Woznation

I’m not sure if this is really blog worthy, but we had enough people call or text to check on us, that I wanted to write a quick note —

There were some riots in Baltimore on April 26th-28th over the Death of Freddie Gray. He died on April 19th in police custody.  There were plenty of protests near the courthouse in the week prior to his funeral. Liz purposefully avoided going to any of the museums which would take her downtown, not because of safety concerns, but to avoid blocked streets and traffic jams.  Everything was mostly peaceful until Sunday the 26th, the day of the funeral, and then some crowds started to riot.  Still, there were only a few situations miles and miles away. But then at like 7 or 8pm things got worse downtown and started to drift eastward. There was a huge fire near Hopkins (about 2 miles from our place), with a lot of rioters, masked men with guns, etc. They closed Baltimore City schools (and Wils schools) on Tuesday as a precaution. We heard nonstop police and fire trucks until probably 2am that night. Originally Hopkins was to open late but eventually made the decision to close for the day. I was off anyway,  so it didnt really disrupt my schedule. On Tuesday, they had brought in the nation guard.  So we had people like this walking all over campus for the next few days:

They even closed the Os game to the public.  Unprecedented.

BALTIMORE, MD – APRIL 29: Chris Davis #19 of the Baltimore Orioles hits a three-run home run in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 29, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. The game was played without spectators due to the social unrest in Baltimore. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Baltimore is a big place.  Most of the city was unscathed. Everything was very quiet and calm in patterson park where we live. And everything seemed completely back to normal on Tuesday afternoon. We were out at the tot lot at 2pm and it was like nothing ever happened.  We never once felt unsafe. We did not see any violence first hand. The news was focused on a very small pocket of rioters that were nowhere near us. Life was very normal for us.

Thats not to say horrible things didnt happen in Baltimore.  There were plenty of unsafe neighborhoods, and the damage from the riots is having a crippling effect on certain parts of the city.  It was a very sad few days in Baltimore and the city is just starting to take steps to heal.  It will be awhile before things are back to normal for many people.

Read Full Post »

Oh man did the kids love Easter this year!  They loved everything that had to do with the holiday — easter baskets, egg hunts, candy, bunnies, coloring eggs, etc.  But we are still working on the ‘holy day’ aspect of Easter.  They started the weekend by doing egg hunts in the house with Liz and continued doing them the rest of the evening with Phil outside on our block. Phil would hide them in the neighbors planters, on car wheels, stair railings, etc.  City living provides slightly different egg hunts than I grew up with!

On Saturday we went to a larger community organized egg-hunt at the tot lot.  There were tons of people there.  And Wil and Evie were ready and knew what to do!  There were eggs EVERYWHERE.  Seriously – they must have had thousands. The toddlers went first and Evie kept picking them up and looking around and finding ‘MORE, ‘MORE’!  She was amazed!  Wil loved it too – especially when he discovered that most of the eggs were stuffed with candy or prizes! Phil and I might have opened a few for ourselves.

On Sunday we colored eggs.  Evie was really into it, but also insisted on doing everything by herself which ended up with lots of stains, and dropped, cracked eggs.

Then we attempted to go down to the promenade, but it ended up being too cold and windy.  By the time we got to the water, Wil was asking to go back to the car.

We planned the walk so that we could catch the tail end of Mass at St. Casimirs.  Last year I tried to go to church early so we could walk around and talk about Easter, but it was closed.  So this year, I figured I’d go when they were open, and just stay until it was empty.  But since the walk was cut short – and it was an exceptionally long mass – we ended up waiting at St. Casimirs for like 30 minutes.  Everyone was in the their sunday best. Except for us.  I was in jeans and a baseball cap, Phil was in a hoodie.  And we were just creeping around the back of church waiting for people to leave. Super classy. Evie finally had a meltdown and we had to get out there.  On our way out – they still handed us a little Easter pail with treats for the kids.  I felt like such a mooch.  We had good intentions, maybe next year we’ll get it right.

