Home for the Holidays (Part Two -- Finally!)

Christmas Eve. look at their little faces, bright with anticipation. thank goodness xander had stopped puking by then, (but just barely) poor guy. he had some chicken broth and said "this is the yummiest dinner i've ever had!" we were blessed and LUCKY that no one else got the evil jersey puking flu.

Christmas morning! alexander is obviously thrilled that santa did indeed bring him a "race car ramp". it took the better part of the morning for daddy to assemble it. but it was awesome...you might even say "wicked awesome".

hadley got a doll, "tammy". she also got those cool bottles that magically make it look like the baby is drinking it. in fact, she found these in her stocking before anything else and played with just the bottles alone for a good 10 minutes before she even realized there was more.

the completed "race car ramp with double loops". see? wicked awesome! the cars rev up and you wouldn't believe how amazingly fast they go! in this configuration (yet to be duplicated since arriving home), the cars race each other and the checkered flag spins to point to the winner, which is a nice feature, because they go so fast, sometimes you can't tell who is the winner!

a couple days later, we went to the new children's museum at gateway. it was a ton of fun for the kids and a great way to kill a few hours...or several...or all day and still have the kids crying and begging to stay as you drag them out to the car.

alexander in the construction zone.

hard hat hadley.
hangin' in the heli...sorry, i couldn't resist. the pull of alliteration was just TOO STRONG! i'm sure some of you understand, while others of you think i'm crazy. it's okay, i'm used to it. seriously, though, this was really cool...a full-sized helicopter on the roof (lifeflight) for them to play in. we had to kick two big kids out after about 30 minutes so our little un's could have a turn. where were their parents, i ask????

what alan would look like as a muppet...a girlie muppet. sooo adorable!

alexander's favorite exhibit, bar none, was the water exhibit. you just basically put ping pong balls in the water and they would flow down different paths. i couldn't get a good picture of him playing here, because he was having too much fun to even LOOK at me. notice his shirt. it got worse. he was here for at LEAST a solid hour. good thing that cute brown argyle sweater he had on earlier was "too hot" because he soaked this shirt as well as his undershirt. they DO have hand-dryers near the exhibit, but be smart and bring an extra shirt. :)

now onto hadley's favorite exhibit:

the whole time xander was in the water, hadley was shopping in the little grocery store. i LOVE this photo, the pursed lips, the wondering just where to begin, the look of needing to get down to business and get the shopping done! i've had that look myself many a time. she was very particular in her shopping, browsing all the aisles, picking up products and examining them. several items were inspected and returned to the shelves. she ended up with: lots of plastic strawberries (cleaned out the produce dept.), 2 donuts, and many, many slices of orange plastic cheese from the deli counter. this is funny because hadley is a cheese monster! i can't grate any without her asking for several tastes. she also can eat strawberries non-stop for days, and is much more of a sweet-tooth than alexander. hence, the donuts. she did have a big, plush flower, but reconsidered her budget, and returned it to the flower stand.

she unloaded all the groceries for the check-out girl (another little museum patron), who dutifully rang them all up. hadley then pretended to pay her, loaded it all back into her grocery bag, and was gone in a flash, clearly headed for a specific destination, which was a mystery to me. of course, i followed her at a safe distance. she was oblivious to me, lost in her own life and her own tiny agenda.

she arrived at the play house and put all her groceries away in the kitchen, then got her cooking supplies together and went to work. "making ice cream". she was still oblivious to me, and only left the house after much persuasion from me AND from grandpa. she could have played in that one place for hours! i highly recommend this museum, and also recommend that you just avoid the ogden playhouse museum. no comparison!

stay tuned for part 3, and possibly part 4, followed by birthday gift brag and organization showcase!

meanwhile, please show TOMMY his belated (but amusing) birthday wish, and enjoy a few moments of high culture, courtesy of hadley. it's easy, just click here.

