"Sleigh" Ride

Our neighborhood homes association announced this year they were sponsoring a free sleigh ride for the residents.  I wasn't sure what exactly a sleigh ride would entail, but we decided it would be worth trying.  Well, we weren't exactly dashing through the snow, but I suppose that was reasonable since the temperature was in the 50s.  Their formula for a sleigh ride: Take a hay ride, do it in December, and play some Christmas music from a small portable CD player.  Well, close enough.  It was really just a hay ride, but it was still fun.  We all piled on the trailer (there were multiple shifts to accommodate all the people), and it rode through the neighborhood while we looked at the lights on the houses and listened to the music.  Joshua loved it because of the hay and thought that was by far the best part.  It was a fun little family event, and we'll likely do it again next year if they offer it again. 

Skates

Today I decided to try roller skates with Joshua. I was thinking about ways to expend energy when it starts being too cold to go out and I thought skating would be nice if he can do it, which I am not sure he can. These skates have three modes and the first is the wheels are locked, the second is they can't go backwards, and the third is normal skates. I let him walk around with the wheels locked and he did well with that, though he wasn't all that interested. Then we also did mode two for awhile, which he couldn't stay upright that way, but greatly enjoyed me pushing him around. The skates are a big hit, but I will have to think about how to motivate him to try to learn to skate rather than just enjoy me pushing him around. In case you are wondering why he is pointing at his mouth, I was trying to get him to smile and after telling him to smile had no effect, I said, "Show me your teeth". So then he did, but not in the way I was hoping.

Light Wizard

Ron recently put Christmas lights outside their house which can be controlled by a remote control.  Today when Joshua was at their house, Ron had Joshua convinced that if Joshua stood by the window and made a certain hand motion and sound, the lights would turn on.  Repeating the process would turn the lights off.  Ron, of course, was secretly pressing the remote control button at just the right time to make the illusion work.  Joshua was completely amazed by his new powers.  When I arrived to pick up the kids, Joshua demonstrated his cool new skill to me.  But by then it was time for the magician to reveal his secret, so Ron handed the remote to Joshua and showed him how to press the buttons to turn the lights on and off.  Joshua was happy to do it that way, as it seemed just as magical to him.  Pressing a button to make the lights go?  Making a hand motion and a sound to make the lights go?  It's all mind-blowing craziness to him.  Here he stands at the window exercising his magical powers. 

Red+Blue=Purple

The project I did with Joshua today was originally going to be just water transfer with an eye dropper, but then I decided it would be more fun with colored water. I was nervous about staining from any spills, but he did really well. He only got the concept of how to use the eye dropper a little, so he did it for awhile and then switched to pouring. He is doing really well with pouring carefully now, which is great.

Doctor Appointment for the Girls

Today I took both girls to the doctor while Joshua stayed with Grandma. Hannah had a weight check. She is doing really well and weighs almost ten pounds. Clara had her one year check. She is also doing well, though still very small. She weighs about 15.25 pounds. I would have liked to get a picture of Clara with Jeanette, who we have seen consistently since her birth. Clara has probably seen Jeanette as a patient at least six times, plus more for when I have brought her for Joshua's appointments. However, this did not stop her from freaking out and refusing to have anything to do with her, so no picture. She did really like Heidi, our favorite nurse, so at least that's something. Heidi decided to hold on to her favored status by having another nurse give Clara her vaccinations, which she was not a huge fan of. Overall I would say Clara is probably glad she doesn't have to go back for three months.

It Does a Body Good

Since Clara is now one, we are working on transitioning her to milk. Right now we are trying whole milk and I am hoping it works out. We really struggled with Joshua as he hated whole milk and barely tolerated 2% and soy for a long time. It has only been just recently that he really started to like milk, which of course conveniently corresponds with the time where it really isn't that important whether he drinks it anymore. So far it seems to be going well and Clara drinks it with just as much enthusiasm as she did her formula, so I am cautiously optimistic.

Happy Birthday Clara!

Today was Clara's actual birthday. We celebrated at home with a dinner for the birthday girl of rolls and mandarin oranges, which are her two favorite foods. We gave her our gifts and Aunt Josie also came over to give hers since she was out of town for the party. We had French Silk pie that was leftover from Thanksgiving that Clara enjoyed greatly and it was a very good day. I can't believe it's been a full year since Clara was born. In some ways it seems way longer, but when I think of getting the call from the adoption agency last Thanksgiving in the evening, it doesn't seem like so long.

