Merry Christmas Everyone!

Ho Ho Ho! Today was Luke's 1st Christmas and Blake's 3rd (wow - time flies). Both boys were up around 7:30-8:00 (and unfortunately a few times too many during the night) and had fun opening their new toys and books. Actually Luke didn't have a clue as to what was going on and I'm not sure Blake really did either. Though I did hear him say "I like Santa" once today which was a nice change from the "Santa scary" he had been saying. We had to play down the idea of Santa coming into our home after everyone is asleep...that might have put him over the edge.

The boys got quite a few new toys and books from Santa this year. Blake got a scooter, a sled (a step up from the baby sled I insisted he get last year that he quickly outgrew), a firetruck, a digger, a Dr. kit, a Play-doh set, a recorder, and lots of movies and books. Luke got a few new baby toys and some new shoes. Oh and they both got a new ornament. I'm going to buy them each an ornament every year. And even little Molly got in on the action...a fresh new bag of Dingos!

We had such a fun Christmas this year. Hard to believe it was this time last year we were telling our family and friends that we were expecting again. It's amazing how much your life can change in the course of a year. Things are a lot busier these days...and louder, and disorganized, and crowded. But I wouldn't change a thing. I'll miss the hustle and bustle of just getting out the door in the morning some day. I'll miss the echo of a laugh, a song, a squeal, a scream or a tantrum some day. I'll miss the ever present pile of books, stuffed animals, cars, and other toys that always seems to find their way back out seconds after I have put them away. And I will certainly miss the fact that there is no where to escape in this house someday and will probably be begging these boys to just spend some time with their Mama. One thing is for sure, our house is overcrowded with love and that is something that will never change.

From our blog to yours...Merry Christmas Everyone! We wish you all a year filled with lots of love, laughter and good health!

Early Christmas Present...for me!

This one comes without a picture because it would be difficult to snap one of me sleeping for 7 HOURS STRAIGHT!!!! Hallelujah! I woke up this morning around 4:30 (yes, I go to bed at 9:30 on a late night) and felt like I just awoke from a coma. Then I did the sound check - that's where you listen really hard to make sure you hear some sign of life coming from your childrens' rooms - and then fell back asleep until 7:00. It's been amazing...I'm sort of giddy still thinking about it.

This was the best gift that my boys could ever give me and even sweeter because they coordinated and "crafted" it all by themselves. That is usually the problem. You see, they are both individually very capable of sleeping through the night without making a peep. However, they both like to switch it up so that on any given night one of them sees my lovely face a few times to replace a pacifier, replace a cover, etc. And this was 100 times better then those mornings when my really sweet husband says I can sleep in, yet I lay there in bed listening to everything that is going on in the house because it is impossible to turn off "mommy ears."

Ahhhh, Merry Christmas to me! Now, it's pretty much guaranteed that the very fact I'm documenting this will mean it won't happen again until next Christmas. Oh well, I still have the rest of the day to enjoy my full tank! :)

Twinkle Bus

As much as I'd like to believe the happiest day of Blake's life was when his adorable baby brother was born...it wasn't. Last night was most definitely the best day of his little 900 day life. Our very good friends, the Lamothe's, invited us and another family to ride the "Twinkle Bus" in the Minneapolis Holidazzle Parade last night.

For those of you who don't know, the Holidazzle is a nighttime parade that runs from Thanksgiving to Christmas in downtown Minneapolis. The floats are all made of lights and play music. Believe it or not the parade only cancels when the air temp (with wind chill) is 20 below. And believe it or not, people pack the streets to watch this parade every year. We've done it a few times ourselves too.

So, last night we braved the snowy roads and headed downtown for Blake's big event. He already has a slight infatuation with buses so you can imagine the look on his face when we walked into the city bus garage to board the Twinkle Bus! He was in awe the whole time! Once the parade started he did such a good job waving at the people on the streets. He would say hi and Merry Christmas to them too.

The kids had so much fun and we are so grateful to our friends to have invited us to ride along. We are already hoping we can do it again next year!!

Winter Days...

This will probably the first of many posts entitled "winter days" seeing how winter lasts about 9 months in Minnesota. We got a lot of snow this weekend so Blake got to play outside again. And Luke got to play in the snow for the first timet too. Well not really, but we were outside for about 5 minutes.

