Merry Christmas Eve 2011

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

I have been so wrapped up in babies and movies and food and holiday music and wrapping presents today that I didn't pull out my camera once all day. Thankfully I remembered right before bedtime and got some pictures of our very special holiday tradition: reading "The Night Before Christmas" in front of our tree.

I love Christmas (as we all know) but this year has seemed even more special because L is getting it. It's awesome. He keeps asking for Santa and he is very aware that there are presents under our tree. It's fun. And it's also even more special because L2 is with us..... we have two little ones and that really makes celebrating Christmas magical.

And now both kids are snugly tucked in their beds waiting for Santa to come.....

And Santa's "helpers" are busy putting together L's big gift.

I cannot wait to see L's face tomorrow when he sees this tool bench. It's pretty cool, I kind of want to play with it!

And don't worry, I am helping S put it together. See all those carefully placed stickers? Those are my handy work!!!!

And lastly, we did this a few weeks ago, but I had to share. First, because the picture is pretty darn cute and no own is crying or screaming in terror at the strange old man whose lap we are making them sit on. Secondly, because this Santa is legit. Seriously, check out the beard. It's totally real.

Merry Christmas Eve, from our family to yours!

Advent Fail.......

You know how sometimes you have those Mommy moments where you can truly feel like "Super Mom?" I'm talking about the days when everyone wakes up happy, you have a good breakfast, a playdate at the park, an awesome nap, some good quality learning time as well as play time and then a healthy home cooked dinner? Those are the days when you give yourself a mental high five and congratulate yourself on finally nailing this whole parenting thing.

And then there are the Mommy Failure Days. The ones where the baby wakes up at four AM and you realize you are our of coffee and the only thing for breakfast is some slightly stale bread for toast. The kid you arranged a playdate with? Yeah, he turns out to be a biter. And no one wants to nap and you're so exhausted you want to cry. Finally you cave and let your kid sit in front of Sesame Street and order a pizza for dinner. Those are the days you wonder why the hell someone gave you a kid and you wonder how much his therapy is going to cost one day.

Be honest, we all have both of these days!

Well, in a moment of "Super Mommy" I decide to do an Advent Calendar for L this year. I have one from when I was a kid so I spent an evening using a Gold Pen on Green paper to write out activities for us to do each day. The activities ranged from "Making Salt Ornaments" to "Bake a Christmas Treat" to "Go see the Christmas Lights". My intentions were good and pure and I had visions of us rushing each morning to open the calendar and find out what fun thing was in store for us that day.

The idea of the advent calendar? Total Super Mommy moment.

Actually doing the advent calendar? Total Mommy Failure. Like big time.

I tried, I really did. And the first five days or so we did pretty good. But I overestimated my ability to pull this off while also dealing with a newborn. And after day five things kind of petered out. And I feel guilty  about it, but at the same time,L is young enough that he doesn't really care and he won't remember this. And I have been trying to do the activities that were in there, just not one everyday. So today, we did our Day three activity, which was to make salt ornaments. And doing this with L gave me that super mommy feeling because he was so excited about it,  so who cares if it was ten days late? Better late then never, right?

Salt Dough ornaments are super easy. Two cups flour, one cup salt and one cup water. Bake for four hours at about two hundred degrees. Easy, cheap, and memories that last a lifetime... you can't beat that!

Once they were "cooked" and cooled we pulled out our paints and donned old t-shirts.

And my boy had a blast. He was very intent about his painting, I love his serious face in these pictures!!!!

And here is our final product! I think this at least partially makes up for the whole advent calendar failure, right?

O Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree this weekend. Every year on December first I am jealous of  who gets to put up their fake tree and have it up for the whole month. But then, once we get our tree, I realize you just can't beat having a real one. I love going and picking it out.... fighting with S about whether or not the tallest ones will fit in our house....., I love the piney scent and the soft needles. I love everything about it, and even though we only get to enjoy it for a few weeks before Christmas, I don't think I would trade it for a fake tree for anything!

Another thing I love? (OK, let's be honest. I LOVE everything about Christmas. It's all unicorns and rainbows for me this month!)  But anyway, I love getting out the decorations. There are so many memories there. Everything from Our first House, to our first Christmas as a married couple, to L's first Christmas are commemorated. And then there are the one's my parents have passed on to us.... the ones that remind me of my childhood and snowy winters in Reno. And this year we are adding a first Christmas ornament for L2, as well as some homemade crafty ones me and L are going to do together. (More on that in a later post!)

And, of course, L2 was around to supervise the decorating of the tree.

