Funny Story

When I read to my kids I will frequently change the characters to their names. There is usually an unspoken agreement that if Chio got the book hers is the name I put in, alex it's alex, etc. However on Christmas we were reading the books that my sister got for them. It was Chio's book and it was about a little princess surprisingly named Chio. As the book goes on we met Prince Robert and so since this is a book from alex's aunt he wanted his name in it too. So I quickly flipped to the end to see if this would be an okay addition.

As I'm looking alex says, "Mom, you can't read the end of the book until you get there!" He's horrified.

I say, "It's okay I'll read the middle in just a second."

"I'm going to tell dad."

Still checking, I'm only half paying attention, "Tell dad what?"

"That you're cheating."

"It's not cheating, this is how i always read books."

"I know! Dad told me, and it's just wrong!"

So I guess I won't be converting alex over to my wicked ways :)

Christmas Eve

We went over to some friends and they have a tradition (that I want to start in our home) where they dress up like people from Bethlehem and eat food they would have eaten at Jesus' time and then they read the story. It was a blast!

I wanted to get these up because I know that tomorrow we are going to have tons more things to post. (notice chio's legs in this video- she's so innocent.)

Santa

We went to see Santa...not this one, a live one inside I didn't take a picture of. Chio and alex changed what they asked for again. What do you do when that happens?

Christmas Lights

I know that these pictures are kind of....bad. But it was still fun times. We took about a hundred more too so you should be glad I only subjected you to these. We like to play with the shutter.

I'm ready for my close up...

You may have noticed that even after we bought the new camera I was still a blog writing slacker. Well, that was because I then lost the stupid charger for the one of a kind battery in the camera so I still couldn't take pictures. I may have mentioned this before..... Anyway, Chio is especially excited to have the camera back. She came in this morning and said," Mom, take my pitcure." And then she posed, like this. Where did she come from, seriously?.

Christmas Program 2

His Teacher

Never mind, there will be no Christmas program video for you (dad, sorry you'll just have to wait). And I know the last one was awful- that's why it loaded so fast. Here are some pictures from the event - I'm better with pictures.

Christmas Program

Alright readers, my husband wasn't able to come to alex's christmas program this morning so I am posting these for his viewing pleasure. You may find these long and boring but we of course don't because they're of our kid so bear with us. These are not good quality (halfway through this first one I remembered that you can't take videos in portrait and switched...oops) and chio is "helping" in them too.

O Christmas Tree

Alex likes to have real Christmas trees. So each year we would go to lowes or home depot or those tent tree things (usually all of those places multiply times just to make sure) to find a tree. It was never really enjoyable and I would always wish we just had a fake tree. Then he found this tree farm close to where we live and it's now one of my favorite traditions. Hope fully it will still be fun when they get older, they have a maze (which we lost chio in...), a petting zoo and a hay ride out to where we cut the tree.

Fun Stuff. We went on a cold day, but today it's going to be 70!

It just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Wish you were here!

Peach Tree

I just liked this picture. This is the tree in the backyard, Eco also likes to climb this tree:)

Dallas Zoo

Today was dollar day at the Dallas zoo. We went with some friends of ours so it was really fun to spend time with them because they don't live in Sherman. We got there really early so there weren't a lot of people and all the animals were up and moving around (and yelling at each other).... here are some pictures:)

Who cares about the animals, I want a snack.

(don't they look really happy to be here?)

Chio's Purse

I think I've mentioned Chio's purse before. Here are the contents that were in her purse for the game. She'll always have some variation of these items and she takes it everywhere. In case you can't tell, or don't know the function of each item:

1. cell phone
2. 3 sparkly chap sticks
3. calculator (game/cell phone/similar to dad's i pod)
4. fake money - also serves to take notes when she needs to remember something
5. note from her friend Alivia
6. The actual purse (it's about to bite the dust)
7. two things of bubbles
8. carmex
9. hair bow

Yep.

