Post-Christmas

Partway into January, I received this email from the mother of one of Robin's preschool friends:

"Hi there,

Just wanted to let you know that Robin taught C how to write the word "bear" today so C has been making books about bears and writing the name down all afternoon!  You have a little teacher there-- very cute!"

This made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that Robin is having a positive influence on other kids.  Especially so, because this mom and I had discussed our kids' interests in educational matters, and C hasn't been very interested in letters or writing.  He hadn't even been interested in writing his own name yet.  So I'm glad that Robin has helped his friend garner some enthusiasm.  My kid is helpful!

Robin got an easel for Christmas, and really wanted me to set it up for him.  Then he went to town painting pictures for our walls

We went to my parents' house a few days after Christmas to visit further with Great Nana.  They still hadn't shoveled their snow from Christmas, so Robin decided to help Poppa shovel.  It began to snow again while they were out there too.  Now, we hadn't brought boots or snow pants with us, so Robin got thoroughly soaked.  We tossed his clothes in the dryer, and he wore one of Poppa's sweatshirts for the duration.  I think he looks like an Oliver Twist-style orphan wearing this.

A nice family shot

Four generations

Sitting together in the sensory bin

"Mama, will you take a picture of us?"  I love to see them being all brotherly

Dean got to go to a Broncos game at the end of December.  It was freezing, but they won and he had a lot of fun

Robin decided to put on his Crayon costume from 2011's Halloween, fill his green blanket with toys, and wear a Santa hat.  He's Santa, of course!

Remember how I love to see them be brotherly?  Yeah, I'm seeing this a lot lately.  *heart swells*

All bundled up for a very cold night at Zoo Lights

We went on the very last night.  It was absolutely frigid, but by renewing our zoo membership we got free tickets, so we wanted to take advantage of them.

The two pairs of socks, pajama pants used as long underwear, shirts-sweaters-coats, mittens clipped to coats, hats, hoods, and blanket kept everybody functional until right at the end.

We'll go earlier next year, so we can choose our day more wisely.  We'll also bring hot cocoa next time.

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The zoo had ice sculptures this year!  I don't remember that from years past

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The museum with a friend.  The "C" I mentioned at the beginning of this post, in fact

The boys all measured their strides on the motion capture camera.  Liam, Robin, and C.

The boys got an RC car from my uncle for Christmas.

I didn't want them driving it on our street, so we took it with us to storytime so we could drive it outside the library one day.

They both loved watching it zip around.

And Robin, in particular, loved figuring out how to drive it.

Liam's still a little young.

He still likes pushing buttons though.

I told Robin to be careful not to step on the thing, because I'd had one of these as a kid and the neighbor across the street ran his bike over it, and it never ran fast again.  Then I had to repeat that story over and over again, because Robin was fascinated with the concept for some reason.

Everybody had fun with this.  Thanks, Uncle Glenn!

In conclusion, here are some videos of Liam talking. I was working off of memory so I didn't get all of his words, and he's continued to add more nearly every day since I took these, but this gives you an idea--and lets you hear his sweet voice, if you're far away and haven't heard it.

Merry Christmas!

Oh, after the crazy month of December, it was great for Christmas to finally come.  No more craziness.  The event is here.
Wait, did I just say "no more craziness?"  Hah!
Setting out cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer

Liam's got the notes to Santa

I actually got them to hold still for the span of a camera flash.  Amazing!

Santa came!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Liam got a noisemaker push toy

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Robin got A CAMERA!!!  One all his own!

We got a White Christmas!  An actual White Christmas, where the snow was fresh and not days-old.  In fact, we had to pause the presents to shovel, since we were hosting the meal later in the day, and we needed to provide space to park.

Good morning!  We've got a busy day ahead of us

The stockings are full!  Though in our household, we don't open them until after Chrimstas

And, of course, the Sticky Buns are made!

Once we finished our gifts to each other, we had some time to play with them before our first wave of guests arrived

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Then my family arrived and we did our second gift exchange

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We had both families over to our house for a big lunchtime meal between gift exchanges.  Every year, we're very thankful to have two families that get along so well, and allow us to do this.

We made a really scrumptious pork with potatoes, and all of the accompanying dishes were really yummy too.

