Christmas prep

We've been preparing for Christmas by putting up the decorations, listening to Christmas music, and hitting up Santa's Village with the neighbors.  And my personal favorite so far has been welcoming back good behavior with the arrival of Franklin, our Elf on the Shelf.

He's back!  He pulled up last weekend.  The kids loved it.

Incase you haven't heard of Elf on the Shelf concept, here's how it works: Franklin, our elf, was sent by Santa to observe behavior - good and bad - throughout the month of the December and report back to Santa each night.  Each morning when he gets back to our house, he hides in a different place.  The kids wake up and rush to find Franklin.  It's cute. 

And Nora has now taken it to a new level.  She's so interested in showing Franklin her good behavior that she relocates so he can see her.

Franklin is up in Gus's curtains (way up there). 

She wanted to show him that she can use the potty, even brush her teeth on her own.  Pretty funny.

Santa's Village was chilly, but a good time.

 Nora was not sure about Santa.

Gus had his list memorized and rattled it off in record time when asked by Santa, "what would you like for Christmas?"

Nora helped alot with the stockings during the decorating process.

Hockey - still going strong

Gus is into week 6 of hockey and still going strong.  He likes the games, which he has once a week, but his favorite thing so far has been the chance to skate in the big rink in Fargo, Scheels Arena.  It is where the Fargo Force play.

They had an open skate last week and he went with his buddy, Caleb.  They loved it.

Here's some footage of #14 in action, doing some drills.

Best Friends

Nora and Peyton (her BFF from down the street) spent every summer evening playing outside together, but now that winter has settled in, they are trying out a few new ideas. 

This was my first taste of a girly slumber party.  I'm sure as soon as these gals are fully talking, they will ask to have a sleepover.   For now, they were just pretending. 

Good thing they are both so cute.  It's nice having friends so close by.

In da Club

Gus recently had his winter dental appointment and I'm proud to say he made it into the Cavity Free club again!  He's 2-for-2, although I did overhear the hygienist telling the dentist that they are 'keeping an eye on #16' or something of that nature.  So it seems like there is a questionable tooth in there and if he wants to stay in the club he'll really need to stay on top of his brushing.

Go Gus!

Not enough iPad to go around

While in Minot over Thanksgiving, we had some visitors at Grandma Vickie's.  Cooper and Sofie came by to play which was great, until we only had one iPad between the 4 kids.  Scary, I know!  Thankfully, there were only a few tears shed.  Also, it was a great opportunity to remind my children of the importance of sharing. 

Happy 5th Birthday, Gus!

Gus turned 5 on November 17th.  Because his birthday fell on a Saturday this year, he got to celebrate the big 0-5 a day early at preschool.  He packed up a bunch of his favorite books and toys into the birthday bag (pictured below), and shared all of these favorite things with his class.

 He choose Vikings cupcakes this year.

On Saturday, his actual birthday, he awoke at the crack of dawn to make it to the rink in time for hockey team pictures.

He got 5 bucks for his 5th birthday.  He also got breakfast to go and a mug of hot cocoa for the quick trip to the arena.

While he was at hockey, Nora and I spruced the place up a little.

We packed up the cake and headed to Chuck E Cheese for the official party. 

 Will and Chuck

 Gabby came all the way from Mpls for the party.

 Gus and Caleb as future boy band-mates.

He loved the special treatment and attention from Chuck E and gladly donned the birthday crown while we all clapped.

Gus and his buddy, Caleb, share the same birthday.  I tried to get a photo of them with Chuck E, but they just wanted to be crazy. 

 Gus snagged 150 tickets from the whirling Ticket Tunnel.

The party and entire weekend was great.  And he had a good warm-up to it. The weekend before, Grandma Vickie and Grandpa Dave came down for a pre-birthday party celebration. 

Even though it wasn't her big day,  Nora was all smiles. She sang Happy Birthday to Gus numerous times.

A truck and a princess

Halloween 2012 costumes were Nora as Cinderella, and Gus as Optimus Prime (the transformer).

Nora kicked off the partying late afternoon at her daycare party.  Her friend Aiden was Elmo.

We hurried home, put on costumes, and headed to the neighbors for dinner to fuel up for trick or treating.

 Caleb was a teenage mutant ninja turtle (not sure which one), and Peyton was an adorable pirate.

They were all equipped with glowsticks incase they stayed out late into the hours of darkness.  They did.

After we finally got them home, sugared down, teeth brushed, and jammies on - they crashed.  I went into check on Gus about an hour later and found this.

Still partying!

Too soon?

Nora had her first pedicure while we were in Minneapolis for our goddaughter Gabby's birthday.  I know she's only 2 but I couldn't resist. It was girls day so I couldn't leave her home with the guys. She did great throughout the ped, but just couldn't sit still long enough for the polish to set.  Not even with the Cat in the Hat movie playing 1 foot from her face.

 Her and Gabby got the royal treatment in the kiddie chairs.

 Gabby turned 4 on October 29th.

Happy Birthday, Gabs!

She marches to the beat

of her own drum.  Nora is one-in-a-million.

Sometimes Ross and I stop and think to ourselves, 'did I really just have that conversation with my 2-year old?'

If she wants to know something, she'll ask.  She'll also tell you what she thinks.  If she wants to get out of doing something, she'll tell you that she 'needs a new diap now', because she 'pooped in her diapie', even though she didn't. 

Her latest favorite move is to walk into a room, take off her shirt and exclaim 'ooh, I'm sooo cold guys'. 

 I should consider hiding the markers and all art supplies.

We wouldn't change a thing from our experiences raising Gus, our first-born, in his baby and toddler years.  But the experience you have parenting that second child is totally different (more relaxed parenting is probably 90% of it).  It cracks us up that Nora is the exact opposite of Gus.  It's fun watching her little tendencies start to shine through.