Happy Holidays

And oh, was it. We had a great holiday with our nephew, Scott's sister, and his mom and step-dad. As hectic as it is there is something so right about a house full of family on a winter holiday. Jax was celebrating his first Christmas, as was Kyle.

Treasures in the Stockings
They each got new aprons and race cars- Lili got her first piece of chocolate- she wasn't a fan- yet. If she's anything like her mother that sweet tooth will kick in fairly soon :) They were all fans of the traditional oranges, though.

Jax's first stocking

Lili has a Giraffe bank that she got from her Mee Maw for her second birthday. Mee Maw always remembers to send nickels to feed the Giraffe, which Lili loves to do. She also sent some yummy dried mango treats in one of the four (!) boxes that she sent.

But it's true what they say...No matter how big or fancy the present, these kids are just happy with the box.

Or in this case, the bubble packing.

Revealing Questions- from Jessica

Revealing quesitons from Jessica
Bath or Shower?
Dog or Cat?
Creamy or Chunky?
Morning or Night?
Chocolate or Vanilla?
Paper or Plastic?
1.) Shower. I could stand there and waste water for longer than I care to admit. If you've met our shower, you'd understand. I also am one of those people that actually uses her soaker tub, though it seems most people just use it as a dust collector. Lili likes to get in with me and create bubble mountains :)
2.) Dog. We have a dog, who's crazy around new people but most of the times is pretty chill for a small dog. I had an awesome cat when I was growing up that you could carry around like a baby, cuddle with you, talk to and he could use the toilet but that was the only cat I've loved. The rest of them tend to be too skiddish and hairy for me. I hate cat hair.
3.)Creamy. If your buying regular peanut butter, though my favorite is the stuff from the Farmer's Market has natural chunks in it- but it's still different than straight up chunky.
4.) Night. I'm more productive in the mornings after a night's sleep (what is that??!) but right now I love night because it is the only time I get to spend with my husband and don't have to chase around kiddos ;)
5.) Vanilla. Yup. Yum, yum.
6.) Reusable bags. I'm like Jessica, though and often forget, so I tend to not accept bags and push the whole cart up to the car and load them into my bags there. Why is that so hard to remember sometimes?
What about you guys???

Oh Tannenbaum

I know I'm a bit late with this post, but as long as it's before Xmas it's not TOO late, right?
At the Kidman Tree Farm- Scott was trying to find the biggest tree that they had...






What we got- just kidding :) This is Lili's tree, and was actually our first tree ever, back in our tiny one bedroom apartment in NJ. Now Lili decorates it every year, which typically means 47 ornaments on one branch. She also has her little trains on a mini track around the base, such fun for a 3 year old :)











And the big ole' tree. It feels like Macy's up in this joint!

Bad Parenting 201

Apparently I could do an entire blog on bad parenting moments...

Lili had a bath tonight. She was refusing at first, which was odd because typically she loves any excuse to wash her cars. I enticed her with the bait of a big bubble bath in mama's soaker tub, which of course worked like a charm and she stayed in long after I had gotten out and she was uber pruney. So we did jim jams and stories and it wasn't until after she went to bed that I looked into the recently drained tub...


The thing is, we used to bath her every night as part of our bedtime routine. Of course, there was just one of her and two doting parents so... :) Once her eczema reared it's head we stopped bathing her every night, and once Jax came along we got REALLY lax about it. As in, when we give her a sniff and she stinks, we do some rough math ("did she get a bath last week? What day is it again?") to decide if we can't avoid it any longer. Scott and I both noticed how stinky she was today and, um, by the looks of the tub we MAY be getting a bit too lazy on this matter. It's not like it's the middle of summer and she just got back from a sand pit or anything. This is middle of winter dirt. On a girl. Yikes.

bad parenting 101

We had a long drive home from Indiana yesterday. It should be about 7 hours, but we had an extra 3 hours thanks to the ice. Driving 15 miles/hour on the highway is no fun, especially when the wind starts blowing the van across the lanes. Anyway, Jax was overtired and sick of being in his seat. He didn't want to nurse or calm down for anything. I was frustrated, tired and ready to ride on top of the van like cargo instead of inside with all the screaming. Scott pulled off at a rest stop and took Jax inside to try to get him to sleep. As soon as he left the car Lili said, "Mama, it's okay to be frustrated but next time just say, 'Dadda I need some help' okay?"

Cue me crawling under the seat in shame.

This brilliant, sensitive, exhausting 3 year old had better perspective on the situation than her mama.

First Foods

Jax had his first food on Saturday, his six month birthday. That's when Lili had her first food, so I thought picking the same age date would make it easier to remember 20 years from now. Though, I think he may have been ready a smidge earlier and her WAAAAAAAY later. Avocado. Yum. He seemed to do well, and be interested, though not quite sure what to do with that interest. I was just excited to see that after all the toy grabbing that has him leaning a bit towards a lefty, it really looks like he may be lefty- check out all the mush on his left hand and nothing on his right! Of course, may be jinxing myself just by saying it, but a girl can hope, right?








On another note, if you ask Scott was Jax's first food was, this is his reply...

Courtesy of mama attempting to read a magazine while Lili and dada went exploring and Jax quietly entertained himself during our 3+ hour layover...

Oops.

The Wedding

We had a great time in Arizona for Jen's wedding. The bachelorette party was at Diana Madaras' house and wow, what a place. We had a splendid time shaking our tummies for the bellydancing and the food was amazing. On Friday we had the BBQ and rehearsal both of which went well despite my having to leave a smidge early to nurse Jax. Thankfully it was less than 5 miles away and he was happy with his sister, Scott and Mee Maw. Overall everything went smoothly on Saturday as well, despite my just about losing it during pictures. In my defense though, I did have to run from the 4th floor down to the first floor and across the pool/courtyard area 3 times in heels to help get the kids ready, was way behind on time, and we were trying to convince an extremely reluctant 3 year old to pose nicely for family pictures BEFORE the ceremony (meaning massive time crunch so that guests don't see the bride hanging out outside in her dress). Sooooo, Lili isn't in any of the family pics and I'm mildly guilt ridden. Oh well. Once the family pictures were done the ceremony was beautiful, the pics in the desert should be amazing and the reception was a blast. Food was super yummy and overall we had a great time and feel so fortunate to have been included in such an important time for Jen and Calvin. Love you guys!