New Year's Eve

Ben arrived back in Oklahoma City bearing gifts that had arrived in the mail from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Brenda. Noah couldn't hardly wait until he was in the door to tear into the gifts.

I'm pretty sure he opened up all of Ellie's presents too.

Thank you for their goodies!

Both of the kiddos were pretty happy to see their Daddy and I know that he was happy to see them too.

Morgan and Aunt BB were busy reading in the quiet of Mom and Daddy-Man's room and Noah decided to join them with his newest book from Nana.

"R", said the captain.

Generally, on New Year's Eve, we go out to eat and then come back home to play games, watch movies, and just hang out while we count down to the New Year. The girls and I posed for our traditional New Year pic!

Great-Aunt KK and Ellie posed for a photo too.

Every other year, it's been no big deal staying up until midnight, but this year, for some reason, all of us were having a hard time staying awake. But, we made it to 2010!

Going on 34 years of New Year's kisses and still going strong.

Lunch and Football

This afternoon, we had lunch with one of Mom's childhood friends, DeAnne and her granddaughter, Chase. DeAnne also just happens to be Jessie's boyfriend's {Bryan} Mom! Needless to say, while this was something that they were no doubt plotting for some time {at least as far back as their births, but possibly once they realized that neither of them were going to marry one of the other's siblings}, it was kinda funny to get together knowing how their relationship is growing.

Noah, on the other hand, had little understanding of what all was going on. He just knew that he had a new friend to color and play with:

***

After lunch and naps, Noah decided that just watching football wasn't good enough - he wanted to get in on the action himself...

... while Ellie was quite content with talking with Great-Aunt KK.

Relaxn'

With all the leftover snow {and with Ben and the Sequoia back in Texas}, we've spent a good portion of our time just relaxing at Nana and Papa's house. Tonight, after dinner and baths for the kids, we watched Rudolph's Shiny New Year... and, for once, neither of my kiddos were snuggling with me while we watched it:

I don't think Papa and Nana are complaining.
Neither are the kiddos.

"Sno!"

Ben has to head back home today, so we decided that this morning would brave the cold before he left so that Noah could "play" out in the snow.

Fourteen inches of snow looks like a lot more when you have huge snow drifts!

Noah kept falling into the drifts while trekking across the yard.

So did Ben!

Yay for "sno [that] iz sno-ee!"

Meeting Great-Grandma

The last time we saw Grandma Lucy, I was still pregnant with Miss Ellie. So today, when we went to visit Aunt Marsha and Uncle Mike, Grandma Lucy {who is visiting Marsha and Mike for the holidays} finally got to meet her newest Great-Granddaughter.

They both seemed pretty excited about this first meeting. :)

Noah loves playing with Aunt Marsha because she has some pretty cool toys from when Brian was little.

And, Aunt Marsha loves to snuggle Noah - he doesn't mind sitting still.... for a chocolate chip cookie!

But clearly he was in no mood to sit still and have his picture taken.

***

Once we got back to Mom and Daddy-Man's, it was time for baths and bedtime stories.

And, because I would be remiss if I didn't mention this.... two years ago today, we finally brought home our little man. Buddy, we love you and even though those terrible two's sometimes drive us crazy, we couldn't imagine our life without you Little One.

Christmas {in Oklahoma}

The drive to Oklahoma took us about an extra hour more than it usually does. The interstate and turnpike in Oklahoma was cleared perfectly, it was the drive from Abilene to Wichita Falls that took us the longest and mostly because we got stuck behind a mini-van that had no clue how to drive on slush, snow and ice. She nearly got us stuck in the snow and slush more times than we could count. And speaking of counting, we counted 44 abandoned cars from Wichita Falls to OKC, with the majority of those being before we hit the Oklahoma state line.

But, we made it and of course, the first thing that everyone wanted to do was exchange gifts. And, just like when we opened gifts at our house, it was totally the "Noah Show".

Daddy-Man, Aunt BB, Ellie, and Little Mo'.

If it had "Cars" wrapping paper, he was unwrapping it!

And was always excited when it contained a "Cars" gift!

Ellie, my little Glo-Worm, got her own little Glo-Worm. :)

I suppose it goes without saying that Little Mo liked her Wonder Woman hooded towel.

And Ben was pretty excited too about his Chuck Norris shirt.

He was also way excited about his special gift from Daddy-Man {and Mom too! ;) } - an air compressor!

Ellie got lots of lovin' from everyone.

Noah was pretty excited about his and Ellie's big gift {though, technically, I think I was the most excited since I've been wanting one for a while now}: a Radio Flyer Trailblazer Wagon!

He was so excited that he couldn't wait until Ben and Bryan got it together to get in it.

Ellie, on the other hand, was patient and enjoyed getting some time in the wagon all by herself.

Merry Christmas and Thank you!!

Christmas Day {in Texas}

Noah was extremely excited when I went in to get him this morning... he remembered that he was able to open his presents last night and kept saying, "zents! zents!" while I changed his diaper. Ben took this video when he came in to see what Santa had brought him:

I just love that wild bed-head kid!

And, I totally forgot to take a picture of all the snow yesterday. It's started melting some and by later this evening there was a big patch of bare grass in the middle of the yard. We think we got somewhere between 4-6 inches.

Our original plans had us leaving for Oklahoma City late this afternoon, but with the 14 inches of snow that they received {and the fact that my family was without power for nearly 24 hours!}, we decided for safety's sake, we'd wait until tomorrow. So, we took advantage of the extra free time by eating up leftovers {I made a big Christmas dinner last night} and watching Transformers 2 while the kids napped.

Noah woke up near the end of the movie, so he got to share some popcorn with us and watch the last few minutes of the "truc beest".

And, despite the fact that we were snowed in and our plans had changed a little, we had a very happy Christmas.

A White Christmas

This morning started out normal enough. All of us got up, marvelled at the snow outside, ate some breakfast, and then Ben started getting ready to head into work for a few hours {after having had to work the night shift}. Just before he was about to leave - the power went out. And it was still snowing. Hoping that it wouldn't be out long, I just encouraged him to go on to work and not worry about starting a fire.

After about two hours of no power, the house started getting a little chilly, so I popped a hat on Ellie while she took her morning nap {in the bouncy seat so that she was in the warmest room}....

...and one on Noah too, while he colored and ate a snack.

He didn't seem to mind though - he kept saying, "Sno! Sno! Sno iz snoee!"

Luckily, Ben came home not long afterwards and started a fire to keep us all nice and warm.

Four hours later, the power came back on.

{Ironically, not long after that, my parent's house lost power in Oklahoma City.}

***

Christmas Eve 2009

Merry Christmas!