A Lesson...

on the pros and cons of giving your child a police set for Christmas.  Nathan got one from Santa this year and he LOVES it....as Santa knew he would.

Con:
Last night all 3 kids were playing police.  This is one of their favorite things to do together lately.  Jillian had to go potty so I took her into the bathroom and set her on the toilet.  I sat down on the little stool we have in there.  Nathan...in full uniform...rushed into the bathroom and said to me, "You're under arrest!  You stealed something!"  I protested a little just for fun, but when he asked for my hands I put them out.  He put the cuffs on me and I was sitting with my head down...looking at my hands.  I said something like, "Don't take me in officer...I'm innocent!"  And that's when he pulled the billy club from his belt and hit me over the head as hard as he could.

Needless to say, he no longer has a billy club.

Pro:
When Calvin put Nathan on his stomach and cuffed his hands behind his back...Nathan could NOT get up.  I will remember this the next time I need to keep him in his room.

A New Idea

Tonight when I was making dinner Jillian was very clingy and tired. On a whim I said, "Would you like to sit in this laundry basket with your blankies while I get dinner ready?"  Oddly enough she said yes.

She even seemed to like it.

She snuggled right in.

Then...others joined her.

TWINS!

Okay.  It's been WAY too long since I blogged.  Of course I've been busy, as life always is, but I hate to use that as an excuse.  I mean the whole reason I blog is because life is busy and I want to remember things.  I'll be posting about our last Christmas with my side of the family and some other things, but tonight I've got something else.

There is nothing that will motivate me to blog again like the Minnesota Twins!  I mean....except for my beautiful children.  Anyway, tonight was the Twins Caravan.  It's become a bit of a tradition that we go each year, and it's so much fun.

When we got there tonight Calvin took some time to read the schedule for the upcoming season.  He said things like, "Hey Mom...guess who they play on May 27th?"  I was then supposed to guess. 

When he got tired of that, we decided to take some pictures.  Here he is with daddy...they are looking more and more alike these days.

Calvin with two of his favorite guys!

So...here's a random side story.  When I was in college my friends and I used to laugh about how in pictures I often have what appears to be a glass eye.  No explanation as to why.  It just happens.  Case in point....right here.  Good picture, but....glass eye.

Calvin wanted to try using the camera, so here is my dad and I.  Glass eye...not so much.

The yearly picture with T.C.

This was a funny moment from the night.  So Dick Bremer was standing at our table talking to us....as if that happens every day.  People were finishing their dinners so T.C. started walking around with the garbage can.  I threw my plate in and Calvin started to hand his over.  He had some food left, so when he tried to throw it away T.C. pushed the garbage away and put his hands on his hips shaking his head.  He then proceeded to stick one of Calvin's apples with a fork and feed it to him.  He stood there and fed him two or three apple slices and watched him eat every bite.  Calvin was just giggling...but he DID eat.  Nice work T.C.

My dad with Tony Oliva.....sort of.

Here is Ben Revere.  This is who Calvin was most excited to see tonight because he LOVED the triple he hit last summer where he did a somersault on his way to third base.  Plus, he's super fast.

Calvin chatting with Dick as he signs his Twins dog.

Rene Tosoni, Ben Revere, Tony Oliva, and T.C.

GO TWINS!  Spring training is right around the corner!

Christmas 2 and 3!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Marc's mom and dad's.  Sadly, I have very few pictures to prove it!  I guess I was so relaxed...I didn't even get my camera out!  Here is Jilly by Grandma's tree....

followed by a not so great family picture....a picture of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa, and a special picture of all the kids with Great Grandma.  We call her GG.  She is 91, so we feel very blessed to have her at our Christmas.

When we came home from Grandma and Grandpa's house, Santa had been to our house!  The kids could hardly wait for the van to stop before they were jumping out to run inside!

I love this picture of all the kids when they saw the presents. You can just feel the excitement!

Jilly opening a set of tiaras, jewelry, and microphones.

Calvin with his new "big kid" bible.

A hunting set with guys, 4 wheelers, and a tent.

Madden Football for the Wii

Baby Belle!

Calvin desperately wanted an Adrian Peterson jersey and some receiving gloves....he got them.

When Jilly visited Santa this year she said, "I want a swimming Ariel and nothing else!"  He came through.

There's a new cop in town....look out.