When we got home, we opened the Easter presents from the grandparents. Everyone ate way to much candy and finally went to sleep after their sugar highs came crashing down.

It warmed up later in the afternoon and we were able to get outside.  Overall, they kids loved all the activities and we had a great weekend. Hope everyone had a happy Easter!

Read Full Post »

6:30 – I wake up.  Phil had gotten up at 5 – took Barney on a walk, made coffee, and showered. I was able to say goodbye before he headed to DC for the day, then straight from the meeting he was flying to Chicago for an interview.  After Phil takes off, I get oatmeal ready for the kids, feed Barney, eat my breakfast and have one sip of hot coffee before I hear Evie. Its Tuesday, so I am off of work and Wil has school.

7:15 – I head upstairs to get the kids.  Evie refuses to leave her crib without 3 stuffed animals: Elmo, lamb, and doggie.  Wil decides he needs a stuffed animal, too, and chooses Lucy- Moosey.  We all head downstairs for oatmeal and Chuggington.  Wil uses the potty and I change Evie’s diaper.  While the kids finish up breakfast, I throw in a load of laundry and get Wil’s snack ready for school. The kids continue watching Disney Channel, Mickey Mouse is up next. I run upstairs to get dressed and hope the kids dont kill each other for the 10 minutes I am gone.  Luckily they are nice to each other and I didnt need to run downstairs a million times to police them.  I help them get dressed, brush hair, and change Evie’s diaper again.

8:15 – We are out the door!  Wil’s school is in Canton, only 1.5 miles away.  We head into his classroom and I discuss Wil’s recent speech evaluation with his teacher while Evie plays with the big kids.  Then its time for his class to go outside, so I have to convince Evie its time to leave – shes always hates leaving school!  This gives me hope that she will love it next year!

8:45 – Evie and I are back home.  I throw on some Monsters University for her while I unload the dishwasher, we watch the recycling truck come by, I switch the laundry over, take out the trash, bring back in the recycling can, and take a look at my to-do list. I change Evie’s diaper again before heading out the door to run some errands.

9:30 Evie and I run to the vet to pick up Barney’s special food, Evie loves the fish tank and all the other dogs there.  She weighs herself on the doggie scale – Shes 30 lbs!  (Wil is 34 lbs).  Then we head to Target so we can get milk, some plastic eggs for an upcoming community egg hunt, and a birthday card for my mom.

10:45 – Back at home, we watch a little more Monsters University.  We write Mom’s card, grab a snack, stuff the eggs for the egg hunt, restart the dryer. I find my nearly full coffee cup in the microwave.  I text with friends to see if anyone wants to get together for a lunch play date.  We agree on the tot lot right near Wil’s school.  I pack up a lunch for both kids.  While in the kitchen, I swear a smell something a little ‘off’ – I’m pretty certain there is a dead mouse somewhere, but not brave enough to go searching for it.  I light a scented candle and call our exterminator to come on Thursday (Yes, we have one of those.  His name is Sasa and hes amazing).

11:45 – One more diaper for Evie – and then we are out the door to pick up Wil.  Evie plays with all the other younger siblings while we wait outside for preschool 1/2 day dismissal.  Wil had a good day at school (hooray!).  We stop at the mailbox, Wil writes his name on Mimi’s card, then we send it off. I drop off the eggs at a friends house, and then we head to the tot lot.  Kids run around in between bites of peanut butter sandwich.

1:00 – We are back at home – we clean hands and butts – then they are off to bed! Evie sleeps in her crib and Wil sleeps in our room in the ‘big bed’. By 1:20 everyone is asleep.  Well – I’m not sure if Wil is asleep, but hes playing quietly, so thats good enough for me.  I grab some lunch, call my mom to talk about Maggie’s upcoming baby shower, buy a plane ticket for Evie and I to go to bloomington, answer some work emails, take Barney out, and grab the laundry.

