So Long!

To say "So long" to 2012, we partied with the Smith's, Perrins', Hamlin's, and Palmer's, with a brief interlude at the Thompson's. We chatted, we ate (a lot), and we played games. We attempted to put Shawn to bed, but that failed miserably. The Smith's live off base, and we left a little later than we should have to easily make it to our gate before the 11pm curfew. We literally pulled in at 10:58pm- phew! Both kids had conked out in the car shortly after getting buckled in, and they transferred to their beds wonderfully. We spent the last hour of 2012 joining our Oki Neighbors on the hill around the fire pit where we chatted some more and enjoyed the heat from dead Christmas trees going up in flames. At midnight, we watched fireworks set off at Sunset Beach. 

In addition to saying goodbye to 2012, we're also saying goodbye to this blog address. After 5 years, I've officially maxed out my free picture uploading space, and instead of paying to keep it going, we're starting up a new blog. So to our two loyal readers (i.e. our Moms), you'll find updates on our family at bjarnaville2.blogspot.com. Happy New Year!

Sticker Attack!

A few days after Christmas, I was cleaning off the top of the fridge and found a pack of smiley face stickers. Sydney proceeded to "share" them with us, sticking them all over our hands. Then Spencer got a belated birthday card in the mail from my parents, and it also happened to have some stickers for Syd. They were all used in under 30 minutes, and Spencer was the main target. While he was on his iPad, she sat in his lap and kept herself entertained by putting stickers all over him. Pretty funny.

The target.

Merry Christmas!

After doing a talent show, acting out the Nativity, and scattering reindeer food on our front lawn on Christmas Eve, Sydney was so excited to finally open up a present before bed! The Christmas pj's Sydney opened were size 4T, and I think the pants will be floods on her within a few months. I thought Shawn's l8 month pj's looked huge, but they fit him perfectly. Apparently my kids are growing like weeds.

We woke up Christmas morning to Sydney coming in our room to tell us she peed the bed. Hence the leggings instead of the matching pj bottoms in the pictures. Shawn was still asleep, so we just let her open up her stocking and one present from Santa.

While she entertained herself with stocking stuffers, I whipped up our traditional breakfast of strawberry and whipped cream on waffles. Spencer had to wake Shawn up (shock!) so we could eat, then I got a turkey in the oven before we opened the presents under the tree. I had to make 2 turkeys for our ward Christmas party the previous week- my first ever turkey cooking experience- and getting two 25+ lb. turkeys into turkey bags by myself was quite the comedic (and disgusting) process. Putting together one with Spencer's help Christmas morning was significantly easier.

With festive music playing in the background and a fake fire crackling on the tv, we commenced opening presents. Spencer put an apple in my stocking, and I had set it on the couch when I was opening another gift. Shawn was reaching for it, but it was just out of his grasp. All of a sudden, with perfect clarity he reached and said, "Apple." Spencer and I looked at each other like, "What the heck?" and started laughing. Every other time Shawn attempted to say apple it came out more like "bah-buh," so we were a little shocked. I told Spencer it sounded like a bad voice over in a tv show where they make a baby say something. We haven't heard him say it again since that morning.

Sydney was so excited for Spencer to open this tie she chose for him.

Shawn really picked up on the routine: Spencer got presents from under the tree, then passed them out to eager recipients. Shawn decided to help himself a few times. He walked over to the tree, picked up a present and said, "Deh-doo" with a "thank you" like intonation, then sat down and started opening it.

The grab.

"Deh-doo!"

Time to open it.

We made plans to spend Christmas day with the Heaton's, Hurst's, and Jenks', and volunteered to host Christmas dinner. 

The kids' table.

The adult table.

While the older kids had a dance party upstairs in Sydney's room, we enjoyed eating great food and chatting with wonderful friends. The day went so quickly, as it always does. 

Happy Birthday Spencer!

We had a low key celebration for Spencer's birthday. About two days before his birthday, he told me he didn't want anyone to come over and he didn't want a cake. I disobeyed both wishes- I baked him the usual carrot cake and invited the Heaton's to come share it with us.

He was so excited to turn 30!

False. He was actually kind of sad about it.

Can you tell Syd helped place the candles?

Check out that smoke!

For the next few months, I will bask in the glory of still being in my 20s while he blames all of his ails on being an old man.

'Tis the Season

Phew! Is it weird that I feel a little relieved that Christmas is over? I felt like every night my house (both kitchen and living room) were complete disasters. Now that packages and Christmas cards have been sent and mass amounts of cooking has been done, I can finally see my kitchen counters again!  The living rooms still needs a little work though...

Our Christmas season was really great, we kept busy with lots of fun activities:

We took the kids on a walk to see Christmas lights, yelling "Yay Christmas!" whenever we saw some.

The kids' favorite part was the popcorn.

As one of our advent calendar activities, we made marshmallow snowflakes.

It ended up that I made the snowflakes, and the kids ate the marshmallows :)

We heard lots of good music and saw Santa at the 3rd MEF Band Christmas concert.

