Happy New Year!

As we have every year, for as long as I can remember, we went to my aunt and uncles house in Coronado for their new year's eve party. It was a great time with food, drink and family and friends. With the children we only stay for a little while but they stay up and bring in the new year with dancing and having a great time. They have four wonderful daughters, one of whom watches the children when we are over. They love her. She plays with them and lets them explore in her room. She is wonderful.
Ben and Hannah played for a couple of hours with my cousin and her friend, running through the house, playing hide-and-seek and other games. They ran to get food and drink and then disappeared back upstairs until they 'needed' something else (like more chips or something). They called for other cousins to play 'monster' with them and they were chased around the house. They had a blast and needless to say they were very tired when we got in the car. They were a little grumpy (overtired) but all quieted down pretty quickly as we drove home.
Below is a picture of the kids as we pulled into the garage at 9:45pm.
Happy New Year!
The Monkey Family

My birthday...

Today we went to the Wild Animal Park for my birthday and the Festival of Lights. It was great fun! The kids had all napped so we were on our way! As we entered the park we were welcomed by little bubbles floating from the sky, like it was snowing. The kids thought that was very cool. We found lots of fun activities for the kids to do like making bird feeders, bracelets, holiday ornaments... and there was a snow hill. The line was crazy long and Noah was running wild so we skipped it (besides we noticed the sign said 4 and under and Hannah had no desire to do it!) We didn't get to see many animals because it was so dark but walking around was fun. We ate dinner in one of the eateries and they only had cookies for dessert. So I had birthday cookie instead of cake! Hannah really wanted me to have a birthday cake, I think she related it to birthdays and candles and singing...maybe next time!

Meals...

For meals, we serve the kids on plastic plates from IKEA. They come in two different shapes, oval and flower. Ben usually likes the oval ones and Hannah prefers the flower. Ben and Hannah have named the oval ones 'berry' plates since the others are flowers, why wouldn't they be berries? They look like berries. The plates come in a variety of colors too. Depending on their moods they will want the blue plate or the yellow one. Today I was making Hannah breakfast and asked her about the plate she wanted. It was a big decision for her. She had me open the cabinet and go through almost all of the plates to pick the one she wanted...the one that was on the top of the pile, of course. The one she chose made her happy.

No TV update...

We have not turned on the TV for the children for a few weeks. Actually that's a lie. We have turned it on, but not every morning, noon and night for them. We turn it on for 30 minutes at a time, when the kids have been behaving nicely or if they need a quiet time. We love it. The kids haven't asked for it. I thought this was going to be a problem but it turns out that it is all in my head. We eat together for each meal and talk. The kids play with all of their toys and the house is in a constant state of disorder and chaos but we can tell that they have been busy and having fun. For the most part, they play together nicely and we haven't had too many arguments. They aren't singing the tunes to TV shows all day long. Although they do still play Dora and Diego for a big portion of the day. They make their stories up. We think it is working out great. We're hoping that it will last :-)

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a very merry season whichever holiday you might celebrate!

The Monkey Family

bounce...

When Benjamin was little he loved to bounce (well, still does). When Corey would lie down on the floor Ben was quick to crawl over to him and swing his leg over his Dad's neck and bounce up and down. Every. Single. Time. But it was so funny that no one ever told him to stop. Now we have another son and he loves to bounce too. But this boy bounces on his big brother. And he loves it. Ben loves to be bounced on and Noah loves to be the bouncer. I believe we have reached a full circle.

Walking fun...

Last week we went walking with a group that meets weekly (our first time going) and it was a lot of fun! I met with some other Moms and my kids met up with their kids. We went to Chollas Lake, about 10 minutes from our house. There are two small playgrounds that the kids were looking forward to playing on. There is a small lake that is open to fishing only for children ages 16 and under. Ben is looking forward to going back for some fishing. It is a small loop around the lake, Ben and Hannah ran the entire loop two times! They must've needed to blow off some energy. Then they played hard after their run. Climbing, sliding, hanging, and of course eating snacks. Here are some pics of their fun.

On the monkey bars

Snacking in the slide

On the roof

Down the chimney

Potty learning...

Is it too early? I don't think so. Many people start even earlier than this. Besides, Noah asks for the "po" all the time so who am I to tell him no? Here we are in the midst of one of our sessions in the bathroom. Maybe he will be our early learner?! We all know how long it has taken our other children to learn...we deserve a break!!

Problem solved...

on their own!

A story: the other day I was nursing Noah to sleep and had told the older 2 to be quiet while I put him down. I wasn't 5 minutes into it and Noah was settling down that Hannah started to scream and cry at the table about something. Then Ben started to cry. They cried together while they explained to each other why and what about was wrong with what happened (I don't recall the actual reason). Two minutes later they stopped and continued with lunch and it was over. When Noah was good and asleep I went to them and asked them what happened. They explained and weren't upset with each other at all. It was so great to hear that they had solved the problem on their own, even though it had made both of them cry.

Tree...

We started getting ready for the holidays and today we went to get our tree. In past years we have gone at night to get the feel of the chill in the air and have it feel a little bit more like Christmas (since most of the year San Diego is warm). This year it has been quite chilly during the day so we went during the daylight hours and we were able to really see the trees. The kids were so excited about picking out the tree. They ran around crazy, hiding in the trees playing a quick game of peek-a-boo with each other. No one minded. We picked out the tree but Ben had another in mind...the enormous one that was about 10 feet tall. He always goes for the biggest of everything these days, and hands the smallest to Hannah and the tiniest to Noah. Because that is how it is ranked in this family. The oldest gets the most, so I guess I get the most :-) Anyway, we bought our tree (not Bens) and took it home. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Old-Fashioned Christmas fun...

Tonight we went to La Mesa's Old Fashioned Christmas. Boy was it fun! We have been going for about 6 or 7 years and every year it gets better. We met some friends and family and cruised up and down the main road. There are antique shops and lots of stuff for the kids to do and be involved in-puppet shows, giant slides, sitting on Santa's lap, merry-go-rounds, llama rides and such... Noah spotted the horse and carriage going up and down the street and jumped and squealed every time. He wouldn't let go of his 2 rakes the entire night (you can see one in the picture below). Ben and Hannah wanted to try everything they saw. They said that it was like DragonTales and they loved it. On our way home, they were already talking about what they want to do next year.

Ben on the dragon ride

Hannah looks frightened and Ben is in heaven

Hannah...again looks terrifed and Ben...well he's LOVING it!

(Hannah had a smile on her face soon after this picture)

Hannah, Noah and I with Santa

Ben is tuckered out

Static...

Gosh has it been dry!?! Every time we go to the park the kids get a shock from my fingers after they go down the slide or play for a while.I don't think that they can feel it...either that or they know how to ignore it. I just can't wait for the weather to even out around here!

I love it when the kids' hair gets all wild, it makes me smile and it's crazy to get a picture. And all the while, the kids...well they don't know what the big deal is!

Noah with static hair

Static is the theme over at Mama Says Om this week.

No TV...

For a variety of reasons, we decided to stop letting the kids watch TV in our house. Today was the first day of it and I think it went well! Ben was very disappointed when we said that we weren't turning the TV on today but recovered from it pretty quickly. They played nicely and stayed busy all day. Our goal is to keep the TV off during the week and maybe let them watch a bit on the weekends.

While I was cooking dinner tonight, I sensed that the kids were missing TV....here's what gave me that thought: