New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve - amateur night. I've been up all hours of the night for the past 8 months. If I can sleep right through midnight tonight, I'll be happy.

2011 was pretty good to us. It's brought us right to this point.
2012 holds a lot of firsts. Among them, first birthdays and first school days.

We're spending the weekend de-Christmasing the house and finding new homes for all the new toys that Santa brought. Tonight will pass without a party, without any countdowns. I'll give Noah and Matthew a new year's kiss somewhere around 7PM after bath time. I'll head up to bed around 9, Matt will fall asleep in the living room, then stumble into bed somewhere after midnight. A typical crazy Saturday night at the Ish house. Sunday morning will come like any other. And that's okay by me.

Whatever you have planned for tonight, stay safe. We'll see you next year!

Happy 2012

Wordless Wednesday: 2011 In Pictures

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Christmas Vacation

Our short Christmas vacation started with a visit to good old Uncle Dickey. Matthew's face courtesy of being taken away from my iPhone and forced into taking a nice family picture.
After the blur that was Christmas Eve, Christmas morning started out bright and early. Matthew went right for his humongous stocking.
Noah wanted only to escape the confines of the baby gate.
And even though he had his own piles of gifts to open...
...he insisted on getting all up in his brother's business. Once we were able to distract Noah, Matthew was able to open some of his gifts in peace.
And when everything was unwrapped, everyone seemed happy with their haul.
After taking showers and getting dressed, there was time for a quick game of Hungry Hungry Hippo.
Then it was off to grandma's house, where apparently Santa also made a stop.
Matthew made out quite well.
As did Noah Bear.
Of course there was still time for some iPhone fun (Matt is quite the multi-tasker).
And we end this post with yet another forced family picture.
Now it's back to work, back to our "normal" routine. Bah humbug!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Today is our last day with Snickers (our Elf on the Shelf). Tonight he heads back to the North Pole and makes way for Santa to visit our house. If we remember, we'll set out cookies for the big guy. Maybe a carrot for Rudolph.

I'll be back next week with many many many pictures, you can bet on that.

In the meantime, have a happy holiday - whatever you celebrate!

Sharing is Caring

Oh, hi mom. I'll be right over.
Hey, what's Matthew doing?
Interesting...so this is the famous iPad I've been hearing about.
Hey bro, can I try it out?
No, well I'll just bust through and do what I want anyway.
That's where the pictures end. The rest of the story goes something like this...

And then Matthew started to yell at Noah for touching the iPad, Noah threw a fit because I took him away from the iPad, and I decided that it was bath time and then I put them in bed and used the iPad myself.

The iEnd.

Wordless Wednesday: Carousel Fun

A Christmas Story

In a few days Matt and I will get a break from the rat race for four glorious days. No extended Christmas vacation this year (we took our time off in April when a certain 8-month-old was born). So, we're going to cram all the holiday fun we can into those four days! Of course, that's not to say we haven't had a lot of holiday fun already.

Our house has been decorated since Thanksgiving weekend. Santa took his rightful spot at the front door as usual. Ticking down the calendar to the big day.
I cluttered my kitchen window with a bunch of little nick-knacks.
Even our Toy Story calendar is looking festive this month.
I love our new advent calendar (and I'm so glad I got a hanging organizer for the kitchen - it's the perfect hanging spot!).
Of course I have all my random wreaths out.
And our holiday card collector is filling up nicely.
Stockings are hung. Some new additions to the mantle this year - a lighted white tree landscape from Ikea and Snickers (our Elf).
Our snowmen are guarding our stairs (as Noah has now taken interest in stairs, their job is harder this year).
And our railings give off the nicest glow at night.
Not too shabby during the day either.
Our tree is toddler decorated with a dash of mommy-moved-a-bunch-of-stuff.
And to complete our decorating, this weekend we embarked on another tradition (well, year 2 anyways) - making a Gingerbread House. Noah took his seat as supervisor.
Matthew got in the spirit by donning his latest hat.
Matt tried to explain the process to Matthew. Matthew could not have cared less.
He just wanted to get started.
And decorate with all the little candies. And eat a bunch of all the little candies.
As the bowls of candy were emptied I noticed the house wasn't exactly full.
But he had fun, so I can't complain.
And if our house is a little light on candy, so what! It still looks darn good.
If you want to check out some other holiday decorating posts, I've linked up with The Inspired Room's Christmas Home Tour this year.