Stuck

• Daddy stuck Isaak in this basket.
• He didn't seem to mind it at first.

Cheerleader

• I was worried about having Isaak outside with me.
• But...it was like having a cheerleader cheer me on.
• Every shovel full of snow put on the snow mountain in our driveway Isaak clapped and he said, "Ma Ma" over and over again.

Dapper Dan

• Isaak got Dapper Dan from Aunt Angela.
• To be honest I thought Isaak would be more excited when opening Dapper Dan. He saw what his cousin Elijah opened, and wanted that instead. Elijah opened a glow worm. Isaak already has a glow worm. He calls the glow worm his "Baby". The gifts were opened right before bedtime, so I imagine when he saw Elijah's gift, he wanted his "Baby".
• He's warmed up to Dapper Dan now.
• Dapper Dan has buttons, snaps, Velcro, zippers, pockets and ties. He's also a boy doll.

Grumpy Mica

• Mica's been a grump.
• I think kids just get overwhelmed during holidays.
• At his age he wants help playing with all his new toys, we do, but we're also busy too.
• Plus he should be recouping from being sick! Instead we have lots of new toys and events to go to.

Train

• I built the boys a train track in the living room going around the Christmas tree.
• Isaak kept say, "Toot, toot"! He was all excited, and couldn't wait to play on the track with the trains. Both boys had trains on the track before I was finished building it.
• Mica gets irritated with Isaak wrecking his track and getting in his way. "It's just part of having a little brother" I told him. I felt the same way about Aunt Terra wrecking my Barbie Doll set up when I was younger.
• Mica got the Little Engine That Could in his stocking. It hooks up with Thomas, but is too tall to go under the tunnels. Santa read that in the review, but decided to buy it anyhow. We love that story at our house.

Cookie Monster Slippers

• Isaak's been wanting these cookie monster slippers put on then off, on, then off, then on again.
• Aunt Terra got him these.

Balls

• Isaak collects all his balls and throws them everywhere.
• He's obsessed with balls!

Eat

• Isaak looked over at Mica today during dinner, pointed and said, "Eat".
• He did it over and over again when Mica wasn't eating.
• It seems as though we have a new Food Nazi in our family.
• It's too bad it doesn't apply to Isaak himself. He still throws food sometimes and won't try certain foods.

Christmas Party Moved

• We're supposed to get together with Grandma Spiehs' - The Kent's side tomorrow.
• It's not happening with the snow drifting in front of people's driveways and doors. Not to mention all the side streets that haven't be plowed.
• It's been moved to Sunday. I was excited to see everyone. I guess I'll still be seeing everyone, just a day later.

Hit with Snow

• We got hit with snow pretty hard!
• While both boys were down for naps Daddy and I both went outside to shovel, shovel and shovel some more!
• We only shoveled one lane out.
• I wanted to get to the mailbox because I didn't get the mail yesterday. I got to it, and all there was, was 1 piece of junk mail. Boo! :( LOL

Christmas Morning

• I couldn't sleep because I was stuffed up and was sooo excited for the kids to wake up and unwrap their gifts from Santa.
• It's like I'm a little kid once again.
• I actually went in and woke Mica up! I just couldn't wait any longer. LOL Plus I knew the boys would want breakfast soon after they awoke like they usually do. Presents come first over eating. Sure enough Isaak was pointing to the fridge soon after the presents were done saying, "Eat" and "MilK". He really pronounces the "K" in milk strong like it's a German word. It's a new thing.
• Some of the gifts I thought Isaak would like he didn't like as much, and visa versa. He liked a cleaning set Santa got from Costco and that was a last minute present. He liked the balls he got too. He got one in his stocking and a few last night. Isaak was slow in opening the gifts! He'd tear one piece of wrapping paper off and hand it over to what ever parent was besides him.

• Mica on the other hand ripped into his presents! He liked most everything he got. The things that were not on his list he was a little snotty about. We've had a few talks with him about this. It's the practical things he throws aside. I got pretty irritated about this! He seemed to gravitate towards his Toy Story set, Scooby-Doo Mystery Van with characters, but didn't seem as interested in the thing he asked for over and over again, The Team Geo-Trax Rope and Ride Ranch.
• Daddy got into Mica's BumbleBee Transformer!

Project Wrap Up Happy - The Gift of Happy

• This holiday season, AJWright is sponsoring an amazing initiative--Project Wrap Up Happy. Part of the project includes: “The Gift of Happy”— an original never before seen holiday film.
• This is a pretty inspirational holiday video.
• I love all the layers in the film. It's pretty artistic.
• For every view of their "The Gift of Happy," WrapUpHappy.com video, they will donate $1 to the Boys and Girls Club of America.
• One Mommy Mandy and Go Graham Go reader will win a $50 gift card to AJWright.

First Set of Gifts

• Christmas Eve has always been a big part of Christmas for us.
• We all got lots of stuff!
• Isaak would only rip a little bit of paper at a time and hand Daddy each little piece.
• Mica ripped into his presents! He wanted them all opened to play with. Of course we have more then one kid and lots of wrapping paper all over, so we had to be careful of the little parts. We didn't want anything lost!
• Mica was sooo tired! He got a little upset that we wouldn't let him play when we got home late. Santa had to come to our house still.

