Christmas Continues -Anglesey Style!

The holiday cheer continues this week - and as always we seem to be having more than our share of fun.

Tayne was excited
and Pallas too,
about seeing their cousins Lindsey and Megan (and of course Uncle Scott)!
There was lots to catch up on and chat about - so naturally the Nintendo DS set was called into play...
Lindsey and Megan had fun pictochatting (sending each other little drawings and scribbles) with the help of their Mom (Aunt Jen) and Dad (Uncle Scott).
Tayne even managed to join in the chat from time to time,
Meanwhile, Pallas was content to get some girl time with Aunt Jen and counsins Lindsey and Megan - there was lots of girl power over on that side of the couch!
After the day of fun, we were all pretty much feeling as tuckered out as Pallas, but we were glad to get the chance to see everyone for the holidays and have a chance to play.
Play-do, Nintendo, and Dinosaurs - hooray! It couldn't have been a more wonderful day!

A Merry Christmas Day!

A Merry Christmas to All!
Well Christmas at Grandma Sharon & Grandpa Dan's is winding down - time goes too fast on visits, and this one was no exception. The kids had an especially fun time - Tayne got to help with some baking & decorating and Pallas got a lot of lap time with Grandma.
This year Tayne got to hand out the presents - it's funny how many with his name ended up getting handed out first (wink,wink)
but Pallas managed to get a few things
and I think Grandma and Grandpa win "best gift" according to Tayne and his new Baby Alive - she's toted as "the baby so real" so here's a side by side comparison - Which one is Pallas? Which one is Baby Alive? And can you tell Tayne loves them both?

Everyone had a wonderful time (ok, Pallas looks a little annoyed in this one, but 4/5 are smiling and majority rules)And after a while, even Pallas found something fun to do (crinkle, crinkle!)
SO it's been a very Merry Christmas with all the hospitality at Grandma Sharon's and Grandpa Dan's, we love and thank them for sharing the Holiday
-both putting us up and putting up with us!

2 month check-up

Yesterday was Pallas' 2 month check-up.
Her current stats :
Weight: 13 lbs, 6 oz (95%)
Length: 24 inches (95% -and no, length does not include mohawk height)
Head: 38cm (25% - I know, the 25% seemed troubling to me too, until I found out that 38cm is 25%, but 39cm is 50% and 40cm is 75% so I guess if it's not bothering the Dr. and she's doing fine we'll just accept it and buy small hats ;) )

She seems to be doing well developmentally (not that 2 month old babies do that much anyway) and she's pretty healthy (of course now I say that she'll probably get some kind of cold or sickness over night) and happy.

I can't wait for her first Christmas!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

Well,still no camera - it turns out Christmas is a difficult time to actually buy a camera - it seems the ones I like are pretty popular because every store I tried to buy one in was sold out of what I wanted. I'm sad to say I did fall for a poor recommendation from a sales guy and bought and tested a Samsung L730 - that was a horrible camera, so it went back the next morning. I guess that will teach me to wait and buy what I really want next time, hopefully I can find it before Christmas.
The exciting news this weekend - Tayne finally decide it was time to buy a bicycle! It's probably a bit small for him, but we wanted something that he could easily get on and off and manage at least while he's learning to ride (hopefully that will minimize the falls) & he really seems to like it so far - sometimes it's a bit of scramble to grab Pallas and my stuff before he gets the bike out of the house for a ride, but I love all the exercise I'm getting walking around with him while he rides. Oh, and by the way -he looks so adorable riding it!! And, it's small enough that we can bring it to the Grandma's houses for Christmas so he can ride there as well, so we'll have some confirmation of that opinion soon. It would have been a Christmas gift, but he decided rather spur of the moment that he would like a bike, and since it's taken us forever to get him to even consider it we decided we had to induldge him a little so he wouldn't lose enthusiasm for trying it between now and Christmas. It made for a few surreal moments this weekend though - The four of us making our way through around the block, Tayne riding his little red bike, Troy and I walking along either carrying the baby or pushing the stroller - I see families doing this all the time & think they are so cute, but I never really pictured us doing that, so to actually be that family was a little strange. I guess now there's 4 of us I'm going to have get used to the idea of us as a little family doing family things instead of us just doing things and bringing Tayne along or us going along with what Tayne wanted to to do. -Norman Rockwell, eat your heart out!

Christmas is coming!