Shopping Can Wait

I really love my grandparents and my uncle, but I don't often get to see them, as they all live out of state.  Today I wanted to go do some Black Friday shopping, but since they were in town, I stopped by the house for the first part of the day so I could spend some time with them.  We looked at old baby pictures and looked through some projects from my childhood.  It was a lot of fun.  I stayed way later than I planned, so I did less shopping than expected, but it was a conscious decision I made to give myself more time to spend with them, and I'm really glad I did.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we are celebrating Thanksgiving. I love pretty much everything about this holiday. I love the inclusiveness of it. I love the traditions. I love that it is uniquely American in many ways, but that many other countries have similar holidays. I love the food. This year we are lucky to be able to have it in our home again, which is my favorite way to celebrate it. It is a lot of work to cook all that food, but I really enjoy it and I love hosting. We are glad that Michelle and Sam could be with us this year. It has been really great to celebrate with them and spend some time together. We are also so thankful for what God has done in our lives, especially this past year. It is hard to believe that it was only last Thanksgiving that we only had one kid. It was the night of Thanksgiving that we got the call from the adoption agency about Clara since she was born last year on Thanksgiving morning. We feel so blessed to have had such an amazing year.

Extended Family Day

As with most Wednesdays, the kids went over to Mom and Ron's house today.  But unlike most Wednesdays, because it's Thanksgiving week, my grandparents and Uncle Brent were in town, so the kids had a chance to spend time with some of our family who they don't normally get to see.  Here Uncle Brent holds Hannah, reminiscent of the time he first held Joshua, when he was the first one in our family to hold him.

Where You Lead

Clara really likes holding hands with anyone, but especially Joshua. It's really cute to see them because normally Joshua will accommodate her, which is important, because she likes to lead. So she just toddles around, pulling Joshua behind her until he gets bored. It's really sweet to see them play and have fun together.

Climbing Mt. Table

Today Clara made the discovery that chairs just aren't for sitting in. You can also climb onto them and then climb onto the table. She was very proud of herself for figuring this out and was pretty irritated when, rather than giving her applause, I had her get down and moved the chair.

A Williams Dinner

Michelle and Sam came into town yesterday and are here to visit and enjoy Thanksgiving with us. Since it is rare that all three of us are in the same place, and will get rarer once Christine moves to Vegas in the near future, we decided to have a dinner out with all three of us as well as Sam and Jason. We had a very nice evening with good food and it was nice to catch up on what everyone is up to.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Today we had Clara's first birthday party. Her birthday isn't until next weekend, but it's hard to do a party on Thanksgiving weekend so we had it early. Her theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar since she really likes reading books and that is one we read a fair amount. She seemed to enjoy her day, especially the cake.

Meeting GG and PaPa

Today the Halls came into two for Clara's birthday party. Ron and Peg were nice enough to watch the kids for the day since we were doing party prep so Hannah got to meet her great-grandparents today. We all had dinner together when we went to pick up the kids which was very nice..

Fun with Stabbing

Today our project was inserting golf tees in floral foam. I wasn't sure if it would be a hit because it doesn't have a huge point, but Joshua definitely loved it. He loved stabbing the tees into the foam and did it on all the free space he could find. But he also enjoyed taking them back out again and then putting the tees back into the holes he had made the first time. This was definitely something that held his attention for quite awhile and that he really enjoyed.

Clara's First Haircut

A few months ago, Meghan gave Clara a little trim, but she's never had a full-on haircut.  With her birthday, family pictures, and Thanksgiving coming up, we decided it was time for her first real haircut.  I took her to Great Clips, and Brandy trimmed her up.  We are going to grow out Clara's bangs, so we're in a little bit of a transition there, but the back and sides are now much better.

Homeless Elf

Joshua enjoys the concept of hats, both for himself and others.  Putting things on heads is humorous to him, although he doesn't always like it for an extended period of time.  Today something came in the mail, and it was shipped in one of those bubble-wrap lined paper envelopes.  Joshua took advantage of the opportunity and put it on his head.  It was cute, but he also ended up looking like an elf who had fallen on hard times but still wanted to don the appropriate headgear.

Seasonally Appropriate Art

Today we had our meeting with Elizabeth, our Parents-as-Teachers person. She came over to see how we were doing and she also brought an art project for Joshua. They put leaves they had picked up from the yard onto contact paper and then put that onto construction paper. Joshua had done something similar when he had gone to art class in September, but his interest in art has grown greatly in the past month so he enjoyed it a lot more this time. Clara has also really interested in the leaves, but maybe a little young to really understand the concept of sticking them.

A Big Helper

Recently Joshua has become a really big helper. Mostly this is so sweet because he wants to help with things and so he wipes Clara's nose or fixes her hair or wants to feed Hannah. Here he is helping Jason do that. It can give me panic attacks at times as he also tries to pick Hannah up out of her pack 'n play and he tends to tip Clara out of her car when he pushes her around so sometimes he struggles a little with execution since he is just a little guy, but I love seeing him want to help. Terrence, on the other hand, needs no help repeatedly tasting his delicious foot.

