Christmas, round 1 and 2

So this post is just slightly late. I've actually had a great time going back through all the Christmas photos to pick these out.

Round 1 was at Bob and Carol's cabin, the weekend before Christmas. It was 4 days of eating, playing games, laughing, walking, and eating more. We had 2 rounds of present-opening, since JJ required a nap halfway through. The whole Rose gang was there- including Chelsea, Matt and Paige and her dogs, Rusty and Rito, and of course Moose. It was so relaxing and fun to spend Christmas in the mountains in a cabin.

JJ trying on his new pajamas

JJ stealing Bob's Christmas calendar

"Brr" and "Da" and Rusty (translation: "Paige" and "Chelsea" and Rusty)

Something about this picture reminds me of Mark Smith

JJ feeding Moose a piece of scrap paper

Round 2 was at our house, with my whole side of the family here, only missing Thom and Kwan. Dad, Christine, Tom, Nick, Mark, Iracema, Alan, Kevin, Zuli, Lily, Uncle Dick, and Katie all caravaned out here, arriving in between snow storms and missing interstate closures.

Moose playing with Zuli and Lily, Mark and Iracema's cute little dogs.

Mark and the boys playing monopoly

So proud! Nick, Tom, Alan, and Kevin made some super delicious cinnamon rolls, using my mom's recipe. Yum!

playing Maffia

Greetings from Bangkok! The missing Smiths, Thom and Kwan and their blinky Christmas hats.

"Tia Yima" reading to JJ. Apparently "Iracema" is too hard for a 20-month old to pronounce. JJ loved all the one-on-one time with Iracema, and something tells me she enjoyed it too.

Aunt "mama" and JJ. JJ was definitely a bit confused the first time he saw me with Katie.

We had a great White Elephant gift exchange. The gifts ranged from a can of Spam (Reduced Sodium Spam) to a Grover-pelt blanket to Belgian chocolates to a pillow to fun games and toys. It was so much fun!

family shot. Yes, JJ is wearing an ugly Christmas sweater, which was actually his El Guapo sweater from Halloween. As ugly as it is, I love this sweater!

Papa Ed with his 5 grandsons

Our attempted ski day. Due to really cold weather and really high winds, the mountain was shut down at 11:30. We all got our money back and still had a great time goofing off on the bunny hill for a few hours before heading home.

Hanging out in the basement

We also did a brewery tour- great beer, great tour guide, and great fun!

Looking at Nick's wrist

Bibs make a great fashion statement.

Going to see Avatar 3D. The shades were pretty sweet.

The Smiths packing up to leave home. Uncle Dick with his bag of goodies.

You can't tell here but I have way more gray hair than Katie. Christine is proud of me.

Everyone got home safely, although my dad arrived home to a flooded basement, which was not fun. Alan remarked that this was the best Christmas since Grammy (my mom) died, and I have to agree. Thanks to everyone who traveled to far to make it here! And thanks to Jerry and Matt, our fellow co-hosts for sleeping space. We managed to fit all the Roses and all the Smiths between 3 houses- not too bad. I still wish everyone was here so we could continue the fun times.

Back up and running

Yay- our internet is back up!
Until I'm done sorting and organizing all the pictures from Christmas to post, here's a rundown of what we've been up to lately.

JJ is now 23 months old, which means he turns two in about 5 weeks! ay yi yi! I can't believe JJ will be two!! Didn't he just turn one?!? Every day he is acting more like a toddler, less like a baby, and more and more like a boy. He's got a pretty good arm (or two- he switches it up when throwing things.) He loves to sing and dance and run around and make noise and messes. He's actually still a pretty mellow kiddo, although he does have his moments.

His latest accomplishments include:
- knowing the gestures and main words to "Wheels on the Bus"
- singing some of the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "ABC's". He adds in new words on a daily basis to these songs.
- jumping up and actually getting some hang time
- saying "dwo" when you ask him how old he is
- starting to repeat numbers when counting to 10
- starting to figure out how to dress himself (this is an activity reserved for the weekends, when we have lots of time for him to practice in)
- becoming a whiz kid at doing puzzles
- being a silly goof and cracking me up
- loving to look at pictures of himself, which means he doesn't necessarily hold still while I attempt to take pictures or movies of him
- being a better conversationalist
- saying "Mimi" when referring to Carol, instead of his generic "na" for words he doesn't know
- getting faster at running- he's sometimes hard to catch!

Life has been busy but so much fun for us.

Technical difficulties

So we have been having issues with our home computer, and that's why there have been no recent postings about our great Christmas holidays with my whole family and Tim's family, or about our daily doings, or any of the other fun stuff we do.

We're still trying to get our computer fixed, and since it'll be awhile before it is fixed, and since all my photos are on my home computer, I won't be able to post up photos anytime soon. And it'll probably be another few days before I even attempt to write anything about the past month or so, since I have limited internet access outside of home.

Hopefully things will be working smoothly again in a few days. If not, check back in another month or so. Thanks for your patience!

Holiday Greetings!

December pictures

As usual, this month is flying by.

Here's JJ helping with chores by feeding Moose. He loves to play with her food. I don't think Moose likes it too much, but she never chases him away from her food bin.
practicing our smiles... here's a nice sweet one...

and here's a big cheesy grin...

and here's one like Uncle Mark's, when he was a kid...

Trimming the tree

trying to get JJ to look at the angel. (not my best photo ever)

snacktime with dad- notice JJ's grin. tee hee

JJ asleep- so sweet.

Check out JJ's new cape! Our friend Jillian made it- it is the coolest! JJ likes pretending to fly around the house.

We met up with Tom and Suzanne (Tim's uncle and aunt) and had lunch. Here's JJ enjoying his chicken strip.

uh-oh. big pants with a disposable diaper means pants fall down.

yum- cereal

yummy apple

Sledding pictures

These sledding pictures were actually taken at the end of October. We've had a few snows since then, and there's over 6 inches on the ground right now. Let it snow, let it snow!

JJ having a fun time in the sled until...

you notice how JJ is no longer upright in this photo- oops. Nothing like getting a face full of snow to ruin a perfect sledding moment.

It's hard to see but JJ is not really happy in this last photo, and we decided to call it a day for the winter wonderland adventures.

2 videos

Here are two videos from Thanksgiving.

The first one is Bob and JJ reading 'Goodnight Moon', with JJ reading the "moon" ("moomb") part. The second video is JJ leading us all in some pete-repete.