out with a bang

So long 2011! Landon and I enjoyed an evening out on NYE without the kiddos. It's a blessing to have grandparents who volunteer their babysitting services for occasions like these. Date nights are always welcomed around here with much anticipation from this SAHM. It's amazing that we can enjoy an extended conversation on our alone nights out. We needed that. No interruptions.  And, since we're are the "old married couple" we start yawning fairly early for a NYE at least. We loaded up two tired kiddos to transfer them to their own beds at home. It always works out  better that way.

Built in ear mufflers to shield the noise. Street fireworks are loud.

When we neared our street and heard the popping of fireworks, Miller rubbed all the sleepiness out of his eyes and perked  right up. He was not going to miss a NYE street social. I whisked Eliza Kate up to her crib and bundled Miller up to ring in the New Year with some block friends in the cul de sac. Of course, Landon joined the dads for their orchestrated lighting effort. It was a great time of glow sticks and playing chase at night. I just love casual gatherings with our neighbors.

Ryan shared a glow stick. And of course, the glow porcupine from his buddy Grant made a special appearance at the show. He loves his new LED friend. Too bad Grant had plans with his cousins on this night. Watching fireworks with your pals is the perfect way to spend the last day of the year.

The whole gang minus a few. Emma's American Girl was also bundled up all snuggly in the blanket to ring in the new year.We love our late night friends! We made sure to be courteous and wrap up the explosions by 10:30...just like good neighbors do :) Happy New Years Eve.

wrapping up vacation

I didn't know how badly we needed our winter break until we really settled into vacation mode the week after Christmas. This year it was nice to have Landon join us during our winter "hibernation" period from our normal routine. Our Sunday School responsibilities let up, there was nothing to wrap, no last minute entree to cook, no meals to deliver, and absolutely no pressure to be anywhere. On top of that, mommy was on break from her morning tutoring job. It was awesome to carve out family time and just have togetherness. It gave us an opportunity to reflect as a family about just how crazy life can get in the swing of things. We re-evaluated some of our responsibilities for sure. It was a luxury to sleep in until 8:00 am. No car pool alarm or early morning packing to get to. Best of all, no late night lunch packing for Miller man. Long winter naps in the afternoon were an added bonus. Landon worked from home a few days &  had the pleasure of  joining us on a couple family field trips. We are loving our family passes to IMAGINE IT.

Eliza Kate and Landon experienced their inaugural visit to the Children's Museum downtown. It was a memorable first visit for her. Dropping her morning nap has opened up a whole new world of activities to experience. She knew just what to do with the miniature shopping cart. I know she was happy to be the driver instead of the passenger. Little mommy picked out a great variety of food from the well stocked shelves. I love how adult mommy chores that we don't always look forward to become favorite play pass times to our little ones. She is practicing the art of homemaking at 20 months &  it is precious to watch. The imagination of a girl is such a completely different world to me as I've been knee deep in Matchbox cars, and train sets. Tripping over monster trucks that play rock and roll & stubbing my big toe on Legos has been my boy mom life for several years. Wearing both hats is a blessing. Just altogether different.

 As expected, It was a zoo inside. It was nice to get out for a bit and play inside.
Of course, Miller loved hopping from exhibit to exhibit. He has ADD at these museums jumping all around and not staying in one place...drives me nuts. There were two responsible adults on this venture, and for that I was grateful! He was having a ball.

Milking cows was udderly cool. He just sits and smiles now assuming I want to capture every moment. Cute!

We're at a museum teeming with chaos & she plops down in a quiet nook to read. I never can figure that one out, but I'm glad she shares mommy's passion for children's literature.

Miller was monkeying around playing puppet master. I love how kid's can truly learn through playing and use their unique imaginations.

Then we went magnet fishing in the watering hole. This is always a favorite of Millers. I was so proud of him for patiently waiting his turn. There was a line on this day for the "fishing excursion".

Eliza Kate wants to do everything that Miller does. Its made her grow and mature in a lot of ways beyond what Miller was capable of at this age. She makes sure that every aspect of her life is equitable to her big brother. Raincoat smock for Miller...Raincoat smock for Eliza Kate...Fishing pole for Miller...Fishing pole for Eliza Kate. The list goes on and on. I love her for it too! EK surely sticks up for herself and holds her ground with big brother's bossiness. He looks our for her at the same time though. It's an interesting dynamic.

The big catch.

She abandoned the pole and just started treated the chlorinated pond like an indoor splash table. Yay, for me!

We capped off the morning at the train table. Great times on our Christmas vacation.

