bounce

Hope you have a smooth bounce into the New Year!

The cold drove us to the mall (awesome sales were a bonus) in Ohio. My parents were hoping Aiden was big enough to bounce on their indoor bungee trampoline setup. Turns out the weight range was 20-150 pounds, so technically KC was eligible ;)  Aiden was all in and kept yelling "Aw, yaaaa!  I'm bouncing on the moon!"

delivering

Virginia is delivering on the mild winter wish I made... December 30th and we are out in mid fifties weather enjoying the lake and exploring Perch Path off the beach for the first time. This year taught me how to appreciate firsts and figuring out how to experience something new as often as possible is my resolution for 2012.

continued

I continued the Ohio holiday celebrations with a nice breakfast visit with old friends. Thanks for having us L! It's fun to see everyone over the holiday and I'm grateful for our continued friendships. (thanks for the photos K and R)

We missed you E and A!

home

We made it home with another smooth ride... Clear skies and just a tiny bit of traffic at the end of the seven hours. TWO naps for the bitty calm guy who I think has turned a corner on his car blahs - yay! Thanks to Cheerios, a new baby telephone, a wipe off race car book, and a Star Wars sticker book (thanks Liz/David and Gran/Pop) we had a great ride. We miss the giggles and cuddles from the Ohio crew, but we're lucky that Gran and Pop are willing to come keep us happy while Daddy's away in Arizona after the new years. Photos: Aiden's first cotton candy (thanks Megan for sharing), pirate chocolate Oreo at the West Side Market, and cuddly guys in the morning

day

Lots of huge thank yous!

Aiden was a good sport waiting for his little brother to wake up.  We built some legos from the top of his stocking to keep busy ;)

This Rudolph nose was a hit, until he accidentally snapped it back into his nosey... oops.

A photo woven blanket of Gran's snuggle buddies...

Watching his silly brother working on some new teeth...

Perfect sign for the wine bar...finding the hidden letters...

Smiley guy...

The best family photo attempts...

eve

Christmas eve goofing around - Photos speak for themselves -

Thanks for the Christmas jammies Gran and Pop!

glen

We ventured out to Penitentiary Glen for their Twelve Days of Winter which was a room with a gigantic board game setup. They gave you a custom popper like the trouble game and you move to different activities with a new lyric to a song at each stop. It was really a fun setup with stuff to climb through and tons of festive winter decoration. Aiden was the target audience for sure - he loved it! Then he loved what he called the warm up treat room (even though the activity was all cozy inside as the snow fell in chunks outside) where we enjoyed some hot cocoa. Then it was on to the huge scavenger hunt check list, activity sheets, xylophone, and pretend vet play time.

xmas video

We want to thank everyone for their super generous gifts and good cheer! Aiden and KC are such lucky ducks. Some video snips from xmas eve:
And more snips from the nearly three hour present opening extravaganza starting around 7 when KC finally woke up:

downtown

KC's first choo choo ride was the highlight of our visit to downtown Cleve... They are working to rejuvenate the good ol Tower City and Santa's Inventionarium (that's a word to confuse kids?!) had a certain charm. Bruce the talking spruce was looking a little raggidity, but still making kids wonder. The Twigbee bear was cheerful with a well rubbed nose. It was fun to chillax with the cousins ;)

howdy ohio!

It's Howdy Doody breakfast club time! We made it to Ohio with a nice smooth seven hour trip.  KC was excited to see his family and honestly did not fuss at all the ENTIRE drive - this is remarkable for this guy that will fuss on the way to the grocery five minutes away!  He even slept a bit!  Woohoo!

party hardy

Two parties rounded out the weekend before the holiday.  The neighborhood mom's hosted a huge food spread and a tree full of Secret Santa gifts for all the neighborhood kids (pure chaos when they tried to open them all at once!) Aiden bounced on the little mini trampoline for about half of that party and even seemed to make some new friends (although he doesn't know any of their names). It was nice to see some familiar faces and I'm starting to feel more comfortable at every event. The gingerbread pumpkin bars I brought were kinda iffy, even though I thought they would be the perfect combo of two favorite flavors.

We rushed from that party to a birthday party for one of Aiden's school friends. She was hosting the Great Zucchini children's performer at her house. He's sorta a magician one man show, that just does a bunch of silly stuff to make the kids laugh (he claims there is a movie being made about his life with Owen Wilson playing him). Aiden loooved him and when he was called up the Great Zucchini said he doesn't usually call up kids that are dressed better than him (which wouldn't be difficult in his white tshirt) and he made a joke about Aiden looking like George Clooney which none of the kids understood. Then he pretended to get pennies out of Aiden's ears which was a hoot.

advent

We continued our December tradition of crafting and creating something new each day.  It just not as well documented in the days of two boys to keep happy ;)  But you can get some snippets here...  We also have the absolute highlight of the season for Aiden, the lego advent calendar, which started off with a burglar/thief minifig and has continued the festive cops and robbers theme ;)!  I laugh each time he opens a new piece of the police station or yesterday may be my favorite: a safe with golden bricks in it and a crow bar for the thief.  Someone at lego has a sense of humor about advent... There were a few misses like my attempt to make star wars snowflakes with Aiden where I kept accidentally ripping it, while Aiden's snowflakes were something KC thought he should eat... The days of a calm crafty big kid will return ....

Aiden working on some new ornament/gift decorations by threading yarn through little snips he made.

Trader Joe's advent chocolates are a hit:

The A frame Gingy house where we added some extra leftover candies and pixie dust! Aiden loves the little sugar people:

KC learning some baby yoga with the downward dog without the arms ;)

latkes

Happy Hanukkah!

I visited Aiden's class to help them make latkes and celebrate Hanukkah. KC has a routine of waking up by 5:45/6ish so he's ready to nap 3ish hours later at 8:30/9... So he was napped and ready for his first bounce in the ergo on my back by 10:30. Hands free with the backpack baby was awesome. I was able to help the kids peel and grate the potatoes, while KC happily looked all around and reached out to hold hands with his new friends. It actually took Aiden a few minutes to notice us, and then he came over to help with his buddy Hiro. I was amazed at how much the kids could really do on their own, all without grating any little knuckles! When KC recognized Aiden he climbed up my back to nab Aiden's sweater. Loved seeing them happy to greet each other. I'm looking forward to more hands free visits to Aiden's class which is more fun for him compared to the behind the scenes marketing work (although I had fun writing a tricky 42 word radio spot for the school this week). The kids also made gingerbread people where Aiden loaded up the chocolate chip accessories. Doesn't every gingerbread guy need a chocolate chip belt and scarf?!