9 Months! And a lot of ice.

Walter seemingly turned into a fully mobile 9-month-old overnight.  Nothing is safe. Especially Walter.  He is innocently into everything, but seems especially drawn to the ribbon on our Christmas tree and outlets.  And the child doesn't sit still like he used to....

Only semi-decent picture we could get.

We tried to pull one of our cars into our driveway (slight incline), and it was a major fail.  Paul decided to try and scrape the driveway with a shovel.... I decided to dig out a sled Rubbermaid lid.

Yes, we're classy.  And since I grew up with snow, ice, and an various choices in sleds (I mean, we even had a sled with a steering wheel), I was thankful for the first time that we have alleys so no one could see us except a 2 neighbors who were brave enough to drive in this stuff.

When you're trapped inside for 3 days with a 2-year-old who needs to run and run and run, you start getting desperate for activities.  I think I've assembled one gingerbread house in my life, and I think I only did that one because it was an American Girl gingerbread house.  I'm pretty sure there was a solid year or two I wanted to be Samantha.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a picky eater - I'm allergic to a lot of stuff, but typically, if I'm not allergic, I like it.  Gingerbread, I do not like.  I think it's a poor mans sugar cookie.  Why decorate nasty gingerbread when you can decorate sugar cookies and then consume them?  Much more sensible.  But when I found this on the store shelf, it was a much purchase for our train-obsessed child.  

 

 I wish I had a video to share of me trying to assemble this stupid thing. Epic failure. I mean, epic. So instead of decorating a 3-D train, we decorated two 2-D trains! :)

 

Ummm... doesn't quite look like the box.

Henry didn't care.  He was quite proud of his trains, and wants to look at them every time he comes in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, this little guy is wandering around trying to get into stuff.  Here, he's trying to figure out how to get into the diaper bags.  He hasn't figured out how to fully pull himself up - on a good day, he can get up on his knees, but that's hit-or-miss right now.

Yes, that wet spot on the floor is drool. I swear my children drool 10x more than an average child.

Poor, poor Oscar.  Never safe.  Walter got so excited he made it over to Oscar to pet him he headbutted him. Ha!

Since I'm getting ready to brave the roads for work this morning (school is cancelled again today), fingers are crossed Paul's able to take these two out somewhere for them to run around.  Kiddos are feeling a little cooped up.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

So we went to see Santa Claus.  We had an entire discussion with Henry about the meaning of Christmas, Santa, and the presents.  That's a tricky discussion.  Especially when you've got a 2-year-old and an attention span that doesn't last more than about 10 seconds at a time. 

The gist of our discussion was this:  birthdays are special, which is why you get presents. [Henry now breaks out in his rendition of "Happy Birthday"]  Christmas is especially special (huh?); it's Jesus' birthday. ["JESUS!" Henry adorably exclaims with excitement.]  In fact, His birthday is SO special that everyone gets presents.  ["Ooooo... presents!"] And if you were a good boy this year, Santa will deliver an extra present on Christmas to help you celebrate Jesus' birthday.  [Confused look.] And he lives in the North Pole, but since you don't really understand geography, we'll skip those details this year.  But he delivers the present by flying [eyes light up immediately] in his sleigh which is pulled by reindeer [eyes now look confused again].  And then he lands on your roof [I point to the ceiling], comes down the chimney [which I again identify by pointing], and puts your present right there under the tree....

"No, Mama, I DON'T WANT IT!" Henry says with a completely terrified look on his face.

We calmly explain that it's totally normal for an old man to come down your chimney and deliver presents, and it's not scary at all.  Based on the look he gave us, I don't think he bought it.  But we continued to talk up Santa, the elves, presents, the excitement of Christmas, etc.  And then we announced that Santa won't bring the presents unless Henry visits him and tells him what he wants for Christmas so he can go home and place an order with the elves.  He seemed excited, so I thought the Santa visit might actually be thrilling (as opposed to terrifying, like it was in 2012).  The whole way to the mall, Henry kept talking about receiving presents and toys, he sang "Jingle Bells," and basically skipped in to see Santa.

