Christmas Crafting

I've always joked that Micro Center is to Adam as Sephora is to me.   In the evenings, after we've wound down and Seb is in bed, Adam likes to play video games.  Most of the time he gets sucked in and looses all track of time.  In another SAT-like comparison video games are to Adam as Pinterest is to me.  So, I've got to really stay away from it.  I do, however, look at a bunch of food/crafting blogs, so it probably takes up the same amount of time.  But...there are some amazing ideas out there!  Things that make me wish I could cook/sew/craft better than I can.  I've had my eye on this one for awhile.

So, cute homemade reindeer from a brown washcloth and bar of soap became the base for Sebastian's Christmas gift to his day care teachers.

Adam and I went back and forth on the gift card.  I wanted to split it between iTunes and Starbucks, but he thought 1 card was a better bet.  Due to time limitations, we ended up doing Target.  I think it turned out to be a pretty cute and festive gift idea.  The craft was super easy too.

Family Pictures Part II

Facebook is an interesting place.  I'm not one of those people who friends everyone I ever knew.  I won't friend anyone I work with who is in an office.  Just seems like good logic.  Just because we went to the same high school doesn't mean I'll automatically want to friend you.  However, you can also find out interesting things about people you knew 'way back when.'

That's how we ended up getting our family pictures taken in October.  A girl I went to church and high school with, Cat, is now a photographer in Utah and she posted on FB that she would be in So Cal doing a weekend of photo shoots.  She did our very first family photos last year when Sebastian was about 3 months old, and she let me know she'd be available again this year.  My whole family hadn't had pictures taken for a few years, since before Justin went on his mission, so I decided we should get new ones taken to include Seb and Naomi.  :)

In less than an hour we did family pictures, and individual family/group pictures.  We now have an updated picture with Melanie and Justin, and I think the picture of Seb with Granny and Grampy is just too cute.  My favorite one of the group has to be the second to last - just me and Seb.  It was near the end of our pictures and he was getting cranky and ready for dinner, why must the 'good light' near sunset coincide with dinner time???  But, he was a trooper, and I love the picture.  It also happens to be one of the first pictures of us without my braces :D

This past weekend we were in Vegas for Adam's parents annual holiday party.  I'll have to post some pictures from that.  We had Seb in an adorable little three piece suit.

Family Pictures

Now that the Christmas cards have gone out and the shopping is done, I feel like I can share some of our recent family pictures without spoiling any surprises.  I wanted to have pictures of Sebastian taken to mark his first birthday, but we were able to do it as a family photo shoot too.  I hope this is something we can make an annual tradition.

When I decided I wanted to do pictures, I put out a call for suggestions on Facebook and my sister in law referred me to the talented Jenn King.  I'm kinda particular when I'm looking for a photographer.  First of all, it can't cost as much as one would pay for a wedding photographer, and I want more than 1 or 2 edited images when all is said and done.  On the day of, we discovered she has a daughter just a couple months younger than Sebastian, and she was absolutely amazing with him.  I'd say Naomi gave me a pretty good recommendation; all my criteria were fulfilled, and I love the pictures she shot.

The second to last image was the one I had printed on a 16x20 canvas.  I love the leaves & tree, and how it feels more casual and not super posed.  There were so many great pictures that I had a really hard time deciding which one to do for my canvas.  I just need a little spare time this holiday season so I can get it hung up on the wall.

A month later we did another photo shoot with my whole family.  I'll have to post pictures of that soon.  Next up...taking photos with Adam's side of the family?  They're all in Vegas now so we could make a weekend of it.  I talked to his sister about it this past weekend and we're going to look into it once she has her baby in January.

Parenting Lessons Learned the Hard Way

For breakfast this morning Seb had 3 silver dollar pancakes, oatmeal, and milk.  He eats the oatmeal while I get the pancakes ready.  Each pancake gets a small drop of syrup before I cut them up into toddler friendly sized pieces.

I had a bowl of Life cereal for breakfast and Seb, always curious as to what I'm eating, wanted some.  Not thinking anything of it, I grabbed the box and poured 4 or 5 squares onto his tray.

Seb eats best when we're eating at the same time.  So I ate my cereal while, out of the corner of my eye, I see him in his highchair quietly working away at his breakfast too.  When I'm all done, I look over to check on his progress, only to discover he's turned into a human scarecrow!

Not realizing what Seb would do with the Life cereal, his curious hands shredded it.

Syrup is sticky.

He had bits of Life cereal stuck all over his hands, face, and bib.

Lesson learned.  No more Life cereal when there's syrup involved!

Annual Santa Visit

Adam was off on Tuesday so we took Sebastian for his annual visit to see Santa.  Eventually, Seb will understand the concept of Santa and it'll be a fun experience, I hope.  I draw the line at Santa though.  Have you ever taken a good look at the Easter bunny sitting at the mall each spring???  I totally understand the screaming kids on that one. Even if you find Santa scary, you want to make sure he knows what you want for Christmas and tell him you were good this year, so you may put up with it.  But the Easter bunny; what do you get there?  Chocolate and candy.  Everyone gets chocolate and candy.  Therefore, in our family, I think we'll limit our overpriced mall photo opportunities to once a year.

