Documentation of Christmas 2009

This year was my favorite Christmas as a mom. It may have been the kid's ages, but I think it was mostly the mellow-ness that I liked best. Christmas came and we enjoyed every minute of it. Uncle Scott was home from his mission, Kate and Chad stayed in town and brought friends that just happened to have kids the same ages as Morgan and Miles... They got along great and had fun playing on Christmas Eve. And once we finally got them all into costume, they put on the nativity.

After, we had fondue with tons of stuff to dip... This has to be a new tradition. It was so yummy. Pineapple was definitely my favorite of the dippable items.

I wouldn't recommend getting too close to Miles when he's holding a sharp instrument of any kind.

Then we made cookies for Santa. Morgan frosted hers and added a tasteful amount of sprinkles on top. Miles must have thought that sprinkles = presents because he loaded Santa's cookies up.

My favorite Christmas Eve tradition - New jammies and off to bed!

Christmas morning!! (And not a single picture of Will on his first Christmas Day... And only a present from Santa and grandma under the tree for him... He must be the third child :) That and mom didn't want to find room to store even more toys that weren't needed! Poor Will. Next year, when you appreciate it a little more, I promise to spoil you rotten.

This is how we do it, do it....

This is how Miles dresses in the winter... Everyday... No matter what...

This is how daddy builds a snowman... Only the best for his little lady.

This is how Will gets a diaper change... He wiggles around until I finally give up and let him be free for a while. Nothing makes him happier than rolling around naked. He's trying so hard to crawl, I think he'll be there soon.

This is how we do buckeye basketball... Hot dogs and naps.

This is how Miles looks in Wills 3-6 month onesie and swimsuit... I am surprised it fit over his huge noggin.

This is how we change up tubby time when we are bored...

This is how we do wild lights at the zoo... Notice Miles isn't in a coat. I was lucky to get him in pants and a long sleeve shirt. This boy is missing a few screws...

This is how we clean up for church. Not too shabby!

Miles's Preschool Program

This week Miles had his Christmas program at preschool. Those Lutherans really know how to put on a show. (Not the type of Christmas program I would have done, but who really needs Christmas music in a Christmas program anyway??) I would have loved to see him shake a few bells while singing Jingle Bells, or point his little finger at us while singing, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, but it was cute enough.
Miles was feeling a little shy at first. He had to be carried up front and was held for the first couple songs. (the lighting in this chapel was terrible - sorry about the dark pictures)...

No eye contact...

Then we got to the song about planting a Jesus seed and growing a Jesus tree. That perked him right up... Who comes up with this stuff - I've never seen a Jesus tree, have you??

Will and Grandma were moved by the music and got up danced around.

6 Months

It happened so fast... 1/2 a year has passed since he popped into the world.
I'm not sure if I'm ready to go back to this stage of having to constantly watch and prevent injury, but Will doesn't really care if I'm ready.. He's all over the place anyway.
I found him under the tree today trying to pull off ornaments.

Will has started getting from place to place by rolling around and by lying on his back and bouncing on his head while he thrusts his hips in the air. I hope to get a video - it's pretty funny... Anyway, he would make his cousin Dillon proud (Dillon used to get around the same way). Must be in the genes.

Here's Will's 6 month stats:
Height: 27 1/4" 80th Percentile - He's still tall - we have no idea where that came from...
Weight: 17 Pounds 1 oz - 45th Percentile
Head: 17 1/4 - 55th Percentile

Will has been stripped of his title as "THE MAN"... He has cut his sleep time in half - going from a 10 hour stretch to about 5... Well, I guess it totally depends on the night... Some are better than others. I'm not complaining - he still does okay, but he definitely isn't THE MAN like he used to be. I hope the stripping of the title will give him some motivation to earn it back. We shall see.

Will is a very happy kid and he loves to be part of the action. We all love him to pieces.

Our Puke-Free Thanksgiving

Yes - we did it. We had a puke free Thanksgiving. For the past few years, we've had a tradition that someone in our house would be puking by midnight on Thanksgiving Day. Well, yesterday came and went, and not an ounce of puke to be seen... (Unless you count Will's milk-curd spit-up, but that's an everyday occurrence...)
Aunt Katie and Uncle Chad came over bright and early to watch the kids while Mike and I ran the 5 mile Turkey trot. Kate cuddled Will while Chad folded origami for the big kids. Chad can make just about anything with a single piece of paper... He really is quite entertaining to watch.

