Merry Christmas

Here are a few photos of the boys on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. We let them open the gifts from us on Christmas Eve and then Santa brought some things on Christmas morning. They had a blast opening all the gifts (of course!). I was kind of surprised that they both left the presents alone that were under the tree until Christmas Eve. They really didn't try to open them until it was time. Then they went on a gift-opening spree. On Christmas morning, before Adam even asked about if Santa brought any presents, he wanted to know if Santa had eaten the cookies that we left (of course he did...). I just thought it was funny that he was so concerned about those cookies. He was very excited when he saw that the cookies were gone.

I've posted a bunch more pictures of Christmas and also other December pictures on my web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amykerkemeyer/Dec07

Merry Christmas to all!

Another new digital scrapbook page

Here is a page I did from the pictures of the boys playing in Lake Superior when we went up to MN in September.

Snow and Santa!

We got our first big snowfall of the season on Friday night. We woke up Saturday morning with an inch or two on the ground. We had a good time going to the playground and lunch at Burger King pulling the kids there in the sled while it was still light snow. Then Saturday night was the Santa walk at Suson park. By then, the snow was coming down heavy again and there really weren't very many kids there to visit Santa, I think the snow kept a lot of people away. We hadn't done this event before, I couldn't believe you could actually find any Santas anymore that you could actually take your own snapshots and not pay $7 for a lousy photo taken by the people who hired the Santa. So I thought it was great! Cole was less than thrilled though... Adam sat with Santa but wouldn't tell him what he wanted for Christmas and wouldn't take the toy that Santa's elf offered him. By the time we left the park an hour later it was really snowing hard and it was a long, slow drive home. The next morning we had ~6 inches of snow, so the kids were out playing in it again Sunday morning. Adam really enjoyed it, Cole couldn't get around very well in his jacket and snowsuit, so he got tired of it quick. As usual in St. Louis, this snow won't last long, it will be close to 40 degrees the next couple days, so we have to enjoy it while it lasts!

Kids will surprise you

Today we went to Monkey Joe's which is one of those bounce house places for kids to have a holiday pizza party. Adam had a great time and was just a gem the entire time. Then when it was time to leave he had a big time fit, wouldn't put his shoes on, etc. and I ended up chasing him down and carrying him kicking and screaming back to put his shoes on and repeat out to the car. He spent the afternoon in his room once we got home to cool off and take a nap if he wanted (yeah, right). After he apologized for his behavior later, he got to come out and play. Then if he didn't go and vacuum the whole breakfast room floor for me. He said he wanted to vacuum and he crawled around and got every little speck of food on the floor. Then he went and vacuumed the family room too. Just when you're ready to sell them to the highest (or any) bidder, they go and do something sweet.

Flooring fiasco

Well I finally got at putting the pergo in the entry hall today. On Saturday, I started pulling up some of the old parquet flooring and it was going pretty slow. Then on Sunday, Dan took over the floor demolition and within an hour the rest of the floor was stripped of parquet. So today I got most of the hallway done and then I ran out of underlayment and the flooring planks. I can get the underlayment at the hardware store, but the planks I ordered and they don't carry them online anymore. I guess I'll have to see if the local flooring store can special order me a carton. If I can't get it anymore, not sure what I'll do. Maybe I'll put tile in for the last few feet by the front door. Aaaargh....

City Museum Excursion

We headed down to the City Museum Tuesday with the Chesterfield Stay at Home mom's group. We had a big enough group that they opened on a day that they are normally closed so we got our own private tour. City Museum is a very cool place with literally hundreds of tunnels and niches that kids love to climb in. We didn't play in the entire museum, but we spent a lot of time in the World Aquarium section (which I'd never seen before, pretty neat) and in the younger kids play area (lots of tunnels, etc but scaled down for younger kids).

The aquarium was great. Our tour guide brought out lots of animals for the kids to see and touch. They got to see a couple different kids of turtles, a ferret, a cockatoo, and Cole especially liked the bunny. In one part of the aquarium area, you can climb into a boat that has a window in the bottom so you can see the tank below. Then there is a plexiglass tunnel leading out the back of the boat that goes down through the tank, like a slide, back to the ground. The kids thought that was pretty neat. Cole was a bit afraid of it at first, but then he wanted to go back in. But by that time it was time for the group to move on to another section.

I'll have to take the kids back there again, especially when they are older. They have a lot of things geared towards school age kids.

Well I started this post Tuesday and am finally getting back to finish it on Thursday night. It's been a busy week overall. Wednesday Cole had his 'Let's Sing' class which has singing, dancing, and circle time for toddlers. I thought he might enjoy getting to do something without Adam once in a while. The first class he wasn't so sure about it and seemed very eager to go get Adam at the end of class, but the second class he seemed to enjoy it a lot. Then today, we went over to Dinah's house and just let the boys play. They were all very good (no fighting at all) so Dinah and I actually got a chance to visit for a while. I had a mom's night out activity tonight, so I left early and got some Christmas shopping done while I was out too. I think tomorrow we'll just stay close to home and relax!

Another watershed moment...

As in, lots of water was shed when I tried to take Adam's nighttime diapers away again. He just sleeps right on through it. He got up when I got in the shower, I asked him if he was wet and he said 'Yeah, I'm kinda wet'. Well he was soaked all down his leg. He may not have noticed as much since the pajamas were fleece, I don't think they feel as soggy when they're wet. We'll try again tonight and see what happens. I can't believe he's been potty trained in the day for more than a year but still no success at all at night.

We had a milestone with Cole today. I went to the gym today and he actually didn't cry as soon as we drove up, or when we walked in the door, or even when I brought him over to the toys and left to go workout. I guess he finally figured that mom's only going to leave him for 30 minutes. As soon as he saw me come back in the door to pick them up, he immediately looked around the room and found Adam and started dragging him by the arm to leave. Cole can't talk much yet but he knows how to get his point across.

My latest digital scrapbook page

Click for larger image

Here is the latest digital scrapbook page I put together. It is a snapshot of what Cole is like at 18 months. I intend to do one for Adam now too, but between making Christmas cards, stitching Christmas ornaments, and other events going on, I haven't gotten any more layouts done. I'm happy with the way this one turned out. I used a lot of doodles and flourishes to give it a whimsical feel. I haven't decided what I'll use for Adam's page yet.

Crazy weather we have had this year in St. Louis. This morning it is 59 degrees in the middle of November. Can't complain I guess. Weekend weather was gorgeous as well. We got in a couple of bike rides and walked up to church. I'm sure we're going to have to pay for this beautiful weather later. The quad bike is on order and the bike's design has been approved, so we should be in the queue for production of the bike. I don't know what the delivery date is supposed to be yet. It is going to come in pieces though and Dan will assemble. I have no idea how long assembly will take. Hopefully the bike will come mid-winter so that it can be ready to ride by spring.

Maybe later today I'll try tackling how to post pictures to this blog. More later.