Christmas 2011

We had a lovely Christmas this year!  We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my brother's girlfriends family over from Germany.  We even started a game of Risk but, after two hours, had only made it through a few rounds (and this is why my brother can never get anyone to play with him...)

 After a yummy dinner of tamales we, for the first time, went home to our house for the night and did Christmas morning just the four of us.  Santa brought Evie a bike and Izzy a rattle thingie.  He was a bit messy coming down the chimney though and spread ashes in our living room and left a few hand prints here and there too.    The most amazing thing about Christmas morning was that we all slept in until 7:30 because Evie pretty much forgot (unbelievable as that may seem) that it was Christmas and just stayed cuddled up with us in bed until Patrick wished her a Merry Christmas and she realized what exactly that meant.  After presents and breakfast we moseyed back over to my parent's house for more presents and more Rimszas.

  Many of the Phoenix clan came down this year and it was great to have the larger group dinner but not have to travel all the way up to Phoenix.  All in all there were about 25 or so for dinner (about half of the potential I think) and it was tiring but fun. At one point during the day we tried to take a family photo...

In the end both Evie and Izzy of course made out like bandits and Evie is already talking about next Christmas, but must be ready to move on because this morning she asked me where the decorations for New Years are because she was ready to take down her little Christmas tree....

Winterhaven

The fun continued on Thursday with our annual trip to Winterhaven.  It has gotten super cold (for Tucson) so it was a pretty quick, brisk walk around really only a block of the neighborhood because even though everyone was dressed warmly we were all too cold to make it too far.  (Patrick came straight from work and was still in his tie, he was better off though than our friend who also came from work and was still in scrubs...) 

 

There were a number of new fun houses this year and, of course, the favorites: water show house and the gingerbread house.

  

Whew just 2 days now until Christmas, or as Evie has been saying, the Day Of Joy....

Visit with Santa

On Wednesday (it has become the 5 days of fun before Christmas around here) we went to see Santa at the Reid Park Zoo lights.  Evie has been visiting the S-man here for the past 4 years and was quite excited for this year's little talk.  We weren't sure how Isadora would feel about him, but decided to get her dressed up just in case she was a willing participant.  She started to get fussy just before the big moment on the big man's lap but a quick nip of a bottle put her in a good enough mood to catch this photo:

Genevieve gave Santa her letter and let him know she would like a bike (with tassels and a little bag in front) and a baby crib.  Santa let her know that three days should be enough to get that bike made and she was understandably elated.  After our visit with Santa we watched a singing and dancing show.  Well Patrick, Izzy and I watched, Evie ran around in circles in front of the stage.  She ran and ran and ran.  After awhile other kids joined her in running around in circles.  She informed us at one point that running around in circles is a good way to make friends... who would have guessed?

Izzy tolerated the whole experience quite well, she was a little dubious of all the commotion at times but. thank goodness, is returning to her more or less normal self after a few days on antibiotics to treat that nasty ear infection she has had for goodness knows how long.

Cookies!

On Tuesday we had our 4th annual cookie making (but really should be called cookie eating) get together.  This year with 2 new little ones to add to the mix gourmet cookies were not on the menu.  Giggles and lots of cookie (or in the case of the parents, dough) eating was.

After cookies were made we took the opportunity for a photo op with the girls and their new little siblings... a little chaotic but decidedly cute! 

Note that Evie made not one, not two but three wardrobe changes during the course of the 3ish hour cookie making experience.

Little Angel

 Evie had another successful ballet performance this past Sunday, this time as an angel in her ballet studio's annual nutcracker ballet.  I was determined this time around to do my daughter's hair myself so I went out and bought gel and bobby pins galore... well I managed to do her hair half well this time, which is a great improvement over last time when I just threw in the towel.  And this time I had a screaming 5 month old urging me hurry the heck up because she was not happy with anything but being held (as it turns out we took Izzy into the doctor yesterday and she has a terrible ear infection, poor thing).  Anyway I say it was a half successful attempt because the bun looked great for about 30 minutes and then was a disaster...  oh well there is always the next performance.  As for our little ballerina she was not detered by the sorry state of her hair and did a great job with her little routine.  The whole time she had the cutest focused look on her face.  She also really enjoyed watching all the big girls dance after her little bit was through...

Morning Routine

Patrick and I have found that somehow, no matter how early we get up, the mornings are always a bit harried.  This is because no matter how early we get up we always can't quite get ourselves to stop the lovely part of the morning (aka sitting around in our pj's and drinking coffee, usually with Evie on his lap and Izzy on mine) until about 7 am or sometimes as late as 7:15.  This always leaves us a 1/2 hour at best to get ready for school and work.  Luckily for both of us though there are some efficiencies to be had.  The first is Evie usually gets herself ready (and is generally ready to go out the door long before either of us).  The second is Izzy's usually easy-going temperament, which most mornings allows me to let her sit in her bouncy chair while everyone else runs back and forth in front of her frantically getting ready.  The other little part of the morning routine now is Izzy sitting in her baby seat with me while I do my hair (I had to get my hair cut in a serious, and if I do say so myself, rather sassy way, which now means I actually have to spend a whopping 5 minutes doing it every morning)  Izzy just tolerates the bouncy chair part of her morning, but clearly enjoys "helping" me do my hair.  She sits in the little chair and just smiles at that pretty little baby in the mirror (don't worry I never leave her by herself there) 

Oh and in case your wondering what happens on the days when Evie is feeling uncooperative and/or Izzy doesn't want to just sit and watch the world go by... well on those days I just don't get out of the house until 9 am at the earliest and generally need to stop for another cup of coffee :)

5 Month Izzy!

I'm not gonna lie to ya, the 4 weeks that took Isadora from a four month old to a five month old have not been easy.  She went from a great sleeper (and yes we all knew that wouldn't last) to a pretty miserable sleeper.  The exact cause of this transition is not clear but I am pretty darn certain it is not due to any teeth.. given that it is pretty uncommon for a kid to teethe for 2 months straight and see no tooth emerge.  The most likely culprit is the series of colds the poor thing has had for now 2 months straight.  Early in the month she also adopted the habit of not just screaming but screeching... at. the. top. of. her. lungs.  These outbursts were so sonorous that they caused Patrick and Evie to hide in the bed under as many covers as possible.  I myself would have been there too if it weren't for the fact that after the first dozen or so I had all but lost hearing in my right ear.  Fortunately the screeching has subsided and is now only an occasional visitor.

 On other, more positive notes, Isadora started the month as a liquid only girl and now is a solid solids eater.  So far she is all about the classics, rice cereal and yams.  She is decidedly anti banana and the jury is out on avocado.  She loves the rice cereal so much that she literally gets shaky with excitement when she sees you come over with it and protests (loudly) if you take a break to oh say get a bite of your own food.  She is a pretty good tripoder but is not quite rolling over yet (although between when I started this blog and today when I am finishing it she has rolled over 3 times...)  And the best thing about Isadora right now is the huge heartfelt smiles she gives everyone and the little giggles she emits when we do things to make her laugh.  Genevieve is by far the favorite giggle inducer.  These smiles and giggles more than make up for the sleepless nights but nonetheless here is to hoping that the next month, while Evie (our own personal typhoid Mary) is out of school, we can eliminate the cold factor and all get a good night's sleep!