More Presents, Again

Grandpa Gary, grandma Kay, uncle Jon Paul & aunt Jessie arrived today for a 3 day visit, so we had Christmas & Avery's birthday again! Jon Paul & Jessie had a blast playing Marbleworks, train, and watching "Over The Hedge" -- I guess we're all still kids at heart.

Grandpa-grandpa John will be here tomorrow, and aunt Jill is on the red-eye from Anchorage right now. It'll be a full house, and there are still some presents under the tree to get to when they get here. Talk about dragging out birthdays & Christmas.

Grandpa Gary shows off his new fuzzy warm fleece.

Yes, that is Avery opening her present with the world's sharpest knife: grandpa Gary's pocket knife. He's been fine-tuning that blade since before I can remember. Yikes!!!

Wow, this thing makes more noises than you can shake a stick at. I can't wait to "drive" with it in the car (paybacks Kay?).Jordan will take a lap anywhere she can get it. Awake grandmas,

sleeping grandpas, she doesn't care. Perhaps she was a lap-cat in a former life.
And speaking of gifts, it certainly isn't glorious or sparkly, but I couldn't be more excited. Check out the platform lifts on the washer and dryer! This means I don't have to bend over to do the (2 or 3 loads per day) of laundry, which was really contributing to the deterioration of my back (in addition to lugging Jordan around).

And, another in the series of best appliances & apparatus for the home -- a mail shredder. I didn't even know they made them, but I recently mentioned once to my mom that I wished I had a mini-shredder for mail , so I didn't have to tear it up into confetti, or carry it down to Devon's office to shred. This way I can easily stash it in the "mud room," and grab it when I need it once a day -- much like the toaster.

Poor Dev, he has a pretty cool gift on the way, but it's late & hasn't arrived yet (my fault, I didn't get it ordered in time to get here before Christmas, but it should be here soon).

Hell-itosis

I hate to say it about my own kid, but boy does Jordan stink alot of the time. Because of her reflux & barfing, her breath can be particularly brutal. Devon has taken to brushing her teeth -- with Triple Protection Aqua-Fresh, no whimpy kids training toothpaste for that mouth. Jordan, of course, thinks that this is complete torture & child abuse. I'm sure our parenting license will be revoked at any time. . . .

Phew, I survived.

Best Friends

It's been a crazy month, but we had a nice evening last night with a visit from Kelly & Kate. Devon made a gorgeous & delicious meal (with leftovers), and Avery & Kate chased each other around & around & around & around the house for what seemed like hours. Off and on it was hours. They would run until they were panting, then run some more. I've heard that in some homes children aren't allowed to run (especially on hardwood & tiles), but I guess that isn't the rule in our house. Devon and I are known to join in for a couple rounds. I guess we let her do it because I figure it'll tire her out. It never seems to work that way. I can't WAIT for spring, so she (& Kate) can run laps around the OUTSIDE of the house!

Other activities were watching "Finding Nemo*" for 5 to 10 minutes (aka resting for another round of chase), box sitting, and wrestling with Kelly, which they both thought was hilareous! Who rough-houses with a mom like that?!

Wrestle-mania with Kelly.

We still fit! I wonder how long it'll be before we'll be too big to get in the box together?

Resting & watching "Nemo." Luckily those 10 minutes corresponded to our dinner, but then it was off to the races again.

Devon's dinner delight looked so pretty I had to take a picture.

*"Finding Nemo" is the first movie that Avery seems to get into the characters while it's on. She gets very stressed out & yells at Nemo (e.g. "don't do it, move, move, get away") when the stressful parts of the movie come on. I think it's almost too scary for her. She gets right up next to the TV and bends & jumps around to try to convince him to move, or do something different. I think we've entered a whole new era of movie watching.

The End Is Near

Of 2006, that is. And December, too. I'm not making up any ground, but I'm not losing any, either, so all is well. That's what January is for, right?!

I'm composing my yearly "newsletter" in my head, and will write it up some sleep-deprived night in the near future. Until then, you'll have to be patient with my personal philosophies, observations, and comments, and look at pictures of my adorable children, (& family).


