Christmas

Santa came two days early to our house! (We won't be home on Christmas Day and wanted to have the kids celebrate here too! Plus, it gives St. Nick more time to deliver gifts on Christmas Eve if we are all set!) It's not all that climactic but here are the videos from this morning!

Funny Phone Calls

Ellie and I were sitting at the table eating and I heard her start pretending to be on the phone with Santa.  She's so funny.  This is a good one for you, Aunt Katie!!!!!!

Christmas Party #1

We had family over last night for a Christmas celebration, and Santa even showed up!! I regret not taking a video of that! Anyway, here we are playing the traditional Breen/Snyder game of "pass the gift on AND" with the presents Santa brought in his sack. The kids were so excited (ok so were the grown ups). My heart was so happy to see everyone so happy!!

Albany Snow

We got a good amount of snow last weekend.  After Evan went to sleep we went outside to play! I love night snow the most...it's so quiet and fresh.  I thought I had uploaded the other video to youtube but I guess I didn't (and it's deleted from my phone).  Here's a little glimpse at how we sled in the city. 

Ellie Sings

Here is Ellie's interpretation of Zombie, by the Cranberries. She heard it in the car and really liked it.

      

Original Song:

 

Here is Roar by Ellie:

       

And the real version:

Heads Up!

This is a funny video of Ellie playing "Heads Up". If you've never played this game, go to your smart phone right now and get it!!! So much fun. 

Elf on the Shelf

When we were kids, my family had an elf that we creatively named "Elfie".  Each morning he would hide somewhere in our house and we would race to see who would find him first.  I totally should have thought to replicate this idea and sell it for $30 a pop like the Elf on the Shelf! Three years ago, my Dad bought Ellie our family's elf.  At the time, Ellie loved to say "BUBBLES!".  We don't know where his first name came from, but it is Jimminy.  Jimminy Bubbles is a boy elf, don't believe Ellie when she tells you otherwise.
Last year, Jimminy Bubbles came to hang out (literally, from the fan) at our house.  Ellie got it, sort of...and then was so sick for Christmas that he kind of got lost in the commotion.  This year, we built up his arrival and this morning there he was, wearing the only footwear that Ellie will wear (I just got her another pair of those pink boots at Target!) She believes that JB watches and reports the choices she makes back to Santa. It's a fun tradition and we are looking forward to seeing what types of antics he performs this year! Here is a video of Ellie after she just woke up, looking for Jimminy Bubbles. 

Christmas with Kids

O, Christmas Tree

As many of you know, kids make Christmas time so much fun! Yesterday, Gigi and Papa took the kids for the day so James and I could stay home and decorate the house.  We decided to not have the kids help because they would be into EVERYTHING and Evan is in the "hmm what is this? let's chew on it to see" stage.  They had a blast at Gigi's and even got to see and play with Uncle Michael! First we cleaned and James put up shelves in the toy room (no more low storage...we finally got smart after Ellie found a marker and drew a self portrait holding balloons on her $140 Anywhere Chair and then "decorated" the curtains.)

I hung the stockings on a shelf because Evan would pull them down from the mantel.  I actually like the way they look on the shelf!! We put up the creche on the shelf above the stockings. All looks great and it is nice to have a clutter free and clean living room (for this morning anyway). 

Here is a video (a little long) of the kids as they see the tree lit up for the first time. You get to see a little of Ellie's "I'm not little" attitude at the end.  Pay attention to Evan after I say "wowwww"- he repeats it.

Learning on the iPad

Uncle Tommy brought Ellie a PINK stylus for the iPad a few weeks ago and tonight we finally took it out.  I had an app already that was for handwriting but it didn't interest Ellie so I deleted it.  I re-downloaded it tonight and she LOVED it.  The best part is it rates how you write by giving stars.  Ellie practiced and practiced letters until she got three stars.  I wonder how this will apply to real life pencil and paper.  We'll try that after she's mastered the app :) I swear the kid learns so well on the iPad.  I know there are people that are against "screen time" for little kids but I am not one of those parents.  Ellie loves the iPad and uses it at night before bed, and only educational apps or Netflix.  She smoothly navigates the home screen and new apps are like gold for her.  If you don't know of the app called "Apps Gone Free" you should get it.  There are lots of educational apps for children posted, so I rarely pay for apps that should cost money.  Anyway, here is a video of Ellie's first time using the writing app with the stylus.  Thanks for watching and reading.

Family Fun

A few years ago, when I didn't have an iphone, we had the Flip video recorder.  It was great- took great videos and plugged right into the computer.  Life with an iphone is much easier.  All I need to do is hit a button and my video goes to youtube (and then to here!) The next videos are of our family having fun!! Although the Ellie videos are funny, these are my favorite videos.

Our Sweet Boy

Evan is what Ellie was at 13 months...sweet, innocent, calm...It is such a joy to watch him learn and grow.  It is much different raising Evan than it was to raise Ellie.  He has a favorite teacher and it's not me or James! Just recently, he has started to mimic more consistently.  He knows how to answer "what does a dog say?...wolf say?...duck say?" It's so cool to watch a brain develop.  Anyway, here are some Evan-centric videos. I guess I like to video him while he eats!

Singing and Dancing Queen

As you probably can guess, Ellie has a thing for dramatics.  She enjoys singing, dancing, and putting on "shows".  Sometimes, I can even get it on video (but most often she doesn't sing in front of the camera!) Here, we have Ellie singing, dancing and/or acting.

We bring the crazy.

Hey all! I've been posting some funny videos on Facebook of Ellie being Ellie. Many people have requested to see more videos and so here we are. I just want to post a disclaimer here. I call my family The Great Duffy Circus. Whenever we go, we go together in a whirl of craziness and happiness.  We make big messes and certainly don't clean them up right away. We are loud because we are having fun. As parents, we feel that our job is to nurture two little brains by providing them opportunities to imagine, problem solve and have a sense of humor (take a joke as well as play a joke).  Our kids climb and fall- hard. But they get back up and continue on. This video blog (vlog?) is going to be filled with videos of our life. Please laugh with us but don't judge our parenting style, messy house, or disheveled kids. Thank you and enjoy. XxooL