Weekend Wrap-Up: The Belated 29-Months-Old Edition!

In the craziness of this week I missed the 23rd!  Maya is now 29-months-old and a mommy's girl TO THE MAX.

This week she has been particularly SOBBY if I am not immediately right next to her when she wants me to be.  I have seen a lot of crocodile tears.

Life is so hard when Mommy is sitting on the chair near you
but not right next to you.

I hope that is a short lived phase.  Because the rest of her is AWESOME and HILARIOUS and SMART and ADORABLE and SWEET and PRECIOUS.

Ok.  On to the weekend.  Yesterday morning we went over to G-ma and Pa's for a little bit of play time.  And SNOWY play time!

Then we headed over to the condo to hang out with everyone.  

Snowball fights!

This morning Jenna, Andy, Charlie, Mabel and Sylvia came over to play and go out to lunch.  Our kids are getting so big!

This afternoon we stayed at home.  After being on the go for a lot of days, it felt good to be home and play with the new presents!

I'll leave you with a close up view of the painting that Cathleen had her friend paint for me for Christmas.  It has sunrays, woods, water...perfect. It is now hanging above our bed.

A Picture Update: Christmas Style

The past two days have been a whirlwind.  A serious whirlwind.  Let me break it down for you.

December 24th, 2015.  7:30am

We open up presents, just the four of us (which is really just the two of them).

December 24th, 2015. 8:00am

It is determined that Maya's present of a trampoline is a success.



IMG_1807 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Callie's present didn't have batteries.  More on that present later.

December 24th, 2015.  9:00am.

We head to the condo to hang out with Boom, Uncle John, Aunt Jenny, Auntie Yoda, Uncle Craig, Auntie Mari and Josh.  The morning activity...GINGERBREAD HOUSE.

Jenny gets all the credit for making it look AWESOME.

December 24th, 2015.  12:00.

We eat a big lunch, featuring Mari's pinterest-worthy veggie tray.  A group goes for an after lunch walk.  Some of us loaf on the couch instead.

December 24th, 2015. 2:30pm.

The group (minus Chris and the girls) head to the cemetery and church. 

Winter at Lakewood

December 24th, 2015.  5:00pm.

We play, eat dinner, and most importantly, Boom's CHRISTMAS COOKIES.

December 24th, 2015. 7:00pm.

We head home and the girls go to bed late.

December 25th, 2015. 6:10am.

Maya wakes up (EARLY) and starts chatting in her bed.

December 25th, 2015.  7:00am.

Callie comes down right on time.  We both go back up to get Maya and then go check out the Santa presents.

December 25th, 2015.  8:00am.

Callie's Christmas gift gets batteries.  I begin to regret the choice of Christmas gift.  Here's why.



IMG_1876 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

December 25th, 2015. 8:45am.

G-ma, Pa, Kona, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan (for a little bit while he was working) and Hanna come over.  We make a delicious brunch (with mimosas) and play.

December 25th, 2015. 10:00am.

We open lots of presents.

December 25th, 2015.  11:15am.

We play downstairs.

December 25th, 2015.  11:45am.

We recreate a picture from 6 years ago.  FLASHBACK FRIDAY!

December 25th, 2015.  1:40pm.

Callie and Chris go to a movie.

December 25th, 2015.  3:30pm.

We head back to the condo to open presents with Boom, Uncle John, Aunt Jenny, Auntie Yoda, Uncle Craig, Auntie Mari and Josh.  It was a pleasant experience, despite most of the expressions on faces in these pictures.

December 25th, 2015.  5:00pm. 

We had a Henderson/Johnson/Suurmeyer Party!  Lots of great food, drink, and company.

We toasted my dad with his Scotch.

December 25th, 2015.  7:00pm

We headed home, got the girls to bed (late again), and are hoping that *maybe* they'll sleep in a little tomorrow after a long and busy couple of Christmas Days.

I'll leave you with the final few days of Elf on the Shelf nonsense.

 We hope everyone had a holiday filled with peace, hope, and gratitude!

Timehop Thursday: The Christmas Edition

Merry Christmas Eve!

My first Timehop shows off the aging of two 26-year-olds into 33-year-olds.

And my favorite Christmas pics of the girls from two years ago, and them in their adorable Christmas dresses this year.

Have a Merry Christmas.

SIX-YEARS-OLD!!!!

Like I posted on Facebook and Instagram this morning:

From zero to six in the blink of an eye...

This girl is smart, sassy, silly, sweet, and SIX.

We had a fun day today...doing normal things with an extra dose of birthday sparkle.

She got to open her presents from us this morning (after seeing what Coo-Koo and Loony brought her).

Then the girls and I went to Ediborough had had a blast playing and climbing.

And there was snack time, of course. Goofy girls!

