January 1, 2014
December 28, 2013
Christmas Day
After a fun morning we headed out to the country. This was the first year in Grandpa & Grammy's new house! We made it there in time for a quick lunch and naps. They have a tradition of fondue for Christmas dinner followed by chocolate fondue for dessert. Kamden thought the chocolate fountain was amazing! Imagine that :)
Yes, seemingly endless amounts of flowing chocolate are a hit with this kid. Keep in mind he didn't actually eat this strawberry... just licked the chocolate off.
When Aunt S was in town to meet Brody, Kamden and S went on a walk and found a lot of trucks, diggers, bobcats, etc. Aunt S made it into a story book. Kam thought it was very fun!
G&G gave Kam a fishing pole! He LOVED it but we learned that is definitely a supervised activity... even without a hook on the end.
The kiddos had a really rough day. This baby, while adorable, would hardly sleep all day. Kamden took a short nap after over a hour of trying to get him to sleep. When both kids were still awake at 9 pm, we decided to throw in the towel and drive home. We had hoped to spend the night but it didn't work out... too many crazy days in a row and a new location didn't make it easy.
Yes, seemingly endless amounts of flowing chocolate are a hit with this kid. Keep in mind he didn't actually eat this strawberry... just licked the chocolate off.
When Aunt S was in town to meet Brody, Kamden and S went on a walk and found a lot of trucks, diggers, bobcats, etc. Aunt S made it into a story book. Kam thought it was very fun!
G&G gave Kam a fishing pole! He LOVED it but we learned that is definitely a supervised activity... even without a hook on the end.
The kiddos had a really rough day. This baby, while adorable, would hardly sleep all day. Kamden took a short nap after over a hour of trying to get him to sleep. When both kids were still awake at 9 pm, we decided to throw in the towel and drive home. We had hoped to spend the night but it didn't work out... too many crazy days in a row and a new location didn't make it easy.
December 27, 2013
Christmas Morning
We are very lucky to have all of our Christmas celebrations within about an hour of our house. This allows us to always have Christmas morning at home with just our family. It was a really fun year with Kamden. He knows who Santa is but doesn't quite understand what Santa means. I am sure next year will be even more exciting.
I didn't know that Santa is "supposed" to bring the "big" gift. I don't really know who sets those standards... and not sure I will stick with them but, this year Santa filled Kam's stocking with cooking tools to help Mommy in the kitchen and a harmonica. This kid thinks the harmonica is hilarious and he loves to help cook in the kitchen. In fact, today I asked if he wanted to help me cook dinner and he ran to the pantry to find his new tools and helped me cook the entire time I was making dinner.
Brody got some toys that he had not yet seen of Kamden's and a new play mat. Yes, we put used toys in our child's stocking. In our defense... we spent a lot more on the play mat than we did for Kamden for his first Christmas.
Kamden opened some new matchbox cars... apparently you can never have enough of these.
Little did he know, a big present went with those cars. In fact, the present was about as tall as him!
It is a 3 story garage for his cars. It includes a car wash, gas station, elevator, ramp, etc. Lots of fun for this kiddo!
It was a fun, relaxed morning. In the past, Joe makes me banana crepes but there was no time for it this year. We had to get packed up and headed to Grandpa & Grammy's house! (post on Xmas day to come)
I didn't know that Santa is "supposed" to bring the "big" gift. I don't really know who sets those standards... and not sure I will stick with them but, this year Santa filled Kam's stocking with cooking tools to help Mommy in the kitchen and a harmonica. This kid thinks the harmonica is hilarious and he loves to help cook in the kitchen. In fact, today I asked if he wanted to help me cook dinner and he ran to the pantry to find his new tools and helped me cook the entire time I was making dinner.
Brody got some toys that he had not yet seen of Kamden's and a new play mat. Yes, we put used toys in our child's stocking. In our defense... we spent a lot more on the play mat than we did for Kamden for his first Christmas.
Kamden opened some new matchbox cars... apparently you can never have enough of these.
Little did he know, a big present went with those cars. In fact, the present was about as tall as him!
It is a 3 story garage for his cars. It includes a car wash, gas station, elevator, ramp, etc. Lots of fun for this kiddo!
It was a fun, relaxed morning. In the past, Joe makes me banana crepes but there was no time for it this year. We had to get packed up and headed to Grandpa & Grammy's house! (post on Xmas day to come)
December 24, 2013
Christmas Eve
Look at me ... on top of things. I can't believe I am blogging about Christmas Eve the night of :) It helps that I have learned to keep things a bit more simple than in the past.
