Tid bits November and December 2013
Oh our Christmas fun!
We were all very sick, but still managed to have a great Christmas. Santa normally just puts the kids 3 presents in a pile with their stocking. Unwrapped. This year he wrapped them. We all agreed it was more fun. The kids had a blast opening presents and really seeing what each of them got. Here's a few snaps:
Santa sure enjoyed his treats. Thanks to an awesome kindergarten teacher we have these plates for Santa to eat his cookies off of.
Our Christmas morning tradition is for the kids to each open a wrapped baby Jesus that goes in a manger somewhere in the house. They always get excited and run to put their Jesus where he goes. Happy Birthday Jesus!
Happy early birthday Riley!
The Guagliardo family tradition is to have your ears pierced for your 10th birthday. My niece was the first to hit that milestone and chose not to do it because she was scared. However, she wanted to do it a few years prior to her 10th birthday. So when Riley asked a couple of months ago we decided to go ahead while she didn't have any doubts and little fear.
Her 8th birthday is in a few weeks, but we are fast approaching having a new baby. I didn't want the hassle of making her clean and turn new earrings while caring for a new baby. We put numbing cream, but it definitely wasn't on long enough. She felt it, teared up, and said it REALLY hurt. Of course that all happened in 30 seconds or less. I cheered for her and told her to hurry up and look in the mirror because her ears were pierced! She immediately grinned and forgot about the pain! She's my kid that hides under the table at the doctor's office, but she rocked out this experience! Yay Riley!
Waiting with numbing cream (and a stuffy nose).
Getting measured/marked.
Her first look at her "new" ears.
Even better now that the redness has gone away.
I couldn't have said it better myself Riley. Happy birthday sweet, loving, sharing, sensitive, daring little Paul!
We don't light a fire in our fireplace, ever, because of my sinuses. However, I am willing to let them light candles. They think this is fascinating.
All 4 sitting quietly:
I have a love/hate relationship with the tv.
Paul had a great time with me at his class Christmas party.
The final snowflake project!
Snowflake time!
The mess got about 10 times worse than this, but they cleaned it all up.
What a ham. I was taking the picture of the snowflake mess (above) and this one sat down in front of the camera. Please ignore the syrup in her hair and focus on the beautiful face.
This baby has been sleeping through the night since she was 10 weeks old, but decided to stay up pretty much all night. RAT! Of course she fell asleep hours before nap time the next day. We transitioned her into the bed in the nursery so the crib will be free for Etta Catherine. It's been several weeks with no problems until now. Denis made the mistake of leaving the closet light on for her. Well of course she got up and played with the shoes in her closet and books on the bookshelf.
Camille is really into giving us concerts lately.
Our last zoo trip was supposed to include the new zoo passports, but somebody forgot to bring them. Riley has since informed that someone that we need a zoo checkoff list. That same someone barely took pictures that day. What a slacker! However, that someone did manage to get all 6 kids in one frame. Who cares if it's their backsides, right?
ZOO PASSPORTS!
We go to the zoo, every chance we can manage, with a friend of mine. Last time I printed free zoo passports that I found online at family.com. I cannot take credit for the creativity. I pretty much used their design and remade one in photoshop because they had ALL the wrong animals in the passport. I wanted to make it specifically for our zoo. The hardest part was finding the animals in photoshop. They just didn't have what I wanted. I finally got smart and searched for coloring sheets online for each animal. Then I shrunk them to size to fit in our passports. The picture on the back of the passport is our "zoo crew" that originally started with only 2 wee little ones. Look how we've grown!
Our second xylophone! This one is even better than the first. We're kind of figuring it out, I guess. It looks beautiful, and It makes music, but it isn't spectacular. We have a store bought kid one that sounds great. The boards are suspended in air with a string that runs through each board. I guess that allows for more vibration and better sound. Denis didn't have a drill bit long enough to fit through the boards, so we set them on nails. It'll do for fun and it looks pretty, but definitely NOT sellable (like a sweet friend of mine said).
Happy Sunday!
Charlie was so sick yesterday (stomach bug) that she didn't do a thing. I even brought her water to her on the couch. She did move from one couch to another a couple of times, but that is IT. I was so happy to see her up and playing today. She still isn't doing much, but she is better. She will play for about 30 minutes and then lay on the couch for 2 hours. I'm sure she was dehydrated, but working in the Peds ER gave me that little extra push to force fluids in her to keep it from getting to the point of needing IV fluids. I was thinking we were getting close to not having a choice this afternoon because she hadn't peed in 24 hours. FINALLY! She's turned it around. I got her to drink enough to pee and she's doing a puzzle right now. I'll take that.
This was this morning right after she woke up. It didn't last long before she was on the couch again though.
Cheese ball kids:
Oh my Paul!
His teacher sent a quick note on his daily log last week that said, "He's such a cutie." She's definitely right, but when I told him he said, "ewwwww, you better tell her I AM NOT!" However, this week he's a cutie that is not paying attention in class. In some ways he is so mature, but in others VERY immature. I know it is going to balance out one day and make him one heck of a fella!
We are trying so hard right now to teach this little firecracker to be gentler with her words and voice. It is easy for others to think she's cute when she acts mean, but I promise, it is NOT cute. She is slowly getting the lesson. It is taking longer than I'd hoped, but I can see progress.
This beauty is rocking it out in school this year. She brought home an all A progress report last week (as always). The difference now is that she is understanding the importance of working hard. Before she made good grades because she just understood the information without a problem. Now she's having to work a little to understand some things. She really appreciated that progress report full of A's for the first time. She knew she worked for it.
Here's our sick, but happy girl. The past few days have been rough for her. She got hit in the forehead with a frisbee and about 30 minutes later fell down (No one witnessed the fall, but I heard it and there was a pause before some major crying. I know it hurt). She fell off the kitchen bench yesterday (and hit her head). She's running into door frames. Ugh! I think this runny nose may be clogging her ears a little. She just seems off balance. Hopefully she will get past it soon.
This year we hung a line of thanks. It is fun to see what each kid comes up with. A thankful heart is a happy heart, right? I hope their great attitudes follow them to adulthood.
The family had to disguise a turkey for Paul's class last week. Hopefully this will keep the turkey from being eaten. I thought he turned out great, but Denis poked fun at my baseball mitt. It isn't proportional to the ball. Yeah yeah I didn't see him searching all over for a brown piece of paper that was big enough (or coloring a white piece).
Bubble Fun!
