My Giant Tuba

this is my tuba... see?

*pfffhhhhhghhh*

 

tuba goes *pfffhhhhhghhh*

see?

tuba!

 

I play my tuba, my biiiig tuba... see?

my tuba

*pfffhhhhhghhh*

tuba

My Big Christmas Tree

 
I finally broke down and invested in non-breakable Christmas ornaments... the decorator in me always wondered why on earth people would settle for them. Now I know that it's because they have 2 year olds. *sigh* I guess that's what you get when you become a Mommy... that and the hugs and kisses! I guess I can deal with the plastic ornaments! :)

So, anyway, tonight I tied what ribbon I had on ornaments and Alex hung them on the tree.

All by himself.

REALLY.

I promise right now that there was ZERO placement coaching... he arranged them on different branches at different heights ALL BY HIMSELF!

Are you amazed? I'm amazed!

How does he do it... just KNOW how something's supposed to look AND implement it? I mean, that's talent some grown adults don't have. Maybe I'll let him direct where I put the upper ones too. It would be really interesting to see what he comes up with! It could be like my own little science experiment, naturally pleasing asthetic vs nurtured opinion. Maybe.

Regardless, we're having so much fun with Christmas. Grammy & Grandpa made an advent calendar for him - this year they put a little toy car in each door, next year each will hold a piece of a nativity set. He calls it "my little Christmas tree" and goes straight to it each time we're over there. And, he can pick out his stocking on the mantle (and there are a lot of them to choose from).

Yes, Christmas is going to be lots of fun this year! And it snowed today, and Alex LIKED getting it on his shoes... last year he **FREAKED OUT** "ick, ick". We had to cut our 1st sledding short because snow landed on his boots! Tonight he stomped around "snow!" stomp, stomp. So cute!

More pictures to come... seems like there's something wonderful and new to share all the time!

Family Thanksgiving

This is my family!
Richard, Charles, Ben, Papa
Stan & Alex, Me, Mama


This is an outtake of my family:


I don't even remember what Alex did but Richard's girlfriend, Debi, was snapping the photos and doing her best to be a loon and get Alex's attention for a good picture!

It's the first complete Yoder family photo since Alex was born! He'll be 3 in January... you'd think we were all cameraphobes. Isn't it a great looking picture though!? I'm so happy we all got together - and that we have proof!

*and if my brothers are listening... I'm calling dibs on Raindrops! :)

Thanksgiving in California!

We went to CA to visit my family for Thanksgiving and had lots of fun.

We visited friends and enjoyed being outside without heavy coats on. We had dinner at the restaurant where Charles works, AND IT WAS AWESOME! I could happily go broke eating there!

We hung out at the house with all my family (and I must confess, it is possibly my favorite part of growing up, that my brothers & I were all in the same room for extended periods of time and we not once felt like causing bodily harm to one another...) Seeing them interact with Alex was enough to make my heart melt too. All my boys together!

I still have some of the pictures to download, but here's the bulk of them.



John & Shera invited us to join them horseback riding Friday, which was so much fun. (even though I fell off... I'm telling you, don't zig when your horse zags.) But what's life without adventure?!

My Dad gave Alex horsey rides and my Mom pulled out toy after toy for Alex's entertainment pleasure. Mickey Mouse and the tent were big hits... then there were Cars stickers and magic markers and all sorts of goodies!

And then Auntie Valerie arrived and it just got better! Giggle fests ensued and we joked, "that's what you get when you put 2 two year olds together!" They're just adorable. Val gets down to his level and they just soak each other up.

And Friday night my BFF kidnapped me and took me to see Wicked - which was AWESOMENESS x10. I came home doing Glinda impersonations, that's how good it was! If you haven't seen it yet, go. now.

So - we had quite the adventures. And when we got home Saturday evening it was snowing. Alex looked out the window at the airport and said "woooowwww". It was just adorable. We left for Thanksgiving and came home to Christmas, what a treat!