Christmas Part III: Christmas Dinner

We were fortunate enough to have the family come to us on Christmas day for dinner. We stuck with the casual theme and Pat made beef stroganoff with roasted broccoli, so yummy. Everyone brought something to share, but Nolan's favorite was was the garlic artichoke dip that Auntie Em brought.

One of my favorite things to do on Christmas was watch A Christmas Story on TBS. They play it over and over again for 24 hours straight so I've probably watched that movie a couple hundred times. We incorporated this tradition by keeping it on in the background while the adults chatted, snacked and relaxed. WE would pause at the really funny parts like the pole licking and Santa visit scenes.

While we were busy kicking back the kids went outside to play. It was unseasonably warm and dry so they had a great time.

They of course came in every so often to take a dip break.

Note the new dip location, we moved it to where we thought Nolan couldn't get into it, but we were wrong. That boy was determined to get to that dip and I suspect his cousin helped him get to it!

When they weren't eating dip or outside, they were rough housing.

Even Gigi got in on the action.

and some more dip.

When it came time to eat dinner, Nolan wasn't hungry at all. I have no idea why...

but we enjoyed a great meal anyway and after dinner we opened presents. The big gift item this year was a play kitchen. It was hard enough finding a play kitchen appropriate for a little boy but finding one that wouldn't take up our entire house was an extra challenge. When I found this compact, blue, wooden kitchen I knew it would be perfect. Nolan agreed.

My mom bought it for him along with all the kitchen necessities: wooden food, miniature pots and pans and pantry food. His current favorites are the little ketchup bottle, the tea kettle and the Nolan sized wooden spoon and whisk, seen below with Yaya.

It was a great day with family and watching Nolan actually get excited about the day was so rewarding. It makes all the craziness worthwhile!

Mama Blues

Please allow me to interrupt the Christmas series so I can publicly sulk. Nolan turns 2 in exactly 2 weeks from today, in 2 weeks my baby will be a toddler. Sigh.

Before I had Nolan I was an emotional stable, non sentimental woman. Not so much the case now when it comes to Nolan. I struggled with his 1st birthday and now again with his 2nd. I can't really put my finger on what causes this response. If it's the fact that he's growing so quickly, my fears of the unknown world of parenting a toddler/kid/teenager/man or just that I will miss the way it is now. Probably a combination of them all but the last one weighs most heavily on me.

Whenever I get in this mood Pat reminds me that it is better that he grow older then the alternative. He has a very good point but I wish somehow I could slow it all down and savor this time with Nolan as a baby because I know I will miss it very very much. More then I can effectively describe really.

Those moments when he isn't embarrassed to seek my comfort, his confidence to repeatedly walk up to strangers to say "hi", how he doesn't hesitate to rock out to Fleetwood Mac in just his diaper, the way he carves his own path to reach milestones or how he can laugh the loudest at his own goofiness will always be my favorite memories of baby Nolan. I realize that maturity, peer pressure, conformity, self consciousness, or whatever will eventually wear away at his unapologetic, silly sense of self and that is a real bummer.

Despite these moments of sadness, I remind myself that we are still learning about who Nolan is and that there are a lot of adventures ahead and that helps me get through these transitions. So I will put my brave mama hat on and face this 2nd birthday with optimism and happiness that Nolan has brought so much joy to our lives...but keep the tissues close!

Christmas Part II - Christmas Morning

This Christmas we decided to keep things simple and just to family stockings. We weren't sure how Nolan would handle Christmas this year since, well we've never experienced Christmas with an almost 2 year old. We knew he wouldn't notice if he had 1, 2 or 50 presents under the tree so we figured we might as well keep it simple while we still can. Plus we knew there was a minivan full of gifts coming when the rest of the family came over for Christmas dinner (aka Part III).

His stocking was pretty boring really, slippers, mittens, a candy cane and a little package of m&m minis. He was pretty stoked about the m&ms but it was no surprise that his favorites of the day were things that weren't in his stocking.

Cortez's feather toy.

Papa's pillow with iron on Mavis and Cortez. The shortened version of this story is that a few months ago I realized that I sleep much better when the cats don't sleep in our bedroom. They like to stretch out and my accommodating self moves around them so I'm left sleeping in a tiny corner of our King sized bed. Not to mention all the kneading, fighting and meowing they like to do while in our room. So I kicked them out months ago and Pat has been complaining ever since then that he misses them (he never had to deal with all the cat shenanigans that I did). So instead of caving I made him this pillow so they can always be with us.

