Month: December 2010

Heidi, Andy, Maddie, Mike, Carissa, and Emelia joined us for a kid-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration. We all provided munchies to share and had a great time watching the munchkins.

Did I mention everyone was gone by 8:30? Wade and I put Alex to bed, cleaned up the kitchen, and relaxed the rest of the night on the couch!

I love socks. I especially love patterned socks – stripes and dots are my favorite. It has been such fun to have little feet and an excuse to buy even more socks!

Abram couldn’t even take the time for pants!

We do our best playing in our pajamas:

The fireman hat was Wade’s as a child and his parents gave it to Alex for Christmas. He’s not interested in putting it on his head (it’s heavy), but he loves to look at it and turn on the sound.

Wade had off work today and we spent the day unpacking, doing laundry, running errands, etc. The biggest tangible accomplishment was putting together Alex’s new wheelbarrow. He loved helping Dad and couldn’t wait to fill it up with toys. Thank you Aunt Emily!

By now the Christmas cards should have all been received. Merry Christmas.

Santa dropped by Gram’s house and left some goodies for Alex. He wasted no time in testing out his new toys:

Then we headed to Granny and Papa’s to spend the rest of the day. Alex has discovered the fun in opening presents. I believe he has been a part of every gift opened this year.

The final gathering of the day was back at Mom’s house with the Upshaws. Alex’s new tunnel was a big hit with everyone!

And because we’ve had a crazy couple of days, Mom gave us our stockings right before bed:

For lots more Christmas pictures see the Picture Tab and look under “Alex – Month 22”

First Christmas: We spent last night at my Dad’s and woke up to a family breakfast and presents. Alex found a tractor under the tree and loved riding it around the house. His feet don’t quite reach the pedals, but that didn’t slow him down at all:

Then Dad and Laura had another surprise – ponies! A friend had been looking for a new home for two ponies their children had outgrown. Dad and Laura happily added them to their herd of horses. The ponies haven’t been ridden in a while but did pretty well with Dad holding the halter tightly. Too bad we didn’t bring Alex’s hat and boots from Halloween!

Second Christmas: Our next stop was the Burch hotel suite. Judy, Jerry, and Emily are staying at a hotel instead of with Granny and Papa. Jerry had skillfully arranged the presents to create a tree:

Third Christmas: The third stop was my Mom’s house. Mom and I did a little cooking while Alex slept. He woke up just in time for presents before our evening company.

Fourth Christmas: My Mom’s side of the family has always gotten together for dinner and presents on Christmas Eve. Alex had a lot of fun play with his bigger cousins and helping everyone open their presents:

We had a lazy morning at Gram’s house. Alex did a little cooking, opened a present early (he wanted to and Gram always says yes), and did a little dancing:

Then B (my Dad) arranged for Alex to see some diggers up close and personal.

The funniest part of the outing was when Alex found the scrub brush. He wanted to clean all of the trucks and pitched quite a fit when we had to go home and leave the brush. The entire way home he cried “brush” “brush”.

Alex loves to help me cook. Gram has a new kitchen just his size and Alex loved it.

Alex has hated snow all winter. He cries when even a few flakes are on his boots (see here). Today I handed him his own shovel and suddenly snow is lots of fun:

Wade didn’t stop with making Alex blocks for Christmas. He also made him a dump truck.

When I saw how cute it was I requested two more – one for Riley and one for Abram.

Original idea from Sam Johnson.

Riley and Nicki came for breakfast and playing this morning. The boys loved the trains and played with them all morning:

Wade has been helping two boys in the the neighborhood of the Community House make a table for their Mom for Christmas. Wade found one on craig’s list and the boys have been working hard to refinish it.

Tonight they came over to put the finishing touches on the purple table – stenciled dolphins:

Wade decided that we needed Christmas cookies after leaving church. We all picked one out at the grocery and enjoyed them before eating lunch.

Alex learned a new word this week – present. We started the day with basket gifts from my mom. Alex loved his new puzzle and Wade’s safety glasses:

To reduce the amount of presents in our car for Kentucky we decided to have our family Christmas tonight. Alex could hardly sit for the stocking picture after seeing his new trucks.

The best part was watching Alex open the blocks Wade and I made for him:

Wade and I planned a date night while Alex stayed home with Amy.

Wade and I had an awesome dinner at Coerper’s 5 O’clock Steakhouse before heading to see Tron – in 3D at the IMAX. Great night!

Today is Abram’s actual birthday (Now he’s three). We joined in for cake. Alex loved Abram’s new toys and is having a little trouble understanding why Abram gets to go first with them.

We rarely play in Alex’s room, but that is where he wanted to be all day today. His favorite game was to pull all of his blankets from his crib, lie down, and say “night night”.

I didn’t realize Alex knew we had a Christmas card holder on the wall. I gave him a copy of our Christmas card picture and he immediately wanted to put it with the others.

I’d really love a flashlight for Christmas. I keep stealing Dad’s and already broke Mom’s.

Love,
Alex

One of my favorite holiday activities is to bake. The first round of Strawberry bread has been made and delivered. Round two later this week.

When Alex first started exploring my pantry he claimed a bag of black-eyed peas. Today the bag got a hole and I decided to let Alex play with the peas. What a great idea! It entertained him ALL day long.

And this is what my living room floor looked like at the end of the day:

Today we had lots of snuggles in the Burch house:

Trains are still one of Alex’s favorite things to play with. We hear “train” and “Thomas” a lot around here!

Alex and I went to play with Maren and her girls this morning. Elise and Alex had a hard time learning to share. Elise was very possessive of her babies and Alex tried to be possessive of the train. (Elise is actually trying to give me a big smile in the picture)

In the end we all had fun and took turns.