Christmas 2013

Turns out the girls must have been pretty good this year after all. Santa left lots presents galore, stuffed stockings, drank his (almond) milk, and devoured the appendages of various gingerbread men cookies. 

We rushed down the stairs in anticipation.

Elle's big requests this year were Magnatiles and Schleich animals that she had played with at a friend's house. Don't let the small boxes fool you-- these modern building "blocks" are ridiculously expensive. But well worth the investment, resulting in hours of independent play. And for a mom who has a low tolerance for her 5-year-old's incessant demands that begin with "Mommy, pretend that..." and end with various very specific and tyrannical instructions which are never acceptably executed, an actual activity would be worth pretty much any price. 

Elise loved the Little People North Pole house, but kept asking me (with palms up in quizzical gesture), "Where baby sheesus (Jesus) go?" So we got baby Jesus from the nativity and he shared a plastic plate of cookies with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the North Pole puppy. 

Santa must have known the magnitude of holiday treats floating around this place when he added the Sparkle Crest to Elle's stocking. If only he knew that Elise considers it an equivalent culinary delight...

I used to give my mom a hard time for getting carried away with gift-giving at Christmas. But seeing their unbridled enthusiasm with every little item, I totally get it now. Moderation is a challenge.

After reveling in Santa's generosity, we dressed and headed to brunch with my dad's family. 

Where great food, company, and more presents ensued. 

The Es were enthralled by the neighborhood cat, who tolerated their abuse with amazing Christmas patience.

Judging by the lack of leg/foot coverings on my children, you'd think we spent Christmas in Hawaii. In fact, it was 38 degrees but they insisted on frolicking outside in warm weather wear.

We returned home for the arrival of Jay's family, and the onslaught of more food, gifts, and quality time with family. I was totally slack with picture taking, but had to prioritize my attention to winning the objects of my affection in the annual Dirty Santa game. 

The Es were spoiled rotten, as usual. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus over Nanny's coconut cake (one of roughly 2,098 confections up for grabs), and savored the last moments of a spectacular season.

Every year seems to get better. 

If more exhausting...

Two

Two forgotten (although soon to be remembered) memories:
-The complete exhaustion resulting from an unending string of sleepless newborn nights
-The tiny-ness of newborn clothes and diapers

Two favorite phrases:
-Leese luf (love) Mommy!
-No way Jose!

Two favorite foods (in reality, impossible to narrow down):
-Birfday cake (any dessert)
-Edamame. I've yet to see another 2-year-old shell and devour these as expertly

Two favorite books (also impossible to narrow down):
-The Little Mouse, the Big Hungry Bear, and the Red Ripe Strawberry
-The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Two favorite games:
-Hide and Seek: Says "I go hide!" and runs off to a hiding place, of which she has a very small and predictable repertoire. Then runs back to me as if she has forgotten something, and says "Mommy count 1-2-3". Giggles madly when you go through the process of looking for her, and helps out by answering during your rhetorical hunt: "Is Elise behind the couch?".. "Noooooo". Is Elise under the table... "Nooooo". One time I guess I didn't give her enough time to find the perfect place so she came running back out to me-- "No, no Mommy count to hundred!". Clearly picked up the phrase from her sister?
-Playing birthday, always hers. 
"Leese birfday comin up!" 
When is your birthday, Elise? 
'Cember tenny Nife! (December 29th)
Proceeds to loudly sing Happy Birthday to herself

One of the few times in the past 2 years I've caught her without a smile: Getting picked up early from school with a fever

Two hints of two-dom:
-Laughs raucously when corrected. Makes discipline challenging at times. 
-Mostly a great sleeper, but went through a phase of standing up in crib, stripping down to nakedness, throwing everything overboard, and screaming for my assistance

Two behaviors I'm really proud of:
-Follows instructions and most corrections really well: When told not to do something, she typically gives a cheerful and accomodating "Ok, Mommy!"
-Almost flawless with Please and Thank you. Getting better at Yes, ma'am and Sir instead of "Dah" (Yeah)

Two things that melt my heart:
-Before I leave her room at bedtime, she always asks, "Hug Mommy? Kiss Mommy?" Perhaps it's a ploy to delay bedtime. But it's a clever and very effective one, indeed.
-That smile. Oh, that smile.

