Disco Party

When they get disco/band gifts, they use them.

Christmas Day photos

Celebrating at my parents' house on Christmas day.

In the Spirit of Christmas

This post is actually something that happened last Christmas Eve, I've been meaning to write about it since then.  We went to the annual Christmas Eve Children'

Vivian wearing her Moana necklace playing with GrandJoe.

s service at my parents' church that is usually packed to standing room, as it was last year.
Vivian was wearing a new Moana necklace with her outfit, which glowed when a button on the back was pressed.
As the service progressed, the lights were dimmed, then went off completely, as the shepherds and the wise men processed.  There was one glowing light that represented the North Star to guide them through the darkness.  That it is, until Vivian, uncomfortable in the darkness, pressed the button on her Moana necklace.  A glowing green light eminated from the orb of the Heart of te Fiti.  Nana gasped and quickly covered it with her church program.  Luckily the Wise men were wise enough to continue on their way to the manger and were not tempted to reroute towards the Heart of te Fiti.

Merry Christmas to all.

Frankie the Frog

Vivian had a homework assignment last week of bringing her stuffed frog home from Kindergarten.  He was supposed to be involved in our family activities and outings and then we were to journal our experiences in the class book.  At first I misread the assignment and thought he was with us just for the weekend, which was good, because it made me do all the photo taking and printing and get the bulk of the work done on Sunday. When we reread the information that night I realized we had a whole week with Frankie.


Of course, every single activity that we did outside of the house, we forgot to get Frankie.  So Frankie did not get to choose a Christmas tree, put lights on the tree, go to the park, go to dance class, or go on a playdate...

Frankie's missed outing to find a tree.

We did remember when we folded laundry and went to dinner at my parents. He got to hang out with the family, so that was good.
On the actual Sunday night before Frankie had to return to Kindergarten, he disappeared, no where to be found.  Vivian's things tend to do that. We had a few talks about how very, very sad her entire Kindergarten class would be if Frankie was lost, including her beloved teacher. Vivian was not entirely persuaded. We discussed how it wasn't fair that some children got to keep Frankie for a longer time than others, and everyone should have a chance. Nothing.

Sam wanted to pose with Frankie.

Eventually I gave up to read stories, figuring I'd deal after the kids went to bed.  I sat down on the couch and out of the corner of my eye I spotted something that I first thought was the dog. It was Frankie, sitting on a dining room chair, pushed in under the table. I retrieved him and kept him safe until the next morning and lectured Vivian on how much trouble she would be in if Frankie didn't make it to school.

Christmas Elf

Paparazzi ready on the way to her sitter- 

Choose the outfit herself ; ). Complete with the headband that was a gift

Gingerbread Houses

Some construction was a little more sound than others.  And one little girl wanted nothing to do with engineering concepts!  She was very pleased to dump all of her gingerbread people and candy into the house and then attempt to  balance the roof with a load of frosting on top.  It ended with, "ta-da!  You take a picture of me?!" 

Meanwhile, Sam was content to adhere candy on for hours. 

Christmas Cookies

I found an adorable reindeer Christmas cookie on Pinterest for which we had all the ingredients in the house.  I figured it would be easy enough to execute.  The kids had a great time but the cookies obviously turned out nothing like what I had hoped for.  Vivian promptly ate all of her decorations and balled up her dough several times to cook in a mound.  Sam took his duties very seriously but they both exercised a creativity to say the least.  I made some reindeer heads just to have a few!  

Sam and Santa

Sam was excited to meet Santa but Vivian wanted nothing to do with him.  At all.

He took his visit very seriously.

Christmas Preparation

Chilly (or freezing) and trying to decide
what to make of the trees and noise.

Riding the cart with the Christmas tree.

And then this happened (nothing to do with the kids.  Chris has no patience with tree stands).

Needs a little off the top, the angel is mashed, but at least the tree is vertical.

Christmas Eve Warning

On Christmas Eve, I told Sam that Santa came only when children slept in their own beds the whole night.  I explained that Santa didn't want to be discovered putting presents under the tree (Sam had been waking up each night in the wee hours and giving an excuse as to why he couldn't sleep in his bed).

