Monday, December 29, 2008

I want to fly like Peter Pan!

Saturday, Dec 13th, we took the kids to see their first on stage play, Peter Pan. I had originally tried to take them on my own to the matinee show at 2:00pm that day, but found out the tickets were sold out. There were tickets available for the 7:30 show, which was a bit late, but allowed Papa to be able to go as well. Plus when I took the kids downtown to get tickets we stumbled across Christmas in the Park right across the street from the Veteran's Memorial building where the play was being preformed! The parking area at the Fresno Watertower was turned into a lovely winter carnival with carousel rides, bounce house, free Christmas crafts for kids, food and wonderful choirs singing Christmas carols! It was definitely a day we will remember and one we will try to repeat next year!

Our family just before the show. Since it was the last showing of Peter Pan all the souvenirs were discounted so we splurged the few bucks and got Big Boy a Captain Hook set and Boopy a fairy princess wand and crown. Too fun!



The kids were SOOOO good during the performance, even with how late it was. Big Boy at one point in the last intermission did ask if it was done and could we go home. He is the one though, that is not much of a night owl and by this time it was nearly 10 pm! We did get lots of compliments on how good they were and how well they sat through the show. Big Boy sat mostly in his own seat but on occasion sat with Papa to see better. He wasn't thrilled with the clapping and any loud noises and would cover his ears. Otherwise, he was in awe and loved it! Boopy did better than I expected. She sat mostly on my lap to see better and her little jaw dropped when the play started and Peter Pan came on stage. She is in love with the theater! All she wanted to do during the intermission was have Papa fly her like Peter Pan.

After the show, the cast was in the lobby and we got to take pictures with them. The kids were in 7th Heaven!!


One of the girls in the play heard us tell Boopy that Tinkerbell was probably sleeping and we couldn't see her. She turned and asked us if we'd like to see her. Tinkerbell was simply a green light on the stage, so I wasn't sure how in the world they were going to show us Tinkerbell! But, as it turns out they actually had a small glowing green Tinkerbell! Boopy was thrilled, even if Tinkerbell was actually sleeping. (wink, wink)

We spotted more pirates Big Boy wanted his picture taken with.

All in all a wonderful experience topped off with a quick drive past the Christmas lights on City Hall. Definitely a family memory to repeat!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Sneak Peak...

I still (as always) have a ton of pictures to catch you up on, but, I couldn't resist a sneak peak of our impromptu photo shoot this past Sunday. While working in the backyard, trimming the flower bed, I had Big Boy help smash the cuttings down in the green wast can. Boopy of course had to join in the fun and we turned it into a quick cute winter photo shoot! Once I catch up a big more on the past couple of weeks, I'll share a few more winter pics!

Base Christmas Party

December 10th was Washington Grandma's birthday, but it was also the Kid's Christmas party at the Air National Guard base where Papa works. Last year the kids had a grand time watching Santa get brought into the party on a fire truck. This year, they were even more surprised when the whole party walked down to the hangers and watched Santa get brought in on an F-16! There was quite a crowd so I wasn't able to catch a picture of Santa getting out of the jet, but I did catch a picture of Big Boy and Boopy getting to look inside the F-16! Big Boy at first didn't want to see the jet up close since it meant staying behind as the rest of the group followed Santa back to the cafeteria. Once he climbed up the ladder though, he decided it was worth it. Although both he and Boopy insisted that we run to catch up to Santa!

Once back in the cafeteria, the kids sat together below the stage and waited for their name to be called by Santa's helpers. (Each parent had brought in a gift for Santa to deliver.) Boopy was very excited when it was their turn!

The Operation Ready Families group on base had put together fun goodie bags for the kids and even had snowman balloons to pass out. All a great distraction for our two to play with while Papa took pictures of the party for part of his work on the base.

Once Papa took a break from taking pictures, the kids were able to open their presents from Santa.
Boopy got a Cinderella doll like her friend Gaby has. This one though can even go into the bathtub with her! It was quite a hit, especially since it came with "Gus, Gus" the mouse!

Big Boy is always easy to please if the item is a truck! This one, however, is unlike some of his others since it actually hauls cars around on it!




Just a cute picture of Papa and the kiddos! Notice silly Mrs. Claus in the background!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

My Wonderful Day, What the Holidays are About!

While I have a lot still to catch you up on, I want to share pictures from one of my favorite days ever! A week ago, last Tuesday, Dec 9th, I took a random vacation day to spend with my kids. It was the annual Mom's group "Birthday party for Jesus" at People's Church. I was actually asked to help take pictures of the moms and kids that attended, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I asked "Teacher" Sam, who watches the kids for us, to come along to help my kids to enjoy the actual party. The kids had a great time listening to the puppet show and the story of the silent night. They even got little cupcakes and sang "happy birthday" to Jesus. Afterwards they went and played in one of the school classrooms and all the moms got to enjoy a lovely brunch. It made for a wonderful morning.

Mikayla and Boopy

I asked Big Boy and Boopy to hold hands. Big Boy is getting to that stage. He wipes of kisses, doesn't want to hold hands and acts like such a boy....ugh, I thought this wouldn't happen for a while. Ultimately he did cave and held Boopy's hand for a short while.