Two pieces of evidence that she's one of two (soon-to-be-3) of the most brilliant kids on earth:
-After initially being concerned that her vocabulary wasn't on par with Elle's freakishly precocious language skills, E2 completely caught up in a matter of weeks. This kid, who had barely uttered a few words other than Mama and Dada was playing in the playroom one afternoon and started taking her clothes off. "What are you doing?" I asked. To which she replied perfectly intelligibly and rather matter-of-factly: "It's hot in here!" From that moment on, it was full sentences, with words I had no idea she knew, nevertheless could string along in context. Now she communicates like a mini-adult, with this incredible wit and cleverness that makes us all crack up over and over again.
-She knows her abc's, can count to 10, and can "read" several books. (The former two are completely to the credit of Oak Ridge Weekday School). Like her sister, Elise loves to read, and often insists on doing it herself. She remembers enough words on each page to somewhat make sense, and follows the lines of text with her finger like she's seen Elle do when reading. When the final page is turned, she proclaims triumphantly, "The End!" and typically follows with, "Leese read it again!"

Too many laughs to count.

Too much love to put into words.

This was the first of two plates. My 2-year-old eats like a teenage boy.

Too much personality to capture.

Two parents (and one big sister) who never knew what they were missing until she came into our lives.

Two girls who bring more joy to my life than I ever thought possible.

Two incredible years of being your Mommy.

Here's to many many more birthdays spent together. 

Happy birthday Sweet Elise- We Love You!

Welcoming Baby Deacon

I suppose it's poor form (not to mention anticlimactic) to finally post baby shower pictures after your nephew is born... but for the sake of posterity and completeness (goodness knows I'm a sucker for both), here we go...

I was thrilled to celebrate the upcoming arrival of my sister's first baby by throwing her a shower, but perhaps a bit nervous as the concept of male offspring and the color blue are completely foreign to my household. Nonetheless, everything came together nicely and we had a blast honoring Stephanie, Brice, and my soon-to-arrive nephew Deacon. 

Due a week apart. Not planned. Bizarre twin craziness.

I went with a baby bird theme, mainly because I had been looking for an excuse to make baby bird cupcakes and it seemed like the perfect outlet. I'd prefer not to admit how many of my events are centered around my obsession with various confections...

The diaper cake proved to be more challenging than it's edible counterpart. And I had forgotten how tiny newborn diapers are! Made my "baby" Elise seem like a giant. Guess I should get used to the house being inundated with these tiny baby bum-covers.

There was also a wishing tree, with cards for guests to write advice for Mom or wishes for baby. For some reason, everyone found it amusing when I answered the question, "Where did you get the tree?" with an account of walking to the woods behind my house with a pair of sharp scissors and clipping a branch from a tree. Seemed perfectly logical to me...

The only downside was that Elle became emotionally attached to the little tree and refused to let me return it to its home in the wild. She's a sentimental type, that one.

The menu was typical brunch fare, with sausage and egg casserole, spinach quiche, ham and gruyere bites, fruit, etc. Dessert options included a chocolate pound cake, little chocolate peanut butter nests, and the baby bird cupcakes. 

My offspring approved.

Unanimously.

Guests included family, friends we grew up with, college roommates, and even a group of our beloved high school teachers. It was a great group who did a fantastic job of showering the Mom-to-be with love, gifts, and words of motherly wisdom.

Of course, now I can spoil the ending... Baby Deacon arrived a couple weeks early on January 5th back home in sunny Florida! Mom and baby doing great-- and I'm loving the life of a proud Aunt... just need to adjust to the whole testicle thing...

