Finding the perfect Christmas Tree with Jack (we left Nora behind)
Decorating the tree- with help from our little monsters
Jack in his Christmas hat
Nora just so happy
A break from Christmas to celebrate my birthday
My helper
We didn't go see Santa this year, maybe too lazy or just didn't have time with our vacation right before, so this is the best we could do! (We had gone caroling with the Wilson family, and this was a porch decoration at one of the houses we stopped at. classy...)
We made it... everything was taken care of so we could enjoy the Christmas holiday with both sides of our family and friends.
So I should break this vacation (only 6 days long) into part 1 and part 2, but I am too lazy...
I took the kids on vacation, alone. 3 days after the foot fiasco, I think I was NUTS! Luckily, things were wonderful, the kids cooperated, and we had a great time doing everything we wanted to fit in!
We started off flying to Denver to visit Dan for the weekend. My mom got to come with me all the way to the gate (THANK GOODNESS!) and the flight went perfectly. The kids were great! After getting to the hotel, waiting for Dan to be done for the day, we headed off to visit our good friends who moved to Denver 2 years ago.
We had a great time, and picked up right where we left off. The kids, now a little older, had a blast dressing up in costumes! It was great!
No pictures- but we spent the next day swimming with other friends and then playing games at their house in the evening.
We have been so lucky to have such great friends here in Milwaukee, but we seem to choose friends poorly- they all move away in 3-4 years when they are done with medical school, dental school, or they just want to move West. It was really fun to visit these friends in Colorado and to catch up.
We spent our Sunday just as a family, relaxing at the hotel. The biggest reason for me that Jack got a boot, not a cast, was so that we could take advantage of the pool at the hotel.
And that was our trip to Denver. Dan and I didn't even get to sleep next to each other in the hotel room (the kids didn't sleep well our whole trip) but it was so worth just spending a little time together as a family. We really missed him while he was away.
OFF TO UTAH- I was super nervous about flying alone with both kids. Or maybe it was having to return a rental car and get to the airport, through security on my own, etc. but we did it!
Miriam came to pick us up and we were up for a very exciting week with cousins, friends, and a LITTLE bit of relaxing.
We went to the Dinosaur Museum
Met up with our friend E. there. Played outside in the snow (a dusting, but kids don't care) watched movies and played, 4 little kids in 1 house was a party most of the time A little dancing We made it up to Logan to see my college roommate's new house, which is SUPER CUTE (I wish I had a better eye for decorating, maybe i would try harder then)
Saw our good friends in Smithfield And last but not least, spent our last morning playing at our friend's new house. We had a wonderful time. Somehow Marcia and Manda got overlooked in the pictures, but they were there. We saw Manda's classroom, and got to meet Marcia's boyfriend-now fiance-so that was a super bonus.
All in all, we survived. The best part about our trip was flying to Denver to meet up with Dan, who was able to be on our flight going home.
I just love seeing Dan be a dad, and taking care of our little ones. We really missed him!
Dan got the flu/food poisoning. The after crummy feeling lasted a week. While his illness was lingering, Jack and Nora both came down with something nasty. Jack had a fever 5 afternoons & nights in a row, 102-103* Nora had goopy eyes, but was very happy. I took both kids in- Jack had a virus (and it was nasty) and Nora had ear infections/eye infections. At this point, my sister who knew my life was rough for the moment sent me beautiful flowers. That was very thoughtful- made me smile and kept me going the next couple days as things went downhill...
The antibiotic wasn't working, so we took Nora in again and got drops to go with the antibiotic. ---Dan leaves for work training--- Monday night we spent the night at Grandma & Papa's for something fun/different. After talking to dad on the phone, Jack pulled the kitchen table bench out and it fell on his foot. Straight across the top. That night was miserable- we went to the Dr. the next morning, got x-rays, saw the Dr. again, and then saw the orthopedic doctor because all 5 metatarsels had fractures. ALL FIVE. (I bet you don't see that every day, should we be proud?)
the damage
the happy patient
I thought he would be getting a cast, and to get him to be a trooper I told him all about the green cast/boot he would get at the Dr. He was so excited, so when the Doctor said we could have a boot (because we were getting ready to travel and it would still let him swim and take a bath) He was incredibly disappointed it wasn't green.
So to simplify my life, I took Nora to a family friend Doctor to double check her ears before we got on a plane and we decided to up her antibiotic. Thank goodness, she is back to her fun, cute self.
So, with hours to spare, Jack decided to start walking and doing some things for himself and I packed and cleaned, and watched kids, all so we could leave town for a vacation of our own.
so these have been my sleeping arrangements- we spent every night at Grandma & Papa's because I was on my own. It was comforting to know I have back-up if I needed it.
One of the many get-well notes/gifts for our trooper notice he is building a snowman with his "disassembled snowman" pieces
Oh, and before all of this, Jack and I had the stomach flu the week of Thanksgiving. AWESOME!
We can't forget the princess. She is climbing on everything, but getting much sturdier so I don't have to be on the floor at the same time, watching her like a hawk.
She loves bags, buckles, straps, paper, anything that she shouldn't have. And really wishes she could play with Jack's glasses. She got his hat while he was napping the other day and that seemed to suffice.
And Jack LOVES to play the violin. He asks for ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle (they are the same) and we are working on a Christmas favorite. Stay tuned. :)
Here's to putting the last 10 days behind us, and moving on to a WONDERFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY and SAFE Holiday Season!
