A Very Merry Holiday

Is there a limit for post length or pictures posted? There's a possibility I may exceed that limit in this post... Lots and lots and lots of pictures ahead...

After years of begging, this is the first Christmas that each party had it's own day and we weren't expected to party hop 2-3 locations on Christmas Day. We were able to relax (as much as can be expected with two little ones) and enjoy each event. Thank you family for your flexibility! From everyone I talked to, I think this new schedule is very much appreciated. This is the best way to accomodate the "grandkid" generation, all of whom are growing up and branching out the family tree to include many new family parties.

Sunday, December 20th

We kicked off Christmas week with the Konesky Christmas at their home (mom's side of the family). Here's the extended "Skees" family photo:

My two little loves

The three girls, all dressed up in their holiday best, could not get enough of their tiny shoes! They had a shoe-sucking party on the floor. :)

Opening gifts.

Cousins playing "Would You Rather?"

Thursday, December 24th

Christmas Eve morning, I got up with the kids while Craig went in to work for the morning. So we had some Christmas French toast.

Ready for Christmas Eve mass (despite dreadfully runny noses from both kids)

Before we left, Will and Daddy tore off the last link on the chain. Tomorrow is Christmas!

Sophie should have been pretty tired considering she normally catnaps around 5:00, but she was so well behaved in church! Will, on the other hand, was good for about the first 10 minutes. We told him we were there to pray. He knows all about praying because we pray with him regularly at home. (In another post, I'll get into that topic. He's very cute about it and he's really starting to get good at praying.) So he had his hands folded and kept wondering when we were going to say "Amen" to end the prayer. He'd ask Craig "Amen?", like a question. And a few seconds later he'd say "Amen Daddy?" It was so funny. But then he started acting up as soon as all the kids got called up to the front to listen to a special story. Craig ended up taking him to the back of the church for the rest of the service. I confess that my kids haven't gotten as much church exposure as they should. Before we had kids, Craig and I used to say we'd start going regularly when our kids were about 2 or 3. Looking back, that's not such a smart plan because then it's completely new to them and they have no idea how to behave. We are planning to start attending more regularly now. Most likely on Saturday evening services because that's probably the kids' best time.

After mass, we made our way over to Grandma and Big Papa Riedeman's house for Christmas with the King/Powers families (Craig's mom's side of the family):

Aunt Kelly and Will check out the train.

Will opens his big gift from Grandma and Big Papa... a scale model of a G750 Minneapolis Moline tractor!

Grandma gives Will a little help getting the hang of pedaling. These pedals are a little more his size, 'cause he still hasn't been able to pedal his tricycle on his own.

And from there, he rode it all over the house.

Cousin Stephanie helped feed Sophie her dinner.

And then Soph opened a new push/ride toy.

And Will, the gallant big brother that he is, rushed over to "help" Sophie figure out how to play with it. :)

"Four calling birds, three French 'horns'..." (LOL)

The Cousins

Aunt Kelly and Uncle Steve gave Will the entire Toledo Zoo :)

Craig and I received some nice gifts too. I got an upgrade on my current kitchen cutlery with an awesome set of JA Henckels knives and a cozy pair of much-needed new slippers. Craig got some more pieces to his beloved, growing, SK tool collection.

It was a late night and Will was a walking zombie by the end of it, but I always remember Christmas Eve as the best part of the holiday when I was a child. All the anticipation, all the excitement...

After arriving home, Craig and I got our first real taste of what Christmas feels like to parents. This was the first year we waited till Christmas Eve with the kids asleep to put all the gifts under the tree, fill the stockings, etc.

At the last minute, Santa decided to put a new red sled under the tree. And it was a nice place to put the filled stockings since we don't have a mantle.

Will really only asked Santa for one thing: candy canes. So we hung them all over the tree.

Add to that: unloading all the gifts and stuff from the car, loading it for the next day, getting ready for bed... Craig and I both just want to say sorry to our parents for getting up super early on Christmas morning when we were kids. Now we know all you go through and how exhausting the whole ordeal is. And if it makes you feel better... Will and Sophie got up around 6:30...

Soph got some new activity blocks

Brutus got some candy-cane-striped chew toys.

Will got new puzzles. We're moving on to bigger and better things now, folks: jigsaw puzzles! (P.S. you'll notice daddy fixed Will's hair into a stylishly-messy spike for Christmas morning.)

