The Sweetest Sound

This is the reason why we had two kids:

That's Zeke with a Christmas bag on his head. I tried on the bag and Daddy tried on the bag, only to get a stone-cold stare. Zekers did it again resulting in more hysteria from his little sister. Awww.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Merrrry Christmas!

This year The Daniels celebrated Christmas in Texas. Christmas Eve was a beautiful day, so we spent the afternoon at the park. On Christmas morning Zeke was excited to FINALLY get to open some packages! He stopped to play with everything before opening the next, so it took quite a while.
[On a side note, I got some 'splainin' to do. Abe is in the throws of the annual 'Beard Off' at work. They draw from a hat to see what ridiculous facial hair they have to grow; as they (or their wives) can stand it no longer and they shave, they have to pay everyone still in. As hideous as the 'stache is, I want him to win the money.] Daddy and Zekers are figuring out the Playdoh picnic set. Daisy was trying to help Zeke whip up a snack with his new microwave. Granny got a hold of Daisy and some whipcream. Ho! Ho Ho! Zekers got tired of digging into the big box of gifts that Grandma sent, so he jumped in. Listen as he reads the card.
Have a great 2009!

Lights, Ornaments & Love

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Quote of the week

I was putting Daisy to sleep and my little buddy was sitting on the step stool right next to the rocker. I was humming a song and Zekers was making random humming sounds. When I looked at him he said, "We're all singin'." (All 2 of us.)

The Santa Debacle

My friend sent me some cute Santa pictures with her boys, which reminded me that I was wanting to do that this year. You always go in with the idea of that perfect, precious picture you are trying to emulate with beautiful smiles, wide eyes, and you can practically see Santa's belly shaking like a bowl full of jelly he's so jolly because your kids are so darn cute and well behaved. The idea was to go to the gym and stop by the mall on the way home. I dressed Daisy in this cute little outfit-- including the tights which she has never worn yet because I hate putting pantyhose on myself let alone someone else, but that's neither here nor there-- and dug around for some shoes, which she isn't wearing yet, but thought it would look nice with her dressy little outfit and tights. Didn't have any that worked, but no big deal. Then it was time for Zekers to get dressed. I wanted to put him in one of my Dad's shirts he had as a boy for sentimental reasons and all. First I put it on with a pair of slacks. The shirt was just a tad too small, so I decided to put a white onesie-type shirt underneath it. I put on a pair of dress shoes and thought we were ready to go. Zeke said the shoes were 'too fit' (too tight) and the shirt was also too fit and didn't look quite right. So I got a red collared shirt and a different pair of shoes. It was on the large side and really didn't go with the tight Grandpa shirt and the shoes were too small. I got another pair of shoes for Z. At this point I heard Daisy pass some gas so I thought she should be changed. Off with her skirt, unsnap her onesie, take off the tights and finally there's the dirty nappy! As I am changing The Girl, The Boy comes in with his croc sandals, which really didn't go with her dress pants, but he insisted they did. I tried the original dress shoes again and he threw a fit so I opted for a different pair of dress shoes which were too big. (I should probably add that there were a few tears from Zeke at this point.) Next I decided the shirt didn't look right so I got a blue onesie-type shirt with a low collar thing. Still didn't look right. Then I got a white t-shirt under the Grandpa shirt. I took off the big shoes and settled on just tennis shoes. His outfit still didn't look right so I tried to change into jeans, but Zekers wouldn't have it; since he had been through 5 shirts and 5 shoes I decided to listen to him. Finally, we were off to the mall! Not only did I miss my gym class, but class was already over by the time we left the house. The bright spot of pictures was that there was no line--brilliant! "Things are going our way now," I thought. I stuck Daisy up on the old man's lap and she sat there like a champ. Zeke is going through a phase where he doesn't like the camera, let alone posing for a camera whilst sitting on some fat, hairy stranger in an odd looking red crushed-velvet suit. Of course he refused to sit on Santa's knee. So, for fifteen bucks this is the picture we ended up with. Merry Christmas!

