Christmas 2014

Ho ho ho, off to the East Coast we go. Well, we went, rather. We packed our bags for a three week stay and headed on a jet plane to spend time with family for Christmas and New Years. Overall assessment: great success. Even when we were on the plane for 7.5 hours straight (!) for the flight back to Seattle, nothing fell apart spectacularly. It's still not ideal to live so far from family, but boy oh boy travel does get easier each time now that the boys are getting older and me likey. Me likey a lot.

So apologies for the photo dump; I intended to make a short montage but, well, you know how all those "good intentions" work out sometimes.

Let the presents madness begin.

Grandpa Jim :)

Transforming some transformers with Uncle James.

Setting a scene.

Some matching pajamas cousin love.

Staying busy on the flight. [Obviously this photo is out of sequence but I'm too lazy to fix it.]

Landon was such a big help - my little man was perfect at carrying bags and helping mommy!

Super excited that Cookie the Elf got our directions we left on how to fly to Grandma's house.

Exploring some of daddy's old Legos.

Lego and train museum with Papa Dude!

It's tough work darting back and forth from Maryland to Pennsylvania every few days.

Christmas at Aunt Jill's and Uncle Bob's :)

Playing late night Scrabble with Grandpa Jim.

Brothers!

Baking cookies for Santa with Grandma!

Forcing Grandma to watch The Lego Movie for the 27th time.

Night out with close family friends :)

Daddy doll was around for all the action.

Cute snowman toes.

Reading books with Aunt Ingrid and Papa Dude.

Three cheers for Christmas morning!

They turned into present monsters. *Mom sigh*

Anders sneaking some cookie foot.

Erik sure loves his ham!

Lunch dates with Grandma at work

Hooray! A night out with Becca :)

Landon being silly at the Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore.

Uncle James car sandwich.

Playing near the creek at Grandpa's house. Making sure all black walnuts are now in the water.

Selfie break with my littlest cutie :)

Sorting through all of daddy's old toys. Trip down memory lane for mommy, too :)

It snows on the morning of our departure! 

Sitting on the tarmac for an hour and watching them de-ice the wings helped tucker them out. Woohoo!

Born Freeeee

I've been meaning to CHOP ALL MY HAIR OFF for a while now and I finally made the choice to just go ahead and do it already. I prepped the boys to let them know mommy wouldn't have long hair anymore and Landon was happy with the idea and said, "Well when you look in the mirror, you will see you are pretty." I don't think he intended to make such a supportive, eloquent statement, but nonetheless it was a nice vote of confidence. 

And holy crap, y'all, life is a lot simpler right now. Can't find a hair tie? Psssh. Don't need it, yo! Is there enough time to dry my hair? Psssh. Umm, YEAH, I've got ONE MINUTE to spare. Feel guilty for using pricey shampoo? Eff no! 'Cause I only be using the size of a dime! Living in fear that my boys will scalp me while we are wrestling on the floor and errantly pull on long hair? Psssh! Climb on, boys! Momma will be fine! (Except please stop kicking me in the boobs.)

How long will it last, who knows. I suspect having to make an effort to get it trimmed regularly will wear on my laziness and sense of frugality well before any actual desire for reclaiming long hair surfaces. 

Fa La La La La La La La La

I have to give myself a pat on the back for a moment because I've been trying to keep the spirit of Christmas joy well in session despite Erik being away. I got on the ladder and hung some lights and cursed at availability of outdoor outlets, like most folks do. We didn't get a tree given our travel plans, but the boys have not asked about it at all - they are just so enamored with neighborhood light displays more than anything. 

We've been to the library to read with Santa, went to the senior center to have breakfast with Santa, went to the Christmas parade (to see Santa, again) and will attend the Winter Wonderland set up at the local campsites this weekend (I suspect Santa will be there, too). We had a cookie decorating party for friends and exchanged small gifts with friends and neighbors along the way. The boys repeatedly sing Jingle Bells. Well, you get the idea: Christmas is alive and well. [Except Landon is legitimately scared of our elf on the shelf, Cookie, this year. But I silently applaud him because, yes, can't we all admit the idea is slightly creepy?]

Cookie time included the lesser known Gingerbread Shark and Gingerbread Squirrel, among others.

Waking Up

"I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, someone is poking me, someone is poking me. What the...?"

"I might punch you."

"Alright, just give me a moment."

"I'm listening."

"I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down."

"Let's do this!"

Halloweenie Birthday 2014

Well this year I thought to myself that I could probably get away with just having a friend or two over for Landon's birthday. And I thought to myself I could probably get away with only trick or treating at a couple houses with the boys. So of course this means Landon ended up having a birthday party on Halloween evening and then the posse of 10 neighborhood friends and parents took to the streets for treats. Funny how that happens. Regardless of the original plan, it was a super fun time and I'm glad we decided to pull it off last minute.

Landon, you bring so many silly smiles and energy to our lives. Happy 4th Birthday, my little buddy! As your Grandma put it so eloquently, we could wrap up a box of turds and you'd still find joy in opening it and say, "Cool! Turds!" Lest you think that's an insult, I assure you it is a roundabout way of saying you're a pretty awesome little dude. As it stands, you enjoyed some new Lego sets and that's how you spend about 3 hours a day - doing Legos. Interspersed with iPad, jumping and running like a nutsy guy, Play doh and some puzzles. 

My current career prediction for you as of this year is an improv comedian. You practice your silly animated faces diligently in the mirror each day and you love a good slap stick joke. The next Jim Carrey, perhaps...?

Also: props to Anders for being the Cheeseburger to my Hot Dog. Where do I sign us up for Motherboy?

Happy 4th Birthday, Landon!

Let's see what I can come up with next year.

Working hard for the candy. I didn't get any pics of Landon trick or treating because he was in beast mode and sprinting around too fast :)

Singing happy birthday!

Love our cutie friends!

Parents having fun, too.

Spiderman is apparently looking for the next vertical surface to scale.

This is the year that rookie mom realizes we will not buy a costume that has a full mask for another 10 years.

Epic battle of superheroes.

Mummy dogs and pumpkin pizza was on the menu!

Grandma extraordinaire helping on the front lines. Thank you!!!!