Christmas '08

Miles had to wait until after Santa came on Christmas Eve to open presents on Christmas morning. There was a lot to open and in true toddler honesty, the non-toys got tossed to the side very quickly. Luckily, the toys that needed batteries were mostly ready to go and only a few had to depend on a little swift maneuvering to free them from their packaging for play. Among all the favorites was a Harry Potter broomstick, wand and Golden Snitch and some character cars from the Disney movie "Cars".

Santa Dance

We have a dancing Santa and penguins in our living room. The boys came in today after playing and decided it was time to dance.

Another Christmas Story

Twas the week before Christmas and all through my head, the "To-Do" list was swirling while kids napped in bed.

The gifts were all piled up high by the tree, but they're destined for elsewhere as none were for me.

I kept dreading the trip to the post office annex. The lines were so long I sucked down a Xanax.

The tree was all done and so was the shopping, for cookies and candies, the nuts I'm still chopping.

I think I had logged a good seven or eight, hours in front of the stove for my fate.

Just one more batch I'd bake for the year and the ones I had tasted, I'd work off my rear.

Another "To-Do", of course, get to the gym. How crazy, at Christmas, to try to be slim?

But that's what we do the same time each year, get poor, get fat and spread lots of cheer.

So until all the malls decide to shut down and the gift of some cookies turns up a frown,

I'll repeat these traditions again and again, once I get started the fun never ends!!

And as for the jolly, old man with the toys, who makes up his list of the good girls and boys,

He'll be bringing the toys that he finds marked on sale. This is one Christmas elf who can't pay retail.

On Wal-Mart, on Target, on Black Friday finds, looking for bargains we could lose our minds.

To the top of my budget, the top of my dollar, if I spend one more dime my husband will holler.

I'll spring to my feet at the sight of next year and credit card statements, I'll soon start to fear,

But as Christmas approaches and all turns out right, I'll make up for it all as I sleep through the night.

Merry Christmas to all and To-Do lists be light!!

Visit From Friends

Our friend Jim, his wife Amy and their little girl Erin came to visit last week. Jim went to high school with me and Auntie Kristina and then college with me and Chris. His family lives here in town and he tries to make it down every few years or so for a visit. It was great to see all of them again and we look forward to being able to see them regularly now that we live here. Erin turned 1 this week, so we'd like to wish her a "Very Happy Birthday" as well.

The Amazing Miles

A few of Miles' latest tricks:

This one started with him screaming "BATMAN!"

Yes, he made it to the bed.....a few times!

Amazing.....

Bryce's Bday

We had several kid's parties the day these pics were taken, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Outside of a few bites of pizza Miles pretty much only ate cake that day. This was for Bryce's 1st bday. Bryce is the little brother of one of Miles' friends from our street. Here are more pictures that I am a little behind in posting:

Bryce (in the Gap shirt) opening gifts


Wrestling with Tyler

Cute Pooh cake

Chowing down on pizza

Sofia's Bday

So I haven't had a lot of time to post lately where I can really sit and go through the pictures I want to upload, so this post is a little belated. We went to John Chestnut park for the bday party of one of my mom's friend's granddaughter. She has a very large extended family and Miles had a great time socializing and enjoying a game of soccer with some of her relatives.

Sofia's 1st bday cake

Miles playing soccer

As odd as this looks, Miles really thinks he's Harry Potter riding his broomstick

Miles and Luna, another little girl at the party.

May The Best Man Win

Happy Election Day!

Pumpkin Fun

Chris forwarded this to our home email from his work. Have fun:

http://www.cubpack81.com/images/carve_pumpkin.swf

Trick Or Treat 2008

We all met over at Miles' friend's house for Trick or Treating. We had 2 pirates, a pink leopard, a frog, and a fire fighter. We planned on doing as many streets as the kids could hold up for, but we only made to about 3-4 before the mosquitoes came out to bite. The weather was perfect and the skies were clear.

We headed back to Andrew's house at the end of the night for pizza and drinks. Chris stayed out extra late to party it up with the big kids while Miles and I went home to snuggle and eventually fall asleep in Mommy's bed while the sugar rush wore off.

Miles did a great job this year and had a blast. He was the first to every house, even leaving his friends behind at times with one goal in mind, Candy! At the end of the night his other two friends ended up in the double stroller being rolled to the doors, and had it not been for the bugs, Miles would have run to many more houses. He was an absolute natural, not wanting to miss a single piece of candy and protesting loudly when we would empty his basket in to the bigger bag to keep it light for him......."Don't Touch the Candy!!"

This morning when Miles woke up, our first conversation went like this:
"Mama?"
"Yes, Miles?"
"I want my candy!"
Spoken like a true Trick or Treater.

Tyler, Miles, Emily, Bryce, and Andrew ready to go!

The Three Musketeers


Whatcha got?

Miles and Hannah Montana

Even though he looks scary, moments before he took off his mask because the kids froze in his driveway. The second Miles saw it was just one of our neighbors, he was all about the candy.

Oooooo, a lollipop.....score!

We're done already?


Playin' at Andrew's house

Pizza time at the kids' table

Grown-up games

Costumes For 3 Years

For fun I wanted to post Miles costumes for the last three years. The most recent photo of the "pirate" costume is from this year. It was taken several weeks prior to Halloween right after we bought his costume. So there will be a lot more actual Halloween pictures coming after tonight. He is soooo excited to get "CANDY". It's funny how well he can articulate that word!!

Duck - 2006:

Giraffe - 2007:

Pirate - 2008:

Happy Halloween

Toy Boy

Occasionally, in the mail, we will get catalog circulars. They are usually because of internet orders we have made in the past and now we are unfortunate enough to be on some mailing list. Recently we received the Fisher Price toy catalog for this season. I remembered how much Miles liked looking at the pictures last year, so I set it aside for him this year as well.

I guess liking it has been an understatement. It has become an extension of his arm. He sits for 30-40 minutes at a time just looking at the pictures. He talks about them to himself and us, points to them and of course references favorite pages often. Last night, my mom brought over the Toys R Us catalog and Miles insisted on taking it to bed with him. If I hadn't snuck it away from him when he was sleeping, he would have woken up with it. It is almost safe to say that it is a decent substitute for having the actual toys........pretty much!!

Here are a few pictures from bedtime and a short video clip. The video came out very dark because his room is dimly lit and at one point it goes to black because he heads out into the dark family room looking for his Dora cash register. Unfortunately it was the best I could get.