Birthday Marathon

With two birthdays only five days apart, we have a crazy time around here. The celebrations lasted almost two weeks this year. Colin's birthday was first. We've started a tradition of going out for lunch with the birthday child choosing the location. I know Colin's first choice is always Cici's, but we were in the middle of "Snowmageddon II" (snicker) so he had to settle for the Heartland Point Cafe right next to his school. He didn't mind though. He still got some pizza, and when the woman at the cafe noticed the sticker on his shirt declaring that it was his birthday, she threw in some great big iced cookies for both the kids.Colin's birthday just happened to fall on the same day as his Valentine's party at preschool. There was some confusion on his part as to the point of the party. He came home and told me that they had a big celebration for his birthday and everyone gave him birthday cards. I tried explaining that the cards were for Valentine's Day, but Colin would have none of it. He'll figure it out eventually. Here's Colin proudly displaying his birthday crown from school and his balloon. I've been trying to get the kids to think about the feelings of others and not be so focused on themselves. This is never an easy task when it's just sin nature to think of ourselves first. I took Riley to the grocery store while Colin was at school and asked her to pick out a balloon for her brother. At first, she just wanted to get one for herself, but with a little coaxing she selected a "Cars" balloon for Colin. He was thrilled with her choice. When Jeff got home from work, Colin was allowed to open his presents. Now that he's a big boy, we figured it was time to get him his first firearm - of the Nerf variety. It's a little difficult for him to fire, but he'll figure it out soon enough and be terrorizing the cats in no time. Here's one more picture of Colin's day. He loves all things related to the movie "Cars." The weekend between the kids' birthdays, we had a family party. Here's Colin and Pop-pop checking out some photos together. Can you guess who picked out the farm complete with horses for Riley? (If you said Memaw, you're right.) The kids and I have a lot of fun playing with that one.

Being a girl, Riley actually looks at her cards and wants to know who gave them to her. Colin, on the other hand, usually checks for money or stickers. Do you see the bubble wrap in the background? When my family asked what the kids wanted for their birthdays, I replied, "Oh, they just like eating M&Ms and playing with bubble wrap." (Really, the kids have plenty of toys.) Well, that what they got, along with some other nice gifts. Everyone was amused that the kids were truly thrilled with the bubble wrap. Some has been popped and some has been used for a craft project. Maria and Riley paused long enough for Daddy to get a picture. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with Jeff's photography skills. It helps to have such cute subjects too.
I couldn't leave out Maya. Can you say, "Don't hate be because I'm cute as a button." Here's the alligator cupcake cake for the party. Does anyone else hate slicing and serving cake? Perhaps I'm just weird about that. Cupcakes are the perfect solution.
The following week was Riley's birthday. Again, we had a lot of snow and icy roads, so for her birthday lunch we went through the drive-thru at McDonanlds. This would have bummed me out a little had it been my birthday lunch, but for a three and five-year-old, chicken nuggets and a surprise toy are way better than a boring old restaurant where you have to sit down and wait for your food. Again there was great anticipation while we waited for Daddy to get home from work so the presents could be opened. It seems that once again, one of the cats has to get in on the action. Riley can't wait for a shower now with her new princess umbrella. The ballon was picked out by Colin. Riley loves all things Disney Princesses, although she's cried through both Sleeping Beauty and the Little Mermaid, and when given a choice of toys, she'll pick a truck any day of the week.Riley had been asking for a scooter "just like Ethan's." She was a little disappointed that several feet of snow were preventing her from riding outside. This was the first year Riley had an honest-to-goodness-birthday-party-with-just-her-friends. She invited six of her friends from school and church. She wanted to invite three times as much but unfortunately out little house can only hold so many.

