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But then the Tuesday before Christmas, Buba got sick. By Thursday, Tiny was sick too. Then T became sick Friday morning, and spent the better part of Christmas Eve Day in bed. We had to cancel our plans to attend the family Christmas Eve service and dinner with the in-laws (an annual tradition), and instead had yet another “resting day” at home.

But it wasn’t a typical resting day where we read books and lounged about. The kids had a good number of gifts shipped from relatives in Iowa, and they spent the entire day opening and enjoying those gifts. (T and I knew there would be plenty more the following day from his family and agreed that this would help to space things out a tiny bit more.)

They opened their gifts slowly, trying on each piece of clothing (and bath towels too!) and taking time to play with each new toy…

It was just before dinner when the last presents were opened…

And in spite of not feeling 100%, it was still a pretty great day.

By Christmas morning, everyone was feeling pretty well again. Buba and Tiny opened the two gifts from Mommy and Daddy…

And then dug into their stockings to see what Santa had brought them…

We spent the rest of the morning at Grammy and Grandpa’s house, opening another set of stockings and presents from Santa and playing with the California cousins. We returned home for nap time (just a 10 minute drive) to be sure the kids would have a good nap (and continue to recover from their latest illnesses), but went back again in the late afternoon to open even more presents (from the grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins) before having a delicious roast beef dinner that both Buba and Tiny devoured.

It was truly a magical Christmas for Tiny and Buba. And one that I hope to remember for a long, long time.

I’m not exactly sure how much snow we ended up getting (the weather forecast had predicted 12 to 20 inches), but the kids were roughly knee deep when we plopped them into the snow in our front yard.

Last year, it took Buba a while to feel comfortable in the snow. But he was pretty much okay with it this time around…

Tiny was pretty happy too…

except when the wind picked up and blew snow into her face (which, unfortunately, was pretty often)…

Still, I’d say we lasted a good 30 to 40 minutes playing outside in Tiny and Buba’s first blizzard. And it looks like the snow will be around for us to enjoy again and again while T is home on winter break.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

To make a long story short, our holiday photo shoot at Sears went horribly. Tiny and Buba were between viruses, and were in good spirits, but the photographer wasn’t great. She didn’t interact with them in a way that got anything more than cheesy grins, so we weren’t getting any authentic smiles or giggles. When I tried to help out and got down on the floor to make them giggle, she complained that they weren’t looking at the camera. After the shoot, we waited for over 30 minutes to see our pictures, and the place wasn’t busy (we had the first appointment of the day). I’m pretty sure she was trying to see if she could some how doctor up the photos to make them look like something worth paying for, but really, it was just a complete bust.

So, I had to take matters into my own hands. I found a white artificial Christmas tree in the appliance section of Sears, and did my best to get  just one cute picture of Tiny and Buba. Easier said than done…

It was beyond hard trying to get them to both look at me and smile and equally challenging to get a shot where you couldn’t see merchandise in the background.

I had promised Buba and Tiny that we would go see the crocodile outside the Rainforest Cafe if they cooperated with my impromptu photo shoot, and even though my shoot seemed not any better than the professional one, I kept my promise. I even tried to get a couple of shots in while they were being all spontaneously cutesy watching the crocodile. But I didn’t come up with anything better…

I’d have used the last two in a heartbeat if they weren’t so blurry (most likely due to the low lighting and my unprofessional photography abilities).

But never fear, more photos were taken and there will be a holiday card after all! It may be close getting them out on time, as they were just ordered and my not arrive here until the 17th, but it’s a darn cute card if I do say so myself. Of course, you’ll have to wait to see the winning photos. Can’t spoil the surprise!

I tried to involve the kids as much as I could, and was pleasantly surprised by how interested and willing to participate they were. I took tips from Quadmama (here) and Sadia (here) and worked with both Tiny and Buba to draw up a plan for their pumpkins. They both had a choice of shapes for the eyes and nose (circle, triangle, square, rhombus, star) and each got to determine the number of teeth in their jack-o’-lantern’s smile.