Nolan kept pointing at Cortez and saying "Hi Tezzy!" in this crazy high pitched voice, I have no idea where he learns these things.

Another favorite of the day, Papa's smoothie travel mug.

He didn't even seem to notice that the Snickers weren't drinkable.

Nolan's gift to us was sleeping in until 10:30 and then still going down for his 2 hour nap at noon. Love my little sleeper, best Christmas present ever!

Christmas Part I: Christmas Eve

That's right there are parts in this Christmas 2010 adventure! I am undecided on how many parts will be included in this but as of right now we are up to 3. It all started Christmas Eve at Nolan's BFF's house.

Annabella and Nolan looking dapper.

She was having quite the party with lots of friends to play with. There were 3 almost 2 year olds there, including our fellow PEPs friend Logan. They chased each other all over the house, jumped on the furniture and ate junk food all night.

That's a pretty good night I guess for nearly 2 year olds as they were pretty riled up when it came to pictures and presents time. They just wanted to run though so getting a great picture was tough. We got a few pretty good ones though.

Mama and Nollie.

Attempt #75 at a family photo, this was seriously the best of the bunch.

We gave up on that one and just took a coupled picture instead. Also quite difficult to pull off but I think we managed to keep it together.

Then it was time for pjs and we got this gem. Ignore my eyes, I have no idea what I'm looking at, but don't the babies look cute!?

All the pj'd toddlers heading to bed.

We had a great time, and I think the babies, I mean toddlers had a blast too. Nolan's Christmas gift to us was sleeping in until 10:30 the next day! I'm loving Christmas so far!

Garden D'Lights

The family celebrated Granny's (aka Gigi) birthday this weekend with a trip to Bellevue Botanical Garden's Garden D'Lights. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to take advantage of a gorgeous evening. None of us had ever gone so it was quite the adventure and we were pleasantly surprised at how pretty and accessible it was. We made sure to take group shots first this time, since that typically gets bumped when the kids are tired and overstimulated. They were pretty stoked to see everything though and wouldn't hold still for the cousins shot. Oh well, I think we got some good stuff anyway.

Then a Christmas miracle happened and we were actually able to capture a descent family picture. There is only one on record to date but this one is a close second. Everyone looking at the camera, check. No one's talking to someone else, check. Babies aren't screaming and squirming, somewhat checked (Nolan is looking a little squirmy). Not too shabby though for a very photographically challenged family.

This is when the fun really started. We let the babies loose and what do they find? A frog statue to climb on!

Clementine was having so much fun, Nolan didn't want to miss out.

That frog got a lot of toddler action that night. It was a fun evening for all. Happy Birthday Gigi!

Goofing Off

It was a rough weekend for Nolan as he has suddenly become very difficult at nap and bedtimes. His schedule got all of track and we ended up having to sleep train him (aka crying it out) again. It was not fun for any of us but it seems to be working. He woke up this morning at his regular time and went down for his nap per usual.

Before all of that, on a busy Saturday night, I was up late making Christmas presents when Nolan woke up screaming at 10pm. I couldn't listen to him cry so I pulled him out of bed and he helped me make our gifts (post on this later, but if you can identify what is in his hand that is a hint).

When Nolan grew tired of that I pulled out the camera, his new most favorite toy. He has started posing and making funny faces as soon as he sees it and it always cracks me up. I must have taken a hundred goofy photos, but these are my favorite. The site that I use to make my inspiration boards for the Spot On Events blog has all kinds of fun things to play with and I love the photo booth tool. Plus it's free and you don't have to sign up or anything. Love that!

Isn't he a ham?

Our Tree

I can't remember where we bought our tree last year or if anything strange happened on that trip (it wasn't blogged so therefore it was forgotten) but our first Christmas in the house we trekked out to the hills to a u-cut tree farm. We walked around for well over an hour criticizing each tree we found, too tall, too skinny, too many wholes, etc. After it had turned dark and we still had no tree we gave up and just picked one out that had already been cut and set aside. It wasn't what we wanted and we paid too much for it, but we had a tree. With the romantic notion of u-cut trees gone, we reassured ourselves that it would be a lot more enjoyable when we had a kid.

Now that this time has come I still have not talked myself into the believing that this would be fun and not torture. We both agreed that this was not the year to give it a try and instead drove 5 minutes down the road to a pre cut tree lot. Nolan loved the lot and wanted to touch every tree there.

