Christmas traditions

 St. Nicholas stopped by our house last week.

He left some awesome stuff, just like last year.

 Can you tell this picture was taken minutes after waking the kids up?

I was getting some sass from Mags, and Colin still had "sleepy stares" going on...

We recently bought a new TV for our main room.

Our other TV had been broken for months...and we never got around to replacing it because we honestly don't watch TV all that much.  When we do, it's for movies...

So, the kids were super excited when Daddy hooked up the PlayStation so we could watch us some Toy Story.  Maggie loves it just as much as Colin does.  She talks about the characters all the time.

Then, tonight, we got our ginger bread houses all ready to decorate.

Colin calls them "nutcracker" houses for some reason.  

Anyway, we built them up and had lots of fun squeezing the frosting on our tongues (thanks Daddy for showing us how to do it!)

 Cheesing for the picture...

 Yep, still pointing to everything with our middle finger...

The finished houses all ready to set up over night and to be decorated tomorrow.

Grammie and Grandad had Colin & Olivia over to play during the day and spend the night.  

Colin had a blast!

I am still getting bits and pieces of what they did, but it sounded like fun.

We took advantage of only having one child and we finished spray painting more hardware in the bathrooms, swapped out our front door locks, got the ceiling fan up in the spare bedroom, moved some furniture into the basement, etc.  

We are also getting an energy audit tomorrow.  

Since this is the house we plan on being in for a LONG time, we are wanting to do some modifications to the older windows and doors, plus we want to find out the other places we are losing $$$ on.

Wish us luck!

This and That

 Since Thanksgiving, we have been trying our best to stay organized and take advantage of everything we would like to get done this holiday season.

Brian was able to take a couple of Saturday's off work, so we have been doing major landscaping work and went to St. Louis to visit some friends.

Now, we are just holding tight while I finish my semester and have finals week, then I won't have class until middle of January (woo hoo!)

Buzz the elf was caught playing Memory with our Toy Story gang one morning.

It was a tie game, but Mr. Potato head was up for a turn, so it was very suspenseful!

Like I mentioned, we went to St. Louis (about a 4 hour drive) last weekend.  We headed over after work on Friday, knowing that the kids would be late for bed, but hoping they would be okay in the car.

They were doing fine, until, well...we had some vomiting issues.

First Maggie (not much spit up), then major vomiting with Colin.  Luckily we had made it to Caleb & Erin's neighborhood before it started to get really bad.  Some friends we are to show up with barfing children.  But hey, they weren't sick when we left...

It was a long Friday night, but Saturday everyone seemed to be feeling better, so we just hung out at the house and went to a nearby park.  On Sunday morning, we hit the St. Louis zoo.  It was FREE, which is awesome, so you don't feel like you have to stay all day.

We headed back to KC around noon on Sunday.  It was a quick, fun trip.

We had one more bout of sickness when we got home (thanks for that one, Colin) and we've been doing good ever since.  

Gotta love this time of year, yucky stomach bugs are everywhere!

 A fuzzy picture of the kids eating lunch. 

Even though it was December 1st, the weather was in the mid 60's and was so beautiful.

A clearer picture of the crazy kiddos.

They had so much fun together, dancing and exploring outside.

We are preparing for St. Nicholas to stop by tonight...

I love the holiday season!!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving 2012 was a success at the Teson household.

We spent Thanksgiving morning just doing regular housework, then got all gussied up to go to Brian's Aunt and Uncles house (in the subdivision right across the street).  We didn't end up eating over there, even though the food smelled yummy!  Instead, we just socialized for an hour or so then headed home to nap and get ready for our "real" Thanksgiving dinner at Grammie & Grandad's house.

It was packed, and quite the zoo, with 9 grandkids and 12 adults, but we had a lot of fun.  Dinner was great and the company was even better.

Friday was spent decorating and getting ready for Christmas.

We pulled out the Christmas tree and started hanging the ornaments...

 I never think I have that many decorations until Brian brings up all the boxes from the basement and we get to work.  Now that we are in a more permanent home, I can buy other decorations appropriate for our space after the season is over and get a good deal.

