More Christmas

Here are some more pics from our Christmas. They are from Mike's cam, as you can tell by his experimenting with the self-portraits. I did not take a ton of pictures, and those I did take were not that stellar. But I will post some of mine soon. We were with my family on Christmas day and the 26th.


Slumber party at Grandma's means bathtime!

Tell us all about it, Jack.

Becky MADE that hat for Sydney!
Was it the holiday spirit, the warm fire or the Christmas Eve wine that made Trent extra affectionate? Let's just say it was a combo-effect.

Happy Hangover

No, not THAT kind of hangover. We're having a Christmas hangover! And it's awesome. Because of the weather, our plans changed a bit over the last few days. We live within 45 minutes (normally) from both sides of the family, but due to sketchy driving conditions, we ended up spending 2 days at each place, including slumber party overnighters. This actually worked out to be pretty fun, even though we haven't been to our own house since Tuesday morning and have yet to open our own gifts! I don't have a cord to upload pics from my camera, and I'm still at my parents' house, so here are some of my favorite pictures from my mom's camera. Much more to come, obviously. I mean, it's me, Brazenlilly, we're talking about here.

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Here's a fun sequence when Sydney and Jack were interacting. They are almost exactly 6 months apart in age.

Sydney sees her cuz... Jack went right for her to give a hug!

Several moments of fun, awkward attempts at hugging ensued, much to the thrill of the camera-happy adults.

This is another outfit of Sydney's from earlier in the morning. After her history with the Blowouts, I was SO prepared with extra clothes for her. I made her wear them all over the 2 day celebration (Eve and Day) and my brother-in-law said--"What is this? An awards show?!"

Actually, we have another busy weekend with plans every day starting today, so this is the Christmas that just keeps on giving! Hope yours was awesome as well.

This is getting ridiculous.

I know it's getting dull to post about this snowstorm. I mean, the people who live here already know how crazy it is and the people who don't live here either cannot understand without experiencing it personally or they think we are wimps because this much snow is old news. And yet--I can't help it! It's been the #1 topic of conversation and affecting all of our Christmas plans. This is day 9 of on-again-off-again snow and/or ice. We are getting ready to go be snowed in at my in-laws, then hopefully hitch a ride to my parents, so this will be my official Christmas post. Merry Christmas, friends and family!

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Here's a video I took this morning.

Here's a couple pics of the boys deciding to play again a week after my first snow pictures. This pic is blurry, but I can see Trent's expression, and it's fun to me. They wrestle. They like it.

Our little tree outside is NOT catching a break.

Measuring yesterday--13ish inches.

I love this tree we can see out our front window. Unfortunately, the house below it is a total mess--not really taken care of and always junky in the front yard. Boo. So I edited for you.

One of our housebound countdown activities was fondue. Fun!

And here's your daily pic of Sydney on her blanket on the floor, which is seems is where most of her pictures are taken. This was yesterday right before we ventured out to take a bus ride! The snow was so deep we coudn't have even gotten out of our driveway if we wanted to. So we bundled up and took a ride to the mall. The streets were just gorgeous and it was SO nice to GET OUT! The kids were troopers! Sydney didn't fuss the entire time--even when we waited in the snow for the bus!

Love to everyone! Have a wonderful Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Happy Birthday, Jack! (& more)

Today is my nephew Jack's first birthday. I don't get to see him in person, so I need to give him a blog shout-out. I am so crazy about this kid--you have no idea! Well, if you have a niece or nephew, you probably do have an idea. It's a different kind of affection than I was ready for. I'm sure it comes from the fact that I love my brother and sis-in-law so much (I know--"aaaahh!"), but really, it KILLS me that we live an hour away from Jack. I want to see him all the time. It doesn't help that he is the happiest, most fun, a-stinkin-dorable kiddo. We love you, Buddy!

And onto other adorable babies in my life, I have to tell you that I'm also in a love-fest season with my Syd. She is just becoming the sweetest, most mellow baby. I know it's risky to publicly acknowledge your out-of-control adoration for your own child, because others find it slightly annoying and begin to think you are blind to the child's faults, but she's not even 6 months, so I'm going to go ahead and tell you she's perfect. Kidding! But she's awesome.
PS: Tanner, we stole your hat last March. We'll bring it to you when we see you in January.

Here she is checking out the ads with Daddy.

When I say "Sydney girl! Look at Mommy!" this is what I get:

This was our countdown activity a couple nights ago. It was "get crazy hair." Well, Trent just got a haircut, so his was too short to do anything very wild, and he was skeptical of the "temporary" nature of the blue spray, so only Carson and I ventured. Carson thought it was a blast! He wanted more, but I started getting high from the fumes of the aerosol, so we called it good. I wish Sydney was looking at the camera. My wig from college days (holla to Kellianne!) looked fab on her bald head.

