Christmas Eve

Christmas was fantastic. A lovely 4 day weekend with lots of family. Christmas Eve we went to Tuba Christmas in the middle of the day. We rode the DART train downtown to watch 200 tubas play Christmas carols. One tends to think, "200 Tubas, hmm.. umpa and really loud!" Well, it was beautiful. All the carols they did were magnificant and beautiful.

We had cocoa with Able, Mia, Leo and Donna (Ann's mother) and Ann showed up near the end, getting off work early. Then train ride home and a nap before our big day.
Christmas eve evening was our big dinner and family day. Grandpa Dan, Aunt Teresa and Robert came over about 3 to a groggy, freshly napped, but excited Lea. We put on our Christmas dress and had a wonderful pork dinner.


Then went straight into opening presents, and its a good thing we started early because we weren't done until like 8pm!
It was so much fun. Everyone took turns opening presents and I think we were all very pleased, I know I was was thrilled with all my wonderful presents.
I got a rug for the kitchen that brightens up the whole house! I got many other wonderful things too and I appreciate them all, but this one got a photo taken.

And Lea was sweet, she was as interested in running around helping everyone else open their present as opening her own. Here is Lea helping Teresa with Teresa's new lip gloss.

Lea got some great toys and treats and clothes. The cutest bunny slippers in the whole world from Grandpa!

And I showed my love for Dan by getting him 5 lbs of Chinese BarBQ sauce. He had fun putting it in the squeeze bottles! Odd present, but he seemed to love it!



A set of tools and a tool bench were one of the big hit presents. I was very pleased with my well rounded child who got tools, cars and a tea set! Here is Lea and her tool bench...

Early Christmas Present

Last weekend we went out to Grandma's house to decorate her tree. Lea had fun decorating. She put the star on top of the small tree and got her own snow globe with a bumble from the Rudolf cartoon. She loved her ornament and has been carrying it around with her, instead of leaving it on the tree.



But one of the main reasons we went out to Grandma's is for a big present. We were supposed to be out there for Christmas Eve and Christmas day when we thought we had more family coming, but it wasn't to be. Margarte had a fall and turns out she's broken her pelvis. She is doing well, but in a lot of pain and its hard for her to get around, so they've post poned their trip here. So with all that going on we decided it would be easier to have Chistmas at the Neal household. BUT... what to do with the big present that was to stay at grandma's house? Well why not open it early. Lea got a train table with a train that goes round and round the track. It stops at the station if you lift a lever and you can fill it with logs. It has trees and signs to move around. It is very cool. Lea loved it. She'd just jump up and down watching it and stop the train occasionally. The logs caused some problems because they are a bit akward, but they didn't slow her down. She also calls the logs "bricks" for some reason. Load up the "bricks." We figured out what she was talking about and had fun with it!





So now we wait for the big day and more presents, but I don't know if anything can top the train table! I'm surprised Lea let us take her home she was having so much fun. Merry Christmas to everyone! I'll have lots to post after Christmas. Love to everyone too!

Santa 2, Grandma and a trip to Grandpa's

Grandpa said at dinner, "Lea, you are a caution." and she replied "No, Grandpa I'm a doofy (or goofy)!" Said with such conviction. Grandpa asked "Who said you were a doofy?" "Daddy says I'm a doofy!" Well that was settled.

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We had a wonderful family packed weekend. Grandma Lynn came on Friday and we Christmas shopped on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. Grandma didn't intend to stay all weekend, but a small tummy ache kept her overnight on Saturday. After a nap and some cocoa she felt fine so we were lucky to have her.

We went to a breakfast with Santa, but we didn't stay for the actual breakfast. Here is Lea with her second visit to Santa. We thought we might run into him at the book store in the afternoon, but with his busy schedule we missed him.
Our second visit to Santa around the corner from our house

How sticky can one kid get? Well give them a candy cane and find out!


We went to Grandpa's for dinner on Sunday where Aunt Teresa and Lea played Farm and Farm Tea Party. Fun little farm set that Lea got from Grandpa for her first birthday, but over protective mommy has kept the small toys put up until now. But they made for great play. We had a family of cows, sheep, goats, two dogs and as told in this video... a pig with babies.



