Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas 2008!  Love, The Baloghs

Christmas Craft Craziness

Yesterday during Jeb's nap, Ford and Virginia created several masterpieces!  They started with styrofoam cones and ended up with these adorable Christmas trees!  They look so cute on either side of Virginia's beautiful gingerbread house!!  We also made surprise gifts for Mema and Mimsie using ribbon and buttons but we can't spoil their surprise by posting pics of those . . . maybe later!  

So, Merry Christmas and happy crafting from the Baloghs!  Those of you who know me well know that crafting is NOT normal for me . . . I'm so proud that we have made bead/pipe cleaner ornaments, Christmas trees, cinnamon applesauce ornaments, gifts for grandmothers, and Christmas candy all in the same year!  Look out Martha Stewart!!!

Aren't they adorable????  The kids and the trees!

Happy 5th Birthday Virginia!!!

Virginia turned 5 on December 17th.  We spent the first half of the day in the Magic Kingdom and the second half flying home to St. Louis.  We departed Orlando and it was 80 degrees and sunny; we arrived in St. Louis and it was 20 degrees and dark.  It was a serious shock to the body!!  Virginia had an awesome birthday, including breakfast in her new Cinderella dress with her new Allison doll who was also wearing her new Cinderella dress (see a theme here???).  When we arrived back in St. Louis, Virginia was greeted with gifts from friends and family . . . thanks to everyone!  She loved all the gifts but in all the chaos, we only got a couple of pictures.  Sorry!  Here are the ones we caught . . . 

Paper dolls from Jenny Watts -- how fun!

A Breyer horse and vet doll to go with the new stable from Mema and Bud -- thanks Aunt Genny!
Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table . . . 
Thanks to Uncle Brook and Aunt Pamela for the stamps and outfit for Allison; to Uncle Bryan and Aunt May for the funky shirt and cool bottle top necklace (pictured in soon to be posted pics with our crafty Christmas trees!); to Aunt Genny and Uncle Mike for the Breyer horse and vet; to Mimsie for American Girl pj's for Allison and Virginia; to Nana and Papa Ken for a great pink sleeping bag; to Mema and Bud for Allison and the horse stable; and to Ms. Ivey and Dr. Brian for the awesome horse for Allison; to Ms. Frances and Jenny for the paper dolls.  What a birthday!!!

My Christmas Stars!

The performances this time of year keep me busy!  Virginia's preschool class performed The Nutcracker and The Nativity.  Virginia was a beautiful sugar plum fairy!  Too bad her mama wasn't organized and failed to provide the correct costume until the day of the show -- that cost me a speeding ticket!  Seriously, a bad morning.  Virginia, however, enjoyed the performance and looked adorable!  Ford's holiday performance was the same afternoon.  It was great too!  They even played instruments!!

Here are some photos of my Christmas stars . . .

Virginia and her buddy Alexa . . .

Twirl sugar plum fairy, twirl!
And a little "ta da"!
Ford's sweet class . . . he is in the lower center in navy.
He really did have fun even though it doesn't look like it from the pictures!  We seemed to capture somber moments in the performance!!

Disney World 2008!

Finally, the pictures from Disney are being posted!  I feel like my head has been spinning since our return.  What a fun but crazy time to be away!  Ford and Virginia LOVED our recent week at Disney and Jeb enjoyed being an "only child" with Mimsie for a week.  Ford rode every roller coaster at Disney except Everest and Virginia rode all of them except Space Mountain and the Rock N Roller Coaster -- she rode Everest twice and they both rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad about 40 times!  Seriously!  Splash Mountain was a hit and so were the teacups.  They also loved Soarin' and Test Track at Epcot -- I think we did Test Track 4 times in a row!  The characters were exciting too . . . especially to Virginia.  Ford tolerated the princesses!  Christmas was such an incredibly beautiful time to visit Disney and while we hate Jeb and Mimsie had to tolerate ice and snow in STL, we were awfully happy to miss it and enjoy days in the upper 60's all the way up to 80 our last 2 days!  Of course, I really missed Orlando this morning when I woke up to a temperature of 4 degrees.  BRRRR!

So, here are the photos!

Ford and Virginia in their ponchos and ready for Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom.

