Just for fun

Here's a few pictures from today's venture into the great outdoors, just for fun. Rudy discovered icicles, that snow melts, and was even brave enough to stomp into a little corner of snow today. (Wahoo! Maybe skiing is in his future after all!)

Christmas Day*

*Prepare yourself. This was our first functional Christmas with a child. There crazy amounts of pictures, and that's after I slimmed them down!
We spent Christmas with my side of the family this year. Christmas Eve was the big family get together, filled with delicious aromas, even more delicious food, delightful company and games for everyone. Vati read us the story of Christ's birth from Luke 2. It's funny how that story used to drag on FOREVER when we were tots, but really it's just a few verses of scripture. Does everything speed up with age?
The next morning, my rockin' mom got up with Rudy and let Jason and me sleep in! Hooray! It was great! We finally got around to opening presents after Rudy's first nap. By his last present, I think Rudy had finally comprehended what he is supposed to do when a box wrapped in bright paper is placed before him. He did a lot of gift opening the Tuesday before Christmas when he opened all the gifts from Jason's family. Thanks to everyone who so generously showered our sweetie with all sorts of awesomeness!
Anyway, on with the pictures!

This is our Christmas tree at home. We put it on top of the piano for 2 reasons: to keep it from being dissected by an inquisitive one year old, and because there was no where else to put it in our crammed front room. We've tried to cut down on what we have out there, but when one room has to simultaneously serve as entertainment room, office, music room, play room, and dining room, space gets to be a bit scarce. :)

Rudy in his Christmas jammies from Grandma and Grandpa. Oma showed him how to vacuum with the Dustbuster and he was quite proud of his new abilities.

"Holy Moly! How many more boxes are you going to put in front of me?"

Rudy really like his football from Oma and Opa. Jason really liked that Rudy really liked it. :)

Of all the gifts Rudy opened that morning, the one that captivated his attention for the longest period of time was a microwave popcorn bag from our family's stocking. He carried that around off and on all day long.

Jason and I gave Rudy a "Who Love's Rudy?" book with all his relatives' pictures in it and an album to put a few of his millions of childhood pictures in. He likes pointing at family members' faces and having their names recited to him.

Over night on Christmas Eve and all of Christmas day, snow kept falling in Midway. We got at least 2 feet of snow, and that's on top of what was already up here! This is Rudy standing in the sidewalk canyon between towers of snow.

Here's another shot to show off how deep the snow was up there- plus this reminded me so much of the little brother in "A Christmas Story" after his mom bundled him so much he couldn't put his arms down. It was under 20 degrees Fahrenheit...can you blame me for layering?

Jason's big jump into the (kinda) fluffy snow.

Sledding with Sam. Rudy would have none of this sledding craziness, so I substituted Sam. He was a good sport about it...I think he may have even enjoyed it.

Sam swimming through the snow. Cute little rump, huh?

Rudy, Mutti, and Sam, chilling.

Going solo down the sledding hill.

Sam, the Sled Valet. Park your sled at the bottom of the hill, and Sam will drag it back to the top for you...or at least try. A ten week old pup can only do so much!

So, there you have it. Christmas in Midway. We spent most of the day lounging about, eating, or playing in the snow. What a great time. Thanks for hosting us into the weekend, Mutti and Vati, and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Winter Wonderland

Rudy's been a royal Grumpalump today. Kinda fragile, very needy, quite whiny. But cute. Always cute!
The only thing that brought his smiles out was an adventure into the great outdoors. After layering him like crazy, I thought, why not just throw one more layer on and make him cute for some pictures? So I did, and now he really looks like a bona fide Santa, rolly polly belly and all. :)
We played outside for maybe a half hour or so before the frosty air got to our heads and we headed inside for a nice warm bowl of cream of wheat for lunch. Rudy liked the snow, so long as I was there to carry him through it. Maybe that's just a part of the neediness of his day, or maybe he's a little weirded out at the world's new texture. Anyway, I'm thankful that the "let's go outside" trick still transforms my grumpy gus unto a gleeful little lad, if even just for a few moments. It's a great way to remind myself how much fun Rudy is to have around.

Santa Claus and the Ice Queen. Frigid relationship, to say the least.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. This is a good shot of his one tooth, too. He's cutting a second one, finally, and I think his top two are about to bust out too...maybe that's why he's so cranky and fragile lately.

Rudy and me hamming it up for the camera.

ditto.

Notice he's taken no steps. He would just stand where I plopped him until he was ready to move on, at which point, he'd reach up for his chariot, aka Momma.

The Magic Rose

Thanks to Jake and Kirstyn, we made it out on our anniversary date! We dropped Rudel off with his aunt and uncle and off we went to enjoy some couple time.

We checked out the new "International" Buffet in the Plum Tree Plaza. It was supposed to have Chinese, American, and Italian food. Well, it had Chinese food with french fries and pizza. Luckily for us, we both really love Chinese food, so it all worked out ok. :)

After that, we had planned to have an air hockey play off at the Wilk Game Center. What we had not planned on was the Christmas vacation crowd. The air hockey table was monopolized by young boys and their granddads. Plus, we forgot our cash in the diaper bag.

