Merry Christmas!

"Dad, There is NO way I used to fit in that!" (yes baby girl you did)

(Lily Oct 2008)

This week Aunt Jodie stopped by with Baby Grace. Lily is a non-stop fountain about Baby Grace. She talks about her constantly, yet when Baby Grace actually shows up at our door, Lily gets quiet, shy and meek around her friend. Funny how kids do that.

Mommy is about 85% recovered from being sick. Her favorite way to get better is to cuddle up with Zane on the couch and fall asleep. (PS Zane knows when it's mommy cuddle time, he excitedly runs to his crib, grabs his sucker/monkey/puppy and wiggles into the most comfortable position possible...then zones into TV land for a good half hour)

Because mommy is getting lots of rest, daddy has been getting up with Z&L in the mornings...and giving them hot chocolate. What are daddies for...

Christmas Eve, Grandma, Lily and I baked lots of cookies and biscotti. Here, I'm chopping green peppers for Memaw's famous Gumbo that was served on Christmas day. Lily helped with the chopping too, in her own way.

Christmas morning was sort of like this. A giant blur. The kids were in love and unwrapped presents with gusto and amazement. Next step, clean out the old toy cabinet and give things away! Out with the old and in with the new...

Dad found this bounce thing at Walmart and had to buy it. It took us over two hours to get it inflated and it was not looking like a great idea at midnight on Christmas Eve. However, it was a huge hit. Lily's favorite game? Playing "washing machine" with Grandma. Agitate and SPIN CYCLE!

More picture are to come, I just need to get them off of Grandma's camera. I, once again, got too wrapped up in the spirit to take pictures!

Hope you had a wonderful Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Update on the past week

Lily has been not feeling well. Well, mommy nor babies have been feeling well for quite a while now but Lily's seems funk nastiness to be hanging around. Those aren't tears from crying, her eyes just run like that all day long.

Zane enjoys his penne pasta like any toddler should

Beads for Advent thanks to Nana.

And Zane was very excited about his golf balls. Don't let the "put that camera away" look fool you.

Uncle Shankar was in town and came to visit. He had a grand time playing the ol' "count to 3 and watch them jump" game. He soon learned that toddlers CAN outlast you.

Fall has fallen and winter has come. Last picture of my tree out front with leaves. The next morning it was naked and shivering.

Thank you Meme!

Sorry for the mumbles, we're all still real stuffy around here :)

Weather is nice today

Lenny our backyard Lizard says good morning!

It's almost winter right?

Time for colds!

Both kids are under the weather.

Fevers and runny eyes/noses.

Poor babies.

Today is sponsored by The TV & Tylenol

First Christmas Play

Please take 3 minutes to see how cute my kids are... :)

Highlights include

0:47 Zane's favorite part of stomping your feet

1:13 Zane finally giving into the kid behind him who kept obsessively shaking his head (monkey see monkey do)

1:21 My children were the ONLY two year olds with rhythm with the ability to clap on beat

1:58 For some reason Lily, Zane and 2 other children were separated from the rest of the class so Lily was very concerned with all the other kids and kept checking on them the whole play

2:31 Zane not only gives himself applause but he also takes a bow. What a showman.

The holidays are about indulging.

Eating oatmeal cookies for breakfast...why not?

Ring Pops for Advent, sure!

Our Advent calendar this year. Each morning they get an animal or other little person out and set it up on the manger. Baby Jesus shows up on Christmas. After naps, they get a "treat" and Mom gets a sticky couch.

Zane's first ride on his Strider bike

"My mom had tons and tons of dogs"

Hanging out in front of my across the street neighbors house, on a beautiful afternoon riding bikes.

Zane really wants to ride a bike like the big boys.

Much needed photo dump

You haven't missed much. It's pretty much like this. Zane eating, Lily plotting world domination.

...and decorating our Christmas tree

Don't make me love my sister! waaaaaa

Oh! What's on TV?

Thanksgiving dessert fest and Daddy Zane and Shirley's house.

The only way we could get Baby Zane to stop crying when the camera came out of the bag (he hates posing for pictures with people)

Lunch on the patio

After Jason's office party open house Christmas celebration. My hair had gone flat and my shirt had been stained, but Lily loved staying up past bedtime. What she didn't love was the fact her "princess shoes" (silver ballerina flats) would not stay on her feet. So we had to improvise with some boring buckled ones. She got over it though.

Lily loves her brothers iPOD

While brother is napping, the iPOD is ALL hers.

PS. Her first sentence in here is "It's a NARUS" ...ha!

More snail drama

Lily finds a snail

Zane my couch potato

Here's a video from this past week. Please forgive my lack of enthusiasm extremely present in my vocal tone. All four of us have had the sniffles and general feeling of blah all week.

They say boys are men from the day they are born and I think this video clip helps prove that theory.

He was pretty comfy enjoying the football game on the TV and playing his iPOD games in his lap while munching on some crackers.

You will see him...

Ignore me

Only realize I'm around when a commercial comes on and he sees he is out of snacks

Try to decide if it is worth it to bend over to pick his iPOD

Be incredibly vague but offer no helpful solutions

Kiss me in an attempt to get me to get him a snack

Try to attack my phone as it is taking too much of his attention

What have you missed?

Here's a quick update to catch you up on the going ons around the house.

Lily finally jumps with both feet off of the ground

Zane has a perpetual runny nose (yay Fall!)

Zane is teaching Lily all his best tricks

Zane is super ticklish

Lily still loves her daddy

And also her brother.

A magical thing has happened this week. Zane and Lily have started 1. Liking each other and 2. Playing with each other. Now, although it may seem strange to some, but before this week, Lily and Zane have really sort of "tolerated" each other.

Instead of being interested in each other, they have been interested in what toy or crayon the other has been holding and screaming MINE!.

My days have been spent as a referee, trying to keep them from killing one another. Leaving them alone for any period of time (1 minute) usually results in someone screaming or crying and a guilty party in timeout.

However, this week, it happened. They both went into the backyard and started playing with each other. They made up a game that involved tossing a ball and running back to the slide. They took turns hitting the golf balls. They genuinely seemed to enjoy each others company. I'm not sure how long this will last but mama is pleased as punch.

My Birthday Weekend

For Mommy's Birthday weekend, my parents came into town to help all of us celebrate. We had a great cookout on the patio, went to the park, rode the choo-choo in Downtown Ft. Worth and had dinner at Joe T Garcias. It was a great weekend and makes me sad that Grandmas & Grandpa's alike live far away. Wish we could do this all the time.

They share a love for electronic devices

They share a love for books.

Mmmmm...yummy...

Definitely related.

Fall Catchup!

From

We went to the Hall Farm pumpkin patch to play around an

d then grab a pumpkins for carving.

Lily didn't like the hay so much, very yucky.

This place is gross...can we go now?

Lily was in charge of seed collection for roasting

Mommy and her gloves were in charge of scraping. Stupid allergies.

Evil pumpkin

Lily's friendly Playdoh pumpkin. Complete with eyes, nose, mouth and a peepee. Yes, a peepee, she was very insistent.

We also went to their preschools fall carnival before trick or treating. Zane was very happy to run around with his cape.

And Lily was in love with her Dora costume.

and totally related to these Hawthornes.

Oh my goodness! Look brother, up there, hurry look!

Got your chip.

I dressed up as a "Suburban Housewife".

The best part was, I blended in and no one noticed. Go suburbs!