new year's eve

since we had been in the apartment all week and the kids hadn't really gotten to go anywhere with fresh air and open spaces in a long time with all the moving to-dos, i thought that we really needed to get out on friday after papa, nana, and derek left.  lucky for me it was the warmest day, by far, that we have seen in a while - around 50 degrees.  so we hit the akron zoo.  unfortunately, daddy had to work in cleveland and couldn't join us.

earl and shannon had sent us a zoo pass when maddux was born (so he could get in on the action too) so we were all set.  unfortunately, this zoo doesn't open until 11am!  i couldn't believe it.  i think that this one might be more of an afternoon destination while the milwaukee zoo was typically a morning trip for us.  any way it is a great zoo.  very different, but i think that it will be just as much fun to visit regularly.  we were the only ones not in our heavy coats but i was comfortable in just a light sweater.  the sun came out and it was actually a great day for the zoo, except for all the dripping snow melt.

madelyn coming down the overlook for the penguins.  she went up by herself because i had the stroller with the boys.

mason checking out the lemurs.  he had fallen asleep on the drive over and was still waking up.

madelyn listening to lemur talk on the phone.  this was pretty cute and they both liked it.

  

mason looking at the alpacas.  it sort of gives you a sense of what the zoo was like, big on aesthetics but smaller in size and variety of animals.

 

throughout the zoo there are little places designed for kids to play which was nice and will be even nicer on a dry day.  this one had a rope bridge.  mason was willing to go across but he was very slow going.  he didn't want any help from madelyn either.



madelyn wore her red purse and was anxious to spend the money in her red wallet inside it.  she was very proud to have her own money.  one penny went into a donation bin that has ramps for the coin to go down so that it will 'circle the drain' into the collection hole at the bottom of the bowl.  and then she found a penny press that could not be passed up.  i helped her find fifty-one cents for the purchase, select a frog design, and turn the crank to press out her penny.  she was obviously pleased with her first official purchase with her own money.



they had a special jellyfish exhibit that seemed to be madelyn and mason's favorite part.  i am not sure if it is a temporary exhibit or not, but it was rather impressive.  i saw more types of jellyfish than i have seen in one place before and it ended in a play area for the kids which is just one of the things i liked about this 'new' zoo. 

 

heading back to the car hand-in-hand.  madelyn talking to him about the zoo the whole way.

and that was the most exciting part of new year's eve.  we ate a little dinner and i think that we were all in bed by 9:30pm.  happy new year!  love.

good-bye, papa and nana

papa, nana and uncle derek needed to leave for the airport before lunch so we weren't going to have a lot of time to visit before they left.  there was just enough time to pick out some of my pictures to order as prints for them, get some quick pictures of papa with the kids, and for papa and nana to hold maddux one more time.  thankfully, i had downloaded all my pictures the night before and noticed that i didn't have any with papa in them.

papa and a just woken up, hungry maddux.

clingy, whiny mason on my leg.

madelyn and friends with papa

mason wasn't really in the mood for pictures (or to be held by anyone except mommy), but i took both of these any way.  i think they will come in handy one day when he starts bringing home girls...  hehe.

mason showing nana all the parts of maddux' face.

we had a nice visit and hope that they weren't too uncomfortable in our still-in-progress living arrangements.  at least we know for sure that they will eat better on their next visit!  love.

papa and nana visit - day three

for the last night of their visit we were going to step up dinner and go to bravo at the mall so that we could walk down for a surprise visit to build-a-bear after dinner, but the wait was "at least two hours" so we headed down to the food court. after the way derek has eaten during his two trips here, he might not come back... :)  who knew that there would be that long of a wait on a wednesday night?  given how empty the mall was before and after christmas, we were not prepared for there to be any wait.

while dinner was disappointing, madelyn and mason were still very excited about a trip to build-a-bear.  we have never been there before but i have always wanted to take madelyn.  we decided that we might go during papa and nana's visit after madelyn saw the rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and clarice examples in the window during our pre-christmas visit.  they still had them when we came the day after christmas so we asked how long they would be available - through the end of the week.  we also thought this would be a good activity because nana loves stuffed animals.  i guess we were lucky because when they were ringing us up on the way out the employee told us that they usually sell out the second week in december - it was just meant to be.  here are some pictures of our trip to build-a-bear.  love.

the best 'posed' picture of mason - ever.  i had been combing his hair over with my fingers during a cling session and he suddenly got up and went over to sit with nana.  knowing that this was a short-lived opportunity, i got my camera.

madelyn and mason scoping out the merchandise.

excitedly waiting in line.  yes, there was a line at build-a-bear after 6pm on a wednesday night.

