Merry Times

 Chloe's new T-Rex is all festive for Christmas

Christmas was wonderful and exciting for us this year and will be continuing on even today as Todd is bringing Gramma here from the airport this afternoon! 



Yesterday the kids enjoyed waking up early and lingering at the opening of each gift.... playing for a bit then moving on as they liked.... munching pumpkin bread and clementines all morning.

I purposed not to try to capture gift-opening times on camera so much, since what really is more fun to me is seeing their responses and then taking pictures of them enjoying later.  So here are a few shots of our Christmas day fun.

These are their main gifts:  

 a Millenium Falcon and action figures for Evan and a horse "stockyard" for Chloe

Todd and I were all smiles just hanging out with them and watching them enjoy their gifts. Uncle Tim and Aunt Kim (from North Carolina) mailed some extra special things to Evan and Chloe to add to the morning too -- thanks so much guys :-)

The kids stayed in their jammies all day and played non-stop (including some running laps around the house which is just part of their ritual).   We only stopped to eat lasagna for lunch and have a quick dinner later on.  Twelve hours of playing!!! No wonder we were so exhausted after the kids were in bed...

Ruby loves Christmas

Observe:  Mister T (Rex)

Savored memories and treasured time together.  What more could we ask for Christmas?

Cuddle Time

Our girl woke up too early this morning.  She was all groggy and snuggly for a long time after breakfast.  All she wanted to do was lay in a pile of blankets and cuddle.  So we indulged her :-)  She even took a morning nap right there after Todd went out this morning!  Super cuddles are her specialty.

About Chloe

Chloe really enjoys doing puzzles even on the really uncomfortable kitchen floor.  Sweetly enough, she gets me cushions to sit on so I don't quit on her because of the pain.

She is in the "Mom, will you play with me?" phase that I remember Evan going through at this age.  It doesn't matter if we've just spent an hour together, she will ask me again a few minutes later.  Sometimes I find it endearing, and other times I want to rip my hair out.  Such is motherhood though, I think.

This curtain blocks off the heat from the kitchen when I have a soup pot simmering all night.  The kids, of course, love it and fly in and out of it in shrieks of giggles and goofing.

The outfit in the photo above is Chloe's most colorful choice these days.  I love that she expresses herself in her clothing.  If I picked her clothes, she'd look like a little version of me, and that just would never do.  Not for Chloe.

Every horse needs a tracks to play on, so Chloe sets one up quite often so she and Evan can  run their daily laps for thirty minutes straight.....  They always have some aweome hyper music playing so they can go faster! Their favorite is the Carmen suite CD we borrowed from the library.  Number 7 is Chloe's horse race song.

She loves to block off all our walkways with horse jumps.  Like this one and the nine others I didn't get pictures of:

Wild jumping horse races tire them out in about 10 minutes when they collapse in a heap on the floor.  For some reason I usually collapse after only five minutes when Chloe asks me to play this with her.  Ugh.  I never did like hurdles.

Here's Evan jumping since all of the shots of Chloe were blurry.

Every day she plays with and pretends to be a horse, but she also loves to join in Evan's stuff too.  One day they were fighting over which thing to play and decided to alternate every 13 minutes as the timer went off.  Upstairs to play her stuff, downstairs to play his stuff.  Back and forth they went joyfully for a couple hours!

I love how they use what we have in creative ways.  Monster truck train tracks anyone?

 

They still fight fiercely and drive each other nuts, but for the most part they are in an upswing right now:  enjoying being together and working out issues without punching.  That's progress right?

A favorite daily ritual for Chloe is to brush and brush and brush her hair.  First she uses the detangling brush, then grabs the boar-bristle one to "smoothen it and make it silk."

And lastly, she still loves her daddy more than anything (she has even said to me once:  'Mom I LOVE Dad, but I only LIKE you.').  She climbs on him whenever he sits down and snuggles near him every chance she gets.  Our sweetie girl indeed.

Bits & Pieces

Cooler days mean even more reading than usual

Evan had a recent hair trim but it still hangs down like a wall over his face

The current art corner since the Christmas tree moved in

Times spent with Aunt Bryce are priceless

Goofing with my cuties

Still with the Lego mania

Playing so often in the basement now :-)

Pretty Kitty

Loving this little person with all my heart

Snuggles in the morning

Evan having a playdate with "Uncle Robot"

Attempting a family photo....

Yeah right.

Thermal Knit

 It's 42 and sunny.  

Coats, optional.

Mud boots, important.

Hats, unnecessary.

Thermal knit, required.

*****************************

Thermal knit shirts are a favorite this season. 

For some reason Evan loves them and affectionately calls them 

'cozy thermal knit' or 'stretchy thermal knit' 

depending on which one he has on.  

He has four.  

Chloe wanted one 

so she could be like Evan.

Lucky for us the second-hand store had a green one

(her current favorite color) 

in her size!  

Perfect.

Overheard

"Chloe I have to tell you about the great rumbling earthquake fart I had yesterday.....

Now we can do nothing but remember it....

 

No two farts are alike."

Lessons From a Big Brother

Radioactive means that something glows.
So if you see a laser....... it might be radioactive.

(Chloe still didn't get it and asked, "But what IS radioactive?")

Light that bounces off somthing I think. 
Radio. Active.