Holiday Recap 2010, plus some random other stuff

Addie was in her first-ever Christmas program at church on the 12th. She had been coming home for weeks singing pieces of the songs she’d been learning in Sunday school, and was supposed to sing a few songs at the beginning of the older kids’ Christmas program. They sang Christmas All Over the World and Go Tell it on the Mountain. She was pretty excited about being in the program and had a dress rehearsal the Saturday before. It was so fun to see her run into the big group of kids and start singing and doing motions. I’m SO glad she feels comfortable doing things on her own and taking direction from others.

The night of the performance, we got her ready and dropped her off and prepared to see how Ryan would do sitting through the program for an hour. We came armed with goldfish, crayons, and coloring books. I told Addie that she probably wouldn’t be able to see us in the audience but we would be there. They had the preschoolers up on risers in the front of the stage. Addie came out and was absolutely precious, of course. She didn’t sing all of the words because she was looking around at everyone. But then she would pick up and sing loudly and do all the motions. I grabbed the camera and knelt down in the aisle up close, and suddenly she saw me and smiled great big. I told her she could wave small, but not call out, and she waved her hand just a little. When she finished and I clapped, she was so happy! After her two songs, I picked her up and carried her back to Ryan and Matt. Ryan was pretty still for awhile, because we had the bowl of goldfish. While the older kids sang, he sat still and popped food into his mouth, never taking his eyes off the kids. But then we ran out of goldfish and he started getting loud and squirmy. After every song ended, he would turn and loudly say, “All done? All done?” I’d whisper, “No, it’s not all done yet,” to which he would reply even louder, “ It IS all done! It IS, Mama!!” This was in the quiet part between the end of one song and the start of the next reading. Eventually Matt had to take him out because he kept getting down and trying to walk around. Out in the lobby, he saw a big snowflake and Matt said, “do you know what that is, Ryan?” Ryan said, “Mis Mis spider!” Which I guess it sort of might look like a Christmas spider if you’ve never seen a snowflake before!

Addie was pretty good through the rest of the performance, and I kept whispering what was happening onstage so she could follow the story. She did like all the songs. She had a Bible open on her lap while she was sitting on my lap, and she was flipping pages. I had to readjust her and took the Bible and closed it while I lifted her up. She said, “Mama, my book!” So I handed it back to her and she opened it and said in a whimper, “But where was I?”

Earlier, when we’d asked Addie where Jesus was born, she said, “Um…Alabama.” We looked strangely at her and she frowned and said, “ Ala…Aba…Abraham! No, no. Abaham, Baham….BETHLEHEM!!”

We had Christmas at the farm on Saturday the 18th. We got there in the morning and spent all day and the night. The kids had a blast playing inside and outside, kicking soccer balls and climbing the hay bales and exploring the new motor home. Addie helped make Christmas cookies and they all snacked all day on various goodies.

 Addie, Hunter, Isaac, and Ryan

 Addie got a fox-sized blanket with foxes on it for Fiona. And pink feathers, courtesy of Sugar!

Addie got a Barbie Puppy Swimming School Set, which is perfect for her – it’s Barbie teaching baby puppies how to swim and it has a pool and dog diving board and everything. Ryan got a cool talking robot that has all sorts of learning cards with it – we’ll have to play around with it and see how it works. Our family slept upstairs and Ryan slept in a “bed” for the first time. He did great.

The next week was filled with enjoying the Christmasy stuff. The kids loved all the Christmas songs and Addie learned quite a few of them. They watched Rudolph and Frosty and Addison especially asked a lot of questions about the shows, like why people were doing what they were doing, and their motivations. She actually does that with a lot of shows now – she’ll talk the whole way through asking questions. Since we got rid of cable, we’ve discovered some neat shows on Netflix, like Pingu and Shaun the Sheep, both of which don’t have any talking, so we’ve had lots of lessons to “body language”. Addie likes to play with me, where I’ll act out something and she has to figure out if I’m happy, sad, sneaky, etc,., and to see if she can figure out what I’m going to do next. We’ve also put on some old Loony Tunes, too, which have a lot of situational humor. Both kids like it! Oh, and Caiti and Camryn came down for a few days. The girls sang Christmas songs, colored, played, and we went to go see Christmas lights one night too – they thought it was awesome because the kids all got to ride in the back of the Blazer while we were in the big neighborhood.

We got out all the Christmas stuffed animals and Ryan really latched on to Frosty. Frosty had to be washed several times since he was toted around everywhere. Ryan has also officially adopted his blue-gray stuffed dinosaur and his blue velvety/silky blanket as his “things”. He asks for “Din-o-sawr, bank-et” all the time and he actually calls the blanket his “purple blanket” even though it’s blue. When we correct him, he gets fussy, so there you go. We had a minor miracle a few days ago when Ryan pooped on the potty twice in one day, once on the big potty and once on the little potty, and he did it again today. No luck with peeing though. I’m not worried.