2:45 – Wil isnt being quiet anymore – I bring him back downstairs and he watches a little spiderman while I run upstairs to shower since I hadnt had a chance to do so since Sunday night and couldnt during nap time since Wil was in our room.  I am able to shower and get dressed before Evie wakes up around 3:30.  Shes not excited about being awake. She screams through a diaper and throws 3 different types of crackers on the floor. I try to appease her with Monsters University again – and even that isnt working.  We finally settle on some a bagel and strawberries – her favorite.  And she sits quietly for 10 whole minutes.  Wil and I head to the back of the house to build blocks for awhile and Evie finally decides to join us.  At 4:30 we start to get ready for a fundraiser thrown by some friends at a local restaurant. Phil and I hardly go to restaurants with the kids – they just cant sit still long enough, and dont really like to try new foods.  So there are lots of things stacked against us, I knew trying to go by myself was a tall order, but I bring lots of toys to keep them occupied for long enough to eat some food.

5:00 – We’re out the door to Stackhouse – we are meeting a few of the friends we saw earlier at the tot lot, so I try to psych Wil and Evie up for sitting quietly with them.  But when we got there, no one was sitting down and everyone was just running around openly!  Score for the kids.  It was a fundraiser for juvenile diabetes, so it was very kid friendly.  Wil had a blast playing this hockey game with his friends.  I ordered some food but never had a chance to sit down.  The kids did not want to eat either – they were having too much fun running around.  Finally Evie had an epic meltdown over not being able to play the hockey game.  That, combined with no dinner, resulted in Evie laying on the floor screaming and crying.  Completely inconsolable.  We packed up the food as quickly as we could and headed home.

6:30 – We’re finally back at the house, after Evie screaming the whole way home.  Both kids inhale their food (as do I!).  After everything calmed down, I do another diaper for Evie and we cleaned up dinner.  Then we cut everyone’s fingernails and then had m&ms, a reward for the fingernails.  We played legos and then headed upstairs for bath.

7:30 – We start the bedtime routine.  While the bath fills up, we take off our clothes (this actually requires a lot of time and effort), putting them away in the laundry, going potty, brushing teeth, put the ‘glowing toys’ in front of the light, and lay out our PJs.  Then everyone goes into the tub. Usually Phil is in charge of bath time, and Wil lets me know that I am doing things ‘wrong’, and wants Daddy to wash his hair.  Sorry buddy.  We drain the tub and finally get out once all the water is gone.  We head into the room for PJs, a little play time and books.  Evie stacks blocks while I get Wil dressed, then we all reach Richard Scary.  Wil is really into the counting page – and likes repeating the ABC song.  I get the ‘glowing toys’ from the bathroom for Wil (some glow-in-the-dark lizards he got for Christmas), and retrieve the 6+items Evie is requesting for bedtime:  Elmo, lamb, dog, Hello kitty pillow, 3 ninnys, and a book. We sing songs and say goodnight.  Then Wil needs to go to the bathroom one more time.  Then we sing a few more songs and say goodnight for real.

8:15 – Done for the day.  Well – almost:  I take Barney out (I’m sure I fed him at some point throughout the day?).  I start the dishwasher and fold the laundry.  Phil calls and says he made it to the hotel in Chicago. We chat about the day and Evie’s stellar meltdown in the middle of stackhouse.  I eat 3 Reece’s easter eggs and head to bed around 8:50.

And thats a day in my life!  I think the last one I did was during maternity leave:  https://woznation.com/2013/07/20/a-whole-new-routine/  .  I did 21 diapers that day.  I was down to 8 in this post.  And dont really keep track of Wil’s habits, luckily he takes care of that on his own now.  But most importantly, I now get 8+ hours of sleep every night!  Life is definitely much easier now that they are both a little older.