Riley decided she wanted a Sleeping Beauty theme for the party and then promptly named several boys she wanted to come. I knew just how thrilled the boys would be with princesses so I had to be a little creative. The girls were given crowns as favors and the boys got glow-in-the-dark swords. Riley asked me to make a pinata that looked like Sleeping Beauty, but I pointed out that beating a princess with a stick until she spilled her innards was a little morbid. She then decided that we should have a dragon pinata. I readily agreed to this without considering the logistics of making a pinata shaped like a dragon. At one point in the construction, it was described as a "chicken vomiting tissue paper," but in the end I think it was recognizable as the evil Maleficent. The girls had Sleeping Beauty cupcakes and the boys got Prince Phillip. Prince Phillip is wide awake because he can hear the dragon coming. (He looks a little like Mr. Bill's Medieval cousin.) I gave Phillip a shield with his initial on it. I was going to put "PP" for Prince Phillip, but then I had visions of the boys yelling, "I have pee-pee on my cupcake!" and thought better of it.Riley had a great time at her party. I think the other kids did too. Poor Colin was supposed to be a part of the action but was sick and quarantined upstairs the whole time. (You know a kids sick when he naps with seven screaming children right downstairs.) Riley is already planning her sixth birthday party. At least I have a whole year to recover before the next one.

Merry . . . February

I was getting ready to post birthday pictures and realized that I haven't posted anything about Christmas yet. It just didn't seem right to skip Christmas so here's some of the highlights.Here's our official "posing in front of the tree" picture. They both look happy and there was minimal arguing about who was going to wear the Santa hat and who was going to wear the antlers.

This is Riley's first year in choir at church. The Little Praisers sang in service one Sunday. We practiced her song over and over and she had most of it by the performance.

I love the look these two are giving each other. They look like they're thinking. "What on Earth are we doing up here in front of everyone?"

I could tell Riley was nervous but she sang. I was so proud. The highlight for her was getting a bag of M&Ms for leaning the lyrics.

The kids decorated some cookies for Santa (and themselves). On one of our runs to Buehlers we ran into Santa, who was handing out candy and asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Before we left, he reminded them to leave him some cookies. The kids were shocked to see Santa at the grocery store but were eager to comply with the cookie request.

Riley and Jeff were putting Santa's cookies on a plate when Riley thought of the reindeer. Jeff got out some carrots and Riley made up another plate for them. She was ready to set everything out when she counted the carrots and realized there were only six. She insisted on adding two more because there were "eight donkeys." She sometimes gets Santa's reindeer mixed up with the donkeys in Bethlehem.

Colin was more excited about eating his cookies than giving them to Santa. He was pretty excited to see him at the store though. Now every time it snows, he asks if Santa will be at Buehlers.

We had a great time with my family (which I apparently did not document with photos.) The Saturday before Christmas was spent at my Aunt and Uncles house with my extended family. Christmas morning the kids opening presents and played with all their loot. My parents, brother and his family came over for lunch then. We had our traditional Coccia House Christmas pizza. It's so fun to watch the cousins play together. Riley loves her cousin Maria so much.

My favorite thing about Christmas this year was watching the kids' understanding of Christmas grow. Colin liked to use our Little People nativity to tell the story of Jesus' birth, usually with some humorous additions. Riley asked a lot of questions about why Jesus was born. She's starting to make the connection between the baby in the manger and the risen Savior.

Now onto the February birthday madness.

Independent Filmmaker

In the last couple of days Riley has figured out how to operate the video function on her camera. This has been a source of endless amusement for both her during "quite rest time" and myself when I see what she has been doing while no one but the camera is looking. This first one is one of the earliest clips she shot. It is a 4-year-old's version of a comedy routine.

This one is an interpretive dance to a Christmas song that just didn't have the tempo she was looking for. She is such a professional. Watch for the moment she whacks her hand on the closet door and continues on with her routine. What a trooper.

Our Budding Photographer

A camera is absolutely fascinating to a kid, so I was thinking about getting Riley one of those indestructible kid cameras for Christmas. Jeff then pointed out that we had an old digital camera collecting dust in the closet so why not give her that one. She was thrilled. I have enjoyed watching her explore photography. It's a lot of fun to view her pictures and see the world from her perspective. Here are some of her better/more interesting photos. There are many pictures of the the cats.

Hobbes' dazed look is caused by the constant flashes going off in his face.

Maebh's slumber has just been disturbed. She is now hatching a scheme to hide the camera in her litter box.

This shot cracks me up.

Tired of being followed around by a shutter-happy preschooler, the cats take out their frustration on each other.

Colin is not the most enthusiast subject.

Perhaps Riley is planning on selling this shot to the National Enquirer.