Home for the Holidays (Part One)

We survived the trip to Utah for Christmas, and although we have been home for less than a week, I already have people pestering me to update! The nerve! In my defense, I have been a busy, busy, girl this week. I shouldn't bore you with the details, but I will anyway. First of all, why am I using all these capital letters? that's more like it!

in the past week i have:
gone on a quickie trip to the grocery store to get by for 2 or 3 meals
taken down and put away all of the Christmas stuff (involved several trips up and down the world's steepest staircase and a ladder in the garage for the tree)
unpacked 6 suitcases!!! sorted and put away all the various STUFF we came home with
reorganized alexander's closet (that's where Christmas stuff goes)
reorganized hadley's closet (had to move some books from toy area, see below)
reorganized hallway "kid's craft and game cupboards" (literally took me ALL DAY yesterday beause it also involved organizing and moving some stuff from the main floor under-stairs area)
reorganized toy area
gone on a MAJOR shopping trip after planning the month's menu
reorganized pantry (to put away aforementioned groceries)
reorganized kid's bathroom cabinets
taken care of sick kids -- xander was home for 2 days with a fever, now hadley is sick. oh, and so is alan. trust me, just stay away from him when he takes high doses of cold medicine.
*SIGH*

so, i can' imagine WHY i haven't gotten off my lazy bum and blogged! oh, pictures pending.

now that you all know i HAVEN'T been slacking, without further ado, i present

CHRISTMAS 2006

here is xander at the ward Christmas party with a special guest. hadley couldn't attend that night because she had a fever, so we stayed home and did a craft project. i'm a little sad i don't have a photo of her with santa -- she would have been into it this year, but last year she was crying her eyes out.

alexander and lexie enjoy the program. isn't lexie a cutie! shout out to her for picking us up from the airport. (don't worry, she didn't drive, but WAS on the welcoming committee)

alexander and his drunk-looking daddy. rachel, what was IN that punch? LOL.

one of hadley's uh..."creations". we find stuff all over the house like this all the time. pillows, soup cans, candles (unlit, of course), coasters...you name it. she arranges them in these symmetrical vignettes. (ding-ding! 10-dollar word!)

a lot of you know that the day BEFORE our flight, i got a call from the school at 9:15 am saying that alexander threw up on the bus on the way to school. nice call to get. poor buddy is notorious for tossing his cookies! he is just PRONE to it. i called a pediatrician who is in our ward only to be told that i should expect it to last for 3-5 days! fun stuff going around.

he was a trooper! after a blessing and some sleep (but still sick as a puppy) he braved the trip sick. here is a shot of him at the philly airport. poor guy!

note the (weak) smile and the puke-bag clutched in his chubby little hand. he is showing off one of the sea-life finger puppets i surprised them with. (go ikea!) it was a LONG wait at the airport, because we arrived ridiculously early. 2 pm for a 5:30 pm flight. we got through security in 15 minutes flat and waited...and waited...little buddy threw up just once in the airport. (thank goodness for ziploc!) and twice on the plane (towards the end) after sleeping almost the entire way. whenever we asked how he was doing, he smiled and said "great!" even though he felt horrible. he didn't complain once! the closest he came was in the airport when alan snuck off to find some food -- he threw up and told me he wanted to go home. after that, he snuggled down in his moon blankie and slept almost until boarding.

here is miss hadley. i love this shot...it exemplifies her to a t! wild eyes, crazy hair (too busy playing) and holding up her finger like her brother did -- nevermind that it lacks a puppet! hers were playing in the windowsill the whole time! she was awesome on the plain, but wouldn't fall asleep until final approach, which left her REALLY cranky when we woke her up to de-plane. there were a few tense moments in the middle of the flight, but masking tape saved the day (thanks k! you rock!) yes, she literally played with masking tape for 45 minutes!

here is another airport shot. one thing that made me so happy this trip is that several people told me how much hadley looked like me, and no one has EVER told me that before. i think i can begin to see it in this photo.

when we arrived in utah i took many DEEP breaths of cold, DRY mountain air! i had been suffering with a cold here since october, and i think the drier air was key in finally getting rid of it! go utah! it was also SNOWING when we landed, so i was a happy camper. it was a nice ending to an incredibly long day.

stay tuned, more to come....