Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, Timmy's age and enthusiasm made it perfect automatically!  On Christmas Eve we unpacked and settled in from our trip and took care of some last minute preparations for Santa's arrival.  We went to the children's service at Timmy's preschool and got to sit next to one of his friends families.  Timmy wore an angel robe and halo through the service, but decided to sit with us instead of joining the other kids up front.  From there we visited at Tim's dad's for awhile and headed downtown to see the National Christmas Tree with Becky, Jenny, Brett and Brayden.  The trains at the bottom were a huge hit with Timmy and Brayden, neither of them wanted to leave, though Brayden was more vocal about that!  Poor Tyler was there too, but he was all bundled up in his stroller so he only made it out for one of the pictures!

We hurried home afterwards for a few more Christmas Eve pictures and to put out Santa's cookie and milk before going to bed!  Tyler was tired and not in the mood for pictures, as you can see, but Timmy was happy to do anything asked of him, knowing Santa would be arriving any time!

And when Santa was done at our house, it looked like this!

Christmas in Ohio

We were able to make a run to Ohio right before Christmas this year, which was especially nice since we didn't make it at all last Christmas.  It was a speed run, as usual, and we left on the 23rd instead of the 24th, which meant we didn't make it to the annual Christmas Eve Machak Reunion, but we did manage to see both sides of my immediate family and had play dates with my cousins and their kids.

We met the Shultz' for a yummy dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, where Timmy finally added spaghetti to the (small) list of things he will eat!  Afterwards we took a tour of Darren's new, and newly refurbished, home and then settled in at Donny and Peggy's for the rest of the evening, visiting and eating yummy cookies.  We got to see more of Ron and Marleen thanks to staying at Ron's house.  Timmy was happy to help decorate Ron's tree, especially putting the star on top!

The next day the boys and I went to visit my cousin Michelle and her 6 year old twins Connor and Chloe for a few hours.  The twins played very nicely with Timmy, even though he is "only three and a half" and Michelle and I had a nice visit while watching Tyler roll around.  In the evening we met Grandma, Dale, and Paula for dinner and went back to their house for visiting and gifts.  Dale is Timmy's buddy.  Ever since their visit two Thanksgivings ago, Timmy has ended our evening prayers and blessings with "And MandM and Uncle Dale."

Our last day we got to spend a much overdo afternoon with my cousin Erin, her husband Chris, and their kids Jayce and Hannah.  I've mentioned before that we stayed with Chris and Erin while they were living in Edinburgh and we were traveling in Europe for our 3 year anniversary.  Erin hinted at the time that they were starting to think about kids, and Tim was working on convincing me we were ready as well!  Jayce is about 3 weeks older then Timmy, and we are all still on the same schedule, as Tyler is about 6 weeks older then Hannah!  We hadn't seen them at all for two years, and that last visit was at the always hectic Christmas Eve Reunion, so I was really excited to have a quiet visit with them and really catch up.  I was surprised to see how interested Tyler was in Hannah, he was patting her and getting excited and smiling like crazy.  Timmy and Jayce took a little while to get on the same page as far as how to entertain themselves (it was mostly their parents fault, if we had let them jump on the couches it would have been no problem at all) but by lunchtime they were having a cute conversation about their food and then they bonded over their love of Angry Birds.  I like to think that Erin and I are a lot alike, one of our similarities is our love for photographing our children (though I'll give her credit for knowing more about what she's doing!) We definitely couldn't resist making all four kids pose for a few pictures.  It was so, so good to see them, and I'm determined not to let it take another two years to get together next!

It was a very nice visit as always, our drive both ways was incredibly easy as well.  We were happy to get home to enjoy Christmas Eve and prepare for Santa to arrive!

Christmas Preparations Part II

We had so much fun getting ready for Christmas this year, Timmy is at such a great age for all of the excitement. The morning after our visit with Santa Claus, an elf showed up to keep an eye on Timmy and Tyler.  We awoke to a wintery breakfast spread and a new book explaining the elf's mission to us.  Timmy named our elf, Fuzzy, in about two seconds, and woke up anxious to find him every day, every time he found him he'd say, "Silly Fuzzy!"  Fuzzy even hitchhiked to Ohio with us in the cup holder on Tyler's car seat!  Here are a few pictures of Fuzzy's hiding places.

