Sunday, December 26, 2010
Day After Christmas
After travel like that, the best way to start the recooperation process is by kicking off your shoes (and socks) and spending some quality time with your good old choo-choos and trucks. So that's exactly what we did.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
2nd Christmas Day
Notice no photos in this Christmas Day post. Because again we were doing insane traveling on Christmas Day - this time after an exhausting, less than 48 hour total visit. Mom had zero sleep (literally) all of Christmas Eve night because she was up packing suitcases and carry-ons until 2am and then Ethan woke up at 2am and refused to go back to sleep (at all, seriously - his schedule was way off kilter and he was having nightmares and screamed hysterically every time he was put back in his pack-n-play). Then we had to be out of the house and on our way to the airport at 6:30am for a 4 hour flight back home, then get ourselves to our car and drive back to our house. I am only documenting this so that when the kids ask for photos of themselves on Christmas morning years from now, I can remember why I don't have any. I'll just tell them, "trust me, you were there, and Christmas did happen even without photographic proof."
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas Eve
And so the big night arrived and we knew we were going to start off the evening at a disadvantage because dinner wasn't going to be served until the time when the boys are usually getting ready for bed. We are clockwork schedule people around here for good reason. And that is because we have seen how badly things can fail for them and everyone around them when we are not on a schedule and we just "let things roll" (there is a reason they say "sh--" always rolls downhill).
So we put our heads down and pushed onward into the evening hoping for the best but expecting the worst, and doing everything in our power to appease our little men to help keep the evening going.
Christmas Eve at my family is not a small production. Every other year before the boys' arrival it did not matter how long the night lasted because we were grown-ups who didn't have (too much) trouble staying up late. But oh how that changes with little people once they are more than a few months old and do not just fall asleep anywhere, anytime.
We are amazed to say that we made it through more than half of the post-dinner festivities, until about 10:00pm (but not without major repercussions - the "sh--" rolled downhill and hit mommy right in the face that night and next day as a result), but still amazed we lasted as long as we did!
For their Christmas "act" this year for Santa, they took along their favorite wooden Melissa & Doug shapes puzzle (whose shapes have been affectionately chewed on because of all the time they have spent with it) and they showed Santa where the: circle, rectangle, square, triangle, oval, heart, star, and diamond were located. They knew how to say the names of the shapes too at that point, but a room of over 30 people and the scary Santa man was enough to keep them quiet. We were so surprised that they even held the shapes up when asked - I figured all of those people would be enough to freeze them in their tracks. Santa was mighty impressed and promised to (eventually) bring them some great new toys. :)
Their favorite things of the evening definitely included my grandparent's piano (I think that was their first exposure to a piano that wasn't plastic with only 5 huge keys) and the wooden toy tractors that my grandmother kept from when my (twin) aunt and uncle were small. We spent most of the post-dinner activities trying to keep Mason from ramming the tractor into his brother and into other people's shins, and Ethan spent almost the entire evening laying next to his tractor rolling it back and forth and back and forth mesmerized by it and it's ability to roll. I am certain that most everything on those tractors would be considered a huge hazard under today's rules for toys, but that's what made them even more fun! :)
So we put our heads down and pushed onward into the evening hoping for the best but expecting the worst, and doing everything in our power to appease our little men to help keep the evening going.
Christmas Eve at my family is not a small production. Every other year before the boys' arrival it did not matter how long the night lasted because we were grown-ups who didn't have (too much) trouble staying up late. But oh how that changes with little people once they are more than a few months old and do not just fall asleep anywhere, anytime.
We are amazed to say that we made it through more than half of the post-dinner festivities, until about 10:00pm (but not without major repercussions - the "sh--" rolled downhill and hit mommy right in the face that night and next day as a result), but still amazed we lasted as long as we did!
For their Christmas "act" this year for Santa, they took along their favorite wooden Melissa & Doug shapes puzzle (whose shapes have been affectionately chewed on because of all the time they have spent with it) and they showed Santa where the: circle, rectangle, square, triangle, oval, heart, star, and diamond were located. They knew how to say the names of the shapes too at that point, but a room of over 30 people and the scary Santa man was enough to keep them quiet. We were so surprised that they even held the shapes up when asked - I figured all of those people would be enough to freeze them in their tracks. Santa was mighty impressed and promised to (eventually) bring them some great new toys. :)
Their favorite things of the evening definitely included my grandparent's piano (I think that was their first exposure to a piano that wasn't plastic with only 5 huge keys) and the wooden toy tractors that my grandmother kept from when my (twin) aunt and uncle were small. We spent most of the post-dinner activities trying to keep Mason from ramming the tractor into his brother and into other people's shins, and Ethan spent almost the entire evening laying next to his tractor rolling it back and forth and back and forth mesmerized by it and it's ability to roll. I am certain that most everything on those tractors would be considered a huge hazard under today's rules for toys, but that's what made them even more fun! :)
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
2nd Plane Ride
Our 2nd time on a plane. But this time there was no sleeping ... not for a moment! Made it that much more fun for mom and dad as they tried to entertain for 4 hours straight after waking the boys up at 4am to start the journey.
