Winter Break!

We just spent a fabulous 7 days in Playa Del Carmen Mexico. All four of us went along with Brad’s dad and step mother, Andrew, Kristy and Mollie Budde and Jordan Budde. The 10 of us had a great time in the sand, sun and water.

We started most mornings having breakfast overlooking the ocean. I think all of us enjoyed and appreciated that moment especially. After breakfast we would many times hang out in the hammocks on the ocean deck, followed by a morning at the beach! Unfortunately, neither Louis nor Mabel particularly liked the sand or the waves, but they had a great time hanging out in the sunchairs under a cabana.

During the trip we celebrated both Louis and Jordan’s birthday. How lucky is Louis to have had a real beach party for his 3rd birthday?!? Louis really had a lot of fun. Our resort was huge and was connected to a fantastic zoo/amusement park. Louis loved the sea turtles (tortugas), the monkeys and the flamingos. Due to the large resort, Louis got to jump on the back of the stroller everywhere we went for a quick ride; it also made it easier for us to not have to carry him around everywhere!

Mabel really turned into a full fledged toddler on vacation. Her vocabulary increased tremendously. She would say “Hola” all the time and showed us that she could sing the ABC’s along with Louis! Everything was, “I want that”, “Thank you”, “I want water”, I wanna color” etc.; she makes sure everyone is aware of her needs! The humidity also brought out the curls in her hair. It was so sweet and I was so bummed to see them disappear on the airplane as we flew away. Mabel also tried standing on her own a couple of times, which is very exciting for her.

One of the days Brad and I were able to leave the resort and see the Mayan ruins at Tulum. The ruins are part of a very interesting history and the nearby beach was beautiful.

It was a great vacation. On our last morning I told Louis and Mabel it was time to go home and Louis’ first comment was, “but I like Mexico!” We were sad to leave, but it was good to get back to reality, routine (and unfortunately snow!)

Little People, Little Conversations

Mabel: LouLou, LouLou!! (yelling from the bathroom)

Louis: What baby Mabel? (running into the bathroom)
Mabel: Book
Louis: You want to cook? No, Mabel, you are too little too cook. You need to be big like my mommy and papa to cook. Okay?...Mabel follow me (trying to her to join me and Louis in her bedroom).
Mabel: No
Louis: Mabel, say yes to me. (Mabel then follows him into her bedroom, gives a grin and heads back to the bathroom).
Mabel: LouLou, LouLou!! (from the bathroom, again)
Louis: Yes, Mabel? (running back into the bathroom)
Mabel: Book
Louis: You want me to read you a book? Okay, I will.
Mom walks in and both are sitting on the floor, talking jibberish and reading books. Everyone smiles very big, and mom hides a giggle.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a wonderful holiday season. As usual we crammed a lot into three weeks of fun. We had the Kemper Christmas in Melrose the entire weekend prior to Christmas. It was great having the entire family together! Great grandpa and great grandma Welle were also able to stop by and Santa came shortly after!  Santa brought special pillows for each of the grandchildren!

 

  

On Christmas weekend we stayed home as a family of four. We were planning on doing so prior to the storm, so we were lucky in that the storm didn’t alter our plans too much. Grandpa Dean and grandma Dede did stop by on the Wednesday evening and we had a nice Christmas celebration with them. It was a little strange have just the four of us around on Christmas, but we were able to spend a nice, relaxing Christmas together and really appreciate each other. On Christmas night, last minute, we had dinner with the Mikkelson's. It is so nice having “family” down the street (especially in a snow storm!).

Last we celebrated Christmas with Brad’s family the following weekend. It was nice to have nearly his whole family together at our house. Brad did an amazing job with the meal and again everyone enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon and evening hanging out. We were able to Skype with the D.C. Budde's while we opened gifts.  It was as close to having everyone there as we could get! 

We also hosted a NYE party at our house this year and themed “Married with Children NYE”. From the looks of our kitchen below you can tell everyone had a great time.

