Christmas with the Labbett's

This weekend we spent time with Meme, Bob-Bob, Uncle Patrick, Aunt Margie, Brendan and Riley.

 

Cousins!

 

We opened presents and played for awhile.

 

Don't they look like snow queens?

 

We played Headbands with the family, it was hilarious.  Basically you get a card put on your headband and based on the actions of others you have to guess what it says on the card. 

 

With a few modifications for the kids, we all played together and had a good time.

 

Clearly we are being skydivers, Brendan!

 

Hmm, can't remember what Uncle Patrick was trying to be, but it's pretty funny.

 

My favorite was Mike acting out carrot with Ava.  He positioned her just so, then proceeded to pull her out of the ground. 

 

Thanks everyone for coming, we had a great time!

 

 

Late December Randoms

Some random pictures and stories from the past week:

 

 

 

Carter's favorite new toy:  my armband with cell phone.  He will borrow it, run laps and go up and down the steps for thirty minutes at a time.  I love that Ava made sure he had a headband on!

 

Ava made a present for both of her brothers.  She picked books, wrapped them up and put them under the tree!  So Sweet!

 

Silly Sleeper:  Carter and pengos wrapped up in blue with a hat on.  Is that a toilet paper roll on his nose?

 

Mike took these sweet pictures of the kids.

 

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug.

 

Another silly sleeper:  Ava is sitting criss cross applesauce, leaning forward with her head on the bed.  How in the world is she sleeping like that?

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas!  Obligatory top of the stairs photo.

 

 

 

Little Dockie Doodle with some of his new toys from Santa:  tractor, Steam Train Dream Train book, Chuggington game and Lego train. 

 

Ava has been asking for footie pajamas, so I was happy to oblige.

 

Bo and Grandma got Carter warm camo gloves for the winter.  He wore them all day long, even to dinner!

 

Some of Ava's loot from Santa: a unicorn, Barbie, Baby Alive Doll and some baby clothes. 

 

Carter has been wanting a zip up hoodie forever!

 

Bo and Grandma found Dawson the perfect gift:  a construction train.  He loves it!

 

 

Dawson, show me your arm.  Well, wrong arm, but you get the point.

 

My poor little guy was acting fussy, cranky and crying.  First he told me he was scared of the wind.  He has a cold so I took his temperature, just in case but eventually he fessed up that his arm hurt.  After looking at it, we realized that he burned his palm on a curling iron.  Ava got a new one for Christmas, so I curled her hair.  Afterwards I unplugged it and left it in the sink, but he must have used the step stool to grab it.  Poor guy, it was red and blistered.  We bandaged it with a little antibiotic ointment and he felt much better. 

 

Some happier memories:

 

• Sitting in the back of the van next to Ava, singing Christmas Carols while looking at Christmas lights.
• We played a new game that you have to do crazy actions.  I had to crab walk and crawl for my turns and Dawson took both times as opportunities to jump on my back and get a free ride!
• Carter ran around all day in his Ninja turtle shell.  This kid really likes to dress up!

 

 



Christmas Eve

After waking up to a light dusting of snow (Hooray for a white Christmas!) Mike gave me the gift of a free morning.  So I enjoyed a nice run and yoga class and came home to a pepperoni roll lunch.  Then onto the fun part of Christmas Eve!

Grandma and Bo came in the afternoon and Ava immediately confiscated their santa face!

 

 

 

I spent a good three hours sewing those cotton balls onto Mike's old under shirts.  I tried gluing them with hot glue and they popped off.  I thought it would be easier to just sew them on instead of running to the store for fabric glue, boy was I wrong!  Anyways,  all that mattered is that the kids looked incredibly cute in their sheep costumes for children's mass.  During the homily the priest called up all the children dressed as Mary, Joseph, etc. and told the story of the first Christmas.

 

 

After we got home they picked Santa's cookie....

 

sprinkled food for the reindeer......

 

 

 

and Santa came!!!!

 

 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Today was Ava's Happy Birthday Jesus party at school.  Of course, we had to get all dolled up for the occasion.

