Christmas Day

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, we are up to Christmas Day! Josh and I were up first and way too early but did manage to catch a few more zzz's on the couch before big sis arrived on the scene. Emma came out to the living room and immediately checked to see if Santa had arrived. She mustered up as much excitement as she could, since it turns out she woke up feverish, to exclaim that Santa had arrived. After breakfast, it was finally time to rip into all those packages that had been tormenting Emma for weeks. Josh, on the other hand, could have cared less about the packages but saw this as a time to finally seek and destroy the ornaments on the tree that had been tormenting him for weeks; the tree was on the other side of the baby gates.
Josh got lots of cars and trucks but absolutely loved the package of 150 plastic balls!
The big thing this year was their new kitchen. Brad and I had put it together on Christmas Eve and set it up in the play room. After opening all the gifts, we took the kids downstairs Emma was a bit confused as to why the play room door was shut so we told her to open it up. When she did, the reaction went something like this "Look, we got a kitchen" without an ounce of excitement but in her defense, she was sick and while her voice lacked excitement, her actions said otherwise.
We rounded out the rest of our day with an afternoon visit with RiRi and Mr. Win and then drove around and looked at some lights in the neighborhood that night. Other than a slightly sick Emma, it was a great Christmas.

The plan was then to celebrate Christmas with Brad's family over New Year's weekend but you may be able to guess what happened there given the fact that Emma was sick on Christmas and did not get it from Josh. Therefore, it was almost inevitable that Josh would be next in line and unfortunately, he didn't disappoint. He spent the next week not feeling quite right during which time Brad had some weird allergic reaction and about the time those two were up and running, I got sick so no Missouri Christmas. Instead, Brad's parents brought down gifts a couple of weeks later so Christmas went on extra long for Emma and Josh.

17 Months

Josh, Brother Bear, Bubby, J Bubs, Joshie, Josh Bear (my favorite nickname that Emma has given him), you are 17 months old today and so full of life and personality. Over the past month, you had visits from your Papa and Mema and from Bo and Gram. You also got to experience snow for the first time. At first you were okay with it unless you fell down but you really took to sledding and eventually got brave enough to make a snow angel with your feet at least.

You are off and running, literally, especially when it means chasing after your sister! You definitely have a little temper to match that red hair and if something gets taken away or you do not get what you want, you let us know. Apparently though, you keep yourself in check at daycare as they never see that side of you. You love your cars and trucks and will move them around going "vroom, vroom". You also love balls and anything that in any way resembles a ball, which is often bad for your Mom and Dad at dinner time.

While you can make a mess like none other, you do love to help clean up and have recently started taking your plate to the sink after meals. You are so proud of yourself and stand there afterwards waiting for applause. You also love to get the broom out and "sweep" up for us, which includes a lot of watching out by anybody within reach. When we ask Emma to pick up her toys, you are usually the first on scene to try and help. You give the sweetest hugs and kisses and LOVE your bear and monster! Happy 17 months Josh!

Belated Christmas Post - The Lead Up!

I guess I need to start catching up somewhere so Christmas it is! This year we decided that we would not be traveling for Christmas. The reasons were twofold 1) we would like to start building some traditions with Emma and Josh and 2) Emma had the opportunity to be part of the Christmas program at church. We kicked off the long Christmas weekend by baking cookies. As you can tell, Emma did not learn that less is more after last year so we still had some highly decorated cookies.

Josh did not have any problem eating them!

We started off Christmas Eve with a trip to the mall to see Santa after a failed attempt the previous afternoon. Note to self, check Santa's break times before trying to get in line. Anyhow, we waited somewhat patiently for our turn to see Santa. Emma was thrilled and Josh just wanted out of the stroller. When it was finally our turn, Emma went right up to sit on Santa's lap. Josh, however, had a death grip on me as I tried to put him in Santa's lap. I pried his little hands from my shirt and left him to scream and cry in Santa's lap. He was definitely ready to get out of there. Christmas Eve was also the program at church. Emma was supposed to have two lines that she would say with all the other kids and then the pre-K 3 and 4 also sang "Away in a Manger". Emma practiced very hard and was ready to go. She did a great job of singing and was so good sitting through the rest of the program. Brad tried to take some photos while Emma and Josh were dressed up but that wasn't really happening and especially not together. If one would sit, the other had something to be done and vice versa.

After Josh went to bed, it was time for hot chocolate and then get some cookies and milk ready for Santa.

After all the excitement leading up to Christmas, it was finally Christmas morning but I'll post on that later.

Snow Day!

Pictures to come but for now, here are a few videos from sledding down our hill this morning. Pampers boxes make great makeshift sleds! Josh wasn't too sure about walking in the snow but he definitely loved sledding down the hill!

Time to Move?

I'm going to get in trouble for posting this but it was pretty stinking cute even if it is totally the wrong team. This video clip was shot the night of the Sugar Bowl; you can see what they must have been learning that day at daycare. At least Emma pacifies her Mom and Dad by singing "Bear Down Arizona" and doing a great "Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU".