Let it snow

The snow finally came down (and since writing this a few days ago, there is even more snow). Isabella acted as if she'd never seen a snowflake in her whole life, and excitedly pointed out every object covered in snow (or barely covered at first, and even then she would exclaim, "Look at all the snow!"). Walter took her sledding Saturday morning before I had to leave for a wedding, and then she played outside at least three more times. She is such a snow bunny. During the summer she acts as if the sun is melting her body, but when winter comes, she is one happy girl.

Why is it that I used to spend hours playing in the snow and now the mere thought of going out there makes me chilly? I've become a wimp.

Our Christmas was very merry, how about you? Isabella was full of excitement, and thanked us profusely for everything we gave to her. Anytime Isaac was asked if he wanted to open a present, he said a quick, "no". Once he had a chance to see the unwrapped gift he signed 'stuck', because of course, every toy was stuck in each box, many requiring brute force to open. I'm thinking the makers of those boxes and things to secure a toy in it's box took Toy Story a little too seriously. I mean really, the toy is not going to come alive and jump from it's cardboard jailhouse.

Isaac's refusal to touch gift wrap, meant that Isabella happily opened every single present.

Oh my, I can't even describe how excited the kids are to have daddy home so many days in a row. Isaac is even asking for 'da' instead of 'ma' during the day. This is a pleasant break for me.

Walter brought home a "coloring book", some stapled pieces of paper with extremely pixilated images of some of the aircraft his company makes stuff for (I can't say much more than that...they make stuff and I'm not really sure what they make). I told Walter that chances are, some angry co-op was told he had to get this done. Either way, when all was said and done, these were the most colorful Apache Helicopters ever seen.

Have I told you that Isaac loves Legos? He spends a fair amount of time simply looking at the instruction booklets. Then, when he gets to the pieces and parts page, he points out each piece that is part of his project. There's a genius locked away in there.

Tracking Santa. Just ignore the fact that Isaac is playing with a box of batteries.

Playing with one of his new pirate ships with Opa...

The pirate ship has replaced the DVD player for feedings. We'll see how long we can keep that up.

My grandpa's Leland -Detroit Monorail, made in the 1930s...

I uploaded my pictures and saw this one that my brother must have taken while we were visiting Walter's family. Yes, those are clumps of snow.

Walter let me sleep in this morning and has been tirelessly playing Legos with the kids. Isabella built the Lego Friends Heartland Stable almost entirely on her own, and enjoyed making cookies and having a tea party with Aunt Rosie. I hope you are also enjoying a relaxing day.

Sierra

Traditions

The year we were married, I couldn't imagine not waking up Christmas morning with my siblings, and walking down the stairs to see the tree and the presents, just as I'd always done. For that year and the next, we stayed overnight at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. Then we decided it was time to start our own family tradition, and create our own Christmas morning experience with Isabella, and now Isaac.

Something strange happens when you become an adult, and even more so when you have kids. I don't know about you, but I've started to remember things. Little flashbacks here and there about my childhood. Maybe the memories weren't as important to me before now, or I'm trying to recreate parts of my childhood for Isabella and Isaac. Either way, with Christmas quickly approaching, I'm looking forward to savoring moments, and faces full of excitement, and squeals of delight.

Some of my own winter memories:

My sister and I used to get so excited at the idea of my dad making a fire in the fireplace. Our job was to wad up sheets of newspaper (a very important task), and I'm pretty sure there was hot chocolate, or at least I hope there was because that would make this memory even better. Without a doubt though, there was a thermos of hot chocolate (prepared by my mom) that accompanied us when we went on our sledding adventures. My dad used to take us sledding at night, and we would sneak onto a golf course and trek through the snow in search of the perfect hill. It was always just the three of us, my sister, my dad, and me. We'd go down the hill a bunch of times, and then plunk down and sip hot chocolate.

Every Christmas morning we read a letter from Santa. He'd write about how much he enjoyed the cookies, and that Rudolf really loved the carrots. I eventually recognized my dad's handwriting as Santa's. I don't remember being crushed by that discovery (mom, correct me if I'm wrong). 

We're going to have so much fun with the kids this Christmas. In Walter's words, "Isaac pooped just in time for Christmas." Yes, our general family happiness is based on whether or not Isaac is constipated, so hooray, he spent an hour pooping at 4:30 this morning, so we should all be in good shape. I am rather tired today from being up with him most of the night, but I'm glad we are not in the hospital today. I thought for sure something must be wrong with his g-tube because all night he held his stomach saying, "ow, ow, ma, ow". And apparently I just missed the memo that he was constipated. Hmmm, how quickly this post went from family traditions to poop.

If I don't get a chance to write a post before Christmas, our family wishes you a Merry Christmas, and a wonderful time spent with family.

Love,

Sierra, Walter, Isabella, Isaac and Stella

p.s. Count this as your Christmas card from us.