Scooping out the pumpkin guts was actually pretty challenging. I should have cut the top holes larger, but once they were done, it didn’t seem there was any way I could fix that problem. Fortunately, both Buba and Tiny were happy to turn that job over to me and had a lot of fun playing with the seeds and goop while I labored away. The carving wasn’t too difficult, though I did have some trouble with the star nose on Buba’s pumpkin. Still, I think they turned out very nicely. Tiny and Buba were both quite pleased with their glowing jack-o’-lanterns, and for me, that’s all that really matters.

Buba’s pumpkin (left), Tiny’s pumpkin (right)

I love fall in New England!

Their first 4th

Their second 4th

The first year, they were just shy of 4 month old, and I cannot even begin to tell you how we spent that day. The second year, we were visiting my family in Iowa. I remember that there was a big cookout, but I don’t believe we took them to any parades or festivals.

So this year, it was quite a change. We started out by heading over to a small carnival in a neighboring town on the 3rd.

an attempt to get a shot of the two with their first carnival prizes

playing the “pick a ducky” game

having fun in the bouncy house

riding their first carousel ponies

When asked about their favorite part, Buba said his favorite part was all of it, while Tiny’s favorite part was “eatin da fried dough.” If I hadn’t been so busy chowing down on some fried dough myself, I’d have gotten a picture of that too.

The next day we headed over to Grammy and Grandpa’s house. We went down to the town center to see the kids’ bike parade and then had a picnic in the park. After a nap, Buba and Tiny wanted to brave the heat and play outside for a while.

sprinkler fun

riding around the cul-de-sac

nature hike

With a 7:15pm bedtime, there were no fireworks to be seen this year, but perhaps in another few years I’ll brave the traffic and crowds and take Buba and Tiny to see the display on the esplanade.

Both Tiny and Buba had a great time washing the trucks and playing in the water.

And they each got to take a turn sitting in the cab of the fire truck.

Before we left, the fire fighters passed out hats, fire safety coloring books, and stickers. After close to an hour, Buba was ready to go, but I’m pretty sure Tiny could have stayed all day.

Sunday afternoon, just as the Buba and Tiny were getting up from their nap, it began to pour as if someone had opened a fire hydrant in the sky. The kids stood watching the rain at the window and whined a bit about not being able to go outside to play. Fortunately the storm only lasted about 30 minutes, and then the sun was shining again. It was way too wet to play in the yard, but perfect for going out for a puddle walk.

There was a nice big puddle right in front of our house, and Tiny had the best time jumping up and down in it. It wasn’t long before her shorts were soaked all the way through, and we had to double over the waistline to keep them from falling down. Buba wasn’t much of a jumper, but he still loved dragging his feet through the water.

Our house is on a slight downhill, and it wasn’t long before Tiny and Buba started to follow the little stream near the curb down to the bottom of the street. There were some fantastically large puddles down at the end, and Tiny was in heaven (we didn’t get any still pictures, but I think T got a few video clips with his iPod).

Unfortunately the fun was cut short when Tiny fell into a puddle and came up screaming with blood dripping pretty heavily from her right hand. I picked her up and rushed her into the house. T put her in the bathtub and did his best to clean the wound and stop the bleeding. Honestly, he was completely calm and amazing, and I don’t know what I’d have done if he wasn’t there. My head was spinning in a crazy panic, and I felt as if I could throw up or pass out at any moment (no Mom of the year award for me). I managed to call the doctor’s office and got connected to a nurse at the affiliated hospital. She explained how to stop the bleeding, how to clean and bandage the wound, and how to know whether or not we would need to go to the emergency room for stitches. We determined that stitches were not necessary, and T continued to treat a hysterical Tiny while I did my best to calm her down. Buba was left completely on his own during this time and may have made several overseas calls, as I’d left the phone well within his reach. Fortunately, he didn’t talk long.

As soon as the bandage was on, Tiny calmed down enough to request a Popsicle.

Unfortunately, Tiny had a rough day today. She just wasn’t herself and seemed to fall apart at the drop of a hat. To make matters worse, she fell on her owie and it started to bleed again. Depending on what it looks like in the morning, we may be headed for the walk in hours at our pediatrician’s office first thing. Still, as T pointed out, we have to consider ourselves lucky. We made it over 27 months with nothing more than bumps and scrapes. And we have no doubts that, stitches or not, she’ll be good as new in a week or so.