Paige and her Cuz

We headed to Scott's sister's house in Buffalo Christmas afternoon.  Scott's sister has a baby that is a couple of months older than Paige.  We let them visit for a while under the play gym.  It was all going well until...

Paige got a little taste.

And then some more...

Paige!  No!

Luckily, Hannah is a forgiving spirit...

Because I'm an Awesome Mom...

I was very prepared for Christmas.

My kids got the presents they asked for and a couple that I just knew they'd like.

But!  In all my preparation I forgot to make sure the camera had enough memory to accomodate some serious Christmas morning picture taking.

It didn't.  I got about 10 pictures before it told me the memory card was full.  Awesome.

Yo Mama So Ugly...

Our friends held an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party.  After a fiasco wherein I purchased a truly hideous sweater via Ebay and had it sent to my brother's old house in Utah by accident, I found this lovely number at WalMart.  Somehow I knew WalMart would come through for me. 

The idea was to pose as cheesily as possible.  My spell check is telling me that "cheesily" is not a word.  Apparently the spell check hasn't seen these pictures.

I also just happened to have these lovely green velvet pants laying around.  I tried to convince a friend at the party that they weren't so bad and might actually look okay with a black top.  She wasn't convinced.  I'm not really either.  I don't know why I bought them.  I'm impulsive.  If it helps you to not think less of me, I never wore them anywhere but this party.  Didn't help?  Oh well, I never liked you anyway.

As we were finishing up our photo session, another couple was coming down to start theirs.  Scott and Kurt* decided to take a few together.  As I reached the top of the stairs I heard Kurt say, "Why do I always have to be the girl?"

*Did you think I changed his name to protect his reputation?  I didn't.  I just wanted to note that Kurt won the prize for the ugliest outfit.

Stokoe Farm

Adam's preschool class went on a field trip to a Christmas tree farm.  It is a bit out of the way and there are some nice hilly roads.  My poor citified children, they thought it was "just like Disney World".

Stokoe Farm is awesome.  If you wear just the right snow pants you can really get going down this slide.  Adam was wearing the right snow pants.  Jane wasn't.  Sorry Jane.

Here is my family sans Paige, who was smart enough to stay home and nap with Grandma.

Pay no attention to that double-chinned woman in the red coat.  She kept following us around and sneaking into our pictures.  Plus, I heard she's finally losing that baby weight.

Sound Bites

It's that time again.

Jane was at the museum playing with a little castle.  As she dropped little people down the trap door to the dungeon she would say "Ayudame!".  Dora, it's like preschool on TV.  Right?  Right....

We have been trying to teach Adam not to pee on the seat, or at the very least to tell us if he does so we can help him clean it up.  This morning Scott said, "Adam, somebody peed on the toilet seat."  Adams reply?  "Probably Mama." Sure Adam, sure.

And here are a couple of videos.  You probably won't be that interested in them unless you're grandma or have an exceptional affection for my kids:



Paige (she's got things to say too!)

2!

Our sweet baby girl is becoming less and less of a baby.  She turned two on December 3rd.  We started the celebration on the 2nd.  She donned her birthday shirt and we headed to IHOP for her free breakfast.

While she enjoyed the pancakes, the ice cream sundae for breakfast was probably the highlight.

After IHOP, we headed over to Jump Club.  We love Jump Club.

The next day was Jane's actual birthday.  My sister and her family joined us for our little celebration.

Adam wanted to get Jane some slippers in the hopes that she would stop wearing his.  I wish I could say it worked.  Sorry Adam.

My sister got Jane a real Dora backpack, Map was even tucked into the side pocket.  She sleeps with it at night like a stuffed animal.

Jane requested a pink frog cake, so that's what she got.  Adam's already thinking about what kind of cake he wants for his birthday and it's a bit complicated.  I may need to start outsourcing.
 

