Saturday

Saturday here at the Bear Household. Nothing much to say since nothing much is going on right now.
Sister Bear is in her room coloring before she takes a nap.
Brother Bear is at a friends house.
Papa Bear is at work.
I am reading family blogs and paying bills on-line, anything to keep me from the large piles of laundry on the couch that need to be folded.
After I pick Brother up we will head on over to the university for the basketball game. Brother helps Papa on the bench. Sister sits in the stands and spreads the contents of her backpack on the bleachers while cheering for her favorite players.
So, that is life at our house on this drizzly Saturday in January.

Underwear

Sister Bear has been potty trained since early September. I've been lucky both of my kids were very easy to do. Sister Bear is still so proud of using the toilet and wearing underwear. She loves her Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell underwear. We will see someone with diapers in a shopping cart or a commercial on television for diapers and she will turn and tell you "I don't wear diapers anymore, I wear underwear!" I'd been putting her in pull-ups at bedtime because I didn't want to mess with having any accidents and having to change sheets in the middle of the night. Every night at bedtime Sister would look at you with those big blue eyes and say I want to wear underwear to bed. Finally I gave in the other night and so far we have had four nights of success!!!! Yay!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER BEAR!!!!!

Brother Bear turned 10 today!!!!! Where has the time gone??? Seems like it was just yesterday we had his first birthday at the little house on Harwood St. He sat in his highchair not sure of what he was supposed to do with the cake in front of him. He wasn't one of those kids who dug right in, he didn't like getting his hands dirty.

Lucky Brother!!!! Today the schools observed MLK day, so he had the day off of school for his birthday. He had a friend spend the night after his party. This morning we got up and went to Seattle to Beth's Cafe. We like to watch Man vs. Food on the travel channel and this is one of the places he went to. They have a 12 egg omelet, with unlimited hash browns. The guy didn't finish the challenge on Man vs. Food, but we had big plans to.

Beth's Cafe is 50 years old and you can tell. The service was quick and the food was pretty tasty. They give the kids a cup of crayons and a handful of paper to color on. The walls in the place are covered with peoples drawings.

We ordered the 12 egg ham and cheese omelet with hash browns and sourdough toast. Sister Bear isn't too keen on eggs so she had a giant pancake. They bring the omelet out on what looks like a pizza pan and it is definitely big. So Papa, Brother, his friend and I went to work on meal. Between the four of us we cleaned the tray. Good thing we had a birthday dinner last night because I don't think we'll be hungry come dinnertime.

Party!!!

Brother Bear had his birthday party today. It's always tough trying to figure out something to do for his birthday. I don't really want a handful of boys rough housing in my house. If we could play outside, no problem, but up here in the Pacific Northwest that usually isn't an option this time of year. Well, we could but they would come back in wet cold and muddy. So, we had the party over at Papa Bears office. Think this might just be the future of all birthday party locations. Had the whole gym to ourselves. Papa Bear led the boys in field hockey, soccer, dodge ball and flag football. They took a few snack and magic juice breaks, had some cake (chocolate) and opened a few presents. I think the boys had a good time. They were red faced and sweaty when the party was over.

After the party we let Brother have one friend spend the night. We had his favorite meal (spaghetti) for dinner. Had a good laugh watching Americas Funniest Home Videos. The boys slept downstairs and watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. They were pretty tired because there wasnt any talking past 10:30.

Bowling

For Christmas we got a Wii. So very fun! It's great that we can all play together. Sister Bear thinks she's playing too! Brother Bear has knocked me out a handful of times in the boxing and he thinks that is pretty great. Notice the bowling styles of Grandpa, Papa Bear and Brother. Can you pick out which one is the bowler?

Zoo Lights

Granny and Grandpa came to visit on Christmas Day. While they were here we didn't have any rain, except for maybe one day. One night we went out to dinner at the Ram. I was excited I had two coupons for free kids meals, but I didn't use them. Turns out on Sunday nights kids eat for a $1! So we saved them for another time. After dinner we were bundled up and headed over to the zoo for zoo lights. It was a crowded night. We had to park at the park and right a school bus in to the zoo.

Christmas Day Recap

We had a very merry Christmas at the Bear household. On Christmas Eve we went to church. That was quite an experience with Sister Bear. Try keeping her quiet. She was very cute trying to sing along with the hymns and clapping when they were over. At one point during the service there was a children's moment. Brother Bear took her up front and sat with her and she went very willingly. Papa and I were sitting, in the back of the church, wondering what she would do. Randomly she got up and walked straight back to where we were sitting. I figured she was done, so I tried to get her to sit back down with me. Oh no...she just wanted to get her purple crayon and then she headed right back up and sat back down with the rest of the kids.

I told Brother that he had to stay in bed until 8am. At about 7:45 I heard him get up and go into the bathroom and then get back in bed. 7:59 rolled around and he was right there by my bedside. Sister Bear was still asleep. I went down and turned the tree lights on and the heater while Papa Bear got up. Someone (Brother) woke up Sister. She is definitely NOT pleasant if you wake her up. If she wakes up on her on she is happy and talking non stop.

We went down and opened presents. The kids had a great time. Papa and I didn't do presents for each other, except for the U2 concert tickets I bought for us. So we have that to look forward to in June. After opening presents it was cleanup and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Lets not forget the Home Alone marathon that was on either. Papa and Brother were off to the airport to pick up Granny and Grandpa who were coming for a visit. I stayed home to clean up the house, make some fudge, and Sister took a much needed nap.

Later Papa hooked up the Wii for Brother who had been waiting patiently to try it out. An evening of bowling and boxing. I got knocked out. After dinner we went for a walk in the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. When the young Bears were in pj's we watched Home Alone again. Finally it was time for all of us tuckered Bears to climb into bed.

Santa Part Two

Update: Here are some pictures from our day with Santa. Good thing mom had some snacks in her purse. Notice the smile with the snowman. Why couldn't we have had that smile with Santa?

I forgot to post that Sister agreed to go and have her picture taken with Santa. So both of the kids got spiffied up and off the mall the four of us went. Oh, did I mention we went to the mall on December 23rd? We walked in the mall doors and got in line at 11:00 am. Two hours later it was our turn!!!! Sister knew what she was there to do. Her and Brother were going to have their picture taken with Santa. So we head up to Santa and Brother gets on one knee and someone just stands there and stares at him. She did not want to sit on his lap. At least she was not one of the screaming hysterical kids, she just had a look of pure panic and kept trying to get away. But she took one for the team and sat still long enough to get a picture. One child has a nice smile, the other a sourpuss look of fear. But we had a nice time standing in line together for a family.