Feeling a little left out...

Annie had her first piano lessons this week and has been doing a great job of practicing her songs. Mark was hogging the piano Saturday morning, learning O Holy Night, so Annie grabbed her keyboard to play her song.
Mark has been taking piano lessons for 2 years now and played the organ as a kid. His skill continues to improve weekly and likes a good challenge. I have my certain favorites that I request at times and put a dollar in his jar (and a kiss on the neck!)

Even Sammy has been playing his keyboard around the house (Mark will go crazy if he has to hear the pre-programmed Jingle Bells one more time).

As for me, I stand here helpless. Unable to read a single note. Unable to even play chopsticks well. My entire family has been graced with a musical skill. I stand alone... playing the maracas.

Another great weekend!

Sunday morning started out a little strange with Mark eating out of the frying pan for breakfast. Sam suggested eggs but I guess he forgot to suggest a plate for dad.
We had a semi-impromptu visit to Megan and Jason's house after church on Sunday. Megan had texted me Saturday night to say she missed me (aw) so I said 'see you tomorrow.' This is a strange picture, but Sam loves holding baby Sophie. He discovered that she likes to suck on his fingers too which makes Sam laugh.

After dinner (which is always a gourmet meal at my sister's house) the kids all hopped into the tub for a grand bubble bath. They were having fun splashing and spilling water on each other. Izzi decided to wash Sam's hair (I guess I didn't do a good enough job!)

After all the kids were clean and warm in their pajamas they all took turns conducting the train under Megan and Jason's tree.

Our week in review...

Tuesday we were hit with a snowstorm. All but Mark were secretly hoping for a "snow day" for Wednesday (Mark is part postal worker- in rain or shine he goes to work). Annie got off the bus on Tuesday afternoon, handed me her backpack and stayed outside playing in the snow, alone, for 2 hours. The end result were three very cute snow children!
This is our first Saturday in many that we have had virtually no plans. I paid the kids each a dollar to clean their rooms and the play room. Surprisingly there were minimal complaints. Afterward Mark and Sam built a marble ramp.

Annie found the craft box that Nana (Megan) had given her last year. In it were bags of play-dough and pieces to make your play-dough an animal. She entertained herself for a while with this. Although after 10 minutes each animal took turns falling over.

As for me, I stayed in my pjs until 11am (and it was glorious!). I finished writing my Christmas cards out this morning, made a batch of gingerbread boys, am in the middle of washing the floors now and made dinner in the crock pot at 9 am (which is the only time of day I am motivated to make dinner). Mark and I watched ELF last night while we wrapped family Christmas presents, I laughed out loud the whole time. That movie is f-u-n-n-y! The kids have been playing in the snow for a couple hours now with the neighbors, and I am enjoying the house to myself.

Hope you are all relaxed too!

Yummy in my Tummy

Saturday was a busy day for all of us. After Mark came home from the Jingle Bell Run, he took a nap. The kids woke up from their naps and wanted to make Ginger Bread houses. At 9pm I was making gingerbread boys ad frosting them for a cookie exchange I had on Sunday. In between that we went to dinner at a friends house. Whew! It was a busy day!
This is the most fought over seat in the house-the dining room chair! That is where my laptop usually sits for school work. Mark was researching a few last presents that still need to be bought. When Mark and I aren't on the computer, the kids are playing games together on pbskids.com.

Annie had a lot of fun decorating her house. I added a little too much water to her frosting and candy kept falling down. I didn't realize it until the frosting was already in the decorating bag.

Sam also really enjoyed the decorating. He kept sneaking pieces of candy into his mouth during the whole process. Of course the best part of a gingerbread house is when you get to eat it!

Ho Ho Ho!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..." keeps singing through my head since we've been in December. Yesterday we traveled down to hospital to have lunch with Santa! The kids were so excited that morning and of course kept asking me "can we go now?" We arrived 30 minutes early and were first in line! Sam was the first one to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas this year (a zhu zhu pet and a race car). They had two of Santa's elves there too and I am proud to say both of my children were on the "nice" list. Even more exciting, I was on the naughty list! Woo hoo!
Annie was just beaming as she sat on Santa's lap. She also told Santa she wanted a Zhu Zhu pet and was so happy to just see Santa. The hospital did a great job this year, with face painting, crafts and three sets of carolers. We also had free lunch while we were there. In today's day, it is so rare to truly have a free event. And so great!


Here are the kids after they had their faces painted. Of course after naps they were half off, but they were cute while they lasted.

Here is Mrs. Claus giving Sammy his candy cane after sitting on Santa's lap. (see Annie in the background?)

It was a wonderful day!

Thanksgiving Trip!

We traveled down to Mark's sister's house for Thanksgiving weekend. We haven't stayed there since I was pregnant with Annie (we were long overdue!). We had such a wonderful relaxing, bonding weekend. Annie discovered the game Guess Who? and played it for hours with whomever would play with her. Cousin Alex brought out all his matchbox cars for Sam to play with and that made Sam very happy.
Cousins Sarah and Alex both play the piano and brass instruments, so everyone kept taking turns on the piano. Annie had made up her own song and kept playing it all weekend. Mark kept practicing the "Believe" song from Polar Express and Alex kept playing Ode to Joy as fast as he could in a variety of different keys.

