Last Wednesday we celebrated Christmas with Walter's family. For about a month Isabella has been talking about Gabe (her cousin) coming to visit. And let me tell you, those two played until they dropped, which was every night around 8:30.

Walter and I were looking forward to hosting his family's Christmas at our house and I was working with Rosie to prepare brunch for everyone. I'd decided to make quiche and was dreading making pie crust. Why did I need to make pie crust? Well, because if you know me, you know that anything with partially hydrogenated oils is not allowed in our house, so that means no frozen pie crust. But it does mean, lots of butter! Yeah, don't ask me to explain. After reading about this pie crust, and the promise that it was an easy and forgiving recipe, I went for it. Fear no more! Pie crust is super easy to make!

Though I'm not too crazy about Barbies and the unrealistic body image that they project, Isabella had been asking for "those big princess dolls" ever since she saw them at Target a few months ago. I knew that Gisela got them for her but definitely did not expect the excitement or hyperventilating that occurred before she'd even unwrapped the box all the way. It went like this: big gasp, oh my goodness! the princesses! the big dolls! oh, JUST WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED! JUST WHAT I WAS ALWAYS DREAMIN' ABOUT!!!!! And then, just as quickly as they were exclaimed over and even before Walter birthed them from the massive amounts of tape and plastic attachments that secure them to the box so that it takes ten minutes to get them out, she'd moved on to the remote control truck we bought for Gabe. Then the battle began over who would get the remote control. And as I peeked in the living-room as I was cleaning up the kitchen, who was playing with the barbies...Julie, Gisela and Rosie.

The next day, everyone thought it would be a wonderful solution to buy another RC truck for Isabella. After we set up Isabella's we realized that the controllers controlled both trucks. Talk about a disaster! When Gabe thought he was controlling one truck, he was really controlling the other, and then they were both screaming because their truck wasn't doing what they wanted it to do...AAAAHHHHHHHHH! Actually it was pretty funny for the adults but not so funny for Gabe and Isabella.

After snagging some free furniture from one of my mom's friends, Walter set up a very nice man cave/playroom for himself (and the kids) in the basement. Of course that meant Jon and Walter played Super Mario for three days. Thankfully though, I had the opportunity to play Settlers of Catan--oh how I miss playing board games!

We had a lots of fun spending time with family, eating lots of food, and lots of treats. Because I was so tired of Isabella asking for treats, cookies, and chocolate, I threw all of it out a few days ago. We never have that kind of stuff around and she was seriously starting to drive me crazy.

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Mommy! I drew a rainbow! And to my surprise, she really did draw a rainbow!

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Gisela got a new camera from Annemarie and Scott...

      

Isaac got a balloon that he demolished in one day...



Some quotes from our house:

-"Mommy, I can't a-lieve (believe) you did such a good job making dinner!"
-"Mommy! guess what?! when I grow bigger and my bottom grows bigger I can wear your underwear!" Um, not so sure about that...
-Walter: "Isaac, can you please scream more quietly."
-Me: "Isaac, your name is supposed to mean laughter, not scream your brains out."
-"Daddy, I just wish my barbie princesses could be real. Wouldn't that be so much fun if they were real?"
-During a heated discussion at Church between Maya and Isabella, Isabella said, "Oh, I give up." Then Maya said, "well I give down!" Oh, they make me laugh!
-We don't spend much time talking about Santa so I shouldn't have been surprised when Isabella opened her stocking and said, "mommy, did you sneak these clips in here?" She caught me!

Isaac:

-He learned how to clap last week!
-He has two teeth
-He still does not like to sleep but I think I'm managing pretty well despite the fact that I am very forgetful and have a hard time forming a complete and understandable sentence when speaking. Actually, this morning I started the Keurig coffee maker and turned around to see that I'd forgotten a mug and the coffee was streaming down. Thankfully there's a little reservoir that collects the drips (or a whole cup of coffee).
-We're working on adjusting to the helmet. He's worn it a lot in the last few days and even took his second nap with it on! We're also getting better at nursing with it on.
-Next week he has his nine month check up and he will also have a follow up appointment with the plastic surgeon this month.
-He is not crawling but is practicing turning in a circle while sitting. I don't know, seems to me like crawling would be easier.
-He says ba ba and da da. Neither of these mean anything in particular. They're still just noises to him.
-He thinks Isabella is absolutely hilarious.
-He loves to take baths. When I sit him next to the tub and turn the water on he starts to laugh with excitement.
-He enjoys playing with food but gets the most disgusted look on his face when a cheerio or something else is actually in his mouth.
-He can pick up small items, like cheerios, with his forefinger and thumb.
-He loves to cuddle with me and the place he is happiest is in my arms (which is usually where you can find him).

Happy New Year!