For Christmas Eve, we made it to the service this year and it was really nice. Ryan didn’t do super well, but there were lots of daddies standing in the back with babies. Both kids especially liked the candles at the end, and Ryan poured hot wax all over Matt’s hand. It was pouring rain was we left, so we made a run for it to the car but ended up getting soaked.



 I LOVE this dress - so glad we had one for Addie this year!

We came home, got dry and had our Christmas tacos, then read stories and lit the fire. The kids opened up new houseshoes and then went to bed. As soon as they were asleep, we brought down Santa’s presents – a HUGE Barbie princess castle (from our neighbor – it had been in my closet for two years), plus five princess dolls, a panda from Build a Bear with 4 outfits (also from our neighbor), and my old My Little Pony stable with three new ponies (that wasn’t from Santa). Ryan got Matt’s old He-Man castle along with a few characters and accessories. 

On Christmas morning, I woke up feeling really crummy with some sort of stomach something. Addie was up at around 7:45 and we let her come play with the castle that was sitting out. Our neighbor Mr. Tom came over at 8:30 to eat breakfast casserole and he brought presents for the kids. He was so excited to be here – he lives all alone and his grandkids are grown now, so we were happy to let him come share the time with us. Ryan was sound asleep until almost 9 o’clock. We let him sleep! How many years left before they wake us up early?! I was still feeling horrendous with a stomach virus, and Matt made the executive decision that I should go back to bed and we’d skip Aunt Sherry’s house, where we were headed that afternoon (then up to Dallas). I did and I slept two hours. We ate lunch and then headed out at about 1:30. We took two cars and the dog, and Matt said the kids didn’t sleep the entire drive up there. Hence the beginning of their sleep deprivation….

We got to Mom’s that evening and put the kids to bed in the trundle beds. This was only the 2nd or 3rd time they’ve shared a room and the first time Ryan was ever in a real bed instead of a crib or pack n play. They did great! We heard a few whispers on the baby monitor one night but otherwise they were silent and went to sleep. I had told Addison in the morning to whisper, “Mommy, I’m awake,” into the monitor when she woke up, and she did it every morning. We did Christmas Sunday morning and the kids loved their new toys – Ryan got new dinosaur puzzles and Addie’s favorite was the Littlest Pet Shop Rescue Center. Extended family was over that evening and the kids behaved very well. On Monday, Mom and I went shopping to get things for her new bathroom, and we played games that night.


On Tuesday Matt headed home with Casey and I went to my dad’s for a couple of days. The kids were already stretched pretty thin, but they did good. They got a few presents (piano, ride-on toy) and we went to the mall and the park. By the time we left on Thursday, they both in full melt-down mode. And they only slept 25 minutes on the 4 hour drive home! They did go to bed at 7:30 that night.

For New Year’s Eve, we kept up with our yearly trip to Chuck E. Cheese. None of us like the pizza, so we just spent $10 on 50 tokens, which was plenty for the whole family to enjoy (Matt and I played ski ball). Both kids were still terrified when the live Chuck E came out for a birthday party, but otherwise they had lots of fun. And we got our portraits with the kids, as usual.

 

That night we went to our friends’ house along with several other couples/kids from church. We ate delicious fattening food and played some Rock Band. Addie and Ryan were put to bed right at 8 o’clock and fell asleep quickly. I can’t believe that I actually stayed up till midnight – first time in years! People started popping fireworks like crazy, and when we went up to get the kids, both were sitting in the windowsill, talking to each other. “Fireworks!” Ryan said. We live really close to our friends, so the kids were back in bed and asleep soon after.

We’ve spent the next few days recovering – Ryan especially has been pretty bad in terms of lack of sleep, but early bedtimes and long naps have finally gotten them almost back in the swing of things. We have another two weeks till Addie’s preschool starts.

That’s all for now!

 

Rarish moment of the kids sharing and enjoying each other!

Holiday report part 1

November was a pretty busy month. We got used to Addie’s preschool schedule with no trouble, and she still loves it. Today she got to take a big poster with pictures we picked out that was “All About Addison”. We practiced what she was say to her class while telling them about the pictures, and I typed up little captions underneath so that the teachers might be able to prompt her or translate if they couldn’t understand her. But her teacher told me that Addie said pretty much word for word what was written on the posterboard while she was talking! They have one child present their poster every week. Now I know why Addie was telling me so much about a little girl named McKenna’s trip to Alaska.

Addison went camping with her Grammie and my brother’s daughter Sarah (2) for a couple of days before Thanksgiving. She had a lot of fun! My sister and other niece came down early and then went to Matt’s parents’ farm for the day with us. Addie, Sarah and Grammie met us there, and Addison was in hog heaven to have Cammie to play with! We all had a good time, running around and eating and going on the hayride. It was hot and humid during the day ,and then about 4 pm a big wind gusted up once, and then twice, and with the 2nd gust the temperature dropped 15 degrees. Just like that. It was in less than 30 seconds. And man it got cold cuick! We had to break out Casey’s coat to keep her warm!



