Christmas for four!

There are my two kids Christmas morning. They actually slept in a bit! I think we got up around 9. And the first thing on my agenda was to vacuum the family room--it was a mess--it really needed it. There were pine needles everywhere from that impostor tree! So Rob was very nice to vacuum for me & Ky helped.

Afterwards we let Ky open a few presents before breakfast. The neat thing about this Christmas is Ky still did not understand what was going on. We had been explaining to him this year that it was baby Jesus' birthday. So before we opened gifts, I explained to Ky that we open gifts as a way to remember the first and most important gift--Jesus. We also give gifts to others because Jesus gave himself to all of us. We figure that in the future Ky should remember at least some of the basics of Christmas and we will build on it from there.

So once again no Santa--however in the future we will teach him the story of St. Nick when he asks about Santa--and we will tell him that some people choose to pretend Santa is still alive--but the most important part is remembering that it is baby Jesus' birthday. BTW--if you ask him about Christmas he will tell you it is Baby Jesus' birthday. He was very excited when we told him the story and wanted to know if we would have cake and candles and sing. I told him we would sing, but we would probably have all sorts of cookies and candies to celebrate instead of cake.

Ky opened gifts from Aunt Liz & Uncle Adam first--he loved the train ornament---I thought I had some pics, but I guess I didn't. They also got him a monkey ornament which he is hanging on the tree in the pic above. Then he moved on to the dump truck. He was ecstatic. He loves big trucks--I could not get it out of the packaging fast enough--do you know how many twisty ties & how much tape stores use to package these toys...I spent so much time trying to undo the little knots--ARGH!

Anyway. After that it was off to breakfast. I made our Christmas tradition breakfast--baked french toast with berries. YUMMY! You can't get enough of it--that is why I only make it once a year. We also read the Christmas story then. We used Ky's "See with Me" Bible for the story--I think he was following along....

After that it was back to gifts. Ma & Pa Vander Heyden got Ky a remote control car--can you believe it!? He spent most of the rest of the morning chasing that car around...yes chasing...He may have had the controller in his hand and be controlling it--but honestly he didn't know what he was doing, so around and around the house he went with that car. I am pretty sure I got some of that on video tape. Very funny boy!

Rob and I got Ky two Thomas trains (Thomas & Gordon) and a Thomas shirt along with a Thomas learning set with workbooks and flashcards. He was in Thomas heaven. The cards got scattered everywhere after he opened that gift (see above pic).

Alaina got some neat gifts as well. Some very cute outfits--her Christmas ornament from U. Adam & A. Liz was a pacifier--which is very fitting--you can see her holding it in one of the pics. My favorite present for Alaina was the matching socks Liz got her and I. Yes they match--HOW COOL. They are ballet slipper socks...I don't have a picture of us with them on yet, but I am working on it. (We forgot to take a pic last time we were wearing them.)

After gifts--we then had to hurry and pack up the car. We were due at Grandpa's early afternoon and had to pack stuff for several days. We were staying at their house for 2 nights, so we could attend Rob's Grandma's burial (we had missed the funeral due to weather) and then for Christmas with Rob's mom. My goodness---we had never had to pack up two kids for an overnighter before--let alone 2 nights!

It took us forever to get everything together....By the time we were on the road we were running late--as were many other Christmas travelers--I have never seen such road rage before. Being late really wasn't a big deal to us, so I wasn't speeding or driving crazy or anything--but man! This one guy, waited to the last second to merge when his lane was ending--and instead of merging in where he was at, he decided to drive down the median past the guy behind me and then me--I had to slam on the brakes otherwise he was going to hit me--the median was becoming a cement barrier--it was bad--really bad....I still get the ebeegeebees thinking of that near miss...You know--some things just aren't worth it...

Anyway Christmas with the Schnake's was good. All the family was together and having a good time. Ky had a blast with Grandpa's trains. Cousin Dominic & Ky were running around together--too cute--and look at the pic I snapped of them where Ky has his arm around Dominic! Alaina was the sweetheart--smiling at people and then napping in their arms. I love the pic of Rick wearing Grandma Bucky's hat. We all had a great time--and to Ky's joy more presents were exchanged. By the end of the night, I think we were all pretty tired and ready for bed.

