Favorite Holiday Memories

There were a few things the kids did that made this holiday season so much fun:

*Noah's obsession of Candy Canes. He only ate one candy cane before Christmas, but was completely obsessed with them. And in Noah language it was: "Can Caaaaaaane".

*Heidi singing Christmas songs. She could pick up on just about any song and would sing it over and over. One of her favorites was Ruldoph the Red Nose Reindeer.

*Noah singing Jingle Bells: "jiji bells, jiji bells, jiji way"

*Watching Heidi take over 2 hours to make her gingerbread house.

*Noah learning about Santa Clause. The first time we saw Santa (right before Thanksgiving) Noah was so scared he wouldn't even look at Santa. Not too much after that he loved Santa and every time he would see a Santa he would yell "Tanta".

*Watching the kids get so excited each morning over moving the snowflake on the advent calendar.

*Taking the kids to look at Christmas lights in Austin. There were a few houses that went above and beyond decorating. We were very sad that the Trail of Lights was not up this year (a yearly tradition for us), so we had to make due with seeing a few houses.

*Seeing Noah's disappointed face when he opened a gift and it was clothes instead of a toy, priceless.


*Watching Heidi pick a gift at the store, put it on the ground, and say: "here Noah, pick this gift out for me."

*Hearing Heidi say "pink bike with a bell" whenever asked what she wanted for Christmas. It's a good thing Santa came through with her request. The reason she wanted a bell is so she can warn people she is coming so they can get out of her way.

*Hearing Noah say the words: "Pipmas Tree" and "Merry Pipmas".

*Watching Heidi rip through all the presents as quickly as possible without even looking at what was in the box.



It is so much fun watching Christmas through their eyes. Having little kids at Christmas time is so magical and wonderful. These are just a few of the great memories from Christmas 2010!

Christmas 2010

I loved Christmas this year, it was full of memories. The kids were full of excitement over the entire holiday. Our Christmas started weeks ago when we went to Houston to see my 10 year old nephew in his first school play, A Dickens of a Christmas. It was a very cute play and I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go see him. While we were there we exchanged gifts with my sister and her kids. Noah's favorite gift was a dinosaur piggy bank. He sat on the ground for an hour putting coins in over and over. I took the plug out of the bottom so the coins would go straight through, it kept him busy for a long time.

The next weekend we traveled to Ft. Worth to spend the weekend with Ben's parents. We attempted to let Heidi and Noah share a room, but that did not go over so well. We exchanged gifts with "Nana and Papi" and had a great time there. Heidi got 2 new pairs of boots and has not worn any other shoes since receiving those.

Finally came Christmas at home. On Tuesday we went and looked at Christmas lights in Austin. There were some streets and houses that went all out. One guy takes 2 weeks off of work and devotes his 2 weeks to decorating the outside of his house. It was absolutely amazing. We'll go back there for sure in the next couple of years. Wednesday morning I took the kids to Walgreens to pick out presents for each other. Heidi picked out a little stuffed puppy and then found a little kitty cat that she wanted, so she put it on the ground and said "here Noah, pick this out for me." So of course I got the kitty cat as a gift from Noah to Heidi. She definitely knows what she wants.

Friday was Christmas eve and it was full of fun. We started the day by baking cookies for Santa, or as Noah says: "Tanta". I was really surprised at how well the kids did with helping get the cookies ready. We mande chocolate chip cookies, because Santa at the mall said that was his favorite. The kids rolled the dough into balls or some type of ball shape and plopped them down on the cookie sheet. And of course they got to test out the cookies once they were baked, just to make sure they were Santa ready. After that we decorated a cake for our birthday party for Jesus. The kids poured sprinkles all over the cake and had a blast doing it. After nap time we had dinner, then sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate his cake, and then got to open a few gifts. On Christmas Eve we exchange family gifts. The kids got gifts from each other and one gift from mommy and daddy.

Finally Christmas morning had come. When I went into Heidi's room to get her she said, "Santa didn't come." I asked why she thought that and she said, "because it's really far away." The look on her face was so sad. Then I told her that I had been downstairs and Santa did come and left presents for her and Noah. Her face completely changed and she was wide awake after that. I went and got Noah and all 4 of us headed downstairs. I wish I had been downstairs to see the excitement on her face when she saw the pink bike with a bell that Santa had left for her. That was what she had been asking for for months. Noah opened a gift and immediately wanted to play with it. Heidi on the other hand ripped open all her gifts before Noah was done with his first.

After all the gifts had been opened and we had breakfast my parents came over for the day. They brought in all their gifts and the kids had a blast with all the new things they got. We are very thankful for all the family that made the holidays a blast. The kids really enjoyed their Christmas and are all ready looking forward to Santa coming next year.

Pumpkin Patch

Today was such a fun adventure. Ben and I took the kids to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to visit the pumpkin patch. We spent a couple of hours there and had a blast. The weather was warmer than I was expecting so we all tired out quicker than expected, but had a blast while there. Before entering the pumpkin patch they have some goats, chickens, pigs, and other animals for the kids to feed hay to. The kids really enjoyed looking at the animals but had no interest in touching them (thank goodness). Next we went through the maze and we let Heidi lead the way. We did go around in circles at one point but finally found our way out.

