Saturday, December 31, 2011

Nathan Q&A

My end of the year blog will be some questions I asked Nathan. Here are his exact responses.

What's your favorite color?
"Purple."

If you could give Mommy any gift, what would it be?
"You know how you don't have a grill of your own like the one on the deck? I'd get you a purple grill!"


If you could give Daddy any gift, what would it be?
"You know that thing Papa Norm reads the newspaper on? I would get Dad one of those." (A Kindle).

What's your favorite game?
"Where we make all the shapes" (Tangram game)

What's your favorite dinner?
"Pumpkin Barley"

What's your favorite dessert?
"Cookies."

What do you want to be when you grow up?
"A conductor."

What is Daddy's job?
"He drives around in his police car."

What is Mommy's job?
"You stay at home. Sometimes you have to go teach."

Where's your favorite place to go?
"Walmart."

What does Mommy always say to you?
"Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are? Or also I love you."

What does Daddy always say to you?
"Let's go build something!"

Who's your favorite person to play with?
"Emilee."

What does Mommy do really well?
"The laundry and you're the best exerciser. You run on that treadmill and do the girls a lot."

What does Daddy do really well?
"Builds stuff. Like my train table."

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Day

Here's a photo recap of our Christmas this year! Jeremy worked until 5:30 am Christmas morning. Laura and I got up with the kids and they got out the fun stocking stuffers from Santa. Later that morning, Papa Norm, Grandma Jane, Auntie LeAnne,and Uncle Rick came! I made a ham dinner and Grandma Jane brought some fantastic pies. After a yummy dinner, we opened the rest of the presents (that weren't opened yesterday). Then, Elizabeth went down for a nap. Everyone left. Jeremy went to work at 5 pm. Now I'm blogging to recap Christmas!



Nathan was so excited to look in his stocking and see what Santa brought him. (Yes, he wears that Union soldier hat to bed and wears it all day long). He's wearing his new Thomas jammies that he got from Grandma Pam.


Elizabeth wasn't quite sure what stockings were all about, but she had fun pulling stuff out anyway.


Elizabeth with Auntie Laura and Grandma Jane. When Grandma is around, Grandma's lap is always full!


Uncle Rick and Auntie LeAnne brought some GREAT puppets from Salt Lake City. Nathan had SO much fun playing with them. Uncle Rick and Auntie LeAnne are great at doing voices. Nathan told me he loves his Auntie LeAnne so so much and he hadn't seen her in so long.


Elizabeth doing her traditional holiday olive dance. (Dancing with an olive on each finger).


Nathan being silly and playing puppets with Auntie LeAnne.


Elizabeth and Auntie Laura playing on the couch.


Papa Norm, Uncle Rick, and Grandma Jane


Yes, the suitcase is upside down. Auntie Laura got Nathan and Elizabeth their own personalized suitcases. How fun! Elizabeth's is purple.


Auntie Laura also got Nathan dress up clothes. He gets to be a police officer and a firefighter. He's going to love this!


New bath toys. They had a great time using them in the bath tonight!


Nathan has been showing a strong interest in beginning sounds and trying to sound out words lately. This game will be perfect!


Auntie Laura got Elizabeth some bunny slippers. She LOVES them. She'd been eyeing Nathan's ducky slippers and needed some of her own.


Beads, beads, beads. This little girl loves beads!


Now that Elizabeth has stopped eating playdough (mostly), she's going to have fun playing with this!


It looks like not all the space shuttles were retired. Nathan's got a new one! He loves space.


Nathan got some great lincoln logs from Auntie LeAnne and Uncle Rick.


I love holding her in my lap.


Sister picture. It's been a whole year since we've all been together. Last Christmas in fact!


Santa baby! Elizabeth loves to put bubbles on her face and say "Ho, Ho, Ho."

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve!!

Here is a recap of all our fun activities on Christmas Eve day! Auntie Laura came over in the morning. A little later, Grandma Pam and Uncle Brian showed up too! We made cookies, played, had a tasty lunch, fed the reindeer, checked out Uncle Brian's new car, and opened some Christmas presents!



