Dinosaur Eggs

I got this idea from my new Our Best Bites Cookbook. Jared LOVED it.

Directions:

1. Hard boil eggs and cool
2. Roll eggs on your counter to crack, but leave the shells intact
3. Soak in a cup of water with 8-10 drops of food coloring overnight
4. Enjoy the delight of your little boy

Gated Living

 Rosie has been doing a whole lot of this lately-

 Taking out all the tupperware/pots/canned goods so she can climb in the cupboards. It is totally adorable, but not so adorable I didn't mind cleaning it up several times a day. Not to mention, that she was making a habit of removing the silverware out of and climbing in the dishwasher too.

So, we've bought a gate. It is slightly problematic in that it limits Jared's ability to help, but it makes my days slightly easier!

Little Crafter

This guy wants stuff to do ("activities") all day long

We made snowflakes together

And stickers and coloring and gluing

And painting and shapes and tape

Bedtime Stories

Every night we read two books before the kids are put to bed for the night. Rosie can sit for maybe half a book, but she doesn't like the pace or order in which we read books. So she'll go and read on her own, while Jared and I read a book together.
Preliteracy: Check!

Siblings

My very favorite part about having two children is seeing their relationship develop. Jared is (nearly) always sweet and gentle with his little sister. And when they are playing together and Rosie starts to cry, he yells confirmation that he has already apologized (for the accidental snatching, pushing, or being in her face). He likes to feed her at meal times, which often sends them both into giggle fits. As soon as she wakes up, he runs to my room (his absence makes her shriek and sob) and then he come and tells me, "Rosie is crying and crying, Mommy. Come get her!" I occasionally find extra toys in her crib in the mornings, supplied by a watchful brother.
Rosie really adores her brother. She can nearly keep up with him and tries to do so. When they are playing in their room, Rosie closes the door. She offers him food that she is no longer using and pats his back during group hugs. Just a couple of days ago she was awake from some teething pain, so we got her up for some Tylenol and some comfort. She nuzzled into my chest for about two minutes and then she sat straight up with her hands out questioning, "Jer? Jer?" So I took her back to her room to see him sleeping and put her happily back to bed.

Christmas 2012

 We had a really awesome Christmas this year. I tried to group these into smaller posts, but it was not worth the headache. So here is some of the wonderful things that happened-

Father/Son time

(They are both engineers and they spent way too long quite a bit of time researching printers in every way you can imagine)

Groggy breakfasts

Joy!

Kids drawer in the kitchen

Bobae, my adorable niece

 Bonding

Jared eating seaweed (we learned a little bit of Korean too: ediwa, bopo, andae)

Naps! I forgot how much I love naps.

Christmas morning:

I'm not blinking; when I'm really happy my eyes almost shut!

It runs in the family

Rosie opened some food pouches as a gift, but when I tried to put them away (to be used at a more crucial moment) she just sobbed and sobbed. So I relented.

Tuckered out from opening presents

Look at that pile of paper behind Yanghee!

"Uncle Ben will give me the food I want!"

If one of them was playing the piano, they all wanted to play the piano.

Day after Christmas hike to Nojoqui falls (I had to look that spelling up)

Traveling success

 We've made it to and from California in one piece!

 This is us on our way to our lovely Christmas vacation. Both kids were so excited and did extremely well traveling. Lots of food and stickers and a few laptop movies did the trick. Seriously they were troopers. They were awarded with ice cream cones and baths when we got home because they were so excellent.

However, there will be no return trip picture because we looked a bit more, ahem, haggard from getting up at 1:30am to make our 6:00am flight in LA. (I regret some of my booking decisions)

And now our task is readjusting to fewer treats and getting back on our schedules and unpacking and  finding the right spots for all the new things Santa brought us this year!