We do have a little bit of fall here!



Up on the haystacks



Aunt Caiti and Ryan



Addie and Farmer Cammie



Me and my niece Sarah - one of the only times she wasn't crying when I came close.



Ryan with turkey and Sarah



That weekend, I headed to Baton Rouge by MYSELF for a few days to visit my friend Kate. Her house is not really built to accommodate 4 extra housegusts (and she’s still nuring a baby at night too), so it was just easier for me to come alone. Matt took a couple of days off of work and was fully immersed in the kids for 4 days straight. I had a good time hanging out and laughing with Kate, and we are starting to plan our 2011 road trip to Napa, California for an old friend’s wedding in June. Woohoo!



Now that Abrielle moves everywhere, fun times like this are ahead for Kate and the girls



The Pied Piper and the Rat (sorry Kate!)



Matt took another half day off and went to the zoo with us. They were doing a preview of the African Forest section that is not yet officially open, and it had been nearly a year since Matt’s gone with us, so that was fun. The weather was great.



New drums in the African Forest at the zoo





Riding the carousel



I had a preliminary screening done for Addison for speech, and this Friday is our big assessment to see if any therapy might be needed. She has a couple of sounds that she has trouble with, and that are on the borderline of being considered “delayed” for her age, but overall the teacher said she officially was not considered a candidate for therapy. Due to the oddness of Addie’s G sound (or lack thereof), the teacher was able to squeeze in a recommendation for the full assessment. Basically it means we will go to speech therapy once a week or so, if they decide she needs it. Nothing big.

  

What else? This weekend we have a dress rehearsal for Addie’s first Christmas progrm at church, then a birthday party, and then the adults Christmas party for our Sunday school group. Next week, we have a MOPS Christmas party (my group), a cookie exchange with the rest of MOPS, and a Christmas party with book exchange at Addie’s school – the parents are invited! And then next weekend is Christmas at the farm with Matt’s family, and then my sister is coming for a few days, and that takes us right up to Christmas! Yikes! I’ve been playing Christmas music since Thanksgiving and I still can’t get enough of it.

Fall update

Addie has been loving preschool. She talks about a couple of kids, McKenna and Joseph, frequently, and a lot of little tidbits about her day come out here and there. She’s been the line leader, but not the flag holder yet. Once she told the teacher she couldn’t play a ball game because she hurt her back at her grandpa’s house – finally we figured out she was talking about something 4 days before when she fell on the deck at our neighbor Mr. Tom’s house. Her back was fine, so we don’t know why she said that to her teacher. She comes home with some sort of artwork every day, and the fire man and fire truck came to their school and taught them about fire safety. She got a coloring book full of fire stuff and it was fun to talk to her about it. The mornings have been going well. Addie wakes up around 7, and we get dressed, eat quickly and are out the door by 7:25 or so. Usually Ryan is awake, so I take him and his juice in the car with us. 

Almost ready for school!



The fire truck came to her school

Ryan and I have been having fun while Addie’s in school. I often will go run errands with him (MUCH easier with one child!) and before we know it, it’s time to go get Addison. I’m able to get in a different mindset with him now, shifting my view to see him as an “only child”, like Addie was when she was that age. It helps me to appreciate his development and personality, and see what he’s putting together and learning. All too often that stuff gets lost with him, while with Addie, Matt and I were keenly aware of every new word, phrase, or concept she came up with. Ryan is basically a happy little boy (big change from his first year of life) and is very silly. He jokes around and says funny things. He’s more easygoing than Addie was in a lot of aspects – more of a go with the flow instead of focusing intently on every task or errand, scrutinizing to make sure it all met with his approval, like Addison was. He talks all the time now, and has sort of latched on to a stuffed dinosaur toy. Last night we went to see a Christmas parade, and while we were getting him out of the car, he grabbed the dino and said, “Dinosaur. See it Mismis Parade. " Which meant that the dinosaur wanted to see the Christmas parade too. He’s also projecting, like saying the dinosaur was scared of something when really it was Ryan who was scared (of the sirens on the fire trucks in the Mismis parade).  


"Dinosaur. Wear it. Ryan's shoes!"


We had Addie’s birthday party a little early. She wanted a My Little Pony party, so I made her a castle cake (with fruit rainbow and yogurt cloud), and we played some games, colored, played with Play-dough, and had a good time. We had about 7 little girls - it was awesome to see all the girls that Addie has known since she was 1 year old all grown up at 4 (well, some are late 3’s). And it was fun to be able to play games with them since they are old enough.