Sarah had to play in the pep band at the high school Saturday night so here she is grabbing a bite to eat before she heads off (with her Uncle Mark being goofy). We went to a children's museum during the day on Saturday and we spend many hours there coloring, building, jumping rope, dancing and getting flushed down a toilet! The kids were pooped and both fell asleep at 7:30pm and didn't wake up until 7 the next morning!

Here is Annie after another practice of her song on the piano. She told me this weekend she is finally ready for piano lessons, so I have to call Mark's instructor to see if Annie can come around the same time as Mark. We all slept well and the kids took naps both ways in the car. It was a wonderful weekend with family and we are so glad we went!

Where have I been?

Sam has been in gymnastics since he was two and last week I finally remembered to bring the camera! He really loves gymnastics. He has started to create his own floor routines at home to movie themes (like Mission Impossible and music from Wall-e and Pirates of the Caribbean). I can see that people are having to take their kids activities into budget cuts because Sam only has two other kids in his class. I am sad for the gymnastics place, but it is nice to have it a little less crowded.
Awesome Straddle jump Sam! I am so proud of you!

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween from Annie and Sam! This Flory family loves this holiday! What in the world is better than getting dressed up and going door to door for free candy?! Annie loved being a princess, surprisingly this was her first year asking to be a princess. Sam loved being Beast, but wanted to make sure all day that he was the mean Beast (not the nice beast that falls in love).
The kids had finished trick-or-treating with daddy in under two hours and their bags were full (Annie's bag was so heavy it broke right before she came home). Here the kids are at the door waiting to pass out candy to other trick-or-treaters-which they love just as much as getting the candy. The kids always surprise me at how much they want to share their candy with Mark and I (or anyone that comes over). I was never that willing to share my candy!

After trick or treating the neighbors came over for appetizers and snacks. All the kids were running around yelling at the top of their lungs "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear!"

Can't imagine who taught them that! :)

Getting Ready for Halloween!

This is the first year that the kids actually wanted to help me carve pumpkins. Usually we carve pumpkins a week before Halloween, this year it was two days before. We had fun time. Sam really liked playing with the 'hat' of the Jack o lantern and poking holes in the flesh.
Annie did try to scoop some pumpkin guts out, she has never wanted to try this before because of the goo. Sam refused to try at all but had fun calling the guts "pumpkin boogers."

Here Sam is very focused on poking all the holes around his outlined shapes. He was really having such a great time and so proud of himself that he could do it himself!

ta da! There they are!

Scavenger Hunt!

We were in invited by our neighbors to join their team for an adult-only scavenger hunt last night. We met at George's sister (George is our neighbor) and at 7:30 we were given our lists and 2 props that had to be in every picture (the cat mask and the beanie hat) and 2 hours to get as many of the assignments done. There were 6 people on every team (5 teams in all). We had a BLAST!

There were 34 tasks all worth different points. We first went to Great America and had to take a picture with an employee at the exit turn style. Check. One of the other tasks was to take a picture inside a hummer. While we were at Great America, we saw a pink Hummer limo! We begged the driver and the two people inside and they agreed!!! Off to Sears Grand!

Another task was to have the women dress in boxer shorts and the men in women's robes. Check.

Mark got us 125 points for climbing up a flagpole and touching the flag.
One of our last completed tasks performed just shy of the two hour mark was wrapping one of our team members in Saran Wrap and we all had to hold her. Too funny.

We had so much fun all night, and these are only 4 of about 20 photos!Our team won by over 200 points! woo hoo!!!

A Halloween Preview

Annie and our neighbor, Andrea, came home from school today and decided it would be a great day to try on their Halloween costumes. Andrea is a bride/flower girl (she is still unsure). Annie and Sam borrowed costumes this year from their cousins (Jordan and Kyle) and are Beauty and the Beast. They took this role very seriously and Sam walked Annie down the stairs and danced with her gracefully throughout the family room. Notice Sam's very serious face while he is dancing. He is in a very good mood here, but is trying to play the role of the Beast to perfection.

They are cracking me up!

Disney: Day 8

Not sure why my pictures are laid out like this, but I can't seem to move them around, so oh well! Our unexpected night in the airport Hyatt went smoothly. We let the kids finish watching their movie and they were asleep by 9:30. After they fell asleep I took a much needed relaxing bath and Mark was on the Internet trying to make sure we were all sitting together on the plane. The kids really are asleep in these pictures! So cute!

The vacation was amazing. Traveling with kids is not romantic, not relaxing and not smooth sailing. Traveling with kids is fun, is exciting, is magical and I would (and will) do it many more times!

Disney: Day 8

Our flight home on Saturday wasn't until 4:30 pm, so we promised the kids a morning in the pool! They were so excited to not have to run off to another park or ride the bus! They played so well all week and were both swimming under water for over 30 seconds by the week's end.
Sam really enjoyed the little kid's pool area. It had a couple of slides and lots of sprays. He didn't even need anyone to come with, he just played happily for an hour.

Annie enjoyed swimming in the pool with Daddy and having Mark catch her after she went down the water slide. My kids are fearless!

Our way to the bus for the airport, Mark took many pretty scenic pictures of our resort, but I am posting this one with the kids pointing at our room number.

Our flight ended up being delayed two hours and then cancelled after we were already buckled and in our seats. By 9pm we were in the hotel room (thank you United), and had $60 of food vouchers for the next day (Thanks again United). It was a LONG night and evening in the airport, and we should have been home. Fate gave us another night in Florida though. Roll with the punches, though, right?!