New Year's Eve

We can't believe another year has gone by already.  A new year with a new baby.  She was practicing sitting up.

Our New Year's Eve was pretty typical (I think) for parents of a toddler and a new baby.  We finally broke open our bottle of Champagne (from Napa 3 years ago) and had that with some strawberries (we didn't want our evening to be completely pathetic) and were in bed by 10 (which we were excited about!)

Perhaps next year we'll spend New Years Eve in NYC at Times Square (if anyone want's to babysit our kids.)

Sitting pretty.  She always has a tendency to lean to the right.

Briefly sitting by her self.

The money shot.  Check out her chubby thighs.  She has about 4 luscious rolls. :)

I wear my sunglasses at night.

 Lately Mikey has been obsessed with his sunglasses. I can't find any that are small enough for him. The ones he has on in the pictures below are for age 3 and up and he constantly has to push them back up his nose. He sure is cute (we say that everyday.)

What are you looking at?!

These have a monkey on the side.  He also has a blue pair.

Youtube

Wish I would have realized how useful Youtube was sooner!

So, whenever we are out and about and Mikey sees a construction site, every type of truck (fire, ambulance, maintence, etc.), buses he goes crazy talking up a storm and requests "more trucks."  He LOVES everything trucks!!

So we found videos on youtube of construction sites, and diggers, bulldozers, excavators, combine harvesters, lawn mowers.  He sat still for 90 mins. watching and watching and watching.  It was awesome!



We also discovered that youtube is a very helpful learning tool.  We have used it to learn numbers, letters, colors, animals, months, shapes.  If you can think of a nursery rhyme, they have it on youtube.  Same thing with books!  On of our favorite books is called Goodnight Moon.  There is a video on youtube that reads the book and makes the pictures come alive.  Mikey is absoultely mesmerized.
Here's a few links where you can see what we have been watching.

Super Simple Songs and Twenty Trucks are our favorites.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Construction Trucks

Watching the Digger.

Both kids content for a few minutes.

Christmas Day - Santa Came!

This was our first Christmas as a family that we shared in our very own home.  The last few years we spent Christmas at my parents home. It was nice to sleep in our very own beds and make some of our own traditions.  Scott and I had a lot of fun playing Santa and were more excited than the kids on Christmas morning.  Christmas is definately all about the kids. 

Mikey loves his crane and train set and puzzle.  Santa also brough him some big boy underwear.
Katie received clothes and books and some hair pieces.
The kids also got various presents from relatives and a generous check from Great Grandma.
Scott received the usual and I received a laptop, 2 pair of running shorts, new sneakers and a new winter jacket. We also received money which is the best gift!

We didn't go crazy this year since the kids are still very small and we are moving very soon! (Look for a future post!)

We decided to forgo Christmas Eve mass since it was at 4:00 and 5:30.  Right about the time when we start dinner and it would upset our nighttime routine.  Plus on X-mas eve mass is always so crowded.

On Christmas morning we had yummy homemade cinnamon buns, went to 8:45 mass (hardly anyone there), came home and started opening presents about 10:30 until noon. 

Santa came!

Santa ate the cookies and drank the (almond) milk.

Santa's letter to the kids.

Mikey doesn't like Katie invading his space!

Excited to start the day!

She gives the best smiles!

Fun, looking at this picture it reminds me that on Christmas morning, Mikey was definately in a daze for a few hours.

Our 8 foot tree with presents underneath.

Mikey received a fire truck book from Daddy Santa.

Excited to see what is in her stocking.

She has some socks, a chew doll, bath toy, and hair accessories.

Scott got razors, toothbrushes and a wallet.

My big boy!

A quick snap before heading to church.

Playing with his crane and train set.  Whenever we leave the house he says "bye crane."

Busy working "picking up dirt with his crane."

Dear Santa

We had a lot of fun decorating and writing out our letter to Santa this year.  Mikey did all of the decorating and we made sure to leave out cookies and milk for Santa.

Mikey and I working on Santa's letter.

Always the busy boy.  It's hard to get him to stop focusing on what he is doing to get a good pic.

Our Christmas Letter to Santa.

Milk and Cookies for Santa.  (Note:  Santa was NOT allowed to eat all these cookies!)

What do I do all day?!

I have seen this all over the internet recently and it really resonated with me.  Even Scott got a chuckle and has referenced it several times since reading.
If you have trouble reading the article click  here  for the original article on the Washington Post's website.  Click on the below article to see it enlarged.

Enjoying the holiday!

So today as our afternoon activity we enjoyed making some cookies for Santa.
When we visited Santa at the mall I asked him if he would like for us to make some peanut butter cookies with some peanut butter chips in them (I had a hint that Santa would say yes), and he said "YES!"

So knowing that Santa would really enjoy those Christmas Eve when he visited our home, we got down to work.  Mikey was a big helper.  He helped licking the bowl, spactula, spoon and beaters and was so fast he got a BIG chunk of dough before I could stop him. 

Of course we had to taste them to make sure they were okay for Santa and they were pretty delicious if I say so myself.  Mikey obviously thought so too.

He desperately wanted the bowl directly in front of him, but I didn't trust him enough to let him have it.

He politely smiled for the camera but my shutter went off a second to late.

This is a little better.  See how much he is enjoying it!

Katie Update

Katie is almost 5 months old.  I know, we can't believe it either!
Here's some facts about our little princess.
1- She recently started blowing raspberries and now does it all day long.
2- About 2 weeks ago after letting her "cry it out" for 3 or so nights, she has a solid sleep schedule. Bed between 7 and 7:30 and will wake at either 12am or 2 am for a feed and then wake again between 4:30 and 5:30am for another feed.  She usually wakes up for the day sometime between 6:30 and 7:30am.
3- She is an expert at sucking her left thumb.
4- She has been laughing at us for over a month now when we tickle her but just this past week if we look at her with funny faces or startle her she will laugh!

Loves that thumb!

You wouldn't believe it if we told you, so.....

Just watch the video and take a quick look at the pictures.
This all happened during nap time.

 

This is NOT dirt on his car track.

Do you see it?

Oh my goodness.  We didn't know how to react when we saw this so we just laughed.

Who knew fingerpainting could be so fun, and gross.

Not that you want to see a close up, but maybe you do.

All over the door knob too.

It's finally snowing!

We spent our Saturday morning outside, enjoying the first heavy snowfall.
Eating snow and walking around the neighborhood.

Likes to taste the snow.

He loves being outside.

He couldn't really bend his legs.

He was so bundled up!

Spreading Christmas Cheer

We went to visit Santa today for the first time at the mall.  They did a great job of "Santa's little village" and Santa looked really authentic!  I wasn't sure how Mikey would do since last year he screamed.  It turned out surprisingly well.  There was no one else in line so we were able to take our time.  At first Mikey was amazed at all the lights, trees and reindeer and didn't pay any attention to the old man in the big red suit.  I had to sit Mikey on his lap and he did great.  He was a little shy but he sat their patiently while we tried to get a good smile out of him.  All the while, Katie was sound asleep in the stroller (you do not want to disturbe her schedule).  In hind sight, I wish I would have let Santa hold her in his other arm and had them both in the picture.

We are really starting to get into the Christmas spirit here.  Hope you enjoy.

Turned out better than I thought.  This was a picture of a picture.

 

Tummy Time

We are practicing on Tummy Time with Katie.  She's getting pretty good at it, but when she's done, she is D.O.N.E.  Recently she has also been trying to sit up by herself.  It looks like she is doing crunches.  Pretty cute!