We did it. We braved the crowds on Christmas Eve at the mall to go see Santa.

You can tell the kids were really excited.

Jaisa was busy picking her nose. Tyson was trying to scope out what Santa had as a gift for him.

And poor little Shawni was scared out of her mind. Finally, Santa was able to get Jaisa's attention by asking if she liked princesses.

"Thep", she answered.

She was smitten and could have sat there for hours discussing all the princess blocks, legos, blankets, dolls etc. she was hoping to get. I asked all the kids to sit by the tree so I could get a Christmas Eve picture. I recieved a counter offer from Tyson. "If you let me take a picture of you, then you can take a picture of me". Fair deal...I accepted.

I decided to document it on my blog, only because he was in a good mood. Once he sees our credit card statement from all the Christmas shopping I've been doing,that mood might quickly change. So this will be the "before" picture.

Then...it was the kids turn. But Shawni had other plans........ She saw a buffet of yummy paper (her favorite) and couldnt be contained. Off she went...... Tyson is sure this is the face he will make when he sees what awaits him in the morning. We finished the night up with this little guy.

I have had him for years. Tyson just doesn't remember him. And that is where our story begins.

I have been hearing a lot about 'elf on a shelf'. I was debating getting one, but when I mentioned it to Tyson, he got nervous thinking about an elf coming to life at night and roaming around. Respecting his feelings, I didn't get one.

2 weeks ago, Tyson noticed this little elf on my mantle. "Mom, you said you weren't going to get an elf. I don't want an elf to come alive at night and stare at me"....blah blah blah..... I realized what a great opportunity this was. I told him all the cool things this elf could do and how cool he was. Ty took the bait and we had ourselves an 'elf on a shelf' for free.

My kids have really enjoyed having him around. He has left half eaten cookies around, puddles of water near him (from the snow) and yummy treats for the kids.

Unfortunately, tonight will be the end of his spying on us for this year. The kids were sad and wanted to share Santa's cookies and milk with him. Jaisa blew him a kiss and Tyson had this to say, " Bye elf. Thanks for being at my house.... and watching us..... and eating our food. I'm going to miss you, even though my mom was mean and had you come when I told her not to. See you in 20 million days. Goodnight."

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE...........

Someone has been a very very good girl!

So good, that Santa's little elf left her a pre-Christmas gift. She was so happy and has spent hours rocking back and forth.

The other kids were not so happy. They were only left with a box of "sugar cereal", which any other occassion would cause happy screams and high fives. However, when compared to Shawni's toy......it was a dud. I had to explain to the kids that the past couple of days there have been too many fights and a whole lot of whining.

Santa is giving them a second chance.

They change their behavior or that box of cereal is all they're getting.

So far, my little white lie has worked. Either that or the happy screams they hear their sister making on her new toy has convinced them they NEED to shape up.

2 days and counting............to see who is naughty and who is nice!

These girls....... just might like eachother.

Usually, Jaisa completely ignores Shawni. But I caught the cutest thing ever, while driving home from a family dinner last night.

It was completely silent (other than the movie playing in the car). I turned to see if the kids had fallen asleep and I saw this. The girls held hands for the majority of our ride home. Shawni would take turns watching the movie and watching Jaisa.

Did I mention it was the cutest thing ever??

This guy....

just turned 6 years old. He has been waiting a looooong time for this day - in fact, he has talked about it since he turned 5.

This little girl......wanted to "help" make me make his birthday cake.

Though we both know she just wanted to help "clean up".

We decorated.....

........and opened some fun presents. Tyson was really really excited about his legos and the doughnuts he took for his class. But even more excited about his new watch, "because it's waterproof and will never break".

His sister was just a little jealous, and talked about her pink birthday party.

Unfortunately, Todd had late patients and wasn't home until late. So, I invited my friend and her children over for pizza and cake to help us celebrate. Tyson was pretty excited about his darth vador cake and the 6 candles.

He didn't stop smiling ALL day. I didn't plan a party due to another friend's birthday party, a Christmas party and Todd leaving out of town all in the same weekend. Instead, Tyson had a couple of his friends over before school and they partied it up with legos, playstation and ice cream.

According to Tyson, this was "the best birthday ever".

Thanks to his wonderful friends!

Thank you ear infection. Thanks to you I get to load all 3 kids up in the car and go pick up an antibiotic in the freezing snow and single digit weather.

THANKSGIVING 2009 - Gilbert, Arizona

I flew with all 3 kids - alone - to my sister's house in Arizona. I'm not going to say the flight was easy, but it was definitely worth it. It was a reunion like none other. Tyson and Truman are 6 days apart and PLAYED all day! It had been almost 2 years since they last saw eachother, but they picked right up where they left off.

