Kiss and Tell

While I was in the kitchen this evening cutting vegetables for dinner, Clifford comes and tells me to bend down so he could whisper a secret to me. "A girl kissed me today mom," he whispered while keeping an eye on his dad to make sure Pete wasn't listening. "Really? Who?" I whispered back. "Bella did. We were in the gym playing. She kissed me right here" pointing to the side of his cheek (there's two Bella's in his class, both of whom he likes. I just need to figure out which one it was). "That's awesome!" I whispered to him, and he ran off to his room. As soon as he was out of site I told Pete about my conversation with Clifford. We were both smiling and thought this was so cute. Later on Pete went up to Clifford and asked "So a girl kissed you?" Clifford said yes, and Pete gave Clifford a high-five. Clifford then told me not to tell anyone else about it. Of course I won't (wink, wink) :)

Cable

As of Wednesday, we now have cable tv! This is the first time ever since being married that we have had cable. No more antennae. No more downloading (well, at least not as much). For years I've asked Pete if we could get it, and his answer has always been no. A few weeks before Christmas Pete answered our front door to 'Frontier' door-to-door salesmen. They gave their little speech and Pete decided to switch our home phone and internet from Comcast to Frontier-AND cable! It was my Christmas gift from him. I couldn't believe he did this after years of refusing. So Frontier came to our house and hooked us up. After having it only a full day, Pete decided he wanted to get rid of it; he felt like he was already getting lazy from watching too much tv. I reminded him this was MY gift from him. I'm enjoying it, though honestly I haven't actually sat down to watch much until the evening time (I will prove Pete wrong: my butt will not expand from me sitting on the couch all day! haha).

Having cable is a new concept for the boys too. They have no understanding of what commercials are. When a commercial comes on they say "my show is over, turn on a new one". We have to constantly explain that their show isn't over, they just need to wait a few minutes. Or they'll ask us to 'pause' it so they can get something from their room, or ask us to restart the show if we turn one on in the middle. They're just so used to only watching movies or downloaded shows where the commercials are eliminated. With Frontier, our cable is a month-to-month contract, so we can cancel anytime. Hopefully not too soon :)

Tooth #2

Clifford lost another tooth! He went up to Uncle David and asked him to pull it out. David double checked with Clifford to make sure that was what he wanted. With his bare hands David pulled Clifford's tooth out. Clifford was so excited to have the tooth fairy visit him again. This time the tooth fairy left $1.50!!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! Everything was simple and relaxing. This is the first year that our boys really understood what was going on, and were excited about Christmas and Santa. The boys decorated cookies for Santa's cookie plate. We went out for some yummy mexican dinner. We watched lots of movies. Pete told the boys that on Christmas Eve night they would be able to open up one gift. Clifford kept hoping he'd get to open a toy, but of course Pete and I knew exactly which gift they'd get to open: their new set of pajamas with slippers. We tucked the boys in at their normal bedtime and waited impatiently for them to fall into a deep sleep before 'Santa' set out their gifts. Before Pete and I went to bed ourselves, we made bets at what time we thought the boys would wake up. I said 3am (like last year) and Pete said 7am. The boys woke us up at 3:45am, excited as could be! All of us really liked every gift we received, with only one gift having to be returned for a bigger size. We had a delicious breakfast, help build legos with the boys, and took naps. We ended our Christmas with a fantastic diner. This was such a wonderful Christmas and I'm so grateful for everything. Most of all, I'm grateful for Pete and my boys!

Starting Christmas Eve with some homemade cinnamon rolls! This was the first time I ever made these from scratch. They turned out delicious. Even Pete said they were the best he ever had! Best compliment ever!
Decorating Santa's Cookies!


Out to dinner!


Excited for new pajamas!

Santa Came!!!











Getting ready to sit down to dinner

Ready for Christmas!

Well, I think we're all set and ready for Christmas here in the Nielsen house. All the presents have been bought, wrapped, and put under the tree. Goodies baked and passed out to co-workers and neighbors. Christmas cards and gifts have been mailed off. It feels good to know I can just sit back and relax (as much as I can with two boys). Today on Christmas Eve Eve, I'll get in the kitchen with the boys and bake up some cookies and cinnamon rolls for tomorrow morning. For Christmas Eve itself, we have the tradition of baking fresh sugar cookies and decorating them for Santa. We munch during the day on delicious snack food, and go out for dinner (thinking maybe Mexican food this year). Then we'll drink lots of hot chocolate, and read lots of Christmas books and watch lots of Christmas movies until time for bed. Pete and I still need to discuss on how early we'll allow the boys to get up to see what Santa brought them. I think last Christmas we were up at 3am. I really don't want to repeat that this year :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

SANTA!!!!!

Yesterday I took the boys to see Santa. I made a point to head to the mall as they opened, hoping to be one of the firsts in line. Nope, that didn't happen. When we got to the mall 10 minutes after they opened, there was already a huge line waiting to see Santa. So much for getting there early. I think we were in line close to an hour before it was the boys turn. They were so excited! They went straight up to Santa and sat on his lap. Kristjan told Santa he wanted "swimming little puppies barbie, more barbies, and a barbie driving in her car". Clifford told Santa he wanted "legos and a bb gun" (Clifford LOVES the 'Christmas Story' movie, so I think that's where he got the bb gun idea from). Santa's reply to Clifford was "You'll shoot your eye out. But we'll see." After the picture, Santa gave each boy a coloring book and said he would see them Friday night! :)

Kristjan's Christmas Performance

Last week Kristjan's preschool class performed a mini christmas program. Kristjan was so cute singing. You could tell he was really happy and excited because he couldn't stand still the entire time. I've been trying to edit the video I took to just show the highlights of the program, but I've been having issues with it so I've given up. But here are a few pics to enjoy-Kristjan is in the middle of the front row.

Christmas thru the Years

Xmas Projects

Kristjan came home with a bag full of christmas projects he made in preschool. Last set of projects of 2010!