Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We hope you enjoyed the holiday as much as we did.

Eli and Carli realizing that Santa visited our house.

Sammy got new mittens in his stocking and he absolutely loves them! He would keep them on all day if I let him! He sat on this chair for a good fifteen minutes admiring his new mittens and striking poses.

Carli got a new Red Wings hat from Uncle Dru--and it's pink!

This is what you get when Dad takes the kids shopping at the dollar store for Mom's Christmas present. A package of pink disposable razors and a tube of multicolored miniature bath scrubbies. How did they know just what I wanted??

Most successful present: The animal train from Nana and Papa. Sammy loves it and all three kids have been playing with it. I keep trying unsuccessfully to put it away, but it has now taken up permanent residence on the main floor.

Eli got a bunch of Ben10 stuff this year, including the Omnitrix (the watch that turns Ben into 10 different aliens. It's like an alien zoo around here!

Cute Nana and Papa. We're so blessed to be able to have them visit us for Christmas!

Best reaction this year, if I do say so myself. I was absolutely stunned at the present Jane and Bill got us this year--a new Nikon D40 digital camera. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Ben fooling around with our new camera. This is his "Blue Steel" look.

A perfect first grader's reaction to getting underwear for Christmas!

Nana and Papa looking through the memory book of our trip to St. John (our gift to Ben's parents, sister, and brother).

I got some awesome new running shoes from Dru (Ben's brother). This is the perfect gift for me. I love the color too!

Papa and his extra long ties.

Ben's favorite gift of the year: The Abominable Snowman figure by Jim Shore. Thanks Susie!

Carli and her new Cootie game.

This is what happens when Nana gets runover by a reindeer.

Me and Susie outside Old Chicago restaurant. I'm so glad she got to come for a few days. I wish she lived closer so we could see her more often--she's honestly one of the funniest people I know! But now that we have new phones with text, we can keep in better touch! Yay for texting!!

Happy Birthday Sammy!

On December 21st, Sammy turned one year old. I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! In one year Sammy has gained 16 pounds, grown 10 inches, sprouted 8 teeth, gotten a lot more hair (even though it's still not much!), learned to roll over, sit up and crawl, fallen down 3 flights of stairs, smashed one big toe, gotten two major infections, and he's been smiling through it all! We love our Sammy!

He was a good sport with the cake, even though he didn't feel well. Earlier that same day he was in urgent care and was diagnosed with croup. After getting a prescription he felt a little better and we were still able to have the party.

Nana and Papa got him the cutest little plush doggy that makes barking sounds. He loves to hug his little animals.

Poor Sammy! He was so sick all he really did was sit there while Eli and I opened his presents for him. Hopefully next year he won't be sick on his birthday!

Here is the cake before Sammy got to it--as you can see, I am a professional cake decorator! (That's about the saddest looking cake I've ever seen!)

Ben's Home!

I'm a little late, but wanted to report that Ben got home safely on December 5th. It's always nice when the deployments get home on time! As always, it is wonderful having him home and we have a had a great time being together as a family. It's especially fun to have him home just in time for the holidays. He surprised Eli and Carli with authentic chopsticks and brought me home some real pearls-- necklace, earrings and bracelet! They are beautiful! We're so happy to have him home.

Okinawa

Ben emailed us some pictures from his adventures in Japan. He says it's a lot more interesting than the desert but he's ready to come home. We're ready to have him home--and glad that the homecoming is only a week away!

Ben at the Okinawa Aquarium.

This is the Okinawa Peace Park, a memorial of the Battle of Okinawa during WWII.

These walls list the names of all the Japanese and American soldiers.

Ben next to all the Moores that are listed.

At the Japanese Naval Underground in a room where a bunch of soldiers killed themselves to prevent capture.

The Tooth Fairy's Going Broke!

Earlier this week, Eli lost one of his two front teeth, but the other one has been hanging on by threads for days now. You can see in the first picture what he looked like after we pulled the first tooth.

Today I finally convinced him to let me pull the other one out (I told a tiny white lie... that if he didn't let me pull it out that it would rot and ruin the new tooth coming in... aww, come on! I had to get him to let me pull it out--it was driving me crazy!)

So, we get the dental floss and I tie a loop in it and go for the top tooth. Before I can get there he points to one on the bottom and says, "No, Mom! It's this one!" And flop, out comes one of the teeth on the bottom. This kids teeth are falling out left and right!


After a little more "you're teeth are going to rot out of your head" and "you'll get DOUBLE money from the Tooth Fairy", he finally lets me pull out the top tooth as well.

Here's the after shot . . . good thing Carli won't lose her teeth any time soon--the Tooth Fairy's broke after tonight!

Haircuts!

Eli and Carli both got haircuts this weekend. Eli's hair grows like wildfire, so I had her cut it really short and hopefully it will last a month or so.

Carli is adorable with a pageboy, so we went with that this time.






They were both really good at the haircutting place and both held really still. The funny thing is that while we were waiting to be called back there was another kid there who was throwing a royal fit. That poor mom kept putting him back up in the chair and threatening him with all sorts of things. "No playstation!" "No candy!" It was sort of humorous, but I felt bad for her! The kid was also at least two years older than Eli. I had a proud mom moment when they both climbed up in the chairs and submitted cheerfully to the scissors. I think they both turned out well, although I'm going to have to straighten up Carli's bangs.

