Happy New Year!

2009 is coming quickly to an end and our lives are as busy as ever! We have had family in town since December 18 and our last guests leave on January 7 - hopefully after our world settles down I will be able to get photos up from our holiday celebrations.
Until then, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dentist!

Drew had his first trip to the dentist today and he did GREAT! I was a little nervous because I knew he had a cavity and I was concerned about how he would deal with them poking around in his mouth and cleaning his teeth but he really handled it all like a champ. We are scheduled for a cap for the cavity tooth in January. It is too large for just a filling and the dentist was concerned about the filling holding up for 8+ more years anyway. His tooth enamel did not fully develop so he is at risk for multiple cavities. Basically his teeth are soft - they can actually push on them and feel how soft they are. It makes mommy a little queasy to think about! So we are in full cavity prevention mode - juice and milk only with meals and plain water the rest of the day, brushing twice a day with prescription fluoride toothpaste, etc. We won't know if Allen's teeth are the same until he goes next year - maybe at least one of my boys got my strong, healthy teeth?!

Oh Drew...

Sitting at a red light Wednesday morning, I looked over at a nice sports car next to us, thinking it was beautiful but not much more. (Living here has started to desensitize me to luxury and high-end sports cars - it's surreal sometimes.) As the light turned green, the engine revved and the car took off and I then realized "that's a Ferrari!". I told the boys to look since they love Ferrari's (thanks to their favorite movie, Cars) and get so excited at any chance to see a "real" one in person. As we drove, the car in front of the Ferrari slowed down so we caught up and then eventually passed it. Drew pipes up from the back..."Mommy! We're faster than a Ferrari!"
Oh Drew...I don't think mommy's minivan has anything on that car but we'll let you believe that for now!

So much to post...

If I can get my Christmas shopping done I'll have time to get all the photos from the last few weeks posted. But until then, you can see what we are up to this weekend...



That's Santa giving each of the boys the "first gift of Christmas" on the Polar Express tonight! The had a great time and loved every minute of it! It was a wonderful experience for us all!

So much for secrecy...

Last night, Drew & Allen had a Daddy night while Mommy attempted to get some shopping done. I thought they had just gone to dinner but today Drew informed me: "We went to another place besides In-N-Out but I can't tell you where we went and we brought something home besides just cheeseburgers but I can't tell you what it is!" It really made me laugh because I hadn't asked - he just was playing and turned and said it! I guess his little secret was burning a whole in his pocket and he needed to at least let a little of it out! Silly boy!!

Overheard...

Tonight, Drew was playing with the Little People Nativity set and as he put everyone in the proper place he said "Good night Baby Jesus...be born on Christmas day! I have to go play with my Polar Express now..."
Well, at least we are getting some of the concepts of Christmas down!

Disneyland Birthday Photos...

I want to go ahead and get some birthday photos up on the blog so I'm going to just dump a bunch on here...we'll see if captions get added in the future...

Wow!

Guess who went pee-pee on the potty TWICE today?! Allen! (Ok - technically more than one person in our family fits that description but everyone else is expected at this point to succeed in that arena!) Once at Grandma & Grandpa's this afternoon and then at home tonight! I guess he's headed that direction. Too bad mommy isn't ready for it...I need him to be able to communicate his needs a little better before we go down that path! But maybe after the holiday madness is over we will start the process and see how it goes. Who knows...he may be an easy child to "train"!
The greatest thing about it is that Drew keeps saying "Yay! Allen is potty trained now!" Oh, if it were only that easy...

Human Nature

“You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back.” -- William D. Tammeus

Riding the King Arthur Carrousel at Disneyland (and I would love to know why they use the 2 "r" spelling of the word carousel there yet at California Adventure it is King Triton's Carousel...anyone?)

So many pictures...

...so little time! I have downloaded both cameras from our Disneyland trip plus the Day Out with Thomas stop we made on the way home...final count? About 450 over 4 days. Not horrible, but way too many to get through in one night! So I'll get them posted along with some final thoughts about our trip. We definitely had a good time and are planning a return visit in the spring - we hope!