Pony castle cake and fruit rainbow!

Making pink glitter playdough

Opening my old My Little Ponies that I have entrusted to her

Someone DID NOT ask before they began eating a turret.

Halloween – Addie was Toothless the black dragon from How To Train Your Dragon, and her costume turned out cute! It was black pants and top, and black cardboard wings I made, with black horns on a headband. At the couple of fall festivals (and Zoo Boo with cousin Hunter), people thought she was a bat, so I made her a sign to wear around her neck that said, “Dragon In Training.” We got LOTS of candy on just a couple of streets in Hunter’s neighborhood and all three kids had a great time. Ryan was Superman in a borrowed costume from a friend.

Birthday donut

Immediately after previous picture - she bit her finger and it bled a LOT

 


Birthday table and presents





Addie and Hunter



Our three cute kids trick or treating

Ryan and his Aunt Jennifer

Daddy and Dragon

At Zoo Boo

Dragon at the Zoo

At the pumpkin patch

Two turkeys

Reese, who just moved to Indonesia last week. I tried to get Addie to smile nicely.

Ryan being cute

Sharing their first-ever cotton candy

We’ve finally got all the pieces of the swingset up and the kids love it. For the past weeks, every morning they want to get up and go play on it first thing. It’s been warm some and cold some, so they either go out barefoot in their pajamas or with shoes and socks and coats over their pajamas! It’s been VERY nice to see them play together so much, and although they do get into squabbles (apparently two swings aren’t enough for two kids), when one of them comes inside, the other one calls for them to come back outside to play.

The new swingset!

We got one quick visit with Santa this year, and it went very differently from past years:

She was happy to go see him and hug him!

Ryan was still a NO for Santa

First day of school

Today was Addie's first day of preschool. Matt and I wanted to walk her in, so we woke up at 7 and I turned on Addie's bathroom light. Addie came right out - she was laying in her bed awake, watching her door.  We came right downstairs and put on clothes, then fed her breakfast.  It wasn't rushed, but it was so much quicker than our usual morning routine.  Matt went in to wake up sleepy Ryan and we piled in the car. 

Ready to go!!

I thought for sure I would cry, but after we all walked in, Addie got her nametag and ran into the classroom. Since her teachers are high school kids, they were focused on what they were doing instead of on us parents, and there wasn't much time to linger or get sympathetic smiles from the teachers. Which was really good, for kids and parents! Not that there would have been a scene from us. And Addison has been dropped off at MOPS, Sunday school, the Y, and Bible Study, so she wasn't nervous at all. We left and went to Chick Fil A for breakfast, then I came home to feed Ryan. 

Then Ryan and I went out. We went to Jo Ann's to buy some black fabric for me to poorly attempt to make a tail for Addison's dragon costume, then we went to US Toy to get a refund because they charged for me two My Little Pony games for Addie's party instead of one, and then to the mall playplace, and then to Wal Mart to get envelopes because mine have mysteriously disappeared, and, also mysteriously, I happen to actually have things to mail!  Then it was already time to go get Addison. I was amazed at how "free" I felt with just one kid.  I haven't hit 4 places with both kids in a LONG time, if ever. Especially not in an hour and a half!  Ryan is a quality time kind of kid. He likes to be with me and hang on me as opposed to play by himself, so I was interested to see how our mornings without Addie were going to go. Of course, it's just been one morning, but he was very agreeable with getting in and out of the car so many times.  It is so hard to remember what it was like when I just had Addison. Although, I already had Baby Ryan before Addison was even two years old, so I don't think I had  any time alone with her when she was Ryan's age.  Since I have not had nearly enough "quality time" with Ryan before now (he doesn't know his colors or shapes, but Addie did at this age), I'm hoping to make up for it during these three mornings a week that Addie will be away.  And since he's older than she was for his time alone with me, we'll probably be able to learn/do even more! Not that I'm doing school stuff, but he will probably catch on to colors much more quickly than an 18 month old Addie did!

Yesterday I was feeling pretty sad about Addie starting school. I liked our mornings and our free schedule, and it was strange to think about her having a "life" without me.  But I knew she was totally ready and it will be great, and I'm looking forward to getting to see what sort of kid Ryan is turning out to be.

There's been a big breakthrough in our family - Ryan has, out of nowhere, started telling on Addison.  Before, I'd hear some squabbling and then crying, and he would run up to me upset. I would always have to guess what happened or ask Addison (she was usually forthcoming, but not always). But yesterday, he cried and came up to me, and when I asked him what happened, he said, haltingly, "Dee Dee...hit...me."   Sure enough, he was right. And later he ran up and said, "Dee Dee take pinecone!" Which she did, and ran off with it. I'm thrilled with this development because finally I will start knowing for sure what is going on with the kids when they are out of my site - whether Ryan is super sensitive or whether Addie is super sneaky.  Or both!