A car seat for her babies



 This gift for Nathan cracks me up.  It's a bucket of wood.  My dad cut some pieces of lumber for him, and even drilled holes in some of them so he could hook them together with bolts and such.  Nathan LOVES it.  Today he and a friend had the bucket out with plans to build a ladder up to Nathan's attic.  I'm hoping there's not enough wood for that.



Jillian trying out her fancy new things



We have one more Christmas to go this weekend, but they have certainly been full of smiles so far.  I had a HUGE smile when I got a new camera!!  Expect lots more pictures from now on!  Yeah!

Christmas!

Well, it's January 8th, so I guess it's about time I start blogging about Christmas!  We did things a little differently this year and decided to let the kids open their gifts from each other a few days early  It was awesome and we will always do it this way in the future.  They were so aware who the gift was from and SO thankful towards each other.  There was lots of hugging!

Here is Jilly opening her gift from Calvin...

A PRINCESS COUCH that folds into a bed?!!  Thank you!!

Nathan was super excited to open a remote control Mater from Calvin.  Just what he wanted!

Jilly got some new furniture and a grandma for her dollhouse from Nathan.  She was thrilled!

I don't have pictures, but Jilly got each of the boys a movie.  Nathan got a Veggie Tales movie about Jonah, and Calvin got Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Side note.....when we were driving to the cities that week Nathan asked Calvin if he wanted to watch Wimpy Diarrhea Kid.  THAT does NOT sound like a good movie.

Anyway, the final gift was a popular one.  Nathan got Calvin Pokemon cards, which he had been asking for, and an awesome game called Connect 4 Launchers.  We all had a great time trying it out!

Finally, here is Jillian calling Nana to tell her about her presents.  Is this what she'll look like when she's 15 or what?!

This was such a special night as a family.  It really made us smile to watch the kids be so appreciative and loving towards each other.  Good for a Mama's heart.

Jillian

I have been needing to write a post about my sweet Jilly for some time now.  She is hilarious lately and I do not want to forget this age and what comes along with it.

The biggest thing I haven't mentioned is that she potty trained like a dream!  SOOOO much easier than my boys.  Wait....maybe that's because I wasn't the one doing the training.  That's right!  When we were living it up in Disney World, Papa and Nana trained my girl!  Huge, I know.  I'm forever in debt to them for this....along with many other things.  Anyway, when we got home the hard part was already done and I just had to follow through.  She really did a great job and was so willing.  The princess underwear didn't hurt either.


Jilly and her cousin at Papa and Nana's house.

Now it's time to talk about Bubba.  I'm pretty sure we'll never forget this part of Jillian being two, but you never know.  Bubba is just a name Jilly made up one day and she uses it for everything.  Here are some examples of things we have heard her say:

Hey Bubba! (a friendly greeting to any of us)
You Bubbahead!  (yelling at her brothers)
Me:  Jilly, what would you like for lunch?  Jillian:  Bubba
I'm gonna bubba you! (again...yelling at her brothers)

We honestly have no idea where this came from.  She just started saying it, and then getting more creative with it.  No big deal when we're at home, but she did embarrass me at dance class one day.  I was participating with her because she was having trouble warming up that day.  We were all sitting on the floor pointing our toes and stuff and the teacher says we'll pretend we're going to McDonalds.  She turned to Jillian and said in her sweet sweet voice, "What do you want to eat?"  Jillian looked right at her and said, "Bubba".  The teacher turned to me as if to ask, "What is she talking about?"  I just had to shrug my shoulders and say, "No idea, she made it up." 



A favorite face she makes

Lately Jillian is a lover of technology.  She asks multiple times a day to watch a princess movie on the ipad.  This means going to youtube and finding a Disney princess song.  Once I find one, she will sit and push new ones all by herself.  She LOVES it.

She also spends a lot of time on her phone.  As she walks through the room we hear things like, "Are you serious?  That's ridiculous."  Today she was on the phone when all of a sudden she did this sigh like she was annoyed and said, "Aaaahhhh.  Lauren hung up on me"  So Lauren...I know you read this...I guess you should call her back. 



This is her talking to me on the real phone when I was in Florida.

 She and I were doing some organizing today while the boys were at school.  When she was playing I happened to find a toy we had been looking for earlier.  I called, "Hey Jill!  Look what I just found."  She turned around to look and said with just the right amount of excitement, "Well for crying out loud". 

I just love this girl.  Isn't it fun how every age seems like the best one?  Everytime I think she's perfect she starts doing something else that just melts me.

 I guess that's what it means to be a mommy, and I dig it.