After Lea's ride on the mechanical horse she was excited to ride on the saddles at Grandpa's. Listen for "8 seconds!" from Teresa and Lea.

Santa Claus is coming to town

We went to see Santa last night. It went well. The wait was much less than it has been in years past, but still so long that by the time it was almost our turn Lea said "I don't want to see Santa." Like she had waited too long. But she powered through and sat on Santa's lap. She got that she wanted a tricycle out and that she would leave him milk and cookies, but no big hug and no big smile. The professional photos weren't very good and Santa kept moving her hair. I guess when even Santa seems to be making editorial comments about your kids hair its time for a hair cut. We'll see. There was one woman in line who told me never to cut her hair because her curls were so beautiful. I have to agree with the woman. What I would give for curls like Lea's!

But I digress. Lea enjoyed the santa experience I think. He was nice to her and Lea wasn't afraid of him, but like I said, not big smiles. Lea kept saying "I won't be afraid of santa this time." Because I showed Lea the photo on the calendar of her screaming in Santa's lap. And there were a few screamers in line before us. Overall it was very fun.



After we got done with Santa we went to dinner at a favorite Mariano's Mexican Restaurant. So since Lea was such a good girl she got to ride the horse. When we were done she got in the car and said "I want a rope!" Grandpa, next up teaching Lea to ride a horse and rope. Daddy obviously teaching her to bull ride. You can barely hear her, but Lea does say "8 seconds"

Christmas Decorating

On Sunday we decorated the house for Christamas. We put together our fake tree and Lea got to hang decorations from the bottom branches. She did not quite understand that you could be "done" decorating the tree. She keeps sneaking back over to the tree trying to decorating more, or hanging over the couch trying to play with the ornaments. She even recruited a partner in crime. Kris, Jerry, Wilder, Michael Hopens and Chris Chapman came over for dinner for Jerry's birthday. We suddenly heard Wilder's cry. Turns out he'd taken a tumble over the couch reaching for ornaments. We can't guarantee that Lea didn't push him, because later in the evening she came and asked me the mystery question of "Can we play Mob?" I can't be sure that's what she said, but that's what it sounded like. Well, I didn't know what it meant and when in doubt, like a good mother, I said yes. After a few minutes there was complete silence from the living room and when children are quiet, you know they're up to something. So I went in to check on them and again they were both stretched over the back of the couch playing with ornaments. It was my guess that Lea's game of "mob" was entice Wilder to the tree and push him over the edge to "sleep with the fishes." We joked that I have a 2 year old hit baby! Good times, good times! Kris and Jerry took it in stride and didn't seem to hold it against Lea.

But mostly, while decorating, we just had fun talking about santa. We found the dancing santa that makes Lea giddy with joy. She can't get enough of his little song. After about 5 turns of "Jingle Bells" from the santa Dan turned to me and said "Boy are you going to get sick of that... oh wait..." remembering he was the one home with her and Santa all day!
She's still a joy to watch.


So now she's ready to go see the big guy in person and ask for her tricycle. We've been trying to prepare her for Santa. She knows to not be afraid (last year she cried and cried!). She knows that Santa brings presents and I guess has no doubt that she has been good, because she just says "Santa is bringing me a tricycle." And in the video you can see that she knows that good girls say "please." We're working on always saying please, but we have it on good authority that she has indeed been good.

Christmas Parade

On Saturday morning Dan, Lea and I joined Ann, Able, Mia and Leo for the downtown Christmas Parade. Although this photo looks like smiles were hard to come by, I think they all had a really good time. Lea enjoys spending time with Mia and Leo so much, I think because they're older, she's extremely facinatend by them. She tried to share crayons with Leo and cheerios with Mia to impress them I think.


We got to the parade about half an hour early and had a stellar spot. Ann and Able brought a blanket and have a great system for getting to the parade. We chatted and played a bit while we waited and finally the excitement began.
Lea and I shared antlers and wore funny hats. Even Daddy eventually put on a pair of antlers.




We saw many dressed up characters riding in cars or floats that we knew from TV. We waved at Clifford the Big Red Dog and Arthur and Strawberry Shortcake, even a pudgy world weary Pooh Bear. And there were balloons — giant balloons. Here is Curious George coming down the street. There was also the Grinch (which Lea, I think thanks to Daddy, calls "The Party Pooper" — She and Daddy watch Charlie Brown, The Grinch and Shrek the Halls about 4 times a day!)