After the meal and Liam's nap, we did our final gift exchange of the day.  Grammy made matching kangaroo sweaters for the boys this year

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We got spoiled!

So Christmas was very hectic, but it was fun.  It was a bit overwhelming for the boys after a while.  Robin was everywhere at once, and during each gift exchange Liam reached a point where he was over and done with it all, so we opened the rest of his presents for him.  It took us a little while to find homes for all the new things, but we've reclaimed our living room again.

I hope your holiday was merry and bright, as well!

Getting ready for Christmas... or The Longest Month of My Life, part 2

Liam has really started enjoying hats lately.  Perhaps it's just that he can say "hat," or perhaps it's that he has the coordination to put a hat on his head (with varying degrees of success.)  Whatever the reason, he put one of the Santa hats on his head in early December and allowed me to take pictures.  Priceless!

Since everything had to relate to Christmas in December, and we often sculpt fun things out of Robin's breakfast fruit, we made him a Christmas tree one day, complete with raisin ornaments

It *only* took me three years, but I finally finished Liam's Christmas stocking (yes, I started before he was born, before he was even conceived.)  Here, I'm sewing the stitched pattern into an actual stocking

I tried to have a family-friendly Christmas party, although only one family could come so it turned into a get-together.  However, I still made Christmas-themed food.  How often do you see festive pizzas?

Santa didn't come out very well.  I need a way to contrast his face from his beard

Rudolph

The wreath dripped its cheese all over the place as it cooked.  Oops.

Wreath rice krispies treats

All bundled up to play in the snow

Attempting to make Santa's sleigh out of a banana and strawberries

I went back to Robin's preschool mid-December to help the class bake Christmas cookies!

I decided I had to come participate in this project, as Robin was the biggest batter-eater when we made pumpkin bread.  I didn't want to risk him doing that this time, since everybody else's dough was going to have egg in it.  I took on the gluten-free kiddos too, and I was glad I was there since none of the other helpers seemed to have any clue about food restrictions.  You can see that I divided the table in half:  one side egg free, the other side gluten free.

Everybody used cornstarch to roll the dough out, just to be safe.  Robin got it EVERYWHERE!

"Mama, will you take a picture of us sitting next to each other?"  Okay, twist my arm... :)

This was the picture we sent out with our Christmas cards this year

Liam got to ride in a Geek Squad car when I purchased a gift at Best Buy

Robin helping Dean shovel

Meet Owl the Elf.  He is Santa's scout, who watches the boys throughout December.  Every night he went back to the north pole and then found a new hiding spot back at our home each morning.  He got into the cookies one night.

Cookie Christmas gifts for Robin's teachers

Del's birthday is right before Christmas, so we spent much of the day with them on the 22nd.  I believe I have a picture very similar to this, of Robin and Del sitting on this step when Robin was this age

Both boys went a little crazy with the wrapping paper.  They were pretty excited

How cute!

Christmas pancakes!!  A snowflake...

Snowman...

Christmas tree...

Reindeer...

Candy cane...

...and a Santa hat.

It's cowboy Liam!  See, another hat.

Liam's officially complete Christmas stocking

Look at that thing!

He really enjoyed his stocking after Christmas, once he realized there were more presents in there.  As for this picture, he's just exploring

By the end of December, Liam got very excited whenever he found Owl the Elf in the morning.

Robin's monkey and Liam's monkey blanket joined us for a breakfast of Legos

Another Santa hat shot.  Hat!  Hat!

Robin joined in too this time

Robin made beaded bracelets for friends and family for Christmas gifts.  This activity lasted for most of December.  Then on Christmas Eve, we put stickers on paper for wrapping, and then wrapped them.  To my surprise, Robin wanted to label not just a few, but all of them.  I spelled, and he wrote.  And he did them all.

Robin told me the other day that water comes from lakes and from volcanoes.  Volcanoes?  Yes, volcanoes.  No Robin, water doesn't come from volcanoes.  Yes it does!  You add salt, pepper, and baby powder to the lava to make water.  Don't know where that came from, but okay.

Liam is really getting good at communicating with his single words, his points and gestures, and his nods or shakes of the head.  He's growing so much!  He still snuggles when tired and clings to me when he's scared thought.  It's good to be the rock in his life.

And finally, after all the waiting, the anticipation, the craziness, CHRISTMAS IS NEXT!!!