Funny post!

I read this blog from time to time. I stumbled upon it once...it largely talks about the trials she faces with her son who has very difficult disease. Today, though, she posted one of the funniest letters that I have read in along time.

Dear Nick Jr. (formerly known as Noggin but still really known as Noggin because I don't know of one single person who calls it Nick Jr because, let's face it, Noggin is just a cuter name, I'm just sayin'),

(inhales)

I am writing to inform you that very soon I will be putting in a call to Social Services to report the gross parental negligence I have observed by many of the residents of your Nickelodeon Neighborhood.

Let's take, for example, Max and Ruby. After 11 months of observation I have never, EVER seen their parents. As in I'm pretty sure they don't even exist. The children are constantly home alone, only being dropped in upon, every once in a while, by their grandmother. Max, obviously a child two or under seeing as how he can only speak one word at a time, is being cared for by his sister, Ruby, who can't possibly be more than six years old seeing as how she's an idiot. I do not feel this is a good environment for either child and thus will be reporting the Bunny Family to the proper authorities. I am glad that Ruby has her ever-true Bunny Scout Leader to guide her although I don't think the party-hosting skills she is being taught are going to prove very beneficial in the raising of her younger brother.

I am also very concerned about Dora the Abnormally Large Headed Exploradora. Although her parents, Sr. and Sra. Marquez, do appear every now and again, she is often seen out on her own, accompanied only by a whiny monkey. She has faced many a foe (a witch, a troll, a fox) with only her backpack to protect her. And I know she always uses her seatbelt "so she can be safe," but am I mistaken that Dora should still be in a car seat? I am fairly certain she does not meet the eight year / 80 pound requirement. Although I suppose this law may not apply when you are traveling to OUTER SPACE, you know, by yourself.

Lastly, I will be reporting ALL of the neglectful animal parents whose children have found themselves in such peril they've had to call on the Wonder Pets. I feel if you are relying on a guinea pig, a turtle, and a baby duck to rescue your children, you have reached a whole new level of inattention. I'm sorry but if you, as a goose, flew off and left your children to be led south by some classroom pets in a plastic boat, don't you think you should be reported? And don't even get me started on the ladybug's parents who let her play in the Venus Fly Trap or the Mama cow who barely reacted when her baby calf was rescued from a tree (that's right, a tree).

The parents of all the Backyardigans are still under observation, and at this point, there is no reason to suspect negligence on their part. So far, the children have stayed within the confines of their backyard, and at least one parent seems to be home during their playtime, offering a delightful yet nutritious snack at the end of their imaginary adventures.

Please be under advisement that the entire Nickelodeon Junior (if that's your real name) populace is being watched.

Yours Truly,
Patrice Williams

P.S. - And as far as DJ Lance is concerned, the whole Gabba Family is currently under investigation for recreational drug use. Second letter to follow.

Christmas fun

Well, I have finally found a moment to share all of our Christmas fun with you. 

Mikayla and I had a lot of fun baking (and eating!) some Christmas goodies.  She has become quite the good little helper in the kitchen and I love having her there.  Here is a sampling of some of the things we have made.  These are some reindeer cookies we made – they were a big hit since Mikayla had a great love for all things associated with Rudolph this year. 

Here she was helping me crunch up some candy canes for peppermint bark. On Christmas Eve, Mikayla decided to mail Santa a letter.  She wrote out a list, made an envelope and taped our family picture (aka the Christmas cards that I never sent out!) onto the front of it.

She hurried down to the mailbox and put it in there all by herself.  I can’t believe how big she is!

On Christmas Eve, we spent the evening at my parent’s house.  We always start the evening out with a wonderful dinner, which is followed by a short Christmas program.  We read from Luke 2 and sing some Christmas carols.  It’s a nice way to help the children remember the reason that we are celebrating Christmas.  After our program, we moved on to opening presents.  The kids had a great time seeing what they got and also seeing what everyone else got.  Here are a couple of pictures of some of their faves. Anything to do with Diego is always a hit with Gavin.

Grandma was able to score a Zhu Zhu pet for Mikayla.  “Mr. Squiggles”  is a fun member of our family and he is definitely the type of hamster that I like having in our home. This is Gavin wearing one of his Christmas presents.  They are Wonder Pet jammies, complete with a cape.  He kept running around saying, “I Lenny!  I Lenny!”   Gavin also got this Handy Manny tool set.  The tools move around in the toolbox and sing a song – he still loves playing with it!

Christmas morning, the kids gave mom and dad a present by sleeping in until almost 8!  We then hurried downstairs to see want Santa had brought.  I LOVE seeing the excitement in their eyes.  It makes Christmas so magical! Santa brought Mikayla a scooter – she was really excited about this presents.  (Which unfortunately had to be retired to the garage the next day after Mikayla broke her arm :( . )

Gavin got lots of fun things.  One of his favorite gifts form Santa was this orange Diego Rescue pack.  He wore it all morning and it had to be pried out of his hands when we ate breakfast.     MIkayla’s all time favorite present was this baby tiger.  Santa brought her the big version last year and she was so excited to get “Bengal’s baby brother.”