I was so excited to wake L up from his nap and show him his decorated tree! We were camera ready to capture his wonderment and awe......... he was a little less impressed then we were hoping for! In all fairness to him, he was groggy and a little cranky, he has become more impressed since then!

Now I am off to curl up with a good book by the light of our Christmas tree!!!!

Party time!

We has a party for this little guy yesterday.

It was a "Welcome to the World" party, if you will. We decided not to have a baby shower for L2, opting instead to do something after he was here. This way friends that would have to come from further away would actually be able to meet him.

And the key to any great party? Lots and lots and lots of food. And we provided.



It was beautiful and amazing and special. As the guys and the older kids congregated on the back porch, playing darts and drinking beer (the guys, not the kids!)  the girls sat in the kitchen, reminiscing and catching up and passing a sweet new baby around. It warms my heart in ways I can't explain to see these girls who I've been through so much with holding and loving on my children. And it makes me realize that even though we don't have blood family here, we have friends who are like family and who would do anything for my kiddos. That is something to be very grateful for.

And one of my best friends from high school, Kelly, drove all the way down from Vegas to meet our new addition. How awesome is that?

Oh, and did I mention we ate???? Like, a lot!!!!!

It was a wonderful day that left both my kids completely tuckered out, but happy. And it left mama feeling very happy and blessed.

One month Old!

This post is late, but the pictures were taken on November 24th, L2's one month birthday!

Isn't it just amazing and sad and crazy how fast time goes by once they are here? I swear, a month while I was pregnant felt like a year, but this last month feels like only a day has gone by.

These pictures crack me up everytime I look at them. I feel like L2 is just thinking

"What the hell are you people doing?"

Happy one month L2! We love you so much!!!



Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fairly quite Thanksgiving holiday at home, just the four of us. Well, quite in the sense that we have two children under the age of three... and that is never really quite! I have mixed feelings about it being just us for the holiday. On one hand I like that we are creating our own traditions that will be exclusively for our family. On the other hand I yearn for huge family gatherings. A holiday where cousins play constantly throughout the day, and the girls cook and hang out in the kitchen, gossiping and drinking wine, and the boys play football and watch football and do all things football related. That is my dream, that one day we will have our extended close enough to create those kinds of memories. But for now, I"m content with our cozy little foursome.

And we did eat and we did play. I made way too much food for S and I, and we both ate way too much of it!

And what is Thanksgiving without some good Blue Moon Pumpkin Harvest?

L2 did what he did best. He slept most of the day, waking only to eat and have a diaper change. And this kid can sleep.... despite L's best efforts to wake him up to play!

And in the true spirit of Thanksgiving our cat and dog came together in a love fest that, had the Pilgrims and Indians put their differences aside in this way, everything would have been a bit more peaceful!

And now that Thanksgiving is over it is time to let the Christmas Freak Flag Fly!!!  I am making S get out all our decorations this weekend, and I am about to go and enjoy my first glass of Eggnog for the season! Hope everyone had a great holiday, and took a few moments to give thanks for all their blessings!

Sick Days!

Illness descended on our home this past week.

I know that sounds super dramatic, but trust me, when you feel like crap and you have a sick and cranky and clingy two year old and a demanding newborn who is still waking up several times a night..... it feels really dramatic. S came home from work on Friday with and upset stomach, by Sunday L had a fever, dry hacking cough, and no voice, and by Monday I had a sore throat and an upset stomach. Thankfully L2 seems to have avoided all the germs..... one of the many reasons I am so thankful he is getting breastmilk even with all our nursing problems.

At the beginning of the week I was super annoyed. This was not a good time for sickness. Besides the fact that I have a newborn at home who I definetly don't want getting sick, I had stuff to get done. I had just started going to the gym again last week and didn't want to miss any more time, the house was a disaster and needed to be cleaned, the laundrey was piling up, and I had about ten million errands to run to get ready for Thanksgiving.

But sometime when life hands you lemons you need to make lemonade. And there was actually something kind of nice about being forced to pull out the sleeper sofa and cuddle with my two boys while we watched movies for three straight days. The laundrey and the mopping could wait, because my boy needed me. He needed to be held and comforted and I needed to be reminded that I don't have to jump right back into being a busy and productive bee.

And I"m glad that everyone seems to be feeling better now, just in time for the holiday tomorrow. Although truthfully I guess tomorrow won't be too much different from the rest of the week because we are planning on doing nothing but eating and lazing around and enjoying each other.

The most important thing is that L is feeling better. I hate it when my babies are sick. And I am excited to getting back to the gym and getting my house clean next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!