Twas the Weekend before Christmas

We are extraordinarily lucky to live close enough to a gaggle of family members on both sides to see essentially all of them in a whirlwind few days of holiday extravaganza. Part of me thinks it might be nice to travel to the quintessential grandmother's house (picture long drive through perfectly falling snow) only to be greeted with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and long-anticipated hugs from enthusiastic relatives. Oh wait, maybe that's just the Folger's commercial running through my head. Pregnancy hormones or not, that thing makes me tear up every time...
Indeed, it can be hectic.And I sometimes fear that we are so rushed to get to the next location or prepare for the next influx of family members that we may not really take time to relish the moment, to absorb the magnamity of the season and the treasure of spending time with family. Maybe it would seem more "special" if we spent several days with family we rarely saw otherwise throughout the year. But despite the emotional waterworks that the Folger's soundtrack may trigger, I have realized more and more how blessed we are to be surrounded by our loved ones and how nice it is to be able to see them all at Christmas. Every Christmas.

This year's whirlwind was kicked off with the Peds Radiology Christmas party we hosted again this year. Elle continued the tradition of spending the night with her best friend Grace, while Elise stayed behind to entertain guests. Charming as always, I think she was the hit of the party. 

Life of the party, little E

On Christmas Eve Eve Eve we were invited to Grampa and Mimi's house for a fantastic dinner and present opening gala. The girls were beyond excited to kick off the festivities. 

Love that we are close enough for the girls to spend time with Grampa and Mimi! And so grateful for the help they are to us with sick days, date nights, and everything in between.

Christmas Eve Eve entailed a brunch with some of my high school friends and their sweet little ones. The kids managed to entertain themselves beautifully for the most part, allowing the adults to catch up. I was reminded yet again the volume of food my kids consume relative to their peers... guess they get that honest! 

Christmas Eve started off as all Christmas Eve's should... with cookie baking. Elle and I have made gingerbread cookies for Santa the past several years, and we continued the tradition this year with the help of an eager albeit little-concept-of-keeping-ingredients-in-the-bowl E2. 

I am far too obsessive-compulsive to bake with small children. Working through that. Hopefully they aren't too scarred from the repetitive outbursts of "Don't stir so hard!", "The flour stays IN the bowl!", "Use the cookie cutters along the edges so as to maximize available surface area of the dough!", and "That's not where his mouth goes!"

Tyrannical Mom notwithstanding, they turned out well . The girls were proud of their work, and Elle reluctantly agreed to partition a few out for Santa.

Tasting the fruits of their labor.

After some festive wrapping and holiday preparations, we got ready for the Christmas Eve service at our church. The 4pm service is labelled "family-friendly" and it was great. Lots of kid involvement, including having all the children on stage for a good portion of the service. All the children and one rather pregnant woman scooting around amidst the service trying to corral an inquisitive and extremely mobile almost 2 year old. Entertaining for the audience, apparently.

My kids are notorious for nonmatching beyond tacky and seasonally inappropriate attire. Long ago I gave Elle the independence to dress herself, which I suppose has been good for her independence but disastrous from a not-looking-like-a-hobo standpoint. Parenting is all about picking your battles, and for better or worse, this is one I chose not to pick. That being said, I did manage to achieve some degree of wardrobe normalcy for this occasion. Not without a struggle (apparently tights are "as bad as mayonnaise"), but the end result was acceptable.

Sorry for the crotch shot Elise. 

I'm not above cookie bribery for tolerating photo opportunities. 

After church we headed back home to greet my mom's side of the family for Christmas Eve dinner. I didn't get many photos, but it was nice to see everyone, share some good food (including a requested repeat appearance of the "chargrilled artichokes" aka roasted brussels sprouts we made at Thanksgiving), and open presents with Nana and her family. 

After dinner (and amazingly before presents), Elle gathered everyone in the living room and asked who wanted to hear a story about Baby Jesus. She then proceeded to tell the Christmas story in perfect 5-year-old paraphrase that absolutely melted my heart. Proud Mom and Technical Misfit are currently at odds since I can't figure out how to upload the video properly... but perhaps I'll figure it out before you're grown and looking back at the digital archive of your life, E.

Food consumed, family bade adieu, cookies and milk left out for Santa. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and our sweet little ones were tucked snugly in their beds. All the anticipation of the season was thick in the air as Elle thought she heard jingle bells before falling asleep.