The Dancing Kings

Just a little bit of happiness on a day filled with poopy diapers (all 12 of them... so gross).  My boys have a bit of a stomach virus (their poor daddy is stuck in Washington D.C. with the full blown stomach flu... he puked on the subway. Very sad). But they are still maniacs! Enjoy the show!

Tubes In and Adenoids Out! Surgery Day for Eli!

This is what poor little Eli looked like about 3 hours after surgery! Pale, cranky, and oh so sad!
This is what he is going to look like tomorrow when he is back to his usual sunny self!

Well, after the crazy fall we had with Eli and his ears ( 6 ear infections, mastoiditis, walking pneumonia, etc...) it was time to get those pesky ear tubes put in and remove his adenoids! So today was the day! Eli was amazingly brave and came through surgery with out any trouble at all (a little throw-up in the car on the way home is the worst of it). He spent the afternoon hanging out with momma on the couch watching "Finding Nemo" " Thomas the Train" and "Bob the Builder". He ate a popsicle while watching tv and then managed to eat some eggs at dinner! Eli is sleeping peacefully right now! We are so relieved to have this over with and hopefully we will have a remarkably healthy 2009!

Nate has met his match

This sweet face masks the soul of a true wild man (though he really is that sweet!)

So Nate goes to a preschool drop-in program one morning a week for 1.5 hours (same place Eli goes to preschool). Nate's teachers assure me that he is the sweetest toddler in the class and is always smiling (this is usually true at home too). He has never demonstrated "crazy Nate" and knocked someone down, or taken them out (in a flying tackle no less). As a result, Nate has become a target of the class toddler bully. BABETTE! I am not kidding. The toddler room bully is a 21 month old named babette who weighs all of 27 pounds and is a good 2 inches shorter than Nate. On Tuesday I picked Nate  up to be told that he cried when Babette stole his cracker and taunted him with it by waving it in his face. What?!?!? Not my Nate, he would tackle a 3 year old for the same offense! So now we are perplexed and we are not sure whether to be pleased that he is not so aggressive or train him to knock down a girl! Hmmmm...

Happy Birthday Auntie Nikki!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (toddler mania style)

Nate is completely and totally smitten with Elmo, and he has never even seen Sesame Street!
Meet Spike! Milo is pretty sure there is only room for one large creature in the family!
Total Christmas overload Face!
Nate liked stacking his presents up to climb almost as much as opening them!
 A Little Christmas snuggle with daddy!
Eli and his Pop Pop!

Pop Pop singing to Eli!
Wild man Nate on the loose at Aunt Valmere and Uncle Wyn's House the day after Christmas!
Mommy and her boys! 

We had the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!! Having small children is such a treat at the holidays because they bring back all of the magic and wonder! Watching Eli's face when he realized that Santa had eaten his cookies was priceless! Nate and Eli marveling over their amazing presents and the pure joy that each one elicited was so special! Most particularly, I loved watching Gromma and Pop Pop and Eli and Nate enjoy each other so much! We even had an adventure (fog and flooding... what's next the plague?) when we drove to Bloomington the day after Christmas to spend some family time with my Aunt Val (Gromma's sister) and Uncle Wyn! We really cherish the time with family!

P.S. Notice in the first two pictures you catch a glimpse of the elusive Gromma! She is practically as rare of a sighting on film as the Yeti!

Early Christmas with Auntie Bec

Daddy and sweet boy Nate
Eli and Auntie Bec have a mutual admiration society! 
Auntie and Nate sure liked to snuggle

We had such a great visit with Sam's little sister "Auntie Bec". It was like having an early Christmas to spend time with her and have her spend time with the boys. They both love their Auntie so much. She is such a trooper to come here in winter because she HATES the cold, that just tells you how much she loves her boys!

Holiday Cheer from Nate

Nate loves to sing with us! Here is some holiday cheer from our resident cherub!