Christmas 2010

Christmas was fantastic.

Kind of sad it's all over ('til next year!)

We undecorated the tree tonight.

And are looking forward to new adventures in the New Year!

Okay, so I felt like I didn't take many pics, but really, I did. I always do, right? Maybe not the ones I envisioned, exactly, since my kids are little and not going to just sit there by the tree in the cute pajamas I made them just so I can take a picture of them - NO WAY! They were much too excited and ready to just DIG IN to Christmas! So, I set the camera down. But I did get some ;-)

First though, I have to share a story that is already a favorite memory...

We always try to do something for others for Christmas. Others...perhaps less fortunate than ourselves. Most of these "things" we keep private, because that makes it a treasured gift to us. However, I want to share one because it melted my heart as it was Sawyer's first time doing something like this on Christmas - first time that he "got" it, at least a little bit.

We frequent the public library. Sawyer loves the puzzle they keep on the table in the Children's area just about as much as the books when we go. The puzzle that is old and missing pieces, that is. So a few week ago, as we were sitting there, I suggested to him that perhaps we could give a new puzzle to the library for Christmas, so that all of the children who come could enjoy it. He LIT UP with excitement, so it was decided. I took him to the store to pick out a puzzle. He picked out a classic, beautiful, wooden puzzle of safari animals. We put a big ribbon and a bow on it, and he helped make a card explaining our gift. The night before Christmas Eve (since they would be closed for the next few days) I took Sawyer to find the Children's librarian and to give his gift. As my small little son handed over the gift, the librarian's eyes filled with tears. She explained to him that sometimes people cry when they are very happy. Oh man. When I saw her read our note and start to cry, I was touched too and a few tears welled up in my eyes. The librarian was so excited about the gift, she took Sawyer over to show the other librarians the gift. "I think Santa will be good to you this year, because you did such a nice thing for the library. Thank you." I appreciated the big deal they all made out of Sawyer's little act of kindness. Honestly, experiencing that small act of giving - and teaching - with my son was my greatest gift this Christmas. Thanks to my mother for teaching me how to give "those" kind of gifts.

The rest was fun, too...

there were pretty girls

and

lots of rockin' around the Christmas tree

two of my beautiful sisters were able to spend time with us

Aspen only wished she could sit at the kids' table for Christmas Eve dinner...she just loved the little animals I glued to the center of the make-shift table I made for Sawyer and Alyssa. Maybe next year?

Jacob was the chef extraordinaire. Admittedly, I did nothing but help set the table. He is amazing - and so was all of the food! My sister, Kaitlin, brought yummy pies for dessert, too!

The kids had a little gift exchange. It was the only gift they each got to open on Christmas Eve, and they were beyond excited.

I was excited to see how Alyssa would like the little apron I made to go with her cookware. I think it was a hit!

All Sawyer asked for was "Mater" (from the movie "Cars") and a candy cane from Santa. He's been talking about it for weeks.

We wrote a note for Santa and left him some cookies and milk.

He even wrote us a note back! And left both Mater and a candycane in Sawyer's stocking - lucky boy!

Santa also left both of the kiddos Sock Monkeys. Sawyer has already named his "Pirate"

I made a big girl apron for Tia. By the way...it was HILARIOUS having her here, and seeing how confused the kids were. They were genuinely confused! After a day, Sawyer would walk up to one or the other of us and ask "are you Mommy? are you Tia?" and finally after a while, he would point, decidedly, and say "YOU are Mommy! and YOU are Tia!"

oh yea, the pajamas. I made these cute little vintage-y Christmas pajamas for the kids and gave them to them the first day of December to wear all month. I am usually not into seasonal attire, but I found this near-linen print that reminded me of wrapping paper my grandparents used to use, and so I thought I'd make pjs to wrap up two of my favorite things in this Christmas. (although for Sawyer, a shirt is at time optional ;-)

there's really so much more I could say. But I'll leave it at that. It was a nice Christmas - we skyped with family and we missed having our extended family around us, but we also had a marvelous time starting some of our own family's Christmas traditions in our own home.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas - and as the new year rolls around this weekend - Happy New Year to all!

