blizzard 2009

my soon-to-be sister-in-law, blair, has been begging for snow for months now. apparently she's always been dreaming of a white wedding....yadda, yadda...therefore, I'm blaming this blizzard on her. (j/k you know I love you blair!!)

poor kyle was up before dawn to try to plow us out. my parents gifted us the most amazing snow blower and for the first time EVER...kyle has agreed to give it a shot. all was going along famously until the wheel of the blower came off. needless to say, it was back to good ol' shoveling and followed by a brisk walk to work. that's right...my wonderful husband trudged through the blizzard both ways today. it's about a 20 minute walk. I offered to drive him, but it didn't make much sense to drag miles out onto the roads. I, on the other hand, was overjoyed to have a day off of work and even more happy to stay home with my monkey all day. he and I had lots of fun lounging around in our cozy fleece and slippers. we colored, played play doh, read books, set up his new bed, and made some key lime bars. I'm sure he enjoyed his time home with me too, but I was upstaged by the foot of snow outside our window. when kyle came home from work, we bundled the little guy up and let him test out his new winter gear. after 15-20 minutes, he was still toasty warm and bone dry...thank you lands end!

perhaps santa needs to bring miles a toddler sized snow shovel

watch out...here I come!!

playhouse disney live!

last saturday we fell into the disney trap and took miles to see the playhouse disney live! show. he has become a fan of mickey mouse clubhouse and handy manny - neither of which rival holding his attention like signing time but he enjoys them both nonetheless. we weren't about to be completely suckered into buying outrageously overpriced tickets - so we settled for the front row of the upper section. they apparently added the 3pm show as an afterthought to the 12pm show, because the seats were pretty bare (read: not one person on the floor section behind row 3). when we arrived we were greeted by a bunch of people in brightly colored uniforms trying to sell toys and treats at bargain basement disney prices. riiiiiight. if you are familiar with anything disney, you know I'm lying here. we decided to pass on the snow cone. I know it came in a souvenir cup, but $8...yes that's EIGHT dollars...seemed a bit steep. instead we went for the giant program and handy manny hard hat. miles LOVES the hat and looks through his book every now and then. here he is pausing for a pic in front of the stage:
being that this was his first show, we were unsure of how he would react. I know he gets excited to see "toodles" (a.k.a. mickey mouse) on tv, but the dark auditorium and less than two hour nap had him entranced most of the show. this is the thrilled look he had on his face almost the entire time. check out the lip - that's his signature "I'm sleepy" look:

but then TOODLES came out and he got all excited...here he is saying, "toodles!!!"

he sat really well for most of the show. don't get me wrong though, he didn't fool us into forgetting that he is an active little 18 month old. kyle spent the entire intermission letting him run around and climb stairs. here they are looking up at me from the section below. this is moments before kyle yanked the cup out of his mouth and his teeth clanked together resulting in a big ol' waaaaaaahhhhh!
all in all we were glad we went. miles enjoyed it and we had fun watching him have a good time. I'm sure this is just the start of many more kid-shows to come!
pausing in the driveway to closely inspect his program - I did say it was giant!

thanksgiving 2009

this was the first year in many that we were not "forced" to eat two delicious meals in one day. now, I'm never one to turn down yummy food, but I also do not like having to cut back on eating at one place to save room for the next. we spent all of thanksgiving day at kyle's dad's house. miles was spoiled with some new tractors and an adorable john deere stocking hat. we dined on a feast of ham and potatoes and all the fixings you could desire. miles helped me whip up the green bean casserole on thursday morning...he felt the need to taste test it before giving final approval to present to the holiday table.there was a spread of desserts and we all vegged out on the couch afterward. couldn't have been more relaxing :) we then spent the next day...black friday...celebrating with my side of the family. [on a side note: kyle was the only one who woke up before the sun to run around town gathering the best possible retail deals known to man. he successfully saved us oodles of dollars, but definitely required a nap later in the day :)] the food was delectable and plentiful. nothing beats the smell of turkey roasting in the oven. I will admit though, that I particularly liked the turkey from the fryer this year...yum!

of course the holidays are not complete without a line-up of four legged friends
(tessie, sadie, beemer, and tinker)

casey was allowed to oversee the carving station - she seemed heartbroken and confused every time a scrap hit the trash can. (I'm not eating that for what reason????)

we spent time catching up with my cousin jerry from milwaukee. he has a bit of an obsession for our family's famous green jello salad. this year I was assigned to bring it and I delivered a hefty amount. we may all be eating it until christmas! we also tried our hand at some new games. I have to give credit to the person who came up with farkle. it's a fun one!

miles gobbled up his fair share of food and kept everyone entertained with his silly antics and ever-growing vocabulary. his drug of choice these days is either signing time or five little monkeys. "lucky" for us all are available on youtube.com- at least he is passing this obsession on to his cousin, josiah :)
we have much to be thankful for this year - most of all our health, our incredible friends and our ever-growing family. we are especially grateful to be able to spend the holidays with all of them! here are a few more photos from the day:

miles with uncle brian

pretty little nykkole (she got the memo to wear stripes too!)
josiah was all about burning calories...that makes one of us!

oh what a year will do!

p.s. beth and I did not, I repeat...did NOT plan on the matching sweaters. they are not even the same brand. so I guess it must be true: great minds think alike :)

too tired

on the way home from target the other day, miles fell fast asleep. we were about two minutes from home and he hadn't eaten lunch yet. I figured he would wake up to eat and then go down for his regular afternoon nap. no dice. we could NOT wake him up. my dad tells stories of how I was such a sound sleeper that he could hold me upside down and I would stay asleep. apparently miles has inherited this "skill" from me.