 

 

 

Isn't this little cloak the cutest?  I think she looks like an old fashioned caroler.

 

This kid was there for the cake.  First the kids sang a couple of little songs and then it was cake time.  After each song he asked me "Now cake Mom?  Can we have cake now?  No more songs, just cake!"

 

Sorry bud, we have to wait until the performance is over.

 

This girl cracks me up.  When she walks in I hear her say something that sounds like "I feel sleepy."  Then I say "Why are you sleepy?"

 

"No Mom, I'm going to marry Jamie." 

 

(the little boy standing next to her)

 

Of course, every parent in the room heard this and started laughing.  She told me they decided they are good friends so they are going to get married.  Ok, good to know.

 

Other than that a pretty uneventful performance, Happy Birthday Jesus!

Growing Up

 

 

Yesterday was a big day for our little Dockie boy.  Ava's preschool has a playgroup that lasts for three hours.  You can sign your child up anytime and they read a book, do a craft, eat lunch, play in a bounce house and just have a lot of fun.  I asked if I could put both Ava and Doc into playgroup for the day, even though he wasn't a student there and they agreed!  This was wonderful for me, because it gave me three hours to finish up Christmas shopping. 

 

Taken on his birthday 12/2/13.  Mike picked him up and took him on a date which included a Christmas tree cookie.

 

This kid was SO excited to go to school.  He carried his Lightning McQueen lunch box around all morning.  I was a little nervous about how he was going to do, because he has never been in a school setting before and he hasn't been away from me for this long.  But he walked right in like he owned the place and proceeded to charm the teacher.  I guess I should have expected that!  When I returned she told me he did a great job and followed all directions and routines.  This makes me feel good, I guess he will be ready for preschool next year!

Weekend Update

It has been a busy weekend, with some relaxing thrown in as well.  Here are some pictures from our weekend:

 

 

Dawson and I have been playing whack-a-mole nightly.  He pops up in our room.  I put him back in bed.  He falls asleep in the hallway.  I put him back in bed.  It seems as soon as I get him back in bed, he pops up somewhere else!  Yes, he is fully sleeping in this picture and it is 5 am, as I was leaving to go to yoga.  Crazy kid, if anyone has any suggestions on how to keep him in bed I'm all ears.  Right now we are starting a sticker chart and rewarding him for staying in bed.  It's kind of funny, he didn't have this problem when we initially switched from crib to toddler bed, but it just seems to be getting worse.

 

I'm sorry Aunt Margie, we really can't return your scarves.  What else are they going to use for doggie leashes?

 

Friday night we took the kids to see the Nutcracker Ballet.  The kids were very well behaved and I'm completely shocked how glued they were to the ballet.  They were very whiny and tired afterwards, but during the ballet they were as good as gold.  It was funny I heard Ava telling her Aunt Tiffany later "We stayed up all night to go to the Nutcracker."  Yeah, all the way to the crack of 10 pm!

 

 

 

On Saturday we had Aunt Tiff, Uncle Jay and cousin Andrew come to visit.  But the best part was getting to see Andrew!  Isn't he a sweet little cuddle boy?  He was so much fun to play with!

 

 

 

We also did presents for the kids.  It was a snowy day and it was a lot of fun sitting in the house, opening presents/playing with toys and watching the snow fall!

 

 

Cousins helping cousins!  Ava loves to play with her little cousin.  She follows him around and smothers him with love and kisses.

 

 

Finally today.  After church and errands we had a Polar Express party with friends.  The kids decorated a train car and then sat in them while they watched the show.  Hot chocolate was served, during the hot chocolate song of course and then we all got a bell as the first gift of Christmas.  The kids had a blast!  Dawson was a little confused and was claiming that it was his birthday party.  Sorry buddy, your birthday is over now!

 

That was quite enough for one weekend, now we have one full school week left until Christmas vacation!

Holiday Sing Along

On Tuesday, Carter had his holiday sing along at school.  Not too many stories to report, they sang a couple of seasonal songs, but here are some pictures of my sweeties!

