Family Pictures 2011....

And, like last year, we utilized our little card that Neena bought when the girls were little for a free photo session (Sadly this doesn't necessairly mean free pictures, but at least the session is free), for some family pictures at Christmas time....I hope you enjoy them! :)

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
The Wideman's

All the World is a Stage...

A long time ago, I was at my friend Julie's house and she showed me this box that she had built to cover the front of her hearth, so that he son Luke wouldn't get scratched up when he was learning to crawl and walk. SUCH a great idea, she'd seen it in a parenting magazine, so I stole it! :) I had Matt's Dad build us a box and I went out and got fabric to cover it and padding to make it soft. My mom came over one spring day in 2009 and helped me cover it, so that we were prepared for when the girls started crawling and getting into everything! That was the day I discovered how much I loved the staple gun, you know that random thing Matt registered for when we were getting married that I thought was a waste? NOPE, it's actually really awesome, and I even remember that Ben (Matt's BFF and best-man), gave it to us. LOVE it....6 years later..and it's amazing. :)

Anways, as time has gone on, the girls have discovered the joys to be found in our hearth, MAINLY as a stage....we have shows produced on that stage quite often, as demonstrated in the following pictures!

Currently, we love to sing with our Airel microphones, but are hoping that someday we'll get some other ones, you know because the whole 3 songs on those microphones are making our parents nutso! :) It's so cute when they do this, because Olivia (and it's ALWAYS Olivia), will announce before the show starts...."Ladies and Gentlemen...." so so cute and sweet.

That's right girls, all the world is a stage, and keep on truckin'

We love you....just learn some new songs....okay?

Hope all is well,
J

Thanksgiving 2012

One Little, TWO Little....



Indians! The girls made these Indian hats in Preschool, and were running around the house pretending to be Indians...what a way to start Thanksgiving Break!  I tried REALLY hard to explain the purpose of Thanksgiving and why it's so important in American History and to us today, but they didn't get it...really, Oh well, I'll try again next year! :) Persistance is the key, as I have learned! :)

This year for THanksgiving, we all went down to Neena and PaPa's house. It was fabulous as always. THis was our first Thanksgiving without Uncle Mikey and it was weird, for all of us I think. Oh well, guess we need to get used to the new normal. Poor Uncle MIkey. The girls were happy to talk to him and Aunt Zomi on the phone later on in the evening. :)

After dinner, Susan, Dan, Megan, and Chet came over. They were supposed to be in KC with Megan, but Chet's Dad got sick last minute, so they loaded all their food in the car, drove to Susan and Dan's house in STL and then came down to Sharon's b/c we're awesome....I think they are using me for my kids, but oh well! We love them anyways! I don't have a TON of pictures because I was actually using Megan's camera (we have the same one), but here are some of our pictures from Thanksgiving.

 Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.........


Grandpa Gale and Grandma Vicki also came down to Neena's...here we are with our Dolls that Grandpa got for us....they actually wear larger clothing than Sydney and Olivia do.

Dressing up....

 Miss O modeling in front of Neena's Christmas Tree...sure haven't seen that one in awhile...it's been a good 4 years since she's put up the WHOLE tree. Even more exciting....if you found the pickle Neena would give you some fruit snacks! :)

 Sydney and Chet...of COURSE she flirted with him! :)

 Megan and Olivia....

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope yours was as great as ours!
Love,
J

Chuckie Cheese..a Germ Infested Adventure....

Another 'promise for Potty Training, is that the girls would FINALLY get to go to Chuckie Cheese. You see, there are all these commercials about it on tv AND on the way home from Preschool each Thursday. So, the fascination with Chuckie Cheese has been an on-going experience. So, after venturing out last evening to the Mall and our big Adventures at Build-A-Bear, we set off today for Chuckie Cheese. The girls, of course had a blast, while I had an anxiety attack thinking/worrying about all the millions of diseases they could/would catch while there, because despite the whole use hand sanitizer when you first walk in, I am sure there are a million + diseases living on all the rides and climbing equipment...oh well, guess if they catch something, we're not coming back! :)

The girls had a blast! Also, since I'm posting this past when we actually went, I'm proud to note that we thankfully didn't catch any crazy diseases from chuckie cheese....this time! :)

Hope all is well,
J

Dare I say....Potty Trained???

WELL, it looks like it was/is finally time that we officially admit that our girls are potty trained, only during the day, but man, am I greatful! We just realized the other day that we haven't had an accident in WEEKS, So, we discussed what we should do for a reward. The longest time ago, it was requested that we get a Vidia doll (a fairy from Tinkerbell), but Matt and I kind of felt that they deserved a little bit more exciting reward...so, we took the girls out to dinner at the Galleria and to check out the Disney store (really so I could scope what they had in preparation for the big After-Thanksgiving Day sales. While there, we took the girls to Build-a-Bear for the first time ever and they were able to pick a stuffed animal to make as part of their Potty-Training Reward....of course given that it's ALMOST the holiday season AND we saw Santa at the Mall, they chose to make a Rudolph..so cute, and he talks (not so cute in the middle of the night), but hey, their choice!

Now to start working on night-time training....fun fun!

Enjoying those last Fall Days

This weekend, we winterized the house/back yard in preparation for winter. Last winter was AWFUL, seriously awful, and to be honest, I'm not thinking that this year will be much better, BUT there's always hope! Anyways, we did what we always do, clean up the leaves, cover all the patio furniture, clean out the gutters, and put away the girls's toys. They were a little disturbed and kept asking if they were going to get to play on their playset this winter. Poor kids. We've been on that thing literally every day since it went up, well, except when it rained. Winter's going to be hard. Being cooped up is hard, then add the additional torture of your playset being in our backyard and it being too nasty for you to go out! Well, I hate to say it, but I forsee many bundled up afternoons this winter in the cold on the playset. Darn it...I HATE WINTER, I HATE being cold, but I guess I'll just have to give in and be a good Mommy...or wait until Daddy's avaliable, but he conveniently doesn't get home until after dark in the winter. Stinker I think he does that on purpose. :)

Here are some pics of our HELPERS! 

Hope All is well, and yes, if you are wondering, I'm playing catch up and back dating all the stuff I've been slacking on posting! :)

J