We decided to stroll about and just enjoy each other instead. Our strolling ended at the floral/crafty shop in the Wilk basement. We perused around and chose some scrap book paper to decorate Rudy's album with. Then we headed back to the car to pick our little guy up. As we got to the car, Jason pulled a rose out of the thin air! Or so it seemed, at least. How he managed to purchase and carry a rose out of that shop and all the way to the car without me noticing is beyond me. (Although, now that I think about it, he was holding me pretty close to his side on the walk to the car. I thought he was just being cuddly, but probably he was keeping the rose out of my line of vision.) Anyway, it was a fun surprise. What a man (what man, what man, what a mighty good maa-an!)

Rudy's Big Day

Rudy had a big day today....and not in a good way. He had his 12 month Doctor's appointment, where he got poked 5 times. As if that were not enough, he had to go to get an actual vile of blood drawn at the hospital to confirm an ultra low iron count. Poor little guy. I had to hold him tight while a lab dude held his arm out straight and another lab dude drew the blood. It took FOREVER! Poor, poor little guy. Poor, sweet, little guy.

But he did get a little monkey out of the ordeal. The lab dudes brought him out from the Orem Community Hospital Volunteers box. Bless their hearts. Though Smelly the Monkey didn't comfort Rudy during the needle stabbing, he was a great friend afterward. We called the monkey Smelly because the Russian word for brave sounds almost just like smelly in English, and we thought Rudy was pretty brave, considering the terribleness of the situation. He cheered right up after it was all over and we even found out his iron count is normal after all. Hooray! No iron supplements for Rudy!

Showing off his battle wounds.

Rudy and Smelly: BFF

P.S. See that big box behind Rudy and Smelly? Either we have really sneaky parents, or the Diaper Genie has struck again! Hopefully this doesn't mean diarhrea will follow! It's so great to know that the world is full of kind hearted people!

Brownies Are a Boy's Best Friend

Jason made a batch of our newly discovered AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS homemade brownies for Rudy's second birthday treat at my parent's house. They were a much bigger hit than the cake out of a box offering of last week. Here's the play by play of Rudy's first encounter with the scrumptious treat known as the Brownie.

"What is this brown thing you have placed before me?"

"Hmmm. Interesting. Have you ever tasted one of these?"

"This is unlike anything I've tasted before..."

"Maybe I'll just have one more nibble."

"This is really growing on me!"

"Maybe I can get the whole thing in my mouth at once!"

"Almost in!"

"Wow! This brownie packs more punch than I could handle in one bite after all!"

"Delightfully delicious! My complements to the cook!"

"Go ahead and bring the rest of those over here."

"Finger lickin' delicious!"

"Washing it all down with a good swig of the ol' sippy."

Hooray for Love!

Today marks the completion of our fourth year of marriage! What a happy day! I remember how everything seemed to just float past us on our wedding day...like the rest of the world was about 100 miles away from our little bubble of bliss.
Today was not quite so bubbly blissful, but it was a beautiful day, nonetheless. Jason came home between his split shifts (he took his last final yesterday--yippee!) and helped me bring order into our chaotic house. Then he played with Rudy while I enjoyed baby free cooking. (I never realized how relaxing cooking can be, when you suddenly don't have a one year old vying for your attention or trying to get into dangerous things while you are trying to "stir constantly at a low simmer") Anyway, I made us one of our favorite meals, stuffed bell peppers, which we enjoyed while our bundle of joy was napping. Before I put Rudy down for his nap, we watched our wedding video as a family. I think it's the first time Rudy's seen it (shame on us!). He loved it! I'm sure one day he'll ask us where he was while we were having all that fun.
On Saturday we'll hopefully make it out on a date, to more officially celebrate, but for now, I'll just sigh my most blissful sigh and contemplate all the things I love about my rockin' husband:

I love your sacrifice of your time and energy to make it possible for me to stay home with Rudy.

I love your physical strength (many a pickle jar would have remained unopened without you!)

I love the ferociousness with which you protect your family time.

I love your eyes, your crooked teeth smile, your chuckle.

I love the dedication you show to self improvement.

I love your tenderness with Rudy and me.

I love your level headedness.

I love your wit and charm.

I love your warm hands.

I love your friendship.

