Christmas part 2

We packed up the car on Friday and drove down to Miami. While we are packing up the car- Nico was sitting in the front seat of car "driving" when he nose-dived out of the car while reaching for the door. It was an epic face plant. He ended up with a pretty good scrape on his forehead.

We got down to Miami and did Christmas on Saturday morning.


One really cool thing about where they live is that its about a mile away from the beach. So I got to run on the beach every day we were there. Which was fun.

The highlight of the trip though, was taking Nico to the zoo.  The lions were pretty cool.  As evidenced here. 


But ultimately the zoo wore him out.

Altogether it was a pretty great weekend.  :)

Christmas

So it has been a pretty crazy last couple of weeks. Between the three games a week, doing christmas, having to work and such, I have been getting my ass handed to me. Plus, I am trying to run a half marathon in February- so a lot of my extra time has been taken up by training for that. We ended up taking two losses just before the break- 2-0 to Arnold and 2-0 to Leon. On the upside- we have four games after the break... hopefully we will get some of our DL list back.

As for Christmas- we opened gifts on Friday morning. We meant to do it sooner, but it was just too much of a beat down. We had five days without any childcare and two fulltime jobs to work. As well as shopping, presents, post-office trips, etc. While this new gig is nice, it is not like working for the state, where you arent there when you arent there. Seems like I need to bring my boss cookies or something to remind him why he hired me... in case he forgets and is tempted to fire my ass. Yikes.

Here is a video of Nico opening the tool bench. I decided at the last minute not to stain or paint it. I like the look of the plain wood- so I sanded it down.


If you remember, this is the one that I asked Cody to make... it turned out way awesome. It goes really well with the REAL play tools that I accidentally got Nico. Yeah. Responsible parenting: FAIL.

Nico was absolutely spoiled this year. Totally rotten. Santa brought Nico a basketball hoop and some hockey sticks. He got a ton of musical instruments from GranNY You, Aunt Nicole and Grandpa (including real drums). He got a play-food set from Aunt Rosie and all kinds of fun stuff. In fact, I have hidden some of it away for a rainy day :) One of the things he REALLY likes is his new tieko coat from Grandma and Grandpa. As seen here:

I have been himming and hawing on getting an ipad. I really want one- and actually see some use for one at work. But the entry level ones are still like 600+ dollars. Dave and I had talked about getting one and retiring my kindle to him... but I am not sure I want to give up the kindle. I ended up getting him a kindle any ways... now he can read more- he wont be looking for his book or not bringing it to work with him to read at lunch because it is too big.

Its getting late for me, so I am going to sign off- will try to write more tomorrow.

The Whacky Barn

Child sized grocery carts? Yes!! We would like one.

So Tallahassee is the new epicenter of hippie food places. The original place is an actual Co-op. It was followed by Fresh Market (a Whole Foods knock off). Then Earth Fare came to town. Word on the street is that Whole Foods is coming- gonna be right across the street from Jo-Anns... SCOREBOARD!! I like Earth Fare a lot, because it is where the pretend hippies go (unlike New Leaf where the real hippies go). When I am at Earth Fare, I dont feel like everyone is judging me because Nico isnt wearing a hemp diaper and I like to smell like clean, not like Patchouli. I feel like I should be wearing dreads and breastfeeding Nico while wearing sustain-ably made natural fibers made by an old woman in India. But that is neither here nor there. New Leaf has a kick ass beer selection, but Earth Fare's meat counter is better and their produce is better. I think. In any case, Earth Fare has these little grocery carts which Nico LOVES. Its really adorable. He likes pushing his cart around the store. Practical for a week's worth of groceries? No. Practical for dinner on the fly home? Why, yes it is.

Speaking of Nico... he is getting into the Christmas spirit. Yesterday Dave was talking to him about Santa and how we should go see them. Nico's response: "And then we will say, "Merry Christmas!" It's pretty great.

I think that I have made up my mind: I wanna take Nico to the Miami Zoo when we are down there for Christmas. So Mike and Gay, get out your walking shoes- we are taking the boy!! Also, it has this thing called "the whacky barn." Need I say more? No, you say. You want to go too?

Potty Training

So- Dave and I talked about it this weekend- and we are thinking that it might be time to potty train Nico. He hates getting his diaper changed. He says he wants to get stickers for going on the potty. I think its time. But I am not trying to be stopping every 10 minutes on the way to Miami for Christmas. So I think we are going to do it the week we get back. The FSU COM is closed- so I will be home with him. Seems like a good time. Yikes.

Other than that- I mostly have Christmas shopping done. Just gotta tie up a few loose ends. Am hoping Santa is real good to me this year and I get an ipad. I just want one. I just do. I cant help it.

We played last night. We won. Really easily. All the original varsity members have scored a goal this year (except for Chelsea Thompson- who broke her arm before season started). We have a game tonight and Saturday. Then a game next week- then Christmas. Just trying to get through.

All for now.

for real.

Dear Family and Friends,
I made these last week.

It was Thursday night, I came back into town from practice and we had our sitter watching Nico. I ran through town in an epic Christmas shopping blitz. I was at the Lowes next door when I felt like I should bake some cookies. So I strolled into Publix and got the items for this. They were delicious. I prolly shouldnt admit to this, but I have eaten most of them. Dave and Nico have gotten a few... but sadly, this has mostly been about me. And they ARE really bad for you. Know how some things you eat and you're like, "That wasn't really as decadent tasting as I thought it would be... it prolly doesnt have THAT many calories." And then your eyes POP out of your head when you see you just at 54954987324958723 calories? This isnt like that... you pretty much know you ate your daily allotment of calories in one bite. And you just dont care.

