Ho Ho Holy Crap that's a Big Tree

We put up our brand new artificial tree over the weekend and it is ENORMOUS. The 7 1/2 footer looked sort of puny at Costco so I bought the 9 foot tree and it is just huge. On the up side, it looks good in our living room with the high ceilings. Downside is that it will never fit in a regular house should we move. I didn't realize that the measurement didn't include the stand height. But anyway, we've been having fun decorating it and starting the Christmas thing. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying Christmas. I feel like we're really a "family" now and the kids are so excited by all of the stuff that I'm excited too. I even went shopping on Black Friday at 6 in the morning. Which was too late for most stuff sadly. I should have gone at 4. But really, 4? Is anything really worth that?

I got out the Christmas decorations and the kids have all been squirrelling away different objects. I found G hiding in the closet with these little musical tap dancing things I got last year. The tree ornaments are regularly migrating to various parts of the house too. Charles is getting a little upset with them about it, but I don't mind. I just put the unbreakable ornaments at the bottom.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at Ernie and Diane's. The weather was great and we ate out on the patio. Lucky thing since Saturday a big storm blew in and it got windy and cold. It rained today a few times. Charles told the kids that he could make it thunder, but Laney worked out that it had to lightning first. I bought a new picture frame to go with my singing gingerbread house and was looking for a picture to fill it --so I was looking at last year's Christmas picts. Oh my gosh, the kids have changed soo much.

Bobcats and Babies

Aack! I can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving! This month has just flown by. In fact, this year is going fast. I was thinking about it this morning--we started the year with an invalid husband and the twins were little babies and we're going to end the year with an invalid husband but the babies have grown so much. They will be 18 months old in December and they are walking and talking (and rubbing toast into their hair in the case of Kenna at the moment)
Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pictures today of Halloween and our San Diego trip. Last week we went down to TEP Park and got H1N1 vaccinations for the kids. We also went to the zoo for playgroup (oh crap, must mail passes along to next group today!!) and did the normal school stuff.
[side note: if there are typos involving an L, please forgive. Kids have got crap in my keyboard and it's hard to type Ls now]
Sunday I got Charles to help me take the kids to the park so that Laney could practice riding her bike. I helped Laney and Charles walked the twins on their leashes. They are so funny. Griffin likes to hold a hand and walk slow so that he can look at everything and maybe pick up rocks or whatever. Kenna is somehow a McNearney/Phillips combo--she's charging ahead to the very end of her leash and walking as fast as she can. She is on a mission! At the park there was a group of older boys (10-12) and they were actually pretty good about playing with the kids. Especially Kenna, since she's a walking talking "baby doll". Is it that boy children don't inspire the same caretaking tendencies? I wonder about that sometimes. Griffin is never the baby for other kids. They just ignore him and he them.
In other news, we haven't seen our resident bobcat for a while, but I haven't got an update from the neighbors in the last couple days. About a month and a half ago I was woken up at about 3 in the morning by these weird noises outside. And I mean weird. Sort of a creaking sound with some croaks and other strange noises thrown in. Although I couldn't figure out what it was, it made me instinctually uncomfortable. Then a few weeks later we started getting reports from the neighbors about bobcat sightings. The bobcat took our neighbors' small dog right in front of them. Just jumped down and grabbed it about 5 feet away from them in their backyard. It also tried to take the next door neighbors' dog, but he chased it off. One of those nights, Laney woke up in the middle of the night and got in bed with me and the noises started again like they were right under the window. This time with more growling, so I figured it was the bobcat (confirmed by Google the next day. The internet is amazing--you can listen to bobcat noises). He's been eating the local bunny population on my other neighbors' patio furniture and shredding the cushions. Charles has been a little freaked out and I haven't been letting the kids play outside early in the morning or at dusk just in case. Kenna is sort of the same size as a small dog after all ;-) Hopefully the bobcat will move on to another locale soon.

Busy Couple Weeks

I might need to do this in several parts because it's been a busy few weeks! We've had Halloween parties, Halloween, Laney's birthday and a trip to San Diego so there ya go. We're trying to get back into the swing of things this week and I think we're all a little tired. The twins have gone back to two naps a day! So working backwards in time...
Today we had dance class and lots of dads were there due to the holiday. Laney missed last week because of our trip so she was a little clueless as they worked through the new "routine" that they are learning. I guess they are doing a little Xmas show. Yesterday I took Laney to the Dr for her 3 year visit and then to school a little late. She weighs 32 pounds and is 36 inches tall. He tested her talking abilities (um, definite pass) as well as physical things. She still can't stand on one foot. I wouldn't say that she is the most coordinated of my children at this point ;-) She was happy to be back in school but had a fight with the teacher's assistant about getting out of the playhouse and hit her! Last week she was in trouble for screaming at her teacher. Preschool is supposed to socialize your children, but I'm noticing a definite decline in Laney's behaviour as she goes to school. I think partially it has to do with the teacher's laissez-faire attitude about the kids interactions. She allows a lot of altercations, which is fine to a point but it encourages aggressive behavior (in my kid!). I don't know. We got our "report card" and they mentioned that Laney needs to learn to ask nicely for things and be less aggressive. If I can't get the other teacher for the twins next year I don't think I will put them into school until they are ready for actual preschool.
side note: I just realized that I spelled behavior in both US and British fashion. I should make up my mind.
Kenna and Griffin are doing great except for G's tragic haircut. Oops. They are starting to talk quite a bit now, especially Kenna. They make me laugh. I cleaned house on Monday and swapped out clothes. Kenna is now in 18 month sizes, sort of. She has things ranging from 9 to 19 months that fit. She's so little in frame that tops sort of swim around on her, but her legs are too long for 12 month pants. She's just dinky.
My brain is tired so I'll add more later.