Christmas Show

Grant and Abby were in their daycare's Christmas show on Friday. How'd that go? Well - about as well as you'd expect for a 1 year old and 2.5 year old that are on stage about 15 minutes before their bedtime.

Before the show, we snagged some pizza at a place nearby. It was our first time there - not great but not terrible either. It might taste better if a certain boy would have stopped whining. Before we left, Derek grabbed an orange soda for one of our favorite teachers.

Abby was supposed to wear green. But she has NOTHING that is green and I refused to buy something just for this. So she wore red.
She did really well in the audience too waiting on her brother's show. (Her nose was painted like Rudolph's!)

Grant was supposed to wear a white button down shirt. We took the shirt to change him in the car. But before he could get it on, the orange soda went ALL OVER the white shirt. Lovely. So that's why my boy looks out of place. :)

At first he wasn't sure.
But by the second song, he was sure he didn't like it. This was the last photo I took before I swooped him off the stage (which was ok per the pre-show instructions).
I'm already dreading next year's Christmas show.

So long, suckas!

Friday was my dad's last day of work. After 40 years in the family business, he's moving on to retirement. Friday was also the company's holiday party, so the shop closed after lunch and they had invited customers and suppliers to come by to send my dad off.

It was the last day of all brothers working at the shop.
Good ol boys:
(and girls too)
There was a lot of this:
We laughed that this will be the last pic we took before mom went crazy:
My parents aren't sure what this next chapter will bring, but I'm sure they will laugh their way through it like they have up to this point. Let's wrap this all up with a nice family photo:

Vitruvian Park

Yesterday we visited Big Gaga for her birthday. We spent half the time in the bathroom with Grant though. He's trying to get the hang of this pooping on the potty thing. He asked to go poo poo every 15 minutes for 2-3 hours. We got to see Amy & her kiddos. So stinkin' cute!

The boys had set up the trains for Gaga's birthday. Grant LOVED them!

Abby on the other hand....

Then we headed out to Vitruvian Park. I heard it was neat. The trees were all wrapped in Christmas lights, the food trucks were out, and live music was playing. I thought it'd be Christmas music, but it wasn't.

We got our food, ate, then Grant had to go potty for real! He told strangers in the bathroom "I made a big poo poo!" He was so proud!

SANTA!!

Every year, we try to get all the cousins together for a group shot with Santa. Last year, Abby was an angel. It was a HUGE step up from 2010 when Carrie had to hide in the back, holding onto her boys' shirts so they wouldn't run away!
2011
This year Abby didn't want to cooperate. I truly don't think it was the fact that Santa was holding her. It was that she had to be away from her mama. One minute before the photo, Gloria was holding Abby and she was happy. I thought it would be PERFECT because Abby just hates to be put down my me, but is usually fine if she's warmed up to someone who then abandons her. Alas, Gloria was holding our number for the line, so Abby was in my arms and I knew then that our chances were shot!
2012
Santa has quite a grip on Abby. Because right before the cousins pic, he lost his grip on Abby and she slid down. Derek swooped in before she hit the floor!

And while we're at it, let's take a look at how the Hicks kids did.
2011

2012

Abby is ONE!!

Abby is ONE! Here's what she's up to:
Height: 29 inches (but they didn't try to stretch her) = 50%

Weight: 21 lb, 12 oz (Wii said 22 lb, 3 oz) = 65%

Head: 47.5 cm = 98% Both babies have huge heads. Hooray for C-sections!!

Diaper: 4's
Eating: WHOLE MILK!!! With Grant out of diapers and Abby off of formula, we effectively got a raise (roughly $150/month!).

Clothing: 12 -18 months. The 12 month old PJs look pretty ridiculous. I also just discovered that she can wear 2T leggings cuffed up, which will save me some money next year. And she can wear 2T-3T tops as tunics.

Sleeping: She would still sleep 12-13 hours each night if we let her. 2 naps are standard, but she could do just fine with just one.

Talking: Mama, Dada, Bubba, Lola, Baba (she asks for it when you give her a sippy - she'll be on the bottle a little while longer). I think I heard "more" over the weekend. Will she be like her brother and say "more" before she signs it?!

Teeth: By the end of the week, she'll have 8. We can see 4 poking through. Teething over the past few weeks has meant extra cuddles. We'll focus on the cuddles and not the pathetic crying fits.

Notice the ring in her hand in the photo on the left? See below about Guaranteed Crying.
Milestones: She is now walking between toys instead of crawling. She can take 8-10 steps consistently. She waves goodbye, gives kisses, and mimics all sorts of noises/movements. Clipping her nails is a huge challenge - she doesn't like to sit still that long. About 90% of the time she flips over on her changing table - so we spank her. Big Gaga says she used to poke her kids with a diaper pin, so I figure spanking is nicer!

This week we'll also be turning her around in the carseat!

Guaranteed Smiles: She's still a mama's girl - reaches for me all the time. She loves to watch her brother hit things or play with cars. She loves to watch Lola play fetch.

Guaranteed Crying: When Grant steals her toys, pushes her, or tries to sit on her. Or if you DARE take her toy away to do something crazy (like dress her or put her to bed). She has quite a grip and wants to ALWAYS have something in her hand, so she sometimes goes to bed with a maraca.
And here are Grant's stats from his one year post.

Abby's Birthday Party

Abby got to celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday this year!! That doesn't happen often, but right now, Abby's batting a thousand.