Lea was amazed by much and so cute when I'd suggest she'd wave, she'd wave like crazy. It was all very impressive to her, but then she'd turn around to me and say, "What are we going to see next?"


And finally Santa came. The big Santa balloon was more impressive than the real guy at the parade. The real Santa, who I had hyped since Thanksgiving, was kind of hidden on a giant float with a rocketship. I originally missed him until Dan or Able pointed him out and then he'd already passed, so I was trying to make sure Lea had seen him. She was satified though I think. Now she's ready to see the big guy in preson and ask for her tricycle.


Here is a bit of video at the parade as the "Party Pooper" comes down the street. Her wave was so adorable to me. She waved with such conviction and passion it warmed my heart. I had such a great time watching her at the parade.
Waving at the Parade

expanding the bathroom by 1/4"

Yes we widened our bathroom by 1/4"  —  We achieved this by replacing one wall of sheetrock with a smaller thickness of sheetrock. Complicated, eh? Acaully we did a lot of work. We removed a window — The bathroom had a window to the exterior before the original owners added on our living room. So the window looked out on the sheetrock of our living room. Exciting, eh?
Here is the window and the wall with icky old wallpaper paste.


After much cursing and banging Dan finally found the brackets that held the window in. The metal brackets were nailed to the frame of the house and bricked over. He could see all around the window - space between the window frame and the wall and still couldn't get it out because of the hidden brackets. Thanks to a hack saw and crow bar House 0 / Dan 1

Then Dan added shelves to our otherwise stroageless bathroom. This will be come increasingly important as our wee girl turns to a high maintenance teen! It looks beautiful.



So its not painted yet, but its a lot closer to being ready to paint than the past 2 years! I pulled wallpaper off the walls of the bathroom when I was pregnant and we've been living with icky wall paper paste on the walls for years!

So now we're breating some old plaster dust, but soon it will be all painted and beautiful. Lea will have the nicest bathroom on the block!

This work was done in 3 days around Thanksgiving. We just need a few more long weekends and it will be all finished!

Thanksgiving

Well with 7 posts, that about raps up November. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Dan's dad and sister Teresa and Robert. My mom stayed the whole 5 days I had off from work so we could do some work on our bathroom. I'll post on that soon, I promise. Lea was a perfect little lady for Thanksgiving.






And after lunch and dinner, lunch and dinner and again lunch and dinner of turkey sandwiches and left overs Lea had to rest on her wagon and Octopus.


On one cold afternoon Lea had her first cup of hot chocolate while we sat around and watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.


In the week after Thanksgiving we've compromised on Lea's "big girl chair." Lea doesn't want to be in the high chair, but we don't have a booster that really works for her. And if she sits in a regular dining room chair she has to kneel, but usually stands and we're not happy about that. So our compromise is that we took the tray off the high chair and pulled it up to the table, so Lea can reach the table and pretty much get in and out by herself. I think its a compromise that makes us all happy.

Wild days with Wilder

A week or so before Thanksgiving we went over for an evening with the Scotts — Kris, Jerry and Wilder. Lea loves playing with WIlder. Wilder had gotten a train table for his birthday and Kris and I decided to let them play on their own for a while, figuring what trouble could they get into in the kiddo safe room? Well leave it to two two year olds. We went in and they had climbed in the play table and were playing cars. Lea eventually fell out and bumped her ka-nogin, but she got right back in. They were adorably mischievous!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

We tried really hard to get Lea excited about Thanksgiving. We watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving over and over and we would gobble together daily.

One day I came home from work to find Lea playing with all the plastic wear. She began to dole out hats for Daddy and I, so we took a pictures, to show how ready for left overs we were!


Lea also helped out at the store. Our turkey on our turkey. I don't actually know which weighed more. The turkey from the store weighed 23lb.


Now she says "Christmas is coming!" and we've moved on the Charlie Brown's Christmas and Shrek the Halls.

A day in the Canoe

Even in November were were having beautiful weather. We decided to take advantage of what we thought could be the last beautiful weekend (turned out we would have more warm weather here and there). So we took the canoe out on White Rock Lake. The view from the truck as we made our way down the road.

