Christmas Morning

On Christmas Eve, Noah and I put out a few cookies for Santa, but he was so tired that I'm not really sure he knew exactly what we were doing.  Emma hit the sack at her regular bedtime, so she was pretty much clueless about what laid ahead for Christmas morn.  Noah actually slept in a bit and crawled into our bed about 7:00AM.  We snuggled, and I reminded him that Santa came to visit.  I actually had a magical text message I received late last night to show him.

It's a bit grainy, but it shows Santa in front of a huge spread of toys in Grammy's sunroom.  Santa had found my kiddos in Louisiana!  Noah checked out the picture and laid back down in bed.  About five minutes later, he leaned into my face, and said, "Momma, did Santa Claus come here?"  Love his little mind at work.

"He did," I said.

"Can we go see those toys?"  Noah asked.

And, off we went.  Emma had a bit of night waking, so I decided to let her sleep in. 

Noah's haul

Emma's loot

First glance.

Noah loved all his gifts, and also, quite a few of Emma's.  We heard of lot of "wow, this toy is amazing!" and, "Can we open this?"

 

Emma finally woke up, and she made a beeline for her baby.  Well, right after she headed straight for Noah's breakfast.  This girl definitely knows what she wants, and food first thing in the morning is it. 

She then walked right over to her brother to show off her new treasure. "Noah?" 

Super fun morning, full of lots of play!

Makes a Momma happy!

Merry, Merry

We are loving the time with family in Louisiana.  Grandparents.  Cousins.  Aunts and Uncles.  Our quiet family of four is getting a loud dose of family fun, and it's awesome!  A Merry Christmas, indeed!

 

Hey Em, Momma is trying to get the perfect Christmas picture.

 

 

You smile for this one.

 

 

And, I'll smile for this one.

 

 

And, maybe she'll try to photoshop us into the perfect photo.

 

 

Or maybe not!  Happy Christmas! 

Emma - 17 & 18 Months

Awh... Emma Lou, My sweet baby girl.  I am a bit behind on blogging in general and way behind on blogging about you.  So, here's a bit of a round up of the last two months.  Your days are pretty much spent as follows.  You wake up in the morning much later than anyone else in the household.  You eat a quick breakfast on the go as we head off to bring brother to school.  After spending an hour in the car where you ask for Noah the entire ride, we are finally home with about an hour to spare before naptime.  After nap, we eat lunch on the go and heading back to get Noah.  You pretty much cry when we finally end up in carpool until Noah gets in the car next to you.  Then, happy.  Finally, we come home to play.  You eat dinner at 5:30P.  Are bathed and in fresh pjs by 5:45P, and then with a quick version of "You Are my Sunshine," which you sing along to, you are off to bed.

 

You love outside, which you call ("side side.")  You love upstairs.  You love to climb.  This week you found out you could make it to the top of the kitchen table.  You love Noah.  You love baby dolls.  You love compliments.  When someone tells you that you look cute, you smooth out your shirt and smile.  You've now even walk up sometimes, and say "pretty."  You are such a girl.  You love bows in your hair although you still hate having your hair brushed and do eventually lose the bow.  You've totally got the hang of picture taking and consistently grab my phone and say, "cheese."  You love your brother, and when he finally gives you the time of day, it's like you won the lottery.  On any given day, you can be found walking around the house yelling, "NOAH!"  And, sometimes it's "MOMMA!  Noah?"  Hilarious! 

 

You are a great eater, but have started to head to the junk food dark side.  You love Cheez-Its and goldfish.  But, a home cooked meal is still your first choice.  Tonight you chowed down on a full bowl of chicken tortilla soup.  You are insistent on feeding yourself.  You've learned the word "mine," and Noah and you spend a bit of time pulling and exchanging that word back and forth.  You are starting to get into books, and you love "Goodnight Moon."  You also have started to notice TV a bit more, and everything on the screen is "Elmo."  You look people straight in the face when you talk to them.  You have extremely expressive eyes, and I love how you can tell exactly what you are thinking.  You are starting to get apprehensive of strangers, and you absolutely HATE when Momma leaves you with babysitters.  I'm pretty sure you are fine after the initial separation, but it's a pretty brutal separation.  Your language has exploded and you repeat anything an everything. You are such a sweet and easy going girl.  You hardly ever fuss, except when you get hurt.  And, if it's brother doing the hurting... watch out.  Just the other day, you accidentally walked into him while he was swinging a plastic golf club.  It was not pretty.  You are such a precious baby girl, and you bring so much joy to our family.  Picture time!!

