More Merry Christmas and...

That's what Xavi said everytime there were more presents for him to open - "More Merry Christmas" and this year there was a lot of Merry Christmas. Sorry, no pictures of opening presents in NY. It was all a blur. I can't say it was because of the flight, because the flight out was fantastic. Everyone (all 4 people on the plane) thought Xavi was a perfect toddler...even when he sang Old MacDonald had a Farm and Jingle Bells at the top of his lungs as we landed. They thought it was cute. Trip back, different story. No nap, 2.5 hour delay ON the plane and landing after his bedtime didn't help. Everything else about the trip was fantastic though. I think there are no pictures of the presents because we were excited to hang out with oma and gramps, meet new people and play in lots of snow. By the way, this is REAL sledding...sort of. More real than what we have in the flat midwest, but not real by adult standards. When Xavi is a little older he can go on the crazy scary hill I was dragged out to when I first came to the adirondacks.

Here is the start of some complaining about going back up the hill or getting his mittens wet from touching the snow...this tirade ended in a song. I thought it was hilarious. Here are the new people we met. Cousin Putu (AKA Elena) from Bali by way of CT these days. This is her first year at Wesleyan and since home is so far away we get her for christmas! Xavi loved her on day one. Until his cousin Connor arrived!
This was buddy the rest of the time. They were partners in crime and had a great time together.
Yes, he is saying cheese.

We had a surprise baby shower during our visit so the baby got lots of presents too. Lots of pink clothes so she won't always be seen in Xavi's blue clothes. 8 weeks and counting until we meet this little girl.

Oh...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chicago Christmas

First we opened gifts at home and then headed to Casa Lopez to see what santa brought. Boy did Santa (AKA the Lopez family) deliver.

Uncle Joey was home from college and tia Gris was home from Indiana.

We also made tamales -yummy!

Then there was the train, which was a HUGE hit. I'm not sure who liked it more...the big kids or the little one? The baby girls also got a gift - matching outfits to come home from the hospital in, one in pink and one in purple. Actually, the train and the gifts for the girls came from the same aunt (Gris).

The other girl is my sister's baby - my sister is due 4 weeks after us!

More X-mas prep

We had a big snow fall this weekend, more than we're used to prior to x-mas. Unfortunately, we left Xavi's snow pants at school! So we used last winter's snow suit. Thank goodness for Gap sizes running a bit big and mom's who buy a size larger (it was 18-24 mo). It fit snug and rode up his legs when he sat down, but it did the trick. We'll have to remember to bring the pants home on weekends and long breaks.

At first he was a bit cautious...Once he decided it was ok, he dove in. Literally. So we decied it was time to sled! If you can call it that...his dad said.

I don't think he knew what to expect his first run down the bunny hill. He looked at little scared at first actually. OOPS. Should have done some introductions.
He caught on after one try.

By the end, sledding was a big hit. He couldn't stop shaking from the cold or asking for more.

Friend Sarai was, of course, an old pro and was glad to have Xavi join her.

And here is the x-mas tree with color lights. Ok, Daniel, you were right. And next to that is a picture of new stockings...Nothing homemade, like our old ones - at least Xavi's old one. Daniel still won't admit that he probably threw them away. We shall keep searching the house. Oh, and that's Xavi's pretend smile. What's up with those faces toddlers make? Where do they learn that?

x-mas preparations

First, the destruction. Xavier had to unload every last thing in the box before he could focus on the tree. Now he was ready to begin. He put the ornaments on and took them off, over an over again.

One of us lost half our lights and stockings and one of us realized that white lights really are boring especially for a two year old.

A few more finishing touches, a week of baking gingerbread cookies, new color lights...still no stockings and only half the shopping done. We're getting there. Xavi has become quite skilled at baking gingerbread. He even knows that they have to bake before he can frost and eat. He runs around saying cooking, cooking! Or Baking, Baking! And he has his own rolling pin. I'll take pictures next time we do this again. It's usually on days he wakes up at 5:30am!

We did the tree last weekend, despite my bad back - I spent most of the time sitting with a heat pad on my back.

I have 11 weeks to go in this pregnancy and Xavi is still crying at drop off at school (though not for long) and my back is about give out. But if this baby is born at 39 weeks like her brother, then I only have 10 more weeks. Yikes, I hope nesting kicks in soon, because we haven't done all that much yet...