...And Later...

Well it seems I'm not going to be able to wrap up posts about this year before 2013 so I might as well drag them out longer... :) Next year I can do hour by hour posts so you can really see how our day went (just kidding...or maybe not...) Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Christmas.

Christmas Morning!

We're still recovering from Christmas here but in a good way. The kids are going from one new toy to the next and Pat and I are enjoying the new entertainment just as much as they are. We  had a wonderful Christmas and as always, I have so many pictures that I'll be turning the whole thing into multiple posts. Owen woke up first on Christmas morning and ran upstairs to let us know that Santa had visited, had written him a note, and left crumbs from his cookies! We had our scones for breakfast and then opened presents. Owen got in on the giving more than ever this year-he picked out a present for Paige at his school's Christmas store and made us an ornament (some of us cried...me).

We slowed them down long enough to take this picture!

I'm in a picture!

Owen gave Paige a cow stuffed animal. She was very pleased.

Paige asked Santa for princesses. This is Rapunzel wearing a Snow White dress.

Owen's model train set. Ridiculously happy.

Yay Christmas!

Almost...

It's Christmas Eve! There's still time to get some good behavior in!

Snow!

The first day of Winter was Friday and it was also the first snowstorm of the season! Pat took the kids sledding down a very icy hill today and they had a great time: there were no injuries and they were rewarded with some hot chocolate!

New Bed!

It finally occurred to Paige to start climbing out of her crib instead of waiting for us to get her out so we decided to lessen the chance of injury and get her into a bed! She really loves it and visits it often, announcing that she's going to take a nap and then returning a minute later. We're having some trouble convincing her to take actual naps but that's probably helping keep her in bed at night because she's so tired! Paige has fallen out of bed a couple times, once without waking up and Pat found her sleepily trying to get comfortable on the floor, not realizing she was no longer in her bed!

Birthday and Baking!

Yesterday was our yearly baking day/birthday celebration for my mom. Every year we try to make a traditional Christmas recipe and this year we chose one of my grandma's cookie recipes called Nut Horns.  Paige is getting old enough now to want to help out and she really did a good job listening to directions. She even one-upped us by doing everything one-handed (see below). 

Past baking days-figgy pudding, yule log, rugelach, sugarplums, fruitcake, a gingerbread house and rum balls

Hippo and Giraffe (and the kids...)

It was always my intention to take pictures of the kids with hippo and giraffe at regular intervals but I'm not so good about remembering. Check them out now and then click on the links to see past pictures!



Now and Then




Now and Then



Still Celebrating...

Pat and I went out over the weekend to belatedly celebrate our anniversary/do some Christmas shopping. It wasn't our fanciest dinner ever (yay mall food court!) but it was still really tasty and so much fun to spend time together. We also got a lot done since we didn't need to stop for train rides and play areas.  

Still Being Thankful...

I didn't want you to miss out on Thanksgiving pictures even though it was a couple weeks ago! So much happened that day- we ate and watched the parade and ate and sat around and ate and...Ok, we also ran our personal Turkey Trots (not pictured, but it happened, really!).

A little wrestling in the morning. Owen did not let this affect his parade-watching.

That is the face of a guy who has successfully finished dinner and moved on to dessert!

Cool Whip! Yum!

Paige and I dressed alike at her request. Pat dressed like Owen just to be funny:)

Adorable.



Everyone got to talk to Lauren!




Mom and Dad



It's a...Hippo!

I haven't published much of Owen's artwork on the blog but this can already be found on the internet so I didn't have to go through the effort of scanning and whatnot. The artist wouldn't reveal much about his process but he did admit it was a hippo when pressed. Also, that blue thing? That's a crazy blue sun because they were supposed to make things crazy colors. I'm pretty sure this is the most adorable hippo ever. Ever. (Ok, there's this hippo too but really Paige's presence in those photos is what makes it a contender.)

Christmas Party Pictures!

I'm back! Hopefully it's not temporary! Here are a couple of the pictures we got from the playgroup Christmas party. The kids were such good sports and let us take a lot of pictures of them before we released them to run around and play.

Happy December!