And finally some self-portraits:

Halloween

I feel like Halloween snuck up quickly this year. I had plans for all kinds of fun activities and we didn't get around to most of them. We couldn't let it pass though without carving a pumpkin. My folks gave us a huge pumpkin which yielded lots of pumpkin seeds for roasting and pumpkin guts for little fingers to squish. Riley used her queen costume from last year and Colin was a six-legged spider (apparently there was not enough room on the costume for two more legs.) On Halloween we went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood for a while before heading over to our church where they had snacks, crafts, games and inflatables. Colin liked jumping in the Shreck inflatable while Riley's favorite was the giant double slide that looked like the sinking titanic (which is kind of morbid if you ask me.) She and her friend Joel liked racing each other to the bottom. I'm glad the kids got good and tired and slept late the next day. I woke up ill and spent the next week with the swine flu. You'll be happy to know I survived.

You'll Never Guess Where We Went!

Did you guess the zoo? How did you know? OK, I know we go to the zoo a lot, but I thought I'd share these pictures of the kids' trip with their favorite aunt and cousins. The zoo was decorated for "Boo at the Zoo."

Maria and Colin on their thrones

The now famous rock climbing wall

Is this not the cutest cub you've ever seen?

Riley and Maria taking musical instrument from defenseless monkeys

Maria the penguin

Goldilocks, her cousins and the two bears

Mama's Mia (Hamm)

The plan is to play catch up over the next several days and give the highlights of the past three months. I'll start with a soccer clinic Riley did back in early October. We received a multitude of sign-up sheets for various activities in Riley's school book bag. She wanted to do everything so I narrowed it down to a creative dance class or a soccer clinic and told her to pick one. She enthusiastically picked soccer. In the weeks leading up to the clinic, she constantly talked about playing. When it came time to actually play, my little perfectionist was frustrated trying to learn a new sport.

Riley loved the warm ups and Coach Chico. She enjoyed the one on one drill time with Mommy briefly until the coach instructed the kids to work on improving their skills. Then it turned into something like this:

Me: Good job, Riley. Now kick the ball with the inside of your foot like Coach Chico showed us."

(Riley studies the ball, approaching it from several angles while she waaaaaay over thinks the directions. Finally she throws herself on the ground.)

Riley: Oooooohhhhh, I can't do it!

Me: Yes you can. Just give it a shot.

Riley: No, I can't.

Me: Just kick the ball.

Riley: NOOOOooooooooo!

Me: Riley, get off the ground and just try to kick the ball. It doesn't have to be perfect. I just want you to try.

(Riley stays rooted to her spot and gives me a defiant stare.)

Me: (muttering under my breath) I paid for SOMEBODY to play soccer and doggone it, somebody is going to play soccer.

(I step over Riley's prone body and unbuckle Colin from his stroller where he has been patiently watching from the sidelines and eating cereal out of a baggie.)

Me: Colin, do you want to play soccer.

Colin: YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

After a few minutes of watching her brother play, Riley decided that she was ready to try (much to Colin's disappointment.) Her first scrimmage was a bit of a disaster. Despite the fact that she has watched Uncle Mike play in several alumni games, she seemed to miss the part where they only used one ball. She was pretty miffed when the kids were instructed to place all their balls on the sideline and just use one. I believe her words were, "But why can't we ALL have a ball." She spent all of the first game standing in the middle of the field looking surly while a herd of preschoolers moved around her as one unit jockeying for position so they could kick the ball in no particular direction. She looked something like this:

She became a little more confident as the days progressed and by the last day she was mostly into playing the game. It was on this last day that the coach introduced the concept of the goalie. He gave a very brief and precise description of a goalie's job all of which was missed by my four-year-old who was chatting with one of the other girls. He then asked for a volunteer to be their first goalie. Riley's hand shot up in the air and she was promptly chosen. She was a very enthusiastic and accommodating goalie. As the other team approached with the ball, she moved out of the way and cheered for them as they scored on her. After a few minutes, Coach Chico decided it was time to give someone else a chance to be the goalie.

Here is a little video of Riley in action.

There is an indoor clinic coming up in February and Riley has decided that she wants to play again. Colin will be happy to learn that he will be old enough to play too.