The frost on our tree made for some nice family photos!


Our little family

Uncle Brian too!

Me and my baby girl


Putting out reindeer food. It's a mix of oatmeal and glitter. The oatmeal is for strength. The glitter is the magic that helps them fly!


Elizabeth pouring her reindeer food.



Nathan pouring his reindeer food.

We girls LOVE to play with dollhouses.


Girls also love to farm. Thanks for the farm Aunt Karen!


Nathan LOVES his new truck that hauls all his cars.


You can never have too much equipment. (Isn't it great how there is snow falling in the background?)


Playing with the new toys.


Elizabeth got some adorable clothes from the Grandmas and Kim. Here's a cute one!


Having fun opening kids' presents.


Elizabeth loves to build playdough towers.


Aunt Laura found a Nathan safe (egg free) sugar cookie recipe. We used fake milk and fake butter and they turned out all right. Here are Dad and Nathan mixing the dough.


Ingredients lined up. Ready to make cookies!


Nathan, Dad, and Aunt Laura making cookies.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Baskets

Baskets make fantastic toys. They can be used in many ways. Usually, you KEEP toys in them. However, if you dump all the toys out, they can be used for imaginative play. If we didn't already have them, I'd say baskets make great Christmas presents!


They make nice turtle shells. Watch out, the blue one pinches!


They make nice little beds.



They're perfect for crouching low and then jumping up and saying "Peekaboo!"


They make excellent little boats and cars. You can pretend to fish out of them. You can also push them around and bump them into each other.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

And a Happy New Year

Elizabeth has been really getting into singing Christmas songs. She's pretty good at Jingle Bells, Rudolph, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Now, she attaches "And a Happy New Year" to everything she says. Examples that she says:

"Plug it in myself. And a Happy New Year."

"Rain, rain go away. Come again and a Happy New Year."

"Naked Runners show up and a Happy New Year."

Dental Hygiene



The kids like to sit up on the counter to have their teeth brushed. It's pretty cute. Here's Elizabeth getting brushed up before bed!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Pictures from Preschool

The kids LOVE going to preschool. We go twice a week. Here are some photos of our last day at preschool before Christmas break.


Here are Nathan and Jeremy working on a really neat gingerbread man!


Elizabeth and her friend Gracie working on their gingerbread girls.


Nathan dressed up as a really scary dinosaur!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Skyping



We have discovered skyping. Right now, the kids mostly skype with Aunt Laura and occasionally Nathan's friend KJ. They like to call Aunt Laura at night before their baths so she can watch them run naked. They like to run like crazy before their baths. It makes Laura laugh and they adore the attention.

Here they are skyping. They jockey for position in front of the camera. Nathan is a pro at making calls and answering.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Nathan's Mr. Conductor outfit



This is Nathan's Mr. Conductor outfit.

Nathan LOVES Thomas and he loves trains. He wants to be a conductor when he grows up.

Papa Norm and Gram went on a trip this past fall. Their travels brought them to Vicksburg. While there, the grandparents purchased some Union solider hats.

Nathan says the hat is his conductor hat. He likes to wear his lightweight blue coat and his irrigation boots to complete the outfit. He wears it ALL the time. He loves to wear the hat wherever and whenever he can. He wears it all day!

Our local librarian says he rides trains all day and fights the Civil War at night.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Napping Games



The kids like to play napping games in our bed. It's pretty funny. No room left for the parents!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Santa!

Every year, Santa drives through our neighborhood passing out candy canes. He has a great float! It's complete with reindeer and Santa on his sleigh. I didn't manage to get a good picture of the reindeer, but here are the kids getting their candy canes from Santa.

It's a big parade complete with firetrucks, Santa, and an ambulance. It's really neat!


End of the Year Survey

Nathan:  16 Elizabeth:  13 1. What is your favorite color: N:  Blue E:  Pastel lime 2. What is your favorite toy? N:  Legos E:   squishmello...