For days now Heidi has been asking to go to the pumpkin patch so she could go on a hayride. So as soon as entered the actual pumpkin patch the first thing we did was head over to the hayride and a little girl had a big big smile on her face the entire ride. Noah had a great time on the ride too, but had trouble sitting still. He wanted to get up and walk around that ride. Half way through the hayride is a play place, so we got off and let the kids play for a while. They were able to climb the big hay stack, play bean bag toss, play tetherball, climb on the play scape, and run around in all the excitement. After all that play, we jumped back on the hayride and rode back to the front of the pumpkin patch.

We did some more playing, ate lunch, and then finally made our way to the big pile of pumpkins. Noah went crazy. He was so excited to play with the pumpkins. The pile was about 6 feet tall and he had no problem climbing up to the top and climbing all around all the pumpkins. His big sister followed him, but he was definitely the leader in this game. I'm pretty sure Noah was in Heaven with all those pumpkins surrounding him. He kept yelling "pumpan" and smiling big. Once we took lots of pictures and picked out our family pumpkin we let Heidi go pick a small pumpkin to paint. Inside a barn they have tables set up with lots of trays of paint. Heidi worked on her pumpkin very seriously while Noah tried to carry all the small pumpkins in the entire patch. He filled his arms with 3 or 4 pumpkins and said, "more more". The boy likes his pumpkins. Ben let him pick out one small pumpkin to take home. Since being home he has not let go of the pumpkin and keeps yelling, "pumpan".

Both kids had a great time at this year's trip to the pumpkin patch. I love having a family tradition and am already looking forward to the next visit.

Heidi's Birthday Party

Heidi had a great birthday week. Her birthday was on a Tuesday so I decided to spoil her that day. First I took her to get a mani/pedi at the nail salon. She was so cute sitting in the big chair getting her nails and toes painted. The ladies at the salon were so awesome. They painted her toes and put flowers on the big toes. Then they painted her fingers and put a flower on all 10 fingers. Super cute! Next the kids and I went to McDonald's for lunch. It turned out to not be the best decision. Because it was summer there were so many big kids in the play area and Heidi kept getting run over. We stayed in the play area only long enough for her to get a bloody fat lip, but then we got an ice cream cone to share. On the way to sit down, the top of her ice cream fell to the floor. It was like a scene from a movie. As soon as she saw the ice cream was on the ground she burst into tears. Once she calmed down she was able to eat what was left, which was still plenty of ice cream. By the time she left she was much happier and filled with yummy chicken nuggets and ice cream. Finally, for dinner she requested eggs and waffles with syrup. Easy dinner! So I made eggs and put the waffles in the toaster. She was a happy girl with her special birthday dinner. After dinner we let her open two of her gifts, her Leapster and Leapster carrying case. She was so excited about her gifts and started playing that Leapster like a pro.

Later in the week we had birthday party #1, a party with her friends from our playgroup. We had it here at the house and titled it Craft Day Birthday. I put a couple of Heidi's favorite crafts out on little tables for the kids to play with. For this party I made the "ice cream cone" cupcakes. Basically you put the cupcake batter in the cupcake tins and then put an ice cream cone on top, then bake. The cake bakes right into the cone. They are super cute when decorated. All the kids loved them and ate every bite of them.

Finally, on Saturday Heidi had her pool party! She was so excited about her pool party and all of her family that came in to celebrate. We held the party at our neighborhood pool and they have a very large pavilion that we reserved as well. The pavilion had lots of picnic tables and shade for those who didn't swim and was the perfect place to eat lunch and open gifts. It was the perfect setup. As soon as Heidi and Noah arrived at the pool they went right to the water. They love swimming and had a blast. After an hour of swimming all the kids came to the pavilion for lunch, gifts, and cake. Heidi got lots of great gifts and we are very thankful for everything she got. For the cake, this year I made Sandals Cake. I cut the regular size cake in half lengthwise and shaped each like a sandal. Then iced and decorated the cake to look like a cute girlie sandal. A piece of fruit by the foot made the strap of the sandal and it was done. It was a very cute cake and worth all the extra work it took.

The rest of the day Heidi kept asking to go back to her pool party. She had a great birthday week and I enjoyed getting to spoil my little girl a little. Thanks to everyone who made her week so special, especially those who traveled from out of town.

Noah's Bday Party

Wow, time flies. Noah had his first birthday party recently. It's crazy to think I have a 1 year old and 2 year old. His birthday party was a success and he had lots of fun. He was a little overwhelmed by the large number of people, so he was clinging on to his mommy most of the time. When it came time to open the presents Heidi had a blast tearing through all the paper and opening, what she thought, were her gifts. She still thinks all the toys are just for her... that's a 2 year old for you. It's so much fun seeing all the different toys and gifts different people bring. Each person gives something so unique that it gives a wide range of activities for the kids.

We actually opened gifts first so all the kids at the party would have fun toys to play with. That was such a good idea, thanks mom! We ended up having the party at our neighborhood amenity center, so there were no toys inside. There was a playscape outside, where Heidi spent almost the entire time there, but nothing for the younger kids to do inside. That's why we opened the gifts early, took all the packaging off, and let the kids play their little hearts out.

By the time we were ready for cupcakes Noah was full from the lasagna he ate. He didn't dive into the cupcake like we wanted to see... but he sure did have fun spreading that green icing all over his face, hair, and clothes. That's the way a 1 year old should play with his food.

We had such a good time at his party. I'm so glad our families and friends could make it. I was so excited my friends from MOPS could make it. Our kids are so close in age it's fun to see them play together. Now that Noah's party is all done with it's time to start thinking about Heidi's birthday coming up this summer!