Lunchtime today...

Excuse the messy faces, please - but during lunch today we were having so much fun playing peek-a-boo, I didn't take the time to clean off their faces before snapping a few to remember the moment.Oh, and yes, she now rips off her bib (wonder who taught her that?) so I think my next little stitchery project will be some new bibs with SNAPS (the current ones have velcro...)!

It just kills me when Aspen puts one chubby little hand up by her eye - or ear - and thinks she's hiding from us. SO FUN! I love that they like to play this game together. Love it, actually!

The small and beautiful moments amidst what sometimes seems like the daily mundane, yes...those are the best :)

ps-if you look really closely in the second image, you can barely see the tip of Aspen's first tooth!

10 Months Old

In the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season, I don't want to forget to note that Aspen is now 10 months old.

Isn't she cute?

We think so :)

It is such a sight to behold little babes as they discover the wonder and magic of lights on the Christmas tree.

We invested in shatter-proof ornaments several years ago and boy are we glad we did! We don't have to worry about the kids getting hurt or ornaments breaking. In fact, we don't mind if she bats at the "balls" to see how they swing or see her reflection looking back at her. Truthfully, though, we are just lucky that our kids adore the tree so much they don't tear it apart.

We have a bell from Santa's sleigh on our tree, Polar Express Style.

Any other Believers out there?

Can you hear it???

Sweet Aspen,

You are getting so big, so fast.

This month, your first tooth erupted. Your brother says sometimes, "Look, her teeth are coming out!"

You are so excited to keep up with your brother and you love him sooooo much.

You are getting much more into finger foods these days and you loooove graham crackers, bananas, avocados, and whole milk (cream top maple and vanilla...mmmmm) yogurt.

You clap your hands in a very lady-like fashion.

You sign - and now say - "all done".

You say HI, ALL DONE, MAMA, and DADA

You have the very cutest giggle.

You can stand unassisted for several seconds now and I think it's safe to say you'll probably be off and running by your birthday.

Your birthday....

I can't believe it's coming up! I've been thinking about it and now I am starting to plan your first party.

You are so so cuddly and snuggly.

You still sleep right between Mama and Daddy most nights.

Sawyer is getting excited for you to come share his room...

I think Daddy would be okay with it, too...

but me, well, it's cozy sharing sleep with you and it's a special bonding and reconnecting time I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing with you.

I suppose I could go on and on about how much we love having you in our lives...but I should really get to bed because it's late.

One more thing, though -

your first pigtails.

OH MY CUTENESS!

Have a magical first Christmas my sweet girl,

Love always,

Mama

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

*sorry for the horrible picture quality - it was super dark and I snapped before checking my settings!)

Yesterday was Jacob's 33rd Birthday!

It was a Preschool evening (Sawyer's co-op class goes until 7:30pm) so...we picked Jacob up from work (he usually bikes) and our whole family spent a nice evening at school with our big and little friends. During snack time, a chorus of cute little voices sang "Happy Birthday" to Jacob (aka Sawyer's Daddy :) Then, we scurried over to the Taco Truck which has a reputation for being the best Mexican food in Seattle. We brought our food home and it did not disappoint! We got tamales, fish tacos, gorditas, some rice & beans, and horchata. We couldn't eat it all!

Then, came time for the Birthday Cake. A carrot cake (my mom's recipe=THE BEST) with cream cheese frosting, by request. Sawyer, it seems, was slightly dismayed that we didn't make cupcakes. He kept talking about cupcakes for Daddy (maybe because most birthday parties he attends there are cupcakes involved). But he didn't mind that it was a slice of cake once he took a bite :) After we sang, Jacob blew out a candle to make a wish on, and Sawyer was sure excited about helping him blow it out. Aspen was just happily observing and enjoying the whole event. She was a little sad she didn't get cake...so we gave her some whole milk, natural maple flavored yogurt (pretty much tastes like melted ice cream) and she was a very happy girl :)

After helping me wrap presents, one night Sawyer told Jacob he was getting a coloring book for a present. Jacob laughed. I laughed "do you think I'd really give you a coloring book?" (I did, this one) I guess if I want to keep things under cover Sawyer can't help wrap things anymore. We also got him Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. It's an amazing work of art. Our family are big fans of Charley Harper. The first real print we ever bought is a limited edition giclee, "New York Harbor, 1947". It hangs above our sofa. Anyway...the book was for fun and the coloring book was a cue for the "Big" gift, a gift from the heart.