We have no pictures from the last 2 days (making cookies and looking at old Christmas pictures--thanks for the idea, Lindsey!) because I have been SO SICK! Oy. I haven't puked that much in a LONG time. I was totally out of commission from Thursday afternoon until Friday morning. Carson and Sydney both puked just once, but Carson's was in the middle of the night all over his blankets and sheets and then onto the carpet and bathroom rug. Sweet! But neither kid seems to have what I had. Trent had to take over helping with the countdown and taking care of the kids, then my mom came over--even in SNOW--to help me yesterday. We're all feeling much better thank you.

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This morning I was working on some beading--have I mentioned I have ACADD (Arts & Crafts Attention Deficit Disorder)? Carson wanted to be more involved than I was comfortable with, so I ran to Michael's before the snow came and got him some of his own beads. Hee! It was fun watching him try. He has TYOADN (Three-Year-Old Attention Deficit Normalcy) so it only lasted for a few minutes, but he's come back to the cookie sheet of beads a couple times this morning. Trent pointed out it is good for his fine motor skills. :)

Snow honeymoon is OVER.

OK, after that blissful snow post, I'm done with the white stuff. Bring me back my safe, ice-free roads so I can get the heck OUT OF MY HOUSE! What's funny is, I'm actually quite a home-body, but as my mother pointed out, as soon as you tell me I shouldn't leave the house, that's all I want to do. Plus, I have so MUCH to do--out of the house and in the house, which I can't do, because I can't drive safely (and don't want to risk it with the kids in the car) and the little people inside the house are forbiding me to do anything other than indulge their every needy whim. Yesterday was really bad because I thought, silly me, that I would be productive on this snow-bound day. As just mentioned, the children had other plans, as they traded off the "needy, sleepless, cranky and inexplicably fussy" baton back and forth to each other all day, and I ended up being exceptionally frustrated that I wasn't getting anything done. So, today: change of plans! DON'T EXPECT TO GET ANYTHING DONE. I mean at ALL. Not even a Christmas card addressed. The attitude change has worked wonders for me, and here I am at 12:30 in my PJ's and I'm working on a blog post! Pleasant surprise!

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Here's some pictures from 2 nights ago when we did handprints on canvas for our Countdown activity. There are no pics of Carson doing his prints, because it took both adults to monitor the situation so we didn't have red handprints all over the kitchen.

"You guys are crazy, but WHATEVER." (Look at those eyebrows! ha!)

Also, funny story for last night. Our activity was for Carson and Mommy to wrap Daddy's gift. I figured we'd wrap some PJ's that we always exchange on Christmas Eve, so I if Carson spilled the beans it wouldn't be a big deal. He (Carson) was excited and while I was washing dishes at the sink, he started asking Trent who was at the table: "Dad! What do you want for Christmas?!" Trent says, "Oh, I don't know, maybe some shoes or some clothes..." Carson, without missing a beat, says--slightly confused--"But we already got you some new shoes. The other day." (I'm at the sink rolling my eyes, slighty exasperated, but not able to stifle a smile.) "Yeah, we just got some at...what store was that, Mom? Oh yeah. Nike. We already got you some new shoes at Nike." Trent just started cracking up. So, lesson learned. Don't take a 3 year old Christmas shopping with you. And if you do, don't tell him who the gifts are for. He WILL remember. Trent, try to act surprised on Christmas morning!

LONG Snow Post

Fun times around here! And a play-by-play for the rest of you. Yesterday we watched Wall-E and had popcorn after naptime. There had been a little bit of snow, but nothing serious. Then around 4pm, the flakes starting coming down harder, so we ventured outside to check it out.

By 6pm we had a really good layer of snow, the first of this year, so we had to go and play a bit, even though it was dark.

Then, this morning, the sun came up and the snow was still there! Nothing makes you feel like a kid again the same way a snow day does...except when you still have to try to go to work. But it was really icy out. Fortunately, Trent's boss told him not to try to come to work in our wimpy little cars. (Pretty much every single patient cancelled anyway.) Yeah! Last night Trent got to play, so this morning I wanted to play with Carson.

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This may be my favorite pic from the snowday. Here we are sporting our snow bibs. My good snow clothes are still loaned out to a friend, but these are hand-me-downs from Eric, and Carson's are from last year--thus the capri-pant-style! I think his expression is priceless!

Much cold fun ensued...

Showing Carson how to throw a snowball at Daddy.

Then he tried...

Who doesn't like snow angels?!

The answer is: Carson doesn't like snow angels.

There were some tears.

But he got over it and tried the snow slide.

I love rosey cheeked kids!

And Mr. GQ posing on the deck in his sweat pants!

Don't worry. It was a clean patch.

Me trying to be artsy fartsy with my photos. After I tried a few of these, I noticed the owners of the house next door watching me skeptically through the kitchen window, which is about five feet from the lense. I swear! I'm just shooting the fence! I'm not a peeping tom!

Snow brings out the attention span like nothing else.

Here he's singing "I'm dreaming.....of a whiiiiiiiiiite Christmas...."

Cutie patootie in Daddy's hat and a coat I bought on eBay for 99 cents. I KID YOU NOT! The shipping was $10, but totally worth it.

There. Now those of you who don't like in the Portland/Salem area can live vicariously through our winter wonderland!