We still had snow in early March, but tried to venture outside when it was above freezing. I was able to take a quick weekend trip to see Annakate who is expecting a baby girl in May. Our water heater broke for nearly a week, and we spent evenings boiling water on the stove to heat up the kids bath.  Phil braved the cold showers, but I went to friends houses before heading into work.  We went to the science museum one more time before our yearly membership expired.  I cut my hair.  We signed Wil up for another 8 week session of gymnastics. That was about it for March!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read Full Post »

Evie is a force of nature. I can’t say enough about how amazing she is. Shes so fiery and dramatic and crazy. She infuriating. Buts shes amazing! And hilarious. Did I mention infuriating? She is so many things.  She loves singing. She especially loves nighttime songs. I always have to sing at least 4-5 songs each night. As soon as I am done with one, she starts with the ‘Mommy, mommy, mommy’  or ‘Song, song, song’ and wont let me leave until I sing another one. She will let me know when I am done by saying ‘night night’ or ‘love you’. If those words are not uttered – then I am not done. And if I start to leave without her dismissal, meltdowns ensue. She likes to sing along with me, but repeating the last word of every line of each song. Twinkle twinkle little star – STAR. How I wonder what you are – ARE. Up above the world so high- HIGH. Like a diamond in the sky – SKY. Its hilarious. She pretty darn good at Wheels on the Bus, too! She loves animal books and making animal sounds. We are still working on colors.

She hates messes and is super dramatic about it. Anytime she sees crumbs, or toys spilled out, or milk on the table she GASPS and yells MESS and puts her hands to her face and runs to grab a towel to clean it up. One day at the grocery store – I went to grab some milk and somehow when the rest of them slide down in the case, 2 half-gallons toppled over the ledge and burst out all of the floor. Evie was beside herself!!!! MESS! MESS! MESS! I went and got someone to let them know what happened and they said they would take care of it, but Evie about lost it when we wheeled away without cleaning it up first.

She super obsessed with anything toy story right now. It’s the only way we can get her to stay still . We got a Buzz Lightyear toy for christmas from Aunt Kathy and she sits on the couch with it and watches toy story we DVRd – then freaks out when a commercial comes on – ‘I want to watch it’ she says – so you come over and fast forward through commercials. Shes so demanding.  Shes also very particular about what she wants to wear at any given time:  Exhibits A, B, C:

She loves to help me prepare dinner. She has to have access to the cutting board at all times. She now knows how to pull the dining table chairs over to the counter and climb up to help. So now everything on the counter is fair game for Evie. Which I discovered on an evening when I left some onions and a knife out while I went upstairs to help Wil! (Please don’t call child services on me).

Her favorite thing in the world is Wil and she will copy EXACTLY what he is doing and always wants to be within inches of him. Even when I put Wil in time out – she goes and pulls up a chair next to him and sits down. Its kind of adorable.  They are getting pretty good at playing with each other.  Their favorite thing right now is to take turns running and turning on and off the lights.  Evie will run over and turn them off and laugh hysterically.  Then Wil runs over and turns them on and laughs hysterically.  Repeat about 100 times. Even in her infuriating moments – I will definitely miss this age.

Read Full Post »

Wil is growing up so much and I’m so proud of him. As I have said before, Wil is our guinea pig, so I often feel like a lot of his short comings are our fault because we don’t know how to prepare him for…well, basically anything. He is constantly doing new things and showing us what he is ready for – and we are always impressed.

Hes much more in control of his emotions and actions. He is using his words more and more, instead of physical altercations. At gymnastics, even after saying ‘I don’t like it’, he will still participate, instead of melting down or crying in the corner. (That’s HUGE for him!)

Currently his favorite things are: seeing his breath in the cold, building towers out of everything, and playing make-believe. He is super interactive in all his play recently. He knows exactly what he wants to do and what he wants you to do, so there is a lot of direction from him: ‘You stay here, I go over there’. ‘I drive the spaceship – you go hide under the blanket’. Hes pretty opinionated in all things, actually. This morning, I asked him if we should go to storyville and he responded with: “Daddy stays here – wil stays here – evie goes to storyville and mommy goes to storyville – barney stays here”. Well okay then! (Update: we all went to storyville). Lately we have been working on names such as ‘Mommy’s name is Amy’ and ‘Daddy’s name is Phil.’ Who is your sister? ‘Evie’ – who is Evie’s brother? ‘Wil!’

