Ephram's First Haircut

I took Ephram in for his first professional haircut during the week between Christmas and his birthday.  I had trimmed his hair a few times, but Andy and I didn't agree on what we wanted to do.  Finally, we decided to turn it over to someone who actually knows what they're doing.  We wanted to get his hair out of his eyes, but were not ready for him to have the short cropped cut of an older boy yet.

He needed the haircut badly!

Yes, he has a Happy Feet penguin and a train in his hands.  And yes, he brought them along to the haircut.  Everything is more fun if you have a couple of familiar things with you!

He was really excited when we left the house, but got nervous as I was pulling him out of the car.  Then we went inside and he saw all of the cool cars that he could sit on.  And then she put on Curious George for him to watch.  He now loves Curious George just as much as he loves Mickey Mouse.  We have the movie and have watched it before... but it was much better when it was at his special haircut!

Ephram sat quietly and let her spray and comb his hair.  We spray his hair every morning because it is wild, so he was used to having mist fly over him.

At some point he remembered that he was in a car and started honking the horn and spinning the wheel.  Even though his head was moving a lot, she was able to keep control of what she was doing.  It would have been a different story if I had the scissors in my hand!

All done!  Still long enough that he looks like my little, but growing, toddler.  Short enough that his back-of-the-head tangles were much more manageable.

Super cute and unwilling to get out of the car.

Finally, I told him we'd come back in a couple of months and that he could chose another car next time.  He ran up to the front where she was offering him stickers to chose.  He found all of his favorite Mickey Clubhouse friends in stickers and would have skipped out of the door if he knew how.

First haircut was a big success.  This kid is so even tempered he amazes me!  I was pretty nervous going into the experience, but it didn't phase him at all.  In fact, he was definitely proud to be a big boy that goes and gets his haircut just like his big brother.

Christmas Night 2011

We had a nice, relaxing Christmas day... full of food and playtime.  Some of our friends invited us to their house for Christmas night for an Untalent Show.  It was the first Untalent Show I had ever been too... and it was pretty fun!

The sign-up board was full of lots of acts... mostly the kids.  Charlie was really excited to put his name up.  Ephram signed up to go second.  Right after Kacin and Kyler's light saber duel in the dark.

Ephram was going to sing a Christmas carol in the Merry-Okee mike for everyone.  At home he did it all day, usually marching and dancing as he went.  However, on Christmas night a little bit of stage fright overtook him.  He was still really cute!

Then Charlotte did some dancing for everyone.

Next we had some joke telling.  Kids jokes are mostly funny because they are so nonsensical.  The audience - also mostly children - was in an uproar over this one.

Charlie performed too.  Of everything he could do, he wanted to sing a Christmas song.  So I played the piano for him to sing.  Andy was balancing Ephram, so we have no pictures of it.

Ephram's little friend Judah shared his talent - his ability to say "Christmas Lights".

There were lots of other acts too.  I got roped into doing a lip sync of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" with the other three moms there.  I was the reindeer.  Yep, no pictures of that.  (Too bad.)

Ephram was so happy to see Judah.  He goes over to Judah's house a few times a week while I work, and Judah is his best friend right now.  Ephram had been sick, and then we'd kept him home for the week of Christmas - so it had been two weeks since they'd seen each other.  Ephram scooted a chair as close as he could to Judah.  I think he would have sat in Judah's lap if he could.  They sat and watched the talent show together.  (While sharing food, clapping, and grabbing toys out of each other's hands.)

After the acts were done, the kids ran around and played for quite some time.  There were rocket balloons at one point.  I think chasing those things was the highlight of Ephram's entire day.

All in all, it was a great Christmas!  We missed our extended family, but now that we have our own growing family it didn't seem lonely to be far away.  We hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday!

Christmas Day 2011 - Towers of Presents

The kids had just a few presents this year.

One of the benefits of having lots of relatives...

Ephram was still very excited about his tent.  He grabbed his first present and ran into the tent to open it. After that he eventually worked his way back out when the wrapping paper got in the way of his progress.  He got a lot of very neat toys.  His favorites that day included a little bear in a suitcase from his cousins in Belgium and his very own tablet to use.  He was also very excited about the big "Santa bag" he got from his Grandpa Kovar.  It contained a bowling set that he has come to love.

Charlie was busy decorating himself as he opened his presents this year.  The boy can rip paper really fast, but be super careful with all of the bows.  My favorite part of Charlie's present opening was when he unwrapped a postage box that I had put a pair of Phineas and Ferb slippers in.  (I use whatever boxes are closest to me when wrapping.)  Charlie said, "Wow!  My own shipping box!"  And tossed it aside to grab the next present, without looking inside.  It took us a couple more presents to get him to open the box, and then he was very excited about the slippers.  He was also excited about a tracing desk, a few sets of legos he received and a Star Wars backpack from his cousins in Belgium.

Nope, there are no pictures of me and Andy.  We decided to focus the camera on the kids this year.  :)  Andy did give me a very fun present though... a new iPad, which I have been busily enjoying ever since!

Christmas Day 2011 - Santa's Gifts

It was so much fun watching the boys find their Santa gifts this year.

Especially Ephram, who actually built up excitement around Santa over the course of the month.

And still tells me that his tent came from Santa.

I think the pictures speak for themselves...

Christmas Eve 2011

We had a very relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Eve.

I put our dinner in the crock pot early in the day... a tri tip roast, potatoes and carrots.  Then we focused on playing with the boys.  Eventually, they sat down to watch some last Christmas movies before the season ended.  I love this shot of them watching The Santa Clause 2.

Soon enough, it was time for dinner.  The boys both helped me set the table in their own ways.  I think Charlie's favorite part was figuring out where to put the place cards.

Dinner was super good.  For the record, I think I have found my new Christmas Eve tradition.  It was by far the easiest holiday dinner I have ever made... and it ranked up there with the best!

Next it was time for us to spread the reindeer food that Charlie got at school.  He put it out on the lawn where we thought the reindeer would pass by with Santa's sleigh.

Then we came back inside and let the boys do a gingerbread house.  We had planned to do it a week earlier, but since both of the boys came down with colds, it ended up being delayed a bit.  They had a lot of fun doing it!

After the gingerbread house, we went into the living room to sit around the tree.  We sang a couple of carols and talked about the meaning of Christmas.  Then it was time for everyone to open one present for Christmas Eve.  Charlie and Ephram both had pajamas.  I had a pair of fuzzy slippers and Andy got new pajamas too.  Then we went back to the table for bread pudding and chocolate mint cake.  The kids got their pajamas on, and the next half hour consisted of me chasing them around to try to get a picture of them in their cute new jammies.  They were super hyped up... and this is the best I could do!

We had been tracking Santa for most of the day, and showed Charlie that he was fast closing in on North America.  Charlie agreed to go to bed really quickly.  We told him that if children were awake when Santa comes, he just goes to the next house.  He didn't argue with us!  Ephram also went down pretty easily.

Andy and I cleaned up from our festivities and reminisced about Christmases long past.  Before we knew it, Santa's drop was complete and I took a couple pictures of the boys' loot before they got hold of it.

Santa also left some things for Mom and Dad.

All in all, our tree was quite loaded for a family of 4 and a half...  (I did get a present for the baby, I had to have something to remember she was coming.  I didn't know she was a girl yet, but I spent a lot of time this Christmas smiling as I thought of the one to come next year.)

Andy and I went to bed to catch some sleep before the boys woke up the next morning.  It was truly a great Christmas Eve!