Bed Time Ritual

Thankfully our children are all very affectionate!  They are all big fans of 'snuggle time', and the twins are constantly asking for 'huggy kissy'.  So most nights before bedtime they like to get some quality snuggle time on the couch with Mommy or Daddy!  That's great if both Mommy and Daddy are able to relax, but if only one of us makes it to the couch, it can get a little crazy as they all fight for room to snuggle, as evidenced above...  Aubrey is far and away the most aggressive, and will step on faces to get the choice spot!  Craziness aside, there is nothing more enjoyable than being smothered by little people who simply can't get enough of your love and affection.  Jumbo love!!!

Director For a Day!

The Twins still go to pre-school at our Temple, where Mia attended for 4 years.  So she's somewhat of a celebrity there still, even though she's moved on to Kindergarten.  A few weeks ago at a fundraiser for the school, Mommy & Daddy bid on the 'Director for a day' package and won!  So this past Friday Mia got to cut school and take over her old stomping grounds.  She took teacher attendance, monitored the front desk, and even assisted in the Twin's class!  They all had so much fun, as you can see above...  Mia is actually a very shy little girl.  We've been trying to get her involved in activities such as this, in hopes of drawing her out of her shell.  She's a wild & crazy child, but it takes time for her to warm to new environments.  This was a great experience for her!

Movie Night!

We've begun 'family movie night' each week!  Mia makes fresh popcorn, and all of the kids snuggle into their individual sleeping bags...  You may need to click on the picture above to enlarge it and see how cute they are in their bags.  Mommy is reliving all of her favorite childhood movies, and Daddy is experiencing them for the first time!  Fun for the whole family.

The Princess & The Whale!

Brandon & Aubrey are really enjoying playing together these days!  It's so sweet to see them developing such a close bond.  The other morning I overheard Aubrey asking Brandon if he would go with her to the playroom, because she was scared to go alone.  He not only said yes, but agreed to hold her hand....  They are two amazingly sweet little buddies!

The Big Party!

This year the parties never seemed to end...  This past weekend we finally had the twin's big birthday party, marking the end of birthday season!  Brandon was so excited by his Shamu cake, as that has been his obsession for close to a year now.  Aubs, being the girlie girl that she is, was thrilled by her Ariel cake!  Now that the parties are over, it's almost surreal to think that we no longer have any babies or toddlers.  We went from not being able to leave the home due to the extreme level of chaos, to having 3 little people in our lives who have developed very strong, independent and fun personalities. They are all so different, yet incredibly fun and beautiful in their individual ways.  We're really looking forward to spring break and summer vacations this year!!

Party Fun!

As always, Momma pulled off a wonderful party full of loads of surprises for all 60 kids!  The gym where the party was this year turned out to be loads of fun for the adults too, and everyone partied for close to 3 hours...  Here is Big Boy still scarfing down Shamu cake!

Princess Ariel & Shamu!

Momma had the usual 'characters of the moment' make their appearance. This year it was Princess Ariel for Aubrey and Shamu for Big Boy!  We've got a running joke that Momma finds these characters at HalfOffDisneyCharacters.com...  They get a little more questionable each year!  The kids don't seem to notice though, and they were a hit as always.

Shabbat Parents!

Last week we got to be the 'Shabbat Parents' for the twin's class!  They were so excited to light the candles with us, and to see us read books to their class.  Afterwards we celebrated their birthday, yet again, with cupcakes for the whole class.  It's strange, with Mia everything was new.  It's harder to make sure we attend everything with the twins, as we've been there, done that.  It's definitely a focus to make sure we don't cheat them out of any experiences, and make sure we are present for everything they experience.  It's definitely easier for Mommy...  Then you see their cute little smiling faces and you remember why it's always worth the extra effort!