Both kids got personalized growth charts to hang on their walls. I'm so excited about these - they're like art!

It's weird to think my kids will be as tall as (or taller than) me one day.

A cool, wooden car toy.

Here's an unusual, but especially cool toy: a bilibo. Check it out online at: http://www.hearthsong.com/product.asp?section_id=0&department=0&search_type=normal&search_value=bilibo&cur_index=&pcode=1952 And don't forget to watch the video. Basically it's a versatile bowl-like toy for rocking, spinning, and testing a child's imagination. It's won several awards and I (I mean Santa) thought it seemed like an awesome way to spark creativity for many years of use, since it doesn't have just one age-specific use. They show kids playing with it in the snow, at the beach, around the house, etc. In fact, I think we may get more in the future for even more fun!

Here's Will sitting in it:

Standing on it:

Mommy standing on it:

Making a skateboard-style rollercoaster for his wooden cars:

A hat to peek through... Once again, he told me he was a fire chief:

LOTS of new books including several search and find books for Will and board books for Sophie. Plus, Santa brough us hoola hoops! A big one for mommy and daddy and a little one for Will and Sophie.

Will attempts:

Daddy attempts:

Mommy shows the boys how it's done:

I'm not sure how to say this... buuuuut, I'm a pretty awesome hoola-hooper. It's kind of a hidden talent. Now I'm just showing off... standing on the bilibo, hoola-hooping, AND displaying one of Will's new matchbox cars. :)

Next up, Soph opens her big gift: a Leap Frog Learn 'n Groove music table.

Stockings!

A couple new movies, some books, matchbox cars...

A new harmonica!

Soph got a cute flower rattle and my favorite gift for her: a soft-knit owl doll named Prudence. It's her first doll and it's so cozy and cute - like those old sock dolls. I kind of have an obsession with owls since Sophie's been born - not sure why...

This year, Craig and I got new remote car starters put on our Jeeps and then just got a few, small stocking stuffers for each other. Craig got some movies, a couple golf accessories, and some candy. I got (a higher-priced item than expected) some new Versace perfume. LOVE it!

Oh, and of course, Will got a box of mini candy canes. He was in heaven.

Following stockings, we had a little sled ride in the living room :)

And then Craig helped Will pluck off every candy cane from the tree. That was a present in itself.

So that was Christmas morning! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After a nap for Sophie and some mild straightening of the mess in our living room, we headed over to Nana & "Papa Looch's" house (my parents) for brunch, more gifts and hanging out in our pj's.

We arrived to find Mya and Stella already enjoying their lunch.

Mom and dad's tree with all the presents.

Nana, Sophie... and Prudence the cuddly owl. :)

A close-up of the spike- LOL

Stella, Sophie and Mya in their Christmas jams. We had to snap fast... Soph was poking eyeballs and pulling ears. :)

All 3 girls in their chairs while the fam eats brunch.

An overlook of the great room just before gift opening.

Wesley and his daughters

Zach, Amanda and Taylor

Craig and Soph

Nana and Papa Looch

My smiley Goddaughter

This year, it was decided that we'd start the rule of three. Three gifts for each person (children and grandchildren) and any dollar amount over and above those gifts that Nana & Papa planned to spend would go towards college funds for the grandkids and savings for us. I really like this new plan. There are SO many gifts to open at all these parties and it gets overwhelming. This keeps it under control.

Soph opening some new clothes:

A Puma suit! How stinkin' cute is that? It will go with her little, white, Puma sneakers next summer.

Will got a "name train" for his train table:

And his big gift: a wooden barn to store all his farm animals in!

The roof comes off to reach inside, the doors slide open and there's a ladder and corral.

The three baby girls also got a joint gift that will be kept at Nana's house: a little playhouse that talks whenever you touch any part of it, i.e. "open" or "close" when you swing the door. Very cute, lots of detail.

Casey and I also got gifts for each other's kids. We bought them a family membership to the Toledo Zoo so we can go with all the kids next summer. I also got the girls a music table and rattle just like Sophie's.

