Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas

It has been a whirlwind experience getting ready for Christmas and celebrating it this year. I cannot believe Matthew and I were still shopping on Christmas Eve day.  Seriously?  Matthew took the reigns on wrapping this year, for which I was thankful.  I hate wrapping, but I love to watch people open their presents. This year was extra special having Auntie Peta with us, but not having Nannie and Poppy here to fully appreciate the excitement and knowing the boys will never be two again at Christmas was bittersweet.  What a perfect age for the excitement of Christmas!

The beginning of the week was a quick trip back to Orlando to enjoy Sea World at night with Nonnie, and then the Magic Kingdom again, and then Sea World one more time before Peta leaves.  It was a great little vacation with Nonnie, Papa Pickles and Auntie Peta.  The boys were awesome travelers once again, especially when it was so cold and we spent some long hours out and about.  We also celebrated a little Christmas with twin friends and that was extra special, too.  How lucky are we to have found such wonderful MoMs and their wonderful children?  I know how much happier I am with all of them in my life. Then, one last trip to Busch Gardens with Peta, too, and a last visit with Santa as well.  The boys loved climbing all over Busch Gardens, but Raleigh got a little over whelmed in the Sesame Street tree house, but he survived and everyone still had lots of fun.  Raleigh went on the roller coaster with Peta, but Gus decided he didn’t really want to go, so we had fun watching them roll around instead.  Than, we went driving around looking at Christmas lights the night before Christmas Eve and although it took the boys a while to figure out what we meant by just looking at lights, they did finally get it.  Whew, I thought I was going to have to jump out of the car if Raleigh asked “where we going?” one more time!  The little monkey was adamant that it was fully appropriate to say “Happy Halloween” the entire time we were looking at Christmas lights as well.  I guess he has quite the affinity for Halloween!!!   Other little jewels from our sons’ mouths included a segment about how Raleigh’s penis was big, and of course, according to Gus, Santa himself was singing every Christmas song that we heard on the radio.  How precious?

We were having a lovely time Christmas Eve opening presents and watching the boys play with all their awesome new toys (mostly diggers/tools/fire trucks/and musical instruments), but when we finally got the boys to sit down for dinner, Gus told us his tummy hurt and proceeded to puke all over the table.  Joys of the holiday.  My good friend Jennifer has always told me it is not a holiday until someone pukes.  As a mother of three, she is so right!!  Besides the throwing up, both boys were acting as happy as clams.  Gus moved into real big boy territory though, because he was able to tell us his tummy hurt from that point on, and walk himself over the the toilet, step up on his step stool and vomit into the toilet himself.  Wow, that is another sign they are growing up, right?  Raleigh was fine and ate a full dinner, so we thought, maybe it was just too much excitement, but alas, no,  we heard Rals throw up in bed around 2:30 am.  That was his only vomit incident, but both boys are not eating and are pretty lethargic.  Although, yesterday, it was nice enough to get outside, so we did get a few walks and rides in the neighborhood in and you would have never guessed they were sick. 

Here is a little slide show of our holidays.  For those of you reading this blob, thank you.  I hope you enjoy a glimpse into what the boys are up to, and the crazy things they come up with all the time.  We all hope you had a magical holiday season, and and even better New Year!

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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Auntie Peta Arrives!

Well, it has been a few weeks already, but we’ve been having so much fun, we really have not had time to blog.  Auntie Peta got here just after Thanksgiving and we’ve had a great time with her, and Daddy even got a week off for us to explore a bit of Florida with her, too.  Here are a few highlights in photos.  The boys are enjoying jumping all over Peta…although I think she’s learned that they are a heck of a lot heavier than they were the last time she visited a year ago.

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welcome peta sign outside

airport, welcome peta (2)airport, welcome petaairport, welcome peta (3)airport in stylepeta jump on petepeta and rals in sepia

Here’s a quick view of our ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express – how fun, but how cold???!!!??? The boys also got to play on some bouncy houses, their newest obsession!

Here are a few photos of the boys’ first trip to the Magic Kingdom, thanks mostly in part to another free pass from Miss Stacy – you rock!!!  The boys did great for being there all day…we even slipped over to Epcot for a few hours, and their favorite part of the day was the Spaceship Earth ride.  Being a Space Camp alum, I LOVED that they were hooked on space, too!!!! The fireworks were not their fave, but we all loved the view of the castle in lights with fireworks overhead.  We are still kids, after all!

 

While Auntie Peta, Daddy and Gus were shopping, Raleigh and I stepped out for fresh air – hello claustrophobia!  The dance competition in Downtown Disney was just beginning, and here was the result…enjoy the videos.  Yes, Raleigh won, of course!

Raleigh shakes it.
Wait…they’re clapping for ME???!!!???!!!

boys with abby and cookieclimbing with peta (2)peta and the boys, climb all over!

Santa at Busch, complete with zebra pants and leopard trip coat…two trips, and neither resulted in much smiling.  Still adorableWinking smilegnr on santa's lap by kimsanta...trip twosanta, trip number tworals drives as lion eats!rals with lion eating behind him

In other news, we have the boys in their first pair of 3T pants.  The 2T jeans from last year are just too short, especially on Gus man.  Thankfully, Nannie and Poppy sent some Uggs, so we can hide the short pants in the boots, but today, they are styling some great pants that actually go past their ankles.  They are HUGE in the waist, even with an adjustable waist, but they’ll do.  Gus has officially jumped a shoe size.  He is now measuring an 8.5; whereas, in August, he was still in size 7.  Raleigh, he is at a 7.5, but I know he is about to sprout up too!  They are both tall enough to ride the roller coaster at Busch Gardens in the Elmo section, and they have done so a few times already with Auntie! 

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