Sebastian got his hair cut prior to visiting Santa.  He still hates haircuts and was crying before they even started.  Even the customary lollipop didn't help.  Afterwards we wandered around the Disney store to give him a breather before Santa.  Since it was a Tuesday, there's virtually no wait, which is nice.  He doesn't see other kids freaking out, so there's no uncertainty or hesitation prior to the big 'hand-off.'

He cried.  There were no smiles.  But it was not a meltdown of Disneyland proportions.  In one photo he has his back slightly arched and his legs are stiff as boards, but it wasn't a good view of his face.  I like how the expression on his face in this one nicely sums up his reaction.  Surprised to sit on this stranger's lap, hesitant at what's going on, and a little angry at us for making him endure a haircut and Santa visit in the same hour.  I hope the Santa visit will make more sense next year.  Eventually, some year, I'll get a smile out of Sebastian, right?

Over-thinking Creativity

Sebastian's day care classroom has sensory activities each day so he got to experience finger painting for the first time at school instead of at home.  Initially I was kinda disappointed I didn't get to experience that with him.  Then, when we finally bought finger paint and a pad of paper, and I began to think about the logistics of finger paints; I was worried about painting at home.  

Where should we paint?

Would he eat it?

He doesn't have a smock.  I don't have a smock, do I need one?

Will he try to fling the paint?  Do I need goggles and a shower cap for protection?

How do I clean him up if it gets all over?  Can I hose him off in the backyard?  In November?

I was on the verge of running to Lowes to buy a huge painters tarp and cutting down some old t-shirts to make painting smocks.  In the end, I opted to strip his clothes off and put him in his high chair so he would at lest be contained.

He didn't understand the concept of putting it on the paper.  He really just wanted to coat his hands in paint and hear it squish between his fingers as he made a fist.  In the end, I think more paint ended up on the high chair tray instead of the paper.

Finger paint on paper

Crayons aren't as scary, but the very first time I gave them to him, he was too young.  Only recently have crayons started to make more sense.  Right now Sebastian's big on making lots and lots of dots on his paper.    And of course, he tries to eat the crayons at some point during the coloring process.  No crayons up the nose.  Yet.  At 15 months his attention span for coloring is about 2 minutes.

Crayon on paper

I'm still not sure the best way to have art time at home.  Maybe while sitting on the kitchen floor?  But then I'm in trouble if he crawls away with finger paint all over his hands.  While sitting in the empty bath tub?  I'm sure I'll eventually figure something out.  Until then, I'm already wondering if Sebastian and I should give watercolors a try.  Maybe Santa needs to get him a smock for Christmas too.  :)

The Best Laid Plans

Right now Adam's work schedule is anything but traditional.  He works most weekend's and I never know if he'll be home for dinner each evening.  He takes days off during the week to make up for the fact that we haven't had a Friday night - Saturday - Sunday weekend since sometime in early September, but I'm not used to it yet.  I feel like I'm his secretary scheduling a meeting with him when we sit down with our calendars to discuss which days in the upcoming week would be the optimal days for family time.  To be honest, I hate it, and he knows it, but there's nothing we can do about it right now.  He is able to get in family time with us so I need to get over the fact that it's not traditional.

I was on cloud nine thinking about the fact that he had Tuesday, Wednesday, Thanksgiving, and Sunday off of last week.  Oh the possibilities!!!  We got the house cleaned.  I forgot how nice it was to have help with this and how much quicker it could be done with a second pair of hands!  Laundry was done.  We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.  And we had big, big plans for Sunday.

To Do List

Watch last F1 race of the season
Get out Christmas decorations
Decorate tree & house
Dinner at my parents
Bonus: put up lights around garage

In preparation for our big day of Christmas decorating we upgraded to shatterproof toddler friendly ornaments.  We picked up some new fabric for our tree sashes.  The hope and joy of Christmas decorating!

And then I caught the stomach flu Saturday evening, and our Sunday went from looking like a beautiful day, to a day of recovery and hoping Sebastian could entertain himself most of the day while we rested and wished we were dead, because by then, Adam had caught it too.

Our new Christmas decorations look lovely sitting on the floor of our entry, still in the boxes and bags from when we purchased them last week.  Sometimes life has other plans for you and Sunday, November 25 was not the day for us to do our Christmas decorating.  Adam is off this coming Sunday, so we joke that we just pushed it back a week since it's not even December yet.  Dear life: please don't disrupt our plans this time.  Adam's other days off are spoken for and attempting to coordinate Christmas shopping was a whole other level of crazy and I don't want to have to reschedule that item.

Pumpkin Pie & Christmas Movies

In 33 years I have never once been alone or without my family on Thanksgiving (maybe because I went to college about 10 minutes from home).  I've never had to cook for Thanksgiving (I'm terrified of the turkey guts and have no idea how it's even humanly possible to have all the delicious Thanksgiving dishes ready at the same time). The only prep I have for turkey day is to ensure Adam, Seb and I get to my parents house in one piece and to make sure we leave with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Adam's actually had the last two days off this week and its allowed me to direct my focus to Christmas.  Shutterfly had a great deal going on so our cards have been ordered.  I put together our gift budget, and today we updated our ornaments to the oh-so-kid-friendly 'shatterproof' version.  I found the local radio station that's already broadcasting holiday tunes, as well as the satellite radio stations; and I started thinking about holiday movies.

