Christmas Eve 2010

Now that I have kids, I am actually pretty thankful that we get to stay at home.  Santa knows if you travel, so it's not like he would forget us, but it's just hard to bring it all back home if you're flying on a plane.  So it's so nice to stay home!  So, we went to church at 4, and then went to Uno's for dinner.  Don't laugh, nothing is open Christmas Eve.  We managed to stay Paleo, amazingly.  It was actually a pretty good meal.  After dinner, we went home to get ready for Santa's visit.  Natalie had to throw some Reindeer Dust on the snow so that it would sparkle in the moonlight and the reindeer would see our house and know to stop.  Todd caught this awesome picture of her throwing it.  

Grant meanwhile, just wanted to play.  He sat on the couch with me and just laughed and fell over. He thought it was the funniest thing.  Both kids were crazy jacked up and we hadn't even given them any sugar.

So then they had to sit in Daddy's lap while he read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Natalie LOVED it.  It's a fun little book that has little moving parts that move when you turn the page.  So it makes it look like a moving picture book and that things are happening in the picture (this is Todd's description of it!)

Natalie was into it... Grant, not so much. He just kept trying to climb on Daddy and get over to his sister to annoy her.

So he got banished to the Exersaucer while Daddy finished the book.  Merry Christmas!

Cookie Baking

Unlike last year, when I was on maternity leave and had lots of time on my hands to do a ton of baking, I just didn't have time to get 'er done this year.  But I didn't want the holidays to go by without doing some my baking with my best girl.  We made some slice and bake Frosty the Snowman cookies because she has an obsession this year with Frosty.  No kidding, she knows all the words to the TV show.  And most of the words to Frosty Returns (starring John Goodman as the voice of Frosty! Hysterical.)

We also made some plain sugar cookies to take down to Plymouth to decorate.  We also made these amazing chocolate cookies from scratch and then melt and Andes mint candy on top of it once it is fresh out of the oven and put some green sprinkles on them.  YUM.  These went fast in Plymouth.  I think Bean ate his weight in chocolate mint cookies! 

 

Official Santa Photo 2010

Without further ado....

Just about every picture we have these days has Grant with his fingers in his mouth or in front of his face.  Poor guy, he's getting his 1 year molars.  And it feels like he's been getting them for weeks!  Natalie had the funniest look on her face- and we must have snapped 5-7 photos and in every photo, she had the funniest look on her face!  So cute!  Both kids were very good with Santa (it helped to watch other kids hop onto his lap, totally unafraid).  Afterwards, we celebrated with some Friendly's!  (Salads and ice tea for Mommy and Daddy though.  See, you CAN do Paleo almost anywhere!)

Kids Official Christmas picture

I didn't put this one on the Christmas card that I'm sending out, so I wanted to share it here on the blog (and Facebook, and myfamily...).  Happy Holidays from the Bailey kids!

Fun times at Logan's birthday party

Since Todd and I started CrossFit, we've met some pretty cool people.  I met Chad in my Elements class, and he and his wife Liz are super awesome.  The kids got invited to their son Logan's 3rd birthday party, which was at PlayTown Express in Hopkinton.  We are definitely going back there at some point!  (Probably on a cold, windy weekend in January).  Natalie and Grant just had a blast.

Grant discovered the Cozy Coupe and didn't want to get out.  In fact, he screamed when you took him out (uh oh, here we go!) until you could find him something else cool to play with, preferably something with wheels.  He played with trucks, and rode on the Step 2 Up and Down Roller Coaster (google it if you aren't familiar with it). 

I'm sensing a reoccurring theme here with Natalie:  Daredevil!  This slide was pretty steep, and the first time she went, she wanted me to go with her.  I might have gone a few more times, because it was really, really fun, but she went all on her own (over, and over, and over again!). 

Grant and Daddy had fun too.  This is after G had his bottle, a slice of pizza, and about a half a cupcake.  He's a happy guy after he eats!

I love the chaos that is kids birthday parties.  Just food and messes everywhere, lots of screaming and movement.  Natalie is in the pink shirt with the green party hat on.  She had been waiting all day for her cupcake and quickly devoured it.  She wanted another, so I gave her half of Grant's (he never seems to care one way or the other).  Thanks for a fun party Logan!!!

Trip to Florida - part 2

The second in a two part series, the Bailey family enjoys the rest of their Florida vacation!

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we all got to go out in the boat with Nana and Pop Pop.  We drove up to Clearwater and went to Frenchy's for dinner.

The weather was really nice, if maybe a bit cool with the breeze off of the cooler water.  But Natalie had a blast running around the boat and yelling, "Faster Pop Pop!"  See?  She really IS a dare devil!

Grant, on the other hand, was not as enthusiastic.  He didn't hate it, but he definitely wasn't sure of the life jacket.  And he didn't like the breeze in his face, so he sat behind the "windshield" with Daddy.  Here they are coming back from dinner.  The next morning, Pop Pop and Natalie were on the porch and they saw a big fishing boat and Pop Pop asked Natalie what the boat was doing and she replied, "Going to Frenchy's!"  Of course!!! 

The day before Thanksgiving, Uncle Coco, Aunt Brie, and Auntie Britt surprised us and showed up a day early!  So we all went to Largo Central Park and played on the playground and threw a football around without our shoes on.  Aaaaahhh, I love Florida!   Of course, Grant was too little to play, but he had a fun time on the towel (we discovered he does not like grass!) with his toys and Uncle Coco!