He loves his ‘spaceship’ right now. It’s an old diaper box and a Mario cart wheel, but he loves driving it around outer-space and catching other spaceships.  He also like pretending to be a kitty – and likes to catch string and crawl around meowing. I love his imagination.   He also loves a new thing Phil has invented called a Wozniak Tamale (patent pending). Where he rolls up both kids in a blanket and carries them around.

He very independent these days and is learning to dress and undress himself.   He can use an adult potty without a step or ‘potty seat’ (much to my dismay!). Onetime before nap, I was putting Evie down and when I came out of her room, Wil said he had already used the potty and he did! I asked him ‘How?’, since we didn’t have the stool or his potty seat, and he said “I pulled my pants down – I climbed up – I was super strong (holding himself up on the seat) – and then I peed’.  Way to go, Wil!

Wil is also very sweet and affectionate. He loves to give hugs and kisses. And after he does certain things, like cleaning up his toys, he comes up to me and says ‘Mommy, I made you so happy?’ I love that he can even comprehend and consider other people’s happiness. Hes so great! Im actually excited for when preschool is out for the summer and I get to spend more time with him.

Read Full Post »

Wil and Evie are both at such amazing ages right now. Its getting harder and harder to leave them every morning. But I make the most of my Tuesdays and Thursdays with them, and we are doing as much as we can on the weekends. Except we’ve had snow on the ground for at least 3 weeks!! During the month of February Wil had like 5 out of 12 full school days. The rest were cancelled or on 2-hour delay due to icy roads, snow, or cold — Its been a long winter for sure.  On the plus side, Phil has been home a lot more – so we’ve had lots of family time.  Wil and Evie are getting pretty bored with all our normal indoor activities at home though. I cant wait until we can go to the park again. Spring cant come soon enough!

The kids loved Valentines day – we got them a new hutch for their kitchen and we made ‘cookie hearts’. They received lots of cards and presents from grandparents, too.  They enjoyed the bubble wrap the most. I had a nice birthday – Phil got cupcakes and we opened presents with Mimi and Pop-Pop on the TV. Phil and I also had a date night at the beginning to February. We checked out the new casino in Baltimore, right across from Raven stadium, and I won $70 at the black jack table! Then we went to a 3-hour dinner at fleet street kitchen — 4 courses, wine pairings, dessert….ahhhh. It had been a long time since we had done anything like that and will probably be a long time before we do it again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read Full Post »

Hooray!  A brand new year!  I have a special liking for the New Years holiday.  I think it is because we always spend our christmas ‘vacation’ traveling, and once we get back home, its nice to have a holiday in our own house, with our own food, and no make-up, or pictures, or plans.  I like to cook a special meal and Phil likes to play video games and we all just unwind.  The kids were perfectly happy back in their own beds with all their new toys.  Liz was able to work on New Years Eve, so Phil and I both worked half days and then met up for a quick new years eve date at the duck pin bowling alley.  When we got home, we kicked off New Years Eve with our own little countdown at 8pm:

There was a special ‘kids countdown’ on netflix that you could start any time you wanted.  It was like a 10 minute thing.  The kids ate oreos and we tried to make a big deal of ‘Happy New Year’ and then they were off to bed!

I went to bed shortly after them, ha.  But Evie woke up with a wicked cough at 11:30, after she went back to sleep, I figured I might as well go down stairs and watch the ball drop with Phil.  Can we just talk about the new years eve countdown shows for a second?  They are beyond horrible.  Phil and I switched back and forth between Ryan Seacrest, Jenny McCarthey, and Taylor Swift, And then there was Carson Daly, Lady Gaga, and Tony Bennett?!  I’m so confused on the groupings of these people.  Anyway.  It was bad.  At midnight I gave Phil a kiss and went back to bed.

