Merry Christmas!

On Christmas morning, Jocelyn was excited to see that Santa had apparently left his hat at our house, and offered to distribute all the presents he had left under the tree.


This goal was quickly forgotten when she realized that most of the presents were for her and Ian, and her attention shifted to opening rather than distributing. She took quickly to the dolls she received from Momma and Nana, and seemed to take very seriously her responsibility as their Momma.


Ian loved the play table for his new Thomas the Tank Engine set...


...and they both loved their new workbench and basketball hoop.


When all their gifts were opened, Jocelyn and Ian pitched in to help others open theirs.


They are now experts at unwrapping!


We were very thankful to be able to spend Christmas morning with Nana, Grammy and Pepere! Merry Christmas to all!

Jocelyn's Birthday and Christmas Eve

Jocelyn turned three (!) on Christmas Eve and we had our usual low-key birthday celebration (we celebrate her half birthday in June with a bigger event), combined with a Christmas Eve dinner with family. She was very excited to wear the pretty red dress again that she first wore for our Christmas card, and to play with the princess-themed birthday balloons that awaited her when she woke up from her afternoon nap.


Jocelyn picked out her own cake this year, an ice cream cake shaped like Frosty the Snowman. Frosty is a favorite in our house, as she and Ian ask to watch the video nearly every day.




She got to open just a few presents before Santa arrived that night with the rest. Her favorites were the Hello Kitty dress from Grammy (which she asked to put on immediately upon opening) and a big stuffed elephant from Nana. Nana had gotten her a subscription to a child's magazine that showed an elephant on the last page, so Jocelyn had been asking for an elephant for a couple of weeks prior to the party.


Ian got his share of attention and a few presents to open too. Here he is enjoying his own balloon and being held by Caitlin...


...and here some lap time and tickles from Cathy.


He was fired up when he saw that Nana had gotten him a Thomas the Tank Engine train set...


...and loved his new monkey pajamas from Cathy.


What a wonderful night! Happy Holidays everyone!

Christmas Cookies

Jocelyn "helped" Momma out with her signature Christmas cookies again this year. She is now a whiz at applying sprinkles...


...although her primary contribution is making sure they are tasty enough for everyone else!


Yum!

Birthday Cookies

Jocelyn's school is having a birthday celebration for her soon, and she told Momma she wanted to bring gingerbread cookies instead of cake for her party. She was very excited to be able to help Momma make them.

She is an old pro with the rolling pin at this point...


...and the cookie cutter too.


Very proud of her handiwork.


The anticipation! Maybe for Christmas we need to get her an apron. :)

Edaville Railroad

Jocelyn and Ian loved their first trip to the Edaville Railroad a couple of weekends ago. If you haven't been, it is a Christmas-themed village with a bunch of amusement park rides for small kids and a locomotive that circles the grounds. When it gets dark, they turn on all the Christmas lights and it gets pretty magical for the little ones.

Jocelyn surprised us by not only wanting to go on "Big Eli" the Ferris Wheel but also by being patient in line until we could get a seat. Once on the ride, she got such a thrill when it came around each time and she could see Momma!



Ian didn't quite reach the "You Must Be This Tall To Ride" marker so he had to wait until our ride was complete. He was patient at first but after a while was pretty angry that he had to sit on the sidelines.


Pretty shortly thereafter it got dark and a little colder so we placated him with some hot cocoa, which had the desired effect.


Jocelyn was so excited after her ride on the Ferris Wheel that she decided she was up for the flying elephants ride, which was a total surprise since she is usually scared by anything that moves faster than a Merry-Go-Round. She loved it! She also seemed fascinated that people were actually outside in the dark, since she and Ian don't see too much of the outside world once the sun goes down.


Jocelyn also got a chance to sit on Santa's lap afterward. If you know our daughter, then you will not be surprised to learn that she asked Santa for a cupcake for Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2010

Many people associate Thanksgiving with eating a delicious meal. Our kids seem to associate Thanksgiving with eating up lots of attention from the family. Jocelyn, especially, is all about showing off her "pretty dress" (which she asks to wear every morning) and reveling in the attention that comes with it.


Ian, too, loves the spotlight and showing everyone what a little rough-houser he's becoming. Here he had gotten so worked up that we had to strip him down his onesie.


We were happy to have Julie's parents join us this year for the festivities. Thank you Nana for making everyone feel so welcome!

Giving thanks

With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it an opportune time to express some thoughts regarding Jocelyn's recent incident.

For those who we haven't yet told, a week ago last Sunday Jocelyn had a febrile seizure (which occurs because a child's fever is rising too quickly for their body to expel the heat fast enough) and stopped breathing for a bit (for how long I have no idea; the entire incident was a blur). Luckily, it happened when Julie's Mom and sister Jenn, both of whom are nurses, were visiting, and they were able to restart her breathing and recognized that her clothes needed to come off so that she could cool down. I do not think I will ever forget seeing Jocelyn lying on the kitchen table, unresponsive and twitching, while they administered CPR, or the look of panic in her eyes when she later tried to speak to us in the ambulance but couldn't get her mouth to form any words.

Jocelyn appears to be fine now. She still has a small lingering fever, but for the most part she seems happy and energetic, and the pediatrician thinks she is just fighting off a minor virus.

It would be the understatement of the year to say that neither Julie nor I have really come to grips yet with what could have happened. I do not think I can fathom the depths of my sadness had something more serious occurred. She deserves the opportunity to show the world the full extent of her inner and outer beauty over a long and full life. As does her brother.

So, I know what I am thankful for this year, and hope that everyone who reads this goes and hugs their little one(s) and lets them know what they are thankful for too.

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-treating was a highly anticipated event in our household this year, as Jocelyn could not wait to wear her Tinkerbell costume, complete with wings and tiara. As soon as we got her dressed she proceeded to twirl around the living room, waving her wand and (as usual) being a complete ham for the camera.


The little man seemed to like his costume too (he went as a dinosaur), but since he hates having anything on his head it was a race to see whether we could snap a picture before he took the headpiece off. We beat him by a nose.


We went trick-or-treating this year with our neighbors the Walshes. Jocelyn and their daughter Sidney are partners in crime and walked hand in hand most of the the night, which was pretty darn cute to watch.


The only exception to that was when Jocelyn insisted on walking Coco, the Walshes' bulldog that was dressed up as a devil dog. My theory is that she likes walking the dog so much because having Coco on a leash gives her a measure of control that she does not have at home, where she is usually barking commands at her little brother, and he is ignoring her.


Although Jocelyn and Ian only lasted just long enough to make it down the street and back, they got plenty of tasty treats....


...and saw plenty of cool decorations, including the fantastic jack-o-lanterns you see here.

Happy Halloween everyone!