Ean, Georgia, Hughie and Stella

We were robbed

Chuck is now pretty much moved in with us. He has a HUGE jar of change (probably 40 lbs) that he brought over and put under his night stand in our bedroom. Generally at the end of the day, Chuck puts his change on the night stand and then into the jar. That is unless Hughie gets to it first. He is determined that Chuck must "share" his money with Hughie so that Hughie can fill his piggy bank. Hughie can be quite convincing.

So last night Chuck calls in a panic. Did you move the money jar? Nope. It's too heavy for the kids to move, it must have been stolen.

So now I'm going through the possibilities. Our honest as Abe Lincoln contractor working on the basement? Our sweetest woman on earth cleaning lady? Some crazy drug addict off the street? Just about the time I have myself convinced that it must have been a shady subcontractor in the basement, I decide to ask Georgia if she moved it. She gets a devilish grin on her face. It's in my playhouse, she says!! And I ask her, how on earth did you move it???? She and Hughie have this bear "thing" that's kind of like a lay down rocking pillow that is hard and curved with a stuffed head and arms attached. They often move large objects around the house in this by placing the object on the bear and then slowly sliding it. Same with the jar of coins. Sure enough, they had it stashed in the playhouse. Hughie's defense? Chuckie doesn't need any money. We were so relieved but more amazed at their ingenuity!!!!! My kids are brilliant. Of course.

Access

So I just figured out that they changed our user parameters at work and I can access my blog at work! This means that I will be much better about updating! Thank you York County techies!!!

Florida 2010

Right after Christmas we left for Florida. I wish i could tell you that the weather was AWESOME and that both kids didn't get double ear infections, but then I'd be lying. I think that I am cursed. This is three trips in a row with record low temperatures! But we got to hang with Mimi, Papa, Aunt Patricia and Uncle Josh and we had a great New Year's Eve, complete with a sparkling grape juice, Dick Clarke and fireworks on the beach. And we got to go to Lion Country Safari too. the kids loved that! We're headed back down in March for our first Dinsey Cruise, so keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

One funny story to share about Hughie. We were at the Ramp eating shrimp when a large breasted, tight clothed, heavily made-up, but very pretty girl walked in. As I watched all the men rubberneck as sha walked by, I noticed Hughie did the same! It really made me laugh. I had no idea it started so young. ;)

The Holidays

The kids were so excited for and enchanted by Christmas this year. We spent a lot of time decorating the house, making paper snowflakes and reading Christmas books. Chuck insisted that we get a "real" tree this year. We wanted to start a new tradition with the kids where we would take them out to a farm, pick our own tree and chop it down. I was really excited about that, but for some reason every occasion we had a chunk of time to do it it was windy and bitter cold. Eventually we gave up, but next year for sure! We did get a chance to go to see the lights at Rocky Ridge with Grammy Lori and Pappy Chuck. Georgia really loved the lights and Hughie would have spent hours in the train house watching the toys trains go around the track.

This was my first Christmas with the kids waking up in their own home on Christmas morning. I felt a lot more pressure this year to make it really special! Gifts were wrapped and stored at Mimi's house and covertly transported to my house on Christmas Eve. After the festivities at Mimi's house, we went home and put the kids right into bed. Lately they've been sleeping together in Hughie's bed, so that's where they went. There was no protest, in fact, they may have hurried me along in getting them into bed. And I didn't hear a peep from them until about 7!I knew that the kids wouldn't dare get out of bed and risk Santa not showing, so we put the gifts out right away and went to bed ourselves.

When we all got up in the morning i told the kids that they couldn't open presents until Grammy Lori and Pappy Chuck showed up. Hughie struggled with this idea, and the second Grammy and Pappy walked through the door Hughie literally TORE into his pile of gifts. After that it's all a blur. Georgia was somewhat disheartened that she didn't get the motorized scooter that she asked for until I checked her stocking and realized that Santa left her a note. He told her that he left her something on the porch. We went out front and THERE WAS A SCOOTER! The scooter was a lot faster than Santa realized, so we're taking it as slow as possible. She also got a Nintento DSi from Mimi. She's growing up way too fast!! Hughie's big gifts this year were a train table from Mimi and a Leapster Explorer from Santa. Overall is was a wonderful Christmas and I can't wait for next year. ;)

Halloween 2010

Halloween is undoubtedly my favorite holiday of the year. I love the craziness of it, the costumes, the candy, the small of the fall leaves, all of it. And I disovered this year that my neighborhood is even more awesome than I had suspected. On Halloween, two adjacent neighbors had actual smoke machines. One neighbor even had a dancing and singing skeleton. There I was with my blinking putpose bats and jack-o-lanterns thinking I had it pretty well covered. Nope. I've really got to step it up next year! And this ups the anty for Christmas. I want to go Griswold, so we'll see.

The weekend before Halloween we went to costume party at Jay's. Josh was a wet t-short costume winner. The costume is even more entertaining considering that the party was essentially a children's party. Forgot to mention that detail to Jay. Our Leprechaun/Rainbow costume theme was a hit, but I definitely need to add a pot of gold next year.

On Friday we went to a Halloween party at yet another cool neighbor's house. Their daughter is in Georgia's first grade class and they are becoming fast friends. The kids dressed as Supergirl and Spiderman and had a great time. On Saturday we went tric-or-treating in Mount Wolf. The kids went as Queen and Mr. Skeleton. As much as they liked getting candy, they discovered that they much preferred GIVING it away. Yes, you heard me correctly. At Gigi's house (Chuck's grandma) they helped her give away the treats and decided then and there that on Halloween that's what they wanted to do. So, after the Halloween parade with the drunken crazy woman who got the kids lots of candy and balloons by terrorizing parade participants, we got the candy ready and sat on the porch. The kids spent trick-or-treat night giving away candy and they loved it. They fought a little over whose turn it was to give it away, but they came up with a system. Aunt Mandi came over too, to help. Hughie was particularly proud of our "puking pumkin" and made sure to tell everyone about it. I did take Hughie around a little at the end so we could go around the corner and see the house that everyone was talking about. It was INSANE. I'm talking MONTHS of prep work and thousands of dollars of decor. Loved it and want to marry the man who did it. Apparently he's already married. Hughie did hit a few houses for some candy on the way home. There weren't many kids left, so he made out like a bandit because everyone was throwing in the rest of their bowls. And Hughie didn't quite understand that when people answered their doors and opened them, that it didn't mean he was supposed to go in and make himself at home. He went into three houses like that and it was pretty funny. Who's going to say no to that precious face??

I'm starting to see that Hughie's personality is much like my own. Not shy in the least and a bit crazy. He's such a performer and loves making people laugh. Georgia went to a Princess Party this past weekend and when i dropped her off Hughie begged to come back in his Spiderman costume. He went home, donned the costume and then went back to put on a show for the girls. I wish I would have taped it! Spiderman dancing with the princesses!!

Hayride and Bonfire 2010

So Chuck's parents are awesome. They let me have a Fall Hayride and Bonfire party at their house and went ALL OUT helping me make it special. Big Chuck dug a huge fire pit, prepared the tractor and wagon for the hayride and entertained everyone on the hayrides. Lori was the food master, making all kids of fun Halloween themed yummies and helping me decorate. The weather could not have been better for a fire, s'mores and hot chocolate.