Happy Birthday Tyler!

On Sunday, we celebrated Tyler's 2nd birthday (and Chris's birthday) with my family. We went to my sister's house for dinner (I think she made 12 frozen pizzas) and then we had the birthday celebration. When she announced dinner to the kids, the adults slowly followed and were greeted by all the kids sitting and eating quietly. It was a sight to see! Tyler was old enough this year to get into gift opening except for the overwhelming part of it. He received lots of presents and had lots of kids wanting to help him out. Let's not forget that during the celebrations, Shane provided the entertainment.

Family Christmas Party

Every year, my mom's side of the family gets together before Christmas for an annual Christmas party. The kids all open one gift brought by the parents and the adults participate in a Chinese gift exchange. As always, the gift exchange has an alcohol theme to it. We "won" a bottle of Tequila (for post-baby, of course) and a Showplace movie certificate (hopefully not post-baby).

It is always great to catch up with the family! We go so long between visits sometimes and I really want my kids to know their extended family (which is also why we will probably never move). This year was more exciting than last year since the youngest kiddos are all now walking. In addition, my sister has added 3 girls to her group with her marriage to Bobby last spring. This year there was 12 kids, first and second cousins, running around having a blast!

Merry Christmas to all my family!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

On Friday night, we celebrated Daddy's 35th birthday with his family. We had it at our house so the boys could run free...and boy did they ever! They were having fun showing Mimi, Papa, Aunt Julie, and Uncle Marx all their geography artwork. It was a nice celebration! Happy Birthday Daddy!

Cute Sayings of the Week

Santa Related:

Brady knows various holiday songs and his favorite is Santa Claus is Coming to Town. He said to me the other night "I was on the naughty list, but now I am on the nice list and I will try to stay there until Christmas. No emails from my teacher like my friend's mom will be getting (and like the one I saw a couple weeks ago)." Too bad he is only promising until Christmas!

According to Connor "If Santa can't find a toy in the store, it's no big deal because he can go back to his workshop and build it." Oh great - now what is Santa supposed to do?? I personally think that Santa needs an upgrade to the times. I mean, Santa is far more efficient these days with stock piling the good deals through the year and taking advantage of online shopping deals. Also, according to a friend of mine, Santa is not immune to the recession and may have needed to downsize his workforce.

Baby Related:

Brady lifts up my shirt and tells me that when my belly button is all the way out, that is when baby Claire is ready to come out. (Great - now I'm a turkey! He also thinks that is where she comes out...but we won't go there.)

Connor comments that he really loves me a lot since I am his mommy and I make babies. (Glad to know I am good for something)

Connor is practicing for his role as the biggest brother (or fatherhood) these days. Brady has earned the spot of guinea pig. Lately, we will hear Connor talking to Brady like he is the parent.

• "Brady, there is no reason to get upset if I beat you at getting dressed, because I didn't get upset when you beat me. That is no reason to get upset."
• "Brady, if you eat one more bite of your sandwich, it's okay if you don't eat your other items. Just take one more bite - that's all I ask"
• "Brady, I don't want to see you smile. Don't let me see that smile. I am starting to see a smile under there." (Brady stops whining and starts laughing at Connor instead with this one)

Weekend Getaway for Mom & Dad

This past weekend, we decided to escape for a quick weekend getaway for Chris's birthday. We dropped the boys off at my mom's Saturday morning and drove over to St. Louis. We had plans to go to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert that evening for Chris's birthday. He always wanted to see them in concert...close location, a free hotel, a weekend away before the arrival of baby #3 was all good reasons to go for it. We did some dining, but unfortunately didn't get much shopping in due to the traffic and crowds. A nap was calling my name louder after driving around for a parking spot for more than 30 minutes.

That evening we enjoyed a nice dinner before heading to the concert. The concert was awesome! The lights, the special effects, the mix of instruments, and resulting music was just incredible. It was amazing to see the rockin' violins and guitars performing together. Definitely a must see for anyone who enjoys their music.

The next morning, we had a nice quiet breakfast before heading home to the boys. It was so peaceful, and a little weird, to have the silence of a 3-hour car ride. Once we picked up the boys, we were back to the non-stop talking and singing car rides. It was nice while it lasted...

Our Family Holiday Pictures

Jam Session

While running around on Saturday, Brady decided to jam to Christmas songs on the radio with his guitar! There was singing at one time also!

Building Wagons

After we finished our breakfast with Santa, we proceeded to Home Depot for their monthly kid workshop. We had always heard great things about this and the project was building a wagon. Perfect project! Chris and I helped each of them build their wagon. I actually can say that Connor did more than I did since he nailed most of the nails himself and applied the glue. Brady, I think, needed a little more assistance with his but seemed to do a large amount of hammering himself also.

