Post-Christmas Week and Jamie turns 30!

Colin replayed Christmas for us. He's Santa, those are the toys on his sleigh, and Justin is an elf.

"But I don't want to be an elf!"

I put all of the Christmas decorations away....but Colin had to go through them to find this Christmas card from Bachan & Jichan. Perhaps one of the best presents from Christmas -- the card sings to you when you open it. He loves it!

And then I turned 30. And for my birthday, the boys magically slept in until 7:30am, we went to see Tangled, and Jack did all of the dirty diapers. It can't get much better than this!

Christmas Festivities 2010

We spent Christmas Eve dinner at Mom's house...wonderful dinner and good quality family time. And we left with the biggest stash of Christmas cookies, ever! Thank you!

Aunt Tami thought Justin was ready to walk...and we found out that he can stand on his own for a bit, and that he can wobble! Just a bit more practicing before he takes some solid steps.

Brooke and Reagan were in charge of dessert, and they had us signing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Christmas morning started at 6:30am! Some were more excited than others...


Christmas 2009 opening of the presents lasted about 5 hours because Colin wanted to play with each toy as he opened it. Christmas 2010 opening of the presents lasted about 20 minutes as Colin ripped through each present.Thank you everyone for all of your gifts -- we feel very lucky to have you in our life! The disaster zone...

Justin's favorite gift was a toothbrush -- perfect for him to chomp on for those new teeth coming in!

And he also loved climbing on Colin's Little People Town.

Eventually a day of playing in our pajamas led to Christmas dinner...Jack was in charge of the prime rib, and it came out perfectly medium rare. 9.75 lbs of perfection! Nice job, hon!

 Grandma brought more Christmas cookies and Colin was thrilled to see more butter cookies with sprinkles!

While Uncle Matt was watching Justin,

Colin went to the other room and did a 24 piece puzzle all by himself! Took him awhile, but he did every piece himself. So proud!

Colin has also taken up photography...pretty good, eh? Christmas go-ers include Grandma, Aunt Elena, Uncle Matt, Dad & Justin, me and baby Ana (and Colin behind the camera!)

Santa brought us Zingo this year-- and we LOVE IT! Grandma and Uncle Matt are teaching Colin how to be a tough Elwell game player. And I think he definitely held his own against those two! =)

We are so happy that Aunt Elena, Uncle Matt and Baby Ana made the long drive to spend Christmas with us! Thank you!

Baby Ana is the most chill baby EVER! Justin wanted to get his drooly, boogey hands all over her, but we wouldn't have it. She is too precious!

We hope your Christmas was as festive as ours! Sleep tight..

A spoon will do

Wrapped presents under the tree are known as "Christmas presents that you can't open until Christmas." Well today, Colin was home when we got an amazon.com delivery in a brown box.

Colin: "it's not a Christmas presnent mom. i can open it now."
me: "yes, it is a Christmas present. We need to wait until Christmas to open it."
Colin: "it's not wrapped in paper. Where does it say that it's a Christmas present?"
me: after a long exhausting day at work, i said, "Okay. if you can open it, you can have it now."
Colin: no words. Just went to the kitchen to get a spoon. and here's how the next hour went...

 Justin: in not so many words, "hey, what are you doing? I don't think you can open this box with a spoon."
Colin: "I'm just going to keep trying." -- he really said this to Justin.

 Thank you so much Auntie Korby and Uncle Erik! He loves his early Christmas present and I made him leave Justin's present alone. =) Can't wait to see you next month.

Colin is truly Jack's child. When he puts his mind to something, nothing can get in his way -- he just gets it done.

And for Justin pictures -- almost 11 months old. Loves cheerios, playing peek-a-boo, cruising/almost walking and chasing Colin around.

Just like Colin...

Colin loves to take Justin's binkies and hide them. He's done it since Justin was born. We've learned that some of his hiding places include the play kitchen refrigerator, behind the toy bins and in boots. Well, this morning, I caught Justin putting his binkie in a boot, and then taking it out with great joy -- just like Colin does!  I wonder what else his brother is teaching him?

Colin's update - 3 yrs old

Hi all -- Colin here! If you haven't heard already, I'm three! The binkie fairy took my binkies to a hospital and is sharing them with new babies now. Here's what else has been going on...


Dad decided to paint our house this week. And on Friday, Mom unexpectedly came home to a house full of furniture and paint fumes. She called Aunt Tami, and we got to spend the night at their house!!! I love going to Reagan & Brooke's house. Check out the art project we did together. Thank you for taking care of us.

 Justin still loves to be held all of the time...good thing Grandma was there to help! And we are so happy that Grandma has skype now!!!

 Mom and I stopped by a sale and bought a train cookie jar. I saw it from a distance and immediately knew I wanted it! Now, only if there were cookies to put in it. =) Grandma makes the best cookies ever (hint, hint!)

 Justin is still picky with his food, but he just started eating grapes with me. His are cut up because he's not a big boy yet.

Today is a SNOW DAY! Lots of snow and wind. So we're playing inside and making a mess out of the house. 
Love you,
Colin

Christmas tree 2010 + Kid updates

It's true, I'm a fan of the Christmas season. A special time of the year to focus on love, family, joy, appreciation and thankfulness.