Colin opened up his Buzz Lightyear ornament that we bought earlier that day.   He didn't put it down until one of the pieces broke off of it and I had to hold it hostage until I can find some superglue to fix it.

 What our pretty tree looked like once we finished decorating it...

(remember this picture, it will change a little later on...)

Then, on Saturday, we headed off to Belton to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.

Much fewer people, but just as much fun!

Plus, I got a little break from my super-clingy Maggie Mae.  If she's awake...she wants to be in my arms.  And will cry until it happens.

Good thing she's cute, right?!?!

 Tiff and Maggie baking some yummy pumpkin dessert

 Chad and Mags killing some time by coloring...

 Colin and Dad working on a puzzle.

I'm pretty sure this puzzle is older than I am and tons of fun!

 The girls doing some exercises on the big ball!

Just kidding, they were just rolling around the room, I think...

 Colin and Meemaw were relaxing watching the Dog Show on TV.

And apparently eating some pre-Thanksgiving Dinner potato chips...

 Chad let Colin use his binoculars for a bit...he was scoping out the neighborhood.

 Mags tried on Tiff's boots, pretty funny!

 Then she wore this apron around the house for a bit...

I think this is one of GGRice's aprons, she would be so proud of Maggie wearing it!

After a long day, we made it home just in time to get the kids to bed and be thankful for Sunday to regroup and get ready for another work week.

We pulled out our Elf on the Shelf on Sunday morning.  I had this last year, but didn't really use it much because Colin was too young to understand the concept.

We named him Buzz the Elf.

He stays at our house during the day, then flies to the North Pole to report to Santa how the kids were behaving that day, and shows up in the morning in fun & interesting places.  

The first morning he was eating Colin's cereal, the next day he was propped up in our kitchen light, etc.  

Colin thinks it's pretty fun trying to find where Buzz will be in the morning.

 Buzz the Elf

 And lastly, an updated picture of our main room.

Brian put up strings of lights all around the kitchen and main room, and also along the banister and hallway.

It looks very festive in our house!

 And back to our Christmas tree...

Notice where all the ornaments are now residing...

At the VERY TOP!

Maggie pulls every single ornament off the tree and attempts to destroy it.

I don't really remember Colin doing that, but apparently Brian does.

Seriously kid, just LEAVE THEM ALONE!

We have our Christmas lights up on the outside of our house, too.

Brian has done such a great job of lighting the Christmas Spirit for Colin and Maggie.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, too!

Meemaw's Birthday

 Meemaw had her birthday yesterday and we were so lucky to have her in KC for the weekend. 

She came up on Saturday and the 3 older girls (Meemaw, Tiff and I) went out shopping at Zona Rosa for a bit.  We brought home some Chipotle for dinner.

We made her a cute little collage picture of the grandkids holding up her birthday signs.  Except, wait...they didn't really cooperate with that whole idea, so the pictures aren't that great.

 Colin wouldn't look at the camera, but neither would Maggie.

Then Maggie crumpled her sign into a  ball, and stuck her thumb in her mouth, while Colin continued to NOT look at the camera...

 Colin finally agreed to hold his sign up (while covering up his face, and probably continuing to NOT look at the camera), while Maggie laughed at Daddy...

 So I aborted that photo session, we popped some popcorn to eat while watching a movie, and I tried one more time.  This one turned out a little better, but Maggie would NOT hold her sign because that would mean she couldn't shove popcorn into her mouth.  

We just bummed around the house on Sunday and had bbq hamburgers for Meemaw's birthday dinner (one of her favorite meals).  

Meemaw did a lot of reading to the kids, and they LOVED it!

She's such a trooper to have both kids plus CJ on her lap at once.

WE LOVE YOU, MEEMAW!

Ordinary Days

 Just updating y'all on some pictures I had on my camera storage card...

After dinner (spaghetti, it looks like) one night the kids were playing really well together.  They agreed to some cute pics and were pretty smiley!

 Daddy was behind me making them laugh, but I thought they turned out super sweet.

Aren't Daddy's the best!?!

 One of Colin and Maggie's favorite past-times...playing on our phones.

There is this game called "shark dash" that I somehow stumbled upon while searching for "fish" games that Colin was wanting.  It actually is pretty fun, sordof like Angry Birds.  But, both kids like to play it.  And it allows for dinner to get on the table, so we don't complain.