We passed on the option to paint the wagons there since they would have to dry. The kids received a certificate of completion and a pin for their Home Depot apron. We then let them pick out a small container of paint to finish the project at home. On Sunday, Chris had to get creative with creating a paint area for them inside the house. He had the floor and table all layered with coverings and threatened their life if they got any paint anywhere else. He said they did great and the wagons are complete (and VERY RED).

Breakfast with Santa

After last year's experience, we were very excited to attend the Breakfast with Santa again this year that is sponsored by my employer's employee organization. They always do a great job with the breakfast and the setup and this year didn't disappoint.

We got a seat pretty close and the boys were able to watch all the other kids sitting on Santa's lap and receiving presents while they ate their breakfast. Their best friend, Jesse, was also there so they were very excited to get in line and start telling Santa about everything they wanted for Christmas. We got to the front for our turn and the boys became all talk (again)! It took some nudging to get them close and then Connor finally jumped on Santa's lap. Once Santa started talking to him, all was okay and who knows what all Connor told him (check out his cheese in the picture). Brady, on the other hand, had a death grip on me. They then received a present from Santa with their name on it, which was just awesome. Connor got a Hot Wheels Dino Track and Brady got an Electronic Guitar.

Upon leaving, the boys also received a personalized snowman ornament and a goodie bag of chocolates, candy canes, and an orange. We had a really nice time seeing some friends from work with their children and visiting with Santa Claus. In the car, Connor was asking lots of questions about Santa and these dinners and breakfasts. When he asked me why he doesn't do lunches, I said it was because he works the mall during that time frame. He said Santa is very busy!

My Technology Addict

The boys have our old desktop computer set up for their use. They have a couple programs, Blues Clues and Disney, that they got for Christmas last year. They also have some shortcuts to the online sites like Playhouse Disney that have games and activities.

Just a couple months ago, Brady needed his brother's (or parent's) assistance driving the mouse. He is now a PRO! Tonight, he wanted to show daddy all that he has learned. He has figured out how to navigate quite well on a website, play the actual games correctly, control the mouse, AND he has figured out how to rearrange the desktop icons. I am not surprised by this new development as I caught him last week navigating Kodak Gallery pictures and slideshows that I had left up on my computer.

He has started asking for the computer over the TV and would play for hours if we would let him. We actually have had to start setting limits, because he is an addict! He can actually carry on a conversation with you about what he wants for dinner without looking away from the screen or missing a move. He has even rushed through dinner in order to get back to his computer activity. I dread to know what the teenage years look like.

These kids are going to know more about computers before they even start kindergarten! It just amazes me!

What A Week...TGIF

This was a rough week for the Seaton family....thank goodness Friday has arrived so we can try to have an enjoyable weekend (especially since Chris and I will be out of town next weekend).

The week started out with Chris and I returning to work after holiday and vacation to a busy schedule at work. We spent all week playing catch-up with short and skipped lunches or late night work. It didn't help that I also spent all day Tuesday in Chicago at a conference, so was playing catch-up for that too!

For Connor, he had a something that affected him off and on all week. Sunday night, he started complaining that he was achy, had a fever of 99.9, and then requested to go to bed about 6:30. We were sure we would be home with him on Monday. He woke up Monday saying that he felt great and just needed a good night's sleep. That evening at dinner, it started again. He said he felt achy and this time he had a fever of 102.3. He went straight to bed again around 7. The next morning, his fever was low but we decided to keep him home for the day to see what developed. By mid-day, he seemed to be doing fine with no fever or aches. This was the case until Thursday night when he fell asleep on the way home and said he wanted to go to bed early. No fever this time, so perhaps he was just drained from the week and the sick days. As of Friday, he seems to be doing fine.

As for Brady, he ended up with a smashed finger on Wednesday night. We were at a birthday party and his cousin accidentally smashed his finger in a door. I have NEVER seen Brady so upset and inconsolable. I felt helpless! He would start to calm down and based on his frequent screams of pain, I can only assume that the finger would throb as a constant reminder. We were sure it was going to get worse by morning, but it seems to be healing fine with the nail intact.

Then on Friday night, Brady lost his TV privileges based on an email we received from his teacher. Apparently, Brady had a "rough" week at school with some very aggressive and destructive behavior. He apparently lost recess time, lunch companionship, and the use of crayons/markers throughout the week. When asked, he defended a couple items, but agreed to most of it. The terrible 3s have definately reared their ugly head....

Happy Birthday Matthew!

My baby brother is 25 years old! We celebrated his birthday with dinner at my parents. The kids ran around like crazy and there was even an incident with a smashed finger that ended the evening quickly. I hope Matthew had a great birthday regardless!