Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!  We enjoyed the holiday down with our family, maybe for the last time since Robbie will know about Santa next year.  We had a rough start to our trip, though.  Matthew went to fill the van tires and noticed a nail in one of them.  Luckily we bought a tire plan when we got the car and the dealer will either repair or replace the tire when it gets a hole in it.  We needed a new tire, so that plan sure came in handy!  We were on the road later than we planned, but soon we were on our way to Jim and Jean's house.  We opened gifts and played with Robbie's new basketball hoop.  He loves it, though it's a little too tall for him, but he'll grow into it soon.  Robbie did make his first basket last night!  We went to a newly opened park and played for a while, then headed to Chick-fil-a for dinner.  This Chick-fil-a goes all out decorating with Christmas lights and syncing them to music.  We got there a little early, which was probably good because as soon as it got dark it filled up.  Robbie loved looking at the lights.

After breakfast Sunday we headed out to have lunch with Barbara and then to her house.  That night was the boat parade and it goes right by her townhouse.  Barbara had friends and family over to watch, but both boys were in bed before the boats made their way down to us.  We knew Alex would never make it, but we did try to keep Robbie awake.  Monday morning we opened presents.  Robbie likes his new train set and he got a lot of accessories for it.  We had to keep him from opening them all up so we didn't lose any of the pieces.

We drove to have lunch at my parents' house.  I was excited about seeing my brother, sister-in-law and nieces, but they were visiting my grandmother when we got there.  The kids were so cute together.  My other brother, sister-in-law and kids came over for Noche Buena.  I'm pretty sure there was as much food in Alex's seat as he actually got in his mouth.  That night my dad lit the fire pit and the kids played in the back yard.  Mia wanted to put on a little gymnastics show for everyone, and then Taylor did some ballet.  Robbie's talent was running around and falling on the ground.  Hopefully he isn't done with the talent search. :)

Christmas morning was pretty easy.  We had breakfast before opening gifts and then Robbie wanted to open every present under the tree, he didn't care who they were for!  We also had to keep him from taking every gift out of the package.  From there we went to Mimi and Gramps' house for lunch and more presents.  Robbie didn't care about lunch, though, he just wanted to eat all of the cookies.  My aunt and uncle had everyone over to their house for dinner.  I don't know how they managed to fit so many people in their house comfortably.  Unfortunately my Grandma got sick that morning and spent a few days in the hospital.  Matthew kindly offered to sit with her so my mom could have dinner with everyone.  Barbara and Jack had appetizers before dinner, so much food we had enough to feed us all again the next night, and desserts that would make The Cheesecake Factory jealous!  It was hard keeping Robbie in his seat because he wanted to be at the other table with his cousins and he had a pretty full appetizer plate before dinner.  Barbara had Christmas tree pictures for the kids to decorate with stickers and they also gave each of the grandkids a gift.  I told them that if it's like that there every night I'm coming over more often! :)

That night Dad slept on a couch so Alex didn't hear him up in the morning (Alex slept in my parents' room) and Matthew slept on another couch because he was getting up early to go after Christmas shopping with his mom and aunt and didn't want to wake up me and Robbie.  My mom went to be with Grandma at the hospital, but came home before Matt left so Matt could take her car and leave the van if we were going out with the kids.  Just before my mom came home around 3 am, my dad got up to use the bathroom.  When he came back he noticed a light on in the garage, so he stood at the door and heard movement in the garage.  When a light turned off he knew there was someone in the garage and grabbed a knife and woke up Matthew.  Matt was sure that it was just a squirrel or raccoon, so he went outside with my dad (probably just to humor him).  When they were outside, Dad realized that he left the house door open so he left Matthew standing by the outside garage door.  Matt thought he saw the window blinds move and was about to call 911 when my dad said "it's just Carole."  Whew!  My mom had no idea the panic she caused.  When she saw the front door open she thought Dad misread the clock and was getting the paper.  We had a good laugh at dinner when the 3 of them retold the story.  When my aunt asked my dad what knife he had he came back with a paring knife.  For some reason that struck me as hilarious and I spit out the juice in my mouth laughing so hard.  Glad we were already laughing about it!

Wednesday was hard.  We wanted to go to the beach, but just before we got in the car it started raining.  None of the kids were happy with the change of plans, but were better after a good nap.  We had Christmas dinner, part 2, and I don't think there were much leftovers after that.  Robbie got to sit at the kids table.  I can't believe that there is a kids table!  Mia, Nathan, Taylor and Robbie sat and ate (though Robbie was strapped in his booster seat to keep him at the table), then mostly played back in the bedrooms and the adults were able to relax and talk.  Poor Caroline wasn't feeling well and Nick and Robyn had to take her to a walk in clinic and then the ER for a breathing treatment.  We packed up our stuff because we were spending the night at Jim and Jean's house.  They went to New York for Christmas.  Due to the snow in the midwest, flights were being delayed, including theirs.  They ended up getting on a flight to Orlando and driving home.  They didn't get in until 5 am and Brittany had a flight in a few hours to St. Louis.  She already knew that her flight was delayed, but she had to get her bags to the airport before the scheduled departure time.  We decided to leave that morning instead of hanging out for the day knowing that they were tired and we were ready to get home.  And Alex's other front tooth came through, so I know he was happy about that.

Thursday morning we opened our presents rather than take them and open them on Christmas day.  I think since Robbie got to open most of Alex's gifts he thinks they are his, so he is learning about sharing.  We are blessed to have an amazing family to spend time with during the holidays.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Finally!

