Merry Christmas Eve

Just a couple of pictures from our Christmas eve today. We are trying to make sure the boys understand the real reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior! We hope they will grow up with it always in their hearts and have a few traditions we'll continue - reading the Christmas story together the key one! We also let them get down the manger and play. We tried to have finger puppets to make the story come alive a little more, unfortunately my attempt at making them were sad, next year we'll have to try something new.

Celebrating Christmas Early and a Birthday Late

We celebrated a wonderful early Christmas present this weekend - Mike came home! We had grand plans for welcoming him home in a spectacular way. Saturday we made our welcome home poster, we had plans to meet at Burger King with a play area and let kiddos run around and play. I had pants for the boys to wear there, their fleece lined jeans to change into, we'd grab lunch for them so they could eat on the way. All was going well, the kids had a ball running around and playing, Alexis and I didn't think the morning was going quick enough...boys were getting changed into warm clothes and bundled up and phones were ringing. Yeah phones were ringing, the guys were home, they were there and we were still at Burger King cause it was early, much earlier than expected. So Mike met us outside and hopped in the truck. He did not care, he was just glad to be home but I felt disappointed that the boys didn't get to run/walk up and grab him by the legs and never let go and that he didn't get to see their poster until we got home. Still - what mattered was that he was home and just in time for Christmas! So of course there aren't a ton of pictures - but we did take some at Burger King and once home.

Tonight we celebrated Josh's birthday, again. We made cookies (Josh didn't seem super excited with his cupcake on his actual birthday but is quite the cookie monster). We were making sugar cookies (Nee-nee's recipe and they were DELICIOUS!) and made some in dinosaur shapes just for Josh's birthday. We let Josh open his presents from the grandparents - he kind of got it, the opening part of it that is. The other news though is that Josh is kicking the soccer ball around, I think the first time was an accident but he quickly did it again and then later more and more. He was kicking it around the kitchen and dining room before we had our birthday cookies. We're having a very laid back week and enjoying time with Mike again as we get ready for Christmas - hope you are all well!

At Least Someone Likes the Snow...

Kasey has wanted to be outside so much these past few days! She is loving playing in the snow, and I wish I had a picture of her dancing and prancing around the yard and just having a grand time in the snow, but I haven't even wanted to stand at the back door with the camera cause it is COLD! I don't let her stay out more than 30 minutes though, I'm afraid she'll still be too cold. I did manage to snag a few decent pictures of her inside today. She is loving her boys as always, loving the snow and playing lots of fetch. I can't wait until we can all go for walks again, I know she misses those - poor girl but it's too cold to have the boys out that long especially with the wicked wind we've had and so the walks will have to wait.

A Quick Update on Us

It is Friday - it was a whiney Friday here at our house, so be glad you didn't spend the day with us =) Noah did not nap today despite best efforts, Josh took a very short nap and only one today so it was not surprising but not a ton of fun. The boys about 30 minutes before I decided we'd head back to read stories and get to bed, they were both laughing and chasing each other around the table. Such sweet hearts, most of the time. We are snowed/iced in at the moment, we had sleet, thunder, lightening, and then snow starting last night through this morning - who knew you could have thunder and lightening with snow storms? We have had a good week, pretty low key but good. We finally were able to return to the gym now that diapers are normal - it was great to get a good workout in and the boys had fun playing. We've run errands, finished wrapping presents, I have found room in the laundry room to keep the abudance of presents that have arrived in the mail (our family is really way too generous), had the house cleaned, and then had the yucky weather. The boys are in bed tucked away, and now I have lots of things to reogranize and stock away from various projects and then Sunday school stuff to get together but I wanted to let you know how the boys are doing...

Noah is continuing to learn more and more words and his speech is getting clearer. He is also great about pointing things out to me - like wheels, stars, the moon, and trucks specifically. He has also really loved watching Charlie Brown this week (I dvr'd it from one night) - he has woken up and asked for 'harile bown" several times. He laughs so hard at Snoopy's antics. I love it! He also is pushing mommy's buttons this week and the boundaries on a regular basis. I am trying to remember that this is healthy and expected behavior from a 2 year old, he should feel confident in himself and assured of abilities and that will lead him to want to make sure I really will follow through with boundaries and consequences - I am trying, trying and praying for eyes that let me see this wonderfully active, exuberant child with the eyes like God has and understanding of how to delicately handle these situations. Because while Noah is pushing boundaries, when he is dealt a negative consequence, it has been shattering to him this week - he seems sensitive and I don't want to deal too harshly with him, I want to be firm and consistent but not squash his spirit.