Little Kid Church

• They asked the little kids to go up and have their own little sermon. Isaak and cousin Evan went up like it was no big deal.
• We kept the toddler's back.

Out For Christmas Eve

• Here are the boys ready to go out for Christmas Eve festivities.
• We went to church, then to aunt Terra's for a big dinner and unwrapping of presents.
• For sure this will be the last year Isaak will be wearing this Santa suit. The legs are too short. I think I'll put it on him this one last time.

Treats

• These are the candies and cookies I made for the holiday festivities.

Waffle Pretzels With Peanut Butter Spread on them and Dipped in Almond Bark

We Make a Train Every Year - This Year I Used Chocolate Roll Out Cookies to Make ThemSnowmen Sugar Cookies - The Carrot Noses are 1/2 a Baking M&M - A Pill Cutter Was Used to Cut the M&M's

Fruit Slices Dipped in White Almond Bark

Gingerbread MenA Plate of Cookies There's No Way We're Eating All of These, But They Are Soooo CUTE!

Father and Oldest Son

All is Good

• Mica is feeling MUCH better. He is watching Polar Express, the 3D version.
• The basket is packed with all the gifts, now I just need to make the soup and put the cookie plate together.

Hands

• This must be Mica's sick pose.
• Hands down his pants.

Grocery Store/Lemonade Stand

• Go Graham Go is giving away this Grocery Store/Lemonade Stand $129.99 from the Melissa and Doug Company!
• I think this company has high quality toys, they've never let me down anyhow.
• My sister had one of their puzzles and the sound didn't work. She called the company and they let her pick a new puzzle. They stand by their products!

Inscribe-It Personalized Books

• My Wee View is giving away a $25 gift card to Inscribe-It Personalized Books.
• I think Mica and Isaak would like the book: The Little Red Caboose. There are lots of other great books on the site!

Bad Morning

• Mica woke up at 4 something in the morning crying because he ached all over. I was thinking, "Crap! Please get better before Christmas Eve!"
• Isaak poked my eye last night. I couldn't open my eye very well after, and my eye kept tearing up. I thought if I slept it off, I'd be fine, but no. I woke up and it was still all teary and hurt. It was a little better once I washed it out. It doesn't feel normal, but it feels better.
• Mica got up to move around a little, and threw up on the floor. I thought he just had the fever, sore body thing going on.
• Then I went downstairs, and tripped almost falling down the steps. I caught myself. I skidded on the arch of my foot a little.
• There is weather advisory stuff on the news for ice, so I was nervous about that. I got to work early with no problems. I just hope the streets stay ok.

This is What Our Toilet Paper Looked Like After Our Toddler Got to the Roll

Still Under the Weather

• I was hoping Mica would snap out of this sickness today.
• No such luck.
• He still has a fever.
• As you can see Isaak won't leave the sick boy alone.

Busy at Work

• Daddy's going to work the next few evenings because his co-worker is out of town.
• He has to cover for him.

Another Bloody Nose

• Mica had another bloody nose tonight.
• I sprayed saline in his nose, and put Carmex on the tip of each nostril.
• I cleaned out his humidifier, filled it up with filtered water to put in his room.

Number 1 and Number 2

• Isaak went number 1 and number 2 this morning on the big boy potty!
• So far the best time to try him on the potty is in the morning. He seems the most interested then.
• Sometimes it helps to have him watch me do my makeup. It occupies his time.
• Other times of the day he gets bored.
• Mica was sooo much easier on the pot. He enjoyed it more. He loved to have his reading time. He was like a little old man sitting on the pot with a book to read.

White Elephant Gift Recieved

• So...I had my work party today at Grisanti's, an Italian restaurant here in Omaha. It was good, I had Chicken Parmesan.
• We always have a white elephant gift after the meal.
• I stole a singing Santa that danced to that song from Madagascar. I figured, why not add another annoying singing thing to our collection that the boys will play over and over again, that will annoy us, but they will love? It will be fun. It was between that and the Snuggie Blanket, but that's on my Christmas list.
• My boss stole the singing Santa from me.
• I stole a Spatzle maker from a girl that didn't even know what Spatzle is. Daddy makes this German dish, so I'll take it home and see if he likes it.

Pretend Play Kitchen's

• Two of a Kind is giving away this cute primary toaster set from Pretend Play Kitchen's.
• They have great details like Velcro on each slice of butter.
• I just LOVE their retro kitchen set!

My Thoughts are with My Brother-in-Law's Family!

• I got a call from my sister this morning that my brother-in-law's grandma past away last night.
• My brother-in-law's grandpa just past away four weeks ago.
• I feel so bad for their whole family. It's a small family, so there isn't a lot of people to support one another.
• Losing two parents/grandparents during the holidays has got to be hard.
• I don't know if my brother-in-law's sister is going to be able to make it back here because we are supposed to have an ice storm.

Isaak Likes This Hat

• I don't know what makes this hat different then others that Isaak has, but he wants to leave this one on.
• He sometimes wants this one on even in the house.
• We bought it for him because he has this really cute coat that has no hood.
• His 2 other hats, but they do not go with this coat.

New Shirts

• One of our friends sent the boys new shirts. It was a surprise package!
• They are really cute.
• Note- Mica still complains of not feeling well. His cheeks are red. He was complaining that his body ached this morning. He wasn't too into smiling this morning.