Sam looked at me very seriously and shook his head sadly. "Oh," he said, "then I guess Vivian isn't getting any presents from Santa."

Pine Needles and Coffee

Yesterday was another indoor adventure, welcoming the New Year in true little-kids-being-stuck-indoors fashion.

We did get out for brunch, which in itself is an exercise in futility, compounded by the waiter not putting Sam's order in, so having to get the kids to hold it together for an additional thirty minutes.  Brunch ended with Sam eating, barefoot (snowboots are too hot for brunch) while Chris walked around the restaurant with Vivian trying to keep the peace, and me trying to retrieve random discarded items and winter gear from under the table without disturbing the patrons (who were alarmingly close) next to us.

Later in the day, Chris went out to get ready for the snowstorm and retrieve my phone that I had left at Target.  I was getting laundry from the kitchen when I heard Sam:

"Mom."
"Yes, Sam."
"Viv is drinking coffee and pouring it all over the living room."  Usually Sam exaggerates ("it's an emergency!  Vivian is about to crawl down the stairs!" and I find her on the other side of the baby gate, approaching it from 6 feet away).
"Okay, thanks Sam."
"Mom."
"Yes, Sam?"
"It smells like Starbucks in here."
"Okay, I'll get the coffee."
"Mom. "
"Yes, Sam?"
"Viv is splashing in the coffee."
Crap.  I go to check.  Sure enough, Vivian has found a mug of Chris's untouched (luckily cold) coffee, poured it around her, on her, drank some and is indeed, happily splashing in it.
I spend twenty minutes cleaning up coffee from in the toy box, on the toys, under the couch, on the baby, and running in rivers into and under the rug.

I go back to the laundry.  Sam is "street sweeping" the pine needles from under the tree that we are slowly taking down.  I hear Vivian shriek.  I come back in the living room to find her sitting in the middle of a pile of pine needles with a small coating of them on her head.  Sam is guiltily looking the other way.  Out comes the vacuum cleaner.  The baby now smells like a cup of evergreen coffee.  The caffeine is also kicking in.  She reaches for me and virtually leaps through the air.  I nurse her on the couch and she finishes and jumps out of my arms, head first toward the floor.  I manage to catch her by one foot, but she already has hit the floor with her head and hands.  Sam thinks this is hilarious.

I went to meet my friend for a drink and to shut off my unretrieved/unlocatable phone at Verizon.  When I came back, Vivian was asleep and Sam was finishing his stories.

"Mom."
"Yes Sam?"
"It's okay.  Don't worry.  I checked all around and there are no firecrackers.  Vivian is sleeping and I made sure the firecrackers won't wake her up."
"Great.  Thanks for checking."
"Firecrackers are loud."
"Yes, they are."
"And smelly."
"Um, no, they're not smelly." I look at Chris, who just shakes his head.  He looks like I felt before I went out.
"Mom."
"Yes Sam."
"There are no firecrackers."
"Right, no firecrackers today, there were firecrackers late last night."
"There were?" asks Sam, "Why?"
"For New Year's Eve."
"Daddy took down the Christmas tree and we took it outside."
"Oh good!"
"And I plowed all the pine needles with my new plow."
"Great!  They're all cleaned up?"
"Yep.  I plowed them all."
"They're under the dining room rug." Chris corrected.  "I was giving the baby a bath.  She smelled awful.  Like coffee."
"Mmm.. and pine needles?" I offer.
"Well, there were pine needles in her diaper and there are pine needles in the tub."
"And there are pine needles under the dining room rug."

Now it is snowing for two days straight and going to be about zero degrees for two days after that.  This will be fun.

Toilet Training Christmas Highlight

Still toilet training, or really doing it this time.  I finally pulled the diapers, Sam can wear them at night only.  It's been a long week of bathroom trips but he is finally coming around, or at least peeing in the toilet with minimal accidents.  Pooping is another story.