I love your courage.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Love,

Your Cheeky Monkey

:)

Bringing Santa Back to Life

Santa was kind of an after thought for us in our family. Not that we were militantly focused on the "Reason for the Season", we just didn't make a huge deal out of keeping Santa alive past the first tender years when EVERYTHING is magical and believable. We wrote our wish lists to the elves and set cookies out for Santa when we were wee ones, but its been so long I've almost forgotten how to believe. Kinda like Peter Pan in the movie, Hook, when he's trying to remember how to play pretend.
Jason's family, on the other hand has managed to maintain the magic (like my alliteration? ;) ). We had Rudy's birthday party there last week and Mom had the house all decked out for Christmas. I bet she's got at least a hundred Santa's adorning her floors, walls, tree, window sills, shelves, chairs, etc. etc. etc. It was GREAT! It felt so festive and so...so...so magical, I guess.
As Jason and I have been discussing how we want to put Christmas on for our own family and the traditions we want to tie to this lovely holiday, he has had to keep reminding me about Santa. I'd make a suggestion, not even thinking about whether that would jeopardize our children's belief in the fairy tale we call Santa. Jason would say something like, "that sounds great, but how about we tweak it here or there so that it doesn't blatantly scream 'there is NO Santa Claus!'" Oh yeah. That Santa guy.
So I've been trying to get back into the Santa tradition. I've been reading Santa Claus books to Rudy, and I've been trying to beef up my knowledge about what Santa does, where he lives, what his reindeer are named. It's a fun traditional story. One that our culture still likes to tell, and I see value in that. If Rudy ever looks me right in the eye and asks if Santa is real, I don't think I could answer in the affirmative, though. Maybe I'll just tell him that's a question for Grandma. I want our children to cherish Christmas because it celebrates the coming of our Savior into the world. I want them to cherish it because it means family getting together and sharing loving memories with each other. And I also want them to cherish it because it's a magical time of year.

Here's to Jolly Old Saint Nicholas!

Birthday Pictures at Kiddie Kandids

Kiddie Kandids does a free 8x10 picture every year for your child's birthday. Cool, huh? These are my two favorites:

Let's Get This Party Started!

Rudy's turning one year old this Friday. I can't believe it! He's grown up soooo much since last December. I'm floored at how fast babies grow, and how many skills they acquire over such a small period of time. On Sunday, as I was unsuccessfully trying to convince Rudy that nursing was more fun than playing with one of his little friends who was also visiting the Mother's Room, I wished I could have as much control over him as I did those first few weeks. I could position him however I pleased and he'd stay that way. Thinking back to those days, though, I remember anxiously awaiting the time when Rudy could position himself in the most comfortable nursing pose rather than me always having to do the guessing game. There are beautiful things in every stage, I guess.
Since my baby brother is getting married on Rudy's actual birthday, we did a party with Jason's side of the family yesterday, and we'll do a little something (if anyone still feels up to it after a weekend of wedding festivities) with my family next Sunday. Mom was nice enough to host a dinner and let us do the party at her house. Our only responsibility was getting the word out and bringing cake and ice cream. (Katie brought the ice cream, actually, so really we just did cake.) It was a nice, gentle entrance into the world of throwing parties for our kids.

Here Rudy is experiencing one of life's greatest indulgences...licking the beater. I gave him the beater after mixing up some scrumptious cream cheese frosting (Thanks for the recipe, Lauren!)This is the first time I've ever let him do that. I have a feeling he's going to want to do it every time from now on.

Here we are presenting the birthday (cup)cake to our big man. He wasn't sure what to think about the flame on the candle. When he's really interested in something, but unsure about whether it's ok to investigate, he gets out his pointer fingers, and cautiously points at the item of interest while watching my face to see what I think about his desire for further knowledge. It's super cute, though sometimes he decides to check things out even after I give him my best "ABSOLUTELY NOT" face. :)

Diving in. I was relieved that Rudy didn't inhale the whole cupcake. Actually, he hardly ate more than just a few licks of frosting. I made a point of stuffing him with sweet potatoes and bread before serving the cupcake, 'cause it just made me cringe to think that he may actually ingest all that junk. (Funny, I didn't worry one bit about the THREE pieces of cake I ate later that night while Jason and I budgeted...but hey- we were budgeting...that medicine takes a big spoonful of sugar to help it go down!) Anyway, in my heart of hearts, I wanted to make one of those organic, no sugar, might as well be a granola bar kind of cakes that I always scoff at when I see recipes for them. I've always said that if you're gonna give your kid sweets, than let them eat sweets, not some kind of health food version, but when it came right down to it, I kinda wished I had a health food version to place before my sweet, pristine baby. Not that I'm gonna whip up some organic concoction for his next birthday. I just won't roll my eyes when other moms decide to put a candle in a bowl of applesauce with yogurt "frosting".

Jason helped Rudy unwrap all his gifts. Rudy didn't get that you're supposed to rip off the paper and then throw it away. He just wanted to rip off paper and play with it. It took some prodding, but eventually all his gifts were unveiled. He got so many fun, cute toys, books and clothes. Thanks everyone for your thoughtful, generous gifts! Rudy's played with them all today. It was great to have new and exciting things to do inside with the blustery weather outside.

Today we completed the first step to making our "thank you" cards for all the gifts he got. Rudy's job was to annihilate all the blobs of paint on the paper. He took his task seriously! :)

A job well done.

After such focused work, Rudy needed to take a breather. (He's leaning his head right in the finger paint that worked its way onto the plastic tablecloth.) Needless to say, both Rudy and I needed a bath after our morning adventure.

Its been tons of fun celebrating the big ONE with Rudy. What a great kid. What lucky parents we are!