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 Alfalfa hair!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Her older brother decided that she needed his favorite toy to help her sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas

This Christmas was beautiful. We had blue sky and crisp cool air. Little dude actually slept in (this might be the only Christmas he does that until he's fifteen). It took all morning for him to open presents but he really had fun. I'm pretty sure he got everything he could have wanted had he known to ask. I think that John had just as much fun playing with Little dude's toys. Every picture I have of him playing with his toys John is also in. In the afternoon we traveled out to visit my parents, aunts and cousins. Little dude had practiced their names all week and did very well at remembering them. Of course, there were more presents to open. Wow are our kids spoiled!

Little dude has really enjoyed helping me in the kitchen recently and this Christmas he helped me make sugar cookies. His favorite part was cutting out the shapes. We had a few reindeer that were beheaded and had legs amputated but he had a lot of fun.

John and I took the kids to a lights show a few weeks ago and it was so cute to experience it through a toddler's eyes. Several of the staff noticed how Little dude was enjoying everything and I could tell they really appreciated it. They had several trains which he loved and at the end, as we were leaving, I spotted a man dressed as a snowman. Little dude has really been into snowmen recently so I walked him up to see what he would think. He acted a little nervous so I told him to give the snowman a high five. He gave the snowman a good high five and as we turned and started to walk away he did a little skipping and jump. The man behind us laughed and said, "You know that's got to make their day." The Dreamliner John has been designing has finally gotten off the ground. We watched Daddy's plane take off and cheered that everything went smoothly. John, of course, got to see it take off up close, but the kids and I just watched on TV.

Little miss has been a joy and also had a very spoiled Christmas. We have recently been calling her Squeak because she loves to make cheerful high pitched squeaking noises. She sounds just like fireworks sometimes, which I suppose is appropriate since she was borne the day after Independence Day. I'm surprised at how, even as babies, my little boy had a deep baby voice and my little girl had a high baby voice. Weird.

X-Mas Tree Hunting

Ever since I can remember, my family has had a tradition of going out the day after Thanksgiving and cutting down a Christmas tree. It's so fun to continue the tradition with my own children. We haven't made it up to the snowy mountains, like when I was a kid (climbing up hill both directions in 3 feet of snow, hiking 5 miles out into the forest and running the bear cubs out of the tree before cutting it down with a pocket knife), but we made it 1 mile up the road to the Christmas tree farm. Little dude loves it and was running all over and yelling. I decided beforehand that this year I wanted a small tree I could put downstairs. Most years John wants a small tree and I want the largest we can possibly fit. John picked out this years' tree and let's just say that it isn't downstairs.

Trick or Treat

This year for Halloween little dude was Max from Where The Wild Things Are. This character has been very appropriate for him lately. I was all worn out after making the Max costume so little miss just wore her tiara. Doesn't every girl have one? This year John took "Max" trick or treating to four of our neighbors. By the last house he had the hang of it. When the door opened, he saw the bowl of candy, pointed right at it and said, "Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat!!!"

Happy Harvest

Over the weekend we visited the pumpkin patch. Little dude had fun on the hay ride and helped John pick out pumpkins for every member of our family (even the dog). He especially enjoyed the pumpkin cannon. Every year John loves to watch pumpkins get shot out of the cannon and he was thrilled to help little dude pick out and shoot his own this year. Missy was such a little girl. It was a windy day and every time a gust would come up she gasped a little and would flutter her eyes. She eventually fell asleep in my arms and I was in heaven.

We recently had John's sister and her family visit us. This was the first time they met missy. My niece especially enjoyed her because this is her first girl cousin. Poor Elizabeth is surrounded by three two year old little boys. It was a wild house but we sure had fun! I think all us parents were pretty happy when bedtime rolled around.

Laughter's the best medicine

John took little dude to swim lessons last week.

This was the second time little miss laughed. She thinks her brother is the funniest thing ever.

Swimming

Little dude and I started swim lessons last week. We're taking the class with four of my friends and their kids. All the tots are within a year of each other. Oh, he had soooo much fun!!! The night before I told him, " We're going to go swimming tomorrow in the water". I put him in his pajamas to get him ready for bed and he looked at me and said, "Waa?", "That's tomorrow", I told him. Then he threw his head back, stuck his bottom lip out and wailed. The next morning he was so excited to get in the car! It was fun to have some time just the two of us to play together. If John comes to watch this week, I'll have him get some pictures.

Poo on my sofa

Oh my gosh! This week has been crazy. How do people do this? John has had things going on every night of the week, typical, and I have basically been working from 7 in the morning until 11 at night and I could just scream (wait...no I can't, I'm too tired). It's almost noon right now and the only thing I've managed to get done today is a five minute phone call. Little dude hasn't let me out of his sight and absolutely refuses to play by himself. Little miss takes FOREVER to drink a bottle. It's been normal for her to take an hour!!! That's 6 hours a day just getting her to drink a bottle!! That's a part time job! Man I wish I got paid for this! If I did, I'd earn more than my engineer husband!!!!!! Oh my gosh.........is that poo on my sofa!? Oh my gosh there is dog poo on my sofa!!! What the @#%&*!!! Oh my gosh there's dog poo on my skirt! Okay give me a second.................................................................................I know it's probably terrible to use Lysol on leather but right now I could care less. Gota wait to change my skirt cause I haven't had time to do laundry. Oh my gosh I could use a day off. I haven't had a day off since.....November '07! Unless you count the day I was in the hospital giving birth. Little dude is stuck at the top of the slide right now. I think I'll leave him. I'm sooooo tired of listening to temper tantrums. What I wouldn't give for an hour of absolute silence. I totally understand why parents look forward to school starting. Oh, I know that's mean but I think I'm entitled to a short melt down. Okay, I'm over it. I just needed to vent a little so I won't blow up at John when he bolts through for a quick dinner tonight.

Last night Little Miss laughed for the first time!!! It was sooo cute! She was sitting on my lap watching her brother goofing around at the dinner table. He was laughing his head off and she was smiling at him then a cute short laugh popped out. Adorable! I wish John hadn't missed it. Oh well. Maybe he'll catch the next one. I just don't get the being busy thing. How can that be so appealing to so many people when you miss things like your child's first laugh? Am I wrong? Are my priorities messed up? I know some people get upset with me for not doing enough but I can't help but wonder what memories will be most important to me when I'm old. Like I said, I just don't get the being busy thing. I guess If you're doing a lot of things you love, maybe. Oh, well. To everyone there own. Okay, I better get little dude off the slide.

Brother and Sister

Are these the cutest kids in the world or what? Okay, I know what you're thinking. Yes, I'm smitten. Can you blame me?

Visitors

Last week we had visitors. Gm and Gp G came to spend time with the little ones. I felt like I was able to have a mini vacation. John took time off during their week and a half visit and all three of them helped me with the kids and the house. John and Jim worked on building a sandbox for little dude. He absolutely loves it! He had a wonderful time enjoying all of Gm and Gp's attention. Little miss learned to smile on purpose (not just from gas) while they were here and she gave out plenty. I think she has a pretty cheerful demeanor.

We also made a trip to visit my grandparents and aunt and uncle at the ocean.

Jim and Martha, thank you for visiting. We love you.