Get In My Belly!

The Girl joined the world of eating solids this week. She likes it!

Quote of the Week

After Zeke tasted dinner he declared, "That's (de)licious, Mom." I hate toot my own horn, but I do make a mean Hamburger Helper.

Halloween!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

pumpkin carving

...And the lid is off!

What's in there?

"I am the keeper of the seeds!"

Isn't my Zekers sweet?

Daisy Francesca

Ezekiel Charles

The Daniels kids

ABCs

I was working on the computer and Zeke was busy putting together alphabet puzzle blocks. He started singing the ABC song and I joined in with him. After we finished he said, "Good singing, Mom."

Daisy 4 months

Quote of the Week

When Zeke saw the tube of sausage whilst he was transferring the groceries from the buggy to the counter he exclaimed, "That's a BIG hot dog!"

Kitties Wearing Glasses

By default we have become the owners of an outdoor kitty. Shortly after we started leaving his food out at night we discovered it is Wild Animal Kingdom in our backyard at night. We have seen raccoons and opossums up on the porch. Kitty and the raccoons even eat together. I have befriended Meshack. Her babies Shadrack, Abednigo and Daniel used to visit, too, but they are growing up and are becoming more independent but less friendly. I have recently began patting Meshack and feeding her by hand. Waaaay cool! Zeke does not really know the difference between the cat and the coon since their fur is the same color. One night he looked at the coon and said, "Kitty has on glasses."

Quote of the week

We're in the beginning stages of potty training at our house. Zekers will do absolutely anything to get out of nap time, and this time he threw an 'I gotta go poo poo' out there, knowing full well that I would let him go, hence pushing back nap time a little more. He actually went big potty for the 2nd time ever (I told you he's desperate to get out of naps). After I did some celebratory dancing and singing I asked if he was finished. He answered, "I got a lot of turds in the butt."

The Gimp is Back

Well, I guess it's that time of year again. It's been about 12 months since the last major accident, so he was living on borrowed time; Abraham broke his foot this weekend. He was playing ultimate frisbee and was attempting an ESPN 'nuh-nuh-nuh. nuh-nuh nuh!' play and it all went wrong. So now Momma is taking care of 3 babies for the next few weeks, as he was instructed to keep his weight off of his foot. We went ahead and purchased crutches--odds are he will be needing them again sometime in the future...

Quote of the Week

I told Zeke to look at a little squirrel in the yard sitting on his bottom eating. I said, "Look, he's eating something," to which Zeke replied, "He's eating an acorn." Duh.

Five years: The Bluegrass Anniversary

A few weeks ago Abe and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. Congratulations to us! We (...or was it all me?) decided to celebrate our anniversary every year in a different country. It has worked out for us so far: married in Jamaica, 1st year Canada, 2nd year Mexico, 3rd year England, 4th year Puerto Rico. Somebody threw a wrench in our plan this year. I don't want to name names but she's a couple months old and nursing. [insert combination cough/mumble 'Daisy!' here.] So we took a trip to visit Sister and Co. in Louisville.
This was Ezekiel's first plane trip that he realized what what going on. He was pretty pumped that we got to ride on a bus and then an airplane. That's the way we roll.

Zeke was loving having 3 constant playmates around 24-7. He didn't care that he was the youngest of the boys, but they all got a little tired of him messing their stuff up. And to be fair, he broke Nathan's squish ball and Nick's watergun and probably something of Alex's we haven't discovered yet. And Abe broke a plate, which Nick informed him he "was going to tell his Daddy when he got home!"




I can't say that Daisy was as excited to see the boys as Zekers was.


We went to the Speed Museum in Louisville, went swimming, and we spent a beautiful cool day at Huber Farm in Indiana. The kids did all kinds of fun stuff, as you can see from the pics.







Oh, and Nick was helping Zeke potty train whilst we were there.