I can't believe she's already two, but there's no way she's a baby anymore.  She speaks in full sentences (sometimes paragraphs), loves to sing and is getting a tad opinionated about her wardrobe.  Luckily she still loves to snuggle.  She also still tells me that she "loves me so much" and I look "so pwetty"!  She's super-mischievous but she's also so darn cute you can't even be mad at her.  Even when she walks out of the bathroom with her face covered in expensive black eyeliner.

Paige

With a mischievous big sister and a silly big brother, she has some healthy competition for camera time.

But, I occasionally sit down and just take pictures of her while trying to make her laugh.  Sometimes unsuccessfully. 

This is the only picture from her blessing day. Taken by me, in the lobby of our church. I think I've mentioned before that there are certain injustices she will have to endure by virtue of being our third. A lack of pictures may be one of them.

But! But. Paige, are you listening? My younger siblings got away with murder. You should see the prom dress my little sister got out of the house in! What I am saying is that you may be able to use your wiles as our last baby to get away with more. It is one of the advantages of being the youngest. There aren't many, but there you go.

Bowling

In November we went bowling with some friends.

To say the kids had fun is an understatement.

Random Cuteness

I am one of those people who thinks my kids are really cute and that other people want to partake in their cuteness. Annoying, I know. Deal.

We got this towel at a garage sale when Adam as a baby. He never liked to use it, but Jane would live in it if we let her.

Seriously, where did she come from and how did I get so lucky?

The love of all of Paige's accessories continues.  Only now they are banned from anything they might break since the death of our swing.  I can't positively tie them to the death of the swing, but I have my suspicions. 

Mmmm, pumpkin muffins.  She liked the batter more than the muffins.

I love the outfits she comes up with.  She loves to put things in her hair...and ham it up for the camera, in case you hadn't noticed.

Lollipop Farm

We went on a field trip with Adam's preschool group to the local Humane Society; it's called Lollipop Farm.  There are no actual lollipops there.  Jane was initially quite disappointed by this but got over it when she saw all of the cute animals.

Adam was excited to see his pal Eli and the kids were happy to run free.

 

So, there was this goat.  A very friendly goat.  All of the other goats stayed in the barn, as good goats should.  Not this guy.  I think he was trying to get adopted.  He picked the wrong crowd.

I didn't know whether to be concerned.  Are goats ever dangerous.  Was he going to eat my baby?

Because, seriously, he seemed a little too interested in the babies.

He followed us to the gate where we had to leave him behind.  The kids were not at all scared of him.  I was rather surprised by this.  Jane's only concern in this picture is that he might try to steal her rock.  This girl and her rocks.  Another story for another time.

Here I am just showing off our rockin' new stroller.  A place for the baby and a place for the other baby to sit.  I have even been known to squeeze both Adam and Jane on that little platform.

*Also let's try to remember that I had a baby two months ago.  So, if it looks like my coat may burst, well that's why.  It has absolutely nothing to do with powdered sugar donuts.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Accessories

I don't even know what to say about this picture.  The eye patch.  The glasses.  The hat.  The pacifier (being sucked on by a thumb sucker).  They're my kids.  They're quirky, but I sure do love them.

Oh, and I just noticed the wet spot on Adam's pants.  Awesome. 

Sleeping Beauty

Every so often there are those pictures that you think you should save to blackmail you're child someday.

You know, like when he is sixteen and cool.


That's when you break out the pictures...


...of him with chocolate all over his face, dead asleep and wearing a Cinderella dress.

Nah, why wait 'til he's sixteen?

Halloween?

I realize it's almost Thanksgiving, but here it is.

We have a good friend whose children are a little older than ours and has a cache of Halloween costumes. We went "shopping" for our costumes at her house and the kids couldn't have been happier. For the actual trick-or-treating they were monsters. This worked out well because it was freezing cold and these costumes were furry and warm.


I took Jane trick-or-treating at the museum. Jane + elephant costume = cutestthingever.

At the museum, posing with her posse.

And the icing on Adam's proverbial cake was this costume:

He couldn't have been happier than when people said, "Hey, look, it's Buzz Lightyear!


And then he ran into his BFF, Woody, at the museum. And that look on his face my friends? Pure joy.