We had a quiet afternoon, getting ready for our family party and watching a movie.

You may notice another empty space in her mouth!  That happened earlier this week. 

And we put the finishing touches on the "Frozen Cake" that we started making yesterday.

I can't really explain what a roller coaster this day has been.  Not even a roller coaster, but a total confusing paradox of competing feelings.  I don't even know if that makes sense.

There was so much joy in our house tonight.  With our families there.  And yet, I felt terrible sadness because of missing my dad.  It is such a baffling feeling, but another reminder that so much light can exist in the midst of darkness.

So on to this rocking party I am speaking of.

The girls waited so very patiently for people to start showing up (party hats and all).

The first thing that had to be done was...OPEN PRESENTS!  Of course.

Once that was done, we ate dinner and had cake.

And then, the party game.  She had wanted to find a "Pin the Mermaid Tail on Ariel", but we had to settle for "Put the Shell in Ariel's Hand."  Callie selected 8 players to be blindfolded and spun around before trying to place their shell in Ariel's hand (though Uncle Craig decided to try and stick the shell on Callie instead!).

Guess who won?

This girl.  I don't know what to tell you.  I just can't believe she is 6.  And that she is ours.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sassy six-year-old!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!

How strange for it to be a non-working Monday tomorrow, Callie's birthday on Tuesday, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day later in the week.

I'll be honest in that I'm not doing the greatest job of holding it together.  But I am able to when it counts the most, so that is all that matters.  I am thankful that I have the girls to focus on and memories to make for them, but also exhausted by the effort it takes sometimes to keep up with the holiday cheer.

I anticipate this week will be the same, except crazier.  So wish me luck! :)

This was a LOVELY weekend.  Yesterday I met friends for a delicious brunch, while my mom hung out with the girls.  And I took in some sunrays in the morning.

Today our big outing was a Gosselin family get-together at Karen and Gus' place.  It was so fun to see cousins and their kids who we haven't seen for awhile.  There was lots of tickling and wrestling and craziness with lots of little ones around.

There were 5 out of Nana and Papa's 13 (I think it is 13...?) great-grand kids there, so of course we got a couch picture.

Callie (almost 6), Carter (almost 1), Piperlee (2), Maya (2), Eliana (almost 3)

And, as usual with little kids, they started out great for all the picture taking, and then it got...hilarious. A harmonica even made an appearance.  And Callie got tackled by Carter.

Gus' daughter, Violeta, brought up all of her old stuffed animals and let the kids choose one to bring home.  Callie and Maya both chose to bring home a tiger.  They were so excited!  Later on in the evening, a cigar roller came to do a demonstration of how to roll cigars. So cool!

Thanks to Karen and Gus for a wonderful evening!

I'll leave you with Coo-Koo and Loony and their crazy antics from this week:

My favorite one from this week was Coo-Koo and Loony getting my coffee cup ready to go on Saturday morning with a mug that says "What is a WEEKEND?"  Because that is often how I feel with two young crazy children ordering me around for 48 hours straight every week.

A Picture Update

Happy Friday! There is so much to report today.

First up: it is finally winter break! We made it through the 3-week slog between Thanksgiving and Christmas break. The next two weeks will be busy, and crazy, and very hard, and also joyful.

Next up: I'm so proud of Chris. He will be starting a new and exciting professional adventure on December 28th. After 12+ years in cell phone sales, he will leave to join a great tech-y kind of company. Our morning schedule will change (i.e. Be more hectic as we all will have to get out the door earlier) once I go back to work in January, but it will be amazing to have him back on Saturdays. And have him not have to answer his phone in the evenings. He worked hard to find a job right for himself (and our family), and I'm so excited for him to start this new adventure.

Then: Callie had her first little dance recital yesterday evening. It was a quick 20-minute holiday show, and it was adorable. Her class performed the tap number "Good Ship Lollipop", and she rocked it out. We were all sooooooo proud of her. Ms. Connie was proud of her too.

Thanks to Boom, Uncle Dan, G-ma, Pa and Auntie Cat for coming to see her!

And of course, there is video (she's on the end):

IMG_0068 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

So adorable, right?!?!?!?!

Other pics from the week:

I love picking this girl up on Mondays and Fridays:

We tried out a new restaurant near us on Monday. It was a success, complete with Sangria and mustache straws.

This crazy girl loves to play, dance read, and jump!

I got some tiny goodies from a student:

And, as usual, Maya had fun playing at Boom's house. 

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Tuesday

Timehop Tuesday has a better ring to it than Timehop Thursday, right?!?

I have some Christmas activity related Timehops today, but the first one is toddlers and babies, because toddlers LOVE babies. 

And Christmas program "singing."

And my favorite- from adult-only Ugly Sweater parties, to kids' church Christmas programs.