Yeah---four of us in one room. Hmmm...Ky slept on the floor next to Rob and I in the double bed and Alaina in the Pak n' play. To Ky's credit he had never slept on the floor before and he did very well, but Rob and I were up ALOT between the two kids waking up and crying. It was an exhausting night. When we got up the next morning Ky told Grandpa how daddy put him in bed with him (I had laid down on the floor with Alaina at one point) and then he started poking Daddy in the ear and then Daddy said "Go back to bed Kylan". Alright--so not very funny when I am writing it in a blog--but this is pretty much the story Ky told Grandpa and then he said "Go back to bed Kylan" in an angry daddy type voice. It was VERY funny & cute.

That afternoon we went to Grandma's burial and were able to meet up with Aunt Janice & Aunt Linda & Uncle Tom & Aunt Sue. We went back to some friends' house to socialize and chat with them a little more. This also gave them the chance to meet Alaina.

Ky had a great time with the Aunts & Uncle Tom. There was a train there (of course) and then A. Janice read some books with him and made some funnies with him. Uncle Tom & Ky were playing "Ouch--that's too hot to touch" with a lamp and A. Janice turned on all the music boxes (one which of course had a train) for Ky--and it was especially funny since it was driving A. Linda nuts :)

That evening we returned to the Schnake's put the kids to bed and watched "Bourne Identity" for the second time. Pops made us yummy ice cream drinks--he had a name for them--but I forget what it was. Then, we went to bed. Night two did go much better than night one--I think we only got up 10 times, however we also ended up oversleeping and then running late to Nana's (since we had to pack everything up to leave.)

Good thing Nana & G'ma Jan are so forgiving! We had a great relaxing day with them. And of course Ky had the BEST time--he loves spending time with Nana. We had a nice brunch and conversation. Ky was the center of attention of course. He also received some gifts from Nana & G'ma Jan and had fun with the new puzzle & magnet toys & books they got him. I think Ky's favorite part was having cookies and milk with Nana in the kitchen--the boy loves sweets---and there is no one better for him to eat them with!

So there you have it--three christmases for our family of four. Alaina appeared to enjoy herself and I know Kylan will be up for Christmas next year. Personally, I am glad it is over and we are back at home and into the normal routine of things. Nap times were getting pretty screwy and the hype was getting to be a bit much. My favorite Christmas present this year is the last picture with the pretty red bow on it. I look forward to many more Christmases with my new present.

Pre Christmas fun!

The first pic of them smiling together!

Before I begin the pre-christmas hustle and bustle…let’s start with milestones…

My little girl kisses—well actually licks. But it is so cute. You can be giving her kisses on her cheek and she will turn her face to you and start licking you! What a sweetie! I almost always get a kiss from her after she eats—I guess it is her way of saying “thank you.”

She is also working her abdominal muscles. If you lay her down and she wants to be up, she will actually attempt to sit up. You will watch her pick her head up and part of her shoulders. She is so strong. I know she will sit on her own early.
She has rolled over “accidentally” a few times from her stomach to her back…I think those occurred around 2 months…However right now she still needs to figure out how to move her arm out of the way before she will roll over on her own.

One of Alaina’s latest things is scooting with her feet. This drives me nuts! She plants her little heels into the floor and scoots her whole body back. This is very difficult when you are trying to change her diaper….Very talented little lady though..

She also has begun laughing. Very cute—with a squeal and everything. I think Ky gets the most laughs. She is very amused by her big brother.

Speaking of big brother—we put in an old video of Ky around 1 year old the other day and we asked Ky who the baby was. Well Ky was very confused, because I was on the video saying to Ky “Smile for the camera, Look here Ky.” So Ky kept looking at me in real life. He was very confused. It took some time for him to be able to understand that that was baby Kylan on tape. At the same time I still don’t think he realizes that baby Kylan is him….

