A Very Merry Christmas

Better late than never! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Christmas Eve dinner at our house with the Wagners, Daleys and Bears followed by our annual Poker Game. Unfortunately, Santa's luck was not with the Wagners this year!!!

Nick still didn't quite grasp the concept of Santa this year. Despite the Santa build-up on Christmas Eve his first question when he came into our room on Christmas morning was the same question he asks every other old morning..."Mommy, can we go downstairs and eat breakfast?" He did get excited when we reminded him that Santa came the night before but he wouldn't go downstairs until we assured him that Santa was NOT down there!!! Too cute. He opened all of this presents very carefully so it took a while and was nice and relaxing. He was certainly very excited to get his coveted "kid's scissors" but his most favorite present of the day? The bag of Swedish Fish in his stocking!!! Chelsea loved to rip the wrapping paper and take every thing that Nick opened out of his hands as soon as it was unwrapped. She hasn't "cooked" anything in her Dora the Explorer kitchen yet but she loves pressing the buttons to hear the noises and Dora talking.

Then it was on to Uncle Pete and Auntie Tara's for Christmas dinner and more presents! We had lots of fun and feel very blessed to have two healthy, beautiful children and wonderful family and friends. Happy New Year to all!!!!

Big kiss for Cabbage Patch Kid from Nan & Grampy

Christmas kiss!!

It's slinky, it's slinky, oh what a wonderful toy!

Preppy boy

Daddy and his princess

Great Uncle Abbott (he's 95 yrs old!), Dad, Auntie Patty, Auntie Jenny and Mom

Emma & Chelsea

Blizzard 2009

It will be a white Christmas in these parts!!! Not sure about the final measurement but it was a least a foot. Nick would have stayed out all day long...Chelsea, not so much. She lasted about 10 minutes but was loving it while she was out there. I think the wind in the face finally got to her (Mommy didn't mind having to go in though!)

Don't worry! He didn't come anywhere's near crashing into my car!!! (there was concern when I posted these pics on Facebook!)

"Saturday"

In our world (well, Nick's world anyways) "Saturday" means...yesterday, last week, last month, last year...pretty much any day in the past that he is referring to. Recent examples:

"Elmo truck worked on Saturday, but it doesn't work now." (He said this today but Elmo truck broke a couple of days ago).

"Remember on Saturday when I knocked you over at Linda's?" (He said this yesterday, but it happened about a year and a half ago).

Guess we'd better start working on the days of the week!

Christmas Party and Cousins Sleepover!

Two weekends ago we had the Children's Christmas Party at Ryan's work. We took Emma and Drew with us and then they slept over that night. Everyone had a blast!!! The kids took a little while to settle down to sleep when it came time but all in all the first sleepover was a great success! It was Drew's first sleepover anywhere too so he was very brave. They also had a great time together at the party. Face-painting, coloring, sweets, a magic show and SANTA!!! This was the first year that Nick sat with Santa and didn't pitch a fit. He made sure that Santa knew what he wants for Christmas....drum roll please....KID'S SCISSORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, that's pretty much all we can get out of him. I shouldn't complain because this is probably the last year that his little mind won't be overcome by commercials and the like trying to pursuade him to ask for every toy in the world. Chelsea did not fare so well with Santa. She was OK on the approach and lasted a full 3 seconds on the lap before the face contorted and the wail escaped. We have pictures but they were taken by the party photographer so we only have them in print form and I am being lazy right now and don't want to scan them. Maybe some other time. We have other pics from the fun-filled day though...

Em singing about her awesome play-doh burger and fries

Drew playing with Chelsea (and Elmo). Chelsea LOVES her big cousin.

Mesmerized by Rudolph

Ghetto snow gear. They INSITED on going outside but we weren't expecting the snow so Em & Drew hadn't brought their gear. So Auntie Chi Chi went to great lengths to gather up everthing we had and we threw on whatever we could find...notice the plastic bags tied around their feet to protect Drew's sneakers and Em's Uggz. And after all that, they wanted to come in after being outside for 15 whole minutes!!!!!

Nick, the magician's assistant. He's a little crowd shy but he turns it on towards the beginning with his big, toothy smile.

Big Doins'

There has been lots going on in the Wagner house since the last update...just no time to blog! Let's see...

1) Nick is potty trained!!!! We thought that we were going to be watching him have his first dance as a groom and still be wearing a diaper. Nope! He decided one day that he was ready and that was that. The magazine articles and other parents were right...they will do it when they are good and ready. So it's been about 2.5 weeks and there has been maybe one accident. He wakes up dry 95% of the time and we don't even have to ask him if he has to go. It's FANTASTIC!!!! We are so proud of him. Although telling him after he goes (every single time) is getting a little old.

2) Chelsea had her first x-ray (not cool). She fell down the stairs on the day before my birthday and hurt her leg. It was one of those, "I am running up the stairs for one minute and the kids are totally engrossed so they will be fine" moments. Guess what? NOT FINE!!!!!!! I had visions of my beautiful baby girl in a cast and DSS taking my children from me for being a negligent mother. Even the doctor said something to the effect, "Little rascals, you take your eyes off of them for one second..." Made me feel slightly (very slightly) better. Thankfully no broken bones, just a strain.

3) Chelsea took her first steps. This was about 2 days before the leg injury which set her back a little bit but it's fun nevertheless. She also will stand up for what seems like hours (probably only a few minutes though) and just stand there with a sneaky little look on her face, taunting us, "i know you want me to walk but I am not going to because I am a devil child!"

4) A visit from one of my BFFs, Brooke, and her beautiful and talented daughter Kate!!! They were in from CA on their annual Thanksgiving visit and we managed to get together for a little while during their whirlwind visit. (They were supposed to come over for an extended, relaxing visit on the day Chelsea fell so unfortunately that got cancelled). The kids had fun playing and the mommys had fun chatting!

5) Chelsea has expanded her vocab. She's added a few words lately after not adding any for a while. She has said "mama", "dada", and "kitty" for a while and now we are hearing..."all done", "ball", "baby", "wawa" (for dog) "papa", I think there are more but I can't think of them right now. She has also said some form of "brother" for a while but that comes and goes. She can also point to her nose and her belly. It is so fun to see her doing new things and acting like a little person.

6) Nick has become a pretty decent photographer! He takes VERY random pictures but the ones he takes of people and objects on purpose actually come out really good.

Pictures of the various events below (except for the leg injury, we didn't bust out the camera for obvious reasons):

The Proud Potty Goer. Still has some trouble getting the legs in the right holes!!

Tommy's always gotta be all up in everybody's business!

Bubba Girl back in action, climbing all over everything

Playing (posing) with Kate. After she left Nick said, "I had so fun with Kate. She is a really great dancer." He always leaves out the word "much" when he says, "so much fun". Random.

A couple of Nick's masterpieces!

Chelsea saying "kitty" and making her cute little scrunched up face

Party!

We had Chelsea's birthday bash this past Saturday and everyone had a great time...except for Chelsea!!! It was like deja vu of Nick's first birthday party...the guest of honor only wanting to be with Mommy the whole time and crying during the singing of Happy Birthday! I think she may have been a little bit better than Nick seeing as how she sat with Uncle Pete for a good 10 minutes and another 10 with Nana. WOW! 20 whole minutes for Mommy to perform her hostess duties without a (heavy) one-year old on her hip. Oh well, like I said before, at least everyone else had a good time! Thank you everyone for coming and for all of Chelsea's wonderful presents, she is a very lucky girl to be loved by so many! **And a special shout out to Ryan for making all of the delicious food...we love you Super Daddy!!!!














This is Chelsea's lovey blanket "giraffe" (super clever name, we know) that she hardly puts down for a minute as you can tell from the other pictures. There was quite a fit thrown when Nana was taking pictures of it with the cake. You can hardly tell which one is the cake, can you??!!!









See Chelsea, everyone below is having fun...!!!














































She did bust out a few smiles when she opened some gifts. Here she is VERY interested in her very first Cabbage Patch Kid (who has hair extensions!) Although after the initial interest, I think that Mommy has had more fun playing with the doll and doing her hair than Chelsea has!

Happy 1st Birthday Chelsea Pamela!

The big ONE today!!! You bring so much laughter and love to our lives bubba girl! We love you more than can be expressed in words. We can't wait to see what the next year brings with our feisty little girl pup!





We sort of had a regular day except we went to Target so Nick could pick out a gift for his little sister. Nana & Papa came over for dinner and we sang and had cake and presents. We also skyped with Nan and Chelsea "opened" her gift from Nan & Grampy over the webcam. The big celebration is on Saturday!!!

"Jungle Junction" (new fave show) and snack after naps

Stay tuned for a more creative cake coming on Saturday

Thanks Nan & Grampy for my dolly carriage! (The Birthday Girl shirt got deuced today! Gotta get it in the wash quick because there will be a repeat wearing for the party this weekend.)

Happy Halloween!

Buzz and Butterfly were the first ones to hit the houses in our neighborhood! It was really our first Halloween with kids because Nick has refused to put on his costume the past two years. He was an old pro by the end of the night though. We kept telling Nick all day that he had to say "Trick-o-Treat" when he went to people's houses, but after he said it and got his candy he'd stare up at the people not really knowing what to do and we'd say, "ok, now what do you say?" (meaning thank you) and he'd say either, "it's Halloween!" or "Trick-o-Treat" again. It was a riot. He was also telling everyone, "My bucket is not filled to the top yet." It was a great way to get them to give him an extra piece! Worked like a charm every time. It's not like he knew he was manipulating them but Mommy and Daddy were loving it every time an extra Snickers or Reese's Peanut Butter Cup went into the Elmo Easter Basket because those are the ones we get to eat since Nick is allergic to peanuts!!!! Chelsea also had her first piece of candy tonight...a pink Laffy Taffy...she loved every last sticky suck!

(Sorry, this video is super short and not so great but Ryan was getting antsy because Chelsea was a little fussy and he wanted to get going and cut me off from taping!!)

Children vs. Wild

This was another actual fall day...we were lucky enough to get one on Tuesday and Thursday last week, the two days that I work from home. So again, taking full advantage, we headed out into the wilds of Easton. Nick actually thinks that we might see lions in the woods! That is the first animal he always mentions when he talks about what we might see. Too cute.

And we're off!