25 days of christmas

a very large box full of 25 presents arrived on our doorstep today.

it was from grandma & grandpa G . . . all the way from Georgia.  They have a great tradition called the [25 days of christmas] where the grandkids get to open one present a day from dec 1 – 25. 

nate and ryan will be stoked when they wake up tomorrow!  lets see how long it is before i have to move the presents out of ryan’s reach!

[thanks grandma & grandpa g.]

thanksgiving [weekend] 2010

we had a nice thanksgiving holiday this year with the perfect amount of scheduled events and enough time to just do what we felt like doing.  here’s how it went:

. it all started on wednesday around noon when wes came home early from work to see his cousin olivia and her husband Zack.  They were in town and they came over for lunch and to visit before they headed back to Idaho.  It was great to see them!

. wednesday afternoon the boys and i headed over to my parents.  they had quiet/nap time while i set the thanksgiving table and helped my mom with a few other things to make her thanksgiving day a little easier.  wes stayed at home with his “to-do” list and worked his tail off.

. thanksgiving was perfect. [see thanksgiving DAY post below].

. it’s finally cold here and i’m loving it.  definitely makes it feel more like the holidays.

. black friday shopping began at 3:30am with Sam.  I wasn’t going to go quite that early – but then figured I might as well.  It was a morning filled with shopping, exhaustion, McDonalds breakfast, an out-of-it driver and a fiesty passenger.  i can’t remember a time when i’ve ever been that tired.

. we visited santa.  nate wasn’t scared at all this year.  he climbed right on up and told him he wanted a tool bench.  ryan was perfectly fine on santa’s lap, too.  in fact, he kept turning around trying to grab at that long white beard.  luckily the camera woman was ready and as soon as he looked at us after screaming his name, she got the picture!

 

. on friday night, sam cooked everyone a pot of chili so the marz clan re-convened at my parents house for chili and cornbread.  i didn’t have to eat one thankgiving leftover [i don’t love leftovers] and it was great.

. we went to the district to see the big tree, do some christmas shopping, and ride the carousel.

 

. we escaped saturday afternoon and left the boys with a babysitter to see the next three days with russell crowe.  my cousin, elizabeth, was the director’s assistant on this movie so we wanted to check it out.  her name is mentioned once in the movie and she has a few appearances so that was kinda fun.  good movie.

. we got out all of the christmas decor and finally got it all up and the bins put back in the garage on tuesday.  it was quite a process this year for some reason!

and that pretty much sums it up.  i love thanksgiving weekend.

thanksgiving [DAY] 2010

i heart thanksgiving. 

 

 

thanksgiving day was great.  after an early lunch at home we headed over to my parents house for some fun - nate & ryan were in cousin heaven.  a few of our thanksgiving day activities included:

    . playing in the leaves.  my parents have some great trees in their front yard that shed their leaves just in time.  the kids loved it.  they buried aunt sam and papa and thought it was hilarious!  even kyle got in on the fun later in the day.  he raked up the kids a big pile of leaves and then they threw them on kyle!  even ryan had a little fun in the leaves.

  

 

     . going on a bike ride.  We took the kids around the block on their bikes with Ryan in the wagon. 

 

  

  

  . we played ping pong, air hockey, made rice krispie turkeys, played pin-the-hat on the turkey & watched a little Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. 

 

 

It was a great day with the Marz clan.  I always enjoy spending time with the entire family & the little cousins have a blast.  Ryan will love it when he’s a little bigger and can keep up with them!  But until then, he kept an eye on the fridge and whenever it opened, he was in it!

My mom made a great Thanksgiving dinner filled with all of the traditional favorites.  It was delicious. 

What a great turkey day it was.

abbie’s 5th birthday at sunshine mall

it was our 2nd annual trip to the sunshine mall [galleria mall] for abbie’s birthday today. sam and i love to shop and it looks like abbie got that gene, too so sam and i take her shopping for her birthday.

abbie’s friend Ruby gave her a build-a-bear for her birthday that abbie is in love with. so today we headed straight to the build-a-bear store for abbie to pick out new clothes and to wash her bear, abbie. [they are twins, with the same name]. she was particularly excited about washing abbie-the-bear and so we wanted to buy her the blow-dryer and brush that follow every girls [or bears] bath.

i’m pretty sure abbie had a great time . . . and so did sam and i. we love this niece of ours. she is getting to be such a big girl . . . i can already envision many shopping trips in the future. she kept saying to us . . . “i think i picked out the perfect bear.”

