Weeeeee!

Relia and I went sledding this afternoon and she had so much fun.

Her nap didn't start until 3 and I knew we wouldn't be able to make it if we didn't get going by 4 so I woke her up. I felt like the meanest mom ever, but I knew she'd perk up and get on board soon.
She and I got snow suited up & took snow tubes to the hill in the park by my parent's house. It was the perfect size hill. We went down together on one sled, then on our own sleds holding hands, then Relia told me she wanted to go by herself. She was so excited and proud. Nana joined us for our last few runs. I managed to lose both my keys and phone. - but we found them pretty easily. Thank goodness I didn't bring the camera. We couldn't stay long, but wow, it was fun.

Terrifying!

I'm not sure who gave us the flashlights on Monday, but this is what became of them.
The funniest part is at the end

There has been so much going on this past week, that I could use a little bit of "normal". That is unusual for me, I usually want to hang on for a few weeks.

But it has been a wonderful Christmas. Our first one with a child who was anticipating Santa's arrival.
Tree surrounded

Stockings hung

despite my predictions, we woke up before Relia. We headed downstairs, and she was excited, but a little tentative.



After stockings we packed up all of the gifts and went over to my parents'
one of her Santa requests, now named "Pinky"

I wasn't sure how Dad would feel about the compost bin we got him, but he was pretty excited. He might have just been relieved it wasn't actually a case of baby wipes.

Santa has a tradition of giving magazines:

Relia LOVED having her own magazine.

Ry & Carrie are steampunk enthusiasts. Ry gave his bride a cool top hat.


Chocoface

Legos

Mom & Dad each gave each other seat warmer type things :)

Totoro -the project I have been working on for a couple weeks was well received.


Felix slept through a good portion of the gifts but got to enjoy some paper at the end.


Relia was so excited and did a decent job of playing Santa -handing out gifts, based mainly on the first letter of the words on the packages.


Maybe you noticed the costume change?


After the fun at Nana & Grandpa's we headed down to Austin, where I didn't take the camera out once. The kids slept the whole way down! When we got to the hotel Relia noticed the pool right away. Relia & I met Heidi & Marshall for a little swimming. Later we went to David & Donna's for supper with the family. Then Felix went to spend the night with Pop Pop, and Relia stayed with the Justices.

Too...many...secrets

It really isn't that much, but there are a few things I spent more time than money on, and those are the ones I can't wait to see come to fruition.

Today was a nice day all around. I woke up super early and couldn't get back to sleep. So I gave up and went downstairs to wrap some gifts and watch Where The Wild Things Are -I'm trying to be better about actually watching the Netflix movies I get.

Once the whole family woke up, we, once again, shoveled out and headed for the MOA. it wasn't busy, and while we had a few last minute Christmas present-y things on our agenda, we didn't feel rushed.

We found legos for Ryan & Carrie, and got a couple more things for Miss Relia. Then, feeling happy with all that we'd accomplished, I did a little shoe shopping for myself. I was excited to find the Teva flipflops I'd been looking for all summer. Then, I happened across a lovely pair of Dansko clogs for 70% off!!!

We went home and after putting Relia down for a nap, I headed out again to get one more gift for FP & Relia. Then I made some Shrinky-dink gift tags before we went over to Pam & Ellen's for a Christmas eve supper.
tags


After story, Relia ran to her bed and said "I have to go to sleep good, so Santa will come."

NORAD

Lots of people know that you can track Santa through NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command)
But I just found out that NORAD started tracking because of a misprint in a Sears ad. Their "Santa Hotline" accidentally connected kids to the NORAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations "hotline."
Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.

Felix growing up

I'm not sure if it's because of all the time he's been spending around other kids this week, or if it's just a coincidence, but Felix is starting to move around and talk so much more. He still goes backwards, but now there is purpose! As I talk to adults while he sits on my back, he joins in with "Ba ba ba ba". Tuesday he tried some Cheerios and LOVED them!



He isn't too keen on the taste, but likes that he can feed himself.

Learning something new

Like wrapping gifts with fabric

Visiting Santa

This morning out of sheer need for Preschooler sanity, I decided to take Relia to Bachman's for their "Santa & Albert the Elf " show. We got there about half an hour before the show and managed to pick the benches under the dripping ceiling. Relia didn't care one bit. She did a great job waiting for the show to start. We explored Santa's house on the stage.


She saw other families taking pictures in front of the tree and asked me to take hers, but it was very distracting looking at all the people behind me.


and when the show finally started Relia was enthralled.

When Santa invited all the kids to come up and sing, Relia bounced right up to him.

After the show, Relia insisted we wait in the incredibly long line to visit with the big guy. She did an amazing job waiting, occupying herself with some new friends she made and asking me to take advantage of photo ops.

Half an hour later, she finally got to talk to Santa. She asked if he was going to come to our house on Christmas. He said "Yes"

My Advent Calendar

Relia adopted our 2009 calendar (which has been hanging behind our 2010 calendar for a whole year) as her own. "It's my Advent Calendar." We spent last night writing on it. Notes to Santa, where her birthday was, pictures of Santa, etc.

She was asking me where certain numbers were, and then started pointing out some of her own:

"five...no, FIVETEEN!"


Oh Relia, it does my heart good that you understand the pattern. Unfortunately, you still have eleven and twelve standing firmly in your way.

We stayed put all Sunday. Relia was disappointed that we wouldn't be going out, so I broke out the bag of dress up clothes I'd been saving just such a stir-crazy-ish situation.


Felix was cool with our confinement and spent the day working on his "sound".

FP and I took turns shoveling. He spent a good chunk of the morning digging out Pagoda (the Ion) and the front walk.
I tackled the back path, and got a start on the driveway.

Relia quickly learned that she needed to crawl across the snow to avoid getting stuck.


We couldn't find her boots, so she wore her warm slippers with plastic bags. :)


Today after finding out school was canceled today, we managed to extricate both vehicles and went to the MOA for some running around time. Got a little Christmas shopping done and saw Under Water Adventures with their new layout (go through in the opposite direction).

SNOW DAY

My first one in 11 years.

The dome collapse from inside

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=ca15cffb-3b66-49a0-84ca-20ed0a175567" target="_new" title="">NFL on FOX: Metrodome collapse</a>

Dome collapses

I was 12 the last time this happened.

FP says there is talk of the Vikings playing at the new Gopher stadium. Next thing you know, the Wild will be playing outside.