Christmas Morning

Presents? Oh yeah, we had presents! Family? Yep, MaBop and PaBop came for a visit! Food? You betcha! The best parishioners in the whole world filled our house with everything from a beef tenderloin dinner down to all the sweets you can dream up! We had all of it and even some not so fun stuff, too. We had throwing up on Christmas Eve (Robert caught his first stomach bug EVER--Lillian about 36 hours later). Was it a good Christmas, though? It was. We are slowly getting used to Rob's Christmas work schedule. It was so nice to have my parents here to help me on Christmas Eve while Rob worked. And nobody really minded taking a break on Christmas morning for Rob to go to work for a bit. In fact, Robert and Lillian could have been quite happy with about 1/4 of all the presents they got! It got to the point where we were begging Robert to open more to just get done with it, and he was refusing and just over it! Overall, Robert still wasn't all that into Christmas traditions this year. He just acted sort of overwhelmed by it all. And Lillian didn't have a clue. So while we definitely plan on making some changes for next year, like paring down, focusing more on Jesus' birth and less on secular traditions, following advent and preparing gradually for Christmas rather than all at once and way too early, etc., we had a wonderful Christmas!

Visit with Santa

Boy did we have fun visiting with Santa at the Jordan's last night! Robert was so excited anticipating the party where it was said that Santa just might show up. He was such a good boy all day long! He thought about what he would say to Santa and had it all planned out. And when Santa walked in the room, he was paralyzed in mid-cookie eating. He finished his green cookie as fast as I have ever seen him eat. He even wiped his hands and mouth when I whispered that he wouldn't want to mess up Santa's outfit. He sat right on the floor at his feet, and when Molly read Twas the Night Before Christmas, Robert couldn't keep his eyes off of Santa. He was looking him up and down with a cute grin on his face. He was completely enamored! When it was time for the children to take turns sitting on Santa's lap, Robert was first in line! He climbed right up there, and the whole room was quiet. Santa asked him to tell everyone his name. He said, "My middle name is Mitchell Kunes, the fird. And...my....last name is Robert." Then he said loud and clear that he wanted that "marble fing" for Daddy and a talking Spiderman. And then he shut down. He couldn't remember anything else he planned to say. He was completely overwhelmed. He hopped down, and he promptly lost interest in Santa and began to inhale the big candy cane Santa gave him. I could kick myself that I left the camera in the diaper bag that got swept upstairs with the coats upon our arrival. We got a few not so great pictures. Better than nothing, I guess. Lillian did not want anything to do with Santa. Every time I asked her if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap or go near him, she said loud and clear, "Nooo!" Rob finally took her up to him and she was stiff and kept whimpering, "no". She sure didn't have any problems with the big ole candy cane, though. What a fun night! Many thanks to the Jordan's and to Santa for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit with us last night.

Lillian Lately

She's cute, too! She's fearless and funny and full of life!!! And no, I didn't tell her to kiss that little elf thing in that picture...I busted her up there kissing him all by herself. And yes, I was grossed out that she put the net in her mouth. Really grossed out!!!!

Robert Lately

Had to share these pictures that our friend Raj took at the church Christmas pageant and a birthday party at My Gym. Isn't he just precious? I could squeeze that cutie all day and it wouldn't be enough. What a blessing beyond all measure are my children!

Tis the Season

What we've been doing lately:
Caroling with church
Baking cookies and treats
Learning about Jesus' birth
Talking about Santa and his reindeer a little...but not that interested, yet.
Kinda ignoring the elves on the shelf...much to the disappointment of Aunt Julie who sent the movie and an elf book to perk their interest (I think it's just a lot of tradition to take in all at once--information overload)
Making paper ornaments and Christmas crafts
Wearing Christmas pjs
Listening to Christmas songs--each one is Robert's favorite, he tells me (and I totally get it--they are all my favorites, too)
Decorating the whole house with lots of colored lights and Christmas stuff
Being a sheep in the church Christmas pageant (even though he wanted to be a tiger...or a horse, "cause they had horses back then, Mom!")
Riding around looking at Christmas lights
Eating too much candy and treats!
Overall just havin' a great time preparing for Christmas!

Halloween Rewind

So I just got a new ipad, thanks to an early Christmas present from my wonderful mother and father-in-law. Goodbye slow computer, hello fast and convenient new addiction! With the help of the Blogger app, I can now write blog posts and upload pics in no time flat! I know I'm backtracking a bit, but I had been meaning to do a Halloween post. Aunt Julie sent the cutest costumes to Robert and Lillian. Lillian looked adorable as a little lamb and adored showing off when we went to hand out pretzels at a local nursing home. Robert just couldn't decide what he wanted to be. The cowboy costume was precious and even had spurs, but Spiderman won when it came to Halloween night. He still likes to play Cowboy dress up around the house--and Spiderman, for that matter!

Playin in the Rain

Rainy day blues not so blue when ya got rain boots, spidey jammies, and an umbrella. Let it rain!!!