No fancy picture today - sadly it seems our camera is suffering from some sort of lens error -personally I thought is was bad timing on the camera's part because it's the perfect time of year to be replaced, but Troy and Tayne love it, so I think we are going to see if it can be repaired. -I'll probably buy myself a less fancy camera just so I can take pictures, I've been wanting one anyway & I finally found one I'm happy with the shot-to-shot recovery time, and that is so simple looking on the outside that Tayne really doesn't want much to do with it ( When we were looking at the cameras in the store and I tried show it to him for testing and his opinion he took one look at it and actually seemed insulted I would try to get him to use such an unimpressive camera. So since I'm looking for one I don't have to share I think I found a winner -Merry almost Christmas to me!) Speaking of almost Christmas, I can't believe it's only 11 days until the day! I know it, would have been cooler to point out 12 days to CHristmas, and really I meant to write this yesterday when it was 12, but Pallas was a little fussy last night and by the time Tayne went to sleep & she settled down my momentum had all been used up. Last weekend I thought I was doing pretty good managing all the holiday stuff, but now I'm starting to see I may be a little behind...it't interesting how much extra time I have to alot for another kid - I didn't think having two would be much different, and I've been pretty good at organizing all the standard baby tasks (things like extra laundry, organizing diapers and bottles, etc.) into my routine without adding much to my regular work, but I guess I hadn't accounted for the tag team effect - where one kid desperately needs help with something, then when you think you have that one squared away for a while and you think can get back to what you were doing, the other one desperately needs something after which the first kid has finished whatever and now needs your attention for something else. It's not been overwhelming or anything, but it certainly gives me a fresh appreciation for how much everyone else with two or more kids actually accomplishes by any sort of deadline. (Translation, if I'm mailing you something this Christmas, feel free to be impressed if it makes it there on time!) Well, I guess that's enough of an update and rambling for now - I'd better go work on our Christmas cards while the house is still quiet. By the way, I love the ones we've recieved so far - especially the one with pictures! It seems like all the kids I know are growing up so fast & turning out so cute!

What should the weather be like for an accurate recreation?

Last night we took the kids to the drive through Bethlehem City a local church puts on every year - it's a pretty fun to see they have a little village set up with merchant stalls, a tax collectors office, the inn with live animals outback (they have the most gorgeous donkeys every year) and the manger area all in about a 200ft stretch and they direct traffic around either side. It was around 8pm at night but it was still unbelievably hot and muggy, but the people of the city didn't seem to mind much - they were probably enjoying it because those costumes didn't look very warm (which is probably why most Christmas pagents are held inside). On the drive home I got to thinking about last year when we went to the same event and the weather was really cold and rainy; the actors looked pretty gloomy that year, and I'm pretty sure the manger area had a space heater...naturally, my thoughts turned to wondering what the weather is like in the real Bethlehem (West Bank) this time of year, and since my bringing up probably makes you wonder too - turns out for next week at least, it's highs in the 60's lows in the 40's - So there's your little tidbit for the week to keep that holiday spirit up! Mine is getting there...

On the commercial side of stoking holiday spirit this week, I bought one of those little holiday balls from Jack In the Box - he's been busy making the rounds in our photos...
He does seem to add a festive touch - with that little string of lights wrapped around his head and tinsel in wrapped around his neck, it reminds me of how I looked putting up the outdoor Christmas lights.

Lucky for me there's no photos of that...

Highlights from a visit to Santa

It's that time of year, although you wouldn't know it from the 80 degree weather. Tonight we headed out for a visit with Santa. Here are some photos (of course) and some higlights...

1. Tayne comes home from and outing with Troy & sees Pallas' outfit - "Oooh, Pallas you're dressed like a Parade!"

2.Tayne has to eat dinner before we go - the rest of us get to see "fast eating," which as far as I could tell was the same speed as any other eating, but with the addition of Tayne telling us, "I'm not ready to go, but this is fast eating."

3. We go to see Santa - Tayne, "Which one is Santa?" Troy, "He's the one sitting in the chair by the tree." Tayne (looking at a tray with like 100 cookies left on it and a family of 3 each taking one cookie), "Hey, those people are eating all my cookies." Val, "The cookies are for after Santa, get back in line."

4. We make it to see Santa - Tayne hugs Santa. Santa & kids pose for a picture. Santa to Tayne, "What do you want for Christmas?" Tayne, "Presents."

Ho,ho,ho!

Rollin' with my Homies..