Here's to many more happy visits in 2012!

matching

It can't happen too much longer, so I'm stretching out every last brother sister outfit.

Eliza Kate wants nothing to do with big brother's arm around her. There's also a close proximity rule that he must obey to stay in her good graces...oh my! Can't say I blame her as any time he's too close in her space, there's trouble. Ruh-roh!

This was the best I could do of a togetherness picture to capture their warm & enduring relationship (he he!)

Melt.my.heart!

And, the outake. Would you trust him in your space?

meaningful music notes

On the meaningful gift "note"...Miller received another well thought out, labor of love gift.

Papa surprised us with an original handwritten work composed for the piano entitled "Miller's Toy". Gifts like these are invaluable as the giver has spent countless hours refining & composing all in your honor.

 The special part is that the melody is an adaption based off of one of Miller's favorite musical car wash toys. This was an interactive toy presented to Miller as a toddler from Omi and Papa purchased for Valentine's Day.

The other meaningful addition is the personal note on the cover that reads:
A short, simple original work for piano
Written for: My Grandson, Miller Hendrik Fokens
Written by: His Grandfather Jeffrey Hendrick Fokens
Based on: A Tune One of Your Toys Played
Presented: Christmas 2011

As mentioned previously, I'm in love with the lost art of handwritten notes from family members. There's a connection there that speaks to you more deeply than a typed expression.

The music was based on the main melody that we heard ringing in our ears for days on end that seemed to have stuck in Papa's mind too. We were all were humming its tune:) It's the kind of carefree lind of whimsical melody that just sticks in your brain.

Now Miller doesn't fully appreciate the magnitude on having a piece of handwritten music composed in his honor just yet. But, we hope that as he pursues a musical instrument in the future that he will understand its significance. Until then, Landon will master it for our musical enjoyment.

Papa's official retirement this year has afforded him the opportunity to pursue his musical interests & hobbies. We are thankful that he is putting his talent towards creating timeless pieces in our family to enjoy for years to come. Thank you Papa for honoring your grandson.

Hanging on to every last detail of Christmas----It was such a great one!

missing mario

Miller is going through serious Mario withdrawals around here. He misses his little friend that creatively hid in different spots every morning. Nothing made Miller hop out of bed faster than the prospect of hunting for our elf friend. Landon started getting up a little earlier just to see Miller's hunting skills.

Mario was full of little shenanigans. On a particularly hard day at the Fokens' house, Mario decided he had observed enough naughty behavior. Miller was disappointed when his elf friend didn't make an appearance the next morning. Nothing straightened our mischievous little boy's behavior like tattle tale Mario.

This position got rave reviews from our construction loving Miller. Who knew Mario liked to operate heavy machinery?

On Christmas Eve, Mario landed on our Gingerbread House to sample to frosting. He had a frosted face mess that intrigued Miller. Sadly this was our last day with Mario. We hope he enjoyed his stay in our home and that he returns to greet the Fokens' kiddos next December 1st. We miss you Mario!

more christmas

There's so much about this Christmas that I want to remember. The events, family time, our advent tree, teachable moments with Miller, the magic, and gift giving memories will be forever cherished. Our Christmas festivities stretched out over most of the day on the 25th. I really liked it this way. Our Christmas Day dinner took place before our gift exchange and this schedule was just perfect for our family. In true Grandmama fashion, the tablescape was beautiful. She always takes extra care to make the spread beautiful for her guests.

Eating lunch first took out the rush of gift giving to get the food on the table. We had a wonderful late lunch. Grandmama likes to have a conversation starter question on family gatherings. It was interesting to share and listen to everyone's favorite Christmas memory. We should have written them down for future Christmases'. My favorite story was Poppy's tale of Great Grandpa Ralph's Christmas Tree bargaining pitch a few days before Christmas. Then purchasing a Charlie Brown Christmas tree only to drill  holes in the trunk in order to fill in the gaps with real branches. It was a pre-artificial tree of sorts. Stories like these make the dinner conversation rich with family memories. There's just something about this time of year that makes you reflect on your own childhood.

We're hoping to create these rich memories with our kids. I'm sure Christmas dinner stories will be told about our family one day.

Eliza Kate squeezed in a quick high chair meal before her afternoon nap. This two nap a day deal makes her miss out on a lot of fun happenings. She's one happy camper if she's on her schedule though. We try not to mess it up!

Of course, there was lots of appetizer sampling out of her high chair. This girl loves to eat, especially a snack. She wants whatever is on the other person's plate like she is missing out on something special.

