Christmas To Me - A Christmas Video

The "joys" that fill my heart during the Holidays! Cutting down the Christmas tree, decorating, reading Christmas books, hanging the stockings, sledding, giving, loving, singing, baking, dancing, family laughs, taking pictures, sharing dinners, watching Christmas movies ...... and just "being". The stillness, the lights, the feeling.... Celebrating the true reason for the season. This is Christmas to me!

Click link below.

 ------ Christmas To Me --------

Halloween - STAR WARS style!

I've always wanted to do a family theme costume...... but never had the chance since I let the boys freely choose their costumes and it just hasn't ever aligned, however - THIS YEAR - Walla! Star Wars it was folks - even though we have not seen the movies nor do I know much about this Star Wars "stuff!" I was in!

 I found my Han Solo.

 Trick-or-treating with neighbor friends!

 My sweet little storm trooper.

 Brothers in battle together!

 Keegan was REALLY into this year! :-) lol.

PAC MAN PARTY!!!

Happy Birthday to Lance! I love creating such fun & special birthday memories. And this year it was ALL about PAC MAN!

 The Birthday party  crew!!! Luca, Frankie, Michael, Jude, Nathaniel, Mason, William, Chase & Oliver

 The requested "scavenger hunt" in the backyard!

 and Pin the Ghost in Pac-Man's mouth!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

The 1st day of SCHOOL + Lance's 6th birthday = PURE EXCITEMENT!!!!! Watch out 1st grade!

THESE are the days!

"These are the days.

These are days you'll remember. 
Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this. 
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky. 
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you. 

These are days you'll remember. 
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in 
Every hour. 
You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky. 
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you. 

These are days. 

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break. 
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face. 
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be. 
See the signs and know their meaning. 
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be. 
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you."

These truly are the days that I want to remember FOREVER - these are the feelings I want to cherish and feel again at the very moment I look back on these pictures! How long, truly, does the BIG WHEEL fun last? How long do these belly giggles sound so innocent and cute? These are the days that put me back at peace.... after long winters and days of whining and arguing and thinking maybe I'm not meant to be that "stay-at-home" Mom, it's THESE moments and these days that warm the heart and make me feel alive again - give me the energy and motivation to make everything I can of them because before I blink, the BIG wheel days will be gone - the walks together "just one more time" around the block will not be asked of me. & how lucky am I really to be given these extra moments at home? 

CHASE...... my partner in crime, junior grocery shopper, exercise partner, 

daily lunch date, 

my assistant photographer.....

Perhaps someday I will be able to take my photography to a different level and free my ideas and creative side..... for now its fun (most of the time) being able to take my "assistant" with me to mid-week photo sessions. (In this case, he was able to persuade the 2 yr old model that sitting on the chair for a photo wasn't such a bad idea!)

Do you wanna build a ROBOT?

Lance has been asking for a couple of weeks to go to the "Think Tank" at the museum to build a robot.... So today, Keegan told him he would build a robot, but they were going to do it in the garage! Projects put on hold & driveway family building - here are the end results!

I present to you..... Chase's ROVER - on roller skates (once Lance saw these, after his robot was complete, he would not stop whining about his also needing roller skates!) 

 & Lance's - BUTTONS. (He wouldn't let me take a picture of him with it) 

..... What else was there to do on a windy Saturday anyways? 

& our day ended with Easter Egg Hunts with their best buddies Luca & Oliver (did I really not take a single picture, oops?) & glow in the dark backyard games while the adults sat fireside. Doesn't get much better than that! 

Our EASTER theme activities

Plastic eggs are so incredibly cheap - and you can do so many fun activities with them! This theme was easy to build on (especially with my best friend, Pintetest!) although it was short-lived. Easter came & went so quickly this year! What I love is that I can re-use almost all of these activities over again so next year the planning won't take quite so much time. (P.S. - the $1 section at Target is AMAZING for creating many if these little learning activities too!)

One of the favorites was this: 

Shake the egg & try to match the sound with the picture! Then open the egg to see if you're right. 

The other favorite..... scissors, glue & sticker art work of course! 

For Lance, I decided to begin clock work/time-telling. 

And counting coins & money. (He liked this one because he got to guess which egg had the most money in it and circle the number, then when the activity was complete, he kept that number egg for his piggy bank.

The next one was easy for Lance, but Chase isn't quite ready for it, so Lance showed Chase how it worked (maybe next year)

Chase has quickly mastered spelling his name & almost writing the uppercase letters in his name! This activity was a hit for him.

Some pattern/egg color matching.

& who doesn't love a quick Popsicle stick puzzle?

#learningisfun