After Santa presents and a nice breakfast together, we got together and went over to Jeremy’s parents.  We had a wonderful lunch together (Shrimp casserole!  Yum!) and then we opened some more presents.   Gavin got this BIG Tonka truck that converted to a ride-on toy.  He had a lot of fun with this present!

Mikayla has expressed interest here and there about how nice it would be to have a cat.  Her Aunt Ashley pulled through and got her these “Furreal” kitties that are the perfect cats for my home.   I am not a big fan of litter boxes and my mom is very allergic to cats, so this is about as close as this little girl will get.  Thankfully, she seems to be more than happy with this arrangement. After we opened presents, Mikayla decorated cookies with all of the “womenfolk.”  We did something similar to this last year and I must say that I really like this little tradition.  It is a nice time spent with one another. 

Well, that is our Christmas recap.  It was busy and crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.   I love all of these people and I can’t imagine not spending the holidays with them.  I feel so blessed to live close to both sides of our family so that we don’t have to choose who we get to see.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Finally! A Birthday Celebration post.

Well, I am feeling pretty bad that Mikayla’s birthday post is so late.  Unfortunately, with the business of Christmas, broken arms, work, and life, it kind of fell by the wayside. 

Mikayla had a week long celebration, which I think is when you have a birthday 9 days before Christmas, is an absolute necessity. 

This year, we had Mikayla’s party at a fun place called Lollipop.  They have several inflatable jump houses for the kids to just go wild in.  Mikayla has no shortage of energy and this was a perfect party for our little five year old princess.

Mikayla taking a very short jumping break.This was one of the only quiet moments during the entire party.   I think the kids had worn themselves out and were very focused on eating.  :)

We ordered cupcakes for her party and had a princess candle on her special cupcake.  I love how excited she looks! After her “friend” birthday party, our family came over to our house so that we could have a small party celebration.  My mom got her a princess cake.  What a lucky girl – two cakes in one day!Mikayla got that little panda as one of her presents – she loves it and can often be found in her arms.  Gavin liked the cake, too.  He wasn’t able to go to the party because he had a low grade fever.  He had a lot of fun celebrating at the “after party.”

On the Monday before Mikayla’s birthday, she had a little birthday celebration at school.  She decided to go with a Tinkerbell theme for this party.  She had so much fun being the “star” for the day.

On the night before her birthday, we went to Red Robin for dinner.  Mikayla loves that restaurant and we always have a great time there.  This is the site Mikayla saw when she came downstairs on her birthday.

We served, per her request, one of her favorite breakfasts – Cinnamon Rolls!  I was glad that it was a quick and easy breakfast, because Mikayla had to go to school and I am not a joyful early riser. :)

Mikayla’s birthday fell on the same day as her preschool Christmas program and party.  They served these cute little Rudolph cookies, which Mikayla loved.  She was a little Rudolph obsessed this year.

After Mikayla’s program, we had a fun afternoon planned for her.  We went to her favorite place to eat, McDonald’s.  She would seriously go everyday if I let her.

After lunch, my mom met up with us and we went to go see “The Princess and the Frog.”  It was a very cute movie that Mikayla mostly enjoyed.  There was a short hysterical (and I mean HYSTERICAL) moment at the end of the movie when one of the character dies.  She such a tender-hearted little girl.

To round out the day.  I made Mikayla pancakes and bacon for dinner.  She is a girl that takes after her mother and loves breakfast food.

I hope that Mikayla had a wonderful week of birthday celebrations that helped her to create lots of memories.  She is a sweet little girl that is growing up way too fast…I love you, sweet girl!

Snow Day!

Thursday afternoon we started to see some flurries.  The kids were being watched by a friend of mine because I had a class at the hospital.  When I got there to pick them up, small flurries had just begun.  Mikayla and her best friend Matthew we so excited.  They kept running into the living room yelling, “It’s snowing!”,  “The snow is really starting to stick!”,  “It is super-duper snowing now!”.  It was so fun to see the pure excitement in their eyes. 

After we got home, we had a little bit of snow on the ground so I let Mikayla and Gavin opt for a slightly later dinner so that they could play out in the snow before  it got dark.  Gavin was very enthralled by the snow and Mikayla was just giddy. 

Friday morning, Mikayla walked into our room at 7am begging to go outside and play in the snow.  We were able to talk her into to waiting until after breakfast, but by 9am we were outside ready to play.   They had the most fun on the sled.  There wasn’t quite enough snow for a snowman, but we had lots of fun sliding down the driveway and making snow angels.  The kids lasted about on hour in the bitter cold.  I don’t think the air temp ever got above 25 degrees and we had quite a brisk wind to go with that.  Mikayla did venture out a second time in the afternoon and had an equally fun time as the first.  We filled the rest of our day before I left for work, with cuddles by the fire and “warm” chocolate.  That’s a pretty good day in my book!

Making a snow angel

Our backyard

View from our front door.  The drive way was pure ice – great for sledding!

Mikayla and Gavin on Thursday night – this is Gavin’s first experience with snow.

Mikayla sledding.  ( You may notice Gavin in the background saying.  “I want to wee, i want to wee”)

Gavin sledding