The next day began our official Woznation Holiday.  We got up early and headed to the Science Museum.

Then I made a new pot roast recipe,  and we had our last gift opening with the kids.  Some of our family sent gifts to the house, so the kids had like 6 christmases!  After nap we did the gift opening and took down the tree.  Here is Evie mid-meltdown — you can tell how concerned we all are.  Shes a bit of a drama queen.

Finally happy with her new boats:

It was a really fun few days.  Unfortunately Jan started with me being swamped at work with a few extra projects I was asked to do as a ‘favor’.  Which led to me being really behind on other tasks until well into February.  So I spent lots of time here:

But would occasionally treat myself to things like this (Blue Moon Cafe!) Yum:

Other than that, we would do things on the weekends.  We let our aquarium membership expire – so we went one last time.  And then we also spent time at The B&O Train Museum, Storyville, at home making cookies, or getting Evie’s first hair cut!  We have been trying to find as many indoor places possible!  Winter has been brutal!  Its currently 7 degrees.  We had a few days above freezing, where we could hang out at the park – but have otherwise just hunkered down and stayed warm. (Minus the one picture of the beach from Phil’s work trip to Florida mid-January!)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read Full Post »

We got back to Indiana on Christmas Eve.  Even though Phil and I were exhausted, Wil couldnt be more excited for Santa to visit.  Wil was very specific on what he wanted from Santa:  a red car and a blue car. Occasionally he would also ask for a spaceship.  I thought all those things seemed easy enough, but when Phil and I went to target before we left, we couldnt find things that would perfectly fit the bill.  Therefore we ordered things off of amazon and Busia and Dziadzia bailed us out and wrapped up everything in time for Christmas.  Everything was perfect.  Wil and Evie woke up Christmas morning at the Wozniaks and opened stockings downstairs.  Wil got his red car and his blue car.  Evie loved opening everything, including her new pink hippo pull-toy.  And Dziadzia got his cocoa puffs.  Everything was right in the world.

We had another small gift opening at the Watkins where the kids got to see Grandma Bear and make Christmas cookies with Mimi:

And we got to give Barney his presents:

Later in the day Uncle John, Em and Sam arrived, and all the Wozniaks were back together.

I wish I had more pictures, but we were all too busy enjoying each others company!  Em brought a ton of beer from a new brewery she was interviewing at, and we all had a family taste testing.  And then the next day The Hendricks and the Troxels came down to visit.   We were lucky to have a few extra days in Bloomington before and after mexico to regroup.  The kids had the best time:

Its always a long trip to Bloomington but once we are there, its so great.  There are a million people to help watch the kids, Wil and Evie are always smiling and happy, I can always get some extra work done, and Phil and I take time for ourselves and see friends.  Christmas was extra special this year seeing our entire immediate family — It probably wont happen again for a very long time — But in the meantime, the kids always love to skype! We miss you all – Thanks for an amazing Christmas!

Read Full Post »

Ahhhh Mexico.  We figured, if it took the same amount of effort for us all to meet in Bloomington, IN – why not go to Mexico instead?  So thats what we did.  Wendy and family flew from Phoenix, Phil and family flew from Michigan, Andrew and family flew from Chicago, and we and my parents flew from Indy.

It was sooooooo great.  I was originally worried how we’d keep everyone happy without our normal food, schedule, beds, etc.  But really nothing matter once we got there.  My mom is a meticulous planner – so she had arranged for our rooms to be pretty close in proximity.  So when the kids napped, or went to bed early, we hung out a few rooms over with the monitor — it worked out perfectly!  I hadnt seen my sister or her family in a year, so getting the cousins together was especially awesome.  Wil and Luke loved playing on the porch in Mimi and Pop-pops room, and watching teeth videos (It was all that my dad had on his iPad, but turned out to be a big hit).  Wil is still obsessed with the beach, and Evie LOVED the pool (minus one mishap where I thought there were a few more steps in the pool, but instead I accidentally walked off a ledge and plunged us both under water…oops).

