Frozen Saturday at Home

Opa's power is out from the big ice storm last week. He and his dog (Baasje) spent the day with Gerrit and Amparo. Brenda was out most of the day at wedding meetings and getting a much needed break....So I took some pictures - of us hanging out on this frozen Saturday.

Power Out... Again

My dad came over last night to stay until his power returns. He's in the upstairs suite. He lost his power back in September with the windstorm and now again with the ice storm. I think everybody is considering a generator at this point...
Gerrit and Baasje are becoming fast buddies. They follow each other around everywhere and sometimes Baasje even tackles Gerrit a little. And he laughs and laughs...


















*It turns out they have matching winter hats*

Our Snow Day

We were one of the lucky ones to have our power today, most of our family, not so much. But since we had a warm house to return too, we ventured outside. We only played for a few minutes... Gerrit ended up falling in some icy water. And the funny thing was, he was so so cold, but he still didn't want to come in.

Peek-a-Boo

her new favorite...

Vent

First thing, after breakfast, Gerrit sits on this vent... every morning. He plays there for 15 to 20 minutes and then I guess he figures he's warm enough to start the day and off he goes.

Elmo with Sissy

Bathtime

I'm pretty

This morning Brian asked Gerrit who's pretty. To which he replied, "I'm pretty".

Pull ups

Amparo pulled up today! ... to a standing position!!
Of course I missed it. She was sitting on the floor, I turned around, and when I turned back around she was standing.

Gerrit, whenever he needs my help, will say "HELP" and he says it as if he was a damsel in distress. And I mean, he says it for EVERYTHING... if he's sick and wants to be cuddled, he says it, if his train track comes apart, he says it... if he can't reach his milk in the refrigerator, he says it. It's really a little ridiculous and a little funny too.

14 months today

New Toothbrush

Amparo got her first toothbrush... it's pink with little ladybugs. And boy did we brush those four little teeth this morning.

Happy Birthday Mommie!

Today would have been her 60th...

*She's the cute one on the right.

Oh my goodness...

it's been a while!

Happy New Year...
Brian and I stayed home for the festivities... actually we went to bed before midnight. We know how the whole ball drop thing ends...

So for the past few days Amparo has been mainly crawling on all fours (except when she really wants to go fast).
Gerrit has gotten into a super BAD habit of calling Brian, Brian. So when he does, I tell him not to and so he calls him "new daddy" (long story on how that started). But can you imagine the looks I get when we're out and he does that. Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing.

Happy Birthday Brian!!

Today Brian turns *gulp* 29!

I think it must've been the warmest it's ever been on his birthday this year. Brian and Gerrit wore shorts all day... absolutely crazy. We had family over for lunch to celebrate. And for dessert we had a pumpkin cheesecake... I just love making dessert!

Happy birthday my sweet!

Our Christmas

Monday

the week in a nutshell

So it's been a pretty busy week.

Last Friday was the Stewart Christmas Party. It was at L&N Wine Bar and was super fun. I think Rachel and I were the only ones not wearing a pant suit... I don't know what it is about pant suits lately, they're just funny.
Gerrit and Amparo spent the night at Nellie and Bobby's. On Saturday Gerrit made a craft with his aunt Nellie... a paper wreath, using Gerrit's hands as a stencil. It's very cute and is currently residing on our refrigerator. And Gerrit is so proud.
Saturday night, Britton and Kristin watched the kids while Brian and I got to grab a bite to eat at Cafe LuLu's. I had the potato pizza (oh my goodness, so good! even the next day) and Brian had the hummus (well, we shared both).
















Monday we headed over to Erin's house for a sugar cookie baking extravaganza. And it was!















We finshed our baking on Tuesday night and met up at the store for some more supplies on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I took a loooong nap. Who knew baking could be so exhausting.

Emmy shared her "blanket" with a one very tired miss Amparo.















Thursday the kids went to Brian's parents. Of course they went to the Ark (Gerrit requests it often) and of course Gerrit attached himself to one of the other mothers. I went to my dad's to help get ready for Christmas. Oh, and we took the Volvo to get worked on in the morning and then picked it up in the evening. And when we got home we decorated those Christmas cookies.

















Today Gerrit helped me make some hot chocolate mix...





















