Santa Stomp

When you're 1 year-old, playing with the gift inside the package is not nearly as exciting as the sequence of events which lead up to it. For Conner, this included not only having fun ripping, tearing, and eating the paper... but also ceremoniously dancing on the package before opening it!

Images of Christmas 2011

Lexi was very excited to see all the presents under the tree as soon as she got upstairs on Christmas morning. She had gone to bed on Christmas Eve with nothing under the tree, but Santa successfully found his way to Grandma Phyllis' to deliver gifts overnight.

At one point, we told Lexi "hold up your present so we can see what Santa got you." She was more than happy to comply with our request... quite literally in fact!

Conner liked his gifts, but derived just as much enjoyment from tearing open the paper and re-enacting how Santa had delivered them in the first place.

A few hours into the Christmas morning festivities at Grandma Phyllis', Lexi and Conner traded in their Christmas PJ's for some Christmas outfits, and then headed out to Grandma Deb & Grandpa Kevin's later that morning.

Lexi had opened a ton of gifts from Santa and Mom & Dad early on Christmas morning, but she was still energized and ready to dive into gift opening #2 out at the Bunches.

Even after opening all the gifts and candy inside her stocking, Lexi was able to put both her and Conner's stockings to good use!

A few days later, Lexi and Conner celebrated Christmas with her Ahlstrand and Carslake cousins. One of the highlights was all 9 cousins getting spy gear, including black hats, walkie talkies, trip wires, and lie detector machines. Given Lexi and Conner don't talk yet, we're the only parents who could say our kids didn't tell a lie according to the lie detector!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve cookies

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve this year, including dressing the kids in their fun Christmas pajamas.

Lexi and Conner enjoyed picking out cookies for santa along with leaving carrots for the reindeer. However, Conner kept wanting to help, which resulted in the cookies being dumped a few times. That's okay, we're sure Santa ate the cookies any way!

Lioness

We have a lioness in our house these days who really knows how to roar!

Christmas in the Air

We had a fun-filled Christmas weekend with the kids. Conner has been a little sick, so we wanted to stay in all weekend. As a result, we decided to have Christmas activities at our house for the kids.

We did a little painting of pasta to make into garland for trees. Then, we made gingerbread houses. Obviously neither Brian or I are engineers, as it took about 4 tries to actually get them to stay standing. Lexi had a great time with the house, though. Brian and I were very impressed with her abilities, but not so impressed on how many M&Ms she snuck into her mouth, instead of on her house!

We then spent Saturday night driving around looking at Christmas lights. Conner pretty quickly got bored and fell asleep. Lexi on the other hand kept signing more, so we continued to look for fun and interesting lights for her.

We ended the weekend with putting up trees in each of the kids room and letting them decorate them. They had a great time putting everything on the trees and were very proud. Christmas has fully hit the Bunch household!

Goldfish Mess

Conner is a little mischievous at times. This particular time, he decided to reach down, grab the bag of goldfish, and dump the entire contents on his lap. I guess when you are hungry and mom and dad aren't quick enough, it's pretty smart to just help yourself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We traveled to Minnesota for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with family up there this year. It's a long drive from St Louis for the kids, but we try to make it up there at least once a year to see everybody. At least this year Conner wasn't on a heart monitor that beeped much of the way there and back like last year!

No, no Da-da

There has started to be some language development in the house. Although we would like to report a huge growth with Lexi, it's really Conner that is starting to hit the development, but he seems to be helping Lexi in the process.

Conner's first word was "no". Whenever Lexi takes something from him or he knows he is doing something naughty, he says, "no, no, no, no, no" while shaking his head. He truly understands that concept and will use it often. I guess as the second kid, you have to learn to defend yourself.

Shortly after that, the kids and I were eating breakfast while Brian was sleeping in on a Saturday morning. Conner pointed upstairs and said, "Da-da." I quickly praised him and said, "That's right, Daddy is upstairs." Lexi then looked at me and repeated "Da-da," to which she got even more praise. Ever since, both kids have been calling Brian Da-da, which is music to our ears.

So, Conner now has two words "no, no" and "Da-da." I've tried to get his to use those together, but so far no luck...won't be too long before he's telling Daddy no, no on his own, I'm sure!!

Portraits

Brian had the day off work for Veteran's Day, so we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. They had a great time on the games and rides. At one point Lexi picked this toy where it sketched you. Brian didn't quite understand what he was doing, as you can see from the first picture! It was a great day and some much needed time with dad!

