s'ghetti

I think it is safe to say that Grace's favorite food by a LONG SHOT is spaghetti. If I ever ask her what she wants for dinner, I can say with 100% certainty that she will say s'ghetti. In fact, if it's actually on the menu I will ask her what she wants just to give her the illusion that she's actually choosing what's for dinner. Sometimes it's giving her "her way" on the little things that will work to my benefit later on that evening. In case you're wondering...YES, I do play mind games with my 3 year old!

One thing that I've always wanted to document is just how much she loves s'ghetti. We have the same bedtime routine every night. Bath, brush teeth, stories, pray, lights out. I always ask her what she would like to thank Jesus for that day and EVERY NIGHT WITHOUT FAIL she wants to thank Jesus for s'ghetti, regardless of whether or not we had it that day. I mean, EVERY NIGHT for the past year. It's adorable.

I'm really going to miss the days when she stops thanking Jesus for s'ghetti.

Christmas 2011

Our little family of 4 actually celebrated on December 17th since we will be with the extended family on Christmas day. Starting Christmas traditions are so important to me, so I wanted everything to happen at OUR house. We spent the week leading up to 'Christmas' baking and decorating cookies for Santa, wrapping gifts, watching Grace try to guess what was inside the gifts, decorating the tree and watching the girls un-decorate and then re-decorate the tree on what seemed to be an hourly basis, baking cinnamon rolls.... You get the gist. It was a festive week.

Christmas morning was so much fun. I love seeing things thru the eyes of a child. We spent the first hour of the morning opening gifts. It seemed to take a long time since each of the girls wanted to play with each item before moving on to the next. Chloe wasn't as excited, but I think next year will be much more fun for her. Grace, on the other hand, couldn't have been more thrilled. My Little Pony was the gift of the year. She received 2 from Santa and was so excited. We also go the girls a 4 story doll house that has been a serious hit. It's so funny to watch them both play house in their own way. Grace has turned the doll house into a giant My Little Pony haven while Chloe uses every random doll, animal, Elmo and piece of furniture to first knock on the door and then enter the house. I hope this doll house brings many more 'independent play' hours ahead :-)

Another milestone this past week was Grace's first Preschool Christmas Program. She was so excited because Grandma and Grandpa came all the way up to watch it. She was also thrilled that I found a pair of pink butterfly tights to match her butterfly dress. What more could a 3 year old ask for?

We all got front row seats and had more cameras and video cameras than necessary. She was all smiles when the class walked in, smiling and waving and yelling "Hi Mommy!!" I was happy she wasn't terrified of the crowd there to watch the performance. Then the first song came...no singing. The second song came....no singing. The third song came...no singing. I think you get where this is going. She made it thru the entire program without singing ONE WORD! She didn't let that stop her from proudly clapping for herself at the end of each song.

Oh well, it was adorable and we still took a ton of pictures. Maybe the end of the year program will be her time to shine :-)

Early New Years Resolution

I decided to add my blog to my New Years Resolution list. Since we celebrated Christmas early this year, I thought it would be a good idea to start my New Year early too. At least that's what I told myself when Aaron and I uncorked a nice bottle of Champagne and celebrated till the wee hours of the morning...(technically 9PM, but one can dream).

What started out as a blog to update others on my pregnancies and many happenings of the kids slowly started to slide further and further down my to-do list. Some days I can barely keep my head above water, so updating others on my life seems like a total waste of time. Then I spoke to a friend of mine who told me you can have your blog printed as a book. That got me thinking. Wouldn't that be a cool thing for Grace and Chloe to have as an adult? A chronicle of their lives from a mother's perspective. That's something that would make the to-do list. I would do anything for my kids.

So, the blog will be up and running. If you're tuning in for pictures of the kids you will probably be disappointed. I'll be posting some, but not every time. This is for 'us' now and for as many of you who are interested in a day in the life of the Gores. I invite you to join the chronicles of our lives!