Happy New Year!

Oh how difficult it is to catch up on everything once the holidays are over! I feel like I have a list a mile long of things to do, and no motivation to do it! So, I'll write a post instead! :)

We had a wonderful Christmas! The boys had such a good time, and I know that they both multiplied their toy collections by at least double! Jeff and I went through their toys yesterday, and moved those that don't get played with often down to the playroom in the basement. Thank goodness for the basement! We were feeling a little over-run by the toys in the family room.

We spent Christmas at my parent's house, where Santa left his sleigh load of gifts for the boys under the tree. They, along with Tristan, were in awe on Christmas morning of all of the presents! After forcing them to eat some breakfast, we spent hours opening gifts. Wyatt even got into opening his own presents, and I think the older two kids were a little dissappointed that they didn't get to open up Wyatt's gifts too! Of course, they had to play with everything as it was opened, which only added to the hours of gift opening!

Then, the next day, we got to have Christmas again with Jeff's family at his sister, Jill's house. The boys were excited to see everybody, and Andrew and Noah ran around having fun together most of the day. I'm sure Wyatt and Mattie can't wait to join in! We had a yummy dinner, and way too many buckeyes and chocolate cream pie!! We opened gifts, which was just a whirlwind of flying wrapping paper and gift bags. Lots of fun though! Of course, when it came time to leave, Noah didn't want to go.

Throughout the week, we got to spend lots of time with Uncle Doug, who was visiting from California. He wanted to go out ice skating, so most of us decided to join in the fun. Guima, Aunt Anne, Uncle Doug, Jeff, Noah and I went, while PaPa stayed home with Wyatt and Tristan. Noah LOVED it! At first he was a little scared, but as with most new things, soon he wanted to do it all by himself. Scary for Mom and Dad! But he had so much fun. Sometimes he amazes me, with how sensitive he is about everything, how willing he is to try new things. He was that way about the swimming pool in Arizona last May when we visited my Grandma. By the time we were leaving, he was trying to swim around by himself and was jumping in alone!

On Wednesday, Jeff had to go home to go to work the next day, so we spent the afternoon and evening over at his parent's house. Wyatt got into everything, as usual. And Noah had fun sharing his fun new games with Grammy and Uncle Jess. His new favorites are Balloon Lagoon (which is actually a lot of fun) and Cuckoo Zoo, a card game. We had a great time playing together. Then we ate a great turkey dinner, and again, too many cookies! So much fun spending all of that time with family!

Wyatt was a little grumpy during the week, but before we left for home my mom and I discovered why. Poor guy had popped out two teeth over the week! His top left molar and one of his bottom left teeth! He is such a trooper. In addition to that, he is now walking! Merry Christmas, Mommy and Daddy....he did his first really long walk on Christmas morning! We really are happy about it, but he gets into EVERYTHING! And he is such a climber. I have to watch him like a hawk, because not only do I worry about him falling, but everything goes into his mouth these days, no matter what it is. No wonder he seems to have the constant snotty nose! :)

So we returned home on Friday, and tried to get back into some kind of routine. It is taking much longer to do that than I imagined! Oh well, no big deal! It was nice to sleep in our own beds again, and really nice to have Wyatt in the other room! There is no way to let him whimper his way back to sleep when you are sharing a room with him and he can see you there!

Yesterday, Noah and Tristan went to Build-A-Bear to redeem their gift certificates from Aunt Anne/Mom, and make their animals! Whoever came up with that idea was brilliant! (and I'm sure very rich) For those of you inexperienced to the process of Build-A-Bear, first you pick out your unstuffed animal. Then you take it to the stuffing machine, where you get to step on a pedal and stuffing fills your bear. Then each animal gets a heart, which the kids get to kiss and make a wish on before it gets sewn up inside their bear. Then you fluff your bear, and go to the naming station, where you name your animal and get a birth certificate! Tristan made a koala, dressed in a karate outfit, named Marmey. Noah made a fluffy bear, named Freddie, and picked out a t-shirt for him that says "Love is the stuff inside." They both seemed to have fun, although Noah got a little overwhelmed by the crowd in the store.

Then it was back to real life again. Noah started back to preschool this afternoon. He had a tummy ache this morning, although I think it may have just been the 'back-to-school jitters.' He had a little trouble letting me leave once we were at preschool, but I'm sure he'll be fine.

Well, that about wraps it up for now. I'll post some pictures in another post, I think I've written enough for now! Happy New Year!! Hope it is full of peace, love, and joy for all of you!!