Snowfest 2012

A few weeks ago we bundled up and went to the Snow Fest in Frankenmuth with the kids.  And now that we've gone two years it's tradition in my book :)  We start off checking out all the snow sculptures around town.  There were quite a few that appealed to Shane, like this little house,

a pickup truck,

a shark (he's very into anything scary these days)

and this truck.

My personal favorite was this one from one of my all time favorite movies,

and if Marissa could see (or understand ;) ) she would probably have picked this banana as her favorite.

Here is a closer look at our little girlie all bundled up with just her eyes poking out.  As I was pulling her out of the car from her little nap in her carseat and was bundling her up and she was crying I was wondering how this was gonna all work out.  But we stuck her in the stroller and started moving and she didn't make a peep the whole time!  I kept asking Josh to make sure she was still alive in there!

Shane was such a fun age for it this year and he really enjoyed himself

even though it was pretty darn cold!

His favorite part might have been the fudge though :) 

We walked through some of the shops to stay warm and then had lunch at our usual, Bavarian Inn.  The waiters and waitresses dress up and play accordions and they make gluten free hamburger buns, what more could you ask for??

Here's little missy chewing contentedly on some of Josh's lettuce after she finished her banana.  As long as she can chew it, she doesn't discriminate!

One of Those Weeks

Last week was one of those weeks were I really felt like a mom.  Shane came down with something nasty on Sunday- fever, cough, puking, etc.  On Monday Josh ended up taking him to the ER because his fever had gotten up to 105 after giving him Tylenol all day.  He didn't test positive for anything serious thankfully, it was just a nasty virus.    The saddest part was just watching him be so pathetic and not himself.  I took this picture after I asked him if he wanted to lay in my bed and he said, "No, I just want to play.  I'm going to go play." 

After 4 or 5 days of Tylenol and Motrin and a lot of time on the couch watching Cars 2 he finally kicked the fever and is doing much much better.  Marissa had a low grade fever and little cough but nothing like Shane's thank goodness!!  I guess breastmilk really does work wonders.  This week was exhausting but I also felt really happy to get to be their mom and be the one to take care of them when they need it most (and Josh was really awesome too.  It is very nice to have a doctor-in-training in the house- though maybe not because I'm pretty sure he brought this home to us from the hospital. )  In the midst of all this Josh had a birthday, and is thankfully very easy-going and doesn't like a big deal to be made of his birthday anyway.  And sometimes it is actually a good thing to have a gluten-free spouse, because it is like a celebration in itself whenever I make something or find something delicious that he can have, like these little cupcakes I found in a new little shop downtown.  Happy birthday babe!

Winter Reading

Winter is here.  Which brings a lot of not so fun stuff.  But it does make it that much more enjoyable to curl up on the couch with a good book while the kids are asleep and the snow is falling aside.  I'm into the second Hunger Games book now and thoroughly enjoying it.  Before that I read the Help, and loved that too.  Next up on the docket is the third book and then I think I'll try one of Nicholas Sparks' new ones.    

Meanwhile, Josh has been curling up with this bad boy.  Ha ha don't worry, he's not planning on reading the whole thing or anything, it's more of a reference book, and we have already gotten some good use out of it looking up things for our own kids.  Josh is halfway through his pediatrics rotation and really enjoying it. 

Shane still loves any and all books but is especially into this one right now: Meet the Cars.  It's got a picture and profile for pretty much every car that has ever appeared in either of the Cars movies and he studies this thing religiously.  He can tell you pretty much all of their names and what country they are from.

He can even spell most of their names, because his favorite thing is to "say their names" to the tune of B-I-N-G-O.  Actually, let me rephrase that- his favorite thing is for his to mom to say their name to the tune of B-I-N-G-O all.day.long.  And because he's cute and there are worse ways we could spend our time, I usually oblige him (and only sometimes with my fingers in my eyeballs). 

Marissa is actually starting to enjoy the use of books aside from eating them (though they are still a favorite snack of hers too).  But she spends most of her time studying the floor (and her chair) for treasures. 

Got any good book recommendations for us?

Rhyme Time

This post is in honor of my Shane man, who has gotten the hang of rhyming and insists on doing it all day.    We've been...

playing in the snow

with little sister in tow

good thing it's not yellow

cause with her you know where everything will go

he's been accident free four days in a row!

she's still rocking the bow

and always on the go

she loves her daddy so

and had him from hello

Who'd Have Thought?

If you would have asked me a few months ago when I thought Shane would be potty-trained, I would have probably said around 17. 

He still has a ways to go, but I am completely thrilled by the progress he's made in a week (and so is he :) ).  A sticker chart and of course, cars, have been the motivation he needed (yes, there are actually a few that he doesn't already own ha ha). 

Almost as surprising to me as that news, was the fact that I was able to run outside, with my kids, in the middle of January here.  I bundled them up and put on the cover (have I mentioned I love my stroller?), but I didn't even need a jacket for myself.

And who'd have thought those gerbils Josh bought last year would be good for something (just kidding babe :) ).  Both kids love them, but especially Marissa.  She crawls over to their cage quite a few times a day and pulls herself up to watch them.  They are kindred spirits and share a passion for chewing just about everything.

Lastly, who would have thought to suture a couch that was starting to rip at its seam?  Yep, that's my husband, honing his clinical skills :)  Finally all that tuition is starting to pay off ha ha. 

Whobody

So far I am loving the 3s.  Shane is talking a lot and starting to experiment with different vocabulary and more complex phrasing. Of course a lot of times this results in grammar mistakes or made up words.  Most of the time I try to reinforce the correct way to say something, but sometimes it is just too cute to correct.  My personal favorite word of his right now is "whobody".  You know- somebody, anybody, whobody.  It makes me laugh every time and I don't have the heart to tell him it's not a real word.

Speaking of, guess whobody's a Sunbeam now?  Yep, my little boy had his first day in Primary at church yesterday and LOVED it.  His teachers are so good with them and gave them all this cool stuff.  His "child of God" crown has only been taken off for naptime and he promptly put it back on the moment he woke up.  I think he is going to have a fun year!

Our Christmas

This year was the first year of Josh's life he hasn't had a "Christmas break" (though thankfully being in his psych rotation is about the closest thing you can get to that during third year ;) ) so with that and the distance and what not, we had Christmas here in Saginaw.  While we did miss our family, it was nice to do it with just our little family too and start some of our own traditions.  On Christmas Eve, we
had honey lime chicken enchiladas for dinner,

read the Christmas story in the Bible with the help of this fun Fisher Price nativity set Josh's grandma gave us

made cookies for Santa (you did know he's gluten free, right?)

exchanged our ornaments that show something from our year,

watched a personalized Santa video with Shane, then put the kids the bed so that Santa could come.  I think Santa may have had almost as much fun setting everything up as the kids did the next morning.

Christmas morning we woke up and saw what Santa had left out for us (including "Lewis Hamilton"- the car Mrs. Clause luckily found at Kroger the morning before when she realized that was what Shane thought Santa was bringing), checked out our stockings,

ate some cinnamon rolls,

then dressed in our best duds and went to church. 

We ate lunch candy from our stockings, Marissa napped a little, and we opened our presents,

and enjoyed the afternoon playing with all the new toys

We skyped with our families, had lasagna for dinner, and then relaxed on the couch with a new movie we'd gotten (The Blindside).

We were certainly spoiled and couldn't have asked for a much better day. Although it wasn't a White Christmas it was actually a beautiful day, and I'm sure we'll make up for the lack of snow in the coming months ;)  Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S. Thanks for all your Christmas cards, I have loved getting them, and sorry I have been too lazy to do my own this year!