(They were over-excited with their dollar store purchases)

Jaisa was treated like a princess. Hayley was the only girl in the family until Jai came along after 7 boys in a row. There was a lot of nail painting and hair-doing. Shawni got spoiled as well. There were many many rides on the rhino - or "hippo" as Jaisa called it. Tyson learned a new skill I'm not so fond of. Bebe gun shooting. Thank goodness there were only 2 injuries - me being one of them.

Good form though, right? Shawni became very very attached to my dad. She crawled to where he was sitting and pulled on his legs until he picked her up. How could you not want to pick up such a cute face?

Somebody else wanted "dampa" all to herself as well. Grandma spent a lot of time giving my 2 sisters and I a break from our 2 year olds. They were out of control. They fought hard and played hard - mostly fighting. It was very entertaining watching the fist fights, biting, tackling and screaming that went on with these 3.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING IT WAS!

Someone thinks she is very very big stuff.

And is happier now than ever before..... She has perfected the art of slowly, yet aggressively pulling plugs from the wall. Crawling to the fireplace to bang on the glass, and finding any and all wrappers to shove in her mouth before I can get to her. Even yet....I am so happy that she has decided that crawling is something that she would like to be a part of - finally! If only her dad were here to see....18 hours and counting......

** Because unless he sees it with his own eyes, he doesn't believe it**

I had to fix Shawni's 'reputation' after putting the picture of her up around Halloween where she resembled a.... troll???

She really is the cutest, sweetest, happiest baby I have ever had the "pleasure" of having. She just turned 10 months and is very close to crawling.

I know, most babies are crawling by this stage.....but she is just happy rolling around and scooting on her tummy. It seems the further down the line of birth order you are in this family, the longer it takes to accomplish 'milestones'.

But my, does her personality make up for the lack of interest in perfectiong her "baby-skills".

She and Tyson are still like 2 peas in a pod and couldn't make eachother laugh harder if they tried. At her last Dr.'s visit in September, she was in the 95th % for height and the 90th % for weight. Gone are the days of her being in the low percentages, like she was at her one week check up being under 6 lbs. This girl can eat.........and almost crawl-YAY!

**UPDATE** Just as I suspected, Shawni is crawling (slow, but crawling and loving it). Todd left to go out of town yesterday and of course, that it the time she decides to finally "get it". She is already pulling all my yummy plug-ins out of the wall. Why did I want her to crawl so bad again???

This is my shopping partner.

Jealous??

Every occasion is her special occasion.

Let me just say that I'm not a big fan of Halloween. The color combination of orange and black-gag, the candy that my kids ask for a million -no exaggeration times a day. The nightmares of monsters and scary masks -the kids and mine, the plastic pumpkins laying all over the house, and the doorbell that seems to never stop ringing Halloween night. Not to mention that it is the one time during the year that spiders are cool. Spiders are gross. There is nothing "cool" about spiders or webs. But, I am a mom that likes to see my kids happy and for them to have happy memories. So 'happily' we went trick-or-treating and handed out candy to all the bell ringers. And happily I watched as everyone in the neighborhood took down their black and orange decorations from the front door. YAY!!! I must admit that though I don't care for Halloween much, it was fun to see the kids run around in their costumes one last time before they 'mysteriously' disappear...........forever!

**Jaisa put her costume to good use for the months, yes months before she wore it 'for real'. It has been used as a napkin, nightgown, bath towel, toilet paper, paint brush, blanket, pillow and dance partner. The dots were barely holding on and the seem was splitting, but she still looked adorable**

Tyson practised the Darth Vador breathing for weeks and had it down perfect.......

as well as some pretty sweet moves.

And Shawni.....

was the cutest little lady bug I've ever seen.

BOO!

If you could only hear the growl that went along with this face!

BBBBRRRRR!!!!

School has been cancelled for the past 3 days. There was that much snow! Todd came home early Wednesday due to patient cancellations and didn't go in on Thursday because....you guessed it.....snow!!!

Tyson spent the day playing with the next door neighbor and having snow ball wars.

I had fun *no, wait- I DIDN'T have fun* attempting one of my very first snow men. He was not great by any means, but he was created...by me.....freezing to death......with a crying baby inside and a 2 year old running around in the snow with crocs on. Yes, I deserve a parade.

All the while, Todd was out back building a ramp (if thats what you call a mound of snow about 2 feet tall). I'm sure with a little more practise we will have ourselves a "real" sledding ramp.

Yes, I'm calling out my husband but only after he mocked my snow man making skills - or lack of.

Shawni "pretended" she was playing outside - according to the kids, who buried her in a pile of toys (the 'fake' snow).

Ready to go bright and early again this morning.......

Luckily the sun was out and the snow was melting. We headed outside to play and shovel the remaining snow when this...... showed up.

Obviously, he thought he looked good judging the look on his face and the swagger in his walk. Snowballs.............

scooter rides......... and some serious posing.

These kids are going to sleep good tonight.