Friends 'til the end!

Merry Christmas!!!

He sure does because this is what our home looked like Christmas morning:


Actually, this is a cumination of gifts from Santa, mommy and daddy, Nana and Grandma Applesauce. It's a little embarrassing looking at the amount of gifts under the tree, but honestly, the majortiy were clothes, books and non-battery operated toys. I am very much into toys that encourage them to use their imagination, so they didn't get anything that beeps, talks or sings from us. Mommy and Daddy (Santa), gave amoungst other things, a Bilibo, a baby doll, clothing, books, infant toys, and stuffed animals (like the Moose for our Moose!)


And thankfully, both Grandma Applesauce and Nana also gave a few quiet gits, like an Aqua Doodle, a shopping cart with pretend food, an Elmo spinning chair, a huge stuffed dog and more books. Of course, they couldn't resist the latest fads so we did get a few noisy toys mixed in; a Baby Alive doll that kisses, a Yo Gabba Gabba Brobee, a Fisher Price Car Garage, a Batting Station, a Farmer See and Say, a Learn to Dress Elmo doll, a vtech ball, and lots of other infant/toddler toys that they couldn't live without ::eyeroll::


Anyways, after eating a special breakfast (Lauren had some of mom's homemade Eggbake) while the rest of us had a Beehive from Noyes,


we took a few pics of the Brownies in their special Christmas jammies:


Most pics came out really cute, except for the few of extreme happiness, including the beloved "cheese" face:


But after she bumped her head on the branches was mysteriously attacked by the Christmas tree,


we quickly needed a change of scenery to prevent a dramatic meltdown, so the Hubster did his best impersonation of being a dork, goofball, nerd thug:


After he opened all of his gifts, he ended up with cash, clothing, weight lifting paraphernalia, a razor/trimmer and a few other things his wife insisted he couldn't function without :) Yours truly didn't do too bad either; I scored a Roxy Purse and wallet, the Mac Daddy of Pedicure bath's, exercise gear, shoes, Princess House items and a couple Gift Cert's. Wow!

After what seemed like 10 hours and a few dozen rolls of wrapping paper shredded all over the house, we got ready to head to Grammy and Grumpy's house's. While we're on our way out the door, Lauren insisted that she needed her baby. So we head back indoors and not only does she grab both babies, she manages to pick up all 4 bears, leaving her covered in "Bea's" and baby's:


Seriously. They all drove with us ::sigh::

After arriving at Grammy and Grumpy's house, we ate a tasty meal and hung out with the extended family. Grammy, Grumpy, Nana, Uncle Ty, Uncle Todd, Lori, Dylan, PopPop and Grandma Betty were all in attendance... and of course, so were the gifts :) The Brownies made out like bandits, scoring pretend cell phones, keys, magnetic stereos for the fridge, a baby barnyard and you guessed it, lots of cute clothes, as my family members are suckers for cute outfits.

They shared a few ornaments because ya know, there were no toys in the midst of all the wrapped boxes ::another eyeroll:



But after sharing the ornament, Miss Piddle decided that a kiss needed to be shared, so she planted one on her "Muss":


and once again, while her parents smooched:


We had a great Christmas; Jacob had a fabulous First Christmas, complete with toys, lots of milk and his momma's love:


while Lauren enjoyed her toys, her daddy and again, her cheese face:


As for the Hubster and I, I think it's safe to say we enjoyed eachother, our babies and the reason for the Season!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth...

well, and a shiny ornament!


Oh, and don't forget his delicious digits, he needs those too:


A few days ago, I sat down to post some very important news when, like usual, I got completely distracted by eBay researching infant/toddler development.... ya know, because I'm a good shopper mom like that ;)


Anyways, the big news: We have a tooth! Actually, the Hubster, Lauren and myself have several teeth but Moosey Man is the proud owner of 1 pearly white tooth! It's the left front tooth, and lemme tell ya', that sucker is sharp!


And I just felt Porkchops gums this morning and it seems that this tooth's next door neighbor is cutting through too. So, it's quite possible that he may have receive his wish and get both front teeth for Christmas. Lucky me!

"Mope"

Lauren's friend "Gace" (Grace) introduced us to the Sandra Boynton book "What's Wrong Little Pookie" months ago and since then, it has seen alot of action at the Brownie home. Lauren will sit for hours while I read that story over and over and over again until I honestly just wanna put little Pookie out of my his misery after sooo many questions. And Jacob thinks the pages are tasty, so it's read and chewed on on a daily basis.

Thanks to Pookie's reply to "Are you tired?", Miss Fancy Pants' answer to everything is nope.

Mommy: "Do you want a drink?"
Lauren: "Mope".
Mommy: "Are you sleepy?"
Lauren: "Mope".
Mommy: "Do you want kisses?"
Lauren: "Mope".
Mommy: "Do you need a knuckle sandwich?"
Lauren: "Mope".
Mommy: "Do you want some cheese?"

Aha!

Lauren: "Peas! Peas cheese, mommy!" Peas!"

That "please" is usually followed by this cheese face, thus ensuring her momma gives in because she knows I love this face:


And that, my friends, is the only time where you will hear "peas!" and not "mope".

