The weekend
before Christmas, we gathered at Papa John and Nana Kerry's house to celebrate FIXMAS 2009!
The snow started falling shortly after we got to their house Friday night and when we woke up on FIXMAS morning this cardinal was already playing around in several snowy inches of a winter wonderland.
Rock's grandparents (I won't say which ones 'cause I don't want to get anyone in trouble) gave him five jellybeans and a truffle to start his Fixmas morning so he was a little hyper. He wrote a song called "We Are All Together" that he sang over and over. The words are "We are all togeth-er! We are all together-er!"
After we opened our stockings and ate a DELICIOUS Fixmas brunch we opened our gifts. Rock was very meticulous in unwrapping his loot. No crazy tearing for this kid.
Aunt Susi showing off her new camera strap (
that I made her).
You can tell she's showing it off and not really using her camera because the lens cap is on.
Uncle Jason's wrapping paper was made by me and Rock. Rock drew a lot of zigzags (his favorite thing to draw) while I drew everything he dictated for me to draw. This included a train, a Christmas tree, holly, ornaments, candy canes, a long squiggly candy cane (top right corner above)...
Gingerbread people, a fish or two, a shark that he immediately told me was not a shark 'cause I didn't draw it right, a blue ballerina, etc. etc.
One of the many books we gave Rock that I bought with PBK's Story Hour discounts.
Helping Auntie H.
One of Rock's favorite gifts was a "Struction Worker" outfit from Uncle Jason and Auntie H. Appreciate how poorly the hat fits on his head!
Fix and I asked for money for our London trip (more on that in a future post). While this could have been a boring one check gift, Aunt Susi and Uncle Jason came up with many creative ways to shower us with green. Appreciate the money necklace -- there were matching earrings for me to wear!
After everything was unwrapped the big kids put together Rock's new Playmobil farm.
Then everyone but Kerry and the big pregnant lady (me) went out to play in the freezing cold snow that was
still falling. Rock didn't last long in the cold so he came back inside and we took a nap while everyone else walked to Starbucks.
Jason and Auntie H enjoying the cold.
That night Jason performed several surgeries and a few dental procedures (all patient requested) on Rock.
Then we put him to bed and the non-pregnant adults enjoyed a little cold champagne. Yep that glass is sitting on a pile of snow.
All in all, we had a wonderful day together. Thank you to Kerry and John and Susi for hosting a fabulous FIXMAS 2009... and for letting us stay over a second night when we were snowed in!
p.s. Yes, that tape measurer is showing 23.75 inches of snow! Crazy cool!
Here are Noel and Amy! They got married on December 22nd and we were lucky enough to get to an invitation! And a babysitter - thanks Juju and Zuni!
Okay so that's not really the bride and the groom but wasn't their cake beautiful?!
Here's the real couple enjoying the cake. They did a lot of other things at their wedding besides eat cake but I didn't take any good pictures of those things. So this is all you get! Congratulations Noel and Amy! May God bless you richly!
The weekend before Christmas, we gathered at Papa John and Nana Kerry's house to celebrate FIXMAS 2009!
The snow started falling shortly after we got to their house Friday night and when we woke up on FIXMAS morning this cardinal was already playing around in several snowy inches of a winter wonderland.
Rock's grandparents (I won't say which ones 'cause I don't want to get anyone in trouble) gave him five jellybeans and a truffle to start his Fixmas morning so he was a little hyper. He wrote a song called "We Are All Together" that he sang over and over. The words are "We are all togeth-er! We are all together-er!"
After we opened our stockings and ate a DELICIOUS Fixmas brunch we opened our gifts. Rock was very meticulous in unwrapping his loot. No crazy tearing for this kid.
Uncle Jason's wrapping paper was made by me and Rock. Rock drew a lot of zigzags (his favorite thing to draw) while I drew everything he dictated for me to draw. This included a train, a Christmas tree, holly, ornaments, candy canes, a long squiggly candy cane (top right corner above)...
Gingerbread people, a fish or two, a shark that he immediately told me was not a shark 'cause I didn't draw it right, a blue ballerina, etc. etc.
One of the many books we gave Rock that I bought with PBK's Story Hour discounts.
Helping Auntie H.
One of Rock's favorite gifts was a "Struction Worker" outfit from Uncle Jason and Auntie H. Appreciate how poorly the hat fits on his head!
Fix and I asked for money for our London trip (more on that in a future post). While this could have been a boring one check gift, Aunt Susi and Uncle Jason came up with many creative ways to shower us with green. Appreciate the money necklace -- there were matching earrings for me to wear!
After everything was unwrapped the big kids put together Rock's new Playmobil farm.
Then everyone but Kerry and the big pregnant lady (me) went out to play in the freezing cold snow that was still falling. Rock didn't last long in the cold so he came back inside and we took a nap while everyone else walked to Starbucks.
Jason and Auntie H enjoying the cold.
That night Jason performed several surgeries and a few dental procedures (all patient requested) on Rock.
Then we put him to bed and the non-pregnant adults enjoyed a little cold champagne. Yep that glass is sitting on a pile of snow.
All in all, we had a wonderful day together. Thank you to Kerry and John and Susi for hosting a fabulous FIXMAS 2009... and for letting us stay over a second night when we were snowed in!
I found them in the CHEAP EATS section of the Washington Post and we HIGHLY recommend their yummy $5 Slice and Pint Happy Hour. Of course only one of us participated in the pint part.
We passed the "very big crayon" (as Rock called it) on our way down to the tree.
We also passed the Old Executive Office Building -- one of my architectural favorites!
Finally we were at the tree! Could someone please tell me what that weird lump is? It seems to keep growing every year.
Rock watched the trains while Fix and I carried on our tradition of judging the little trees. Each State and U.S. Territory is represented by a tree and that state/territory makes their own ornaments to decorate it. Nebraska won by a landslide.
Like last year, we paused at Santa's Workshop so we could get out of the cold night air for a little bit.
Marylanders in front of the Maryland tree.
Merry Christmas!
Rock got a tattoo.
Now all he needs to do is learn how to flex and look really tough.
But he's much better at looking super cute.
Repeating our outing from last year, we've made an official Christmas tradition with Rock's preschool buddies from church. After a yummy breakfast at Lynn's house...
We all headed to Homestead Gardens to check out the trains.
And once again, the trains were cool enough to warrant a bunch of pointing...
And staring.
I've heard that some kids are climbers and some aren't. Can you tell which one Rock is?
I love seeing all the beautifully decorated Christmas trees at Homestead. The kids were partial to the one decorated in dogs.
Anna and Rock. So cute I can't stand it.
Not only did he thoroughly clean the house while I laid around on the couch trying to get over my cold, he also came up with a genius idea for how to keep Rock still while he gets a haircut.
An Elmo video. I never even saw him blink.
After Juju's birthday dinner at Jerry's Seafood, our tummies were full of Crab Bomb deliciousness and things got quite silly.
