Happy Birthday Mikey!

My much older husband turned 42 today. Although he worked all day, we were able to get out for dinner tonight and come home for some box mix cake (go me). She was so happy with the new kitchen faucet that I got him for his gift:) Hey, I got a mum plant one year!


Happy Birthday my love.

It's Friday!

Aren't they cute? Not always good, but cute!

Gymnastics, our life for now

Until late spring, gymnastics is pretty much all we do! Janie has started competition season. She practices 3 days a week, 4-5 hours per day and then competes every other weekend. The good news is, she is competing. After a broken leg and 12 weeks of being cast, the Dr. did not think she would be ready yet. Guess what, she is, I think. Still walking with a limp, she has managed to get through two meets now. They are not necessarily pretty but she is improving weekly. We will continue to cheer her on and encourage her. I am sure improvement will continue as the season goes on.

We have this upcoming weekend off and then we head to Chicago for competition the next week. Thanks Kate for letting us stay with you on Friday. This sure gets expensive!

Frankenmuth

This is a long overdue post! Days after the New Year, we took the kids for what has become an annual overnight in Frankenmuth. We did a quick stop at Bronners and then check in for the night! What a great time. We swam several times, played games (you know, the ones that you collect tickets and then exchange for the 99 cent toy), played miniture golf and then ate the Famous Chicken Dinner before our departure. I have to say that I was concerned about the family of five in one hotel room. I am proud to say that it worked well and the kids had a great time and slept like champs!

Big Stuff

I know I still owe a New Years update but in the mean time can I have a drum roll please....the 3 3/4 year old Mitchell boys are now sleeping in BIG BEDS! Yes, after a very successful 3 3/4 years of cribs and then cribs with crib nets, we have finally made the big leap. I still ask myself why? They were happy in their cribs, they couldn't get out, they weren't too big... I think it is my fear that they will be 6 years old and not able to attend a sleepover because they want to sleep in their cribs! Nevertheless, it is done. The room was not big enough to have the beds both on the ground so we had to set them up as bunks. Owen has decided to take the top (thank God someone wanted it) and Kyle feels best on the bottom.


The other news is that we are completely binky free. I may have mentioned that Kyle lost his last binky about a month ago. Fortunately, they do not make these binkies anymore so there was not an option to buy more. When he lost it, we were done. He had a couple of sad nights but overall it has been a smooth month.

Guess what? He found the binky on Sunday! It was hiding in a Christmas decoration box. At first he ran and hid under his bed. I told him that he could cut it with Mommy and Daddy's scissors. He told me "I'm not cutting it" Minutes later I ask him how it tasted. He said "fuzzy, I want to cut it". And so he did!


Bye, bye babies! Hello young boys!

A Merry Christmas

I spent the pre-holidays constantly telling myself to enjoy and watch as my children experienced the magic of Christmas. I tried to really enjoy wrapping gifts and shopping for them. I tried to think of the people that I was addressing my Christmas cards to. Overall, I think it was successful. To say that Christmas gives me that tingling excitement that I once remember as child would be false. I can however say that I fully enjoyed it!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house following a few family traditions including Kreploc soup for dinner (a soup from my Jewish roots, go figure), going to Church (which included giving the boys gum for the 1st time out of desperation) and reading The Night Before Christmas before bed. The kids were ready to role Christmas morning before 7am (which was early considering that we were still putting trains together at 1am). They are still unsure which toy to play with and if their new favorite thing, Iron Man and Superman costumes should ever come off. We are unsure how to keep the mess cleaned up!


We had a great time at my sister's in Columbus with 5 kids 3 years and under. Great food and wine were of plenty!



Here's to the holidays with young kids and family!