New Year's Eve

It was just me and the boys this New Year's Eve. Mike is in California so we stayed home and had a fun night in, just the three of us. It was a far cry from the New Year's Eves of my youth (i.e. my college and family-free years), but I wouldn't have changed it for anything (except to have Mike home to enjoy it with us).

It was a pretty lazy afternoon/evening. After an early dinner Nick popped in his new Sam the Fireman videos and watched for a little while so I could clean the kitchen. Then we did some craft projects, watched more Sam, played with his fire trucks and did some more crafts. By the time 8:15 rolled around both my guys were pooped. Nick nearly fell asleep while I was reading him his mandatory two bedtime books. I hope that means they had a good time, because I know I sure did! And since everyone is now fast asleep I'm guessing I won't make it long enough to actually ring in this new year, at least not awake, anyway. But, that's OK. It will still be 2010 when I wake up tomorrow morning (likely at the crack of dawn before some even go to bed for the night).

Here was the first craft. Nick really wanted to use the craft/popsicle sticks he got for Christmas. The only quick and easy craft I could find were Christmasy, but I figured he wouldn't care. So we spent NYE making a reindeer.





Oh, and he got to use his new googly eyes, too, which made him very happy!



Zander finally stopped being a stinker and joined in on the second craft of the evening. We took old toilet paper rolls...



... colored them





... and made a race car (kind of). It's not as classy as the ones on familyfun.com, but hey, it was the best I could do with a sleepy 4-year-old.



Then it was snacktime -- we can't go to bed without snacks in this house.



And Nick laughed hysterically at Sam the Fireman for the 18th time tonight.



And then I let the boys jump on the couch for a minute. Hey, it is a time to celebrate right? Why not let them have a little fun?

Cyclone fans?

Don't they look so happy to be Cyclone fans? I got these shirts a few days ago and put them both in them today for the bowl game. Unfortunatley they weren't feeling like getting their picture taken. Or maybe they just aren't Cyclone fans (blasphemy, I know).

Ice skating

I've been meaning to take Nick ice skating for a few years now. I really want him to play hockey while he is little (though I worry that he will like it and we will be broke and at hockey tournaments every weekend when he gets older), but knew it wouldn't do much good if he couldn't even stand on the skates. So this weekend, we finally got down to the ice arena to test it out.

I have to admit, I was pretty impressed. He was very nervous and wobbly-kneed to begin with, but after the first lap (which took about 20 minutes) he started to get the hang of it. Originally, I offered to sit out with Zander but grew tired of watching them have all the fun. So, Zander and I got some skates and joined Nick and Mike on the ice. Zander actually did pretty good, too, though it was naptime so he was tired and wanted to be carried most of the time. Thankfully, I remembered just enough about skating from high school not to drop him!

When open skate was over we stuck around for a few minutes to watch the rec league players practice. The kids ranged from 4 to about 8 and Nick really had fun watching them, but said he didn't want to do it. I'm not going to push him, but geez, those kids are so dang adorable.

Some things never change

Since I was little my dad has been lifting small children up in the air in the palm of his hand. He did it to me. He did it to each of my sisters (much to the detriment of my Mema's heart). And now, he is doing it to my kids. And while it does freak me out just a little, it also makes me smile. This is my dad's thing. And by the look on Zander's face --- he didn't mind it too much at all!

Christmas at Mema and Papa's

After opening our presents and playing with them for just a little bit we all got ready and headed over to Mema and Papa's for more presents and lunch with the whole family.

Needless to say, my mom did a great job picking out the presents (or my sisters did a great job getting the boys excited about everything they opened). These are the kind of faces a mom loves to see on Christmas morning!!













And my beautiful sisters!

Christmas morning

Nick was up by 6 a.m. Christmas morning, but I don't think it had anything to do with being excited. He's just an early riser (when he wants to be). I was surprised, however, that he came back to our room and didn't head straight for the living room to see what Santa had left. I made him crawl into bed with us for a few minutes, but it was obvious he wasn't going to stay there for long. So, we woke up Zander and headed for the living room.

Nick loved his new hockey nets and digital camera, but was perfectly happy to move along to the stack of presents waiting for him!







Zander LOVED his new vaccuum cleaner. He loved it so much we had to beg him to open any other presents.





See, vaccuum still in hand ...


... and still nearby.

Christmas eve

Each year we spend Christmas Eve at Mike's parents house (though weather almost kept us from heading out there this year). I had to work in the morning so Mike took the boys out there early and I met them before lunch. We opened presents (Nick LOVED his new fire station), had lunch, visited and then headed home. We knew we had a busy night ahead of us getting everything ready for Christmas morning.

My baby no more

I think it's official. I can no longer call Zander my little baby! Like I said before, he's been climbing out of bed like crazy lately, but I didn't want to put him in a big boy bed. Instead, we compromised and turned his crib into a day bed with rails. We'll see how it goes tonight --- but I'm a little worried he's going to fall out through the unprotected piece while he's asleep.

When we first took the front rail off he was so excited. He crawled up on the bed and just sat and looked around. Then, he dragged half his toys up there, a la Nick, and sat content as could be playing. Nick told me Zander could sleep in his bed because he wanted to sleep in Zander's because "it's comfy." We had him lay down in there, just to see if he fit, and he barely made it. He had to scoot pretty far up on the pillow to keep his toes inside the bed!

The best part -- even though he could get out, he didn't. I gave him his hugs and kisses, turned off the light and he just laid there. I was prepared for a fight, but was pleasantly surprised. Now, if only mornings were that easy. I'm getting really tired of my 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. wake-up calls.

Jumping zebras!

Zander is by far and away my crazy child. If there is something to climb on or destroy he is there, crazy grin plastered to his face. But, I love every ounce of his craziness! We caught this little video tonight. Please note that I cut it down from 4 minutes to two and a half. And you have to watch the whole thing. The best jumps are near the end! I promise it will make you smile.

Cookie tradition

For the last two years Nick and I have made Christmas (and about every other holiday) sugar cookies. I got the recipe from a friend and it is delicious -- a pain to make, but melt-in-your-mouth good. And Nick loves to help decorate so it makes it all worthwhile.

This was the first time Zander really got into the decorating. Well, he really got more into the eating, but there was a little decorating, too. For those of you who will see these cookies later this week, I promise, Zander only "decorated" the cookies he ate. I wouldn't let him touch any of the others.

While we were making the cookies Zander thought it would be fun to try the flour. Um, yuck!


Then Nick decided to "help" by throwing more flour at him. He then tried to give him a hug and kiss to make up for it. As you can see, Zander really appreciated the gesture.






Gotta love that tongue! I swear, his mouth and fingers were stained green for the rest of the night.






Nick was so proud of the cookies he made!