Brent and I had a great time riding Everest with Virginia -- TWICE!  She got a Yeti snowball stuffed animal to remember her bravery!
Bud and Ford after Test Track -- checking out the Richard Petty race car.
Dinner with Minnie at Chef Mickey's . . . 
WOW!  The castle was lit with 200,000 lights for Christmas.  It was amazing!
My amazing tiger!
And my beautiful unicorn . . . 
Virginia and Belle (she met all the princesses and all the fairies but I thought a picture of each might be overload!)
Ford riding in the front of the monorail with the driver -- there was only room for one passenger so our brave boy went alone!
MICKEY MOUSE at Chef Mickey's . . . what a fun dinner!
Their first character to meet . . . 
Spinning teacups made them laugh!  And Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter were in the cup right beside us!
Hey! Hey! It's JoJo's Circus . . . at Hollywood and Vine.
Ford's photography while waiting to see the Beauty and the Beast show.
Mema, Bud and the Baloghs at the Magic Kingdom!
What an awesome week . . . now we are ready to plan our next visit and we think we will even take Jeb this time! :)

All I want for Christmas is my bottom tooth!

Notice anything missing . . . 

A BOTTOM TOOTH!!!!
She was not so happy about having it pulled (even though all I had to do was touch it!) but we were afraid she was going to swallow it if we let it go another day!!  So . . . tooth fairy at the Balogh house tonight!!

An attempt at being crafty . . .

It isn't often that I attempt anything crafty . . . I leave that for school and church!  But, I read a magazine that had a recipe for cinnamon applesauce ornaments.  I thought that maybe I could handle it -- no sprinkles or icing so it didn't seem too messy!  So, tonight, after Jeb went to bed, Ford and Virginia joined me for some ornament making.  Again, the pictures are reversed so you see the finale first, but you still get the idea!!

The grand finale . . . all that remains is baking them and tying the ribbon tomorrow.

Working hard . . . 
Rolling dough . . .

Peace, Joy and LOVE!!!

I love this picture of my kids . . . it shows they really do love each other!  They were all cuddled together in one chair saying goodnight to Jeb.  The moments are sometimes few and far between at least I captured one of them!

Virginia's Gingerbread House

Today Virginia attended a birthday party where the mom is obviously both very creative and very brave!  She had about 15 little 4-5 year old girls making gingerbread houses in her living room floor!  YIKES!  I'm so happy that we have friends that do such wonderful, creative things for my children . . . because I do not have the patience.  Virginia is so very proud of her gingerbread house -- it is a masterpiece!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Oh the weather outside is frightful!  Yes, the snow is back . . . and I'm not sure I'm ready!  Sunday morning we woke up to a light snow.  The kids were outside by 8am ready to play!  I wanted to cry!  Then, Monday morning, we again woke up to a fresh coat of snow.  Seriously sad.  Well, I just went outside to move my car and guess what?  Yes, we are officially having our 3rd snow.  I think it is going to be a long, cold winter.  Thank goodness we get a break next week in sunny Orlando for a visit to Disney World!!!

Virginia made a mini snowman!

Here Comes Santa Claus . . .

I love Christmas!  I love the music and the church services; I love Santa in the malls and the elves that come to my house; I love the excitement and the wonder; I love my Christmas tree and all the ornaments that tell a story; I love shopping and buying presents for friends and family; and I love, love, love the joy of my children!  On Saturday, Brent and I took the kids to Plaza Frontenac to see our favorite St. Louis Santa!  He arrives with jingle bells and walks around to talk to everyone.  He then leads them in a few Christmas songs.  He truly helps the kids relax and be happy to sit with him.  The pictures are a little out of order, but here is peak into our time with Santa . . .

Jeb wants a yellow dinosaur . . . Virginia wants a swimming baby doll . . . Ford wants a Wii . . .

Naughty or Nice???

Ford took this picture while we were waiting in line . . . pretty good for a 7 year old!
Jeb's getting comfortable with Santa . . .

Pee Pee Party!!!

Not sure why, but I decided to tackle potty training Jeb beginning on Thanksgiving morning.  Why oh why?  Well, we still aren't there but we are making great progress.  Here are a couple of pictures of our efforts that I'm sure he will hate me for later!!

Jeb LOVES Lamar's Donuts.  He will sit anywhere for any length of time if you give him a bag of donut holes and an episode of Franklin.  Example below!

Ford and Virginia sat with him for many hours and tried to help encourage him along the way.  The M&M's were a hit too -- 5 for each success!!!