A few in-air photos of the boys enjoying some Baby Einstein's Baby Noah (their favorite) from 40,000-some-odd-feet in the air, with their Panda Bear kid-size headphones we got them, which Mason wore for about 20 minutes and Ethan wore for about 5 minutes.
Notice Mason has socks on in the last photo and Ethan does not. Generally they both take their socks off, but Ethan especially cannot stand to have his socks on if he doesn't have shoes on too. He takes them off immediately when the shoes come off. And this is probably where I should mention that he is also quite good at disrobing in general. I have gone to get him up from nap on several occasions and he has taken his shirt off - and a few times his pants as well! He just does not like the restrictions of clothing I guess.
A few in-air photos of the boys enjoying some Baby Einstein's Baby Noah (their favorite) from 40,000-some-odd-feet in the air, with their Panda Bear kid-size headphones we got them, which Mason wore for about 20 minutes and Ethan wore for about 5 minutes.
Notice Mason has socks on in the last photo and Ethan does not. Generally they both take their socks off, but Ethan especially cannot stand to have his socks on if he doesn't have shoes on too. He takes them off immediately when the shoes come off. And this is probably where I should mention that he is also quite good at disrobing in general. I have gone to get him up from nap on several occasions and he has taken his shirt off - and a few times his pants as well! He just does not like the restrictions of clothing I guess.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
ABCs, E-I-E-I-O, and O Christmas Tree!
A few videos:
Not Mason's best rendition of the ABCs, but he makes it very difficult to get video of his best singing since he always clams up when I pull out the camera or when he is asked to sing in front of someone he is not used to being around. He does his best singing in the evening and it is generally spontaneous. But here's an attempt!
Old MacDonald had a farm...and the rest speaks for itself. Please excuse my voice here...I do not sing. I have not yet captured our rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star yet, but that is another huge favorite right now.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! We do our best to protect you. And with this play yard, we hope that you, will not have broken lights next year. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! These boys think you're the greatest.
And now when we go for nap time or go to bed at night we say "bye-bye" and "night-night" to the "tee." Notice how there are no ornaments? We think we're going to just keep it that way this year!
Not Mason's best rendition of the ABCs, but he makes it very difficult to get video of his best singing since he always clams up when I pull out the camera or when he is asked to sing in front of someone he is not used to being around. He does his best singing in the evening and it is generally spontaneous. But here's an attempt!
Old MacDonald had a farm...and the rest speaks for itself. Please excuse my voice here...I do not sing. I have not yet captured our rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star yet, but that is another huge favorite right now.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! We do our best to protect you. And with this play yard, we hope that you, will not have broken lights next year. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! These boys think you're the greatest.
And now when we go for nap time or go to bed at night we say "bye-bye" and "night-night" to the "tee." Notice how there are no ornaments? We think we're going to just keep it that way this year!
Lawn Service
Need 2 neighborhood boys to keep your lawn well manicured? Check in with us in another 10-12 years...we are already in training!
2nd set of deadbolts
And this my friends, is why we installed a 2nd set of deadbolt locks at the top of our garage and both exterior doors before the boys could even start to crawl... This is Mason pictured below, but Ethan was the first one to master this, though I guess it was a team effort that first time since Mason held the push toy in place, while Ethan climbed up and unlocked the door. I just happened to have my camera handy the other day when I caught Mason in the act.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Cookies with Santa - Year 2
If you want a quick look back to last year for comparison sake click here...
Cookies with Santa
And here we are this year wanting NOTHING to do with that man in red (again)...would much rather color...but Ethan did manage to give a High-5 to the man in red even after being traumatized.
Cookies with Santa
And here we are this year wanting NOTHING to do with that man in red (again)...would much rather color...but Ethan did manage to give a High-5 to the man in red even after being traumatized.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)