Will got a USA floor puzzle, some cute clothes for next year, farm lacing blocks, and some educational games for rhyming and counting. (Duh! Casey and Wes are both teachers - they're always looking out for learning opportunities.) And Sophie got some soft, taggie blocks, a grippy sphere rattle, and some more super cute hair clips. Casey even made us a hair clip holder! Isn't it SO cute!?

My gift from mom and dad was that bike trailer that I purchased last summer. It was something they knew I wanted and thought I'd like to get an extra season out of it by purchasing early. More tools for Craig:

Sleepy Brutus

A kiss from Will through the stair rails

Playing Scattergories

A very relaxing Christmas Day. Craig fell asleep at 8:30 that night while I cleaned up more of the house. I'm sure my living room isn't the only one that looks like a toy tornado blew through, but it's still embarrassing to even show the pictures. It was an absolute disaster on Christmas Day. :)

Saturday morning at home, I got up with the kids and attempted to use my holiday pancake molds that we received as a gift... for our wedding I think? They turned out okay I guess but they were a pain in the butt. I think I'll stick to regular pancakes and just use cookie cutters in the future. But it probably had to do with the thicker, whole grain batter.

While I'm displaying food, here are the new plates Will got from us on Christmas morning. There are two - one with zoo animals and one with trucks and trains. He loves finding a picture under each food item he eats and I love that they look like cute little Bento boxes.

We set up Will's barn in his bedroom and "fed" the animals some hay with cut up papers strips. I later found Will "feeding" more hay... only this time it was about half a box of tissues torn into shreds. Oops.

I hung Sophie's hair clip holder on her dresser for easy access.

I read a tip in a magazine once to put little girls' hair clips in an ice cube tray in a drawer for easy organizing and color-coordinating. Very clever!

So Saturday was a much-needed, lay-around-day. We ate leftovers for lunch and ordered pizza for dinner and just vegged and caught up on sleep. Phew!

Sunday, December 27th

Our final party of the week: the Riedeman Christmas at Pam & Johnny's in Napolean (Craig's dad's side of the family). The kids were very good at this party but still had those darn runny noses. It's an hour drive to Napolean and the snow had started to fall shortly before we left. It was beautiful and white when we arrived.

Pam and John have a beautiful home and it was really nice to visit with the family. Will got to know many new names of people he doesn't see often and he really took a liking to cousin Libby for showing him all the pretty ornaments on the tree.

He even got to go outside and see Libby's horses, Summer and Bea, as well as some chickens, ducks, cats and a dog.

The 3 Riedeman men - all look-alikes.

Aunt Cathy with Soph

Grandma feeding Will

Soph and her Papa. Jammies are on and we're ready for the long drive home!

The snow had continued throughout the party and the drive home was quite treacherous. It took us 2 hours and we saw several cars off the road. So once again before bed, we said prayers with Will thanking God for our safety and our health.

What a wonderful Christmas week spent with families!

See? I told you there'd be lots of pictures... this post took me about 3 days to finish!

What's For Dinner? Week 4

I think I have issues with spontaneity. At least in some facets of life... Dinner time is one of them. When I'm working 40 hours per week and coming home to two needy little people (three if you count Craig), I have no choice but to plan ahead and be organized about dinner time. I have turned down many an impromtu-dinner-invitation (mostly from our parents) because I already have a meal prepped/made and ready to go for that evening. Craig sees this as a flaw and insists I need to be more spontaneous. (Note: he has no part in meal planning or prep... just the eating.) I try - really I do. But it's just not in my nature. I'm a planner. And what would happen on those nights that I decide to just fly by the seat of my pants and then we don't get a dinner invitation AND the kids are extra high maintenance? We have to scramble to throw something together and it's generally not as healthy and the kids are crabby and out of control. I have no interest in making that a regular routine in our life. But I'm working on it occasionally. We went to Craig's parents on Monday night after an invitation on Sunday morning. So I guess that's progress! But I think my spontaneity will have to come in other areas of life and motherhood... like, for example... building a tent in the living room with blankets or finger painting on placemats with yogurt. :)

So Christmas is upon us and we have parties (read: meals) planned for Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Therefore, I only have prepped 2 meals prepped for the week:
-Sausage Rataouille (http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/sausage-ratatouille-784976/) - sausage, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, green peppers, and of course garlic and herbs. Yum. It says to serve it plain but I served it on penne pasta. I'll give you 3 guesses as to how many people in my family ate this without complaint... ONE... ME! And it was delicious. Craig ate a little but complained about the eggplant and zucchini. Will ate exactly one noodle, one sausage round and one tomato and that's it.
-Chicken and Asparagus on bow tie pasta - recipe courtesy of my friend Sarah. I've made this once before and it goes together so easily but looks so fancy. Probably will use this for Saturday.
-Raspberry Oatmeal bars, bean dip with chips, and breakfast brunch casserole for parties.