Recommended: "The Pursuit Of HappYness"

A Few Favorites From Kelly

Here are just a few of my favorites of Avery's birthday party that Kelly took. All photos here by Kelly Wood.

Best friends, Avery & Kate

"Hey, no touching." Avery tries to give cousin Heidi a hug, but Heidi has climbing to do & doesn't want to hang around for that.
Why are there so many people here, WHY?!

Smiling Sarah

Katie, the life of the party

Christmas Day

So, after a good night's sleep, this family decided to sleep some more. We all woke up around 9:00am (it was lovely), and found poor nana Noma asleep down in the guest room. She'd been at our house at 7:30am to open gifts, but everyone, including Jordan, just slept. No worries, we were into it within a few minutes.

Proof that we were well rested for a morning of opening presents, and a day of playing with new toys: Avery smiling first thing. I got all this stuff in the stocking from Santa. He ate all the cookies and milk, but the reindeer forgot one of the carrots. I hope they didn't get too hungry before they got to the next house. Even Jordan got a stocking & some toys.

The biggest surprise of the day: Avery got a bike that big?

Nooooooo, it's for nana Noma.

Okay, lets get to the presents with paper on them, so I can rip it off! Hey, my own blender so I can make "foozies" for everyone, just like daddy does ("smoothies").

Now I can be a mad artist!Yum, these are great foozies, want some? Hey, this toy Jordan got is pretty cool. Why does a 3-year-old want to play with the baby toys? Note, Jordan spends hours a day snuggled up with nana Noma like this, reading the paper, books, whatever. She loves this position. Avery, don't eat the paint, it'll make you crazy!

Christmas Eve

We had a restfull Christmas eve day, then a delicious turkey dinner at nana Noma's house, followed by the opening of one present each.

Jordan joins us at the table, on nana Noma's lap.

Daddy helps Jordan open her gift from Avery: A hat & gloves set, and a purple barf bucket (which Avery thoughtfully picked out herself!). It was so nice, Jordan decided to give it a try only a minute later.
Yep, it works! That feels better. I think I had too much turkey through my tube (just kidding).

Avery got her own Grinch, and nana Noma read the story to her for the 10000th time. Snuggles with daddyOh no, I don't think I can handle the beer on this stomach.

Merry Christmas

What more can I say -- I hope everyone was nice today & that Santa brings you everything you hope for.

We had a nice, semi-lazy day today: Devon & Avery made shortbread cookies for Santa, & went to Happy Feet. Jordan & I relaxed at nana Noma's house, and she cooked a big turkey dinner. Before heading out for the day, Devon and the girls each had a "super bubble bath" -- and boy did they all need it. Don't worry, it might be a little hairy, but it's all G-rated. In fact, Avery asked more than once why daddy wears his undies in the bath. He told her they needed extra soaking. I'm sure that's a perfectly valid reason, too.

We wish we would have thought of baths for settling down Jordan when she was on ACTH (steroids) over the summer. She always seems to relax, and often falls asleep in the water. [Of course Avery hated a bath for a LONG time, so we didn't really think of it for Jordan.]

After dinner we all opened one present. Nana Noma took Avery shopping last week and let her pick out a few things for everyone. She picked out a figurine of a guy playing a flute for Devon, a fire-fighter lady figurine for me, and a purple barf bucket for Jordan. No kidding! And, perfectly on cue, only seconds after opening the gift, Jordan barfed & the bucket was there to catch it. How thoughtful of Avery. How odd overall.

When we got home Avery got ready for bed in record speed, then set out the cookies & milk for Santa, and carrots, celery & water for the reindeer. It seems that the Sierra & Mojave have found them already, though. . . .
Naughty kitties (as usual). I wonder how many marbles we're going to find in the litter box this weekend (from the Marbleworks birthday present). I've already given up putting ribbon on the presents, they just eat the ribbon, then I have to scoop sausage links from the litter box every day. Luckily, besides drinking the water, they don't fiddle with the Christmas tree or ornaments.

Sierra sneaking out from her December watering bowl.

Oops, this Santa seems to be on top of the holiday with one exception: I forgot to buy actual stocking stuffers. Luckily we have some prizes left over from the birthday party last weekend that will have to do.

Have a good, restful, santa-filled night!

The face of our angel!