On to Prechristmas. Well Prechristmas was pretty hectic and crazy with Rob’s Grandma passing on. I think the added concern and stress along with trips made things a bit rough. Alaina—who is still not a fan of her car seat—wasn’t a fan of the trips either. The second trip, we learned our lesson and brought along formula to feed her in the car. This did make that trip a bit easier. We also tried to travel more in the daylight which made it go better for Ky as well. Thank goodness the days are getting longer now.

The weekend after T-giving Rob went to a local store and bought us our first and last real tree. I say last because unless the kids are older and want to get a real tree the old fashioned way (chop it down ourselves) I do not want another sap dripping, needle dropping, bug hiding, vacuum killer tree in my house. Rob is mad at me and my dislike for the tree—but he wasn’t vacuuming the pine needles up all the time—and now the vacuum no longer works. And yes—there was a spider crawling out of it! YUCK! Ky had fun watching daddy set up the tree though—and we tried to get him to help hang ornaments—though it is hard getting those little loops of string over the branches. All in all it went well—the tree was up and decorated and then began its destruction….Let’s move on to better things…

The beginning of December we took Ky to the Olbrich Train Show. Rob’s company had a free night, so we took advantage of it. Ky of course loved the trains. He watched and watched and watched and watched and watched and watched—we finally got him to leave by bribing him with cookies in the next room. One of the train guys was really nice though and let him touch his train. He was so excited. Then after cookies we went back and watched the trains some more. We finally were able to leave because it was closing—and I told him we were returning in a few days to see the trains with some friends (which was true at the time—but then we got snowed in and couldn’t see any trains after all—another 9 – 12” snowstorm.)

Ky got a little bit of time to enjoy the snow this year—though not as much as I would have liked. With the snow has come some brutal temps. The first time we dressed him up in his snow gear I realized that he had outgrown his snow pants (you can see in the picture of him inside)—oh well—he wore them any way(I wasn’t about to undress him to redress him)—and the next time he went out I just put him in a bigger pair. These kids grow so fast!

So what did Ky do outside---he ate snow. Then he ate more snow and then he ate more snow. He LOVES to eat snow so much in fact that I had to create some snow-eating rules. He can only eat the snow at our house—and the snow that is white.

What we really need is some good snow-packing weather days so we can go make a snowman and snow forts and snowballs…You know all the fun stuff. We also need it warm enough so I can take Alaina out and we can all have fun playing with Ky in the snow.

We also did our annual bell ringing for the salvation Army. Alaina was making a lot of money until she fell asleep on the job. I guess she couldn’t last the 2 hour shift. This year Ky wasn’t as interested. We pretty much had to bribe him to hold the bell for the picture. The past two years he made a lot of money, so it was sad that this year he just wasn’t into it. He made up several “potty” excuses to get us (Dad) to take him elsewhere. Maybe next year. We tried to explain to him the purpose of bell ringing, but he doesn’t get it. Like I said—hopefully next year.

Even with Baby Alaina—we were able to prioritize our Christmas baking this year and make baskets for family members. This year I made Chai Spice cookies (instead of ginger bread cookies). They were delicious! In fact I think I will be making them every year now. Ky helped me roll out the dough for the Chai Spice cookies and cut them out. He also helped me decorate. You can see the cookies he decorated are covered in layer after layer of sprinkles. My cookies are okay—one of these years I will need to invest in some serious frosting decorating accessories so I can make nice faces and details to my little guys. I was most proud of my neon ‘80s Chai Spice men. I thought they came out pretty groovy.

Other cookies I made were my Grandma’s favorite “Bon Bon” or “Surprise” cookies and I also made chocolate dipped pretzel rods—YUM! Rob made his truffles (espresso Kalua & Baileys)—oh yeah! And he made brownie cookies---where I think the dough was WAY yummier than the cookies. (Am I making you hungry yet?)

The last pics are of Alaina on Christmas Eve—I was going to get Ky too—but then things happened and he went to bed. Oh yeah—we got home later then expected and he was tired and crabby. After church, we drove through the festival of lights ---a little light show they have in one of our parks. Ky loved the lights---Alaina slept through them.

So I am going to leave this blog here, the next blog will cover Christmas to New Years….Lots more pics..you know it!