Ipad App games with your uncle is a great way to be entertained on Christmas Day. Uncle Clay downloaded Critteroos especially for Miller. Belly laughing and contagious giggling rang throughout the whole house as Miller was mixing up animal heads and bodies. He was very entertained.

Poppy plays a "Nice, Nice Grandmama" game with Eliza Kate...the same exact silly game that Miller loved. It envolves stroking the cheeks of Grandmama and then at the very last second chanting "Bad, bad Grandmama" with a little swat. She just loves it.

What's a family gathering without a little roughousing from your uncle? Miller and Uncle Clay are one of a kind. They are both playful & love horsing around. Cut from the same fun loving mold...Miller is so blessed to have such a FUN uncle around. They both have a lot of bottled up energy and bring so much life to any family gathering.

We finally made our way downstairs....gathered round' the kid's tree and kicked off the unwrapping session. We felt richly blessed to have both sets of grandparent's in the same room. Miller was the unofficial unwrapper. He likes to  lend a hand when a recipient goes too slowly:) After all, he's smart enough to figure out that the faster you open your gift his turn comes around more quickly.  In my family growing up, we each took turns opening the gifts. Each person gets the spotlight and all the attention goes to appreciate the gift. We've continued this tradition in our family.  I think it helps Miller focus on the art of gratitude. We're trying, at least to teach him the art of gratitiude. Another benefit is streeeeetching out the experience a little longer.

We saved our adult exchange for the afternoon unwrapping session. It's more fun when there's a crowd to participate with. We chose gifts for Omi and Papa's kitchen this year. They love to cook and entertain, so it was a well appreciated theme.

Waiting your turn through seven adults is not always easy. Miller was a champ and kept asking ,"Is it my turn?" Near the end, his unopened gifts far outlasted ours. Then all the attention went to his stash of gifts.The blur of his paper tearing shows the speed with which he tore the paper. It warmed my heart to see his heart-felt joy. I loved watching him jump up and hug Uncle Clay with thankfulness.

The Art of Christmas book with matching Lion was a such a meaningful gift. I love dated hand written notes from Grandparents inside books. It's a keepsake to reflect on for years to come. I adore seeing my own grandmother Eliza's handwritten notes to my mom even though I've never met her. It's a timeless, cherished connection.

Landon opened one of his announced gifts...ugh! What's a busy mom to do during December other than tote my blabber mouth along on shopping adventures...ha! Miller proudly announced "It's your table grill, Dad" as Landon searched for the edges to unwrap. He just can't keep an exciting secret yet. It made us all giggle though. He's a mess!

 Now these next two pictures could be a blog post all on their own. When we decided in mid November that we wanted to purchase a LeapPad learning tablet for Miller, I had no idea that it was the "hot toy" of the year. I was relaxed and didn't know that there would be such a Christmas demand that Leapfrog wouldn't be able to keep up with production before December. I waited for a "hot deal" on Black Friday. I woke up around 12:00 am on Thanksgiving evening in Knoxville to land a great cyber deal. To my shock, Best Buy was out of stock online and only had 5-10 in each store for the swarms  of customers in line. By the time I went back to Leapfrog.com, my trusty back up plan fell through. All of their 165.00 bundles were sold out. For two weeks, I checked Walmart.com, Target, Amazon for the LeapPad, but the only option was pink.Or, the two green that came in sold out within minutes. No such luck.

To my surprise in mid December, our local Target got three in stock. At 8:15 am, only 15 minutes after opening I called and they had just sold the last green pad..ugh! My wild goose chase led me on all kinds of internet seaches & leads. I was more than frustrated, but Landon kept encouraging me to hold out and not pay an  inflated convenience charge of 100.00 on the Amazon models. Even Poppy was on the search for us.

 I happened upon our local Walmart one evening in early December purchasing batteries and struck up a conversation with the electronics sales clerk. I casually told him my dilemma and asked him when the trucks rolled in for deliveries each week .Yes, I even considered stalking the midnight delivery crew. He took down my name and number to put me on the store's waiting list...waiting list? Who knew those existed?  Needless to say, I didn't put much faith in my name going anywhere considering he placed it inside his lapel pocket on a piece of scratch paper.  Then we got an early morning wake up call.Two weeks before Christmas at 7:30 am, Walmart called and told me our LeapPad had arrived and I had 30 minutes to pick it up. Our toy drama had ended...on a happy note! We didn't pay an obscene amount of money, but I sure did make up for it with some of my precious time. Thankful for the ability to present Miller with such a special gift.