And now we are back into regular time. I will have another update soon, but Mabel continues to talk and add new words to her vocabulary. She has perfected giving us dirty looks as well (see below). Louis loved Christmas and was sad to see it go. However, he was quite afraid of Santa and wouldn’t come downstairs on Christmas morning until I could assure him that while Santa was in our house…he was now gone and was at someone else’s house. As I said last year, experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a child is such a gift. The pure happiness and glee would melt anyone’s hearts!!

Top 10 Moments of 2009 According to Brad

In no particular order...

1. Burning the Christmas tree in the backyard. In July. The old saying was proven true, "went up like a Christmas tree." Maybe that's just Andrew's phrase. Anyway I felt bad afterwards that he wasn't around to see it. Missy wasn't around to see it either because she ran scared into the house.

2. Visiting Great Grandma Budde on Halloween. She couldn't have been happier, or tried harder to keep us. Bribes of dinner, drinks and snacks were relentless and considerably appreciated. It was great to see her. Louis continued to speak about the trip days later.

3. Dancing with Missy at Danny and Meghan's wedding. We both had plenty of drinks and even more fun. The live band played amazing music; Missy was really into their cover of Pink. When the DJ started we both tried dancing to music the young kids are playing, like MGMT. Try it, it's not easy, you'll laugh.

4. Catching a 5lb bass while fishing with Mike Seppelt. We fish Bass Lake in Plymouth once every summer. Every summer it ends up being a highlight. It seems the recipe of light beer in cans, a good fishing hole and 3 hours with a good friend is reliable fun.

5. Louis spells his name in chalk. We were chillin' in the basement and Lou was playing with chalk. Suddenly he writes his name: LOUIS. We didn't even know he could write, much less spell his name. So we erased it and he did it again. How does a kid know how to write his name yet refuse pee anywhere but his diaper?

6. Playing craps in the morning. We went to Vegas this fall with friends. Missy and I are conditioned by our children to wake early, so we finished an early breakfast and explored the Bellagio. A friendly game of craps looked inviting, neither of us have ever played on a table in Vegas, and we very quickly were being given a tutorial by a friendly stranger. In a matter of a few minutes he explained the game and recited all of the odds. Maybe craps is more fun when you've been drinking, but since we could remember this it stands out as one of the unique moments we've had together.

7. Swimming lesson progress. How is it that our children start their first swimming lesson scared and fully clutched to one of us; two months later their favorite part of the week is Saturday swimming lessons?

8. Christmas tree setup. Lou and I bought a Christmas tree on a Saturday morning. The next day we decorated the house and tree. The lower half of the tree was decorated in a single horizontal line, right in Lou's line of sight. In some cases he put 6 bulbs on a single branch. The next few days Lou would lay on the couch and stare at the tree. He'd have to get dressed by the tree. I've never seen anyone love a tree like that. I'm feeling the magic of Christmas.

9. Adam Mikkelson choking on hot sauce in the backyard. He opened one of those hot sauces with the warning label and ate it like Ketchup. The next 15 minutes he spent gagging on the heat. My favorate antidote was spoonfuls of ice cream that he let slide off his tongue as they melted. His daughter started crying too because she was so concerned for her Daddy. We shouldn't have laughed at him, but he was too disoriented to laugh along with us.

10. Finishing Crime and Punishment. It took 3 years. Now I can finally say that I've read Dostoevsky. I guess crazy people make good stories whether they're in classic literature or on Real Housewives.

Snow Day!

Welcome to winter. This week, due to the snow storm, daycare was closed. So the kids got to experience their first ever snow day. Louis seemed confused at first and was worried that his friends were going to be at school and he wasn’t; but he quickly realized that wearing his pajamas all day must mean it is a special day.


Overall, I think the kids were bored with me. I am not nearly as clever with activities like daycare is, nor am I as silly as their friends! But we definitely had our moments of fun. Louis and Mabel played well together. They read books, they hid under blankets, colored and wrestled…yes, they started wrestling each other. I would normally be concerned about this, but they just tickle each other and fall over each other and laugh. It is really sweet.