I have to preface that our birthday present budget is small-ish. $50 to be exact. So even though the gift from the heart was a mix of lots of ideas and planning on my part, I had to secretly dip into our Little Red Wagon funds to make it (well, the going out part of it) happen.

Simply put: We never go on dates. Our entertainment budget for the month is about half of our birthday budget. Babysitters are $15-20/hr where we live and there are literally about 2 youth in our church congregation (and I can't just leave my kids with any ole' teenager). We could perhaps pay for a babysitter for an hour and take a walk if we wanted to stay in our budget. Also, having a nursing baby makes it just plain hard to leave. It takes me a long time to feel "ready" to leave my children with a sitter. Also, we've both been so busy with freelance and being parents lately we hardly have the energy to do anything once we have a minute to sit down (which is pretty much never - I kid you not we have not independently sat down to watch even a DVD since before Aspen was born -- wait, I lied. We have watched a couple episodes of The Cosby Show - they are only 20 minutes long and funny enough to keep us awake:). Anyway, there are lots of reasons and lots of excuses to just "give up" on date nights sometimes. Lately, though (or maybe for the past several months) Jacob has been saying "It would be nice if we could go on a date sometime"...and I did get the hint. I decided to just make it happen.

My gift:

A moleskin planner, full of DATES, 52 to be exact.

52 date nights.

12 are "going out" dates, all prepaid, over half of which already have babysitting arrangements (thanks SO MUCH to my friend who was willing to trade family photos for 6 months of babysitting!)

The rest will be "staying in" dates. Once a month we will have "late dinner" after the kids are in bed - and for the rest we have a date box full of ideas. Jacob can add a few he really wants to do as well. (That was where the coloring book came in...we are both of the "artsy" variety, so why not listen to some favorite playlist on iTunes while coloring Charley Harper's very-refrigerator-worthy birds?) I have gathered so many ideas - we are so excited to look forward to a date each week! If anyone is interested in some fun ideas, perhaps I will post some as we go.

Our first date is this coming Saturday night: A concert at the Triple Door. It will be so fun to get dressed up to go downtown with my man, and sit and eat scrumptious dessert while listening to live music. While this "Date" gift is for Jacob...I definitely get to reap the benefits!

Happy Happy Birthday, Jacob! I love you so!

If you didn't get a chance to wish him a happy birthday yesterday, feel free to do so today!

I Like Days Like These (...and Aspen is 9 months old!)

Today was Beautiful.

It was sunny.

It was warm.

It was a perfect day to spend all morning at the park,

by the beach,

bare feet and all.

It was the perfect day to...

gnaw on rocks

:)

(the best teething toy, ever, if you ask Aspen)

or, perhaps, just watch Sawyer

he likes rocks, too.

Skipping rocks (or trying to, anyway)

*I kid you not, my kids would be happy to get rocks for Christmas!

Yes, I like days like these.

*and*

Aspen turned 9 months old over the weekend!

She now says "Mama" and means it.

She signs "all done" after meals.

She loves to stand up, all the time.

She loves to giggle - especially at Sawyer.

She can make car noises, and girly squeals, too.

She can stick out her tongue, "neener neener" style.

She doesn't have any teeth...yet.

I honestly can't believe that when Sawyer was her age, I got pregnant with her. Yikes. I am understanding now why many people have the first two close together and then space the next one out a little. She's still a baby. And growing up way to fast. Strangely, people always ask me if they're twins. (Don't they notice one walks and talks and the other doesn't?) I want to soak up all of her baby-ness before we have another. I am loving our two babes and want to just breathe for a moment and enjoy them for a season. I'm sure we'll be gettin' that swagga' wagon soon enough. But for now, we'll keep on car dancin' in our beat up old Civic :)