Every week since Justin has been born, we've done family dinners with Aarti and Leela. Leela affectionately refers to Justin as "justin-baby" and is always sharing her toys with him. Well, this week at dinner, Justin crawled up to Aarti, started playing peek-a-boo with her and climbing on her. Justin usually just wants Jack or me to carry him when we're out, so it was extra special to have him roam around and into Aarti's arms. We love it! we love it! we love it!

And the snow has arrived. It took me 2 hours to leave work, pick up the boys and come home. I get annoyed with the heavy snowfall, but Colin reminds me to enjoy the little things in life - like snowflakes on your cheek or snow up to your waist. He loves every minute of the snow!

More celebrating...

Til this point, we've only done a post-Thanksgiving cake with family to celebrate Colin's birthday. Since he's been going to other friends birthday parties, we thought it would be fun to give him his first party. =)

• Where: Mitchell's ice cream (They have a train that runs on a track near the ceiling! Huge hit for a 3 year old)
• Fun: Colin's music teacher, Dave, came and played songs for the kids
• Who: Friends from Colin's school & neighbors
• Food: Dewey's pizza & birthday ice cream

 The train.

Dave singing with the kids.

 Dancing!

Dancing with bubbles.

 Justin eating pizza.

 

 He loved it when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him. Biggest smiles of the day!

 Enjoying good times with friends. Colin loved his Happy Birthday song, and he asked if we could sing Happy Birthday to his friend, Chloe..so that's what we are doing here...

Jack & I had a stress-free party because of these friends: Drew, Alexis, Rachel and Mel! Thank you for taking pictures, getting the pizza, organizing the kids and just being great friends. You are amazing. Thank you for making our first party-throwing experience so much fun!

Colin is 3!

Somehow we made it to THREE!

• His birthday dinner choice: macaroni & cheese and blueberries (our birthday tradition - you get to choose your own birthday dinner!)
• After the binkie fairy came, he woke up the next morning and said, "mommy, where's my binkie? oh, i don't need it anymore, I'm three!" And the next night when he went to bed without his binkie, he said, "Mommy, maybe the binkie fairy will go to the hospital, get a binkie from a new baby and give it back to me." I told him that wouldn't happen, and he went to bed!
• We were doing puzzles and racing each other. When he won he said, "family waits for each other. I'll wait for you." For the most part, he hates losing. So if I win, he'll say "let's do it again. and this time, it's my turn to win."
• Instead of reading books, sometimes we make up once-upon-a-time stories. In one of my once-upon-a-time stories, I said "there were two brothers named Colin & Justin..." Colin stopped me and said, "no, there were three brothers, Colin, Justin and Eeyore."
• About my clothes: "mommy, i like it when you wear dresses. i don't like it when things cover your neck." "I like your hair. It's so pretty."
• Colin & Justin: Justin smiles from ear to ear whenever Colin enters a room. Colin loves to hold, hug, and carry Justin. Colin hates it when Justin takes his toys. Colin steals Justin's binkies and hides them.
• Current musical instruments in our house: a guitar, a ukulele, two drum sets, a piano, shakers, a tamborine, and a variety music set. Colin says, "we have so much, we can make a big band now!" Then he proceeds to hand everyone a different instrument.

As the kids get older, it's becoming harder and harder to have family all across the country. We want to be close to everyone, and we think about you more than you can imagine. Love to everyone.

On his birthday -- enjoying presents shipped from across the country!

 Thank you hi-bachan for his new piano.

After his birthday dinner, we did an impromptu chocolate fondue party with Leela and Aarti. SO MUCH FUN!

And to top it off, sprinkles!

We didn't do a family birthday cake at Thanksgiving this year (lost track of it all with so many people in town). So Reagan and Brooke sang happy birthday to Colin over skype!

He's not really talking about it much, but he has his first real birthday party this Saturday with neighbors and classmates.

'Twas the night before...

Colin's 3rd Birthday.

As you all know, the Binkie Fairy comes on your third birthday. We've been talking about it for a long time, and Colin knows all about it. On the way home from school we had this conversation:

Colin: Mommy, I am gonna hide my binkie behind my bed.
Me: Why?
Colin: Because I think the Binkie Fairy's arms are short.
Me: the Binkie Fairy will still be able to get your binkies. Growing up is tough, but you'll be THREE tomorrow! Isn't that exciting?
Colin: I don't like the Binkie Fairy.

We came home and had a wonderful night. After I put him to bed in his room, I came downstairs to do some work. Around 9:30pm, I went to my room to get something, and I found this...

Perhaps he thought our room was a good hiding place because he has never snuck into our room to fall asleep like this! Poor kid doesn't realize that this makes it so much easier for the Binkie Fairy to do her job!!

Love this kid so much! Let the birthday madness begin. =)

An Elwell Thanksgiving

ALL of the Elwells were in town for Thanksgiving this year. Highlights include:

• Professional family photos (14 adults and 13 kids!!!)
• Trips to the Children's Museum and zoo
• Just good ol' family time and meals together
• I don't normally drink, but had some awesome wine spritzer. I think I found my new party drink =)

 And the pictures...
Colin, the bus driver, driving Aunt Elena, Alex and Ana

Mitch!

 Justin escaping from Jack during lunch.

 Xmas present exchange madness! We tried to do it one present at a time, but that lasted for about 10 seconds.

 Colin, Brooke and Reagan at the Children's Museum.

 Justin having fun with Grandma's toys.

  Fun at Grandma's house. Sam, Ben, Aunt Natalie, Anthony, Rylee, Colin, Mitch, me.