There was a duck who was very used to getting fed. The duck was not shy, but fortunately also not aggressive. He just kind of followed us around and we refused to feed him until we left.


Lea and I gathered acorns and rocks for her to throw from the bow of the boat.



The actual boat ride was very choppy. The wind had picked up and made for some rough rowing in some parts. Dan taught me where on the lake coast was protected so we stayed in calmer waters. We traveled along the bank where we saw numerous turtles and birds. We moored the boat and had a picnic — Lea's favorite part! And then paddled back to the truck. It was a very fun day.

However, that night we had some problems. Like I said the water was much more choppy than the first time we went out and I remember my first canoe ride with Dan oh so many years ago (10? 11?) I could feel the motion of the boat when I closed my eyes to sleep. We think Lea experienced this because that night she had what she described as a scary dream. It was not a run of the mill scary dream. She was hysterical and would not allow us to put her back the crib. Lea and I ended up sleeping on the couch from 5am to 7am when Daddy picked her up and was able to put the sleeping babe back to bed. She couldn't be specific, but something scared her. It was only that night, fortunately for all.

Where are we going?



Quack like a duck!

Pumpkins Washing the Car

On the weekend of Nov. 10 & 11 we were going to go canoeing (the next post will actually be about the boat ride), but we hit obstacles at every turn. We had loaned the paddles out, then we'd remembered we also loaned the life jackets out. So we didn't get to go canoeing on Saturday. We moved it to Friday and we persevered. Lea and I however, made the best of our unexpected day together with beautiful weather. We washed the car. Lea had a lot of fun sudsing up the car and rinsing it off. And I love this picture with the light hitting the water.

To help Lea understand that things don't always go the way you plan I told Lea a version of a story about "being the pumpkin." A phrase my mom came up with way back 10 years ago when she had cancer. The story, as told to Lea, has evolved into this:
Once upon a time there was a large truck of pumpkins going to the happy pumpkin place. But the monkey driving the truck, ran off a bridge and all the pumpkins fell into the water. SPLASH! Now some pumpkins knew that they were supposed to go the happy pumpkin place and did everything they could to keep their plans the same. They twisted this way and turned that. They fought the rivers current at every turn and crashed into rocks. SMASH! They were squashed unhappy pumpkins. But some pumpkins knew that things don't always go the way you plan, so they bob, bob, bobbed down the river, going with the flow. Those pumpkins floated peacefully down the river until they came to a river bank filled with boys and girls who loved pumpkins. Those boys and girls fished the pumpkins out of the river and gave the pumpkins very good pumpkin homes. Those pumpkins knew that even though they didn't end up where they planned to be, the ended up where they were meant to be. And that is why we must be the pumpkin in the river.

Tell the story again Mommy!

First Saturday (of November) at the Nasher

Oh so much to catch up with. Appologies all round.
I was reminded how long it had been since a post since the First Saturday at the Nasher for Dec. is this weekend, well we went in November — a whole month ago — and had a fantastic time. The Nasher sculpture garden opens its doors free of charge to families on the first saturday of the month.


They had a sculptor who spoke to the children and adults, art projects (which we missed because we were a bit late) and best of all a free stuffed puppy. You got the puppy by filling out a "scavenger hunt" form identifying sculptures. Mia and Leo knew all the answers already so while we visited all the art, it was a great help having two well versed helpers with us. Leo even helped Lea turn in her form and get her puppy. Puppy has become a staple at night and comes with us most places. I guess that means Lea had a good time at the sculpture garden!



We went with Becky and met Ann, Able, Mia and Leo there. Then we all went to lunch. It was a very fun day.
Mia and Ann and I discussed art. Like the meaning of this sculpture called "bronze crowd." We talked about how maybe they didn't have heads because they weren't thinking and then talked about "mob mentality" and peer pressure and how large groups often stop thinking for themselves. It was very fun to discuss art with Mia. I can't wait until Lea and I can talk about more than just "it looks like a woman."


Lea had her first single ponytail that day. She now has enough hair that I can pull it back. It didn't last all day, but she looked so pretty with the sun hitting her in the car.