Josh had his well baby visit this week - it was a 2 1/2 hour ordeal! Both boys went with me, they both did very well considering it was at 130 and that is nap time at our house. Josh is doing well, he's meeting all the milestones that he should be meeting. He weighed 20lbs 5oz (16%) and is 28.5 inches long (14%) but get this - he's got a noggin in the 90% =) He is still dealing with eczema and we aren't seeming to have great success at clearing it all up with any of the treatments we have tried so we have a referal to dermotology. It probably will just be something that we continue to deal with his entire life, but I hope the discomfort can be handled better. Josh also got his 1 year shots, got blood drawn for a lead level test and got some medicated shampoo for his eczema covered scalp. He has also begun to walk more and more, I feel confident saying that he's a walker now...he was even this evening trying to run after Noah - now he didn't have great luck and fell flat on his face but quickly crawled to get Noah.

Tomorrow we are heading out to Bass Pro Shop with Alexis and boys to have some time out of the house and burn some energy before heading home for naps and then after naps some dinner and playing. We are hoping to have a busy Saturday and Sunday and will probably update sometime Monday. Hope you are all warm and well!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

I should not complain about the cold, I know there are others who are much much colder - but man it is COLD! The temperature at a friend's house close by I was told said it was -9 outside, the news says it's -5 and the windchill is about -30! Yikes! We are going to be hanging out inside for the day playing, Noah's friend has come to play so I'm sure we'll have a great time. I even heard that Vegas was suppose to get snow today - so I am thinking it is just plain cold everywhere! hope you are all warm! I will add some more pictures and videos later on, but here are a couple from this morning

Happy 1st Birthday Josh!

So it has really been a year - really? Today Josh turned 1, I can hardly believe it has been a year - I woke up this morning at 2 am (dont' worry I went back to sleep) but kept thinking, we had welcomed Josh into the world a year ago today but had yet to hold him as he was in the NICU and had a breathing tube in. I remember how restless I slept or tried to sleep that night, how heavy my heart was - and then sighed because God is good, so good. This morning I went back to sleep knowing Josh was snug in his bed in the next room - finally sleeping through the night and doing so well. Josh is beginning to walk more and more, but he's so quick crawling if he wants to get somewhere fast he'll crawl. He's starting to jabber in sounds that are more like words than gibberish, it seems he's starting to repeat some sounds now - those tubes must be working!

We had a very busy, fun-filled day. We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes - a family favorite. Then we headed to the base for the squadron's children's Christmas party to help set up (little help I was with the boys) but we had fun. I think Noah must have been hungry, we had a few rough moments until we had lunch. AFter that he was great and enjoyed the puppet show and then seeing Santa. Josh wasn't too thrilled with Santa and was getting so sleepy.

We ended the night with dinner with friends here and then cupcake decorating for our birthday party for Jesus tonight. Josh got a cupcake to dig into - he was so entertained with the cupcake, he was touching it and pushing it and just giggled and laughed but didn't really dig in to it. I tried and tried to get him to take a bite, but he didn't want a bite. He's getting so big and growing up so much. Mike is going to be so surprised when he gets home to see this walking, laughing, jabbering boy!

Salt Dough Ornaments

Saturday night, Josh took a late nap and Noah and I started making salt dough ornaments, super easy to mix and they held together well while Noah helped me roll out the dough and cut the ornaments with cookie cutters. Tonight after dinner, I got out the craft paint and brushes and let Noah and Josh go to town on them. They are so funny, Josh at first wasn't sure what to do of course, but soon caught on and enjoyed whirling his paint brush and even got some paint on the ornaments. Noah started out using the brushes on the ornaments and after Josh had his hand in paint he wanted to paint his hand. Well at first he said "aint Mommy's hand" when I declined to take part he decided to use his own, which was quite a surprise to me. If you remember at Thanksgiving, we tried to do turkeys out of his hand prints and ended up with my handprints. Noah really enjoyed painting on his hand, then pressing his hand on all his ornaments to get them painted. They are definitely the work of a very fun-loving, exploring 2 year old! After baths and thankfully getting them both clean (craft paint not washable cause I didn't want it to come off the ornaments so easily) Noah was looking at the tree, he found the "M" ornament that Mike got from Sandy, he says M. I went to explain that the M was for Mike, Daddy's name is Mike so it's daddy's ornament. Noah persisted with "no" finally I asked him why, he said "no M - M mommy!" Well what do you know? I guess Noah knows that mommy starts with M, pretty cool what the little sponges soak up isn't it?