I'm still working out what to do about the picture problem on the blog but I didn't want to give it up entirely in the meantime! We started off December with a day packed full of fun and the kids made it all the way through without any complete meltdowns.
This morning we went to Pat's work for their kid's Christmas party. They always do a great job and always have the same basic elements that the kids look forward to -doughnuts, Santa, games and prizes. We couldn't convince Paige to sit with Santa or even stand near him (remember this picture of Owen?) but she did accept a candy cane from him.
 After that, we headed straight to our playgroup Christmas party/gift exchange.  Everyone had such a great time, I don't think it would have even occurred to the kids to head home if we hadn't told them it was time to leave (and even then it took a lot of convincing...). These people have been a big part of our lives for a long time and it's getting harder and harder to all get together at the same time so today was extra special to all of us! Click here to see other posts about playgroup get togethers (Ahh! They're all so cute!).
After the party, we came home, added some layers of clothing and went to the Christmas parade for our city. The kids were excited to see the parade and I'm so glad we went. Pat and I questioned whether or not we were pushing our luck by going to the parade but the kids were totally enamored by everything. We let them ride the carousel and stopped on our walk home to watch the fireworks too. The weather was perfect!  We did so much today and it's only December 1st, I can't imagine what's in store for the rest of the month!

So Thankful!

I wanted the kids to be mindful of the meaning of Thanksgiving all month instead of just on the holiday so I made a turkey for our door and everyday we each added a feather with something we were thankful for written on it. Owen was very thoughtful about his and Paige's mostly were about naming something in her line of sight. It really did give us a moment to appreciate everything we have. Ideally this should happen every day, right? Here are their lists!
Owen's list: God and Jesus, Friends, My neighborhood, My baby sister, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Grimm, Our house, Our whole world, Soccer, God, Cereal, Family Dinners, Mrs. Wurm, Food, Mommy, All of the things God made, Feast, All puzzles, Trains, Cups and plates, Daddy, Phones, Our whole family.

Paige's list: Panda, Stairs, Stickers, This feather, Eating lunch, Markers, Hugging Daddy, Dolphins, Breakfast, Cereal, Ernie & Bert, Benches, The blue car, Sippy cups, My neighbors (the baby), Bowling, Pink, Hugging sippy cups, My brother, Hugging sandwiches, Your sweater, My animals.


The blog is experiencing some technical difficulties in regards to posting pictures! Hopefully it will be figured out soon!

Namaste

Jamie's visit is already over but she did get a chance to do some yoga/meditation with Paige while she was here. I don't remember to do it with her on a very regular basis but we had been working on it for the past couple of weeks. Paige really does like doing yoga and it's very very cute to watch. I've actually never been a big fan of yoga because it can often feel very slow and serious but kids change those elements--moving on from a pose when they get bored and finding moments to laugh in between.

9 Years!

I missed mentioning it on Thursday but Pat and I have now been married for nine years!

I love you Pat!

Let's Bowl Some Bowls*

We hit up our local, swanky, bowling joint last weekend for a couple games. There were a couple of us who did well and a lot of us who didn't. I did so badly that I didn't even bother checking my score. Owen, who excels in most of his athletic endeavors, was pretty frustrated by the number of gutter balls he rolled but he didn't let that get in the way of having fun and Paige was excited just to be rolling the ball. Later we got stuck in a parking lot because of a faulty ticket and Owen totally panicked and thought we were stuck there FOREVER!! I pled our case to a very apathetic/rude/crabby parking lot attendant and we were eventually freed!

*If you didn't know, that blog title is a reference to Grease 2. If you haven't seen the movie you should at least check out the bowling scene with the song "Let's Bowl" so you can make lots of references the next time you go bowling. I will be talking about bowling a lot more often specifically for this purpose.  

Hello!

Aunt Jamie is visiting! Hooray!

Hard at Work

It's possible I haven't been posting very much because I'm avoiding the computer.  I'm not feeling very inspired to write my novel (It's National Novel Writing Month!) and apparently there is a difference between enjoying reading and writing something that someone else would enjoy reading...anyway, turns out that November is not the best month to write a novel, I'll get around to it someday. Here are some pictures of the kids working on what they do best-playing.

Trick or Treat!

We didn't get around to carving our pumpkin until yesterday but it ended up being a perfect activity for Trick or Treat day! Owen had a pretty clear idea of what it should look like so we were all happy to let  him decide. The kids helped with the pumpkin a little bit but neither would scoop with their hands (amateurs...). Trick or Treating was a lot of fun and the weather was actually decent. A lot of people had fires going in their front yards and everyone was very nice to the kids. Paige and Owen did a great job being polite and talking to the neighbors but next year we need to get Paige talking a little louder!



The kids overseeing Pat's pumpkin skills





Pirate Paige




Pat grew this mustache just for yesterday.



We ended our trick or treating once their bags were full so the kids got a chance to hand out some  candy too! 



They combined their bags into one big pile!



The Week

Halloween Dinner-carrot cake pancakes in the shape of ghosts and cats!



Kindergarten Halloween party-Paige and I helped out at Owen's school on Halloween. It was a lot of fun to see Owen with his friends. He was very proud and asked me if I would come again. Um...of course!



Naptime-This was the day we didn't have any power, Paige had missed her nap and we had just found out that Owen had an ear infection.