Merry Christmas!

A friend of mine posted this youtube video and I think it's the perfect thing to share on Christmas day. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icilgwdHiZg

Thanksgiving Day Parade

I'm a little behind at getting this out but Mike, Grandma, Aaron, Connor, my sister, Hillary, and her friend, Matt, all went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Mike took some great snapshots with his blackberry. Of course, he had to get a picture of Miley Cyrus and David Archuleta. I get a bit peoplephobic just looking at some of the pictures. Aubrey and I were quietly sleeping in our warm beds while they were enjoying the parade. What's your favorite balloon?

Baby Bounty Hunter

Don't even think about messing with a baby bounty hunter and her binkie!

The boys got their wish...

The boys seem to think that Christmas will come when we have snow. I've explained countless times that we have snow during winter time and not necessarily on Christmas. Well, we haven't had any snow this winter so far and I was wondering whether or not we would get some around Christmas. Sure enough, school was cancelled early yesterday morning when there was not even a snowflake in sight and by noon we had several inches on the ground. The funny thing is, as a child I remember wishing to have snow on Christmas day despite growing up in southern California.

schokoladen samstag....mmm....lecher

Last Saturday, we journeyed out to Hershey, PA with some visiting friends. We had a fun time in Chocolate World. We went on a little ride that explains how chocolate is made with singing cows, conveyor belts, candy, and chocolate aroma filling the air. The boys were put to work at Hershey's Kiss Works...well sort. We then went on a tour of the town in a bus/trolley and caught a driveby view of the factory and of the Hershey house. We also saw the giant hershey kisses on top of the lamp posts along Hershey street.

One of the sweetest moments of the day was when Aaron and Connor got their picture taken with Santa. And instead of giving out candy canes, can you guess what the boys got?....chocolate kisses of course. I asked Aaron if he remembered to say thank you and merry christmas to Santa. So he gingerly walked up to Santa and wished him a Merry Christmas and then gave him a big hug. Now this was one of the sweetest Santa's that I've seen in a long time. And his little helper...I would call her Mrs. Claus was touched by Aaron's kind gesture. I guess not too many kids give Santa a big hug and wish him "Merry Christmas!"

There was no line at all to see Santa so the boys got to enjoy a few minutes with him. Aaron was trying to recite his entire wish list as Connor made sure to get his request for a boogie board in.

We're in the spirit...the holiday spirit...

Well, we all are but AARON is especially! He practically decorated the tree entirely by himself. He had his Santa wish list prepared a few weeks ago and insists on posting it right near the christmas tree so Santa won't miss it. Aaron designed the christmas program for the third grade christmas concert this year. We were very proud of his design. He's been singing his very catchy chorus songs around the house. He played a wiseman in the ward christmas program and did a wonderful job. He's definitely added a fun spirit to our home this christmas season.

After Thanksgiving, Grandma treated us to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular this year. We went downtown with Grandma, Aaron and the boys and enjoyed a great show!

Back to blogging...

Yes, Idropped off the blogging planet for a while. Well, it was actually our printer that died and everything came to a stand still. I've wanted to update my template countless times but just seemed to get distracted with other things. So, here's to the new look. Happy holidays!

On the Pumpkin Farm

Last Thursday, the kids were out of school for a jewish holiday so we decided to head to the pumpkin farm with some friends. We took a fun little hay ride around the farm. There were lots of wild flowers and brilliant fall colors everywhere. If we didn't have Aubrey with us, I would have seriously considered picking apples. The rows and rows of apple trees were so tempting.
Connor found his perfect little pumpkin. He's already asking to make pumpkin pie! Aubrey enjoyed venturing off on her own through the field of pumpkins. She's such a free spirit these days. She can hardly stand being buckled up in her carseat or the stroller. She wants to be running around with the other kids. We found these huge pumpkins for sale near the gift shop. They were heavy and expensive. I wish I could remember how much they were. What would you do with one of those huge pumpkins????

What's up puddytat?

Well, here's Aubrey in her little black cat costume. The hat's a little big so I'm going to try to make some alterations. She got tired of wearing it pretty quick but I'm with a few more "try-on" sessions, she'll be ready for Halloween.

I don't have pictures of the boys yet. Connor is going to be Jango Fett and Aaron is going to be Boba Fett. For those of you versed in Star Wars, you may be aware that Connor will be playing Aaron's father. It was quite funny to watch him handle his role as the father bounty hunter. The first night they both tried on their costumes, Connor pulled out the Dark Force reading book and had a little sit down talk with Aaron. It was hillarious. I was thinking of having Mike dress up as Hans Solo but I'm not sure if I can pull a costume together for him. We'll see.

Wii are having lots of fun!

Since Aaron's dentist drama, we have been enjoying the fruits of his bravery. The Wii Sports phenomenon has hit the Gibbs household. Aaron and Connor were the first to get strikes in bowling and I think Aaron still holds the high record for our family. Connor has gotten four strikes in a row in several games and his new nickname is "Striker." Aaron is really getting the hang of tennis and Connor is a maniac boxer. Golf has been a lot of fun too. Mom was the first to go pro in golf and Mike was first to go pro in tennis. Check out our Mii guys. There are three Connors if you're wondering. Can you pick out Mike, Jen and Aaron? What about Aubrey?

Dentist drama

Last spring, Aaron had his first visit with the orthodontist. After taking x-rays, he informed me that Aaron has to have several teeth removed. Knowing what Mike went through as a kid, it didn't surprise me that one of our children would have the same fate. I was suppose to set an appointment with the dentist as soon as possible. Well, I went the entire summer delaying the inevitable. For those of you that know Aaron, he can be a very anxious and fearful child. He has always had trouble with haircuts, the weather, and going to the dentist. He needs a lot of reassurance to say the least. Well, with this whole teeth pulling business, I decided to let Mike handle it. This is just not something that I personally wanted to tackle. We found out from the secretary that they don't gas kids when it comes to pulling baby teeth. She tried telling me that it's really no big deal. When I tried to tell the secretary about Aaron, she just told me not to give him any information, and that the doctor with talk with him. So, I scheduled the appointment, Mike took Aaron in. I was expecting to get a call from Mike telling me which oral surgeon we will have to take Aaron to. But, the call wasn't quite what I expected. Mike called sounding rather exhausted, "well....it's over. But I had to promise Aaron the Wii." Apparently, Aaron did okay with the numbing gel, okay with the needle...not sure how he slipped that one past Aaron, but the problems arose when Aaron saw the pliers. Aaron hopped right out of the chair and decided that that was as far as he was going. So Mike coaxed Aaron back into the dentist's chair and promised Aaron the Wii. Mike ended up having to lay down with Aaron in the dentist chair. After the dentist pulled the tooth, Aaron breathed a huge sigh of relief and immediately got up and hugged the dentist apologizing profusely. And then he hugged Mike. Back in August, we bought the Wii game system and we've been using it as an incentive for Aaron to read. The idea was to keep it in the box until he earned it. But I think it's working better now that we have it set up because he has a daily incentive instead of some huge reward weeks away. It seems to be working thus far. The tooth fairy gave Aaron $1 for each tooth. That may seem a little cheap for extracted teeth but I think she must have known that we already gave him the Wii.

Working at the carwash

The best thing about big brothers

Fun pictures of Aubrey

Licking a plate is fun to do,

fun to do, to do, to do...

Who hasn't done this?

Turkey time

One of the amazing things about this neighborhood is wildlife. Deer, squirrels, racoons, birds, and believe it or not, we have these wild turkeys that come around. We saw some when we first moved in last August and now we have a momma turkey with a couple young babies. This is my neighbor's house across the street. Turkey anyone?