More Pictures

Johnny and Holiday sharing fish crackers.

So cute.

Johnny absolutely insisted on being placed in the block container.  He's much too big for it.

Johnny playing with Thomas and friends.

Holiday's Winter Fest Pre-K program.  She's right in the middle looking straight at us.

Here's more of her classmates.

Close-up on the penguin!

Holiday had her school program last Thursday.  Johnny and I made it just in time (I had to stay home with him again that day...was sick myself anyway).  But it was way cute.  All the kids filed in and she was last but she didn't want to stay on the sidelines so she walked to the middle of all the kids.  During their little songs Holiday would dance and sway away and at the end she would add a big flourish.  She definitely had some swagger there.  Some of the kids had to hold their masks on because they have grown since they had made them and the strap broke.  Holiday's lasted till we got to the car, David repaired it later.  Then the Boat Show started up this last weekend so David's been working a lot. Unfortunately, Holiday caught that cold virus too and was sick with a fever all weekend.  Johnny was feeling better but it was hard to get him to leave Holiday alone.  He kept wanting to steam-roll her on the couch.  It took everything I had to get him off and because of that it sheared my abs back open.  That sucked...and it hurt.  It's not as bad as I was originally but my splint is worn out so I ordered a new one today.  At least I know what to do this time.  That happened on Saturday.  Monday I stayed home with both kids to try to get the coughing under control.  We ran that humidifier 24/7.  They didn't have any fever at all yesterday or today so we're past that hurdle.  It's just a little coughing now.  But everyone is back to work/school/daycare today.  The Boat Show's last day is this Saturday so this coming weekend won't be as difficult.

Catching up on Christmas Pictures

Here's Holiday and Peyton sitting together watching the other dancers at the Christmas recital.

Johnny likes to put bows on his head.

And he likes to hang out in Holiday's room.

Christmas Eve at Uncle Chris's house.

Uncle Chris is sitting with Johnny.

Johnny opening presents!

And now Holiday (sitting next to Ayden and Sammie)

Left to right: Uncle Nathan, David, Holiday, Aunt Jannie, and cousin Ayden.

The girls, Kaylie and Sammie, opening presents while Grandpa Jet is playing Santa Claus.

Johnny playing in Ayden's room.  Can't get enough of those bows.

Christmas morning...Sorry did that picture give you whiplash?  I wasn't exaggerating about the mess from opening presents.  It was overwhelming but we got through it.

But everyone was happy. The kids were in their matching jams.  Holiday is wearing her backpack with baby in the sling.

Everyone was having a good time.

They got a double sided easel amongst the plunder. Chalkboard on one side...

...magnetized dry erase board on the other.  Both sides have clips for attaching paper.  Pretty cool.

More additions to Holiday's Cozy Critters set.  How happy was she about the expansion to her "bunny house" (as she calls it)?

Pretty happy indeed.

This is the zoo play set that Johnny liked so much.

It's way fun.

An amazing amount of toys have gone down that slide.

Johnny got a hold of Holiday's backpack.

And her Dora rain boots as well.

Well it took me about a week to get my digestive functions back to 100% after that virus.  Now David's feeling it.  I just hope it's not as bad as I had it and the kids don't get it.  Johnny's been fighting off a cold for a couple days hopefully he'll be better soon too.  I was able to get to my backyard over the weekend.  I was starting on cleaning out the flower beds back there.  I was focusing on the dead annuals and raking when I pulled some rogue grass and was surprised at how easy it was to pull out.  I don't normally get any yard work in this early in the year so I figured grass roots haven't started growing yet so they must be all at the surface.  So I did a pass at pulling out all the grass clumps out of all the planter beds.  I probably won't be able to get back out there for a while with the Boat Show coming up, so hopefully I can in a couple weeks and maybe tackle the front yard.

Uh-oh...tummy bug

It's been pretty much business as usual since my last post.  Except for me dealing with some kind of stomach bug all weekend.  I'm starting to feel better today but I sure hope no one else gets it.  But it's not like I was going to get much done outside this last weekend anyway with all the wind and rain we've been having.  So I had enough energy for errands, basic chores and football.  Then I was either curled up on the couch or with a heatpad on my stomach.  Hopefully this will pass soon so I can get back to my to-do list.  Maybe even the weather will cooperate.

