A couple straggler holiday pics

Found these pictures on my phone that Isolene had sent me and couldn't resist sharing….

The lull between the holidays

This past weekend we had a bit of a lull in all the festivities.  Time to regroup, organize, and find homes for all of our new treasures.  On Saturday we hosted my annual brunch with my former swim buddies.  With schedules so hectic in December, the only time we could all get together was after Christmas.  That actually worked out great because it was still festive, but a little less stressful since all the shopping, travelling, etc. was over.  We also got to see Ben and Linda more because they are in town until January 5th.  Sunday all free time was devoted almost entirely to going through the upstairs toys and organizing them, sorting them into "keep out", "rotate", "donate" or "throw away" piles.  Amazing how once all parts to a game/toy/track/puzzle are put together how much more interested the kids are in playing with them vs. disparate pieces being spread from one end of the house to another.  Now if we could only keep them that way!

New stroller/walker and doll for Claire.  She loves this!   Not sure why, but after a few steps she feels the need to pull her dolly out of the stroller and throw her on the floor.  That's enough riding for you freeloader dolly, time to exercise!

We've resorted to completely stripping Claire except for a bib and pulling her hair back to start the feeding process. The alternative is just too much work, with food everywhere.

Dinner at our house Friday night after work.

Oftentimes Luke prefers to eat frozen vegetables, still frozen, over his prepared meal.  I indulge him after he's eaten at least a bit of his main meal because, hey, it's still vegetables, right?

Piano lessons with her very talented uncle.

Swim brunch.  8 year old Madeline is so grown up and so good with Claire!  She was almost like a real babysitter, I felt totally comfortable with her playing with Claire in the next room.  

Nathan, Ben, Luke and Madeline.  Scott trying to pretend he's one of the kids:)

Pretty Valerie:)  Claire got her last use out of her Christmas dress!  Not pictured were Luis and Caroline, who made a surprise visit to the party after deciding last minute to spend the weekend in Chicago from Rio.  It was fun to meet Luis's girlfriend, finally, who we had heard so much about but never met.

"Growing out your bangs can be so tiresome"

CMB rocks 10 months

Claire turned 10 months old on December 26th, yes, double digit months!  She is 21.5 lbs and about 28 inches long.  She still has all those adorable, chubby baby rolls that you just can't help but squeeze.

Notable new developments are:
- She has a second tooth!  Another middle one on the bottom for a matching pair with her first tooth.
- The sleeping through the night has been really great.  She usually sleeps from 8pm to 6am, sometimes later.  In the very recent past she has started waking up earlier, like 4am (ugh), but we're thinking she's either teething, sick or going through a growth spurt so she's hungrier....or all of the above!  Let's hope she goes back to her 8-6 routine stat.
- She is starting to suck her thumb and play with her hair at the same time whenever she is tired or hungry.  Reminds me of PJ and myself!  I'm pretty sure I sucked my thumb to an unusually late age.  Some genetics you just can't escape:)  Self soothing habits is one of them.

Christmas 2013 - #4 & #5

Later Christmas Day we headed over to Donna & Emil's house for a big party with Matt's extended family.  This was the first Christmas in their new house and it was so festive and fun!  The fireplace was roaring, the decorations were lovely and the house was full of people we love.  

Even though the dress was casual, Claire wanted to wear her party dress again:)

Sledding with all the kids

Aunt Diane took care of Claire so the three of us could all go out.   They were watching the action from the window.

River and Lennon were trying to snowboard on the sleds!

It was great seeing Grammy, and she still loves to hold Claire.  

Lila is adorable and has the cutest, softest little voice.

Cousins!

The white elephant gift exchange is always a hoot.  Matt "won" toilet paper and I got a banana bread baking mix.   Look at Luke sitting there so nicely.  

Such a cozy sight!  Not pictured, but we ended the night breaking in the new bar downstairs, where bartender Ben served up the best drinks in town and the kids played with the tons of old toys down there.  

I had to work on the 26th but that night we celebrated Christmas our 5th and final time by exchanging gifts with just Matt's immediate family.  What a wonderful finale to a wonderful Christmas!

pirate ship from G&G

Having a serious conversation

Christmas 2013 - #3

After getting home late Christmas Eve and helping Luke put out cookies for Santa, it seemed like Christmas morning came very quickly.  Matt and I awoke to the sounds of little Claire... "time to get up, its Christmas!" her little noises implied.  Luke didn't get the Christmas morning memo, setting a lifetime record for how long he slept in for.  Poor sick kid!  Claire enjoyed her gift from Santa, hours of playtime and a nice breakfast and was about to go down for her morning nap before Luke finally stirred around 9:30am.  I had to hold Matt back from waking him up, he was so excited for Luke to see what Santa had brought him.  When he finally did wake up he walked out to the living room and saw all his loot.  He groggily tried to ask us "Did Santa come?", but he had lost his voice overnight from being sick so he hardly got it out.  It was the cutest thing ever.  Once he woke up a little more and had some water he was feeling a bit better and was able to enjoy opening his presents and sharing in the Christmas excitement.  We had a nice low key morning exchanging gifts with each other.  After a couple hours of playing with his new toys Luke and I were sitting together eating some breakfast and he looks over at me and croaks in his husky, almost not there voice, "Merry Christmas Mommy."  I actually teared up, it was so sweet.  A moment I wish I could lock into a jar, one I'll never forget.  

Cookies and milk for Santa

Stockings were hung with care

Santa left quite a sight for these kids!

That puppy under the tree was for me!

Claire's first Christmas morning!  Notice it is still dark out:)

Playing with her new gear toy

Look at those red eyes...sickie Santa baby

Luke went straight to the amusement park train set

Matt had to coax him to try out his new electric dune buggy, but then he was a maniac driving it around the house as much as space allowed.

Helping finish off those cookies that Santa was too full for.  I'll take that!

Stocking treats

in the "zoom buggy" with Frosty as his sidekick

Nacho cheese shirt for Matt, inside joke:)

Opening a gift from Aunt Susan - Peter Pan!  We had to take our gifts with us bc we couldn't stay for the whole gift opening

Rollerskates from Auntie Kristin, Uncle Cory and PJ - so funny watching him try to walk with them on.

Luke had asked Santa for a pogo stick and he was so excited that Santa listened!  He's a wee bit too small for it still, but maybe by the time it gets warm enough outside to use it he'll grow into it.