"The Death Star"

Last night we all went to the Cowboys Stadium- that place is amazing! Our high school was playing there ... and I didn't take a single picture:( Sorry, I have to find my battery charger or buy another one soon.

Reading

Chio was "reading" a Mercer Mayer book last night and she said, "and I spent my balance on candy" which of course started a fight because alex had to correct her, " no, allowance on whatever I want!"

I thought it was funny she replace allowance with balance:)

Troll Hair

Okay, these picture didn't turn out as well as I wanted but you can kind of see it.

I took Chio's french braid out and it looked like she had troll hair.

While I was looking for the camera she patted it down a little bit and put a head band on the back- but you get the idea. It was fun showing her what a troll doll was too, she'd never seen one before. Can you even find those now?

Halloween and Pumpkin Carving

Here are the pumpkins.

Chio's pumpkin is a picture of her. alex's is a frowny face because he bonked his head while we were doing them and he wanted a sad face because he was "so hurt". Mine is a "pumpkin pi" because Alex found one on the internet and the kids wanted Alex's to be a mean face.

I think my favorite part about these pictures is chio taking the pictures.

alex cut that hole in the top of his...that was a fun time getting those seeds out:)

She's taking a picture of herself. he he he.

My husband is going to make fun of me for posting this picture because I'm the only one smiling, but this is the only picture we have of chio in her real costume. We're on our way to the city's "fright fest".

The kids ended up only tricker-treating at alex's school down the hallway because they were both a little sick.

Chio is a princess/fairy/ballerina.

alex is a vampire. I have no idea where he even heard about vampires (Alex says it's my fault because of Twilight but that's not exactly something I would talk about with my kids) but he was very specific about what he wanted. As soon as we got his teeth he put them in and started with the whole "I vant to suck your blood..."

Going to school.

5

alex is FIVE.

Holy cow!

We had a good day. They decorated the cake (as seen above) and then moved on to their faces. Chio had the dot on her nose, that was it, and while I went to get the camera they got busy, this is what I came back to.

I think the funniest thing about the day was the dinner request. Alex wanted:

1. Chicken noodle soup with carrots. (I didn't put them in one time about a year and a half ago and he still has to specify)
2. Scrambled eggs.
3. Toast with no butter cut in the big triangles.
4. Biscuits with jam.
5. Cheese.

We were kind of expecting he would want to go out to chuck-e-cheese or something but nope, when I asked him what he wanted he didn't even hesitate:)

Then we went to the park but I didn't take pictures.

Soccer

This is the best picture ever. It doesn't look like much from here, but if you can zoom in on the goal and you see alex's celebration on the first goal he scored this year. It was so cute, Alex was down the field and just zipped the camera out and shot so he didn't have time to zoom in.

Here is his team minus one.

Chio

(we wore this out in public)

Chio is a GIRL. She loves pink. She always wants to get dressed by herself. She already knows I'm not to be trusted when it come to fashion so when I get her something from the store and she won't put it on I have to lie and say Grandma got it for her so she'll wear it. She loves Sundays so she can pick out my clothes and jewelery. She carries a purse with her everywhere and she is always setting up "house" around the house with all her stuff. She loves babies and whenever we pass a stroller or carrier she has to look in.

She knows how to write her name and she can paint her nails (but I don't usually let her because I'm afraid there'll be an accident). She loves to cuddle and give kisses. She would stay in the bathtub all day if we would let her. She likes to pretend she is a dog. She's not afraid to get dirty but wants to be clean right after she's done. She loves bugs, especially worms.

She loves talking. Talking to people, to herself, to the dog, on the phone, whatever. And she loves to sing - mostly made up songs. She loves to draw on blank paper - not a coloring book - or on my typed papers. She loves to help in the kitchen and she can make up funny jokes.

She is so definite in her likes and dislikes. I love talking with her and playing all the games she makes up. She always takes an interest in whatever I'm doing and wants to do it, too.

I love my little girl.