Other news this week...
Amparo no longer takes an afternoon nap. She hasn't all week. She's a big girl now. And Gerrit turning into a big boy too. He climbed in to bed with me one morning and pulled the covers on himself... such a big boy thing to do. He says things like "just one" and "for just a minute" now.
Oh, and the weather has been pretty crazy... from sleet to warm temps, I think we've had it all this week.
Whenever Amparo hears a dog bark, she gets super excited and barks back.
Have I said how much I love this time of year? I Love it all, but boy do I LOVE getting the Christmas cards. I look forward to seeing the mailman for most of December. Christmas cards make me happy.

Little Sickly

Amparo, Gerrit, and I have been sick for the past 5 or 6 days now, congestion, cough and all that fun stuff. Well 2 days ago Amparo got a fever. We took her in for a chest x-ray yesterday, no pneumonia. She has been so lethargic, sleeping most of yesterday, and unable sit up on her own. Today she's doing a lot better. She's playing some and eating and drinking. To help bring down her fever and to get liquids in her, I gave her a popcicle for lunch (she had that and toast... much better than yesterday).

Then Gerrit wanted one too...

After he was finished with his, he helped Amparo...

Christmas Fun

Today we took photos for our Christmas card...

Amparo

Today someone was asking what Amparo's name is and I told them then started to spell it. All I got out was A-M-P and then he finished, A-R-O. Well, I was pretty shocked. He said he had known an Amparo and, being a fairly small town, I thought maybe he had met my mom before. Then he said a cardiac surgeon out in California was named Amparo. That's something you don't hear everyday...

Surprise Party

Today Gerrit went over to his grandparents and Brian, Amparo, and I went to Mrs. Atkins surprise birthday party. And I think she was surprised (hopefully she'll get that lasagna she was expecting on the 3rd). It's was fun to see the Atkins family again. We've known them for 22 years and they moved on Whitehall 19/ 20 years ago (they've since moved... and we miss them being right across the street, but they're still close). I was in the 3rd grade and Megan was just a baby... My dad and Mrs. Atkins used to take turns carpooling the kids. My dad recently told me that he loved listening to our gradeschool conversations. I guess that's why he was so quite in the front seat... he was just listening. Goodness knows what absolutely important things we were talking about. I just can't believe we're all grown up now, but here we are...

Of course everyone wanted to know where Gerrit was, but it was nice to be able to sit and have a converstation without worring what trouble he might be getting in to.

Meanwhile, at nana's, Gerrit went to Sunday School at Southeast. He had a good time playing with the other kids. He even brought home a craft...

Thanksgiving Part 2

I finished the tree this morning and I plugged it in to see all it's glory and you know what Gerrit said... he said, "ooooh, pretty". That made stringing up all those lights and hanging those ornaments all worth it.

At about 2, Dawn picked me up and we headed over to my dad's house. Nellie soon followed. Thanksgivings are so different for me now than they used to be... they're so much more work. I used watch the parade or some Christmas movies on tv while my mom cooked in the kitchen. I did have vacuum duty, but really, let's face it, that is a pretty light job. I never realized all the hard work my mom did to put together such a beautiful and tasty Thanksgiving dinner. And you know, there was only one of her... there's 3 of us. Well, we did it! Oh I just have to put a recipe up here for the stuffing we made. So VERY yummy...

Oh, and as it runs out, my dad and Gerrit were wearing matching shirts... completely by accident.

Thanksgiving Part 1

Well a lot happened today. It's Thanksgiving, so that alone makes it a pretty big day...

This morning I decided to give Amparo a little trim. It was her first one. (Gerrit didn't get his hair cut until he was 18 months). I just cut a little off the back, but I think it makes a difference. Just don't look too closely, I failed cutting with scissors when I was in kindergarten.


Today was Thanksgiving with the Brooks'. We had a good time seeing Kate.... it seems like it's been so long. At this time next year, we'll have another little one added to the bunch. (nope, not from me... Kate's going to be the big sister this time). Don Juan Gerrit strikes again. He set his sites on Karen today and poor her... Gerrit wanted to sit in her lap and be held. He was definitly giving her the lovey eyes.




































































When we got back home, Gerrit and I put up the tree. And that's as far as we got... maybe we'll get to all that other stuff on Saturday.