Miller is my cheerleader when opening gifts. We needed new glasses. Even my little man gets excited over the most boring of gifts in his little world.

PJ's for Bitty. She's all accessorized and ready to be played with. Now I'm on the hunt for matching Christmas jammies for Eliza Kate.

Nothing better than an evening stroll with your dolly. She is loving playing the part of little mommy.

We ended the evening with a Christmas Orange Marmalade Cake. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and blew out the candles to refocus the attention back unto Him. I'm hoping our kids will understand the joy of anticipating opening gifts is similar to what Mary felt anticipating Jesus' birth.  And, then when He was born and the world was there to worship & adore Him.... everyone experienced the same joy that she carried for 9  months. Santa is fun...but Jesus is the greatest GIFT of all! Merry Christmas!

Loving Family

Later in the morning, we loaded the sleigh and rode on over to Grandmama & Poppy's house for another Christmas gathering with family. A fun surprise for the kiddos &( mommy too) waited up on the landing of the stairs...a doll house. I tucked away doll house ideas for the future, but hadn't done the research yet. It was so nice to be surprised with the most adorable play house.

It was all Poppy. He spoiled Grandmama with her own 'Home for the Holidays' mansion. They've been searching for a toy to engage EK at their house, and they surely did just that!  It was fun for all the ladies to gather round the Loving Family house and snap on the exterior Christmas decorations. It doesn't matter how old you are...girls of all ages love playing with dolls.

It was a  complete joy to set up the rooms together. Eliza Kate is learning the joy of decorating at her young age.  Setting up house and selecting furniture held her interest. Once she found the baby crib and carriage, she put the baby to "night, night".

Miller was captured by the blinking & singing Christmas tree. They both were dancing to some festive tunes all while Eliza Kate was swinging her hips to the music. Of course, I had to referee who got to push the music button. Our world is filled with toy sharing these days and learning how to take turns. It's a hard lesson. Big brother was up to all kinds of teasing tricks & shenanigans like playing peek a boo through the front door and then shutting it closed. Doll houses can be entertaining for four year old boys..who knew?

The Loving Family was all set to move into their home. Everything was in place & we got it looking picture perfect. I love how the interior of the house has removable Christmas decorations for each room complete with a packing box for the attic...stop.it. :) Even the bed linens and pillows are reversible with Christmas decor on one side. The other side flips with an everyday floral. This loving family is living in a palace with custom decor. She must have hired a decorator. There is something wrong when your dollhouse has finer appointments than your own home!

This gift brought back a wave of nostalgia reflecting on my own Victorian doll house as a little girl. Grandmama and Poppy built a wooden house for me for Christmas one year. Grandmama glued siding to the house, hand painted and shingled it for months getting ready for Christmas morning.  I just love a handmade gift to pass down through the family.

 When I woke up on Christmas morning, it was so wonderful to enjoy the finished product. Grandmama took extra care to decorate her labor of love with wreaths on all the windows and garland on the front porch. I'm hoping that as we pass it down to Eliza Kate in the future that we can furnish it together.

Until then, she is going to have a BIG time with imaginative play at Grandmamas.
XOXO, Grandmama. We are convinced you are playing with the dollhouse even when we are not there.

christmas morning 2011

Christmas morning greeted our family with a nice----on time, wake time. I loove that our kids sleep until 7:30 on Christmas morning. No 5 am wake times in our house, yet! I was a happy mommy that I squeezed in my morning shower before the video camera had time to capture my bed head look. Landon had to tip toe in and wake Miller up with a jolly old "Merry Christmas" & a ho.ho.ho to finally get the ball rolling. As soon as he remembered what day it was, we could hardly keep him contained upstairs. The video was all cued up and I just had enough time to tame Eliza Kate's hair for such a joyous occasion. Oh the magic of Christmas morning....

Stocking time on the stairs is always a treat. I didn't grow up with this tradition of Santa filling up stockings with goodies. My mom was a wrapping queen and preferred every small trinket to be wrapped up under the tree.This is a tradition that we've carried through from Landon's side & I just love the thrill of stocking filling. This was a small task that I handed over to Santa Landon this year, and it was so nice to check this off my to-do list.

 Miller's stocking was filled with little odds and ends...mostly fun little conversation pieces. Underwear, Francesco from CARS II, gummy bugs, etc. I had to walk Eliza Kate's stocking to her to get her interested. I opened up all the goodies inside to perk her interest. Daddy picked out some cutey bracelets that she tried on right away. She half smiled. All the hustle and bustle first thing in the morning threw her off a bit!