Alex's top right tooth came through!  I even had Matthew check for double confirmation. :)  He was a little extra snotty this morning.  Hopefully the next two teeth that I see coming will be here soon, too.  I'm going to miss his toothless smile, but I knew that time was coming to an end.

A few weeks ago my Mom to Mom Bible study did a playdate at one of the fire stations in town.  I thought Robbie would love it because he loves seeing firetrucks and whenever he hears a siren he says "I hear firetruck!"  Unfortunately that was not the case when we went to the fire station.  He was doing fine until I let a fireman put him into the truck.  I handed him off and then turned to the stroller to grab the camera and when I turned back around he was crying.  He wasn't too happy the rest of the time.  There were 2 other trucks still in the garage that he was willing to go near and even wanted to climb into one of them, but the truck that had been pulled out for the kids to look at was off limits!  At one point they got a call, so two of the trucks had to leave.  Robbie said they "went to an emergency".  I hate to say it, but he knew that because of a "Bubble Guppies" episode.  I guess tv can be educational! :)  They let kids hold the fire hose (obviously not on full blast) and Robbie didn't want to do that.  He wouldn't even go by the truck for a group picture!  Oh well, maybe next year will be better.

Ok looking at the truck for now:






Keeping his eye on the fireman!


Going to an emergency (it was a minor car accident one of them told us when they returned)




Pretty much how Robbie was most of the time.



For my birthday this year I wanted to do a platter with Robbie and Alex's hand prints.  Last year I made a Christmas platter with Robbie's footprints at a Mom to Mom playdate (we do a lot of fun things!), but they didn't do it this year, so I went to a pottery studio that I had been to before.  The original plan was for all four of us to go, I would get the boys hand prints and then Matthew would take them out for a while until I was finished with the platter.  When do things ever go as planned??  As soon as Robbie saw the paint and paintbrushes he wanted to paint.  I started letting him paint the platter orange, hoping that would satisfy him.  It did not, so I got more colors and let him dab the plate with the brush.  The paint got a little thick, so we let it dry while we went next door for lunch.  After lunch I came back with Alex and did his hand and then Matthew came in with Robbie and I did Robbie's hand.  Matt took the boys outside while I finished the details and words.  I wish I had outlined their hands so they stood out more, but they are a little easier to see in person.  As we were leaving Matthew jokingly asked "Are you sure you spelled everything right?  You didn't leave the 's' out of Thanksgiving did you?"  I really couldn't remember if I wrote the "s" so I made him go back in to check!  I don't know what I would have done if I had left it out, though.  I couldn't imagine the boys lasting through another platter painting (for sure not that day).

The finished product:


 Robbie saw the platter out yesterday because I finally got around to taking a picture of it.  I reminded him how we went and painted the plate, so he wanted to paint the plate.  I wasn't going to let him paint over our masterpiece, so I let him paint on a paper plate.  Luckily Matthew found some water color paints over the weekend that Robbie got in a birthday party goodie bag because he didn't want to finger paint with the Color Wonder paint we have.  He had just as much fun with the paper plate, you can ask Lisa because Robbie talked to her while he was painting.

My Picasso:








I learned last week that there is an "other" mailbox in my Facebook inbox.  As I was looking at messages I had received over a year ago I read one that said that I won a contest I entered (I think it was for a beginner toothbrush set).  Boy was I bummed that I didn't see that message!  The next day I got a package in the mail from MAM and I knew I hadn't ordered anything from them.  I figured if Matthew had he would have had the package addressed to him instead of me and, at the risk of spoiling a Christmas present, I opened it.  Turns out I won another contest that I didn't know I had won!  I had to give my address when entering that contest, so it was a pleasant surprise.  I'm guessing I also had to say it was for a boy since the bowls and cutlery set was blue.  I also got 5 $1 coupons for their products.

My winnings!


After dinner tonight we went out to look at Christmas lights.  We first stopped at a house that syncs lights to music.  We usually go and have to wait for other cars, but there were only a few of us tonight, so we drove through a couple of times.  There is another neighborhood where several houses put up a lot of lights and decorations, so we walked around there, too.  I asked Robbie if he wanted to keep looking at lights or go home since we were close to the car and he said he wanted to go home.  We were only a couple of steps away from the car when Robbie tripped and busted his lip.  It was pretty bloody, though nothing major.  I think Robbie was more freaked out by the taste of blood than actually hurting himself.  Fortunately we were able to calm him down and get him in his car seat to drive home.  I made a mega bubble bath to coax him into the tub (it worked!), but it was late and neither boy was really into the bath.  Hopefully the bubbles will be gone tomorrow, but I'm not confident that they will be!

Bubble boys!




Alex Bubble Head


Robbie Bubble Head


Smiles even with a busted lip.





Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Alex is 10 months old!!!!!!!!!!

Whew, time flies, doesn't it?  In two short months we'll be celebrating Alex's 1st birthday!  I can't say that he's any closer to walking, though he is so fast at crawling and will cruise along furniture.  He has also taken a few steps behind the walker toy.  I guess he's just happy crawling and isn't in a hurry to walk.



Alex's top right tooth is almost through the skin.  There can't be too many layers of gums between the tooth and freedom.  Poor guy, we've been saying since Thanksgiving that we think his tooth is coming in.  I thought I felt it yesterday, but not yet.  Maybe he'll get his two front teeth for Christmas.

Matthew got a great deal on a new laptop, so all of Alex's pictures are on the other computer, but here are some of Alex's 10 month pictures: