What are you doing New Year's Eve?

T had to work so V and I had an exciting day 1) getting flat tires repaired 2) going to the grocery store 3) making a mess of the house and then as a result of the messes getting out of hand... 4) playing at Marbles Kids Museum.

V did start off the morning by making some artwork on her new easel. She takes her new hobby of painting very seriously and she likes to dedicate each picture to someone. A lot of them are for me, but she has also made several for Daddy, Grandma, Queenie and today she made 4 for Hello Kitty.

After a 2 1/2 hour nap, we attempted to go downtown to get Daddy to goof off from work, but he was busy doing a liveshot in extremely windy 45 degree weather. We stayed 10 minutes to observe, but when V looked at me and asked sincerely, "what are we doin' out here?" I realized we should go home. :)

Before going to bed, V and T made sure to warm their booties by the fire-one of V's favorite activities.

Happy New Year! Hope 2009 is full of warm booty moments for you!

Lightweight

Despite 2 straight months of cookie & candy eating, chocolate milkshakes and way too much macaroni & cheese, Virginia is still classified as a lightweight according to the results from her 2 year old check up. I was hoping for at least 10th percentile this go round.

Height- an impressive 34 inches, placing her in the 57th percentile among other kids her age.
Weight?- a pitiful 22 pounds even, ranking her in the 3rd percentile, or as my Dad put it "skinnier than 97% of other two year olds". She weighs less than several kids I know that aren't even a year old yet. Skinny minnie.

Oh well, I have until her 3 year old check up to try to bring up her official numbers.

Jolly Old St. Nick

The good news: Santa arrived safely (not getting stuck in our chimney as V feared), left lots of presents, took V's binkies and made everyone happy.

The not so good news: V is still young enough that the presents we think she'll LOVE are less exciting than their packaging. Case in point, her reaction to the super cool kitchen Santa brought her:

Could she be LESS excited? (maybe the 3 hour construction of it built up too much anticipation for her parents?)

However, the Hello Kitty legos that T picked up as an after thought? She CANNOT play with them enough. She's even insisted on taking them places with her so she can play with them at a moments notice.


T's favorite present is the new "big" t.v. we got (upgrading from a 15 inch to a 26 inch seems like a big deal to us), but I think he's also partial to the hot stone massage he has in his future. A well-deserved reward after a recent battle with kidney stones.


My favorite presents are the wonderfully smelly Lush products given to me by both hubby and BFF Paizhe and new pottery cookware from my mom. Now if I can just make time to take a shower while T is out of town for four days...and force myself to think about cooking again after all the eating I've done since Thanksgiving!


V hasn't yet decided what to make of all her new gifts- the table and tea set, play kitchen and food, stuffed animals, books, puzzles, stickers, guitar...all I have to say is THANKS EVERYBODY! I won't have to buy the kid a thing for months. :)


We had great times with both sides of the family- celebrating with T's family the weekend before Christmas and E's family on Christmas Day. Lots of unneeded calories have been consumed and paper has been added to landfills, but why waste time feeling guilty?! CHEERS!

Twas the night before Christmas...

...and all through the house, the sound of a screw driver echoed out loud. More on that in a minute!

The Bruces celebrated Christmas Eve by baking cookies, visiting with neighbors, friends & family and finally, setlling down for a long winter's nap- without a binky (pacifier, whatever.)

While T went to work for a bit to prepare for a trip to the PapaJohns.com Bowl (work, not pleasure) E & V lovingly prepared sugar cookies. V liked the sprinkles the best. Here's an action shot of her putting approximately 1/2 a bottle of sprinkles on ONE cookie. Mmmm, good.

She also loves standing on her ladder overseeing all the action in the kitchen. Here's a funny Jingle Bells moment:

After cookie time my BFF since 3rd grade, the lovely Paizhe, came by for an annual Christmas visit.

She showered V with gifts, and V brought her every blanket, stuffed animal and book in the house to show her appreciation and affection. I think the tiara may have been just what V has always needed. Here is the 2009 Little Miss Tater Tot to be:

We then headed out to my parents' house and then off to church, where V managed to pull every pledge card out of the pew, tried to draw in the Bible and had a great time using her mother as a trampoline during the scripture readings. Luckily, T has less patience than me so he got to take her home early and I got to stay for the fun part where we all light candles and sing "Joy to the World" accompanied by trumpets.

After a delicious snack supper with my parents and 2 brothers my mom unveiled the 2008 Christmas pajamas. As is the tradition every year, Mom gets pajamas for everyone to wear Christmas Eve night. Now, let me just be up front in saying I picked out the ones I wanted for V this year and called mom from the store to tell her about them. I had no idea she'd wander over into the women's section and find...

...that's right, matching pajamas for me. Insert the smart-alecky comment of your choice here. :)

We made it home, had V sprinkle reindeer dust in the yard and then prepared milk and cookies and BINKIES for Santa. Now that V is 2 is seems like a great time for Santa to take those binkies and give them to other babies around the world, right? If V asks, say YES!

Sprinking reindeer dust so Santa can find our house...

Literally kissing her binkies good-bye!

She went to bed without a fuss so keep your fingers crossed she'll be able to break the binky habit cold tofurkey.

As I type T has entered hour 3 of assembling Santa's big gift to V this year- a toddler size kitchen. He's still smiling now and it is almost 11 p.m....

...so Merry Christmas!

2nd Birthday Treats

Since V has a birthday only 5 days before Christmas I did have some fears of her feeling "cheated" out of her birthday experience when she was first born. Silly me! She gets more attention and presents than any kid should...and it is all well worth it.

As is the household tradition, she had cake for breakfast. Well, mostly she just licked the chocolate icing off the cupcake.

We let her open a few presents and T's parents presented her with a very cool table and chair set, which she immediately loved.

Later, her Grandma and I took her to Build-a-Bear so she could pick out her own stuffed animal and watch it get made. Sounds like a great idea right? NOT ON THE SATURDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS! Look at this line!

It was a nightmare. The woman behind me stood entirely too close to me and sneezed a lot AND there was a loud-mouthed grandmother in line behind us with her annoying grandkid who kept pushing me aside to look at stuff. Thank goodness Grandma was there to keep V busy picking out potential Hello Kitty outfits and debating on shoe options while I tried in vain to pretend like the experience was fun. V had fun, which was the important part, but I can tell you I won't be making a return trip there anytime soon!

After a good nap, she opened a few more presents and then waited for her friends to arrive for her party.The plan was to cook mini pizzas for everyone...thankfully my Southern hostess intuition had kicked in the day before and I bought a bunch of chip and dip and snacks I thought I "wouldn't need" so there WAS food on hand..if you could see it in the dark.

The kids never seemed to notice that the lights were out and V ran around the house like a wild woman with Zane, Jett and Kelcey.

V, Jett and Kelcey got sick of posing for the camera. (I think Zane, at age 2 yrs, 8 mos, was the only one smart enough to just hide in the dark). Remember that the house was pitch black and imagine 3 different people trying to get these kids together for a photo op. Classic reaction.

After the party V opened MORE presents and I have to say the following picture pretty much sums up what I thought it would be like to have a daughter:

Tea party with stuffed animals and Grandma. Who's the spoiled one in this picture?

Birthday by Candlelight

No I'm not talking about this kind of candlelight:

I'm talking about power going out 15 minutes before guests arrive to your kid's 2nd birthday party kind of candlelight:

The good news is that the power did come back on...approximately 5 minutes after the last guests left our house.

We had a great time anyway, and despite my normal instinct to freak out, I stayed relatively calm considering there were 4 toddlers, 2 babies and 14 adults in my home lit only by 20 candles (and eventually, the light from T's work camera). Open flame + small children = fun!

More birthday adventures to come!

Ansel Adams...watch your back!

V has learned how to use the digital camera despite my best efforts at keeping it out of her hands. I guess when your pops is a photographer you kind of can't help but want to imitate him.

Here are some of her shots so far; I've taken the liberty of giving them names so you'll know which one is which when they are auctioned off for millions 20 years from now.

Chest Hair Strangulation

They Fed You WHAT for Lunch?

The Kitchen: A Toddler's Insider Report

Beardo

This last one is in honor of our wonderful babysitter Kristy who's last "real" day of watching Virginia was today...so sad! Kristy is getting married in January and V is starting a new full-day preschool in January; they will miss each other and I will miss a wonderful era of having loving, caring women come to my house to watch my child!

We love you Kristy! Mad props, sister!

Happy Horrordays...

T & I thought it would be a GREAT idea to take V down to Pullen Park where they were having a "Holiday Express" Christmas festival. There were lights, there were performers, there were decorations everywhere. What there was NOT was 1)parking, 2)clear signage about where to go OR 3)some kind of warning that 1 million other families also thought this was a great idea and would be arriving at EXACTLY the same time as us.

T & I are NOT crowd people. We parked a mile away, literally slid down a hill, crossed over real railroad tracks and entered the park from the scariest, darkest entrance possible. WITH A STROLLER.

We arrived and the first thing V spotted was a light up Santa stuck in a chimney. She could not get over this idea. She was horrified. See the look on her face? She talked about it all night and kept having to go back and check on Santa who, yep, was still stuck. We finally made her feel better by telling her she could get a rope from Dora the Explorer's backpack and help him out. Seriously, this is what has become of us.

We went around and did a few of the free crafties they had set up, including making reindeer dust (oatmeal and sprinkles) to sprinkle on the lawn so SANTA DOESN'T MISS OUR HOUSE. Another horrifying thought for a 2 year old- Santa might NOT come? Again, look at this grimace.

We completed the torture by making her stand in front of the Christmas decorated carousel and train- both had lines so long she had NO CHANCE of riding them, even if her parents weren't riddled with line-anxiety. See the look of joy on her face?

Great idea Mom & Dad! I only hope next year we can find something to terrify her 1/2 as much.

Happy Horrordays!

Christmas quotes thus far...

Me: V, what is Santa bringing you for Christmas?
V : Chocolate Cake! And babies.

Upon arrival home from a late afternoon shopping trip and seeing her Daddy come out of the house
V(singing): We got you a present...
T: You did?! Thanks
V: It'll make your back feel better!
Me: VIRGINIA! It's a secret.

Me: How old will you be on your birthday?
V: 2!
Me: How old do you think Mama is?
V: 5!
Me: Exactly, thanks!

Winter Wonderland

The Bruces are back from a fabulous mountain adventure with our favorite friends, the Coynes!

Steph masterminded the whole trip months ago with the goals of 1) having a relaxing weekend in the mountains 2) potentially seeing snow, and 3) forcing T to buy a Christmas tree more than 7 days in advance of Christmas Day.

All three goals were accomplished with gusto!

1)We stayed in a marvelous cabin in Floyd, VA

The kids played together non-stop. Here is James watering V in the bathtub and James and V playing with an early birthday present from the Coynes! There were hours of entertainment preparing pirate stew and other delicious nonsense dishes.

2) Saw snow, mostly in flurry form. (OK, you can't see it in this picture, but T is going for a walk in the snow AND wearing a blaze orange hat because the owners of the cabin warned us it was hunting season...I wasn't pushing my luck- I took a nap in my comfy bed.)

3) Hunted and murdered our own Christmas trees at Roll Out Farm in 24, yes 24, degree weather. We had the tots in their best eskimo attire...after 15 minutes on a windy mountain side, V announced her face was cold and she wanted to get back in the car. Smart kid. However, her parents forced her to have "fun" for a few more minutes while her Dad played mountain man.

Eskimos in love

She was at least rewarded with her first taste of hot apple cider. Mmm, mmm.

We love the mountains, we love Christmas and we love the Coynes. A perfect weekend combo.

No Turkey Day 2008

The Raleigh Bruces headed to Ashland to see the Virginia Bruces for Thanksgiving again this year.
V was very into the holiday this year

Grandma Ann outdid herself and cooked no less than 12 items including the ever-delicious TOFURKEY! V decided that she would eat for a change while at Grandmas and eat she did...lots and lots of mashed potatoes, tofurkey and mini pickles. That's a balanced meal right? Oh, and don't forget the desserts.

Other than eating there was also a lot of playing in the yard to do, which included pulling every single toy out of Paw Paw's garage.

After our tofurkey meal the Stanley family came over (T's aunt and uncle and first cousin Erin and her children Kadence and Myles). V was DELIGHTED to have some kids to hang out with.

She followed Kadence around everywhere, even insisting on sharing a chair with her. She even enjoyed a wrestling match on the couch.

Best cheap entertainment of the weekend? Putting skeleton keys into the 1940s doors at Grandmas! This kept V & Myles occupied for a long time (15 minutes = years in toddler time)

All in all, a great holiday weekend. Happy TOFURKEY Day to all, and to all a good night.