Santa's Jet & Storm Troopers

So the boys have no idea what Star Wars is...but still we ventured out to the SAC Museum today to see Santa in a jet and we also got to see lots of Storm Troopers, R2D3 (it wasn't R2D2 - not sure how you tell, but the guy with the remote specifically said it wasn't R2D2...so I figure he knew), Darth Vador and gang as well. Noah waited in line to see Santa in the jet fairly well, and when we got our turn was thrilled to get to push/pull all the buttons and gears in the jet. I am not sure that he cared that Santa was sitting next to him. Josh at first was just fascinated with Santa and kept staring at him and trying to grab his beard. By the time we took a picture though he was antsy and ready to be done. Oh well - at least they aren't screaming right? The boys had a blast playing in their Big Adventure exhibit. It was crowded and the area was on the smaller side, with lots of bigger kids coming and going and while the boys enjoyed themselves thoroughly, I must admit that I was a bit stressed trying to let Josh down to toddle/crawl and keep up with Noah. After that we made our way back toward our side of town, we had a quick lunch and then took Noah to "give parents a break;" Josh could not go as he is not 1 yet - well unfortunately with nap schedules being off, Josh was the crankiest/whiniest child alive it seemed and while I am glad Noah got a chance to play, I did not get a break or get anything done that needed done; oh well. I did take Josh to Target - even then he was just fussy the entire time and not content. We got what we needed (things to organize closet space in Josh's room - there is now room for more toys which I'm guessing we'll welcome with Christmas) and left to get Noah. The boys played some for the evening, still we weren't the happiest here, hopefully tomorrow we can get back on schedule a little and have happier boys! I think they had a pretty good day of playing at least even if I thought I would go insane before bedtime. Thankfully I have lots of wonderful people in my life that remind me to get rest and take time to take care of myself - I am trying to listen to that advice! I have been trying to upload pictures - but it isn't working tonight so I will post some later, but they are all on Kodak in Dec. 2008 Week 1 album....sorry!

Not Much Here...

We have had a week to recover and are getting back in the swing of things. Unfortunately I haven't been great about taking pictures this week but there are a few I will post here with bits into what we've been up too. Sunday we started the Advent Wreath with the boys, it is styrofoam covered in ribbon and some felt flames - not the most sophisticated but at least they can participated in lighting the candles with us.

Monday after taking Josh to the doctor again, we knew he wasn't contagiously sick, just still recovering from the virus and what it had done to his institines. Josh has always been a little guy but unfortunately after 2 weeks of sickness has lost just over a pound. I am hoping by his well baby 1 year check up on the 17th that he will have at least gained back the pound (he's at 18 lbs 11 oz right now). We had dinner at Sandi's for our weekly dinner with the girls and kids. Tuesday we were able to make my MOPS meeting, which was really nice and productive. Noah had a great time playing of course with all his friends while I was at my meeting. We spent Tuesday night playing cars together. That was such a blast! Wednesday was Bible study and AWANA. Thursday we stayed home and played and got odds and ends done.

Thursday evening Sandi and Elora came over and while the kids played we got some things done that needed done for AWANA. Noah and Elora were so funny playing, they had a great time. After dinner Noah heard the word bath and was ready to be in the tub - so everyone got baths and we got to bed.

Today we checked out the public library (we normally have been going to the base library - options are good) and were joined by Sandi and Elora. It had a really nice section for the children's books and included a fun alphabet rug and some puzzles. I was surprised at how well Noah and Elora did on a puzzle that didn't have places cut out for each piece, one that had all the pieces touching - if that makes sense. They are all growing so fast! Noah enjoyed being there, though of course the waiting and being quiet is often hard on busy little boys. We are working on that though and will be sure to check out some of the activities they offer. I think being a bigger library they are able to offer more specific story times - we had tried the story time on base earlier this year; it did not go well, it was more for 4 and over and well it just wasn't interactive enough or with stories that grabbed Noah's attention. I haven't tried since then, but they have a toddler story time for the 2 - 3 year old crowd so we will be sure to try that soon.

After the library and signing up for new library cards for the whole family we headed to the learning center. Josh was starting to get sleepy but was okay crawling around and standing - he stood for long periods but refused to take any steps. Noah was able to peddle the tricycle today, that was neat. He also sat and listened to one of the songs/stories with Ms. Julie. We had lunch and then ran to Target for some things. Neither of the boys cooperated to nap when we got home, Josh had napped while we were at Target so I wasn't surprised with him. Though of course now at 545 they are both sleeping...oh well I will wake them soon so we have a decent bed time!