++Christmas Day++

Be prepared for photo overload.  I set out thinking I could limit it to about five.  I just couldn't.  Some of the photos aren't even that great but they represent a memory of the day that was great.  Like I said before, Christmas through the eyes of children really is magical.

The view of Santa's loot pre-kid.

The PRICELESS expression on the boy's face after discovering that Santa brought the firetruck.

Kind of confused about where all these toys cam from, but excited about her kitchen all the same.

The doll chair was immediately put to use.

Showing off the PURRRRRPLE ring that Santa left in her stocking.

Dad and Wyatt got right on the firetruck assembly.

I appreciate moments like this so much more after our little scare 18 months ago.

Wyatt opening the gift Claire picked for him at the kids secret shopping event.  It was Cars magnets.  The response: "Claire must have picked these for me because she knows Owen (his buddy) likes Cars."

Dad opening his prized present: Apple TV.

Wyatt checking out the binoculars sent by Sophie the dog.

I think we were heading towards noon and he was still in his PJs and hadn't stopped playing with the firetruck.

Claire (in her Christmas dress, day 2) testing out the new dishes from mom and dad.

One of two of my greatest gifts.

Cora and Larson came over at lunchtime.  The kids got piggy banks for their cousins.  Cora thought she should ride hers.

Nana got the girls Bitty Babies that looked like them.  Ironically, Claire was obsessed with the black hair baby.  So much for a good plan!

Nana and Bompa got the boys sleeping bags.

They were a hit!

A sad attempt at a photo of the crew.  My fixed lens doesn't do wide-angle shots so well.  I had to go outside.  But for the record, after living in houses with formal dining rooms for nearly three years, we officially had our first meal in one.  The kids sat in the entryway.

I hope your Christmas was merry as well! 

++Christmas Eve++

This year was the first year in four years (when Wyatt was three months old--pre blog!) that we were at home on Christmas.  Now that Wyatt is in his prime Christmas years, it is so fun to experience the magic all over again through his eyes.  Claire should catch on by next year.  For now every time we mention Santa she still reminds us that she was crying.   

Here is our tree in all it's glory before the room became one big mess of wrapping paper.

 The celebration started on Christmas eve. My parents were in town but went to my sister's house for the day so we decided to spend the day with Mark's family...2010 style.  Isn't technology great?

Claire loved her tea set.  She put it right to use "pooouuuurrrr".

Wyatt loved his Tag reader and all the books.



Mom and her daughter on Christmas Eve.  Wyatt was too busy pouting about having to wear church clothes to be photographed.



By the time church was over and it was time to open a few presents he forgot about how much he hated his clothes.

The kiddos working together to open Wyatt's present to Claire (which, for the record, was wooden food).

 The kids took a lot of care preparing the house for Santa's arrival.  We moved the stockings into the family room (where we have a wood burning fireplace and the doors open).  We even took the baby lock off the doors and propped them open a bit.  We left Santa a gingerbread man because that's all lazy mom got around to making this year, a glass of milk, an apple, and some carrots for the reindeer.


Off to bed!  Ready to listen for the sound of reindeer hooves on the roof.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

++Twenty-Two: too close to two!++

Our little one is growing up too fast.  She's in the vocabulary explosion phase so we ALWAYS know what is on her mind. 

At twenty-two months she still loves purrrrrple.  Like I said before I think the joke is on me as it has never been a color I have cared for all that much. 
She is still so into her babies.  She definitely has a favorite.  She likes them best with "clothes off".  I happened upon this the other day and had to grab my camera.  She is reading a story to her baby.  The best part is she was pointing things out in the book "see it?"  My heart was mush.

Along with her increased ability to communicate has come her ability to tattle.  She comes to us and says "Wyatt took it!"  Gone are the days where she just has to sit back and put up with it I guess.

She is such a Princess and the Pea sleeper.  She'll wake at the little sound to tell us "heard noise" "outside" "noisy truck" "birds kack kack".  We are LUCKY to get an hour nap out of her.  Feel free to send your sympathies my way.

We're also not exactly sure what she fuels her body with, mostly crumbs, fumes...and treats.  She just can't be bothered with sitting and eating.  She still loves her pickles (it has become a banned word in this house) and salty meats though. 

We are still obsessed with Cora at our house as well.  She often tells us to call her Cora.  We need to talk about what Cora is doing all the time.  Everything we do, she wants to know if Cora will be there too.  Cora's kitty is a close second.  Every time Cora comes over, Claire is convinced the kitty is coming too.  There is no talking her out of it.

She continues to check off those little developmental milestones that make us glad that she will at least be average (although I secretly know she'll never be just average).  She is slowly figuring out colors but does best will purple, yellow and orange.  She can count to ten (thanks to playing hide and seek with dad and Wyatt) and can sing the ABC song. 

She has a great sense of humor and finds humor in telling us things that aren't right, knowing that they are wrong.  She points to something red and says "yellow" with a smile.  Knowing it's not yellow.  She thinks it's so funny if you put a piece of clothing on the wrong body part, etc.  Her latest is to assign all of us the names of the corresponding members of Cora's family.  She is Cora, Wyatt is Larson, Daddy is "Bett" and Mommy is Soozoo. 
 