As you can see, it’s been a bit of a lazy day around the house for some of us. I’m at the tail end (I hope) of my cold or whatever it was – Unfortunately, last night I lost my voice which is super annoying since I can’t give any directions or get after anybody who is misbehaving (Tayne or Troy)- You really never notice how much you say in a day until you can’t speak. – No drive thru food, or pre-pay gas for us today, which was ok because I couldn’t holler at Tayne if he got away from me so I didn’t want to go on any extra outings. Phone issues weren’t too bad either; we don’t get many calls & with caller id and voice mail I could at least hear what I was missing, also with the wonder of cell phones I could just text if I really had to get a message across. I thought I had it pretty much all figured out … then 3pm rolled around and that school bus dropped off Tayne’s new best friend –the kid next door . Not only does he actually live right next door, he’s also the archetype kid next door – the one who’s always standing technically out of the road, but with that look that makes you afraid he’ll leap behind your car as you are backing out of the driveway, the one who when you see him outside he’s standing around not really doing anything wrong, but in a way that makes you peek out your window to see what he’s really doing when he doesn’t know you are watching (yep, still nothing much…) - basically he’s the one that makes you mutter, “stupid kid” or “I’m glad that’s not my kid” – normally not a bad thing in a neighborhood –who doesn’t begrudgingly accept a Dennis the Menace even if it’s just so you won’t remind yourself of that grumpy Mr. Wilson, but now it’s my kid standing right next to him and his ill conceived ideas – I know, wonderful huh, but that’s boys growing up for you, I guess. I can take it in stride, but it does require a change from my regular policy of preconceived notion and apathy about what goes on outside from 3:30 to 5pm to a more proactive one consisting of direct attention, covert surveillance, and the occasional addition of a “new rule” to stop incredibly stupid or potentially pain inducing behavior ( -ex “New Rule –We don’t throw sticks directly up in the air and look straight up while trying to catch them.”). As you can imagine, having no voice made this afternoon particularly exciting – luckily Pallas was sweet enough to sleep and not need too much, and Tayne was kind enough to come back to the porch when I waved him over for “new rules” (Today’s new rules??? - “We don’t cross the street or run around the neighborhood without shoes on. “ and “If you want to look at plants in other people’s yard, look at the plants at the vacant house that has been for sale for over a year, not the identical plants at the house where the guy is a landscaper and actually cares what his yard looks like…” –([unspoken] stupid kids! ) – Ugh! I hope I get my voice back soon!

The holidays with Val...

Ok, I realized that there wasn't one picture of me on this whole picture filled thing! So here I am - the baby is looking away because Tayne had been flashing us with the camera and I didn't want her to get upset. Things here are going well, but busy - I had a bit of a cold the end of last week and over the weekend, but I'm on the mend now & luckily Pallas didn't get very sick -she was a little fussy, and I suspect she and Tayne are the ones who gave the cold to me, but they weren't too affected by it so I won't complain too much. Since I haven't done much this week and the picture is me this time, I thought I'd blog some little know holiday facts about me.

Tammy sent me this stupid chain email where you fill in the blanks and send it around to other people that you want to hate you, well in my delirious sickness I actually filled it in over the weekend -so I thought what better place to share it than here :

