What happened between 8 and 9?

Last year, Caden was 8 years old and was SO into the Elf on the Shelf. We do Elf on the Shelf "against the rules" at our house as I let the kids (GASP!) touch and hold their elves. They sleep with them, carry them around, etc. Preston even brought his to school today (Yes, all the other parents will soon hate me.) Anyway, last year every morning both boys BELIEVED in the magical elves and were so excited to see where they were hiding each morning.

Fast forward to this year, Caden is convinced I am the one hiding the elves. The elves are not magical, and he is going to prove it. He is planning on hiding his own elf, where I can't find it. That way he'll know if the elf doesn't hide again, it's because I have not been able to find it.

He also no longer believes in Santa. I'll take some of the blame for that one. He asked me if Santa Claus was real. I said, "Yes he's real!" and Caden said he knew I was lying and that he was well aware Santa was not real. So he said, just tell me the truth. I want you to tell me the truth about Santa because all my friends already know that Santa isn't real. So I said, "Fine, you're right, Santa isn't real." He started to cry. So, I quickly said, "Just kidding, he's real!" as I felt so bad he was upset to hear that Santa was indeed pretend. But, seems there is no going back as he still insists Santa does not exist because "I" told him so!

Why was last year so simple and this year so complicated!? What happens in a boy's brain between 8-9 years old? UGH!!!!!!!!!

List of Averyisms

So a few months ago, Avery could barely put two words together. Honestly, from January 2010 until October 2010, we saw very little improvement in her language. It was really starting to stress us and for lack of a better word, it got a little annoying. Not that she could help it, but day in and day out, she would babble and it got so frustrating having no way of understanding her.

Well, the past couple weeks I have noticed a pretty big improvement. Mind you, at least 30% of what she says, even I can't understand. But here is a list of phrases that she uses regularly that "I" can understand. Not sure most people could, but I am starting to learn the language of Avery I guess.

"Mine"
"I like that" or "I want that"
"Why?"
"I have to go pee pee"
"Avery nite nite"
"Preston stop"
"No hitting" and "no whining"
"Grandma loves you ---which means Grandma loves me (Avery)"
"Mommy loves you" "Daddy loves you"
"Where's Papa? Work?"
"I'm three"
"Mommy nice" "Daddy nice"
"Drink please"
"Put that away"
"Can you read this?"
"Can you help me?"
"Wash hands"
"Yummmmmmmm"--her response to all food commercials
"I went"---her response to anything I tell her to go do
"Who me?"----her new favorite phrase
"Avery eat!"----the first words out of her mouth when she gets up in the morning
"Mommy running"
"Baby crying"
"I hungry"
"Pizza"---her response to what's her favorite food
"Haiti"---her response to where are you from
"Love you mom"---my favorite

Proud Mom even if it has to do with Duke

So, at the risk of sounding like an annoying bragging Mom, I need to post how PROUD I am of our 9 year old. He received a letter home from the principal yesterday that he was selected for the Duke University Gifted and Talented Program (which I have never heard of.) It was funny because as he was rushing off to school this morning, he said oh here....here's something my teacher gave me yesterday. I opened it up and said, Cade, this is a big deal! Do you know what this is? He said not really! So I proceeded to explain it too him and he said, oh cool.

I would have to agree...cool, very cool.

Anyway, I know some day he'll read this blog and I want him to know how proud we all are of him. He works VERY hard on his school work and we are happy for him that his time/effort is paying off. Oh yeah, and we're Big East Fans and Big East Fans are NOT Duke fans. College basketball season is upon us and Duke is ranked #1 (BLAGH)....However, Duke may be growing on me just a little! :)

DMB in Buckhead

I didn't figure out the surprise trip ahead of time and it turned out GREAT! We ended up at the Dave Matthews Band Concert in Buckhead, Georgia. Mike had to attend a work related meeting there so it worked out to combine the concert into that. On the way there, he hinted at where we were going. I said, "I sure hope we are not heading to a concert!" as I had pictured myself lounging by a pool sipping on a margarita at a spa all day. A concert didn't sound at all relaxing (I have nightmares of attending a Van Halen Concert with him and not getting my hearing back for a week.) But, once it sunk in I was really looking forward to it. Especially since we hadn't been to a DMB concert since college and he is not touring next year.