Please don't judge.

The last few days have been awesome outside.

We have gotten out to play almost every day this week, as soon as we get home from work.

Our schedule usually involves playing outside after dinner, but right now, it's pretty much dark outside by 5:30 pm, so we switched things around and play before dinner now.

Colin and Maggie were running around, stirring up the leaves.

 Maggie and Jessie

 My sweet little kiddos

 Maggie giving Jessie some kisses (and some snot)

Our beautiful fall leaves in our front yard

I love this time of year!!!

Fire Pit

We finally bought a fire pit and Brian was just so excited he could hardly wait to put it together as soon as he got it home.  We removed that HUGE bush in our front yard and are going to burn the remnants as soon as it dries out.  

The kids thought it was awesome.

They ran a little too close to the fire a few times, but they caught on quickly.

Brian pulled out a few marshmallows so we could show them the cool way to roast marshmallows.  Colin was a little unsure at first, but then once he tasted it, didn't want to stop!

Offering up some roasted marshmallows

Maggie and I ran inside real quick to get some water to drink, and she wanted to snap some pictures.  

They are self-portraits, but I thought they turned out cute!

Still don't look a thing alike, but she's my baby girl just the same!

Running off some energy before bed on Saturday night.

We are really enjoying the fall weather and getting outdoors to do some yardwork. 

We pretty much just stayed home all weekend and did a few little projects around the house.

We had Fr. Joe over for dinner last night and he blessed our house for us.

After he left, we were putting Colin to bed, and he asked "Did we just have church at OUR house?!"

He thought since Fr. Joe said a prayer for us and sprinkled holy water in our house, we had church.

Too funny.  The kids did great, they watched a movie while we had nice conversation over lasagna dinner.

We are so blessed!

Halloween 2012

 Happy Halloween everyone!

Our Halloween started off a bit rocky, with Maggie's well-child checkup in the afternoon.  It was just about the only time I could get her in that worked around my class schedule and the doctor's busy schedule.  She got 4 immunization pokes and Colin got a flu-mist immunization (no shot, just a nasal spray).  Maggie took it like a champ, but I could tell her legs were sore that night.  

She weighed in at 21 pounds (10-25% on weight) and was 75% on height.  

She has dropped down a bit on the growth chart, but our doctor isn't concerned since she is obviously eating well and is healthy.  Maybe she'll just be my little peanut kiddo.

We headed over to Grammie and Grandad's after her appointment to visit them while we were all dressed up and to "practice" our trick or treating.  

The kids thought it was awesome ringing their doorbell and getting candy.

Trick-or-Treat, Grammie & Grandad!

 Mr. Incredible, Jack-Jack, Dash, and Elasti-girl

It was so fun dressing up as a family.  When we were out in our neighborhood we could hear tons of people commenting on how cute our outfits were.  We had a really great time.  And, it wasn't all that chilly out so we didn't have to cover our costumes up with heavy coats.  

 Trying to get a decent picture of the 2 of them all dressed up.

After about 15 minutes at Grammie and Grandad's house, we ran home to eat a bite of dinner and to gather all of our stuff so we could go out in our neighborhood.  Honestly, Brian and I hadn't explored the area right around our house too much, and it turns out, we have TONS of cul-de-sacs  right around us.  We didn't even leave our street and we were gone for about an hour and 15 minutes trick-or-treating.  That was just about the perfect amount of time.  The kids weren't super tired, but they did seem to come away with quite a lot of candy.  

 Practicing his lines at our house before we left.

Notice the upside-down mask.  He was just so excited, he didn't care if it was on correctly!

When we got home from our neighborhood, Colin handed out candy for about 30 minutes.  He had a blast doing that.  He carefully hand-picked candy out for every kiddo that came by.  He even would sit down between groups of kids and tell us how nice the kids seemed.  

We just love our neighborhood and are so glad we moved here with the kids.  

Oh, and some more exciting news at our house...

we got a piano!

It was the one we moved from Topeka last weekend.  Colin and Maggie just love it.  

Don't know if we have a Mozart on our hands yet, but it's definitely led to more singing and dancing already, which has been fun!