A few more things I want to be sure to remember about this age:
++She does a really nice job playing on her own. Reads books, loads up her baby gear, wanders around.
++After a snit loves to come tell us "all done crying!"  She does the same for her brother too.
++Loves soft tickles on her feet, tummy, back---tells us "again" if we stop.
++Whenever she gets in a little back-and-forth with Wyatt she starts in with "my daddy" knowing that he'll respond "my daddy" and it will go on and on.
++Likes her fuzzy pink blanket almost as much as her lovey.  Likes to be "warm and cozy".
++Does not like to leave her socks or shoes on.  I just discovered a pile (no joke, 3 or 4 pairs) of socks between her crib and the wall.
++If you ask her how old she is she tells you "months".  So funny.
++Wakes up in the morning and from naps and calls out "Mommy, are you?" until we come to get her.
++Is a total lap kid.  If I am sitting down she NEEDS to be on my lap.  Also wants to be held and carried a lot.  "Mommy, carry you".  So not used to this.  Wyatt never wanted to be held or carried after he learned to crawl.  Good thing she weighs the same as Wyatt did when he learned to crawl.

Can't you tell that little one is just up to something?

 This is my favorite shot of her in a long while.  Props to grandma for the hat. 

++The Santa saga continues++

We turned a corner this year in our house.  I'm not sure what prompted it. It may have been just being that much older, it may have been the lure of presents, or it may have been trying to one-up his sister, but ladies and gentlemen, BEHOLD:



Yes, that is MY SON sitting on Santa's lap, looking and the camera and maybe, just a little bit, SMILING!  It's almost easy for me to ignore the complete and total meltdown occurring to his right because I am so proud of the big kid.  For the record he asked Santa for a soccer ball.  The long-form version of his request list is a soccer ball, a soccer net and a late entrant into the arena is a Playmobil ladder fire truck.  Arrived at after hours and hours of studying the Playmobil catalog.  If you don't have one in your house I recommend finding one.  No joke, Wyatt looks at it for an hour a day. 

Claire didn't say much to Santa on this fateful day, but if you ask her, she'll tell you that she would like Santa to bring her a chair for her baby.  She will also remind you that she was crying when she saw Santa.  Yes Claire, we haven't forgotten.  

As an aside: we took the Santa train again this year to visit Santa.  That's why the kids are dressed the way they are.  Before the Santa visit there is a cold train ride, and a lot of outside time.  Perhaps that is why Wyatt is smiling in the picture, because he was able to wear his beloved jeans...I'll pretend I didn't come to that realization just now. 

++Aspirations?++

Most little girls are always playing princess.  Mine?  Bag lady. 

++Someday++

Maybe someday I'll have a child who will wear the costume and participate in the school Christmas program.  Until then I'll have to settle for my little drummer boy, marching to his own beat and be proud as can be.

Something tells me that the little one in red might just give me my wish someday. She learned the words to the songs based on Wyatt singing them for us and would sing and act out "So they rested in a stable..."

++The Tree++

Once again we took advantage of living out in the Northwest woods to go and cut down our tree locally.  It's always fun at this time of year because on weekends if you drive on the interstate that runs to and from downtown, about 50% of the the cars have trees tied on top. 

My tree hunters

Claire thought this one would be a good choice as it was just her size!  Maybe when she has her own home it will be ready. 



The winner!



The little one LOVED the ornaments this year.  She loved picking out the purple ones.  She didn't like when we told her to be gentle with the brakable ones though.  "No gentle!  Mine!"



Our workhorse loves this kind of stuff.  He got his step ladder out and proceeded to place about 50 ornaments before he moved it.  He was so proud of his work.  Ir's so fun to see him light up about stuff like this.



This was the third year we had Wyatt place the star.  It's become a fun tradition but I'm not so sure Mark will be able to hold him next year!  Check out here and here.

After a few minutes of decorating, Claire retreated to the chair to talk on her "phone" for a little bit.  Why is it that I can just see this same thing happening in about ten years?

It's so fun to Christmas-ize our house.  The kids enjoy all the little things.  Having kids really does bring this season to life.

++Our Tea Party Shower++

For those of you loyal readers, you may recall me gushing about my wonderful visit from two super friends in August.  If you need a recap, click HERE.  It turns out that both of those ladies were pregnant.  We knew about Sara, and Tiffany fessed up shortly later.

Since we don't like to let an occasion go by without going totally overboard in all sorts of ways, Tiffany and I threw a little tea party shower for Sara's baby girl.   Did I mention that if your friends are a bunch of current and former ad ladies there isn't a lack of talent when it comes to creativity, organization and execution? Oh--and they are super fun too.

Crafty Janet volunteered to help with the flowers.  So, we turned Tiffany's kitchen into a flower factory.  No joke.



 I think the results speak for themselves (and Tiffany found a use for the silver tea sets in her basement!)

 Due to my geographical handicap, we decided to outsource the event.  If you've never done this before allow me to warn you: it is dangerous to get a taste of this.  Tiffany and I kept remarking at how easy they made everything.  We had it at the Hotel Ivy.  It was lovely. 

 We even outsourced the favors to Tiffany's Mother-in-law and her friends.  So cute. 

 The lovely mother-to-be

 The yummy food.  There was also a sweet plate but it looked so good I ate it before I remembered to take a picture of it.

 The lovely ladies.

 Shameless self promotion: Sara opening the nightlight I made for her room.  I found the cutest little pink fairy fabric.  Claire already has a nightlight but I almost want to make her another one.  Overkill?  Yes.

Can't wait to meet baby Noznesky!