It's finally Christmas Eve!

Dec. 24th
Christmas Eve!
Day 359

* Today is Christmas Eve. Nixon and I were in full Santa-prep force! We cleaned the kitchen together, so we could make the cookies for him. We made peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top and cake pops. The cake pops ended up looking more like elf vomit on a stick....not pretty! But at least they're tasty!

* After dinner, Nixon got into his jammies and he got into his skunk costume from Halloween. Why? Because it's warm and we were going for car ride to look at christmas lights on houses! I made hot chocolate in travel mugs and we got into the car. We drove around for about an hour and it was beautiful! Almost no one else was on the roads, so we could drive slower and not annoy any other drivers.

* Then we came home, made Santa his coffee and plate of goodies and left it under the small tree. We also got C3PO and R2D2 and put them with the coffee and cookies too, because Santa's bringing them back to the North Pole with him tonight.
   We'll see them again next year!

Nixon met Santa today!

Nixon's school had a holiday party this evening. Nixon got to decorate cookies, play with glitter play dough, made a pipe cleaner/bead candy cane and played snowman cornhole. He even got to see Santa, sit on his lap and tell him what he'd like for Christmas. Nixon was very detailed about the only gift he asked for!

As we left and headed home, it had started to snow. Nixon loved watching the snow falling from the backseat and even better, we went on a little drive and looked at houses with lights and decorations up. 

Before he went to bed, Nixon declared tonight the "Best night ever!".

More snow, more whining!

Dec. 10th
Nixon's first school pictures! I'm biased, but he is adorable!!
Day 344

* We had another band of snow come through today. It was predicted to bring 3-6 inches of snow, we ended up with about 2 inches which quickly melted after it stopped falling around 1pm.
    It did come down pretty hard a times and Nixon was fascinated by the giant snowflakes.

* Nixon had a serious issue today with whining and talking back. I don't know what the problem was, but I'd had enough! He was just being rude for no reason. At one point, I sent him to his room and Mac decided the spare bedroom was a better place for him no toys.

* But he also had his sweet moments too. He cuddled under the blanket on the sofa with me, laying down on my chest and watching TV with me. He was being totally adorable and very loving. I'll take these moments when I get them.

"It's snow! It's raining snow from the sky!"- a winter weather gem from Nixon today.

Dec 8th: Nixon and his first ever snowman
Day 342

* Our county had a winter storm advisory in effect from this morning until 10am Monday morning. Having grown-up outside of Buffalo, NY myself, the conditions that were being predicted were laughable (1-3" of snow!! some icy rain) but as this is only the second winter Nixon has been in a place where snow happens, I got a little bit of that old familiar joy when I saw big, fluffy flakes coming down from the sky around 11am.

* Nixon stood by the back door and just watched the fluffy flakes fall. Just awed as they started sticking to the garbage can and the table we have outside. He looked at me and said "Mommy, look! It's snow! It's raining snow from the sky! It's a lot of snow!" He was so happy!

* I got Nixon bundled up: thermal shirt, tee shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, beanie, gloves, pj bottoms (because he doesn't have long johns) and jeans plus boots. Then I got myself all winter ready and we headed outside! My baby boy was so excited! We tossed snow at each other, took a short walk to the backyard and played back there, made a mini-snowman (Nixon's first snowman of any kind!).
   After we came inside, I made us hot chocolate with marshmallows, because any other kind is a waste!

watching the snow fall...just awed by it.

Nixon threw a snowball at me! He was so happy to be playing in the snow.

A return visit from Captain Obvious

* Out running errands today, it started wet sloppy snowing. Nixon's seen snow and played in it but hasn't ever been outside in it while it was snowing heavily. I took him to the car while Mac paid for our items and it was pretty ugly outside. Nixon was all disgusted as I was buckling him in his carseat telling me "Mommy, this snow is getting me all wet and cold. It's not pretty at all!" I laughed and told him "I know baby, sometimes snow is just a big mess." He says "Crap on a stick mom, it's getting my chips wet. This is not fun at all."
  Guess he's as over snow as I am. haha Well, I grew up outside of Buffalo, New York and spent 20 plus winters there, he's in his first winter. I think he'll get over it and love it again next time it's not ruining the bag of chips he was enjoying :) He gets that from his daddy.

this was right before I had to "wrestle" with my sleeping child, to keep his fingers out of his mouth! It's a helluva struggle to break him of this habit and he's terrible at it in his sleep. I won, tonight, this one round...it's a small victory, but one I'm quite proud of!

"You look good mommy"

* Nixon came up behind me, while I was loading the washing machine, and says "Mommy, you look good loading the laundry." You'd think it was him being sarcastic, but he's being totally complimentary when he says this. And he says it to other people. He's said it to Mac, to his Aunt F, to Amber (our cat). He's very generous with him compliments, which is wonderful since I'm in the middle of losing weight.

* Tornado watch in January? Sure, why not. Nixon's sleeping in bed with me, Mac's at work tonight.

he's leaving me a little room in the bed...who knew a little guy was capable of taking over a  giant bed on his own!

It's SNOW!!

* Nixon has not ever played in snow. Until today that is:

* The family ran a few errands this afternoon, in the cold (cut us some slack, this is our first winter in below 50 degree weather in 4 years...so yes, it's cold!). Mac and Nixon had been singing in the car, but when it came time to walk outside, Mac was the only one singing. Nixon says "Dad, can you please stop? It's too cold and I'm trying to walk here."

Probably dreaming of more snow for snowballs...winter's just begun, my son, there will be more!