Abby's birthday was a Winter ONEderland! Ok - so really it was almost 80 degrees outside, but I wanted a theme that let me keep my Christmas gear out! Here's how the place looked as the guests arrived:


Homemade banner, penguin fabric, and snowflakes from Oriental Trading CompanyDerek told me he was getting a bounce house. I didn't believe him. But he borrowed a toddler-sized/backyard friendly bounce house that my sister had. It was a hit!
It was so nice outside that we grilled out fajitas. And in typical first birthday fashion, we had a smash cake for Abby and a big cake for everyone else. Abby was pretty shy with the cake. She ate better with a little bit on a plate. She was THIS close to shoving it all on the ground. Thankfully my mom and sister stopped her, then Abby signed "All done."

I don't have a photo of the big cake (will update later), but here's Abby digging into her igloo:
The fantastic weather lead to a mostly outdoor party. The big boys played dodge ball, the little kids played in the bounce house or in the Cozy Coupes. Yes - multiple. Now Abby has a PINK cozy coupe to play alongside Grant's red one.

We were lucky enough to even have Grandpa KC and Geri join us from out of state!

Abby played with her real aunts and fake aunts and her future BFF, Ava.

More pics are coming, so I'll update the post when I have them!

Abby's year in review

Just look how much she's changed in the past 12 months!


I'll update later with birthday party pics and her stats.

Red Oak

By Sunday I was going stir crazy. So I texted Grandma Rose to see if we could come visit. When she said they were around, I texted Coco (Carrie) to see if she and her boys wanted to come play too.

We were all in Red Oak by 10 a.m. Grandma Rose had lunch for the whole crew, Papa made his salsa. Practically perfect...

The John Deere toys were run for several hours while we were there.

Potty training

We did it!! Grant is out of diapers!! I heard from lots of other moms that a 3 day boot camp works wonders. So Friday, I kicked Derek and Abby out of the house for the first (and toughest) day. I fed him apple juice all weekend to get the ball rolling.

Friday - Grant never peed on the potty. He peed outside though lots of times. It was in the 70's, so it worked out pretty well. He would tell me "I made a big snake!" or "Look at that froggy!" (he went on the concrete, not on the grass). The excessive applejuice made him too hyper to nap. I learned my lesson though and started cutting him off before sleeping the rest of the weekend (leading me to wonder "Who is training whom?!", which I pondered all weekend. My dad says it'll be like that the rest of his life. Great.). He was bare-bottomed all day. Pretty much all day, we tried every 10 minutes. I kept rags and Resolve handy... and I needed it. He peed about 5-6 times on the floor - maybe more. He pooped on the driveway. But by the end of the day, I could tell he was getting used to the idea of holding it, trying, then going back to playing.
Yes, he's pointed uphill. It was day 1. There were no rules.

Saturday - Grant peed on the potty lots of times! Sometimes he wanted to go outside though. So we did. We stretched it to every 15 minutes. Grant wore big boy undies most of the day, but sometimes he refused and instead of fighting him, we just let him run around bare-bottomed. Derek was the main man in charge. Grant's first accident was after his nap, and it happened ON THE WAY to the potty. He had one other pee accident and pooped in his underwear. Definitely progress.

Sunday - We went to Grandma Rose and Papa's house. Grant stayed dry both to and from (it's almost 1 hour). YEAH! We stopped feeding him juice and just let him drink when he was thirsty. This let us stretch potty trips to every 30 minutes by the end of the day. He pooped in his underwear, but didn't have ANY other accidents!!

Grant is sleeping in a pull-up, but he knows he is done with diapers. I've heard from several moms that the poop thing is normal (even MEL had trouble and he was speaking
French at age 2 - by some accounts anyway). Tomorrow will be his first day back to daycare, so I think it's normal to have some hiccups. I'm pretty darn proud though.

As for his "style", he's a sitter indoors and a stander outdoors. He faces out (my grandma trained her 8 boys sitting down & facing the potty). He uses one of these, which Derek installed on Wednesday night. We took one of these to Grandma Rose and Papa's house, which I ordered specifically because it doesn't have this weird lip on the front that most do (and reviewers are usually critical of the lip for little boys since it can get in the way).

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great. I cooked most everything the day before. I tried some new recipes too.

Green Bean Casserole – Good, but Derek didn’t like it until the second day. I liked it, but it takes 3 pans to cook, so I doubt I’ll repeat it.
Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes – Meh. If you really NEED the stove space, these will work. Actually, if you need oven space, you can make PW’s Mashed Potatoes ahead of time too and just pop in the oven.
Bourbon Balls – WOW. Derek really liked these, but they were like a shot of bourbon every bite. My batter wasn’t holding just right (I made 2 batches), so with one of them, which was too goopy, I added peanut butter to firm it up. With the second batch (too crumbly), I added maple syrup. According to Derek, they were both good, but I would stay away if you’re not a fan of bourbon.

Actually, I just compared this bourbon ball recipe to the one I actually used, and the recipe I used was much stronger. I think the recipe above would be better.

We went the easy route and did a ham instead of a turkey. My MIL and FIL and Karl joined us. Grant loved eating off of Papa’s plate but didn’t care too much for his own. Abby threw up a handful of stuffing when she was full. Lola gladly cleaned it up.

After lunch, the kiddos napped and we all watched some football. After naps, we got to visit with Donnie, Susan, Katie and Karl (yep – again!) for a little. It was nice to have some conversation to distract us from the Cowboys.

Abby watching Grant play before lunch:
Watching on releve. Yeah Abby!
Both kids playing. And one of my last photos of Grant in a diaper... but that's a whole 'nother post!
And I love this pout (after naps)