Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Take me to the Zoo

After a few lazy days around the house we needed a break, so we headed to the zoo.  

Christian realizing that "ellas" are real.

He LOVES the babies
What?!?! This is made of ant spit?
 
They don't have eagles?  What kind of zoo is this?

Obligatory nest pic.  Only little C and I seem happy to be there.

Oh, sure.  Everyone's happy when it's the komodo dragon and daddy.  

At least there's a little love left for mom.

Too cool for any.

Snack break.
 It was great to have Reed there for C's first time "getting" the zoo.  I must say I'm getting completely spoiled having Reed at home.  Everything is just so much more fun and easier when he's around.  

Merry Christmas to all!

We had a quiet Christmas here in Atlanta.  I kept waiting for it to be miserable, but although a few tears were shed while talking with family on Christmas Day, it just felt right.
(I'm sure it helped that we at least had some family here, with a sick Hayley and Rambo dragging themselves up from Columbus to share in the festivities)
Jingles did a little air drop for the Christmas eve pjs

Christian has learned presents are a very good thing

A very stripey, comfy family.  

We had a slight incident where little C yanked  Jingles off the zipline and  hugged all the magic out of him.  Matts and Gray jumped to the rescue and engineered him an amphibious aquatic vehicle to get him back to the north pole.  They left it by the chimney with Santa's cookies and milk :)

 A little food for the reindeer

This is what I'm talking about.

What is this?  A present for ants?

Even bandaids are exciting on Christmas

Dreaming...
Luckily, Santa was aware of the situation and supplied Matts with some extra  gifts (books, top secret notebook and pen, etc. to keep him busy until he can break in his new bike)

Grandma Candi was also happily to oblige with Oragami  Yoda to keep Matts  busy and happy

Their Christmas "best" aka Christmas comfies

SANTA!

One down.

And to all a good night.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Stars were gleaming

On Tuesday G had his school Christmas program.  He was VERY excited because he was asked to be a shepherd in the kindergarten portion of the play.  Not the pre-k 4 part, the REAL kindergarten part.  He did wonderfully, took it all very seriously and remained stoically in character until he exited the stage and asked his teacher, "is it past 7:30?  That's my bedtime so I think you should go put me to bed now".
We had a friend for the day, so I actually got to do girl hair.  It was pretty great and involved braids and sparkles.  
Cue sincere expressions for G.

Speechless

That's better

Christian wanted "more" of Jingle Bells.

 I told you he took it seriously. 

Gazing heavenward.

 Exiting.


Can I go to bed?

A gentleman in training, G gave flowers.  You can see she was quite pleased.

Brothers.

My silly boys

Math Star

Shameless Mom brag.  Matts just won the 2nd grade math bowl at his school.  He was a little nervous about being able to buzz in AND write his answer on the white board.  But, on the second to last question he pulled away from a 3 way tie.  


We celebrated with a hand-picked cake and dinner at Twisted Taco.  
Matts, we're so proud you!

Cheese

Little C has a new skill...

No, not climbing into the weapons bucket repeatedly...
 "Cheesing" for the camera.
We were taking pics of G when little C ran over, jumped up on the stair and started cheesing it.


I told you it was cheesy...

But sooo cute.


Celebrations

Just a quick glance backward to G's birthday before we leap into the Christmas festivities. Although we had G's 'real' birthday in Utah a happy convergence of out-of-town Dads and the release of Cars 2 on DVD lead to an impromptu celebration in Atlanta before we started the trek.

Ready...
(Side note: G is the light weight of our family.  Although he's 4 years older than C he outweighs him by only 5lbs.  meaning, they have the same Advil dosage :)

Soooo excited.

Ninjas...it's JUST what I wanted.  
(He's very easily pleased)

11 kids under the age of 7.  Proof that Pixar is genius.

G's idol

 BALLOONS!


Sunday, December 18, 2011

T-minus 7 years, 8 months, 12 days

After years of being foretold a great and terrible day came to the Peterson household.

Behold...


On Monday night while delivering Christmas gifts Matts was a little bit too enthusiastic and on the last house jumped out of the car and while protecting the precious gift of hot chocolate, landed straight on his arm.  One look at his already swollen arm with a dent where there should be a point and I ran Matts up to our children's hospital.  (insert genuis moment/mom tip; Nordstrom's cashmere pashminas make excellent slings).  We were making great time, in spite of it being rush hour, until the last turn before the hospital where there was a gas main break.  I tried several different routes and they were all closed.  Happily, firemen and police are very nice when you have a kiddo with a broken arm in the back seat and escorted us through the barricade to the emergency room.  Once the nurses saw his arm they started numbing patches for IV's because "it looked like there may be alot going on".  (insert mom freak out).  They also started him on lortab which made for a much more enjoyable and entertaining evening as we made our way to x-rays.  3 hours later we left with a blue sparkly cast (the nurse was joking when she offered him sparkles, but he thought they'd be 'christmasy'), a broken elbow (really, his elbow, the pointy part) and a whole new appreciation for holiday angry birds and crazy cat videos (Matts + lortab = very talkative and very easily amused).  Oh, and antibiotics for an ear infection (earlier that day he'd been complaining about his ears hurting and I made a bet with Reed that within 24hrs we'd be at the doctors.  Strangely, victory isn't always sweet)

Needless to say, it's been a long week.  Matts has done remarkably well during the day.  But, nights have been rough.  But, thanks to some tips from a friend yesterday I finally got him comfortable enough to sleep through the night.  We go back for x-rays tomorrow and then the week after that.  We need to watch the break closely because it is very near the growth plate and the joint and we want it to heal perfectly.  If at either of these visits there is movement he's off to surgery.  So, we've been taking it really easy around here.  

Interesting aside, when we got back from Thanksgiving I felt an enormous amount of pressure to 'finish' Christmas completely, even down to the wrapping and stocking stuffers) before the weekend of December 10th.  Completely random and insanely early date, but I'm so glad I went with it because now we are just settling in to enjoy a quiet Christmas break :).  

*Any tips on maintaining a stationary 7 year old would be greatly appreciated*

The maniac


He thinks he's so funny...
"helping" put away groceries

"helping" put up Christmas lights
* Only fitting these WILL NOT turn once I load them to blogger.*

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Happy Birthday Grayson, Gray!

Even though I'm ready to kick his little rear as I hear him upstairs, behind his strategically closed door rocking out post bedtime I love this little guy. He loves laughter, basketball and life. He's certain life is the way he sees it and he knows he's going to be totally awesome at it.
January 2011

February 2011

March 2011
April 2011
May 2011


June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011


October 2011

November 2011

Grayson: I hope you never stop smiling and giggling. And even though it's impossible, I hope your never lose your endearing lisp and your praying mantis cuddles. But mostly, I hope you never lose your love of life, your quiet intelligence, your awareness of others and your ability to love tenderly.