how to get to sesame street

turn around. take a left. auditorium will be on your right. insanely large mass of little people all around. cars darting for parking spaces. parents jaywalking with young ones. frazzled door guards. busy chatter. kids jumping and clapping, hoping to hurry the line. you have arrived.















elmo, big bird, cookie & the gang.....ready or not, here we come.

davis and allison practice dancing with 'baby elmo' and 'daddy elmo' before leaving for the big show:

























the lights dim and out come our favorite friends on sesame street. davis and allison both clap and sing along to the songs. allison likes to point out all the characters to make sure you see them too. davis gives a grand applause for each song. allison decides running up and down the aisles is much more fun. davis decides he still does not like large costumed characters approaching him. even if it is just elmo or cookie monster. allison waves goodbye to elmo and friends. thanks for a great night. see you next time!

party poopers

bud celebrated his 60th birthday this sunday and davis & allison couldn't miss the party! after a day trip to wilkesboro to eat cake, junk food, run around the fire station, chase balloons, eat more junk, these two pooped out in the car on the way home. zach and i welcomed the quiet ride home. and yes, it was our child who picked up the special order, beautiful wooden helicopter given to bud by his daughter.........and dropped it on the ground.






















after picking our stomachs, jaws and pieces of, now, beautiful broken helicopter up off the floor. i was so thankful the molnar/hamby family had 8 grandkids (from 1 to 18 yrs old) of their own running around. they knew better than anyone how we felt.

just a picture

is all we have time to upload today. allison is so adorable here, i don't have words to live up to her picture.

hello new year

hello constant motion. hello constant questions. hello semi-understood babble. hello finger-leading. hello instant messes. hello choking hazards. hello hitting. hello pushing. hello whining. hello timeout. hello tantrums. hello terrible twos x 2.

two kids entering the terrible twos. davis has been gradually entering this stage and allison decided not to be left behind. they are like silent interior tornados. don't turn your back for 30 seconds because you'll never know what they might find and strewn all over their little corner of the house. it could be markers, decks of cards, crayons, wipes, scissors, toilet paper, pens and paper, cds, books, pictures. you name it. if they can get their hands on it for half a minute, it's everywhere.

they are tricky really. one minute they're playing together wonderfully, giggling and laughing. i duck away to quickly start the laundry or finish the dishes. then it gets really quiet. i relish the calmness for about a minute (or more) before i drift back to reality and realize something's up. where are the kids? what are they into? i dash around the house to find them and the storm they have created. i haven't quite figured out how to not trust silence... and to react as soon as it enters our house.

phew! we made it through the holidays. what great fun we had with all our family coming to visit. the kids were spoiled inside out and got so many presents from grandparents, aunts and cousins. davis loved to deliver the presents. and allison loved to open. and they loved every minute inspecting all the new toys, books, noisemakers, clothes, etc. yes, i have already put some of the noisy toys up in the closets to pull out on rainy days or special events. we finally pulled all the decorations down with, suprisingly, no fatalities.

davis is now quite the pious little cherub. very eager to say his prayers and blessings. we're starting to hear new requests for blessings that include shrek, donkey, princess, cat hat, thing two, thing one. but he always remembers his family first.

2006, 2007, 2008 have been very good to us. we welcome 2009 with open arms, eyes and ears. i look forward to what the new year will bring.