 

getting ready to get stuffed.  the girl was so sweet asking madelyn lots of questions about her christmas presents.

and here is some video of them getting the heart ready for their new stuffed friends.  love.

papa and nana visit - day two

we didn't leave the apartment much during papa, nana, and uncle derek's visit.  unfortunately, matt and i had to work during their visit.  we did eat dinner out each night though because there weren't quite enough chairs in the apartment to accommodate everyone comfortably.  we even took them to chick-fil-a (madelyn's new favorite restaurant) for some dinner and playing. 

here are some pictures from our day at home:

mason checking out maggie resting under the christmas tree.  maggie loves to have a dog bed but lady always ate them so she doesn't have one (i think we are going to buy her one this week); instead she lays on any fabric she can find on the floor - clean laundry, towels, baby blankets, burp clothes, and, apparently, christmas tree skirts.



madelyn and nana playing at the block table.  the block table might be the best gift "santa" has given the kids yet!  it gets used everyday with rare fighting over the blocks.  best part for mommy?  no batteries and no noise!

  

madelyn requested to wear her new tu-tu skirt that i found in the day-after sale at the mall.  i was able to find a shirt from papa and nana to wear with it too.  i just liked these pictures so i posted them all.  i guess that her hands under her chin is one of her new 'cute' poses - not sure where she got it from though.



nana enjoying holding a sleeping maddux (who started to wake up when i was taking pictures).  i think that might be the main reason that they didn't want to leave the apartment - holding maddux.

 

this is mason 'posing' for the camera.  his posing boils down to standing perfectly still.  he is wearing his new shirt from papa and nana.  he looks like such a boy in this picture.



madelyn didn't want to put anything on her legs for dinner but it was too cold to go along with that choice (wind chill was in the teens) so i let her choose between new tights and new knee high socks.  she went with the knee high sock which actually went all the way up to her thigh!  i thought that she was pretty cute in her outfit but she didn't want to have her picture taken on her way out the door.  as i was uploading this for the post she asked why we couldn't see her face in this picture and i explained that she posed like that when she didn't want her picture taken; she thought that was pretty funny.

mason was pretty clingy to mommy during their visit.  we were all battling a little bit of a cold and i think mason had the worst of it.  i actually was questioning if he might have an ear infection because he was so whiny and clingy.  he did give papa, nana, and derek a little snuggle time too, but mainly it was a lot of "mama" every time i would leave the room.  love.

belated 'christmas'

papa, nana, and uncle derek arrived for a belated christmas visit.  and, of course, to finally meet maddux now that we were getting settled in ohio.  as always, they were much too generous with the christmas gifts!  here are some pictures and captions of the christmas presents:

mason was generally more interested in the boxes and paper.  he loved the gifts too, but the paper got his attention first.



mason was sharing the wrapping paper with uncle derek.  mason likes things to be clean and helped with getting the wrapping paper into the garbage bag.



he played a little too.



madelyn is getting really good a giving me a pretty, staged smile.  i love it!  way better than the squinty eyes and chin up, nostril shot.

nana found some cute holiday bags to 'wrap' up the kids' clothes and other hard-to-wrap gifts.



another camera smile from madelyn with her dress-up ballerina.

the video shows mason playing with a new toy from papa and nana that inspired them to call him "bam-bam" during the rest of their visit (as in the son from the flintstones). 

we had a nice time visiting with them over some delivery pizza on paper plates before they headed to a hotel for the night.  love.

heads up

maddux has always been able to hold his head up but hasn't gotten a ton of tummy time.  now that we are getting more settled he is actually getting to spend some time free of arms and buckles to move around on the floor.  here are two pictures of his progress.  love.

the day after

ready to get out and walk a little, we headed to the mall the day after christmas.  we weren't returning or really shopping for anything specific; we were just there to walk.  i did find a killer deal on a new backpack and lunch box for madelyn at gymboree - 99 cents each!  mason got some summer clothes too.  and then madelyn got a tu-tu-esqe skirt for half price of clearance at baby gap (along with some knee high socks and some tights).  mason kept tripping and i decided that his shoes were most likely too small and we should see if payless had some new ones for him.  he left wearing lightening mcqueen shoes with light up heels.  madelyn was having fun hitting the tops of his feet to make them light up while mason was riding in the stroller.  and the mall was pretty empty to our surprise.  but madelyn still found lots of people to tell about her rudolph lip gloss and her special red purse.  she even told someone that she was "very beautiful today".  and i am sure that the lady working the pillow pets kiosk was thrilled to learn that madelyn got a ladybug one for christmas - at least she smiled and pretended to be interested.

we headed out for some lunch at panera and then while the kids were napping in their car seats, we drove around to revisit some neighborhoods we are considering for building.  we will need to go back after the holidays so that i can tour some of the models matt had already seen on his first trip.

and that is the day after christmas for us.  love.

mason and daddy in christmas eve jammies playing mason's favorite game - hanging/swinging upside down.  my favorite part is his hair hanging down so straight.

madelyn and mason all ready to go to the mall.  mason asks madelyn to sit on the stool so that he can sit on her lap - so cute.

mason so over house hunting (in his new shoes).

post-shopping/house hunting cartoon watching with a very accommodating foot rest.

christmas day

christmas morning i got up with maddux at 5:30am (and 2:30am) and thought about just laying down in the living room so that i wouldn't miss their christmas morning excitement because i didn't think mason would make it past the tree to come get us.  but then i didn't want to ruin their excitement with coming to tell us that "santa" had been here (madelyn was very concerned that we didn't have a fireplace) so i went back to bed.