For Christmas Eve we were at Joe's Mom's house. We were there in time for a late breakfast (biscuits and gravy are a family tradition). Present opening happened before naptime for the kiddos. Kamden wanted to help EVERYONE open presents....
This "digger" was the second thing he opened for himself. I was almost certain we would never get past this one gift. It doesn't take much for a toddler :)
Nana recently spent a week with the Chimps at the Jane Goodall Institute in Africa. She didn't have a chance to buy much to commemorate this amazing experience so we got her a free-trade necklace from the Republic of the Congo to help represent her trip.
Kamden was completely obsessed with a kids Bosch power tools set. It was really representative of real tools. Here he is taking the chain saw to the Christmas tree...
Safety first! He, literally, fell asleep with these safety goggles on at nap time.
Group photo... not to bad for a rushed photo with very little effort!
For Christmas Eve we were at Joe's Mom's house. We were there in time for a late breakfast (biscuits and gravy are a family tradition). Present opening happened before naptime for the kiddos. Kamden wanted to help EVERYONE open presents....
This "digger" was the second thing he opened for himself. I was almost certain we would never get past this one gift. It doesn't take much for a toddler :)
Nana recently spent a week with the Chimps at the Jane Goodall Institute in Africa. She didn't have a chance to buy much to commemorate this amazing experience so we got her a free-trade necklace from the Republic of the Congo to help represent her trip.
Kamden was completely obsessed with a kids Bosch power tools set. It was really representative of real tools. Here he is taking the chain saw to the Christmas tree...
Safety first! He, literally, fell asleep with these safety goggles on at nap time.
Group photo... not to bad for a rushed photo with very little effort!
Pre Chirstmas at the Farm
The weekend before Christmas we all headed to my parent's house to celebrate. We were there in time for lunch and naps. It is fun to watch the kiddos get SO excited about Christmas. The first order of business post-nap was presents!
This funny kiddo insisted on wearing every piece of clothing he received. In this picture he is wearing 4 layers and he refused to take them off for hours.
The kids received a bunch of Radio Flyer stuff.... scooters, wagons (or "monster truck wagons" in Kamden's words), and more. It was a huge hit!
B is very into games right now. We play a lot of UNO. We gave him a new game this year... Spot it. Quite a bit of fun for kids and adults alike.
We got a healthy dose of ice and snow overnight. Luckily, we had all planned to spend the night and were prepared to be around for awhile. The kids loved playing in the snow...
This funny kiddo insisted on wearing every piece of clothing he received. In this picture he is wearing 4 layers and he refused to take them off for hours.
The kids received a bunch of Radio Flyer stuff.... scooters, wagons (or "monster truck wagons" in Kamden's words), and more. It was a huge hit!
B is very into games right now. We play a lot of UNO. We gave him a new game this year... Spot it. Quite a bit of fun for kids and adults alike.
We got a healthy dose of ice and snow overnight. Luckily, we had all planned to spend the night and were prepared to be around for awhile. The kids loved playing in the snow...
December 22, 2013
Trains & Santa
I think it will be an annual tradition to visit the Union Station trains and Santa at Crown Center. Last year, K loved it but this year was even more fun. Brody was with us, of course, but not super involved quite yet :)
After the trains we went to the "Big Bird's Adventure" at the Union Station Planetarium. Very cute but Kam wanted to dance around. After the show, we went to Fritz's for lunch. It is pretty much the perfect restaurant for kids. The food comes super fast... and it is delivered by toy train. What more is there?
After the trains we went to the "Big Bird's Adventure" at the Union Station Planetarium. Very cute but Kam wanted to dance around. After the show, we went to Fritz's for lunch. It is pretty much the perfect restaurant for kids. The food comes super fast... and it is delivered by toy train. What more is there?
The Crayola fun area while waiting for Santa...
The "scary" Santa. We all had to be in the picture just to get Kam to participate. Heaven forbid we get a smile...
December 17, 2013
NYC
Joe was working in NYC Sunday - Thursday and I left the kiddos with our fantastic families and headed out of town! It was a much needed break. Joe's travel schedule has been bananas the last few months. We didn't have much of an agenda since this was our 3rd trip together and Joe has been countless times for work. And honestly, we just didn't have a lot of time to research. Our biggest priority was sleeping :)
All of these photos were taken with my phone. I didn't think I was going to need a nicer camera for anything I was seeing... and I was right.