 

 

 

Hugging and  

 

Singing!

Stories

• Carter has recently announced that when he grows up he wants to work at a museum.  He is going to name it Kids Place.  Later on Ava decided that she is going to be the artist at Kids Place.  Dawson is going to be the train engineer.  It's so funny to hear their future career aspirations.  It makes me happy that they want to work together one day!
• I love how Ava adores skipping.  She skips everywhere we go, down to the bus stop, around stores, at the playground and even in the snow!
• Lately Dawson has been OBSESSED with Carol of the Bells by Trans Siberian Orchestra.  We listen to it daily in the car and every time he announces that he loves the cymbals.  I'm pretty sure this kid is in love with all percussion instruments!
• Dawson is very sensitive to cold sensations.  Every day when we are getting dressed he cries "My shirt is too cold.  My pants are too cold."  Three year old problems, I've even briefly thought about warming his clothes up in the dryer before he puts them on, but I haven't gone that far yet.
• Recently Carter came home from school and he was in a very grumpy mood.  I finally sat down with him and tried to figure out the problem.  He started crying that he really wanted to do the stocking with the alphabetical order words on it, but they had ran out of time and he had to get on the bus.  I e-mailed his teacher and she assured me that he would be doing it the following day, not to worry.  I think it is funny that he was so disappointed in missing school work!
• Ava was three steps away from CRAZY this evening.  Occasionally when she is tired, instead of getting grumpy she gets really, REALLY silly.  It's kind of funny to watch.  Its like she realizes if she even stops for a second she is going to pass out, so instead she runs/skips up and down the hallway yelling out all kinds of nonsense.  Eventually she told me " I need to go to bed Mom."  Ok! Your wish, my command!
• This past Friday we dropped Ava off at a birthday party and as we were walking into the garage Carter noticed an ash tray and cigarettes in it.  He yelled out really loud in front of the parents "EWW, they smoke, I don't like them anymore."  I explained to him "Carter we don't judge people for their choices."  He looked at me and said "Mom, I'm not in high school.  I have no idea what you just said."  The same evening (he was really on a roll) I was helping Dawson with a juice box.  He had pulled the straw up and he couldn't reach the last of the juice so I explained "You have to push the straw down so that it will reach the juice at the bottom."  Carter then replied "Yeah, Dawson doesn't know about life yet because he's not in kindergarten."  I just started laughing, couldn't help it!! 

Dawson's Birthday Adventure: Frozen the Movie!

This morning I gave Dawson three choices for his birthday adventure:  go to see Stan Hywet Christmas trees, Chuck E. Cheese, or to see the movie Frozen.  Dawson immediately responded that he wanted to go to the movie theatre and see Frozen. 

 

Poor Carter was pretty upset because he really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  But maybe on your birthday!  He was being so persuasive, but Doc was having none of it.

 

 

Random pictures we took from the theatre:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ava is still wearing her gymnastics medal and carrying her roses into the theatre.

 

Dawson cuddled his Aunt Patty for awhile before he realized that Daddy had the big popcorn bucket.  Then it was off to Daddy's lap for the rest of the time.

 

The kids really enjoyed the movie and surprisingly the adults did as well.  Dawson and Carter's favorite part was the snowman named Olaf.  Ava liked the snow queen Elsa the best.  The kids had the best behavior in the theatre and enjoyed every minute.  It was a great birthday for everyone!     

Happy Birthday Dear Dawson!

A big day, we also celebrated Dawson's birthday with presents and cake.  Aunt Patty came to visit and Dawson was in seventh heaven soaking up the love.  He kept calling her "Miss Patty."  Still haven't figured that one out!

 

 

 

He loved his fire man outfit from Mommy and Daddy. 

 

And from Grandma and Bo.....

 

Lots of really cool tractor stuff!

 

Fire truck from Carter and Ava. 

 

Some great new books from Aunt Patty.

 

Happy Birthday Dear Dawson, Happy Birthday to you!

 

Also, I didn't take a picture of it but thank you Meme and Bob Bob for the Planes movie and Planes toys.