We also had an evening of matching-pajamas-lets-get-a-Christmas-card-photo shooting.  I took exactly 250 pictures, 24 of them are worth looking at, I love all 12 of these.

And here is Tim's finished product!

To Timmy, at 3.5 Years

Timmy,

I love you so much!  You are such an incredible little boy!  I am pretty sure that you are teaching me more then I am teaching you these days.  I am in awe of you, all of the time.  You are changing so much, but you are still such a sweetheart.  You love on me, tease with your dad, and play with your brother every way you can think of.  You are typically very willing to be helpful and you take such good care of all of us.

It's Christmas time, and you are at SUCH a fun age this year. We have an elf, Fuzzy, who is keeping an eye on you and Tyler for Santa. You weren't so sure about having this spy in our midst's the first few times we reminded you that Fuzzy was watching you, but now you appreciate the reminders and you wake up in the morning anxious to find him in his new hiding spot.  You went to see Santa and surprised us when you told him you wanted a "big truck."  We are trying to make sure Santa knows exactly what you want, but you keep changing your mind!  After a scouting trip to "Toys for Us" we sent Santa a letter that you wanted a Powerwheel Bumble Bee, we're pretty sure he's planning to deliver, and it's a big, custom order!  The last two days you decided you want "some Power Rangers instead."  We're not quite sure what Santa is going to do about that!  All I know is I can't wait to see your face on Christmas morning, and as you open all of your gifts.

Last week we were watching Survivor (which you say is your favorite show, you love watching the challenges, and you root for your favorite people) and one player said, "There's no need for name calling," during the course of a conversation.  You were sitting with me and you mumbled something about name calling not being nice.  Your Dad and I were immediately concerned.  We paused the show so we had your full attention and I asked you if someone had been calling you names.  You said yes, so I asked if it happened at school.  Again you said yes, and that you didn't like it at all.  I asked who was calling you names and you told me, "Reagan.  She calls me Pooh Bear."  We were obviously very relieved, and Daddy explained to you that Reagan thinks you're cute, and that Pooh Bear is a nickname, because she likes you, not name calling to be mean.  We called you Pooh Bear the rest of the evening, and you think it's funny now, as long as you aren't too tired when we say it!  A few days later we asked you what you call Reagan after she calls you Pooh Bear, you said, "Monkey."  I hope she takes it as a term of affection, I have called you a monkey since shortly after your first birthday, so I'm pretty sure you mean it sweetly!

Pooh Bear and Monkey

You love going to school, you ask every morning if it is a school day.  Francis has been in Kenya since the first weeks of school, so Nate has become your new best buddy.  You update us almost every week that Francis is still gone and you want him to come back, and when you are "jus pretenin" to be playing with your buddies, you pretend they are both there.  In the last few weeks you have realized that all your classmates are your buddies, you know all their names and tell us little stories about all the bodies.

Nate and Timmy

I adore you, little boy.  I will do anything for you and that will never change.  I hope your frequent, "Mommy! I need you!" will never change either.  I love you!

Santa Claus is coming to Town

Last weekend we went to see Santa Claus!  We had been practicing Timmy's list with him for weeks and we were hoping this was the year he would no longer be nervous about sitting with him.  The plaza where I work has a nice event every year, with a farmer's market, craft fair, petting zoo, and kids activities as well as having Santa arrive by barge and pose for (free) pictures!  While we were waiting for him to arrive Timmy decorated a gingerbread man.

And then we posed for some pictures as he was approaching.

Timmy was excited to see Santa, but he got really wound up while we were waiting in line, jumping all over the place and being a wild man.  Brayden sat with Santa first, and Timmy was much calmer when we had him and Tyler join on Santa's lap.  He was a bit shy at first, but while we had just he and Tyler sit with Santa, Timmy managed to tell him that he wants, "A big red truck" while he played with Santa's sleeve.  That request was a completely new item to his list, and I'm glad I was able to over hear it!