Funny story about the concert- After the orchestra played lots of holiday music, the curtains closed and the lights went down. I though it was over, but then this guy came out of the back corner playing an electric guitar. He was pretty awesome, seriously rocking out while he made his way up to the stage. Once up there, he was joined by another guitarist and a guy partially dressed as Santa came out and sang Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" changed up with Christmas-y lyrics. I looked over at Spencer and said, "What the heck just happened?" After that they sang Queen's "We Will Rock You," followed by a pretty funny bit with marines dancing to "Gangnam Style." For days afterward, Sydney didn't request any of the Christmas songs they played, but instead wanted to hear "We Will Rock You."

Christopher the Elf made his first appearance, bringing a letter from Santa and some snowman donuts for breakfast.

They were a hit with the kids!

Every morning after that, the first thing Sydney wanted to do was go downstairs to see where Christopher was hiding.

Sydney and I decorated a gingerbread house that some friends brought us.

I just had to include this picture of her crazy face- ha!

My side.

Sydney's side. 

I think 1 out of every 10 pieces of candy she picked up actually made it onto the house. There was a lot of snitching going on (myself included)!

She did pretty good with the frosting. Check out that focus!

Sydney participated in her very first school Christmas concert.

Her class had about 6 kids show up for it, and when they got up to do their part, Sydney wasn't really singing or doing a lot of the motions. Afterwards I asked her why and she said, "Well, I didn't really want to because I was tired and my hands were a little bit sweaty." 

Afterwards, all the kids got a turn to sit on Santa's lap and say what they wanted for Christmas in the microphone. 

Sydney got to go first, and all the parents in the crowd laughed when she told him she wanted a camera.

We met Santa again when we went to the Ocean Breeze for family fun night. Sydney wanted nothing to do with him (as in, she was hiding behind me before we even got through the door). Despite my warning that Shawn would most likely scream, Spencer still wanted to put him on Santa's lap.

Turns out I was right.

A few days before Christmas, we caravanned down south with friends to check out the lights at Itoman (otherwise known as the "Itoman Peaceful Illumination").

Gavin found some balloons, and Shane gave one of them to Shawn. He held onto it all night.

The display was different than last year, but still totally awesome.

This year the background music playing over the speakers was "The Phantom of the Opera" and the performers on the stage did a number by Lady Gaga followed by some hula dancing. We all got a good kick out of that.

Growing, Growing

Just after Thanksgiving, we had a double whammy doctor appointment where both kids were scheduled to get well child check-ups. I'd been prepping Sydney about it for a while because I knew she was going to get several shots. They both did great during their appointments, but we had to wait for quite a while between the Dr. being done and the shots being ordered. I'd say we were in the room for a good 45 minutes after the Dr. left, with someone intermittently coming in to have me sign paperwork. Sydney was hiding under the desk for a majority of that time, trying to escape the inevitable.

When the corpsman finally came in to do it, I had her go first. I had to pull her out from under the desk, and she immediately started crying. Not a fighting cry though, just a scared of getting hurt cry. And while she cried every time she got poked (4 times total, poor kid), I tried to be positive that it was done! Wohoo! The worst was over! No more shots for a long time! But she still cried all the way to the car and for about 15 minutes at home that her legs still hurt. Someone is a little dramatic about injuries. Shawn took his two shots with screams, but recovered like a champion. He's a pretty tough kid.

Princess Sydney at 4 years:
Weight: 37 lbs. (63rd percentile)
Height: 42.13 in. (89th percentile)

Syd also got her first legitimate hair cut! It is 100 times easier to brush now.

Super Shawn at 15 months:
Weight: 23 lbs. 5.9 oz (30th percentile)
Height: 33.5 in. (95th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47 cm (92nd percentile)

This was haircut #4 for Shawn. He has no idea how darling he is in those awesome pj's!

Family Picture Outtakes

Last year was possibly the most newsworthy year of our lives: Spencer graduated from dental school, I earned my CCC-SLP, some of my thesis research was published in a journal, we moved to a foreign country, and we had a baby. Although it crossed my mind a million times, I never sent out Christmas cards. I certainly love opening them and getting updates about family and friends, so this year I was determined to take part in the tradition. Unfortunately I was still a bit of a procrastinator with the whole thing, and my cards shipped to me on December 3. As delivery from some companies in the states can take a while (it took Shawn's birth announcements a good month and a half to get here), I'm mentally prepared for the fact that stateside recipients may not get our Christmas cards until February. Oh well, better late than never.

So, without further ado, here are our Christmas card outtakes (the good and the bad):

Almost perfection. Almost.

Spencer was giving me a panic attack holding Shawn like this. All I could hear in my head was my Dad's voice imitating a Michael Jackson sketch on a late night show saying, "I am so livid. I could just dangle a baby over a balcony!"

The following two pictures, although cute, were quickly nixed because they broke my #1 rule: I must not appear taller than Spencer (who, I might add, always slouches in pictures).

Note: I didn't post the one we used on our card, so it will still be a surprise when you open it around  Valentine's Day :)