Zoo Fun

Uncle Jason came into town this weekend with his girlfriend, Erika. We spent the day at the zoo and enjoyed the wonderful colors of the treesand the cooler weather that allowed the animals to come out and play. Lexi has been learning about trees and the forest in school, so it was particularly good timing as she was very fascinated with the huge leaves at the zoo!

First Hair Cut

Roughly two months after Lexi's first hair cut, Conner received his first hair cut. He did great with it! He even let them use the clippers to get around the ears! Probably his favorite part was getting to continue to sit in the chair/car while Lexi got her hair cut.

Dressing

Lexi has started to show interest in trying to dress herself. She does a pretty good job of putting on her own pants and coat. However, every once in a while, she gets the coat on backwards...I guess the arms are in, though, so we'll give her A for effort! She is doing a great job.

Fluffy

Grandma Phyllis has taken all her grandchildren to Build-a-Bear sometime between the age of 3 and 4. So, Lexi's turn was this week while grandma was visiting. Much to both our surprise, Lexi had very definite opinions about which animal she wanted to make and which clothes she wanted for her bunny. Grandma spoiled her, and Lexi came home a very happy girl and hasn't stopped hugging Fluffy since!

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. Grandma was in town, so we had a good day playing.

Our friend Jane came over in the afternoon for a play date and took some pics with us.

Our garden themed Tinker Bell and gnome weren't very cooperative for pictures, with Conner earning the least cooperative, since he wouldn't keep on his hat and beard, which made his outfit.

When Brian got home from work, we took the kids out for what we thought was going to be 3-4 houses for trick or treating. However, we ended being out for an hour, as both kids absolutely loved the whole process. Conner was so entertained that he forgot to rip off his hat and actually looked like a gnome instead of a

farmer. Both loved getting candy and putting it in their baskets. The only mishap was when Lexi knocked on a door, and we didn't

realize she was still leaning against the door. When the person opened it, she came flying through and landed on her face. Lexi didn't cry and wasn't fazed by it, but the person answering the door sure was!

After we completed our trick-or-treating, we ended up with one last house...Grandma at our house! The kids were excited. Conner just grabbed a piece of candy and then turned and tried to run away. They had such a blast!!

Conner then got put to bed, and Lexi got to hand out candy to those that came to the door, which she thought was a blast. I thought it was great until Brian tried to change her diaper and then let her go to the door in her diaper...sorry to those neighbors that now

think we are white trash! I guess that's why mom should be more relaxed like dad, as Lexi had the best time!

Brian's B-day

Brian had to work a lot of his birthday, but he did come up from the basement in time to open hand made cards and gifts from the kids. I should say watch the kids open his gifts, since they are the ones that tore the wrapping paper!

Halloween Party

We threw a Halloween party for some AB friends to open up the bar in the newly finished basement. The theme was to come dressed as your favorite beer. Hence me with the orange mohawkfor Shocktop and Brian in golf gear for Mich Ultra. We sort of dressed the kidslike us, but thought Lexi probably had crazy enough hair on her own without an orange mohawk!

Dancing

As you can see in the videos below, our kids love to dance, whether it is to the radio, a toy, or a card from grandma!

Holiday Party

Conner and I joined Lexi at class today for their fall party. We had snack, made crafts, read a book, and got to listen to a little music. Conner was a little crazy, but a couple of the teachers chased him around while I got to do a couple things with Lexi. We all had a great time, and it was fun to see her interact with the other students. She seems to be loving her new school!

Mis-matched

Brian typically gives the kids their bath, which they love, since he plays all sorts of water games and gives fun mohawks! I especially loved this bath, as it left me in tears from laughing so hardat how he dressed them...take notice of their pants. The silky pants probably weren't the ones intended for Conner!!

Trunk or Treat

We spent Saturday doing Halloween activities. We went to the Pumpkin Patch at church and let the kids pick out pumpkins. They also had games they could play, and Lexi loved rolling the marbles into the monster's mouth. We then rushed back to the house to watch the Iowa game.

After naps, we carved pumpkins, which pretty much resulted in Brian and I scooping, carving, and making certain neither kid grabbed one of the knives!

We ended the night with Trunk-or-Treat at church. Lexi looked great in her Tinkerbell costume. Conner wouldn't keep his gnome costume on or quit screaming, so no pictures of him. We'll hope he is more agreeable on Halloween!