Tyler's first visit to see Santa was, predictably, without incident!  He just looked around contentedly all afternoon.

Christmas Preparations

The last few years we have had a fake Christmas tree, but decided this would be a good year to go cut down a real one, with no dog, Timmy understanding to leave it alone, and Tyler not crawling yet (though he is rolling like crazy, and has made his way under the tree a few times, and pulled ornaments off!)  Jenny was planning to cut down a tree too, so we made an afternoon of it and went to a nearby farm that we had cut trees at before.

We found a beautiful tree and Timmy 'helped' Tim cut it down.

The farm also had some animals, including a Pony, that Timmy stated he wanted to ride the moment he saw.  He was a little nervous when he first got on, but he enjoyed his ride and said he wanted to do it again.

Timmy helped me decorate and Tyler watched us intently.  Our tree is strategically decorated with breakable ornaments from about 4' up and non-breakable ornaments below that mark!  Tyler was allowed to check out one of the plastic bulbs for awhile, under Timmy's watchful eye, true to Tyler's nature it went straight into his mouth!

Look at those mischievous eyes!

7 Months

My sweet baby is 7 months old already, and has changed so much in the last month.  He started sitting up unassisted, a few seconds at a time, in the middle of November, and then suddenly on the 18th he sat up for 20 minutes straight!  I still put a pillow directly behind him when he's sitting, but most of the time when he falls over it's on purpose because he's trying to get to something.

Since he is sitting up so well, we got a tubby seat so he can safely take baths with his big brother.  Tyler loves being in the water and Timmy is enjoying the company!

On the 28th he decided he was hungry right when I was sitting down to a delicious dinner, so I propped him up on a pillow on the floor and set him up holding his own bottle.  He drained it without ever being re-situated.  It was great while I was eating, but I was immediately sad that he is that independent!  Now he likes to play with the bottle when he's done eating.  I think chewing on it feels good to his gums, and he just likes being a big shot, taking it in and out and twisting it around!

Tyler is not crawling, but he is definitely mobile!  He rolls all over the place, and he's fast!  We are already shutting the gate at the top of the basement steps.  Last weekend I left Timmy and Tyler playing in the living room, shut the gate, and went to the basement to do a few things.  On my way down I told Timmy that I was shutting the gate so Tyler wouldn't roll down the stairs, not to keep him out, and that he could just call for me if he needed something.  A few minutes later I hear, "Mom! Mom!  Tyler's trying to roll up the stairs!"  When I came up I found Tyler had rolled all the way over to the bottom of the upstairs staircase... I explained to Timmy that that was okay, I didn't think it was likely he would fall up the stairs!

Timmy is wonderful about keeping his little toys up and out of Tyler's reach and also about supplying Tyler with his own toys, all of them, piled on his lap so he can play with whichever one he feels like!  When Tyler does manage to roll his way over to something he shouldn't have, Timmy is happy to rush over and gently get it from him, and then find him something he is allowed to have.  In the last few days, Timmy has gone from piling Tyler's toys to placing them in a line.  I asked him why he did it the first time, and he got a sheepish grin. I asked him if he was trying to get Tyler to crawl and his smile got bigger as he said yes.

Tyler is as easy going as ever, as evidence, he fell asleep in his jumper the other night without ever making a complaint!

On Monday night Tyler was sitting with me on the couch and Timmy was on the floor in front of us.  Tyler reached over and touched Timmy's hair, which got an excited response from Timmy, which made Tyler laugh, which made Timmy laugh, so Tyler did it again.  Tyler initiating one of these silly cycles is new, usually Timmy does something accidentally that makes Tyler laugh, so he repeats it, but Tyler was clearly in the drivers seat for this one.  We got several minutes of it on our good video camera, got the last two turns on my cell phone, which is much easier for me to upload!  Timmy is saying "Don't pull my hair!" when he turns.  Seeing my boys laughing together makes me one happy Mommy!