Sunday with Dad

Val worked so hard this year to get EVERYTHING ready for X-Mas. I can take little or no credit for much except for the lights on the house and the delivery of the X-Mas tree. I used to be able to take credit for the $$$ but it seems more and more that I am losing my foothold on that as Val's opportunities to work from home have been too good to pass up as of late. Sunday, Val needed some serious quiet time to get a lot of office work done and it was my job to TAKE OVER. Actually, I just needed to survive, keep the kids dry and fed and let Val do her thing. We went up to the Everett Kids Museum for a few hours and the kids had a great time. The pictures are mainly from the performance stage where Ty (no pic) and Hailey donned capes to become their favorite Star Wars characters. Ty was Darth Vader and Hailey was Yoda.

On our way in.

Yoda takes the stage.
Yoda defeats....someone.

Ty manning the stage lights and sounds.

Some good old fashioned train fun.

Buildings igloos and one Happy (crazy) Girl!

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas was lots of fun this year. Tyler was just soooo excited for Santa. We had our own family Christmas in the morning. In the afternoon we headed out to Grandma's house to be with the rest of the family. And then in the evening we headed over to Aunt Gerry's house to see some of the extended family on the other side. It was a fun day and the kids were so excited to get presents.

Visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Carl

The morning started at 7:00 for the kids. We had told Tyler he needed to stay in bed until 7:00 and at 7:00 he called me into his room. He said, "I've been watching the clock and it says 7:00 now, can I get up?" :). So we walked down the stairs and he didn't want to go to the Christmas tree. He wanted to see his stocking first. That worked out well since Hailey was still sleeping. His first visit was to see if Santa had eaten his cookies....and finish the leftovers Santa did not eat.
Then he was on to his stocking.

Checking out the stocking

He was very excited to find a clone trooper inside
By the time Tyler had gone through his stocking and lined everything up neatly on the floor, Hailey was awake. She seemed to have the whole Santa/present thing figured out and didn't miss a beat.

Is that mine?After stocking we headed out to the Christmas tree. Tyler was very excited to see some digital drums. Hailey loved her new kitchen and was very excited for her princess puzzle.

After Tyler got some drumming out of the way then realized Santa left a couple of other gifts. He had asked Santa specifically for the lego police command center and had a big celebration when he unwrapped it!
Hailey had also asked Santa for legos and was happy to find some pink legos just for her.
Hailey had no problems unwrapping her own gifts this year.
Both kids were excited to watch Daddy open the gift Tyler got for him (a hat).

While Tyler played drums Hailey went to work on the piano (from mom and dad to both kids). She was even playing with full hands (all fingers) instead of just one pointed finger.

Anyone hungry?

By the time Tyler got through all his gifts from Santa, us, his cousins, and his Grandma and Grandpa he had quite a pile....and was one happy boy.
Somehow I didn't get a picture of all Hailey's gifts. After she finished unwrapping she decided to relax and play her new tinkerbell leapster game.
Hailey was already yawning by 9:00 am. It was probably a day she would have actually taken a nap but she powered through all the way to 10pm and was a real treat yesterday morning (the day after). But a long nap yesterday helped out a bit. Hope everyone out there had a fabulous Christmas too.

Bringing Down the Quigglekids for Christmas!

These are some of my favorite pictures. For the past few years I have had Christmas off and with going back to patrol I can't say for sure if the opportunity will present itself again next year or not. Anyways, both Val and I got to bring 1 kid downstairs on Christmas morning and snap some photos of THE BIG REVEAL! I intentionally had a bad hair day so that Hailey wouldn't feel self conscious about hers!

Tyler the Lego Builder

The morning after Christmas began with a slow walk through all of the recently gotten toys. It looked for a moment that we might be headed for a day of simple carpentry. The pull of the Legos was too much for young Jedi Tyler to resist and from 930am to 5pm he was busy putting together his Lego Police Command Center with all the fixins'! The only break he took was to down 12 cocktail shrimp (thanks Grandma) and then back at it. He was wuzzy, he was tired, but as the time moved on he knew he was closer and closer to being able to PLAY with them he said he just had to finish. Other than tips here and there this is about 97% all Tyler. We are very proud Lego Parents.

Carpentry anyone?

Lego Police Guard Station!

That is one awesome command vehicle!

The Cops are typing away at their reports!

It took a week and a half

I don't know how often we have blogged about Tyler and his interest in everything that is spoken and his ability to remember most of it. I actually find it impossible to have a conversation with Dave when the kids are awake (which is incredibly frustrating). But Tyler just can't help it. He listens to everything and you get one sentence into a conversation and he suddenly wants to be a part of it. His curiosity gets the better of him every time. He is either asking us to tell him more or asking what it is we are talking about and his questions go on and on. He absolutely loves it when people tell him stories. When Dave gets home from work early on some days and can tell Tyler stories about his day, Tyler curls up on his lap and just listens intently, encouraging Dave's stories with a periodic (and enthusiastic) "UmmHmm". And he has the ability to remember the tiniest details months/years down the road. I remember a few months back we were eating and Tyler suddenly brought up some spicy noodles that we ate at a hotel in Spokane two years ago. It was crazy.

Fast forward to the imagination movers and Tyler spent the first half of the show stone faced and still as a statue. You could see his mind working in overdrive and he was absorbing everything that was going on. It was actually very funny to watch. Towards the end of the show the Movers took some time to talk, telling us a little about themselves and where they are from etc. They happen to be from Louisiana and were all affected by Hurricane Katrina. They mentioned that all of their houses had been flooded. The was one sentence in their "speech"

As we were walking out, Dave asked "I bet he asks me about the flooding tomorrow." Well the days have come and gone with no questions about the flooding comment.....until today, a week and half after the concert. There was some Imagination Movers music playing on our radio and Tyler suddenly asked, why were the movers houses flooded? What does that mean?