New for Soph: possibly something with wheat (pasta, wheat germ, cheerios) and probably cooked, whole peas.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Choo! Choo!

What better way to trim the tree than to encircle it with a model railroad and train set.

Last year, with his grandson reaching the age of 18 months and developing (as most boys do) an obsession with all modes of transportation, "Big Papa" Riedeman went out and bought a brand new Lionel Train Set to put up around the Christmas tree. Will always loved listening for trains going by outside- watching in awe and pumping his arm in the air while saying "choo choo!" So a train inside the house? That's just too cool. But now that he's 2 1/2, he has an even greater interest and appreciation for the miniature locomotives.

On Monday night, we went over to visit the Riedemans and Papa and Will got to set up the train set. Will is Papa's little "mini-me". (They're even coincidentally dressed alike in these pictures.) And it is such a pleasure to watch the two of them interact. Papa is such a natural with Will. He is patient and calm and he explains things so perfectly for Will to understand. His voice always carries an easy tone and he often lets Will lead the conversation and try to figure things out on his own. Will responds so well to him and they just seem like they were meant to be good buddies.

Sorting out the pieces


The track is up and now it's time to test out the wiring


Papa explains to Will how the lever makes the train move


And you can see Papa's pride as Will watches with excitement






Will gets to take a turn at pressing the buttons to make the train whistle. The engine even blows steam!


"Choo! Choo!" he says




You'll notice the red train car is hauling Will's Thomas-the-Train sticker around in circles :)


Soph came along too, of course. She mostly cruised the coffee table and played with her toys.






Papa brings out more toys for the kids




Soph takes a turn at riding the awesome high chair/rocking horse (remember from Thanksgiving?)


Daddy arrives after work and he and Will set up little block towers for the train to "crash" into. Sounds morbid, but Will thought it was so exciting!


Sometimes he couldn't resist knocking over the tower himself before the train made it to the demolition point.






Also, as an aside, we did take the Rudolph cookies to the sitter's today:


And we have four Christmas parties this week (one of which was this past Sunday), so I'm just going to combine them all into one post early next week.

Just 3 more days till Christmas!!! We're getting so excited!!!

Sophia is 8 Months Old!

Despite my begging and pleading with her, Sophia refuses to slow down in the "growing up" department. She just keeps on growing, changing, learning, and developing. And she gets sweeter and more beautiful each day. I just love her to pieces!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Sophia's current fascination is pulling up on everything. But as of last week, she's now "cruising" on the furniture too! She pulls to a stand on the couch or coffee table and side steps up and down it to practice walking! She CAN sit up on the floor, she just never stays in that position for longer than a few seconds because she doesn't like sitting still.

I know I've also mentioned this already, but Sophie has gotten her first two teeth since her 7 month birthday. The bottom right one popped through first on Thanksgiving Day and the bottom left about a week later. A runny nose came along with the teething, as well as a little difficulty falling asleep a few times, but overall she's managed pretty well.

She's tried several new foods and hasn't really found anything she doesn't care for yet. Hooray! Hopefully starting with a wide variety early on will help instill good eating habits for her.

Our chatty little lady babbles quite a lot these days. Her favorite is "ba ba ba" over and over in varying decibles - sometimes staccato, sometimes a smooth drawl. Also recently she's been waving her arms around and putting them above her head. She actually appeared to be timing a "wave" with saying "ba ba" (though I'm sure that was coincidental) so I've been waving and saying "hi" and "bye bye" to her a lot.

On to pictures... her hair has really grown! So I finally broke down and bought her some really neat hair clips. They're designed for fine hair so they have a great no-slip texture on the inside.

Love this one...

Checking out the growing drawer-full of her future wardrobe :)


I think she approves of her future big girl clothes!


"Can we open this drawer too, mom?"


Sibs

She has vaseline on her chapped, little nose. They were riding the rocking horse together. :)