still here!

yep, still here working on the potty training. right now it feels like this will take forever!! connor has actually done pretty good. he's gone 4 times in the potty and was so proud of himself. he gets a star sticker each time he goes in the potty. when he gets 5, he'll get a new hot wheel. bribery works, doesn't it? :)

is it too soon?

i'm thinking about taking down the christmas tree. not sure if i want to take that on yet. it seems as if we haven't stopped cleaning up around here all week. maybe tomorrow...

merry christmas!

even if i'm late! i've finally got some time to put a few pictures up. we were all spoiled on christmas and we're still unpackaging the toys for the kids. 

here's  the big gifts from santa before the kids opened them. kaleigh got her littlest petshop fitness center, shouting with excitement as she opened it; connor got a new big boy bike and a super deluxe hot wheels race track, which he couldn't wait to open!

here's val before he opened my present to him. i couldn't believe i kept it a secret from him...it was really hard! i got him tickets to a redsox game in boston! my parents gave us the airfare as an awesome present and christa helped with one of the nights at a hotel. i don't know who's more excited, me or him?! 

we spent the afternoon and evening at christa and mark's house. we celebrated christmas in a non-traditional way--mexican style. we had a ton of delicious mexican food: tamales, fajitas, quesadillas, tacos, spanish rice, chips & salsa, and plenty of guacamole! oh my! it was soooo yummy! the kids even had a pinata to end the night. it was fun to watch them take a few whacks at it.

on top of all the yummy mexican food for dinner, there was also a ton of delicious desserts to choose from. most importantly...chocolate! kaleigh and connor decorated some sugar cookies that i made and brought with us.

everyone was entertained by playing guitar hero or watching others play it. kaleigh couldn't pull herself away from it. rock on!!

christmas eve is finally here

today was spent visiting great-grandma, wrapping val's gifts (i can't wait 'til he opens his!!), seeing all the grandparents, and tracking santa on the internet. kaleigh was so excited when we checked santa's whereabouts early this afternoon. each time we checked, her excitement grew; she even got connor interested in checking up on santa. well, the kids are in bed, milk and cookies are waiting, and val is being santa's helper in the garage...i can't wait until the morning!! :)

who doesn't love pizza?!

when we go to costco, connor can't leave without getting a slice of yummy cheese pizza. the slice is almost bigger than him! but he's been known to devour the whole thing. mmm!

the house that we built...

would definitely not be suitable for a gingerbreadman to live in! i was having great difficulty with the frosting getting too thick, one of the sides kept falling in, and the 2 roof pieces kept sliding. the kids still had fun decorating it, even if mommy was frustrated with the frosting! :)

2 days left!

with only 2 days left 'til christmas there's still so much to do. i finished cleaning the rest of the house, finally finished the laundry, took kaleigh to the eye doctor (she's getting glasses for using at certain times in the classroom), went to costco (crazy!!), made a gingerbread house with the kids, mopped the floors, and made table runner for the coffee table. all in a days work! ha!! i didn't even mention that i still have a lot of presents to wrap. aagghhh!!

countdown to christmas

3 days left until christmas! what a busy day i've had. i spent most of the day cleaning and baking. i cleaned half the house (the rest will get done tomorrow...maybe) and when i wasn't cleaning, i was baking goodies. kaleigh and i were making some treats for val to take to his office tuesday and wednesday. oh, did i mention that i'm still working with connor on the pottytraining!?! what a day!! :)

baby, it's cold outside...

way cold!! we went with the culcasi's to gilroy gardens for their holiday lights. we knew it was going to be cold, but man, it was COLD!! we were all bundled up for an evening of fun. the kids had a blast going on rides, playing games, and drinking hot chocolate. our evening ended with a long, warm car ride home with the heater on high! :) 

it's time...

to potty! party? potty! it's all good. connor has been fighting us forever on the whole potty training thing. he picked out a brand new potty chair weeks ago but that didn't work. well, christmas vacation has started and that means more time to work on the potty training. after doing some christmas shopping today, this is what i came home to...

do you notice the cookie in his hand? at this point, whatever is going to work, we'll try it. he did do a little (very little) business in the potty! we made a big deal out of it and he was so pleased with himself. yeah connor!

are you kidding???

kaleigh got her first credit card application in the mail today! an american express gold card, no less! what the heck! i can't believe that a 7 year old was given this. a week or two ago american express was asking the government for their own bailout, so this is the solution??? after val and i had a good laugh the papers were torn to bits and put in the trash. she won't have to deal with credit issues for years to come...i hope. :)


l

an early start

we usually wait until the day after thanksgiving to put up the tree and decorate the house but we couldn't wait. early in the afternoon on thanksgiving we decided to get a headstart on christmas. this was definitely ok with kaleigh! the kids helped val put the ornaments on. i supervised in between cleaning the house. 

connor actually wanted to help this year...val watched him very carefully

kaleigh is a pro! remember these are the decorations she picked out--teal, hot pink, and lime green. :)

here's the chief of tree decorating. looking good!

more home improvement

so here's what our house is looking like with it's new paint color--sand pebble. the trim is going to be swiss coffee...that's tomorrow's job.

in progress

so the big, ugly, pointless box was removed. primer is covering the spot where it was.