Thanksgiving morning, Grant caught a comfy nap on Pop Pop.  He was out for over a half hour!  He woke up all sweaty though, ha ha.  Todd, Coco, Brie and I all went to run the Turkey Trot.  I'm happy to say that I DID achieve my goal of a sub-9 mile, and ran the 1 mile in 8:49!  I also enjoyed a big, fat Diet Coke from McDonalds (they are so much better in the south) after the race, as well as 3 donuts and a hot whiskey!

After all of that running, I deserved this big plate of food.  Ok, we know it's not Paleo, but if you're eating Paleo on Thanksgiving, a day of mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, noodles, blueberry salad, and pie, you are CRAZY!!!

Trip to Florida - Part 1

For some reason, these "trips to Florida" posts are always in a series!

We left for Florida last Sunday to enjoy a week in the sun and 82 degree weather.  Whew!  Natalie started sweating as soon as she got off the plane!  Thankfully, I hadn't packed away her shorts and short sleeved shirts yet (Grant on the other hand, didn't own any shorts that fit!  But he did have a few short sleeved polo shirts).  We got to visit the Lowery Park Zoo on Monday and really had a blast.  More than I thought we would!  Both kids were very well behaved and Natalie was all jacked up over the animals and the rides! 

Oh the rides!  Natalie is such a dare devil.  I honestly can't believe it.  She always seems a little leery, but never really even hesitates to jump on bigger, scarier rides.

Such as this roller coaster.

The funniest part of this picture (other than Todd's dramatic face) is the little hand that is sticking up to the left of Todd.  She isn't even afraid to go hands free!!!!

We also rode the carousel.  She liked that the zebra went up and down as the carousel went around and around.  Geez, I seriously need a tan!!!

Lowery Park Zoo is much cooler than it used to be.  They have this great manatee tank that also has some fish and some sea turtles in it.  The manatees were so awesome.  But Natalie took a liking to this turtle that came right up to the big glass window and hung out while Natalie got up close and personal.

On the way home, she conked out while watching a DVD.  The DVD player was leaning on her face, she was out cold.  Must have been a good day at the zoo!!!

Grant's first haircut

Big boy was starting to look a bit like Tom Brady (shagtastic!), so we decided to get his haircut before we went to Florida. He was SO well behaved!  He moved around a lot - he wanted to see the lady cutting his hair, while she was cutting his hair, so it isn't the most even of haircuts, but at least he looks nice and trim!  He might be the sweetest kid ever!

A busy weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend, as usual.  It sort of started on Thursday when Todd was home with the kids all day for Veteran's Day. I don't get that day off, so I had to work.  But it looks like they had a good time.

On Saturday after gymnastics, it was such a beautiful day, we headed to the park.  Natalie and Daddy played while Grant and I hung out on a picnic blanket.  As you can see, Grant is showing his support for Cam Newton from all the way up here in Massachusetts!  Grant says, "I support you Cam Newton!  I sure hope you didn't do anything wrong, because I look up to you and love to watch you run around on the TV!  I hope you play for the Patriots some day!"

After our trip to the park, Natalie didn't want to get up in her chair to eat lunch (after repeatedly asking her), so she had to go down for a nap without lunch.  This was another massive tantrum, that wasn't finished by the time Grant had to go upstairs for his bottle of milk and his nap.  She heard Todd coming up the stairs, so she opened her door and followed him into Grant's room.  She laid down on the floor and promptly fell asleep!  And she was seriously snoring like crazy. I got some video of it- it's on smugmug.

Last but not least, Todd and I celebrated 5 blissful (!!!)  years of marriage on the 12th!  We went out to dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse in Woburn - and yes, we ate Paleo!  Lots of meat, house salad, and sides of veggies, along with iced tea and Pellegrino.  They even brought out fried bananas!  YUM!   We didn't touch the other sides (although they looked good- rice, bread, beans, etc.) There IS a bottle of wine on the table, but that was unopened, quite sadly!

Happy 5th anniversary honey!

Kid update

I always feel like if I don't have pictures to post, what I have to say just isn't worthy. Okay, that is just crazy talk. My kids lives are totally worthy, to all 5 of my blog readers!

Natalie had her first progress report at preschool and it was a glowing review! She is polite and listens to her teachers. She loves playing on the playground with her friends (doing make believe/pretend) and really enjoys arts and crafts. The only black mark was her occasional tantrum that she throws when Todd comes to pick her up. It's usually when she is having a good time playing on the playground with her friends, and doesn't want to go home because she is having so much fun. As embarrassing as those tantrums are for Todd, I guess there are worse problems to have! As the teacher wrote in the report, "It's so good to see she is so happy here!"

Grant is moving all around now. He's a pretty speedy crawler, and he has started to pull himself to a stand. Todd has seen him take a step or two ("cruising"). But not really.

We have seen some great progress in Grant's eating too! I mean, he's always been a good eater. I've never seen him turn away from a food. He eats EVERYTHING. In stark contrast to his sister, who eats NOTHING. However, we were having some issues with textures, which he seems to be pretty much over. Lumpy, crunchy, you name it, he'll eat it. He will sometimes take too big of a bite and start gagging on it, but it's not because of the texture. His other issue was that he didn't want to be the one to feed himself. He wanted YOU to do it. He would cry and get upset if there was yummy looking food on his tray but you weren't giving it to him! I would just get up and walk away but the crying would escalate and... well... I'm an enabler, so I would go give it to him. Last night something must have clicked, because he just started picking up green beans and eating them! Todd said he ate about 12 (this is after I gave him about 12, then had to leave to go to the chiropractor). The thing is, he CAN do it. He was just choosing not to. I hope this trend continues!