We selected our tree, they cut the trunk, trimmed it up and tied it to our car. Everyone was happy, Pat didn't have to do any heavy lifting, I got a great tree within our budget and Nolan got his very first candy cane.

I don't know if my photographer, Jessica reads this blog but I just had to post this photo of my first Sunburst! Last year when we did our family/Nolan's 1 year portraits we kept trying to capture a sunburst on a cloudy December day. I love the effect it gives to a photo, almost dream like! It didn't work out for us that day but I was actually able to capture one of my own. If you look hard enough through the glare you can see the tree lot guy tying the tree to the car while Nolan supervises.

We brought it home and it was just the right size for us, and it smells so good! I'm trying to slowly decorate it so it's not too much temptation all at once for Nolan. We kept it up for one day as just the tree. That night I put up the lights and flowers on it and told Nolan that morning that trees are just for looking at, he's done a great job obeying that rule. If only Cortez was so rational!

He will play for a while and then stop and walk over to the tree and point (without touching) at it, ooohhhing the whole time. I think he's going to love this Christmas thing. And I think I might toss out my u-cut tree fantasies for a few years.

Festival of Trees

You've heard all about Nolan's girlfriend Annabella, but her mom Heather is an interior designer (her site here) and my mommy entrepreneur mentor. She designed a tree for the Providence Festival of Trees that is currently on display at the downtown El Gaucho. Heather, send me a picture!

Since it was her first year doing this for this organization, her tree is not in the big auction but we took a trip downtown to sneak a peak at the trees that had made it in. Let me tell you they better watch out for Heather next year, they are going to have some stiff competition!

There were a few that were really gorgeous and inspired but most were just OK, nothing special. Here are a few of our favorites.

This one was all purple, one of my favorite colors and called "Dressed for the Holidays".

This one was Heather's favorite and one of the more inspired ones. It was called "Christmas in the Northwest" and was dripping with raindrop crystals under a metallic umbrella. From far away it really looked like it was raining.

This one was my favorite, called a "Winter Jubilee". It had so many layers and things to look at but from far away it all came together really well. I would gladly have this on display in my home. A few more years and we will go all out on a tree. We still have to keep the decorations to the top half, away from little fingers and curious cats.

Close up of all the details.

I think this one was Annabella's favorite, covered in cupcakes with an icing topper!

Both the kids liked this one because of all the toys at their height, but there was no touching at this event. This tree was of course called "A Christmas Story". See if you can figure out all the movie references, it's covered with them!

This event was open to the public and very family oriented with balloon animals, face painting and Santa pictures. We took full advantage of everything and got the kid's faces painted.

Nolan quickly turned his ornament into a chilly pepper.

It was the perfect way to spend a rainy Monday, plus it was all free (besides the downtown parking). We will definitely be back next year. Taking pictures of Heather's tree of course!

No Heartbreaking This Christmas!

The worst part of my holiday season is telling my sister that I'm not sending out Christmas cards AGAIN this year. It's like telling her there is no Santa, Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny all at once. I thought that this year would be another year of heartbreak for Emmie as I was severely lacking in the motivation and inspiration departments when it came to card making.

Although the opportunity to make something to share with all our friends and family is tempting, I would rather, well, not do Christmas cards. Shocking I know, but they are expensive and crazy time consuming! Time I could be using to design my next wreath or sewing aprons (more on this later), things I really enjoy. So as Thanksgiving approached and I still had not been struck down with the inspiration to make cards, i started to prepare myself for the conversation with my sister.

Then, I saw a fantastic facebook post from Jana (check out her adorable blog here). 50 free Shutterfly Christmas cards for bloggers! I signed up immediately! I don't have to cut anything out, clean up glitter for the next 4 months or even think of something clever and witty to summarize our year! Just find some pictures, plop them in and it's done. I guess the hardest part will be choosing just one design.

Do I go classic and traditional?

Or modern and fun?

Ugh, I can't decide! I guess you will have to keep an eye on your mailbox to see where I end up. I hope this will make Emmie happy and keep her off my back until next year! Thanks Shutterfly!

Last year for Christmas I made custom calendars for my mom and granny and a photo book for Pat's mom. They were HUGE hits and while picking out my cards I saw they had cool new designs. I'm already done with their Christmas gifts this year, but I think I know what they'll be getting come Mother's Day!

In exchange for this post I'll be receiving 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly (woohoo!). If you would like to contribute a blog write up and receive 50 free cards, please sign up by clicking here.