Christmas we literally spent running back and forth from the toilet every time we spotted the "poop-face."  He would then sit on the toilet and freeze.  At my parents' house, several trips (maybe fifteen?) and several pairs of underwear later, I sat him down on the toilet and went back down to Christmas dinner to find a book to read him and my glass of wine.  I wheeled an office chair into the bathroom and settled in for the long haul.  He looked up at me like I was crazy, "what are you doing?"
"We're going to read a book and wait for your poop."
"It came."
We peered into the toilet and sure enough, he had produced.  I cleaned him up and he asked if he could tell Nana, as she had a toy waiting for this miraculous moment.
I was washing my hands and told him "yes," then started to tell him that was a private conversation when he raced out of the bathroom.  He got midway down the stairs which lead into the dining room, where about 10 extended family members were enjoying their dinner, calling, "Nana, Nana!"
I heard the dinnertime conversation cease, "yes?"
"I pooped in the toilet, and it was ENORMOUS."
Still in the bathroom, I dropped my head into my hands.
A beat of silence from downstairs and then a rousing round of applause.  Luckily we had an understanding audience of relatives.

Christmas 2013

Sam and Vivian on Christmas Eve

                                                            Vivian with Uncle Mou

Vivian with her new ride on toy from Santa

Sam's anatomically correct Gingerbread man label

Christmas Ride On Presents

When Three Year Olds Decorate Christmas Trees

Dear Santa

We were trying to avoid Christmas lists this year and the whole idea of asking for things, but then Sam saw it in a Curious George movie.  I let him watch an inordinate amount of TV while we were laid up with the stomach bug, so I fully take blame for that. The premise of the Curious George movie was that he drew pictures for his list and no one could decipher what he wanted and had to guess at what to buy him.  That apparently went straight over Sam's head as his first idea is that he would draw pictures of what he wanted.  We compromised and Chris and I wrote and drew pictures of each object.  And then Sam helpfully dictated Vivi's innermost desires for toys, which sounded suspiciously similar to his own tastes...

Gingerbread House 2013

Sam and his gingerbread house.  I got smart and bought a kit this year, which was still difficult enough to execute with Vivian crawling around and needing to be picked up, but at least it was organized and thought out.

This is also Sam smiling his photo smile that we can't seem to get him to drop.  Not sure where he learned it.  Christmas photos are going to be pretty special this year!

Christmas Cookies

Sam thought that making sugar cookies was a great project.  He did really well with it, considering it's not instantly gratifying.  After making the dough there is an hour in which the dough has to chill.  Even without that hour of chilling dough, the project took over two hours, in which he was fully immersed (though about 15 minutes of it was racing matchbox cars through flour and handing them to me to "take to the car wash").

Dress Code

Sam has become very particular about what he wants to wear.  It started as him just pitching a fit when we tried to get him dressed in the morning, so I finally would pull out two acceptable items and offer him a "choice."  Then it morphed into Sam only wearing khakis or light grey pants (no jeans, dark cords, navy, etc).  On top he prefers anything with trucks, engines, heavy construction equipment.  This limits things, until you build a wardrobe of serious vehicle attire, which we now have.
The problem we are encountering (other than drawers full of unworn clothing), is that it is now cold out and khakis are usually spring wear, so not designed for cold weather use.  Chris also bought Sam a cool pair of fire engine pajamas, that if he sees he has to wear, day or night.
Most of our Christmas photos involve these jammies.  The only way to make them warm, is to layer, but the pajamas have to be visible.  Today he kind of looks homeless.  Fire engine pajama bottoms, with khaki  shorts over them, a onesie, and a t-shirt with monster truck.  I'm not really sure what look we're going for here.  And this kid isn't two yet.  I'm just thinking that if he was a girl, I'd be in trouble when he was  teenager.  I figure if he's warm, I'm not fighting this battle, particularly in the morning before work.  Please excuse his fashion sense.

Sam's Christmas Eve outfit.  Fire engine pajamas with khaki pants rolled up over them.

Boys on the Bench

"Maybe if we stand here we can throw all of Nana's decorations on the floor."