De Wind...

De wind is what comes after one of Maddie's stories. As in...



Girl makes me laugh!!

WMD

Maddie has a temper.

For those of you who have never seen it, that may come as a surprise. For those of you who have bared witness to it, you know it can be hot and intense...blow your hair back!

As her verbal capabilities have increased, the expression of her anger has changed from hitting, kicking, and screaming at you to verbalizing her frustration.

Her latest phrase of choose when she is really mad:
I wanna smash the whole world!

How is she going to smash the whole world?

With her gym, gym shoe of course!
These shoes my friends are weapons of mass destruction!!

MIA

On Saturday, December 17, Luke lost his first tooth. It had been loose for weeks and wiggly for days. There was even another tooth growing in behind it. Yikes! The baby tooth finally was just hanging on by a thread, so Luke worked it and it finally come out. He was so excited because this meant the tooth fairy was going to be paying him a visit. Woo-hoo!

When Luke came home on Wednesday, December 21, we noticed a second tooth was missing. We questioned him but he had no recollection of loosing it. What, what?

Does that freak anyone else out?

Christmas 2011

It's been quiet on the blog lately but I didn't want to leave 2011 without posting about Christmas. Just doesn't seem right :)

We had a low-key Christmas Eve (just the four of us at home) which was nice. Despite the relaxing evening, we forgot to put the "reindeer food" on the lawn and leave cookies for Santa. I'm not sure how that happened. Maybe we got a little too relaxed :)

I'm never sure what Christmas Eve/Christmas morning will hold for us. Will the kids have a hard time falling asleep? How early will they be up? Will we be able to eat breakfast before we open gifts or will the kiddos head right for the tree?

This year, Luke and Maddie fell asleep right away. I heard Luke tell Maddie that Santa wouldn't come until they were fast asleep and sleep they did! They woke up at 6:13 am and it was down stairs to open their stockings and have breakfast. (I still can't believe I get away with having breakfast before we open gifts. I would've freaked as a kid!!)

Luke and Maddie opening their gift from Santa.

Luke studying his Lego Harry Potter video game. He LOVES playing video games!!

Maddie has always enjoyed a good chair and this Rapunzel
chair has been at the top of her Christmas list this year.

After everyone had a chance to play with their toys and get dressed for the day, it was off to the Mancini's for Christmas morning part two. So fun!!

Maddie hanging with Aunt Kate

Three - yes three - Harry Potter movies. Oh, my!

(Dan, Luke, Anna, Kate, me, Cristee, Nick, and Maddie)

The family getting ready to chow down. Love these peeps! It was a great day celebrating the birth of Christ and hanging out with the family. We are incredibly blessed!!

Halloween 2011

The kiddos love Halloween. In fact, Luke claimed Halloween was his favorite day of the year. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he really didn't think that statement through... But I digress.

Celebrating Halloween was interesting this year. This was Luke's first experience of not dressing up in his costume for school. Luke was trying hard to not freak out as Maddie was getting her costume on this morning. I must admit it seemed strange even to me. After I dropped Luke off in the carpool lane, I parked and went into the school office to double check. Sure enough, no costumes in kindergarten. So sad!

Maddie left the house ready to participate in the Weekday Costume Parade and then tragedy hit. Long story short - Maddie had an accident in the car and couldn't wear her costume in the parade. Yeah, she was crushed. Poor girl!

But the Mancini Family rallied and headed out after dinner to partake in trick-or-treating!

Rapunzel and Darth Vader - a very scary combo!

She is one cute little girl!

He is getting so big!

They got a bit of a workout running up and down driveways and navigating stairs. I swear they both fell asleep not more then five minutes after their head hit their pillows. They were TIRED! Maybe Halloween is my favorite day of the year too. Hum...

Roller Coaster

That's what Maddie calls her scooter.
Girl makes me laugh!

I'm not sure what the face was all about. She was loving riding on the roller coaster. I wonder if I caught her while trying to stop or something. Who knows? Even with the face, I think she is still a super cutie!

Welcome Fall

The first day of fall was yesterday. Yahoo! I absolutely love the fall. Yes, I adore summer with time spent at the pool as a family, playing in the water, reading novels that I consider "mind-candy", and enjoying the sun's rays. But I also love the change from summer to fall. I love the cooler weather and enjoying outdoor activities that don't involve sunscreen and a bathing suit :)

Today it was crisp fall day in the ATL - a cool 79 degrees. So, of course I was in the mood to bake! I decided to fully embrace the fall season and baked a...

homemade pumpkin pie.

It may seem too early in the season for pumpkin pie but this pie is so stinkin yummy. This pie is like "slap your momma" good.

My secret to baking a delicious pumpkin pie?

Find an awesome recipe and follow the instructions to the letter.

Ha! In all seriousness, that is my secret for all of the dishes I cook. This pumpkin pie recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. It's a little bit involved but the results are awesome.

Fall never tasted so good :)