Miller's face & reaction  to the gifts was priceless. Santa leaves his gifts upwrapped at our house...another Fokens tradition. The wrapped packages beneath the tree are from family members. Miller was thrilled with his new Transformer & Trio construction blocks. Luckily, we received his Santa DVD in the "St. Nick" of time. At the last minute, we SANTA ran out and scrambled for a Transformer toy that Miller requested on Santa's lap. Landon spent a good hour and a half following the instruction guide to figure out Miller's complicated new toy. It was a fun challenge & gave daddy something fun to put together.

 Miller made sure to let us know that he heard a "clatter" on the roof the night before. We all chuckled at his use of words. I love that he applied his new little vocabulary word from The Night Before Christmas in context. We enjoy hearing Poppy read this to us on our recordable Hallmark Christmas book from last year

Believe it or not,  Miller loves opening clothes and jammies. He was thrilled with his new racecar PJ's from mom and dad. He told us, " I always knew you would get me these". Really? As he was shaking boxes a few weeks back, he did comment that he thought there were jammies in his box. Hmm...I hope no one was spying on me as I wrapped up the special surprises.

I'll never forget the smile with cutesy dimples on this little mommy's face when she saw her Bitty Baby proudly sitting atop her new highchair. Eliza Kate just new this gift was especially for her. Santa decked Bitty Baby with all kinds of darling extras. Eliza Kate could not stop beaming with excitement. We finally picked a toy that she was visibly pleased with. A special "Dolliday" just for EK!

Miller took a seat to rest for a minute from the perch of the kiddos new craft table. I know he will love handwriting practice from a desk just his size. Eliza Kate needed a coloring station just her size too. Thank you Omi and Papa for this wonderful gift.

Eliza Kate knew just what to do with Bitty's pint sized baby bottle. She put on baby's new bib and begin giving Bitty her morning bottle. With a swig or two of her own, she was enjoying this new mommy chore. She loved putting her new snack food tray on bitty's chair. It was so entertaining to watch her finally interact with her doll.  I  Santa had just as much fun at the American Girl store picking it all out and waiting in a wrap around the store line to please my little girl on Christmas.

A tea set and a high chair...what's a girly left to want in life? Miller and EK loved serving me tea from the pink and purple plastic tea service set. This replaces the fancy china set in her room that is already chipped from playtime. Hooray for plastic! Oh, I can't wait for real tea party with my daughter.

Mario Kart was a Christmas morning surprise.I went back and forth with this gift. We don't want him spending hours on video games. but I think with lots of monitoring it will be a great game to enjoy as a family. Miller is somewhat shielded from toy commercials on TV as we watch  mostly PBS that he completely misses out on what to ask for. I still love that he has no expectations for gifts yet. I pray that this innocence lasts a few more years and we don't hear any "gimme, gimme" attitude in his vocabulary. When he opened this gift, he immediately recognized Mario but had no clue what to do with the box as there was nothing to build or interact with. He was blown away with the ability to drive the steering wheel and play a Wii game.

I needed to pop a motion sickness pill watching our little racecar driver navigate the course. He was turning all around &crashing right and left. Of course, all the crashing caused him to laugh uncontrollably with joy. With time, I'm sure he'll learn the wheel. I was happy that the set was a hit with our boy!

I got my Christmas squeezies in with my own special Christmas package with red bow on top before her morning snooze. Family time IS a wonderful Christmas gift. All of our gifting was exhausting to sweet thing. We put her down just in time for a Christmas breakfast of Pandulce.

When little sister was in her crib, Miller had his own little fun with Bitty. He said he was the daddy feeding Bitty tea on her tray. I love that Miller comments from time to time that all he wants to be when he grows up is a daddy.... The highest compliment Miller could afford to Landon for sure. He's really identifying with the male roll, minus playing with dolls and serving tea...ha! We joke that he's got his roles all confused as he thinks all daddys cook dinner at night. He often comments late afternoon, "What's daddy cooking for dinner tonight?", lol!  I just pray that we're setting him up to be one fabulous future daddy who feeds his babies!!:)

Over and out, these two enjoyed some walkie talkie chat time. Miller was learning all the lingo and phrases to go along with his new toy. We've already had a blast giving the other end to Miller's friend Grant across the street. These two call eachother from the front window waving wildly with silly messages. They enjoyed their own version of cell phones to communicate with. If only texting was an option...
More Christmas merriment to come...stay tuned!