Keeping Busy

We've been lucky around here lately and the weather has been great for playing outside. Even with a little winter chill in the air, we were able to bundle up and go for walks, ride on bikes and scooters and even see our neighbors and play with them! However, it became quite cold (it is winter!) and so here are a few things that kept us busy when we couldn't go outside.
* Guitar Hero (a video game that helps you feel like a rock star) has become a family favorite, especially before bed.
* Landon enjoys painting, mostly on himself, but some gets on the paper! This picture was his most recent artistic endeavour. He's also exploring the world of scissors, because "Sissy snip paper, I big boy, I do too!"
* Claire made an "I Can Read" book. She drew pictures or found pictures of her favorite things, and then mommy wrote their names on the pages. This idea came from a Kindergarten prep calendar (Yes, my little baby girl will go to KG next year, boo hoo). Some of the pages included Princess, Barney, Harley and of course, High School Musical.
PS: The sleeping arrangements did NOT work, at least one night was peaceful!

Sleeping Buddies

As some of you might know, Landon has never been a great sleeper. We are often up several times a night trying to coax him back to sleep. Last night, Geoff went to get fitted for his CPAP (at least someone will be getting good sleep now!), so I had both kiddos in bed with me. As they were getting sleepy, I asked them if they wanted to sleep together tonight, instead of with Mommy. You'd think I'd offered to stay up all night! They both slept in Landon's bed, all night. Yes, ALL NIGHT! Mommy could hardly believe it, and they both woke up happy and rested and ready to go. Maybe we've found a solution to our ongoing lack of sleep...

A couple goodies...

Really quickly, I wanted to jot these down because if I don't, I'll forget to blog it later:
*Claire put Landon down for a nap, without even asking or being told. She had asked me to look something up on the computer; minutes later it was quiet in my house, which can only mean one thing: TROUBLE! But surprising, it meant my daughter had crawled into Landon's bed and was cuddling him saying "I'll stay right here by you till you fall asleep". It was darling, and she was very proud of herself when she emerged from his room.
*Landon got his hair cut the other evening at a salon. (Sorry Gram, we could not wait any longer, it was getting in his ears!) Anyway, he's been saying it for a while, but when the hairstylist put gel in his hair and combed it, he grinned at himself in the mirror and said the famous words "handsome boy".
*Claire was not up unusually early this morning, but I heard her making banging noises in the kitchen after awhile. I got up to see what she was doing and the sweetheart had her bathroom stool at the counter taking the coffee maker apart. When asked what she was doing? "I'm making daddy breakfast in bed!"
*Landon likes to talk about his day and tomorrow after his story at night. He asks several times "what do tomorrow?", until he's satisified with the answer. Tonight, he wanted mama to sing a song, so I sang, and sang, and sang. Although it was a clever stalling tactic, he knows the majority of the words to Twinkle Twinkle, Working on the Railroad and is learning Elmo's World. Even though I was exhausted and hoarse, it made me proud to hear my baby sing!

The Agony of Defeat...

Okay all you Jayhawk fans, we can take it...at least for this season. For those of you who haven't kept up with BCS Bowl games, there have been some upsets this week. And now the Hokies are added to the "upset" list. They lost last night to KU, an interesting twist on this whole messed up college football season. Jayhawks played a good game, and Virginia Tech just couldn't keep up. However, we had fun at the Daniel house cheering them on! Here are some quotes heard during last night's game:

*Don't we want the red and blue team to fall down a lot? (Claire)

*Touchdown for Hokies!! No?...raspberry, raspberry, raspberry. (Landon)

*Hold em, Hold em, Don't let them score (Mommy and Claire, with arm motions)

*Hokie bird stay home this game. (Landon, Hokie must have not wanted to watch this game because they didn't show the him on TV, just the Hawk)

By the second half, everyone was in Mommy and Daddy's bed and the kiddos were asleep by the middle of the third quarter (that should tell you how the Hokies were doing). Anyway, here are some other tidbits from our house:

* During Landon's Gymboree class yesterday, he was making pizza with his classmates. As they were getting ready to eat their "pizza", Landon started blowing on it and informed the teacher that "it too hot, help me blow".

*Claire has decided she is now the owner of "Nail Beauty", a nail salon. But beware, glitter is always the last coat before you have the option of "flowers on your big toe or little finger".

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a safe and happy new year's eve and day! I cannot believe that 2008 is here! We hosted a party with neighbors and new friends last night. It was so much fun to ring in the new year with families close to us! The kiddos were invited and also had a blast. All of the children in attendance, including mine, stayed up until at least midnight! Now, they were not all ecstatic about it...but everyone was generally really good and the adults were impressed. We of course were too busy to take pictures, which I regreted this morning, but the memories will last regardless. Here are a few thoughts as we start the new year:
* My family, near and far, are to be cherished and loved everyday. Even when I feel like Cinderella, I know that they ask for things from the bottom of their hearts!
* Claire and Landon want nothing more than for it to be Christmas forever. Questions and sadness abounded as the tree came down and the "boring" house starts to return to normal.
* I understand now why my parents were always anxiously awaiting the start of school after the holidays...siblings can be distructive towards each other after being around each other for several weeks...nonstop. (Thank goodness for a New Year's party when I was allowed a few drinks!) Oh yes, they are perfect angels, everyone says so...
* We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Thanks for the fun, and may it get even better in 2008!

Cruisin' in the Garage

It has been quite chilly here the past few days so the kids made Dad mop the garage so that they could have an indoor "race track". Claire instantly had control of her scooter, Landon however is still figuring out he has to pedal to make "Thomas" go. They had so much fun that they asked if they could bring their "rides" in the house to have a run at the hardwood floors! Yeah Right.... okay they got to do it for one day....look at them, how do you say no!! All for now.

Note on video

You have to scroll to the bottom of the blog page and pause the music before watching the video in the Christmas blog.