A week and half that question rolled around in there. Who know if he was aware of it or not but Dave was right on the money. Tyler doesn't miss a thing. Ever.

Oh Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Every year we talk about getting a fake tree (right about the time we fork out $70 for a tree we'll only use for 4 weeks). But I really do love the smell of a fresh cut tree. I think the tree is one of Tyler's favorite parts too. I'm sure it has something to do with the decorating. Tyler loves decorating about as much as he loves packing (and he like packing A LOT!!!). So the days we decorate the house and the tree are big days for him. Usually we do a whole family outing to the tree farm to pick out our tree. This is another tradition I really love. But this year we had crazy schedules and the fear of rain to contend with and Tyler and Dave ended up getting our tree one Thursday morning (earlier this month) while Hailey and I were at toddler group. I was sad to miss the tree hunt but happy to get a tree. Dave discovered it's really hard to cut down a tree by yourself....holding and cutting at the same time. I think we'll go as a whole family next year :). They found a great tree.

The tree

The tree getting wrapped for the car ride

Dave brought the tree in before he left for work and that left the kids and I with the rest of the afternoon to decorate. I got the lights up a quickly as I could while Tyler tried not to burst out of his skin in anticipation of putting up the ornaments. He was so excited about it I let him put up almost all of the ornaments (except the really fragile ones). After his initial hangings all the ornaments were clumped in two groups at the bottom of the tree.

I didn't say anything....figured I'd just even things out after the kids went to bed. But Tyler acutally kept at it and started moving things around, spreading them out and up. When he was done the tree looked really great. All I really had to do was add the more fragile one up high.

All business

Redistributing ornaments

The finished tree
We get the kids a new ornament every year. Last year they picked out their own. This year I surprised them with ornaments of their favorite things. Both Tyler and Hailey were happy.

Tyler has Star Wars....of course

Hailey has Tinker Bell

Speaking of Hailey, you might wonder what she was doing while Tyler was hanging ornaments. She was doing this....

And this

And this

After the tree was done Tyler was so happy and he and Hailey spent the rest of the day/evening playing by the tree and reading books by the tree. Every morning when Tyler wakes up the first thing he does is go to the living room and turn the Christmas tree lights on....and then he smiles.

Oh and here were our teacher/neighbor gifts this year. We are so happy to get them out of the house....all of them were so good and impossible to stop eating.

Tyler 5 year stats

I still have a "Tyler at 5" blog coming...one of these days. But until then, I thought I'd get Tyler's 5 year stats documented. He had his 5 year doctor appointment a few weeks ago at the beginning of the month. He was lucky (unlucky) enough to get 5 shots, OUCH. He did his best to hold in the tears during the shots and then recovered quickly when they were done. He was a pretty tough boy. At 5 years old Tyelr is:

Weight: 40.2 lbs (50%)
Height: 43 in. (50-75%)
BMI: 15.2 (25-50%)

His percentages stayed the same over the last year. But over the year he:
gained 3 pounds
grew 2 inches

Santa at the Mall

Ok, our last Santa picture so far :). Here was our official Santa picture at the mall. Please excuse the scan (shh don't tell) but I did spent $17 on one 5x7 so I feel like I should be able to share it a little bit. And for the record Tyler requested a star wars action figure from Santa and Hailey wanted Legos (she is so influenced by her brother's wants). All previous Santa encounters Tyler has wanted various lego kits and Hailey wanted "Yoda".

Santa at Country Village

A few days after the Lights of Christmas we visited the Country Village in Bothell for their tree lighting and the arrival of Santa. It was a pretty big crowd and Santa came "flying" in on his sleigh with his reindeer (all attached to cable) which was fun for the kids to watch. Their tree lighting was fun too because they had each branch individually wrapped and there were a ton of lights on it. It was a major child mob to get to Santa for a candy cane. We battled oru way through and then browsed a few stores. As we were headed home we noticed Santa was still in the courtyard wishing the last couple of people a Merry Christmas. We took advantage and walked up to say hello. The kids got another candy cane and I got a great Santa picture. Haiely wanted nothing to do with Santa at the lights of Christmas. She warmed up to him a bit for this picture. I think it was all good practice for our traditional Santa picture because there were no tears this year.

Say cheese

candy cane please

Lights of Christmas

The first weekend of December the Lights of Christmas opened (up north). Dave took a Thursday off and we had a nice day with no rain....but it was really cold. It was opening day for the Lights of Christmas and I don't think we could have timed it better. In addition to the dry weather, the place was not very crowded. We of course were able to see all of the lights which was a lot of fun. We also got to see Santa with absolutely no wait. We got some of the infamous donuts...again no wait. Actually we didn't have to wait for anything. The kids went for a ride on the horses (Tyler actually went twice). We rode on the train...a short ride but the kids loved it. The kids had a live conversation with the talking Christmas tree. Ty thought this was pretty cool. The kids had a great time and it really got us all into the Christmas spirit. Well, it got me into the Christmas spirit and the kids are just really excited for presents.

We are ready to go....love how Hailey looks stuffed in the stroller and totally immobile

Our friend Frosty

Some of the lights, which was the point of the whole trip. Next year I need to have my fancy camera manual settings figured out so I can get some good pics of the lights

Fresh delicious donut...the kids loved these The talking Christmas Tree that actually had a live conversation with Tyler and Hailey

Couldn't believe Tyler was willing to get this upclose and personal with Santa but I love that I got a picture of it. I guess Ty has figured out you want to be in good with this man.

All of my everyday...I love these two
Both kids enjoyed riding horses