Are We Back in New Hampshire?

Friday evening the snow started and by Saturday morning we had 6 inches. It kept snowing all day and the news was calling this storm “The Blizzard of ‘09”. It was pretty intense but luckily we had our winter in NH to prepare us for extreme snow. I finally got to bust out Brendan’s snowsuit that I bought on clearance at the end of last winter, and he was so adorable and as puffy as a marshmallow.

This was on Saturday during the storm. We were so excited to get out and play in the snow but it was windy and snowing pretty heavily, so it wasn’t ideal conditions for romping in the snow. Or picture taking.

Brendan didn’t mind though. He was happy running around and trying to catch snowflakes in his mouth.

And when he couldn’t catch them in his mouth, he just licked them off of his mittens.

Chris shoveled the snow into a hill in our backyard and pushed Brendan down it with a laundry basket as his sled. I think we need to buy a real sled now. And we need to find a real hill to sled down.

Church was cancelled today so we took the opportunity this morning to shovel and try to unbury our cars.  We had about a total of 15 inches that fell since Friday night and it was a lot of work to try to shovel all that snow.

Brendan even chipped in and helped brush off some of the snow on the Acura. But then after being such a good helper, he tried to recover it with snow so he could start all over again.

Now we are bundled up on the couch, watching cartoons and drinking hot chocolate, and I can’t think of a better way to spend our weekend.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree… Literally

My new phone has a music player, which Brendan has now discovered, and his new favorite thing is to turn on a song and dance his little heart out.

Oh man, that picture on the left cracks me up. Hilarious. And in case you were wondering, the song Brendan chose was Young Forever by Jay-Z, and we couldn’t play any other song than that one. He’s very particular about his music so at least it was a good song.

Did I forget to mention that it snowed last week?

It was the first snowfall of the winter and Brendan was in heaven.

It melted a couple of days later but it was fun while it lasted and Brendan refused to walk on the sidewalk and instead had to walk through the snow in the yard. Now I just hope we get some more for Christmas!

Outtakes

I took our annual Christmas card picture myself this year and it was a bit stressful. I miss all my Utah photographer friends!!!!

I thought I’d share some that didn’t make the cut. It was hard getting Brendan to focus on the camera especially when there are much more interesting things to look at- like birds.

Lots of pictures like this…

Or this. Why do I think that I can try to reason with a toddler? It never works and yet I keep trying.

Brendan slipped off my lap and we ended up with this shot, and I actually like it. It’s much easier to take a picture without a little boy squirming on your lap.

But to see the final photo that we picked, you’ll have to wait for our Christmas card which should be sent out by early next week. And if I don’t have your address (you know who you are!) send me an email or a message on facebook.

Hopefully You Speak Dinosaur

This is for my Dad, whose birthday is today- Happy Birthday! I tried to get Brendan to cooperate but he had had a long morning and it was close to nap time so instead of talking, he wanted to roar like a dinosaur. At least at the end, I got him to say a few things. Enjoy, Grandpa Dinosaur!

Not An Every Day Occurrence

This past Friday, Chris’s work had their Christmas party. The invitation that he got a few weeks ago said it was Cocktail attire which meant that I had to go shopping for a new dress. I didn’t realize that it would be so hard to find a modest, affordable dress that isn’t made for a 13 year old who wants to look like she’s 18. After several trips to different stores, I finally found something that I loved and felt comfortable in. The best part? It cost me under $40. Thank you, Gap Outlet.

We don’t get dressed up very often so I had to take a picture of us. I love that Brendan is sitting so nicely on the couch in this picture- he looks so quiet and calm, two words that do not describe him very often. I love my boy.

And I love my dress. And my curly hair. We enjoyed having an evening out without Brendan and I loved getting all dressed up. Chris enjoyed all the food and the wide selection of desserts and even more, he enjoyed that it was buffet style so he could go back at get as much as he liked. The party itself was quite fancy (there were quite a few gentlemen in tuxedos!) and it was held at the Ritz Carlton. I now want to live there. It was gorgeous. 

By the time we got home, my feet were very sore and we were exhausted so maybe I should be glad that we don’t do this sort of thing more often. It was fun for one night though.

His Favorite Cookie

While at the grocery store this past week, I told Brendan he could pick out a treat and the holiday Oreo cookies were his choice. I shouldn’t have been surprised- Oreo’s have been his favorite cookie for a while now. In fact, we’ve had several trips to the grocery store end in tears when I wouldn’t let him get a bag.