the ledge below the windows is gone and new windows are in! notice the paint colors...that's the next project for us!

home makeover

we decided to do some improvements to the house. we wanted to get rid of the ledge under the kids bedroom windows and the boxy thing above the garage. val thought since someone was already going to do the work near the windows, we might as well get them replaced with some new ones. sure, why not! :)

here's the before picures of the garage and front of the house--

after pictures will come tomorrow. i think it looks way different...in a good way!

costumes

here's the costume pictures. connor is crazy about scooby-doo! this was the costume we bought for him last year that he didn't wear because he slept through most of halloween night. we saved it since it was really big last year...a year later it barely fit. he was sporting a mean wedgie but that didn't stop him. :)

kaleigh chose to be a witch this year. she got to wear her costume to school for the halloween parade. i didn't notice until she told that the wire came out of her witch's hat but she didn't care.

happy halloween

pumpkin carving was done on wednesday night. 4 big pumpkins carved, each one unique. 

kaleigh wanted to make hers all on her own and she did.

the culcasi's came over for halloween night. we ate dinner before going trick-or-treating. 

jack-o-lantern cheeseburgers...

mummy pizzas made be the kids

our pumpkins all lit up at night. from left to right: mine (says boo), connor's, val's, and then kaleigh's.

this year connor was actually glad to put on his costume and he didn't sleep through the trick-or-treating like last year. we had a lot of fun and the kids got a lot of candy!

third time's a charm!

we saw high school musical 3 yesterday. kaleigh has been counting down the days until opening day, so we had to go. kaleigh, connor, and i went to an early afternoon show to see the ol' gang. kaleigh really liked it. she said this one was her favorite! i have to agree with her. does that make me lame? oh well. inside i still think i am a teenager. :)

hey goalie!

this was the day kaleigh had been waiting for all season; the day she played goalie! she played goalie for the first half and really liked it. val said the ball never came near her the first quarter. :) connor and i got to the game just in time to see her make a great stop and pass it off to her teammates. she was really pleased with herself. 

soccer anyone?

kaleigh's team was in a tournament this past weekend. who doesn't like being outside for 4 hours in the howling, gusty wind for 2 days in a row? the super stars didn't mind one bit. the team did great! they won all their games and the tournament. kaleigh is doing better with going after the ball. she's excited about getting to play goalie in one of the last games. only 3 more games left of the season. it sure went by quick. sh! don't tell anyone i said that.

our new kitty!

this is the closest we'll ever get to having a pet. haha! we were at michael's shopping for some halloween decorations when connor spotted the kitty. he had to have it. so we got it for him. he then walked around the store, holding it close, petting it and saying, "nice kitty." it was so funny! so our halloween kitty now sits in our living room keeping the witch mimi gave us company.

i'm here!!!

where have i been? it's been a very challenging start to my school year. things are just starting to be less crazy...i said less, not normal. ha! kaleigh is in my class this year and things are going well. it's neat to see how she thinks, the work she creates, and her excitement for learning. i'm happy she's spending this school year with me. :) we finally have a little break from soccer. it doesn't officially end until the end of the month...i think. kaleigh is doing the terrapin swim team for stroke instruction twice a week. so she's been busy since school started. val is helping coach her soccer team and once again (against my wishes) coaching water polo. that too, will be over at the end of the month. the chaos of everything starting the same time school starts can be too much for me. connor was taking swim lessons this past month and doing really well. he's actually swimming now on his own! he's such a talker and says the funniest things. as for me, i've been getting lots of use out of our new exercise equipment and have been doing jenny craig to help me get in shape. i'm down 20 pounds so far! val has even started working out too. that's what's happening with us. hopefully, blogging will be one of my routines again...hopefully, i said! :)

the night before school

kaleigh was so excited to go back to school. since i am her 2nd grade teacher this year, she had lots of questions for me about what i'll be teaching her. she chose her clothes for the week, packed her own lunch, and enjoyed a special dinner of her choice (cafeteria style).

scraptacular weekend

last weekend was my scraptacular getaway weekend with nikki and zabrina. it was lots of fun as usual but there was a little stress too since it was the weekend before school started. we got pedicures from ginamarie's daughter and her friend, played games, ate delicious mexcian food, slept in amazing beds, and scrapped. what could be better than that?!

one more post!!!

today was the day--in case you were wondering...i did buy me, i mean kaleigh, the new jonas brothers cd!!

camping in tahoe

we took the kids camping in lake tahoe this past week. the culcasi's met us up there for a few days. what fun the kids had! they couldn't get enough playing in the dirt, swimming at the beach, and smores by the fire.

this was kaleigh and connor's first time camping which was definitely an adventure for us all. after the long ride in the car (a stop for lunch in placerville) we got to our camp site and started to set up camp. of course the kids helped...not!


the kids didn't realize that it took much longer than expected to unload our car that was literally packed to the roof and beyond with camping supplies and gear. the next day we went hiking at emerald bay. we only had to hear whining on the way back up to car...it really was harder going back up than down but we all made it!
what a view! lake tahoe is so beautiful. this would be a place that i could live, well at least in summer that is. not sure if i could handle the cold and snow in winter.