Blake can finally ride his trike too. I think the thicker sole on his snowboots finally gave him the extra heighth to reach the pedals. He was very excited about it as you can see.

This was a pretty good snow so we might try and make a snowman today...what am I saying, Daddy and Blake might try to make a snowman. Mommy and Luke enjoy the climate controlled indoor activities like the jumperoo!

Brotherly Love...

Blake was being so sweet to his brother one night and I had to snap some pictures. Blake truly loves this little guy and Luke just lights up whenever Blake is around.

Fa La La La La...

Blake, Abby, Chloe, Jonny

Blake has his first Christmas concert last weekend. Again, like the spring concert, he refused to sing or dance. This time instead of crying the entire time, he sat staring away from the crowd looking extremely ticked off. It was kind of funny. Sure enough as soon as we got home he started singing the songs and dancing. There were a lot of people there so I'm sure it was a bit intimidating to a 2 1/2 year old. He did perk up oafter the concert when he got a cupcake. Oh and to top it all off, his least favorite person in the world was there...Santa Claus.

Happy 5 Month Birthday Luke!

Another month has passed, wow! Your Daddy and I can hardly keep up with how fast you are changing. I was having a mommy moment last night and had to watch some of videos of when you were first born to remind myself how little you were and how amazing it is to see you grow (even though I would stop time if I could and enjoy some of this a little longer). I'm starting to do a better job of reminding myself that I will miss this time some day so I should enjoy every second - and yes, even those seconds that are spent wandering into your room at 3 am to swaddle you tighter and stick a pacifier into your mouth (only for you to spit it right back out)!

You have had a great week...your ear infection has cleared up and you don't seem to have a cold at the moment. (Guaranteed you will pick something new up tomorrow.) You weigh 17lbs, 7 oz now and are starting to get some rolls on your thighs. I'm sure it's partly because you are feeling better this week, but you have been such a happy little guy. Laughing and smiling a ton. And you have hardly cried in your car seat to/from school - THANK YOU! You've finally gotten strong enough to grab your feet and you LOVE to do it. It's just a matter of time before those toesies are in your mouth! You are starting to make some new sounds too. And of course, your brother still adores you. He is always so sweet to you and I can't wait until you are old enough to play together.

It's Official...

Blake called Chloe his "girlfriend" this weekend. Since receiving their Christmas card in the mail he has carried it around the house, slept with it in his hands (all night long), and hung it on the refrigerator. One night I was laying in his bed getting ready to read to him and he ran out of the room to get something he forgot...the card. As he was climbing back into bed he said "girlfriend, Chloe." Then he sat there and stared at the card, grinning from ear to ear for a few minutes. It was adorable. We're off to a good start...I couldn't approve more of his first girlfriend!

"Most Babies"

Here is Luke trying out one of Blake's absolutely favorite contraptions. Seriously, Blake could play in this thing for an hour when he was a baby. He actually got quite jealous when we broke it out for Luke today so he figured out how to climb in on his own and jump.

Well you would think from the picture that Luke enjoyed the jump-a-roo...he did for about 5 minutes...just like every other baby contraption we own. This little guy is so tough to figure out! He is just so atypical from everything we know about babies! He just wants to constantly be carried around the house. I'm sure most people are thinking, what is the harm in that? Simply being held is not good enough, he prefers you to be walking and continually giving him a change of scenery. It certainly equates to a fair amount of exercise by the end of the weekend. Thank goodness he's so darn cute!

Blake has a book about puppies that goes through all of these different puppy life scenarios, like "most puppies like dig" or "most puppies like to sniff" and then it's always followed by one puppy that says "but not this one." Then at the end of the book it says "but all puppies like to sleep!" So, Kurt and I have started this thing where when we talk about Luke or try something new with him, we say "most babies like to swing" or "most babies like to nap" and then we follow it with "but not this one." We thought all babies LOVED the jump-a-roo and that we'd finally found the last chapter his "book", but apparently not all babies like to jump.

First Real Snow

Blake enjoyed the first real snow of this winter today. He played outside with Daddy for a while and even tried to make a snowman. He got his little red car out and proceeded to drive down the driveway. When asked where he was going he said, "Chloe's house."

Mommy had intended to get Luke outside too, at least long enough for the photo op, but it never happened. I'm sure we'll have plenty of other snowy days here in the Northern Tundra!