There are so many pictures to share that I will just give a short description for each and leave the big narrative for the new year. Now that Christmas is over, I can show the surprise pics for Grandma Ruth and Ata Bob. The boys were so cute. We will try and get a picture of Dakota at our summer vacation but we couldn't pass up this chance with the two little ones. I just love Nick's big smile for Colin. Priceless! And, I just love that both the "Mom's" hands were in the pic below trying to control the pic....so funny!
The week before Christmas brought our first snow and Nick couldn't wait to get out in it with his bulldozer aka "snowplow". Amigo was frisky for an old one and was trying to pounce on Nick while making a snow angel but I was panicked because he was doing the angel where Amigo does his business so I missed the picture! :)
We started our journey south on the Saturday before Christmas. We had a great drive and stopped to eat lunch with the Hoagland's and Sulzer's at the Cracker Barrel in St. Louis. We headed South/West as the polar express climate change hit us and it literally dropped 2o degrees from StL to our next stop at the Segebarth's near Springfield. BRRRRRR! We haven't felt that kind of polar since Kaz. We had a minor detour thanks to our GPS which apparently was made by the hillbilly Sony as it took us on dirt roads and tried to get us in fenced entrances and the like......needless to say, Stacy and Brad do not live in the sticks anymore but our GPS thought they did! We had a great time eating yummy lasagna and laughing at our crazy kids.....I got a full tour of the Two Hearts for Hope warehouse (a very packed full room at the house) and was thrilled to see all of the stuff just waiting to go to the baby houses and orphanages in Kaz. Yeah! Nick loved all of their fireplace noisemakers especially this Santa. He reads "twas the night..." to you. Stacy got some better shots but here are mine. :) Trying to get all of them to look at the camera became a theme for the rest of our vacation....fireplace hearths too it seems.
Addison and Haven were the sweetest hostesses and Nick jumped right in....literally! 7 + hours in a car will do that to a 4 year old! :)
We arrived at Grandma Martha and Ata Bill's house with much excitement although Pat and I once again began the Sinus tango. UGH! New allergans and new climate.
Once the cold front moved thru the south, the usual balmy weather came and we were able to get out to the park with my sister, niece, and nephew. They had a blast together and played great the whole week.
On Christmas Eve, we made Aunt Julie's (Pat's brothers wife) rockin sugar cookies with real crisco/powdered sugar icing.....Can you say YUMMO! We made the cookies for Santa's snack and well, everyone else's too! It was so fun and I love Nick's two fisted decorating technique!
We waited for my sister, BJ, and kids to come over early on Christmas morning. We kept Nick sequestered in our bedroom until everyone was there. He was so excited but controllable...thank goodness! Mom had antlers for all (Zach of course was too cool for them). Santa got Nick the geotrax trains that he asked for ......the tougher guys and goggles and bunsen. He also got the chunkie starwars people that he loves!!! Santa is one smart cookie! Nick for some reason became attached to his Dallas Cowboy hat while in TX. He never took that hat off....even when applying the antlers! :)
Christmas Day eve, my cousin Scott and his family came over for a visit and all of the kids played great and baby Bethany was the star tumbler but I missed the pic! Scott helped me move from many an apt. and dorm room during college so he is basically my adopted brother. The girls all pounced him or as Lyndsay, my niece, said "you are trapped by girls!!!" Is that a "help me!" I hear!
And, the next firplace hearth, kid gathering but not looking picture opportunity...
We got a chance to go to the town Natatorium for a swim and Nick was in heaven! And, well, as usual underwater. This place had a lazy river to walk in and a whirlpool. Funtimes! Nick played so hard that he fell asleep at the restaurant table while eating dinner. Trust me.....this has NEVER happened. He was living the "play hard" motto all week!
We had the big family Christmas celebration on Saturday with my Aunt (mom's sister) and Uncle and the entire clan. My cousin Stephen and his family were in from Wyoming and his kids are close in age to Nick so again fun was had by all. We also found out that there may be more cousins in the future thanks to Cousin Ruth and Jeremy! Exciting times!
And then there was the token, hearth/children picture which actually had everyone looking, just not at me! Someone got a geat pic! We took a big family pic that I will have to post after it has been passed around as only one camera was used.....the kids would not last thru all of the cameras!
We had a great family visit for the week and even had the chance to have a date night with Pat's longtime highschool and fellow world traveller friend Dave and his wife Beryl as well as a visit from my highschool/college friend Mary Kay and her family. Nick was absolutely great for the whole week and I believe we can say that it was a NO timeout week.....yes, it is true.....he was so much fun! Speaking of funny....two pre-Christmas stories.
-----1. Nick was having trouble "waiting" for Christmas to come. We tried counting the days by marking an X, explaining weeks, days, hours, etc to no avail. One night we were driving home from shopping and he was particularly "frustrated" about waiting and I said something to the fact that maybe he just needed to pray to God to help him wait. He proceeded to say that he didn't want to pray and that it was just "too hard to wait" so I jokingly said kind of an aside to Pat....now, Nick the bible says "WAIT, I say, WAIT on the LORD! Nick didn't say much and Pat and I started talking about something and then we hear from the back.....a big OK, and then big sigh....."God, please help me to WAIT OF THE LORD!" We about busted a gut trying not to laugh. The way he said "Of" instead of "On" was so Ky! He was so serious and it was so sweet but the way he said it....kind of with a southern gospel accent was hilarious.
------2. Nick has been so lovey, dovey that it almost at times seems Eddie Haskell-ish. We even call him that occasionally. It is so darn sweet that you can hardly believe it. But, he topped it all in the car one night when (after I had talked about him being sweet and sharing his love with everyone previously) he proceeded to blow huge kisses to us one after another and then said (imagine donkey on Shrek saying this)...."I'm just sharin' the love" ....He continues to say this when being extra smooshy to us and it is the funniest thing but the most endearing thing ever!
-------We had an uneventful but LONG trip home and had one more surprise for Nick from Grandma Ruth and Ata Bob. A New Bike! He was thrilled especially because we had a really nice december day to try it out at the park. He did really well and we are anxious to get him out and burning energy at the first sign of spring!
Well, that is our Christmas in a not so small nutshell. We hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and Wish everyone a blessed 2009!
5 comments:
Those blue Children's Place pj's must have been the popular item this year - my boys had them too! :)
Very cute pictures. Happy New Year!
Wonderful pictures - like a story book holiday, and how great that Nick did not get overloaded and need a time out. He's come a long way!
I loved the waiting story. Akiva also says, "It's hard for me to wait," and it's so sad when he says that. It is hard to wait, even for adults!
You all should have a year filled with blessing - and very little waiting!
Love, Carol
Great post Karen. It appears Nick had a permanent grin plastered on his face. He looks so happy and yay for no timeouts. I love all the "hearth" photos—you're blessed to have such a large family. Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year.
Karen. Love the update on your blog. Nick looks a)so happy b) so grown up. What a cute Kazmanian devil!
I am so happy he has come a long way. I told you he is my yard stick for Orinoko. Today Orin proudly told me he got 3 time outs in daycare for not listening. I am starting to despair. He is supposed to be starting school (Junior Kindergarden) in September.........he does not listen and only has attention span of like 10 minutes. Oh lord, give me patience.
They keep telling me in his daycare he is lucky he is so cute :-)
Happy New Year.
Love the Christmas stories! I'm glad to hear the details, because hearing your voices on the phone, I was concerned your sinuses had gotten the best of you. The pictures and comments help me see you had a very fun and very family filled Christmas. Sinuses and all, that is always the best!
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