This was Mike's first year to run the turkey trot - and my third year... And all 3 years I've come away with a pumpkin pie!! It was so fun to run with Mike... This was our first race where we stayed together the entire time. I think Mike felt bad for me that all my running friends have moved and he didn't want me to have to run alone, so he slowed way down so I'd be able to keep up with him. I wanted to puke around 4.5 miles, but he kept encouraging me and even carried me piggy back over the finish line. My hero!

Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa's for dinner and gingerbread house decorating. I think the kids made the cutest little house that will be on display all through December (or until they've finished eating all the candy off... whichever comes first).

Bummer

Well, we lost more friends today. Our friends The Laurence's have officially moved to Virginia. We are so bummed. Joy and I had the best thing going... We went to the gym together, we swapped kids all the time, and not only did we have fun hanging out together, but the kids loved being together too. I don't think more than 2 days would go by without us being together. It's definitely going to take some adjusting to life without them.

We decided to have an adult and baby night out... sushi.... Not my favorite meal, but fun regardless.

The kids got to have a good-bye sleepover with Monsters vs. Aliens, pizza, popcorn, & milkshakes. Sweet.

And they all got new slippers... Hello kitty for the girls and Spiderman for the boys.

Arh - we miss you already...

The joys of boys

When we had Miles, let's just say he turned our world upside down. He is the sweetest, most entertaining boy around, but let's call a spade a spade shall we... The boy is CRAZY - he has to be moving his body at all times, he always has to be elevated off the ground, and he takes very little consideration into account of how his actions will impact his body.

After having a girl who was perfectly content sitting and playing with toys, I wasn't sure if all of this was just his personality or if it was just a "boy" thing.

Well, now that I have Will, I'm starting to think it's a boy thing...

Over the past couple weeks we've seen some more of Will's personality start to emerge... Last night Mike and I just sat and laughed while we watched Will. When he was in his swing, he refused to relax his body. He was trying to sit-up and sat there with his body in a crunch position for a very respectable amount of time... I see great, strong abs in this boys future. When lying on his belly he tries to move himself around like he has places to be. He's been getting frustrated a lot lately and acts like he has so much he wants to do, but his lack of ability to move his body the way he wants is holding him back. I have a hunch that once he figures his body out, we are in for it.

But having said that, I can't wait to watch him get bigger and all over the place. I really am looking forward to seeing how my boys are alike and how they are different. If he's anything like his big brother, we will always have something entertaining to watch... I love having boys!

And thank goodness they both have such a great big sister to calm them down a little... I don't know what we'd do without her!

Five Months

Will just turned 5 months old... And he likes to suck on everything....

Especially his toes.

Miles's trip to the farm

Miles's preschool took a field trip to the farm... I thought he'd be thrilled to see the animals, but for some reason there wasn't anything that was particularly exciting to him about about the chickens, pigs, goats, or sheep. I forced him to stand by the chickens to get this picture...

And then he saw the shed cat and perked right up.... Thank you shed cat for making our visit not a total bust.

Beggars Night

Just when I thought we were in the clear, Will came down with a fever. I was so bummed - Mike was out of town for the week, and now I was alone with the kids and had a really sick baby. Yesterday was beggars night and I didn't think the kids would be able to go trick-or-treating since Will was so miserable... Luckily, Aunt Kate and Uncle Chad called and asked if they could take the kids out. Grandma and Grandpa stopped by too. I haven't had much social interaction in the last 11 days since we've been sick, and it really lifted my spirits to be around people that weren't crying to be held.
Here are the kids with Uncle Chad.

Morgan was a monarch and Miles was spiderman.

Off they went. Kate and Chad have no idea how grateful I am for them saving the day. It meant so much to me and the kids.

Chad said Miles was smiling the entire time and when someone would put candy in his bucket he'd say, "this is awesome".

We hope you all have a Happy Halloween too!!