This & That

On Monday I watched my brother's kids while he and his wife, Codi, went to Charleston. It wasn't too bad. We kept ourselves busy doing this and that.

Making bracelets and necklaces with Lizzie's new bed kit.

Playing at the local Bounce House!
Most of my Willa shots: her running away from me usually up the wrong side of the slide.
When the girls looked like this I knew it was time to go home.

In return for my services Scott and Codi offered to watch my kids while I got a pedicure and went shopping on Tuesday. I almost went and then I heard they were going to help my mom clean out her attics and storage room which sounded just as fun. Hmmm. Pedicure or purging and organizing? Well, really I can get a pedicure anywhere.

The only down side was that the kids watched TONS of television while we were cleaning. When it came time to go to bed Lizzie was difficult. Apparently she heard a ghost story on dumb Sponge Bob (ugh) and was too scared to sleep.

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In other news, late last night Codi helped me cut out squares for a quilt (yes, I've decided to make one/learn to sew). I'm still trying to work on it today while dealing with a grumpy Lizzie and anxiously awaiting Andrew's return. He drove back to DC on Sunday so he could work these last three days. We are so excited that he was able to get off work early today so we'll see him New Years Eve instead of tomorrow as planned.

Our holiday so far . . .

We went bowling Christmas Eve afternoon, a tradition from my sister-in-law Codi's family. It was a lot of fun, especially for Andrew who got his all-time high score of 220. I bowled on the kid's lane so I could make use of the bumpers. Thanks to them I got a strike. . . . Naturally Lizzie bowled in a dress.

Codi helped the little girls decorate cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. They each got three: two to decorate and one to eat. Lizzie brought her third to me and said, "This is for you Mommy. I'm sorry I took a bite out of it . . . and licked it." Luckily she made this confession before took a bite.

Initially I thought Liz would be too hyper to sleep or worse, it would be like our drive the night before when every half hour she asked if we were almost to Nana's house. But, she and Iris were so excited about Santa coming that they quickly bathed and put themselves to bed at 6:30--an hour and a half early for Lizzie. I loved it.

Christmas morning with little kids is so fun. When Liz saw the pile of presents under the tree she exclaimed, "Santa came! He really did come!" And when she saw that most of the cookies were gone she became even more excited and hollared for Iris to come examine the remains.

As far as the gifts were concerned, Liz was appropriately happy with her skis, though as soon as she picked up the package to put it in her present pile she guessed it's contents. With most of her gifts, she exclaimed, "my favorite!" or "it's just what I wanted" and ran to hug the giver.

When Iris opened her kitchen Liz said, "Iris, you got what you wanted! Santa heard you! He hears everything!"

For Christmas we re-gifted Alaina things she already received as baby gifts because she really doesn't need much. I didn't notice until I looked at this picture, but the stocking is longer than she is.

Aside from re-gifts, we gave Alaina a cool mist humidifier (cuz she has a cold), pacifier leashes, Desitin (because I forgot to pack some), and a contraption to make washing bottles in the dishwasher easier. It may sound like she got the shaft, but she actually got more than Lizzie did her first Christmas. Five years ago we only gave Liz one solitary stuffed toy and no stocking. Speaking of, after Liz opened all her gifts, she opened Lainey's.

The girls played well together (such a welcome change from last August). They pretty much spent the day rotating between Lizzie's ponies, Iris' kitchen, and Willa's Dora house.

After everything was opened, Uncle Scott made German pancakes for breakfast. Delicious.

And, we stayed in our pajamas all day. It was lovely.

Ahhh, the Wii that almost wasn't. After days of unsuccessfully checking with multiple stores my mother found one at Walmart on the 23rd. I received the good news during our 9.5 hour drive to South Carolina. Thank goodness. I always swore I wouldn't own a video games, but oh well. Drew wore me down. Nearly everyone enjoyed playing it (though I must admit that I haven't tried it out yet). As for my gifts, Drew did well. Amongst other things, he gave me Anne of Green Gables DVDs which he promises to watch with me, lotion for foot rubs (my fav), and some white house ornaments even though he doesn't really like them (or at least he doesn't see what all the fuss is about).
On the 26th we went to see the Christmas lights at the Columbia Zoo. It was so fun. The weather was wonderfully mild and the kids were well-behaved. Aside from the lights, Liz liked the simulated snow and carousel. I liked the light show timed to music.