This past weekend we put up our tree and lights. Louis was excited that he got to help Brad pick out the tree and put up the lights outside (Mabel got to come with Mom to help remember a very dear, very loved friend). Louis was insistent that we buy a star and that he would get to put up the star “like Curious George did”. Both children love the lights and the tree. Our tree is in our “blue room” and Louis now likes to spend all his time in there. He will just get a pillow and a blanket and watch the tree. See that and hearing Mabel say “wow” every time the lights go on – it again makes me feel so lucky that I get to be a parent to these two sweet children.

This last picture is of Mabel’s lump on her forehead. She took a spill down a couple of stairs and ended up with her first black-n-blue mark and a nice bump. Her papa gave her lots of kisses and after a few minutes, she completely forgot about it.

So much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving was very wonderful this year. We celebrated with both sides of my extended family and enjoyed some delicious food and wonderful company.

The day after Thanksgiving we boarded a plane to D.C. to celebrate Nolan Budde’s baptism. Louis was so excited to be in the airport and on the airplane. He loved having his own seat and kept asking “are we flying yet papa?”. It is so great as a parent to see your child with wide eyes and excitement. Every moment of the airport and flight was thrilling for him…that alone made the trip worth it.
The baptism weekend was great. Brad’s entire family made the trip to D.C. for the baptism! We had a great time catching up with Matt and Kristin. Mabel and her cousin Mollie had a lot of fun with crawling races and following each other around the house. While there, we realized what a little toddler Mabel has become. She has been talking more and more adding the words please, cheese, Happy, baby and many more. She has been signing more and more – but only for words she can say (please, more, all done, thank you, etc). She also has finally started saying "mommy" - yeah! In D.C. we realize that little Mabel also is quite the extrovert. She can be dead tired, but if other people are having fun…she needs to as well. She is quite the “party girl” much to her father’s chagrin.
We were all plenty tired as naps were missed, and sleeping in a hotel room with two children can be difficult. The first night, Louis fell asleep on a tiny little bency…I guess the pull-out bed was too big! I don’t think Brad and I have gone to bed at 8:30pm in a long time. Both kids need dark and quiet to fall asleep, so we spent our time texting each other and reading the internet on our phones!
On Sunday the entire family went to Nolan’s baptism. The church that Matt and Kristin belong to has such a diverse congregation and does an excellent job celebrating the baptism event. Louis was able to join the other children up at the baptismal fountain for an up-close view of the baptism. It was very nice ceremony and all of us were very proud to be there. Nolan is a beautiful baby who is very loved.
It was such a great weekend to be with family. We enjoyed lots of great moments together; whether swimming in a pool, enjoying great food, seeing Mabel choose Adam has her new favorite uncle or watching a deer run through the window (and subsequently run throughout) the townhome next door everyone was glad we made the trip!

Can this part last forever?

Right now Louis and Mabel have so much fun together. Don’t get me wrong, they are starting to also fight with each other, but mostly they are just enjoying each other's company. They both love waking the other one up in the morning and enjoy seeing each other first thing.

As part of Mabel’s physical therapy, we have her play in a Rubbermaid to practice standing. Well it didn’t take long for Louis to want the same thing. After I dug one out for him, I sat back and watched. They had a great time playing peek-a-boo with each other!

Louis loves building forts with his Papa right now. It is a pretty standard weekly activity. Lately though, Mabel likes to play in it as well. She doesn’t usually sit in there too long, but rather prefers to go in and crawl out the “back door”

Quick updates: Mabel finally has both front teeth, which now brings her to five. Her second front tooth took forever to cut and must have been so painful for her! Louis can now write his name, but needs a lot of space to do it, so the chalkboard in the basement is getting used a lot. He is already started picking out all the toys he wants from Santa. I am surprised at how into Christmas he is!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!