And then our turn came to see Santa.  Henry got within 5 feet of him and said, "NO, NO, NO! I DON'T WANT IT!" Please note this is a common phrase in our household lately.  He wanted nothing to do with Santa or with the cute rocking horse Santa offered.  So Paul and I shrugged, warned Santa that he may have to clutch on to a screaming 2-year-old, and handed Walter over to try and talk some sense into Henry.  Walter was completely mesmerized by Santa.  I'm convinced he was concocting a plan on how to grab his beard and attempt to chew on it (since we're chewing on everything lately).  As soon as Walter was contentedly seated, Henry looked from Walter-to-Santa-to-Walter-to-Santa-to-Walter-to-Santa.  We grabbed Henry, threw him in Santa's lap, ran behind the camera, and managed to capture this:

Is this perfect or what? I could just die from the adorableness.  Yes, they're my children so I'm totally biased, but I cannot imagine ever looking at this and not just melting from the inside out. I love these boys. 

And I love that Henry now has photos will the same Santa three years in a row.  

Our Santa has been so patient every single year, and managed to name every single Thomas the Train character and hold an entire discussion with Henry after we took our photo this year.  So if you need a Santa, I highly recommend this one!

Lots of Thanks!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving.  Minus the traveling.  We went to see Paul's parents, but managed to get stranded in Houston. Twice.  The first time for over 6 hours.

 

But I would like to report that I have the best kids, ever. They were so good, despite horrible travel experiences.  I'm pretty sure they thought it was part of the adventure.  I'd tell you all about it, but I'm not ready to re-live it. It's too soon.

But Gramma and Grandpa were happy we Henry and Walter finally got there!!

We were excited too!!

We went to see Christine play volleyball, which Henry found to be enthralling.  Not as enthralling as the Zumba class next door, however, which he was completely mesmerized by.  I wish I had a video, but I was too busy laughing at him staring and trying to mock their movements...

 So, so, so glad we don't live where it's freezing - it's exhausting to dress children in all these clothes.  I mean, seriously, where's the baby?!?

 Ah... there he is. Snotty.

 This one too. "Henry, come here. You have a booger."

 "Nevermind. It appears you've learned to pick your nose...."

 Can you tell I'm not used to living where it's really cold? I forgot to wait for the camera to de-fog before capturing this one.  And can you tell these two are related? 

Give the boy a new toy, and he'll manage to figure out the most dangerous way to play with it...

This child just loves life.

And practiced his crawling skills while he was there.  We spent most of our time going backwards, but went at least 4 "steps" forward.

We were so blessed and excited to meet Mr. Finn McAlister.  He was so precious, and on his absolute best behavior.  So, so, so happy for our friends!!

Henry was excited about pizza. So was Grandpa.

My sad attempts at Thanksgiving photos.  We have about 10 shots of Henry like this.

We finally got him to grin, but Walter was bored by then...

So we gave him a distraction.  Which he never looked up from.

Henry finally looked up to show us his shark teeth.

Boy just wants to walk. And drool.

And both boys just want to wallow on the floor and wrestle. Constantly.

Child can't get small stuff like puffs or yogurt melts to his mouth on his own, but he mastered the cracker.

Why wait for a post-dinner nap when you can take a pre-dinner nap?

Henry was more interested in his turkey cookie than taking photos.

Does this child do anything other than eat?!?

 Post-Thanksgiving exercise.

Henry's first introduction to Reddi-wip.  He mastered it immediately.

There was no shortage of love for this little guy.

Because it was so cold while we were there, we tracked down an indoor play/jump place.  It was a major success.

Henry went down this slide 100 times.  Unfortunately, he needed help climbing up the "stairs" to go down, which meant a workout for us!

And we got to celebrate my birthday our last night there.  Both boys thoroughly enjoyed the cake!

And right before we left, Henry finally got a ride in Grandpa's car.  Not a bad way to end our trip!

So thankful we got to head up there to visit for the week.  And so, so, so thankful my boys have 4 grandparents that love them. Now for the official beginning of the Christmas season - yay!!!