Yesterday we took a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. You can just imagine the look on the kids faces when we told them we were taking them to a candy factory!

Look they have a sample bar where you can ask for as many samples as you want! I tried egg nog. They seriously have like, every flavor you can think of.

Here we are waiting for the tour to start.

They cart you around the warehouse showing you different videos. You see candy made on these screens, not live like I envisioned. But it was still cool to see the mosaic jelly bean pictures and clothes made of jelly beans! (No pictures allowed during that part of the tour.)

Afterwards, the fun part! The boys picked out their candy! Here is Jack loading up on 10 pounds of jelly beans.

Man it was a busy weekend.

So much for hunkering down for the cold weather!

First, the Hanukkah bears have been up to their usual stuff the past few nights…

Hanukkah Totem Pole

Superhero Hanukkah Bears Battle Godzilla

Then there was the holiday train one night followed by a dinner out at Dee’s Restaurant.

Another night, Zoo Lights followed by a dinner out at Eleven City Diner. Nothing like a little deli food to warm yourself after a night out at the zoo.

3D glasses for zoo light viewing.

Then every night there were candles and presents…

And one night there were Hanukkah cookies too….

It was a great start to the older boy’s winter holiday and just wait, we have A LOT more planned for them for the rest of it as well. If I didn’t have such a happy childhood I think I’d be pretty jealous of these kids right now!

Yesterday was the first day of Hanukkah and the kids were ecstatic that their wait was finally over.

Yes, they’re baaaaack. The kids were greeted with the Hanukkah bears yesterday morning.

In the evening they almost burst with anticipation waiting for Adam to get home from work.

We sang the Hanukkah prayer and lit the candles.

Well, Adam and I sung it. Ben and Jack watched. Aaron and Sam sang ‘Happy Birthday’.

We opened the first night’s toys. Jack and Ben actually picked out all their toys and wrapped them themselves so they knew exactly what they were getting. There is Jack’s remote control Dino car. Ben got mini superheros and villains, also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle hot chocolate mugs from his aide. The twins got matching ambulances. We also opened up gifts from Aunt Aloha and Uncle Ronnie. Puppets, books and Macadamia Nut Chocolates.

It was a great haul for the first night! Or any night!

Then it was time for the dreidel game. Aaron tried to eat his whole stash and Ben got really upset when he lost, but Adam was able to bring him back in and show him how to play. I was proud he was able to come back and recover from his upset. Shows he’s getting better.

This morning, the bears were up to no good again…

With all the holiday show hoopla, I forgot to mention that Ben had another very good week last week.

He was ‘Star of the Week’ in his kindergarten class and proudly filled out this poster about himself all on his own. He wouldn’t let me help write a single letter. I noticed for Jack’s Kindergarten ‘Star of the Week’ poster I wrote everything. (First time mom rookie mistake!)

Highlights include Ben’s chosen profession when he grows up: Lawyer and Police Man. Jack wanted to be a truck driver on his.

Ben’s favorite food is Egg Rolls, Jack’s was Sushi. Yes, I’ve managed to pass on that asian gene!

For the things he does at home her wrote “iPad and TMNT” (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and for the things he does at school he wrote “be good for treats”. Ha ha ha ha.

Finally, for his three supercool facts he wrote he can swim, he collected 1001 pieces of candy for Halloween, and he can do almost anything!

It was the usual morning frenzy Friday morning at the Calisoff house. Today’s frenzy du jour was the holiday show at school. Both Jack and Ben were performing and everyone, including the parents, were very excited.

It was a big day for Ben. In the past Ben has not done well in performance situations. I don’t know if you all remember the puppet show incident. He basically wandered around the stage during his performance then kicked and screamed his way off the stage. In hindsight, we figured standing alone on stage with no one to regulate him was a bad idea.

So when it was once again time for him to perform, we approached with trepidation. We actually told his aide not to let him perform. We didn’t want him ruining the show for everyone. And we’ve seen Jack’s school shows. They are AMAZING.

When we told her not to let him participate, her face fell. She told us he would be really disappointed and she thought he could do it. So we told her okay, but if it’s not working out we are okay not seeing him onstage.

The staff at school not only managed to teach him his lines and get him to practice, they also made him line leader. He was a leader! I was really, really hoping he would succeed.

So back to the Calisoff morning frenzy. For some reason, Jack said he couldn’t stand up to get dressed. He was acting very strange. But I don’t think anyone spent any time trying to figure out why. Jack really wanted to do the show and we really wanted to see him do it!

Please do not judge me when you see the picture I snapped before Adam took them so school. When I look at it I cringe. If it were in a newspaper the caption might read, “Stage Mom Ignores Sick Kid’s Symptoms. The Show Must Go On!”

 And the show did go on.

Ben did an incredible job. I couldn’t tell him apart from any other kid up there. He did the movements and sang the song. He waited patiently to lead the other kids off stage. I was so proud of him. HE DID IT!

Jack fought the sickness and performed in both shows. In between he put his head on his desk. As his teacher said, she knew he was sick because today they had plenty of opportunity to horse around with their buddies and he didn’t do it.

The auditorium was packed so there was no room for siblings but while I was watching Jack perform I turned around and saw this image in the doorway…

It was such an upbeat way to start the holiday season. Many thanks to Jack and Ben’s school!

Another birthday! And so soon! I feel like with each passing year the birthdays come quicker and quicker.

Actually I have a theory on that. When you are 4 years old you have to wait, like 1/5 of your life for your 5th birthday to arrive. That’s a long time to wait! But when you are turning 42, it’s only 1/42 of your life since your last birthday. Which really isn’t a lot at all.

So another birthday!

Adam and the older boys were out creating some elaborate surprise that they unbelievably kept a secret from me until my actual birthday.

Adam took them to a pottery place and they made these great little boxes for me to put stuff in.

Then the twins came in with a card they scribbled up real good for me. They were very proud of themselves too.

I got spoiled with breakfast out at Meli Cafe, reflexology at Fit Foot, and cupcakes from Sweet Mandy Bs.

That evening we got the sitter and went to the gym then to dinner at Japonais by Morimoto.

It was a perfect day. I loved all my gifts and thoroughly enjoyed getting spoiled, but the best gift I got this year came from Ben.

An entire week of good behavior reports from Ben’s school…