Happy New Year

I'm catching up on a bit of blogging tonight.  Things are super exciting over here for New Year's Eve.  The kids are asleep.  Dean and I are lounging in our new cozy bed.   Dean is catching up on some DVRed TV using his new wireless earphones.  I am blogging and surfing the Internet with no TV background noise... although the noise from the neighborhood fireworks is a bit loud.  I'm hoping it doesn't wake up my children.  We may watch a movie or I may talk him into watching Ryan Seacrest on Rockin' New Year's Eve... the early edition, of course.  This is nothing but excitement people.  So, scroll down.  There are plenty of new posts.  Happy New Year everyone!  Yay 2012!

PS - Happy Birthday Mom!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning arrived, and Santa was really good to our munchkins this year.  And, by really good, I mean he may or may not have gone a bit overboard and probably had to save some of the toys for next year.  

 The loot.

Santa left some gifts wrapped in brown paper with the kids named stamped in red ink.  It was a nice touch.  Noah had a blast picking out his name and figuring out which gift belonged to whom.   

First glance. 

Noah asked for one thing for Christmas this year… a xylophone.  Santa brought two.  Daddy commented, “I don’t know if xylophones are making a comeback, but we have the potential to have four in our house.”   Ha. 

Emma loved the xylophones too. She especially loves the tabletop xylophone. It is the perfect height for her to pull up on. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is made to support the weight of a child even a little bitty one. She has had a couple spills of it, but luckily it is low to the ground, so no injuries ensued.

Typical of baby's first Christmas, Emma loved all the wrapping paper and ribbon.  And, she was really interested in anything that belonged to her brother.  Noah was the same.  He loved all Emma's gifts.  I forget how hard it is to find a baby toy that doesn't make noise.  Music.  Talking.  Counting.  Let's just say that there are a lot of new songs and phrases going through Noah's head this week. 

The Aftermath.

 

What's Mine is Yours

There was a bit of toy swapping going on Christmas morning.  Emma loved Noah's xylophone table, and Noah loved Emma's singing zoo.

 

Just climb on over E.  Notice Noah holding her hand.

And, if this isn't the cutest picture ever.

Peace, Love and Perfect Pictures

Merry Christmas!

Up on the Rooftop

I’m not sure exactly what changed between Noah and Santa, but as the big day drew near, Noah started being a bit more ok with the idea.  And, on Christmas Eve, Noah and I talked about Santa coming down the chimney to bring him his gifts.  We baked cookies and poured a big glass of milk.  Noah had his own milk and cookie, and we hung out by the tree, read some Christmas stories, and got the room ready for Santa. 

Ready for Santa.  He's been working on his camera smile... can you tell?

I so wish this picture would have focused better, but I love it anyway.

Five Things Friday 12.23.11 -Merry Eve Eve

Here's a quick iPhone purge. Whatever would I do without it?
1. Santa outtake. Thanks everyone who pointed out Santa's personalized, gold plated belt buckle. I can't believe I overlooked it. Awesome is right.


2. Noah helped me mail Christmas cards earlier this month.


3. Emma is all over the place. Just today... Under a barstool, under our bed, down the hall into the bathroom.



4. It's time to tame the hair. Bows... I'm in. Pa Pa Harold always says, "get your hair out your face." I see his point. Love seeing this little ones sweet face.


5. If you want to know what a brain hard a work looks like... Here you go. Noah memorizing the pre-recorded version of Frosty the Snowman. I'm not really sure how long it takes him to commit something to memory, but by the time we left target, he had it down.

If It Wasn't So Terrible, It'd Be Funny

I hosted a baby shower at my house a couple of Saturdays ago. The Thursday before, Noah got the stomach bug... For real this time. He was pitiful. Rubbing his tummy and saying, "it hurts." The first time he vomited all over the kitchen. Did I mention my mom was visiting? Thank the Lord! She warned me it was coming. The voice of experience.  She could see it in his face. Thankfully, I was able to get Emma out the line of fire. He threw up the rest of the night, about every two hours. Dean took the night shift, and by 3:00 AM, it seemed the worst was over.  My little man did not feel like himself for about a week after that.  The only good thing to come out of it, is that he knows has a REALLY clear picture of what "sick" means.   

That bug was brutal, albeit 24 hours.  Need more evidence.  Catch the part about a baby shower the next Saturday?  Well, my sweet cleaning lady showed up on Friday, to make sure my house was super neat and clean.  And, the baby shower was beautiful.  Again, my mom was there with her baby shower experience to help.  Thanks Mom.  Here are a few pictures.  Thanks to Pinterest for the flower arrangement ideas. 

Well, the “if it wasn’t so terrible, it’d be funny” part of the story, is that five shower guests caught the stomach bug within 36 hours from being at my house.  I also checked with my cleaning lady, and she had it too.  After everyone finished passing it along to spouses and children, I think the grand total infection I perpetuated was 12.  Sorry friends.  It was really great shower, until it wasn't.