He got 2 for a snack after dinner and then proceeded to use his stool to get the bag off the counter and sneak 3 more. I now have to hide them on the top shelf of a cabinet or else he’d eat these all day long. He even got up the next morning asking for cookies and threw a fit when I told him he was just going to have to deal with pancakes. Who knew Oreo’s could cause so many tears?

The only downside is the red “holiday” filling since it gets all over everything Brendan comes in contact with. It’s a bit of a pain to clean up but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to endure so Brendan can enjoy his favorite treat.

It’s that time of year

Guess what we did the day after Thanksgiving?

We drove by a tree lot just blocks from our house and I was sucked in. I can’t help it- I love Christmas and I was all too eager to begin the holiday festivities so I couldn’t resist getting a tree right away. Plus, our tree purchase helps support a local boy scout troop and I always feel great when my money goes to something good.

Brendan had a super good time playing with all the ornaments and I tried not to be one of those moms who doesn’t let her kids touch things for fear of something being broken. Brendan is very skilled at breaking things and some of my ornaments are old, ones that I’ve had since I was a baby, and some are from my brother Brian’s ornament collection and I would be devastated if any of them were broken. So I compromised and put all the ones that are completely off-limits towards the top of the tree and out of reach for an almost-three-year-old. The ornaments at his level are a little more sturdy and can withstand being dropped a few dozen times a day.

 

It’s a good thing that one of Chris’s favorite ornaments, the Pickle, is not breakable.  We have a family tradition of picking out a new ornament every year, one for each of us, to remember the year by. This is something that my family has been doing since before I was born and I’m happy to carry on the tradition. The Pickle was Chris’s first ornament that he picked out after we were married.  His Grandma Johnson would always have a pickle on the tree and the first to find it got to have bragging rights. His Grandpa Russell also used to always put a large pickle in the “Grab Bag” of presents for a special treat to whomever pulled it out of the bag. I think it’s a fitting way to remember both sides of his family. Brendan gets a kick out of pretending to eat it.

 

 

 

Although he likes the pickle, it’s lost some of its appeal now. Brendan’s favorite ornaments are currently his little tin airplane, a small wooden car, a red motorcycle, a wooden rocking horse and an oversized painted jingle bell.

And here she is in all her glory:

I even found a tree skirt for 60% off (thank you Black Friday) and am happy with the way it looks. Even more, I love the spirit that it brings to our home, reminding us that this is a special time of year. Every night Brendan requests that we turn off all the overhead lights and just have some mood lighting from the tree, and it’s such a lovely way to spend a few quiet moments next to our tree.

Just the Three of Us

We enjoyed a cozy, relaxed Thanksgiving yesterday here in Virginia. We kept things pretty low-key and we liked it that way. It was nice having Chris around more and getting to spend time together as a family. Here’s how we spent our day.

Brendan really loved watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, which surprised me at first. He had fun seeing all of the balloons and different floats, especially when a train float appeared. The boy loves his trains.

Brendan had some computer time with Chris. Brendan loves to go to the Starfall website and practice his letters.

Brendan attempted to help in the kitchen but ended up just playing with the camera’s remote feature. I had lost the remote several months ago and recently found it in my car when we cleaned it out, so I thought it would be fun to use it again. Brendan went a little nuts with it.

I have about 30 pictures like this now.

After a delicious dinner, we all relaxed by playing with Play-Doh. Brendan could do this all day.

Chris made Brendan a Play-Doh hotdog and he loved it, although he didn’t love the salty taste. That didn’t stop him from trying to eat it more than once though.

We finally ended the night by playing Brendan’s favorite game on the Wii, MarioKart, since Brendan loves to race. He hold his own controller and plays along with us even though his isn’t on- but don’t tell Brendan that.

All in all, it was a fabulous day and we have so much leftover pie that we’ll be set for the next week. And now it’s time to get ready for Christmas!

Brendan’s favorite activity

This is what our house looks like most days. Brendan loves to build his tracks and make obstacle courses for his trains and cars.

Unfortunately, most of the time he builds his tracks in the middle of the living room or the stairs, making it a little difficult for me to get around.

But at least it keeps him occupied so I can get some things accomplished and if he’s happy, I’m happy.

And to end this post, some silly faces.

Outfit of the Night

A sweet pair of rain boots to accessorize some awesome pj’s- it doesn’t get cooler than this. We recently picked up these boots at Target (oh, how I am so glad to have Target back in our lives again!) and I think I love them more than Brendan does. I’ve had my eye on these for quite some time and I finally found a pair in Brendan’s size so they had to come home with us.

Now I’m actually hoping it rains again soon so Brendan can wear these bad boys. I think we’ll be in luck since when saw the weather report this evening, it looks like rain is in the forecast **tomorrow**. I’ve never been more excited for rain!