Christmas is coming!

We have been busy with lots of Christmas preparations around here!  Our Christmas tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving, the kids and I had so much fun unwrapping all the ornaments and sharing memories from the last few years.  And we only broke three ornaments, which seems to be the standard, I think that is how many were broken last year and the year before that too.  We even got some lights hung up outside. I usually climb on the roof to hang lights but those have been skipped this year, instead we have some garland on the porch and the kids put some lights in the bushes.

Andrew and Emily decorated some gingerbread houses.  We found some kits where the houses came pre-assembled, they were great!  Both kids were able to decorate all on their own.

They decided to write letters to Santa and we had our elf Larry fly them to the North Pole.  Andrew's letter says "Dear Santa, Andrew, trains, transformers" He really just got straight to the point :) and Emily wrote her name and drew a map so Santa can find his way.

Today they went to visit Santa!  I made them take photos before we went, they looked so cute in their Christmas outfits!

Party time!

Andrew had a birthday party on Saturday, his first ever birthday party with friends.  He was so excited about the party for days.  His friend from school had a party at this same place earlier this year and he had so much fun, he wanted to do the same thing.  It was great because they took care of everything and had lots of fun superhero themed things for the kids to do.  One of his party leaders told me that he was the most excited birthday boy she has ever had!

Andrew, Olivier, Henry, Tristan, Jane, Noah, Addison, Hudson, Carolijn, Emily

He's FIVE!

Yesterday my sweet boy turned FIVE years old!  He is such an awesome boy, happy and giggling all the time.  He loves to learn, especially about animals and dinosaurs, and he knows so much stuff.  He can tell you all about the sleeping and eating habits of most sea animals and can ID dinosaurs as well as some paleontologists I think!  Recently, he has been learning to read.  He loves puzzles and building toys and anything superhero, Transformers, or Ninja Turtles.

I did a quick birthday interview with him last night so I could record all the fun facts about Andrew at age 5.

• His best friends are Olivier, Hudson, Charlie, and Noah
• He likes to play Jurassic Park
• When he grows up he wants to be a big brother (which he is already great at!  He also has been telling me he wants to be a "jungle police man" when he grows up...they protect animals)
• His favorite color is blue
• His favorite animal is the humpback whale
• His favorite thing to eat is grilled cheese
• His favorite thing to drink is milk
• In school, he likes doing work
• With mommy he likes to play Jenga and with his sister he likes to play games, he wasn't quite sure what he likes to do with daddy.
• His favorite thing to read is his Avengers book
• Captain America is his favorite superhero.
• His favorite sport is baseball and he likes to watch football.

Andrew doesn't like kissing his sister anymore, she still thinks it is hilarious!

He had a wonderful birthday, he shared cupcakes with his classmates at school, dot to wear a birthday crown in class and was given a new book from his teacher.  He requested grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner and we all had more cupcakes last night! And the celebration isn't over yet, tomorrow he has a party with some of his friends.