McAllister Family Visit

My family came to visit for a week, and these are some of the things we did.

Boston Public Garden







Lexington & Concord





Walden Pond

Conversations with kids.

Amelie and Chase were eating lunch next to each other at the table. They were fighting a bit and Amelie hit Chase on the head, but she kind of missed and poked him in the eye. Chase wasn't too happy about that, and I tried to explain to Amelie that she hurt Chase and needed to say sorry. She turned to Chase and said in a very sweet apologetic voice, "Chase, I poke your eye? Oh, I sorry, I meant to hit your head." Hahahaha!

I was reading a book to Chase the other day and it was about animal predators. I tried to explain to him what a predator was, an animal that hunts and eats other animals. I think he understood, until I asked him a trick question, "So, are humans predators?" He quickly replied "no" while shaking his head. I proceeded to tell him that actually we are predators because we eat animals. A look of unbelief came across his face. "No we don't. I don't eat animals." I told him that we eat chicken. He said, "Chicken? What's chicken made of?" I started laughing because he knows what a chicken is, and I didn't realize he hadn't put two and two together. I then told him we eat hamburger, which comes from cows, and he just couldn't take it anymore. He became defensive and said he didn't want to eat animals anymore. It was so funny.

Lately, Chase has been asking "why?" to EVERYTHING I say. At first it was a little annoying, but I dealt with it. Now it is SO annoying! Tonight I couldn't take it anymore and I yelled "Chase, I'm getting really tired of you asking "why" to everything I say!" To which he replied, "why?" Aaahhhhh!

Disney on Ice

We surprised the kids by taking them to Disney on Ice. It was so fun! There's not a better feeling in the world (in my opinion) than seeing the look of excitement on your child's face when they see imagination coming to life.

One of Chase's favorites, The Lion King.


Chase wanted to dress up as Simba for the show, and Amelie was a fairy. She likes Tinkerbell.

I'm Snow

I asked Chase what he was doing and he said, "I'm snow."

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day...the annual day designated to celebrating those we love. It was a good day for us. I started it by heading to Old Navy to catch an awesome Valentine's Day promotion they were holding. I got $35 worth of stuff for just $18! Nothing like starting the day off right with a great sale! Then we got our exercise in for the day by paying a visit to Bally's (it's become a Saturday family tradition). Afterwards, we attended a Valentine's Day lunch at our friend Gloria's house, and were able to visit with a whole bunch of friends. Afterwards, the kids napped while Rick and I planned our finances for the upcoming year (that'll get ya in the mood...NOT!). Then I surprised Rick with a date to the movies to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop at the theatre right across from Burlington mall where it was filmed (that was a trip). Although he didn't have it in hand yet, he gave me a cell phone skin to go on my new AT&T phone that I don't have yet but will be coming. All in all, it was a better than average day, and we still love each other very much.

OOM YUNG DOE

You know those annoying people who come to your door and leave meaningless flyers trying to sell or advertise things that just end up in the trash? Well, I got one of those today for OOM YUN DOE (apparently a type of tae kwan doe or karate or something of the sort) with this picture on it. Just as I was about to throw it away, I read this on the back.

Think clearly because what you think becomes what you say.
Think again before you speak, as what you say will become what you do.
Think before you act because your actions become habits.
Think carefully about your habits because habits form your character.
Examine your character because it becomes your future.

I thought it was pretty good advice and wanted to remember it. It still went in the trash, but not until after making this post ;)

Angela's Accessories

My friend has this awesome business making little girl accessories, called Angela's Accessories. They have everything from bows and headbands to darling knit beanies. They're offering a free giveaway right now so CHECK IT OUT by clicking on the title of this post.

Superbowl

We enjoyed (or should I say Rick enjoyed) watching the superbowl on our friend's flat screen high-def TV. It was a good game (those of you who watched it can attest to that) and we had fun visiting and chowing down on Nikki's good eats.

John & Rick into the game.

All the kiddos.

Eli discovered marching on this cookie sheet on the brick fireplace made a really cool sound and a LOT of noise. He was so cute.


Dads are the greatest invention.

Playdough

The kids found some old playdough the other day and asked if they could play with it. I had put it away because I don't like the mess they always make with it, and I try to keep them from mixing the colors, and then I end up putting the playdough back in the containers so it doesn't dry out. It's just more work than it's worth. Well, I decided to just let them play with it, no rules, mix colors, whatever they wanted. Then they left it there while they went off and played. It dried out and I threw it all away. Easy cleanup!

Being Silly