Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures that go along with the details of the earlier post about Lira and Timmy's 1st Christmas... The pics are a bit out of order. The last picture (of me and Lira hugging) was when she gave me her gift and I started crying!

Oh My Gosh! Look at All Those Presents!

It's hard to remember back to Christmas morning- it all seems like a bit of a blur. The kids had a wonderful (though overstimulating) Christmas.

I attempted to make a nice Christmas Eve dinner after I got home from church with Lira. I made salad, Vareniki and Pelmini, along with sausage that I bought at the russian market. (The sausage wasn't very good, though!) After dinner we opened gifts from friends and extended family. Ken and I exchanged most of our gifts, too. The kids were so excited, and they did a wonderful job with being greatful for their gifts. I was pretty good about not crying until I opened the gift from Lira. It was a little wall-plaque that said, "Home is Where Your Mom Is" and the flood gates opened! Afterwards, they got a call from Santa, who strangely sounded a little like my dad!? Hmmm... go figure!

Anways, after talking to him, they agreed to put out chocolate chip cookies for him and crackers for the reindeer. They got ready for bed, and though they were INCREDIBLY excited, they didn't give us a hard time about it. We read the book, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the kids went to bed.

The next morning, Lira woke us up (Timmy was already in bed with me.) We tortured them by telling them they needed to wait at the top of the stairs until we plugged in the Christmas Tree and made coffee! (My parents did that to me as a child, I have to pass on the tradition!) I got the video camera and taped their expressions when they came down and saw all the gifts under the tree. It was absolutely PRICELESS! Lira looked like she was going to pass out with her eyes so wide and Timmy looked like his brain would pop open! He jumped, shook, and yelled, "Oh My Gosh! Look at All Those Presents!"

An amazing day. The four of us drove up to NJ for Christmas dinner with my family and spent the next couple days with my parents in PA. The kids received lots of great gifts from so many people. It will always be a treasured Christmas- for the entire family. We came home a day or so early because the kids were in overload. Let's just say it wasn't a low-key Christmas. Live and learn. Now that we're home, the kids are getting back to normal. (I'm still trying to relax from it all, though!) Ken's back at work- lucky him! ;) His job over the past four days has been a "toy engineer!" He's had to put together all the toys and find working batteries! His first of many Daddy duties that comes with Christmas!

Four Days of Christmas

Lira and Timmy are going to go out of their mind with Christmas this year! Yesterday our friends Nick and Melanie took them out for their special Christmas gift after we were finished making Christmas cookies for our friends in the neighborhood. Melanie and Nick took L &T to dinner then surprised the kids by taking them to Build a Bear! This was such a fun surprise for them! Lira made a "Hello Kitty" doll dressed in matching pajamas, and Timmy made a monkey dressed in a fireman's uniform- what a great choice since he's our little "monkey"! Lira and Timmy were so excited when they got home- so just imagine what the next few days will be like. L & T repeated how much they loved their new stuffed animals and love to tell the story of how they're made. Timmy was sitting with me telling me, "I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT!" and rubbed his eyes- he had tears in his eyes and said, "Mommy, I have happy tears!" Of course, I just lost it and started crying (those who know me aren't surprised), and we gave each other such big hugs. (I'm tearing up as I type this now!) Just wait until tomorrow morning when the kids see what Santa brings them- I'll be crying the entire time!

So why title this, "Four Days of Christmas"? Because Ken's "1/2 Jewish" and I'm Catholic! No, just kidding. L & T will have 4 days of gift-giving (mostly receiving on their part) and their heads are going to explode by the last day! I'll keep you all updated. And of course, pictures will come soon!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

I just realized how long it's been since I updated this blog. I've had so many intentions of updating it before now, but like most things during the holiday season, it was put off... I have just a few minutes to bring you all up to speed before the kids' bus comes. So, here it is...

Lira was picked up by the "reading recovery" program in school. I was pleased by this- apparently there's quite a wait list. Lira's been on it since the beginning of the year. Even though she's making nice gains compared to the lack of skills she started the year off with, she's behind where the other 1st graders are. (We're not shocked by this, now are we!?) So she gets 1-to-1 reading lessons, 30 minutes per day with a reading recovery specialist. This is in addition to her regular reading lessons and her ESOL which is twice per week. Otherwise, we're working on her impulse control! :) Her teacher said that Lira always shouts out answers in class and doesn't give other kids a chance to participate. Though we're working on that, I'm just so impressed that her language skills are advanced enough for her to even do that! On the home front, she talks ALL the time. Literally.

Timmy's doing great. Knock on wood, there haven't been anymore incidents of hitting others. He's making so much progress on his letters and sounds and picture drawings for story-telling. Apparently he talks quite a bit in school, also, but the teacher doesn't seem to concerned at this point. Maybe he talks more in school than at home because no one can get a word in edge-wise with Lira talking all the time!! hahahaha

Regarding Santa- I took the kids to the mall on Sunday for them to meet Santa. We stood in line just to find out that from where we were, it would take us 3 hours before we could see him!! RIDICULOUS!!! Even the kids didn't want to stand in line that long to see him. Since Ken wasn't with me, we couldn't tag-team and shop or take the kids to the play area. Yesterday I asked the kids if they wanted to see Santa as soon as they got out of school. They didn't want to go because (as they said), "I don't want to stand in a LOOOOOOONG line! I want to play!" And who could blame them? It was an unseasonable 70 degrees outside!

OK, gotta run, but there you have it. I don't know who is more excited about Christmas morning- me or the kids!

California Trip- The kids' perspective

I'll let the kids tell you all about it. I'll type of course, but I'm going to try to quote them!

Lira's version:
We go to the airplane and our ears were hurting- mommy and Lira. And when we got there, Grandma was so happy! Grandma said she's gonna hug, kiss, and bite me. And then we went to Larissa's house for Thanksgiving. Oops, sorry, Aunt Hazel's house. I met Grandma June and Grandma July. We... did.... we played with Larissa and we gave her a hair thing and Timmy give her a bracelet. We had a big dinner. Turkey! Corn! Turkey, corn, and ...corn! And I remember, potatoes! There were a lot a people. We go to the Disneyland and we saw the real princesses and they know my name! They know Timmy's name- Belle, Cinderella, and Jasmine, every princess was there. Pocohantas was there, too. She was from other countries but she still speaks english. And then I was crying because I had happy tears. And then I was, we got lunch, and we danced with Jasmine and Belle. And Belle blew me a kiss and I blew her back!

Timmy's version:
We go to Inglesdan. (I asked what this was- I have no clue! He says...) It's a toy store. Grandma bought me cars. And that's it. (I asked him what else we did...) We went to Titka Dani's house? Who's house did we go to, Mommy? Oh, Aunt Hazel's house. We went there for to play. After we went to Grandma's house. And that's it, Mom. (I asked him for more.) We went to Disneyland. And what else? I had some rides and that was FUN! We fight Dark Vader. Darth Maul had horns. We become Jedi. We went in a spaceship. Mommy, I don't want to tell no more!

And so you have it. We go to California for 8 days for the kids to meet family, and this is what stands out in their memory. Gotta love kids! :) Here are a few pics from the trip. I took several hundred! ;)