Here is a quick breakdown of what we did (mostly for my memory):
Thursday - I got to hotel around 7:30 pm and Joe had a glass of wine waiting... good man.
Dinner at Anejo and drinks at Long Room and a late night search for pizza that was futile.
Friday - Rockefeller Plaza. Saw Willie, Meredith, and Al from the Today Show. Fought some crowds to check out the Lego Store and some Christmas window displays at the fancy department stores. Got a picture with a greedy Cookie Monster for our little Cookie Monster back home. Headed over to Brooklyn. We hadn't had much to eat all day and it was 3 pm. The pizza at Grimaldi's was epic. Not sure if was actually epic or if we were starving. Luckily, we walked back across the bridge to help burn the epic pizza. Tried to visit the WTC Memorial. That was an epic adventure of a different sort... as in an epic failure. Regardless, we headed back to the hotel and then out for dinner at Hudson's Clearwater and drinks at Village Tavern.
Saturday - We didn't plan a ton for this day because the forecast was for snow. And it did...all... day.... long. We went to the Meatball Shop for lunch but didn't get too full because we wanted to hit up some places in Chelsea Market. We shared a sandwich from Num Pang (amazing Cambodian sandwich shop.... wish I could open a local branch). We did a little shopping and then went to buy tickets for a movie (American Hustle). The time we wanted was sold out so we had over a hour to kill. We were in Times Square because only a few theaters were showing this movie. In our defense, it was STILL snowing outside... so we headed next door to Chevy's. Yes, we were those people... drinking beer at a ridiculously overpriced chain in Times Square. I told Joe we needed to pay in cash so it was like we were never there. He said that if we were paying this much for a couple of beers... he wanted the rewards from the CC company. HA. Then we went to THE. BEST. THAI. PLACE. Pure Thai in Hell's Kitchen. Amazeballs. We proceeded to head across the street for a few drinks at a gastropub after dinner.
Sunday we just slept in, and went to lunch down the street from the hotel. Joe graciously gave me his first class upgrade. Once again, Good man :)
We were so excited to get home to see the boys! They were lovingly cared for by multiple family members and had a great time!
All of these photos were taken with my phone. I didn't think I was going to need a nicer camera for anything I was seeing... and I was right.
Here is a quick breakdown of what we did (mostly for my memory):
Thursday - I got to hotel around 7:30 pm and Joe had a glass of wine waiting... good man.
Dinner at Anejo and drinks at Long Room and a late night search for pizza that was futile.
Friday - Rockefeller Plaza. Saw Willie, Meredith, and Al from the Today Show. Fought some crowds to check out the Lego Store and some Christmas window displays at the fancy department stores. Got a picture with a greedy Cookie Monster for our little Cookie Monster back home. Headed over to Brooklyn. We hadn't had much to eat all day and it was 3 pm. The pizza at Grimaldi's was epic. Not sure if was actually epic or if we were starving. Luckily, we walked back across the bridge to help burn the epic pizza. Tried to visit the WTC Memorial. That was an epic adventure of a different sort... as in an epic failure. Regardless, we headed back to the hotel and then out for dinner at Hudson's Clearwater and drinks at Village Tavern.
Saturday - We didn't plan a ton for this day because the forecast was for snow. And it did...all... day.... long. We went to the Meatball Shop for lunch but didn't get too full because we wanted to hit up some places in Chelsea Market. We shared a sandwich from Num Pang (amazing Cambodian sandwich shop.... wish I could open a local branch). We did a little shopping and then went to buy tickets for a movie (American Hustle). The time we wanted was sold out so we had over a hour to kill. We were in Times Square because only a few theaters were showing this movie. In our defense, it was STILL snowing outside... so we headed next door to Chevy's. Yes, we were those people... drinking beer at a ridiculously overpriced chain in Times Square. I told Joe we needed to pay in cash so it was like we were never there. He said that if we were paying this much for a couple of beers... he wanted the rewards from the CC company. HA. Then we went to THE. BEST. THAI. PLACE. Pure Thai in Hell's Kitchen. Amazeballs. We proceeded to head across the street for a few drinks at a gastropub after dinner.
Sunday we just slept in, and went to lunch down the street from the hotel. Joe graciously gave me his first class upgrade. Once again, Good man :)
We were so excited to get home to see the boys! They were lovingly cared for by multiple family members and had a great time!
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