We finished our shopping trip with auntie anne’s pretzels and fruit punch [abbie’s request] as we watched the dancing christmas bears.

happy birthday, abs.

[my kids scored big on abbie's birthday, too! They got to play with Daisy, Aunt Ali & Uncle Tripp!]

ryan: [9] months old

our little monkey is 9 months old.  i love this boy to death but he is so much work lately!  for the last month he’s had super-swollen gums and so he just wants to be held.  he’s either in to everything in the house or he’s in our arms!   when he’s not held he is determined to figure things out, get in to everything, pull everything down, rip everything apart . . . with a big smile on his face. 

a little more about ryan at 9 months:

. he can open every cabinet in our house.

. he loves toilets and can find an open one in seconds.  disgusting.

. he loves bathtubs.

. he loves the dishwasher.

. he climbs entire flights of stairs [with supervision].  he is learning how to go down.

. he throws everything. 

. he claps – usually for himself. [see video]

. he tried saying “uh-oh” a few times today.  He got the sounds right.

. he babbles mama and dada all day long.

. he absolutely hates getting dressed.  i am thinking about inventing a child restraint system for diaper changes and getting dressed.

. this boy loves to eat absolutely anything.  he still loves baby food but really loves any big people food.   he can eat quite a bit!

. he’s still not a very good napper.  bedtime is at 6:15/6:30pm [because he’s exhausted from a long day] and he wakes up around 6:30am [with one feeding in between and if he’s up any more than that he cries it out.  that middle of the night bottle is ending soon!]

. he loves his bottle and his binky.  he gets soooo excited when he sees a bottle of milk or even if I sign “milk” to him.  But don’t let him see a bottle because he’ll scream until he gets it.  this will be a fun one to try to get rid of in a few months!

. he has two teeth on the bottom and one random one on top with three more on top about to cut through.

. he weighs around 21 pounds . . . putting him in 12/18 month clothes.

. this boy is in pain from teething.  he’s been a whiny mess for a month.  as long as he’s being held – he’s totally fine. he definitely doesn’t want to be crawling around or playing for very long without you on the floor right next to him or holding him.  he’s pretty much following me around and pulling on my pant legs all day long!

. he loves big kids and always wants to be a part of the party. 

. he’s crawling really fast.  especially when we play “i’m gonna get you!”

. he likes to dance by shaking his head back and forth really fast. [see video]

. he loves balls.  we play catch a few times every day.  this is one activity that nate actually enjoys doing with his brother.

. he’s always got something in his mouth.  his latest move is that he likes to crawl with something in his mouth.

  

.he loves to be outside but it’s tricky now because he crawls right for the dirt and rocks and eats them.  but thankfully he loves the swings where he’s contained!  nate loves to push him in the swings.

[thanks aunt ali for letting me borrow your fun tree swing!]

. i love having two boys.  this is as matching as they will ever be . . . jammies!  nate thinks it’s pretty cool that they have the same pajamas.

ryan "dancing" and clapping

o christmas tree

yep.  it’s up at the griffeth house.

every year it’s a debate as to when to put up christmas decorations.  i love thanksgiving so i don’t want to neglect that holiday – but then again – it feels like just as you get all of your christmas stuff up it’s time to take it down.

so this year, we compromised.  we put up JUST our tree today . . . the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  it’s surrounded by fall decor and a few Thanksgiving items so I don’t feel like I’ve totally forgotten Thanksgiving – but we’ve got a splash of Christmas.  AND, my tree is done.  one less thing to do after Thanksgiving since we enjoy Black Friday shopping, relaxing, enjoying time with Wes, football, and lounging at my parent’s house.

and, i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t have been able to handle Nate asking me all week long to put up and decorate the tree.  today was enough!  he was my little helper while ryan screamed and wes made a big pot of soup.  our fingers are crossed that ryan doesn’t pull the entire tree over.

happy thanksgiving & merry christmas!  i love this time of year.  and i’m THRILLED that it’s finally cold.  it’s making it feel like the holidays outside, too!

[side note: since we’ve been married this is our first year staying home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We typically always spend one of those with Wes’ family in Georgia.  I’m sad we’re missing it this year . . . we just can’t get out there twice every year with the kids . . . but i’m still bummed].