 

Reading before bedtime.

 

All ready for Disney!

 

Always a mess!

 

Sweet! Sweet! Baby girl.

 

 

 

 

Instagram + Quick Notes

The few weeks leading up to Disney, we were going through the list of things Noah might want to do. One thing he kept telling me was that he did not want to see the dragon. For the life of me, I could not figure out where we'd seen the dragon. And then, we saw Fantasia. For the record, Fantasmic is a bit scary, and it's been about 32 months since we last saw it. And, there is a big, scary dragon! Do you really think his memory is that long?

 

N: (pulling up to valet at the Contemporary) "Mom, can we see the children with the bowls on their head?"
M: "huh?"
He was referring to the mural on the wall outside Chef Mickey. It's been over 22 months since our last visit. WOW!  And, we have only been to the Contemporary for Chef Mickey. 

 

This was cute!

N: "Mom, are we going to show and tell?"
Me: "What show and tell?"
N: "Is it show and tell, Mom?"
Me: "Do you mean hotel?"
N: "Yes. I want to go to the ho and tell."

 

Emma added a few new words to her vocabulary at Disney. 

Em: "Princess. Pretty."  Oh, and, "Snack"

N: (pulling into Disney) "I just want to go on the monorail. Can we go on the monorail?"

 

N: (pulling up to hotel) "Wow! This is kind of fun!"

Hollywood Stuidos - Disney Jr. x 2. Daddy claims Noah got an A+ in participation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing Noah remembered is the coloring machines in Art of Animation. He specifically asked for them at Hollywood Studios. And, would have played forever, but we made him share.

 

 

We learned pretty quickly that if your child has zero interest in TV, she probably will not sit still for live performances. 

 

Fireworks on the last night. From balcony of 12th floor. I felt like we were having a moment. Putting a little cap on the end of our trip. About two seconds into the big finale, Noah asked to head inside. Denied.

Day 6 - Universal Studios

Our final non-travel day of vacation was when things just started to get silly.  Emma was climbing on tables.

 

 

She got soaking wet.

 

 

And, she had her first lollipop.

 

 

But, first off, we headed off to breakfast with Chef Mickey.

 

 

And, after five days, Emma finally warmed up to the characters.

 

 

Sort of.

 

 

Noah continued to fill up his autograph book.

 

 

And, then we headed to Universal Studios where he filled it some more.

 

 

Super surprised and excited to meet the Lorax.

 

 

Love this picture of Noah and Thing 1 and Thing 2.

 

 

We met them after a storytime, and Noah wasn't ready to leave.  He kept saying, "Mom, she didn't finish the book!"

 

 

Daddy rode the Hulk roller coaster, again.

 

 

Two tough guys!

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom (Again!)

 

Back to the Magic Kingdom.  Rested and happy... and looking super cute!

 

 

First stop, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet's door.  Noah's favorite thing on this trip!

 

 

Roller coaster number 2.  The Barnstormer!

 

 

Super brave boy this trip!

 

 

He and Daddy even hit Splash Mountain!

 

 

Emma loved the Dumbo ride.

 

 

Noah loved the Dumbo play area! 

 

 

Naptime for Em.

 

 

More autographs in the big tent!

 

 

Sweet girl dancing in the streets!

 

 

Yay for Disney!

 

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom (Post-Nap)

 

While the boys took an extended nap at the hotel, Emma and I headed back to Magic Kingdom.  The benefit of staying on the monorail.

 

 

Momma and Emma enjoyed some quality one on one time.

 

 

 

Listening to the band.

 

 

Meeting the Princesses.

 

 

I'm thinking sitting on Santa's lap is going to be a no-go this year.

 

 

 No longer tired and exhausted, but feeling happy and excited, Daddy and Noah make up for lost time and hit the Tomorrowland Speedway

 

 

Meeting Aerial after ride number three on the Under the Sea ride.  Not used to talking characters, Noah sat down and said, "cheese!"  He was not participating in any of Aerial's attempts at conversation. 

 

 

Mickey's PhilharMagic.  A favorite of Mom's.  Emma, not being a TV watcher, did not enjoy. 

 

 

And, another kid swap.  Daddy and Emma head home for bedtime.

 

 

Noah and I stayed behind for the parade.

 

 

 

Heading back to the hotel (or as Noah referred to it this trip, the "ho and tel.")