they came in our room very calmly around 6:30am to ask if they could just play.  sure.  madelyn then came back with the plate we had put the cookies on and asked me to come help her find them because mason had taken them.  mason had been trying to get them before bed so madelyn just assumed that mason had come out and gotten them later.  daddy suggested that santa ate them but madelyn told us that santa hadn't come yet.  she had walked right past their gifts and full stockings without noticing them!  twice!  i asked her if she was sure and then she went back to check.  she came back and told us that she touched her stocking and there was stuff in it - santa had been here.  there still wasn't a lot of excitement, sort of like if she was telling us about the weather - wait - that would have had more excitement...

i finally got up and went out with them to get the coffee maker going (aka get daddy going).  they got started on their stockings and daddy and i got the coffee, camera, and trash bag.  now the excitement was starting to flow with each new gift.

mason with his wheelies ramp



madelyn modeling her red purse that she can "wear like mommy's purse" (aka across the body like i carry the diaper bag)



christmas in progress

maddux slept through all the gift opening.  mommy and daddy had to open his presents for him since his brother and sister were too busy playing with theirs.  he still made a pretty cute santa.  happy first christmas, maddux!

i have video too but it needs to be edited.  i will add it in a week or so when matt brings back the speakers from wisconsin.

madelyn wanted to play with everything and share nothing, but one quick trip to her room helped take care of that for a while.  she was so excited about everything.  probably her favorite gift was rudolph the red-nosed reindeer lip gloss.  she talks about it constantly, applies it 10 times a day (at least), and keeps it in her purse.  it is also red and shows up all around her lip line.  she saw a weight watchers commercial with jennifer hudson wearing red lipstick and said, "look!  she has rudolph the red-nosed reindeer lip gloss too!"  (side note: madelyn calls rudolph "ruda".  she knows it is wrong but doesn't like to be corrected.  she just says, "but that's what i think he is called".  it is similar to another argument that she always tries to have with me about simba - from the lion king - being the 'white' lion.  the 'white' one is nala and instead of arguing with her i just say, "okay.  if that's what you think.")

somehow i planned meals that kept me in the kitchen all day.  i am not sure how that happened, but i cooked all three meals.  oh well.  it was still a very merry christmas!  love.

'twas the night before christmas

we spent christmas eve driving around checking out houses and neighborhoods.  to make it more fun for the kids, we let them watch christmas movies in the van (normally this is only for trips that are more than two hours).  one thing i did notice while driving around several different neighborhoods is that 98% of the houses did not have christmas lights - instead they hang wreaths in the windows or something similar.  i am not sure if that is just the thing here or if it is because 99% of the homes are two-stories.  ranches are definitely only found in very new construction.

we got home from our house hunting tour around 2pm and baked sugar cookies before leaving for a 4:15pm church service.  we were about 10 minutes late to church and were only able to get two seats which meant that madelyn and mason sat on our laps.  the place was packed and they brought in a few chairs trying to keep it from being standing room only.  considering that both kids fell asleep the second they were in their car seats after the service, they were excellent.  mason was a little squirmy and madelyn had a million questions but other than that they were great.  i think it helped that i was able to bust out some crayons and paper during the message/sermon portion.

after church we had fun decorating (and eating) sugar cookies, opening presents, and getting ready for bed.  here are pictures with captions.  i can't wait for tomorrow!  i am usually more excited than the kids and will probably be the first one up - although i am sure maddux will make sure of that.  love.

the other picture showed his "first christmas" shirt best but i thought this one was cuter.  it's like he is trying to guess what is in the presents under the tree.



madelyn icing a "candy cane" shaped sugar cookie.  we used tube dough that i had nothing to use to roll out so we molded it like play-doh to make shapes.  the "candy cane" ones were the best; everything else just looked like a blob after baking.



mason mainly licked the icing and ate his sprinkles.

 

madelyn picked out these ball sprinkles at the store because they were "rainbow-colored".  i picked out peppermint sparkle/sugar sprinkles which are delicious on cookies!



this is mason's surprise/happy face when he learned that the present was for him - right before he started throwing it around like a football (see bottom video; i couldn't move it up for some reason).  i noticed this afternoon that he makes this face intentionally.  i think it is because i open my mouth wide when i am expressing exaggerated excitement to the kids about something.

this was the closest i got to a 'group' photo in our christmas jammies.  this year's theme is "snow".  it would have been "snowmen" but they didn't have a snowman print in women's tall sizes and i got snowflakes instead.

 

we also let the kids open their gifts to each other.  madelyn picked out this lightning mcqueen bucket for mason - which he loved - really.

 

and mason gave her an olivia figurine with costumes.

madelyn humoring me with a smile next to santa's cookies before going to bed.





the only picture of maddux in his christmas jammies because shortly after this picture he spit up all over them and his sleep sack.  there went my hopes for getting a picture of all three of them in their matching jammies.  maybe i will just have to do some laundry tomorrow...

and to all a good night. love.