There are 3 movies that are my holiday essentials and they illustrate how my tastes have changed as I've grown up.  When I was little I adored A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I always felt like it was officially Christmas-time when it was aired on TV.  I love when Linus explains the true meaning of Christmas to Charlie Brown and references the bible passage in Luke.  I still keep an eye out for the annual airing and we bought Seb a Charlie Brown Christmas t-shirt at Target today even though he has no idea who Charlie Brown is.  While Charlie Brown is great, it is a bit dated and from way before I was born.  My next movie is the Christmas movie for my generation.

Home Alone came out when I was 11 or 12 and I think I actually saw it in the theater with my family.  It's perfect for both adults and kids.  What kid didn't love all the stunts Kevin pulled on Harry and Marv?!  I can quote so much of the movie, and it has an awesome soundtrack.  I'm pretty sure, since it is THE Christmas movie, it'll be aired on some channel tomorrow evening, better set the DVR.  What better way to wash down the turkey and pumpkin pie than with a little Kevin McAllister antics.

The last movie in my Christmas trilogy is The Holiday.  I love, love, love this movie.  I own it on DVD but the recording's also sitting on my DVR from last year.  In fact, I think I'll go watch it after I search for (and most likely find) and set the box to record Home Alone tomorrow.  I love the story and can't argue with a nice dose of Jude Law.  Bonus: it's one of the few movies where Jack Black's character doesn't annoy the heck out of me.  I also happen to adore the sound track.  Adam and I used a bunch of the songs as the prelude music at our wedding ceremony, the music is just that good.

I wonder, when Seb's my age, what movies will make up his ultimate Christmas collection.  :)

House of the Mouse

If you live in OC, the odds are pretty high you have a Disneyland annual pass.  Adam and I have both had them on and off over the years, and since neither of us are playing hockey right now, we've got em.  Today we took advantage of Adam's mid-week day off and took Sebastian for his first visit to the Magic Kingdom.

Only...someone forgot to tell him it was supposed to be a place of fun.  To him, it was the Tragic Kingdom.

I thought I went in with realistic expectations, we have passes, so there's no need to cram everything into one visit.  Hit up a few rides, have lunch, head home.  Feel Seb out.  If he does good, maybe spend a little time there after lunch.  Yeah...notsomuch.

Disneyland's kinda hard to enjoy if your kid's afraid of the rides.  We went on Peter Pan and Dumbo.  He cried on Peter Pan, I think it was too dark.  We experienced an epic meltdown in line for Dumbo.  He calmed down while on the ride, only to resume the meltdown once the ride was over. I'm talking full on, snot shooting out of his nose, cry so hard he shakes, guests looking at you wondering if your kid's hurt they're crying so hard, meltdown.  And nothing we tried would calm him down.  :(  Eventually we threw in the towel and decided to head out.  I took a risk and changed him before we left, breaking out into a sweaty mess from changing a 22 lb crying, snotty, hysterical toddler, while Adam waited in line to buy a nice cool Dole Whip refreshment (which I soooo needed by the time I was done with Seb).

In the end, I must applaud Disneyland for having rolls of toilet paper mounted on the wall next to the changing tables.  Once he had a dry diaper, I was desperate to calm Seb down (and wipe off his face), so I yanked on the roll and let him have at it.  At home he loves to shred paper towel, baby wipes, and toilet paper, and THIS, was what calmed him down.  Should I start carrying an emergency roll of TP in the diaper bag???

Once we emerged, Adam further distracted him with a few bites of Whip, and we were able to make it out of the park and even grab lunch at Downtown Disney without further incident (just a really, really tired kiddo) who fell asleep before we even got him strapped into his car seat.

I almost think, at his age, he's better suited to walking around and enjoying the 'park' aspect of Disneyland rather than the 'amusement' side of things.  We did get to kinda enjoy the holiday decorations, which I think just got put up a few days ago?  But the visit was pretty much a hot mess once we stepped off Main Street into Fantasyland.

Main Street Christmas Tree (pre-meltdown)

When we got home I told Adam that Sebastian didn't like the rides or the waiting in line part.  He laughed at me and said, "that's what Disneyland is!"  Maybe I need to Google how I explain this to a 15-month-old?  :D  I'd love to try again, but want more success the next go around.

Flashback

Thanksgiving is in a few weeks and it wasn't until yesterday that we knew our holiday plans.  It became a complex mathematical equation: balancing our Christmas plans, taking grandparents and Sebastian into consideration, and figuring out Adam's work schedule.  I was never any good with math and now we had to factor in X, Y, and Z, I thought we were going to have to call in some NASA scientists to help us figure out where we were going.

Thanksgiving 2011

After all was said and done, we're staying put.  I'm excited for Sebastian to experience his first Thanksgiving dinner.  Last year he was just discovering his hands, this year, table food.  :)  I hope he saves room for pumpkin pie!