Welcome to the Holiday Season edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you... 'Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I love going old school- Wrapping paper,and lots of scotch tape - my wrapped gifts are probably 35-40% tape,not counting the sticky stuff on the back of the multipule bows I slap on for good measure and to cover the tape that makes it to the top of the package where tape shouldn't be -all of which is why I usually use gift bags the rest of the year...
2. Real tree or artificial? I love real trees, that's one thing east Texas has going for it -love those pine trees, although Tayne won't let me plant one in our yard because he's scared of falling pinecones.For decorating, fake -low matinance,bug/sap free, and I can turn the decorative lights on throughout the season without having to deal with the irrational though it may be, fear of a dry tree catching fire from a warm light and sending CHristmas up in flames; as a compromise though, the bulk of my filler ornaments are pinecones (no pine scent though, it seems Tayne is not a fan of that either).
3. when do you put up the decorations? Tree- As our new tradition, weekend before Thanksgiving. Since we travel for the holidays, if it's not up before we leave on the Thanksgiving trip we can't do it until the weekend after we get back; which would be ok if the kids hadn't seen me put up Grandpa Terry's tree on Thanksgiving weekend and want to know why I don't want to put our tree up the minute we walk in our door late Sunday evening after driving 5 plus hours home and even though we still have to get everything from the car into the house and everything in the house ready for Monday ... so, instead of having to explain why I'm not the enemy of Christmas while unpacking from our trip, we put the tree up early. Lights and outdoor decorations wait until the first weekend in December.
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day- down with the tree, up with new calendars.
5. Do you like eggnog? Taste, no (blech!) but I like the idea of it, it's very seasonal/limited time only so it's one of those things you associate with the holidays whether or not you like or use it.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I've been racking my brain on this one, and nothing really sticks out, though I'm sure at the time whatever I asked for was deathly important...I think I'll leave it at that, because the only other thing that comes to mind is from a gift exchange party we had in high school -there was a $5 limit (yes, I know I'm dating myself -$5 went alot further back then...) and I ended up getting a Vanilla Ice cassette single of "Ice, Ice, Baby", one of those bags of Brachs peppermints from the grocery store, and a recipt showing he had spent the required $5 (actually it rang up to $4 and something, but he included the change in the bottom of the store bag it came "wrapped" in (if you call tying the top of the bag in a knot wrapping) -I know it seems like a bad gift, but I found the apathy and grudging participation in the mandatory gift exchange funny, and the best revenge was playing that stupid tape everytime my friend rode in my car-"All right stop collaborate and listen, Ice is back with my brand new invention, Something grabs a hold of me tightly,Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly Will it ever stop yo I don't know ..." (probably not)
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Hummm, uh isn't that the the whole point of the holiday? I'm always confused by those people who want to turn Christmas into something secular, I figure the jokes on them though; they may take away the symbols of the holiday, but the meaning of the season is everywhere and they can't help be affected by that.
8. Hardest person to buy for? MY husband, actually he's easy to buy for, but really hard to keep a gift hidden from - he swears he doesn't go looking for them, but I don't remember a Christmas when he didn't know what I was giving him before Dec. 25th...
9. Easiest person to buy for? Someone with a list. -PS none of you have given me a list...
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I wouldn't say it was bad, probably more funny/horrifying at the time - one year when I was around 6 or 7 I got this doll that had makeup that you put on her and was supposed to wash off so you could put it on her again later, well the bright reddish orange lipstick stained her lips the first time I put it on and wouldn't wash off with anything - I was so disappointed that her face was ruined pretty much after the first time I played with her that I was really annoyed that whole day - also, to this day I'm leery of red lipstick...I guess that qualifies as a pretty bad gift.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? hummm, I didn't know email was an option, do people really do that?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Does Dr. Suess' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the 1968 cartoon,not that awful Jim Carry version) qualify as a movie? Well, I'm going to count it anyway.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Hard question to answer; I don't re-gift, and I never return presents to the store - I always feel like if someone went to the trouble of selecting a gift for me they either thought I'd like it, use it, or that my life in general would be better in some small way for being the owner of such an object, and I respect that - on the other hand, I'm not much of a packrat - if there's something in my house that I'm not using or planning on using it's probably going to get passed on to someone who could get more use out of it - local shelters and charities are great at connecting things with people who really need them.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Fruitcake.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? As colored and blinky as they come - I like my trees exciting.
17. Favorite Christmas song? "Feliz Navidad", although "Ice Ice Baby" is a close second...
18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? Travel, travel and more travel- For me the ultimate excitement of the holidays isn't the opening of gifts or seeing loved ones, it's that last 10-15 min. of the drive home after being out of town for a week or two and the wondering just what you'll be coming home to - Did the house burn down? Were we robbed and the neighbors either didn't notice, didn't care, or were in on it? Will field mice yet again have made their way into the house, thereby necessitating a midnight run to the store for glue traps?...(as you can imagine the list of questions goes on - to think, as a child I never knew the holidays could be such a time of wonderment for adutls too!)
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? That's a dumb question, of course I know, I have kids - kids always quiz you on that stuff...that and Pokemon; personally I'm happy when December rolls around and there focus turns to learning everything they can from me about reindeer, instead of Pokemon which I know verry little about and would prefer to keep it that way.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One each on Christmas eve, usually something from the person who lives farthest away or who can't be with us -it gives us a chance to think about them, and it's a good tie in to the real 'reason for the season' (after all, wasn't Jesus the the first and best gift from someone who couldn't be here...) so Christmas Eve can have some balance between anticipating those gifts and Santa & remebering what Christmas means.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? That it's 80 degrees outside -peppermint just doesn't taste right in mild weather, and no matter how many "holiday" shakes fast food places come up with, they'll never convince me otherwise.
23. What I love most about Christmas? Assuming you me other than Jesus,it has to be the whole gifts/giving process - the anticipation of what you want, he surprize of getting something unexpected, the fun of buying something special for other people, the excitement on a child's face when they get something they really want,and the way you feel when you give to those who have a greater need for not just frivolus gifts, but basics like clothes,blankets,food, etc. - It's just a great time to remind yourself and involve kids in thanking/appreciating those people who work for or with you, expressing your feelings toward family and friends with thoughtful gestures, and realizing there are people all around you who need so little to be happy -it makes your thankful that whatever you have, you really have so much more than you actually need, and it reminds you no matter how insignificant a gift might be, to the right person it's the whole world.
24. Favorite Television Christmas show? A Charlie Brown Christmas - What's not to love!?! It's got dancing, a sad tree, Linus telling the Christmas story- all rolled into a mere 30min. with commercial breaks...That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown!

There, now you know more than you wanted to about me and the holidays, don't worry this weekend coming up has lots of holiday stuff going on, we'll be back to more cute stories and pictures of the kids, I promise... :)