Chistmas Prep

With Christmas approaching quickly, I had tons to do the past couple days, and today as well. First thing I did was personalize our stockings. I don't know why this means so much to me, but it does. Probably because when I was growing up, there was no need to personalize stockings. There was only mom and me... and I could tell which stocking was mine based on which one was empty and which one was full. "Santa" always stuffed mine full, so it wasn't difficult to decipher :) Anyways, here are our family's stockings (Lauren loves trains and Jacob, well, he's a moose!)


Then Judith and I baked our little hearts out. We made Oatmeal Scotchies (without a doubt, the moistest, tastiest cookies I have ever tasted... and believe me, I've tasted lots 'o cookies in my day!)


We also made Peanut Butter Balls... a labor of love for sure, but the Hubster and his employees enjoyed them, so it was worth it:


and finally, cream cheese mints:


I took a picture of the mints prior to dipping a portion of them in dark chocolate, but again, they're heavenly!

Finally, I wrapped today. I wrapped, and I wrapped, and then I wrapped some more. Wanna know why I wrapped sooooo stinkin' much? Because Santa, Nana, and Grandma Applesauce think that our children need everything in sight. Seriously, we have more gifts than you can imagine. I'll take a picture Christmas morning just to prove my point :)

So while Lauren is napping, I take Moosecake into my bedroom with me and begin to wrap some of the bazillion gifts. He's perfectly happy and content gazing at the bows and talkin' to his momma. After the 10th present or so, I see him lay his head down:


I continue making lots of noise, crinkling paper and tearing tape, but it's no use. My little man is out. Out cold:


With Lauren, getting her to fall asleep was WWII. Getting her to fall asleep anywhere other than her crib at her scheduled nap time was impossible. Jacob on the other hand? Give him his fingers, a blankie and some good ole' flooring, and he's good to go. Such a sweet boy.

And after a long day of being crafty, creative and Christmas-y, the sweetest thing in the world happened. I'm reading Lauren some books before bedtime, like usual. All of a sudden, she takes her best friend outta her mouth, leans up, kisses my cheek and says "I lull you" (I love you) and then smiles up at me. So unexpected, and yet, so very appreciated. I melted and got all teary-eyed, so thankful for this blessing God has given me. I am SO very blessed :)

Past 2 days in pictures

Before I post all the pictures, can I just say what a truly amazing husband I have?? Not only did he take a day off to hang out with us, he's out right now getting me a Costco Chicken Bake. Ya see, earlier today we went to Costco and I got the Chicken Bake to eat for dinner because I LOVE them. As I'm doing laundry a few minutes ago, I see a stream of ants swarming my Chicken Bake :( Dumb me left it on the washer after walking in from the garage, and it was covered with stupid ants. I won't lie; I was p!ssed. I was SO looking forward to that. So the Hubster emerges from the bedroom, dressed in snow gear. He says "I'll be right back. I'm going to Costco to get your Chicken Bake." He wouldn't take no for an answer (thank goodness :)), so he's out replacing my dinner... in the snow. Man, I sure do love and appreciate him (plus, he makes cute babies!).

Anyways, we had a really fun today. Actually, the fun started last night.... well, after the Hubster got stuck in the snow and had to leave his car parked in the middle of our block and walk home...in his slacks, poor guy.

But once he got all dried off, we started a fire, listened to some Christmas music and watched as the snow feathered our yard. It was peaceful and romantic, and I was diggin' the atmosphere, our festively decorated home, the peace and quiet of Fancy Pants sleeping, and the joy of being with the littlest one:


until someone got the bright idea to sit in the snow to show how deep it was:


I told him I thought these next few pictures would have saved him some freezin' cold buns, but he insisted:


and based on this after picture, I think he wished he would have listened to me :)


This morning though, we got up and ready for the day. I baked us a Chocolate cake with Cream cheese frosting, wrapped the remaining gifts from Santa, finished up the rest of my Christmas crafts (these are table settings):


while Moosey Man laughed and danced in his jumparoo, making one of the happiest faces I've ever seen:


The rest of our day was spent playing in and out of the snow... well, two of us anyways. Justin and I had a blast making snow angels:


having a snowball fight,


and laughing at the pathetic snowman our neighbors made:


Meanwhile, Lauren acted like we were torturing her. If there is one thing I've learned about this little girl, she likes her routines. She likes things to be the same and if something is out of order, she freaks out. Take the snow for example; we prepared her alllll morning that we were gonna go out and play in the now. She would walk over to the window and shriek "schno!". She was excited when we got her snowsuit on, her snow boots and even her mittens. But the minute we set her down in the snow, this is what we got:


So daddy tried to engage her:


but she wasn't having it.


So we headed inside where my Willful Wilma proceeded to blow us away... I'm singing ABC's, and after "LMNO", I pause and she looks up and me and says "P!". And later on this evening, we're sorting laundry and she starts counting the socks. "One, two, four, nine, free (three), one, two..." Seriously, she's counting and reciting the alphabet?!? Adaptable she is not, but smart she most definitely is!