We ate dinner at Dante's Down the Hatch which has an old pirate ship interior complete with a real crocodile swimming around the tables. The food is fondue style which is my favorite. It was good, a little overpriced, but that's how those fondue places are. We could walk there from our hotel (the Ritz-Carlton....more on that in a second) and also walk to the MARTA which we took to the concert.

So, when we checked into our original hotel, they asked us if we would move 2 blocks down the road because they had overbooked. At first we said, naaa, don't think so as we were already running a bit late and wanted to get settled in. But as the manager explained it would be a free night and at the Ritz-Carlton. Oh, well, now that's different! So we easily accepted that offer. Now, he did fail to mention just parking our car at the Ritz was $32 a night and ordering a hamburger and side salad would cost $43, but at least our room was FREE. I had no idea what it costs to stay there but I looked it up online and the rates are $389-$2700 per night. It is a five diamond place. I personally thought our room smelled weird, but supposedly it's one of top 25 hotels in the entire country. I wouldn't ever pay $389 to stay there but apparently someone does.

It was awesome to get away for the night (thanks again to Grandma) and she said the boys had perfect behavior. Avery was probably Avery, but she is only 3 so she can get away with it for now! :) Came home to Preston wiping out down our neighbor's driveway on his bike. Back to reality in a hurry!

Sports and Super Heros

Christmas lists reveal a lot about our kids. We have one sports (soccer) fanatic, one super hero fan and one who wants every toy on TV!

Caden's Christmas List

Ronaldo Soccer Jersey

New Soccer Cleats

Indoor Soccer Shoes

Soccer Ball

Lacrosse Stick and Head

Phiten Tornado Necklace

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Preston's Christmas List

Star Wars Footed Pajamas

Star Wars Wii Game

Batman Shirt

Iron Man Suit of Armor

Lightsabor

Nerf Gun

Black Converse Sneakers

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Avery's Christmas List

Every toy on the shelf ("I want that!")

Where are we going?

Below are three hints I have been given as to where Mike is taking me overnight next week. I have searched the internet and can not figure out where we are headed. Which is fine, I love surprises...but there is also something in me that loves the challenge of figuring out surprises too! I hope I don't solve it because I am the hardest person to surprise and I hate it. I LOVE surprises but it's rare that anyone can pull one off. But, we'll see if I get this one figured out by Tuesday. Oh, and it must be within driving distance and for only 1 night because of Caden's insulin pump (we can not be too far away....)

Avery's 1st Halloween

Dressed as a bumble bee, Avery got really into it and went trick-or-treating to as many houses as her brothers did. Which was 2 hours worth and she walked the entire time lugging her heavy candy bucket . She didn't quite get the fact that she couldn't eat the candy from each house right there on the spot. She didn't want to keep it for later. She also didn't understand why she had to go to house after house...."I WENT" was her response when I said let's go to another house!

The boys were supposed to be bugs too, but Preston messed that plan up and had to be a punk rocker. He was hilariously funny at a costume contest they entered at the Renaissance Festival. The director said, show everyone what a rocker does...and Preston says "Rock on Peeps" with his hands making those rocker signs up in the air (see photos.) The crowd cracked up. We thought for sure he won a prize, but they ended up giving almost all the prizes to adults which we thought was rediculous. Why are adults entering a children's costume contest?

I must say I am more than OVER Halloween at this point. Preston wore his costume for four days (and nights) straight and I am really sick of monitoring candy intake. They did set aside about 3/4 of their candy to send to the troops at Operation Gratitude...but that still leaves a good amount to hide from them and hope they forget about. They got really into packaging up the candy for the troops. Caden wrote a letter to put in the box and Preston colored some pictures of fish and octopus (random) and put those in as well. Caden is hoping to get a response, but I am thinking it's probably unlikely.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. Up next...Thanksgiving! Is it really already November?