A Blessed Christmas

I'm hoping you had just the Christmas you were hoping for....we were blessed with that this year! Of course, it wasn't difficult to beat last year so maybe that's why this year seemed so cheery. I admit that I am guilty of sometimes posting about the glory days and not discussing the less than glamorous times, which I'm pretty sure is exactly what I did last Christmas. I mean, it was Aiden's first Christmas....was I really supposed to write about how bad it was? It's still a pretty terrible memory so yeah, I probably should have, instead of trying to dig up whatever fluff I ended up writing. Short summary - last year Aiden got a black eye shortly after we arrived in KS, he was SO sick the entire time we were up there, our family was having "growing pains" of figuring out how to do Christmas since everyone is grown up and married now, and we drove back on Christmas Day and spent part of it stuck in an ice storm in Oklahoma. (A drive that's normally 1 1/2 hours took over 4....and Aiden was not happy for a large portion of that.....)

So, last year set the bar pretty low, and unfortunately this year's trip up to KS started off right where we ended last year. Our old friend the ice storm came back to visit. We were stopping at every rest stop, banging ice off the wipers (after having to buy new wipers at a gas station), just so that we could get visibility while driving. The quiet, peaceful conditions meant good sleeping for Aiden....(or not)....so he unhappily hung out in a whiny awake state in the back seat. A little after midnight we decided to stop for the night because we had at least another 4 hours to go, and while Ryan and I could recover from 4am night, no way, no how could Aiden recover from that, for at least a week. So the Super 8 in Blackwell, OK it was. Yuck. I'm not even going to tell that story because it takes too long and is too icky. But Aiden slept so the overall goal was achieved. 

We were back on the road by 6am and that's where the bummer Christmas story ends. Really and truly. No sarcasm. The rest of the trip was pretty perfect. Lots of family, friends, fun, relaxing, laughter, and an overall healthy (like no sickness, not healthy eating), happy time. We've had a rough go in our house the last six or so months, and Christmas was just what we (or at least I) needed. Praise God for the blessings of Christmas this year and for the most important blessing, that began Christmas thousands of year ago. 

Aiden's new "toy"....a pen he named 'tickle'.

Aiden really perfected the art of saying 'cheese!'

Aiden went out in the snow 3 days in a row. Loved it on day number one, fell on his face on day number two and quit being a fan....tolerated it on day number three. This is day two...I could also mention it was about 10 degrees and windy that day. Weather that chilly often ruins some of the fun (in my warm blooded opinion....)

One thing that remained consistent, despite how he felt about playing in the snow. He loved eating it. (I know, I know, it's surprising that my kid likes to eat something....it's not like he tried to eat his slinky from his stocking or anything...)

Merriest Christmas Wishes!

Meeting Mr. Claus

Our first encounter with Santa was.....not quite what I expected. Maybe it was the abruptness of it all. Perhaps watching me walk away while leaving him on a stranger's lap. If only Santa had given him his candy cane pre-picture time instead of post. Whatever it was, Aiden's reaction to Kris Kringle could be considered a bit tragic...and also kind of comical.

We actually thought it would be more of a role reversal, with Miss Lylah being upset about the Santa situation, but she held it together fairly well. Not sure that we got a smile from either kid, but at least there was only one, short-lived breakdown.

Don't worry though, there were plenty of other activities that resulted in smiles from the munchkins. All in all, I think they enjoyed their afternoon. Hope your last few days of the Christmas season bring you plenty of smiles!

Mmm, chocolate

I'm not sure why I still give this kid sweets. Ever since Halloween, candy is the one thing Aiden voluntarily requests. His sweet little voice will say "can-ny, can-ny?" But that's just the thing, he's so sweet about requesting the sweets, how could I not cave in every now and again?

Do we have to disrobe to eat messy sweets like chocolate? I mean, it makes clean up easier so, yeah. Look at how happy that kid is about the deliciousness all over his face. (yes, that is chocolate on his eyebrow....)

One fun milestone we hit yesterday that I wanted to make sure to jot down....Aiden started putting two words together. His first "sentence", if you can call it that. Are you on the edge of your seat, wondering what he said? Alright, I'll tell you: "More please." (requesting more food) The theme of this post - our kid likes to eat!

O, Christmas Tree!

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? I hope so! We enjoyed an entirely too quick trip up to NY to see family. It was fun, enjoyable and relaxing. Only one small unfortunate occurrence.....and that was Aiden came down with RSV. I think he actually picked it up from daycare before he left, and it just became apparent when we were a few thousand miles from home. The poor kid cannot catch a break these days. He was supposed to have tubes put in and his adenoids taken out today, but the RSV set us back a month on that. From what I hear of other cases of RSV, Aiden's is a pretty mild case so we'll be grateful for the small victories at this point.

We put up our tree Monday evening. Aiden stayed home with daddy on Tuesday (mommy on Monday). I think he got a little stir crazy from being in the house for a few days. When I left for work Tuesday morning, this is what the tree looked like:

When I came home Tuesday evening, it looked like this:

Pretty sure our little culprit who caused the gate (you can see him sizing up the tree in the first photo) enjoyed the tree a little more than Ryan that day. I'm just glad to see Aiden has some Christmas spirit....makes his momma proud!