I wasnt sure how everyone would sleep with us all sharing a room, but some of my favorite moments of the trip were waking up with Wil and bringing him over to our bed and snuggling before everyone else was awake.  We would whisper about hearing birds and give each other Eskimo kisses.  Then, once Evie was up, we would put on our flip-flops and walk down to the buffet in our jammies,  fill up our sippy cups with milk and grab some danishes.  We would make our way back to the room and go out on the balcony to eat breakfast.  We would say ‘hola’ to everyone we saw and shoo away all the birds who came and tried to eat our food inches from our hands.

Nearly every nap time my parents volunteered to watch the monitor and get the kids up.  Phil got in a golf game, I got in a pedicure and massage and even worked out a few times. It was nice to still get a little solo adult time around the resort, in addition to hanging out with everyone.  Dinners were the toughest – we’d prefer to all be together, but our kids are not quite old enough to sit quietly and enjoy company for hours on end.  Phil was an all-star and took care of Evie almost every night, while the rest of us sat and had a nice dinner (Thanks Phil).  Only on the very last night did we think to put Elise and Evie next to each other in the high-chairs (which sounds like a disaster waiting to happen) but they totally loved each other, and held hands, and kept each other company the whole time.  Go figure.

On the first full day, we had our annual family catch phrase night (which is usually reserved for Christmas Eve).  We got the kids to sleep, grabbed the monitors and met in Mom and Dad’s room!  Its always a ridiculous, fun time.  The last day we all got dolled-up for family pictures.  We promised the kids lots of chocolate cake and ice cream afterwards if they kept their clothes clean.  We had an especially windy day – but were able to get a few nice shots. And the kids loved the treats at the end.

It was a really, really, really great few days.  Can we go back?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Read Full Post »

December was a lot of fun.  Wil really  loved ‘Christmas Time’ and I think it made everything so much more fun for the rest of us.  We started watching ‘Mickey Christmas’ specials on Netflix back in November, and the kids couldnt get enough.  They loved everything christmas related – decorated trees, visiting Santa Claus, presents, cookies, songs, lights – so many fun things!  It was so fun to spoil everyone with special things all month long. Tis the season, right?    Wil and Evie are actually still watching the Mickey Christmas specials – so its been a very long season for us 😉

Here are a few of the fun things we did:

Phil brought home a small tree from Wegmans one Tuesday night, it was the highlight of the week, I talked about it all day and they were so excited when he got home.  Evie loved the tree so much we had to move all the chairs into the basement until January – because she kept climbing up and pulling ornaments off.

Then Phil had a mini work trip to Chicago, but he got to see friends while he was there, so he had a great time. This kids and I hunkered down at home with the tree:

When Phil got back, we made a special trip to see Santa. We got all cleaned up,  including getting Wil a hair cut (which always ends with ice cream):

Wil was on his best behavior for Santa:

But Evie was not a fan. I still love the meltdown pics:

We celebrated ‘St. Nicks Day’ (A watkins family tradition).  The kids put their shoes out before bed and when they woke up they had a new christmas book!  That night, we had special evening with forts and hot chocolate:

Wil’s class had a field trip to a train garden, hosted at the highlandtown fire station.  I was able to take a few hours off of work to go chaperone (By ‘take a few hours off’, I mean ‘I left and no one seemed to notice’). Hanging out with Wil was way more fun:

Liz gave them their Christmas presents early.  They love the baby doll and race track.  She also got them special Mickey and Minnie hats with their names on them!  They are so cute, but I dont have a good picture with them on, yet.

Wil’s class had a special Christmas Program at school the night before we left for Indiana.  Both the Pre-K classes had been learning special songs to sing for the parents.  They sang an advent song, jingle bells, and we wish you a merry christmas.  It was really adorable.

My favorite part is watching all the other parents with the cell phones.  We are all so ridiculous.

After the Christmas program – we left for the Watkins family vacation to Mexico!!

Read Full Post »