Carli and Sammy make great playmates. This video is nothing spectacular, although I just love how much Sammy loves Carli and how much she makes him laugh. I know Ben will enjoy this video--two months doesn't seem like a long to be away, but when you're only 10 months old, it makes a big difference!

This one is Carli doing Superman. She is laughing like a maniac the whole time! Sammy thought it was hilarious and he was trying to get the camera out of my hands as well--thus the fabulous camera work.

Clone Wars

Everybody better watch out, there are some new Clone Troopers in the neighborhood!
Eli (and thus, Carli) has been really into Star Wars: The Clone Wars lately. We saw the movie for his birthday and now there is a new cartoon on TV. He loves playing the Clone Wars games on the computer and he printed off these masks for himself and Carli to play with. He got the guns for his birthday as well, and they have a good time playing with them.
I think they're very cute (and kind of freaky too!).

Carlidiculous!

Carli, Carli, Carli. What to do with this little girl. Last night my family had a conference call, so I put Sammy in bed and let Eli and Carli watch cartoons. As I talked I was so grateful that the kids were quiet--not knowing that there was secret havoc going on upstairs! After I got off the phone, I took the kids up to bed and discovered that Carli had gotten a hold of a brand new tube of concealer and decorated her carpet and bed with it. Then, realizing that she was probably in big trouble, she got a squirt bottle with water in it and tried to clean it up. AAH! I did manage to get most of the stains out, but I'm going to have to get the carpet machine out today and get the rest.



It's a good thing she balances acts like the one above with those in these pictures. Last week I went up to turn off her lamp and kiss her good night and this is what I found. Little Piglet tucked into a cute little bed, snug as a bug in a rug.



Carli and I also had a great conversation the other day. She was in the bathroom with me while I put on my makeup and she was playing with the three rugs on the floor. She says to me, "Mommy, when I was a baby I peed on this rug... (pointing) and I poohed on this rug." And I say, "I know, those were accidents, huh? But you don't do that anymore, cause you're a big girl now!" "Yeah," she says, "Now I do it in my bed." =)

Spooky Fun

For Halloween last night Sammy was a bumblebee, Carli was Tinker Bell and Eli was a spooky ghost. We went to the Trunk-or-Treat at the church which was really fun! They really put a lot of work into it and the kids really enjoyed all of the games. Eli especially loved the football toss (they had tied a tire swing to the basketball hoop and the kids got to throw the football through it). The prize for that one was a can of soda--so that made Eli happy too! Carli mostly just stood quietly by my side and asked for prizes. She didn't want to play anything, she just wanted the candy!
After the party we hurried home to have time to go around the block in our neighborhood. I put the rest of our candy in a bowl on the porch and we set out. Sammy did NOT want to ride in the stroller, so I carried him--and unbelievably, he was too hot in the whole costume, so I had to take the outer part off! Who can believe that it was 70 degrees on Halloween? Trick-or-treating was very pleasant--as far as the weather goes, anyway. The part that wasn't pleasant was holding Sammy and having him try to dive out of my arms anytime anyone opened the door! Eventually I ended up with Sammy on one hip, Eli's ghost costume slung over one arm and about twenty pounds of candy in two bags on the other arm. They got too heavy for the kids to carry and Eli kept dumping his out accidentally (he did it on three different doorsteps!). We managed to get home and survey the loot--I can't believe how much candy they got! It's amazing--and they got lots of good chocolate this year! Not so good for the hips, but in terms of Halloween loot, it was a bumper crop! Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pictures, what with trying to handle Sammy who was not happy unless I was carrying him, but I managed to take a few.

Carli loved being Tinker Bell this year--she especially loved the curly ribbon in her hair--which you can't see very well in this picture. She was very happy to have a "pretty" costume. (Thanks to the Disney Store after Halloween clearance last year!)

Carli insisted on a "silly face" picture.

Last year Carli was a ladybug and she loved having freckles--they don't really go with Tinker Bell, but when I was putting on her makeup she just had to have freckles again!

Sammy made a very cute bumblebee.

His face looks so chubby in this picture, you would think the rolls in the costume are actually part of his anatomy!

It wasn't until we got out of the car at the party that I realized that I forgot to put the white face paint on Eli. Eli didn't really care, but I was really mad! You can also see in this picture how much Sammy was enjoying the party. =(

I don't know how Carli manages to be so photogenic, but it's almost scary. I think she is beautiful in this picture--and nothing could make her happier than SpongeBob candy!

Eli loves all the weird "body part" candy--the eyeballs and hands and stuff. Good--he can keep it, more chocolate for me!

Can you believe all that candy for two little kids? We are going to have some serious sugar shock around here! Unbeknownst to them, however, half of the candy has already disappeared! Good thing they're still young enough that I can do that.

Overall, it was a great Halloween and the kids had a great time. For me it was bittersweet to watch them without Ben here to celebrate with us. Oh well, maybe next year.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Moore Happenings

After looking through our recent pictures, I realized that I haven't blogged about our everyday happenings much lately. This is Sammy's new pasttime. He loves getting out all the bowls and banging them around. He also turns the bowls over and pushes them around like cars. It's very cute to watch, but putting the bowls away a hundred times a day gets kind of old!

Whenever I can get all three kids in one picture looking decent I consider it a huge success! This was the bath after they played in the rain, so they all went in together since we were late for bedtime.

Carli loves to help feed Sammy--and we all know how Sammy likes to eat! He'll take food from anyone--or just find it himself!

Unfortunately, Carli doesn't have the greatest aim!