Christmas Day 2014

Christmas Day - finally! Also called American Christmas in our house. Santa made it to our house:

Jelly Bean got up at her usual time. So she and I went downstairs and enjoyed some play time together while the boys slept.

 

PJ slept in his suit until almost 9am! Partying makes you pay at some point. ;)

But he finally got up and remembered Santa Claus was suppose to come. It took a lot of persuasion to get him out of his suit and into his sleeping clothes.

 

But we finally did it. And then we had to wait for papa to get into his sleeping clothes as well. So we made Christmas faces.

This is the Grinch.

This is Santa Claus.

Finally we were all ready and PJ and Jelly Bean were allowed to charge the tree.

We took it really slow opening the gifts. We took play breaks and even stopped to eat breakfast. The kids didn't mind, in fact, they seemed a little overwhelmed by the newness and excitement a few times. I can't pick which pictures to post, so here are too many.

We started with the gifts from Granny and Grandpe. Both kids loved their new kindergarten bags.

 

Then we opened the gifts from mommy and daddy. I made the kids superhero caps. They were a hit.

 

We took a play break and opened the parent gifts. Building up on my birthday gift, the Mr. got me a lovely pendant with all of our names and birthstones. I was really touched. 

And I gifted him a piece of writing.

 The kids were still happy with the gifts they had opened, so we ate some yummy breakfast.

 

After breakfast, we opened the gifts from Santa Claus. We had just managed to meet Santa the Friday before Christmas. Thank goodness we did! PJ had been telling us for weeks he wanted a SpiderMan but when we met Santa, he clarified: he wanted a SpiderMan costume.

Santa, that professional, really pulled through.

 

I'm pretty sure Santa has connections with AmazonPrime.

Our music lover, Jelly Bean, got a walkable piano. This thing is pretty fantastic.

I may have been caught a few times playing on it myself.

Afterwards, I'm pretty sure we all took a nap and then enjoyed an excellent goose dinner lovingly and excellently prepared by the Mr.

 

Slowly a joyful, kid-filled Christmas came to an end. I'm realizing how much more fun and inspiring Christmas is with the wonder of a child. And ribbons, of course.

XO

Generations 2014

I went through all of our pictures from the 2014 trip to the US and found these un-used gems. There is no "red thread" to this one. Just moments in time that make smile.

***

This actually deserves a full post but hardly any of the pictures came out :( Here is PJ and Grandpe riding the tractor. It started with PJ getting to ride on Grandpe's lap in our first few days in Ohio. Naturally, it quickly progressed to PJ steering the wheel like a professional race car driver. While each ride was meant to last a few minutes, they all lasted at least half an hour.

At least.

 

PJ was so proud of those moments and how he got to drive a tractor. I was proud watching my stepfather be with his grandson right where his grandson wanted to be. Its a funny thing to welcome someone in your heart as an adult and then watch that piece grow and stretch over many years.

 

Grandpe, I'm glad we've got you.

 

Although I must admit that learning to steer the tractor made PJ a bit of a back-seat driver in the car. I often heard "Mommy, don't smash that tree, okay?"

 

***

 

Growing up I heard frequently that a mom's lap grows to include all her babies. I recall once, right after my sister was born, that my brother sat on one of my mom's legs, I sat on the other, and somehow we all three held our newborn family member across our shared laps. A mom's lap grow to fit all her babies.

 

Turns out that is also true of a Granny. I often discovered them like this:

 



Now as a mom, I know its true for me as well: my lap will always grow to hold all my babies. No matter the age or the number.

***

This is my Nana, my grandmother. Sadly, my only living grandparent. In many ways she is 'grandmother' like: she sews, she cooks, she orders her family around. In many other ways she goes beyond that 'grandmother' role: she was one of my earliest role models of a because-I-want-to working mother. She remains open to new experiences and opinions because 'age isn't important, life is' while building in her garnered wisdom. She is both a practicing Catholic and supporter of equality (she will now explain to me again how those two things are complimentary, not contradictory).

In short, she is someone who both inspires me and infuriates me. Often in the same hour. I'm positive (because she told me) that I do the same for her.

So, family.

She is also the template for my little girl. Check out how much these two look like each other. I must get a baby picture from my nana; the intense resemblance is both creepy and comforting.

Creepy because: Whoa. So similar.
Comforting because: The family thread continues.

 

On our last day together, my nana braved the drive down (no joke) to my mom's house and we managed to catch a four generations picture.

Check out that face on Jelly Bean. I saw that one frequently from both my nana and my mom, starting very early and lasting until this very day. It reads, "Just what are you doing?"

See? The thread continues.



xo

Picnic Party

In September we went to a massive picnic party in southern Ohio with my family. There were bouncy houses and yummy foods and all types of fun stuff.

This is my mom. I'm not sure exactly what she did to help get this party together but I'm sure it was a lot.

This is my sister. She did nothing to get the party set-up but she made it a lot of more fun while we were there.

My sister and my mom looking all adorable.

Of course, PJ liked the bouncy castles the best. Because, really, who wouldn't?!

 My husband took babywearing and cornhole to another awesome level by combining them together.

Matilda loved being worn so much that she actually ate in the Ergo. Cute, right?

The food spread was super yummy: fried chicken!!

Jelly Bean couldn't get enough of the chicken.

 Along with bouncy castles, cornhole, and yummy food, there were also hayrides!

As well as other rides, like this Ohio State themed one.

So much fun, so much fun and then add FACE PAINTING! PJ became SpiderMan! Check out them muscles.

On top of all that, balloons! Jelly Bean spent a lot of day with her grandpe, cruising around and eating chicken.

But, wait, there's more! A rocket launch! PJ and Grandpe decorated a rocket. Then Granny and PJ started to prepare it for the actual launch. It was complicated and took a looooooong time.

So while standing in line, everyone watched the other rockets taking off.  

At some point it was just too loud and PJ's enthusiasm started to wane.

 Then finally it was PJ's turn and his rocket SHOT up into the air! It was so exciting. The Mr. and PJ got to chase the rockets down.

Which may have been just as exciting as watching it shoot up in the first place.

Here is my little man with his exploded rocket, his SpiderMan face, and his dirty, dirty, dirty pants after one packed day.

Oh, and I was there too:

XO