Growth spurts

I think Holiday is having another growth spurt.  Dance class resumed last week and I could barely get her ballet slippers on her.  Two weeks off...that's all it took.  Her dresses are shorter on her now as well.  They still 'fit' her though and it's still leggings season so they will still work until warmer weather hits.  So I will change her size to 5T and her shoe size when I figure out what it is.  On a funny note, the other day when David picked Holiday up from Pre-K she was singing, "What does the fox say?"  For those of you who don't know what that means I'm sure you can find that video on YouTube or something.  When David played the video for her at home she was pretty excited about that.  So now I hear that phrase being sung around the house more often, by either David or Holiday.  Johnny still fits his 2T fine, his growth spurting has been more cognitive than physical.  He has so much vocabulary now.  He's getting much better at communicating his needs.  And man, Oh man, does this boy like cheese.  And spaghetti.  And bananas. And cheese.  And apples.  Did I mention cheese?  He is such a good eater.  Man...the kids are so different.  He's been REALLY into books lately and the Thomas the Train books seem to be his favorite.  Last night he dumped all the Thomas train tracks set out of it's plastic bin and crawled all in there with a blankie and a Thomas book and stayed in there for quite some time 'reading' his book.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...Back to work

Whew...we all made it!  It was nice having some time off to spend with each other and the kids.  We had the extended family celebration on Christmas Eve at Uncle Chris's house.  Had lots of treats (kudos to the girls for the mini pies) and lots of room for the kids to run around and play in.  The teens and adults played two rounds of Wits and Wagers and like Thanksgiving at Aunt Kelly's house, it was another rousing success of a party game.  They intend to buy it and I think Kelly was too.  Too much fun not to play it again.  Christmas morning was extremely impactful to the kids.  After Holiday had checked to see if Santa ate his cookies and milk (of course, he did) we started in on the stockings.  She was a little disappointed that he didn't take his picture of a Christmas tree that she made for him.  We were unaware that the picture was for Santa and assured her that we would mail it to him for her and that was deemed as an acceptable solution.  We got the kids up at 7 am and by 9 am we had finished opening the presents and the first sweeping of gift wrapping was disposed of.  The clean up was an ongoing process of course since we didn't open every toy out of its packaging all at once.  But at one point our entire living room was a sea of toys and torn open gift wrapping, bows and boxes.  You could barely walk.  The kids really made out on toys this year with all the stuff from aunts and uncles, grandparents, honorary grandparents let alone us.  They should be set for quite some time.  Holiday really liked her new dolls, Minnie Mouse, and additional sets to her "bunny house".  Johnny really liked the fisher price zoo play set we got him.  He actually got in Holiday's face and told her "NO!" when she tried playing with it.  That's the first time he's stood up for himself to her.  He was so happy playing with it that he would stop to clap his hands.  They will probably change what their favorite toys are in a couple weeks, they do it all the time.  Yesterday Johnny got out his tractor/farm animal toy he got for his birthday so you never know what will click them and when.  A lot of times it's a delayed reaction.  I was really happy with my new purse and cookie press and David is enjoying his helicopter, games and skateboard.  Besides Christmas we made it to the new Rainier Beach Community Center pool twice.  It was a lot of fun for the whole family.  Johnny and Holiday have been practicing their kicking as well as splashing.  There's a cool 'river', kids area and all that there and a water slide that David and I take turns using.  You have to physically hold your nose closed before you hit bottom otherwise water will force its way up there.  It's just so fast that you hit the bottom fairly forcefully.  My booty always touches the bottom of the pool when I land.  Doesn't hurt but that surprised me the first time, I wasn't expecting to be completely submerged.  David's exit off the slide is an impressive wave since he tends to slide the surface of the water.  I think I drop straight down so there's not so much splash.  They also have family restrooms there so that helps with getting little ones dressed and undressed.  And bonus...it really tires the kids out so they sleep great at night.  Holiday went back to Kids Co on Monday and Tuesday and David went back to work.  Johnny's daycare was closed those days so I stayed home with him.  I got the Christmas decorations and tree down on Monday and finished cleaning all the floors on Tuesday.  It was easier to clean after all that stuff was put away.  We went for a walk around Green Lake yesterday which was nice.  And today everyone is back to work/school/daycare...woohoo!  David intends to take down the exterior Christmas decorations by this weekend.