Swinging Wildcat Fans

Today was the last nice day before the cold front comes in tomorrow, so Jason took advantage of that by taking the kids outside while I made lunch. Here they are in their K-State purple since later in the day we watched K-State's perfect season continue as they defeated TCU.

Unseasonably Warm

We do not have particularly harsh winters here, which is one thing I really like about Kansas, but we also have four very distinct seasons. But today late fall took a break and it was 70 degrees. It was so pleasant and nice so we definitely had to go outside. Both kids love going out and we spent sometime in the backyard playing with leaves and dirt and other fun things like that.

Water Transfer

Today the project I did with Joshua was transferring water between bowls with a sponge. I wasn't sure if he would get it or be able to squeeze the sponge, but he did and he liked it a fair amount, though it pretty quickly devolved into splashing around, which he liked even more. I am okay with that and am always glad to see him having fun.

Tummy Time

The pediatrician recommends starting tummy time from the very day you bring your baby home, but I don't find that realistic because a baby that young sleeps so much. But Hannah has been having more awake time lately so we decided now is a good time to start tummy time, especially because I feel like she doesn't yet have good head control. So far, like most of life, she seems to be unimpressed with it, yet doesn't have much of a problem with it either. Here she is being her typical mellow self on her tummy.

Rocking the Vote

Today is election day, the day when our country will determine if Obama and Biden or Romney and Ryan will lead our country for the next four years.  Although I could have done advance voting, there's something fun about going to the polls on the day of the actual election.  It's mostly ceremonial, though, as the electoral college system means that my vote will have no bearing on the presidential election, as Romney will easily win Kansas regardless.  There are a couple local races that might be close though, but mostly my vote consisted of confirming judges and voting for people who were destined to win because they were running unopposed or who were heavy favorites anyway.  I worked from home in the morning today and then went to vote around lunchtime, taking Joshua with me.  It's not something he'll remember, but it'll be fun for him to know in the future that he cast a ballot in the first presidential election of his life.  And he did actually cast the ballot.  After I entered all my choices on the digital screen (no hanging chads in this election), I let him push the Cast Ballot button.  Afterward, we each got one of the coveted "I Voted" stickers, showing that we did our part, even if it was largely inconsequential.

Hats!

Winter is coming, and since we're not terrible parents, we're aware that our children need warm clothes, since it's probably safe to assume this winter won't be like last winter, which pretty much involved fall never leaving but just changing its name to "winter" and hoping no one noticed it not getting cold out. Our most recent focus is on hats. We didn't really have a good hat for Joshua, so Meghan bought him this hat with cute little ear covers.  Last year our friend Christa gave Clara an adorable sock monkey hat that she made herself.  It's too small for Clara now, but we really love the hat, so now it's Hannah's.  And our friends Mike and Jenny gave a purple cat hat to Hannah, but it's too big for her, so it's Clara's hat for this season.  Here are all the kids modeling their hats.

Posing By Pumpkins

Joshua's been learning about pumpkins this fall season, so he gets excited when he sees them.  Our church has a whole pile of them right outside the front door.  I'm not sure if they're supposed to just be decoration, or if they're being saved for something, or what.  On the way out of church today, Joshua saw the pumpkins and wanted to stop and examine them.  But then he saw this bench, and he decided sitting on the bench was much more important than pondering pumpkins.  I was able to quickly grab this impromptu fall-themed picture.

An Empty Space

Today one of my big tasks was to take down the Halloween decorations. Luckily for me, Jason was willing to help and actually ended up doing most of the work. I hate manual labor, so this was a delightful turn of events. Here he is with one of the last decorations to go back in the box. I always think our mantle looks so empty and lonely (not as lonely as the picture indicates. We have other things up there when there are no seasonal decorations) after a holiday and this time it made me a little extra sad because I put the Halloween decorations up when I was in labor (at that time I didn't know it) with Hannah so it just makes me realize how fast time is going by.

Happy One Month Birthday

Today Hannah turned one month old. It really doesn't seem like it's been a month already. She is doing really well and weighs 8 lbs, 11 oz. She is having more times of wakefulness and is lifting her head more, though she doesn't have good control yet. We are planning on starting tummy time soon since she seems more able to stay awake for it now.

A Happy Reunion

Today we, along with Ron and Peg, went to to see the firefighters and paramedics who helped with Hannah's birth. They were really sweet and answered all our questions on what it is like to be an emergency responder and also showed us their vehicles and gear. Here is Clara sitting in the fire truck and Joshua "driving" the ambulance.

Here is our family with the firefighter crew who was working that night. Also pictured in the white shirt is the paramedic who drove the ambulance. The other paramedic was not available today so he isn't in the photo.

Besides the two paramedics, Kevin the firefighter is the main person I remember from that night because, since he is the only firefighter who is cross-trained as a paramedic, he was more heavily involved in our care and he rode in the back of the ambulance with me. He also is super nice and facilitated our visit tonight. Here he is with Hannah.