We have had a great couple of months. We have been busy, but having a lot of every day fun!
Jack playing inside of the ottoman for our new couch. His McQueen car was missing for a couple of days, so I bought him another one (I have a problem with losing things) and that day he found his first McQueen car. Now he has two! Dan is convinced it was "hiding" in the ottoman. 11/11/11 at 11:11 AM Playing trucks at Papa Russ's shop. Jack loves to visit Papa's shop/Debbie's house where he can ask and pick out his own candy treat!
Jack found a new hat for the cold weather. I think I prefer McQueen. It was so sweet- moments before this picture , this kids were sitting just like this and Jack was trying his McQueen hat on Nora. Not just anyone can try on his hat-well, he doesn't take it off often enough to give someone that chance either. Nora is into everything! Climbing up, chewing on, and just making me nervous. She is not nearly coordinated enough to be doing everything she does. We definitely have to keep a close eye on her! The bathtub is no different. She is wild and crazy climbing on everything that is DANGEROUS. The bathtub scares me! Thanksgiving dinner-my two little "Native Americans." They were the only two kids to really wear their headbands. Of course. And now... Happy December! It seems as though we will be praying for health indefinitely. Stomach flu, sinus headaches, strange high-fever viruses, and ear/eye infections make for sad little kids, and a tired mom & dad. Hopefully we are headed for a HEALTHY Holiday Season!
Our life is wonderful. So those times when kids are up during the night, or extra sassy, or just plain difficult, life is rough.
Let's just say, it was a difficult week- exhausting (for me), and frustrating when you don't know how to fix your children so they will do what you want.
We seem to be moving on. The highlights of our quiet night at home.
Jack loves to sing. He has lots of favorite songs, but he really likes the recording of "the Itsy Bitsy Spider" that ends with "There's a spider, EEK!"
And Nora started crawling this week. I saw it Tuesday, told Dan and she wouldn't do it, Dan saw it Wednesday and it's been more and more ever since. Jack was old when he started crawling, so we didn't see much of the clumsy, elephant like crawling that we have from Nora. I like it.
Here she is... our sweet little princess who doesn't like baby food, doesn't want to sleep at night, and is int everything!
Here is one of our many attempts of eating. We get about 3 spoons in, and then she is done. Just playing. She can sit all on her own now. :)
Big brother and sister.
Jack behind the camera. A visit from Grandma Cindy. She found Jack a fish towel and he loves it! Really anything that goes over his head makes him happy.
And a couple of my favorites. I was messing around with our basic SLR camera and this is what I got. Obviously I have a lot to learn, but it's fun to try and learn. The great things she is doing... She scoots forward, army crawls, reaches, whatever you want to call it. She likes to chew on things. For some reason, straps on purses or Jack's backpacks, shoes, pens, candy (in the wrapper). Loves paper and books. Once she is sleeping at night, she only gets up once now to eat. I like that! And sleeps a little later than 7. Her 2 top teeth have poked through- that makes 4 teeth total. She is overall happy and a lot of fun to have around. We sure love her!
Our Halloween Celebrations are coming to an end! It has been really fun this year with a 2 1/2 year old. His favorite part, costumes. His least favorite part (maybe a show/exaggeration) is him telling me he is afraid of everything. It's actually pretty funny, but he is genuinely a little leery of the dark-a flashlight is his #1 companion.
We carved a pumpkin for the family. Jack loved the candle inside and the pumpkin's two teeth.
The kids were Minnie & Mickey Mouse! Our only picture from the ward Halloween party. Jack loved getting all of the treats. (I should nte that we had a soup/chili cook-off my soup took 3rd place...) This is our 3rd Trick-or treating adventure (obviously not many pictures from the other two!) We trick-or-treated to 3 of Grandma & Papa's neighbors, in our stroller, in the rain. The kids survived- Dan and I were pretty wet. Happy Halloween! We dressed festive for today! And I think that is the end of our celebrating. Jack sat down to watch a Mickey Mouse episode, in his Mickey Mouse costume. And I came back, he was sleeping sitting up. I helped him lie down so he was a little more comfortable.
I think this is a case of "Too Much Halloween." Happy November tomorrow!
A couple ladies and I from church are doing a preschool co-op once a week. We each take a turn teaching, a turn watching the teacher's extra child (super nice to teach without Nora needing anything when it's my turn) and 2 weeks to drop off our child and have a couple of hours to get things done, without a 2 year-old. It is a lot of fun to teach, but also really exciting to hear from Jack all about it.
The highlights (from a 2 year old perspective) Week 1: He had a lollipop, used leaves, and made candy corn Week 2: Played outside, and he was afraid of the turtles (pet turtles they showed for T week) Week 3: LOVED the obstacle course. That is all he wants to do downstairs now. Oh, and we had marshmallows for snack (we sorted them, and counted them first, but who cares when you get to eat them.)
Our first day! (Sadly we didn't have a backpack for him, so he used a diaper bag/backpack we got as a free sample when he was born. LAME MOM move- but he's 2. He doesn't know the difference.) But, I did find him one at my favorite rummage sale. McQueen too! He loves it, obviously. :)
We didn't go see Santa this year, maybe too lazy or just didn't have time with our vacation right before, so this is the best we could do!