Once the kids were in bed, Scott and Codi taught us a card game called Golf. We LOVED it. We played till about 2 in the morning and still, I can't wait to play again and again. Luckily it can be played with only two people so Drew and I can continue playing even when we aren't surrounded by our extended family (maybe while we watch Anne).

For Lizzie's first Christmas I took pictures of her in a Santa hat:

I wanted to do the same with Alaina, but the first session didn't go so well.

Take two went much better . . . . .

Until I laid her on her tummy. Obviously we aren't as good with "tummy time" with Lainey as we were with Liz (who was almost a whole month younger when her pictures where taken).

We decked our halls

This year I decorated for Christmas on Friday, November 7th. A little early, but I was super excited.

Andrew's sister Carrie made us this advent calendar last year. Love it!

My nativity sets (I like to collect them from other countries).

Lizzie's nativity sets (and other special holiday playthings).Liz hung most of the ornaments on our tree this year (which is why it's a little bottom-heavy). The skirt is actually a table cloth. We've used it for nine years now. I'm hoping to replace it soon. The books are part of a Christmas tradition. I wrap all our Christmas-related books, and all month we open one a night for story time.

Some of my favorite ornaments:

My sister-in-law, Cindy, gave this ornament to us last year to help remember baby Jacob. I love it.

Liz made these in preschool last year. I used to think I didn't want any ornaments made by children on my perfectly matched tree. This year I let up and I'm so glad I did.

I picked this up hand-painted egg ornament in Salzburg. The day trip to Austria was part of my week-long study abroad in Germany. So fun. I didn't think I'd get a chance to do this in grad school. I'm so glad I did.

The poinsettia is one of a discounted bunch I bought January 1999. Andrew and I were unofficially engaged and I enjoyed anticipating our upcoming holidays together. The following December Andrew and I decorated simple glass balls (as seen in the picture) for our first Christmas.We bought this little hat from a youth in Lesotho who helped us brake into our rental car (Andrew locked our keys in it). It reminds me not only of that crazy moment, but of the whole fun trip.

Lizzie's handmade ornament. For some reason it was important to her to leave the tag on.

Merry Christmas Jacob

This evening we planned to buy Christmas gifts for Jacob and donate them to Toys for Tots. We did this last year as well. We went to Toys R Us and it was really fun until it came time to leave the gifts. Then, it was heartbreaking. Still I felt glad that we were starting what I hope will be a tradition for many years to come.

This year it didn't go as smoothly as we planned/hoped. It seemed we never had a free evening available. We tried to go last Saturday afternoon, but the lines were out-of-control, so we rescheduled for tonight.

Tonight there were still a few bumps. Drew ended up having to stay later than expected at work, but I didn't get the message because I was tied up on the phone with a childhood friend who was in the middle of a paranoid episode (I had no idea she had this issue). I drove downtown thinking Andrew would probably be ready when I got there. He wasn't.

I ended up spending a lot of time parked near the Mall in DC, on the phone alternately with Texan cops and my unfortunate friend, while Alaina slept and Liz listened to Junie B. Jones.

When Drew was finally available we headed to Target to get gifts (right around bedtime). Liz was not into picking out toys for Jake (so different than from year). She just wanted to look at toys for herself. Also, while we were there I got a disturbing call from my friend who I think was in the process of being committed somewhere.

Finally, we dropped the toys off at a local fire station.

Through the whole experience I alternated between feeling sad that we weren't buying toys for our living, little boy's second Christmas and ruminating on all the pain and hardship he has avoided: no feeling sad because mommy doesn't respond quick enough to his crying, no being bullied or ignored at school, no physical pain or mental illness or rejection. Sometimes thinking of all the unpleasant things Jacob is missing feels comforting to me when I start to get down about all the wonderful things we are missing because he is not here.

My day so far:

12 Christmas cards sent out (and now I'm done)

11 mintes late for school pick up (Lizzie: "I was the last kindergartner and my hands are freezing!")

10 Times explaining to Liz why she has to eat "growing food" before sweets

9 Days of stopped mail

8 Thank you notes mailed for baby gifts (and now I'm finished just in time to start writing the Christmas thank yous)

7 Teacher gifts

6 Calls to stores to find a gift for Drew

4 Cards made for Lizzie's friends

3 People bathed (me included)

2 Friends visited

1 Load of laundry

And now we are off to the doctor's office!

Holiday Cheer

I feel like I've been running around like crazy these last couple weeks, but I have had some fun times like Drew's Christmas party (even though it was a subdued affair at the Barns at Wolf Trapp instead of the usual "Deloitte Prom" at the Ronald Reagan building), making and delivering treats to friends, and the following:

Dance class parent's day. It was SO loud.

I can't believe Alaina slept through it (well, most of it anyway).Tacky Christmas sweater party - I went to two Salvation Army stores and couldn't find any sweaters, but I scored an embroidered denim shirt that went really well with my mother's holiday button covers. Love it.

Temple Visitor's Center - We love the lights. Liz loves the live nativity (Drew doesn't understand what all the fuss is about). We also saw a Ukrainian Christmas performance. The costumes were amazing (so elaborate!) and hearing the heavy Ukrainian accent left Drew and I feeling so nostalgic for our time abroad.

Gingerbread train - Drew and Liz had a lot of fun putting this together this afternoon while I took some personal time. Liz was so proud of her work.

National Tree - Liz loved the trains, especially the trolleys. I loved that Drew was willing to drive around DC with a crying baby while Lizzie and I made our annual pilgrimage. I love seeing the tree each year--Drew, not so much. According to him it looks pretty much the same every year. According to me, it's a tradition. According to Drew, traditions should be fun in addition to being something you do on a regular basis.

After the tree we saw the nearby Santa. It was awesome. There was pretty much no line because they were about to close up shop, but they let us in. It was super warm and we got a free picture.

Baby time - An attempt to get a smiling photo of Alaina. Almost . . .

And there it goes.

Other things to do in the next two days: my blog award list, finish sending cards and delivering treats, pack, see the nativities at the National Cathedral, buy Drew's Christmas gifts, toys for tots donation, and teacher gifts. Totally doable. Probably, at least.

Superwoman

I don't know why I keep thinking I'm a super woman and can do a million things in a single day, especially when my personal experience keeps proving me wrong.

I no longer scrapbook so this year I decided to use up a chunk of my supplies by making my own Christmas cards. What a stupid idea. With only one week to go before Christmas, and no cards made, I finally ordered some from Costco.

There are lots of other holiday things that I have not gotten too: the National tree, temple visitor's center, Lizzie's note to Santa, grandparent gifts. . . . Argh.

Yesterday, I planned to do a bazillion things while Liz was in school and completed none of them:

Shower and curl my hair before meeting a friend for lunch.
Well, I changed out of my pajamas and put on mascara and lipstick during the drive over (since Drew reads this, I must say that I only applied makeup at the traffic lights).

Pick up, address, and mail gobs of cards.
Well, I managed to pick them up no less than 10 minutes before I picked up Liz.

Clean the apartment.
Hmm, I just made the beds.

Take a nap.
Lainey wasn't up for it, but we did end up with nice cuddle-in-bed time.

Purchase Drew's Christmas gifts.
I got on the phone and found some local stores that have it in stock.

Go grocery shopping and make dinner.
Didn't happen. Thank goodness for frozen meals.


Oh well. I'm going to try it all again today.

Seriously Cute Kids

Last week (or so) I got more pictures back from our grandkid photo shoot. I love them. I seriously think my nieces and nephews are the cutest kids in the world (aside from my own of course--can't avoid that bias).