Apparently, I need to "Martha Up" in this hizzie and learn to sew. Because I want this real bad:

As Senator Clay Davis would say:


Went 1-2 in the tournament this weekend. Lost our big center back due to a cracked ankle. Out 4-6 weeks. Got another game tonight and tomorrow. Just need to get through till Christmas.

Nico is now providing the excuse, "I have lots of things to do," for why he cant take a nap or go to bed. Its adorbs.

adorbs.

Seriously, can't you just eat him up?

Also, check this out:



Isnt that awesome??

Getting the holiday started...

We had a really fun weekend around here. We played at Chiles on Friday night. And lost 1-0. We missed a PK, so we could have tied it 1-1. I can admit when I cause us to lose- and it was on me on Friday. When we got the PK, we quickly decided to let our attacking center mid take it. I dont think that she was having that great of a game... and I didnt think she could handle it if she missed. So I made the call and had our little big gun take it, thinking that if she missed, she could handle it (SIDE NOTE: in hind sight, this always ends badly... there was no good that could have come from making that switch).

Well... she missed and I was wrong. You know how there is no crying in baseball? Well, there isnt supposed to be any crying in soccer. But did... she was crushed. It one sense my heart kinda breaks for her... because she doesnt really know how good she is- because if she knew how good she is, she'd shake it off and just say, "that's okay, I have 20 minutes to get that back". Or maybe she has such a wide view of the team that she knows that was our best chance to beat Chiles. In any case, there has only been one other time that I have had a player cry that put me on the edge ready to start weeping... and its weird because it was in the completely opposite situation... we were playing at home and we were getting our butts handed to us. By Bay, I think. And Shay was in tears. I think we'd just gotten mercy ruled at home. And I told her that I could take a lot... I can handle a lot, but I cant handle her crying. She needed to suck it up.

I tried to get the little big gun's head screwed back on... but she basically played with tears on her face for the rest of the game. Had a couple of decent opportunities late, but it wasnt enough. Of course, the Chiles team triple teamed her all night. They didnt even play with her in the back... if the ball came into their defensive third, they just played it away, taking no chances with her.

Saturday was kinda fun- I went with some old coworkers from the DOH to Market Days, which is an annual craft fair in Tallahassee. I got some Christmas shopping done (whoot!!) When we got home, my friend LaVon taught me how to use the bread maker that my mom and dad got me for Christmas.

Which was cool... when we were at Market Days, I bought some peach preserves that went on this bread perfectly. Soooo delicious. I even had some for breakfast this morning.

Saturday night, we went to the Winter parade in downtown. I took some pictures and video of Nico but lost them when I synced my phone last night. Sorry. Here is a picture of Nico and me:

Sunday we had the girls over for a little team bonding... we watched the NCAA Championship game and then our game tape. They are fun!!

Afterwards, we went to Lowes to get our tree. Nico got a little tree (a branch that he found on the ground and carried it around). Now I gotta figure out how to make this thing stand on its own:

And our tree:

Dave and I tend to disagree on a lot of things when it comes to decorating and how to use the space that one has. For example, our office at home has three doors. Necessary? No. If it were up to me, I would permanently close one and have more space. But, Dave thinks that looks trashy... but one thing we both agree on is that we both like the look of a minimalist tree... no christmas ornaments... just lights and garlands. I can live with that. When Nico gets a little older (and can help decorate the tree- we might have to have two trees... an elegant one with just lights and garland and the other one... with all kinds of stuff on it :)

Its gonna tickle...

Nico knows about Santa. Can you believe it? I thought his first really fun Christmas would be next year, but turns out he is learning about Santa at school and from his friends (Avery went to see Santa and told some kids at school about it). Nico knows that Santa says "Ho ho ho." How great is that? Also, Nico has taken to describing extreme things with "big fat". So Santa has a "big fat" belly. And a "big fat" beard. And a "big fat" red coat and "big fat" boots. Its pretty fun.

His language development continues to amaze Dave and me. He's using "just" a lot- which is awesome. He wants "just a little ketchup" or "just one more minute." But probably the best thing he is doing is repeating things I say... so for example, whenever we brush his teeth. Lets be real here, two year olds suck at brushing their teeth. So, I often help. This works much better than me holding him down and force brushing his teeth, which is kinda like trying to force brush a cat's set of teeth.

So I let him brush his teeth and then tell him he missed a few spots that I have to get. I start with his lower teeth. Then his upper teeth. Then I tell him, "Now we gotta do the roof of your mouth- its gonna tickle." And so now, when I am done with his lower teeth he says, "Now we gotta doe the roof of my mouth- its gonna tickle." My heart breaks into a thousand pieces every time he says it. Its hilarious. He's also starting to use his imagination- in that he is substituting other things for a particular situation.

So the other night we went to Bahn Thai for dinner and we tell him we gotta hold hands in the parking lot, so that we dont get hit by a car. He says, "I dont wanna get hit by a car." Then he says, "I dont wanna get hit by a train either" and "I dont wanna get hit by a grocery cart" and "I dont wanna get hit by an airplane." Its really the most amazing thing.

Such a fun stage.

Here is a family picture that we took last weekend. We ordered our Christmas cards last night- whoot!!