Story time and cupcakes

As for the afternoon, I figured I'd spend time with the kids shopping and then making cookies. We shopped a bit a Target and they enjoyed looking at all the toys. Sam met us their with my friend and coworker's son, Rocky, who she also watches in the afternoons at my house. Anyway, I suggested she leave Rocky with me that afternoon and enjoy the afternoon off which gave her a chance to work on some school appointments. Anyway, the kids and I left Target to head home for an afternoon of fun. We ended up picking up Rocky's sister, Gaby, from her daycare on the way home since she'd had an accident and didn't have any change of clothes. This only increased our level of fun!
First the kids painted pictures, while I pulled out the cookie making stuff.

Then Kristen and her boys, Danny & Grant came over for a visit and joined in the cookie baking fun. (Which was great, since I realized I was a little bit crazy doing the cookie baking with 4 kids by myself!)

Excuse Boopy's hairdo - she insisted on putting in her hair clip herself.

Natalie got to my house for her 2 kids just in time to help decorate the cookies, which was a lot of fun! Here's the finished product!

After cookies, we just hung out, ate pizza and I played with the camera. I helped take some Christmas pictures of Danny & Grant and after which my little ham, Boopy, wanted her picture taken! She's such a little cheese!

I did manage a nice picture of my two kiddos.

Big Boy didn't want Boopy to kiss him, but he was willing to kiss her, especially when he figured out he could antagonize her with his kisses! Oh, sibling fun.
The 3 musketeers - Big Boy, Danny, Boopy



All in all, a wonderful fun, friend filled day full of the Christmas spirit!

Monday, December 15, 2008

What a week!

Again, like last year, this time of year is flying by and jam packed with activities. I've got pictures to share with you, but I haven't transferred them all into the computer yet, so here's simply a quick recap and preview of posts to come.
  • Tues. Dec 9 - Kids Birthday Party for Jesus and a wonderful day off with the kiddos for me. Baking cookies, and playing with our friends.
  • Wed. Dec 10 - Sing Happy Birthday to Grandma Prohaska in Washington. Go to kids Christmas party at Papa's work (Air National Guard Base). Santa even came in an F-16!
  • Thurs. Dec 11 - Semi-normal crazy day.
  • Fri. Dec 12 - Semi-normal crazy day.
  • Sat. Dec 13 - Took lunch to friend Anne, tried to get tickets for matinee of Peter Pan, instead got tickets for the evening performance and stumbled across "Christmas in the Park" downtown. We spent over an hour enjoying the rides and Christmas crafts. After doing some shopping and playing at the mall, we picked up Papa from work and went back downtown for the the Fresno Children's Musical Theaterworks performance of Peter Pan. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience! Long, long day but well worth it!
  • Sun. Dec 14 - Lounge a bit in the morning, then when Papa got home from work we left for the mall for some more errands, then to the airport to pick up Aunt Kat who's plane was delayed, then back to the mall for seeing Santa. Dinner and another long day, but enjoyable!
  • Mon. Dec 15 - Normal work day, busy with Christmas related errands.

Oh, and I still haven't shared pictures from my Christmas Tea two weekends ago! And, today we had a crazy hail storm that Sam managed to catch pictures of the kiddos playing in as well as the fun gingerbread houses they made! My, I guess I have more to catch up on then I thought!

Friday, December 12, 2008

This might be a challenge for Santa....

We've been prepping the kids for Santa Claus and the magic of what Christmas morning brings. In preparation we've been asking them what they want for Christmas and explaining if they see stuff they like they need to put it on their Christmas list and ask Santa. Darren's requests have stayed pretty much the same. He saw a firetruck he like in an ad for shopping the day after Thanksgiving and had to show it to everyone! This was definitely something he was going to add to his Christmas list. As of today, a firetruck is pretty much the only thing he says he wants. Pretty easy request for Santa.
Boopy on the other hand, has a list that might just be a challenge for Santa. When you ask her what she wants for Christmas, this is what she says, "I want a kitchen, a trampoline, a hippopotamus, pencils and that's enough." Yes, Boopy, I think that's enough. While I'm pretty sure Santa can handle the kitchen, trampoline and pencils, I'm just not sure that he can fit a hippopotamus in his sleigh. I guess I should thank Teacher Sam who watches the kids for sharing the "All I want for Christmas" song!
(Sorry the video is so dark - it's not dark at all like this on my cell phone. It is a new phone though so many there's some adjustments I need to learn. Either way, you get the idea!)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Build A Bear!

We got to enjoy our first Build-A-Bear experience this past Saturday, Dec 6th! We went there to help Gaby celebrate her 4th birthday. Birthday parties there were so cute how they wrangle the kids and include a special heart in the birthday kid's bear. They got to choose between 5 different types of "bears". Big Boy chose a dog and Boopy chose a Koala bear.

What is neat with the hearts for the birthday kid is that each party guest gives their love to a heart and then stuffs it in along with the birthday kid's heart into the birthday kid's bear. Sweet treat and memory for the birthday kid!

Showing off their "bears" and giving them a ride to the next station.

Which was giving our "bears" a bath!

Also for birthday parties, they take the group out in front of the store and do a group picture - bears and all! All in all a fun experience!