himself. He has learned to multiply and add three numbers together. He has practiced his handwriting and is a champion colorer. Way to go!!!!!!!!! We also just found out that he can read just as well upside down as right side up. He's got some interesting talents, that kid!!

Barrel full of monkeys.

I asked Cormac what he was doing and he replied "Brush hair".

Well, here is the royal family and the scary green dragon who is harassing them. We are unsure of what D is suppose to be and Connor told one of the neighbors that I was an Old Maiden.

fighting off the dragon and saving the bootiful princess.

Roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At some point I told the kids they could stay up as late as they wanted and eat as much candy as they wanted. They took me up on it!! I went up to bed at 9:00 and have NO idea when they went to bed.

Well, here is a preview of two of the three Halloween outfits. The oldest kid is taking a much needed nap!!!

Piper as you can see is a bootiful princess. Not just a princess, mind you, but a bootiful one.

Have you ever? I mean ever, seen such a cute, cute, cute dragon? All three of my kids have worn this costume and I still love it.

Only a dude totally secure in his Dudeness could pull this off. He hauled it out of Pipers closet, brought it to me and said "On Mic Mic". He wore it until dinner, when he had to take it off in case of spills.

Bad, bad, bad blogger!!!!!! I have the best of intentions to post new pictures or just an update, but life seems to get away from me. We have been to Chinese Culture camp, up to the lake cabin of our friends, raking leaves and last but not least, turning two!!!!!!!! I still can't say that without a lump in my throat. My last baby!!!!!! Although, I did tell D last night that if he felt moved to adopt an 2-3 year old medical special needs child, that I might be talked into it. The earth shook, when he didn't immediately say "NO!!!". Anyway, that is entirely in the ether at this point, so on to the kids.

And now he's TWO!!!
Present from Auntie Sara. Love it!

Box that Auntie Sara's present came it. Love it!!!!

The littlest one is obsessed with his nose. If he has anything in it (boogers) he wants them out. He is starting to really throw out the two word phrases. A couple of the more consistent ones have been "Connor school" said in a very sad voice and "No! Piper, No!"

Here is Connors ladybug hat that he made in school. He's not sure where the other three legs went.
Piper is modelling a new cool shirt from Grandma Carole. She had aqua jeans that matched the butterfly perfectly.

I'll call this simply, "The Nut House". I like the big finish at the end, by the littlest nut.

Mooncakes and the First Day of the Second Year of Preschool. Not a very catchy or succinct title , but I'm going with it never the less. This is what happens now if you try to take a picture of anything that's not Cormac. He will run in front of the camera and say "cheese".
Cute new school dress from Grandma Carole. She did great this year. She said she only cried for a little bit during snack, but had a really fun time with her friends.

These are the Pineapple mooncakes that Piper picked out this year. We liked them better than the Lotus Seed ones we had last year. The picture below is the beautiful cover of the box they came in. Connor said it looked like me. (Love sure makes you blind, huh!!!)

Just a little reminiscing about Connor baby.

Connor started Kindergarten last thursday. He loves it. Lots of fun stuff to do and lots of new friends. I went with him on his first day, and was lingering in his room with him, looking at all the cool stuff. I asked him if he was excited and he said "Mom, I'm fine, just go!" Man, I was just trying to have a moment with my little guy, and he became too cool for his mommy. Everyone keeps asking Connor if he likes kindergarten, but no one asks me if I like kindergarten. Well, I tell ya, I HATE kindergarten. It starts at 7:30am. That means we have to get up at 6:30. With three kids with the age span between the oldest and the youngest being 3 1/2 years and elementary school going to fifth grade, that means I will be getting up at 6:30 for the next NINE years. For those of you that know me well, my favorite things to do are 1. SLEEP 2. read 3. knit, in that order. The little kids go down for their naps at 1:30 and Connor gets home at 2:00, he doesn't nap anymore, so that means I don't nap anymore. "sobs growing louder" I hate to wish away their younger years, but I can't wait till middle school. It starts at 9:30!

Here is D and his mom on the jetski.

We are back from the cabin. We miss the lake!!!!!!!!