Everyone Gets an Upgrade!

One of Clara's gifts for Christmas was a booster seat. She really had enjoyed sitting in Joshua's at times so we decided to upgrade her to sitting at the table. She is doing pretty well with it so far, though it has prompted her to start sharing with the pugs, which I really wasn't going for two kids feeding the dogs at mealtimes so that's been a bit disappointing. Besides that, she is doing very well in her big-girl chair and Hannah now has a place to sit at the table too. She is sitting in Clara's old highchair seat. We reclined it and added the cushion back on (my kids are too messy to have a cushion once they start eating real food. I don't have the time or inclination to wash it all the time) and she has been joining us for mealtimes, though she isn't pictured here because she was being fed at the time.

Shouldn't It Be Either Jose Pimientos or Joe Peppers?

Because we didn't have to pick up the kids until 12:30 today, we took advantage of the time to go to lunch (after sleeping in, of course!).  We wanted Mexican, so we went to Jose Peppers.  Here we are in front of a mural of a different type of Jose.

The Winery and the Colorful Moose

We rarely get a true date night, but tonight was one of those nights.  We dropped the kids off at Mom and Ron's (Joanna was there too) for an overnight stay, and we then went to a restaurant that we like that we can't normally go to because it isn't very kid-friendly: La Bodega, which is a tapas restaurant.  We had a 45-minute wait when we arrived, so we milled about in the nearby Crate & Barrel admiring the nice furniture that would be appropriate in a house without small children.  When it was time to eat, we chose several of the available tapas, including the best one on the menu, the Solomillo Con Cabrales, which is grilled beef tenderloin crusted with Spanish bleu cheese.  It was a very cold night, so after that we decided to go to the Blue Moose and have a few drinks by the fireplace inside the restaurant.  It was a really nice night out to ourselves, and we really appreciated having family who was so willing to help make it possible.

Farewell Chicago?

Recently they changed my sales territory at work.  For the past couple years I've focused on Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana  But our company is growing, and they've hired more sales reps, so as a sales engineer I'm now working with sales reps who are closer to Kansas City.  I'm not sure how this will go, because the Kansas/Missouri/Ohio/Colorado/Iowa/Nebraska territory isn't exactly booming with opportunities (I also have New Mexico, the Dakotas, and Montana, but those aren't really even worth mentioning).  I do have Minnesota, which probably holds the most promise out of all the states.  The new sales rep for that territory starts in a couple weeks, so hopefully he'll do well and we can get some business.

For now, though, I'm holding on to a few of my old accounts, though I'll likely lose them in the near future, so yesterday and today I was in Chicago visiting one of them.  I was supposed to fly back first thing this morning on a 9am flight, but my flight was delayed due to a mechanical problem.  By the time it was ready, I would have missed my connecting flight, so I had to be rebooked on a later flight leaving at 5pm.  So I spent basically the entire day in O'Hare.  I wore my glasses in the morning because I planned to sleep on the first flight (it's not very comfortable to sleep in my contacts), but because I didn't end up flying until the evening, I ended up wearing them all day.  Here I am toward the end of my long day living in the airport like Tom Hanks.

New and Improved Tummy Time

Hannah is making big progress with her motor skills lately. Not only does she smile and laugh more and lift her head up more often, but she also bats at things and is more interested in the world around her. This means tummy time is going much better than it was and she seems to actually enjoy it for at least a little while. It is exciting to see her develop new skills and become more like a tiny person with likes and dislikes.

Merry Christmas!

Today we had a very nice Christmas. We woke up, read the Christmas story, and then did presents. Joshua was a little excited this year, but not too much. Terrence still was the most excited one in the house. Joshua did really like taking off the wrapping paper though and he was not really worried about only unwrapping the ones that were his. Jason and I had fun giving the kids the gifts we made, as well as the ones we bought. This is Hannah in her carseat poncho and Joshua with the helping tower. Later, we had our traditional dinner of sauerbraten. We really enjoyed spending the day with the kids and each other.

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve. Our normal tradition involves Jason shopping until dinner time, but this year he was ahead of the game and finished shopping yesterday. But he had to work so we didn't really gain too much, though I guess he had the satisfaction of feeling ready for Christmas a day early. Regardless, we had our traditional dinner of shrimp bisque and rolls (lots and lots of rolls for the under-three set). This year Peg and Ron joined us for dinner and they, as well as Julie and Andrew, went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service with us. We have always gone to the 11pm service, but this year we just didn't think Clara could deal with it so we went to the 7pm service and used childcare for both Clara and Joshua. Though I love having communion in the service and also leaving church and having it be Christmas morning, the earlier service was still very nice and we enjoyed it. Unfortunately I was losing my voice so I couldn't sing any carols, but I know Jason really enjoyed singing and it was nice to hear them even if I couldn't participate. Here is our family after the service. Clara really enjoyed the large atrium of the church and was just delighted with her ability to run free (not too free, but I think it seemed free to her). Hannah stayed with us for the service and she slept through the entire thing, but we did give her a candle so she could participate too.