Christmas Photos

Oh, the buddies had fun on Christmas morning! These are some of my favorite action shots from the day.

Texas Wigilia

Every year, on Christmas Eve, Steve's family meets at Aunt Maggie and Uncle Lenny's house for a traditional Polish Wigilia (pronounced va-le-ah). "Wigilia (from the Latin term vigilare meaning "to await") is the Polish name for Christmas Eve. When the first star appears in the sky, the Christmas tree is lit and the dinner begins. The Christmas Eve meal starts with the sharing of the oplatek (bread wafer) and exchanging of wishes. Although there are plenty of dishes on the table, this is traditionally a meatless dinner." --- Wigilia, www.polishcenter.org.

Since we did not travel to Penn- sylvania this Christmas, we hosted our own Texas Wigilia. Steve sauteed delicious pierogies for all of us and we shared a wafer in the line thanks to Aunt Maggie's care package. And everyone present had at least a little taste of pickled herring for good luck in 2007 - Grandmom would have been proud. Friends: Dan, Jean, Mia, Grandma Roberta, Madhu, and Rakesh joined our family in this wonderful tradition. We missed our Pennsylvania family so much but felt close with Wigilia.

Trikes

Grandma and Grandpa are here! Grandma and Grandpa are here! And they brought a truck full of toys!

Ben wasn't so sure about their new tricycles, but Ace jumped right on and wanted to ride. When Ben saw how much fun Ace was having, he jumped on for a ride with brother. And it wasn't long before Ben was driving his own trike all around the kitchen. They haven't quite figured out how to work the pedals but think it is sure fun to scoot around on them.

Now we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of cousin Michael, Aunt Carlee, and Uncle Mike. Hurry, hurry and get here soon!

Play Day with the Grands

Our Christmas celebration began today with the arrival of our first guests. The buddies had a terrific day getting re- acquainted with Granny and Gramps. Ace really enjoyed his time with Granny and Ben seemed quite taken with Gramps. They showed them all of their toys and books, ran all over the house and backyard, and took them on a walk in our neighborhood. I don't know who is more pooped, the grands or the buddies.

Now everyone is anxiously awaiting tomorrow's new arrivals - Grandma and Grandpa! We can't wait!!

A Philly Afternoon in Austin

After living in Texas for 10 years, Steve has finally found a place with a decent cheesesteak and it just happens to be right around the corner from our house. So, during halftime of the Eagle's game, we loaded up the buddies and enjoyed almost-authentic cheesesteaks for supper. If the sub shop had offered cheese whiz, it would have come close the sandwiches in Philly. We returned home to watch the Eagles win, so the boys in our house are happy tonight.

Toddler Top Ten List

At 19 months, the buddies have become little sponges. They learn something new every day and it amazes me how quickly my babies are becoming little boys. This is a list of the top 10 things the buddies have learned in the last few weeks:

10. Mommy and Daddy cheer when we say our new words: “ball”, “cookie“, “oops”, “great”, “pillow”, “more”, and “hat”.
9 1/2. (I had to add another.) Somersaults are fun but it is best not to do them off the edge of the couch.
9. Small plastic toys are not flushable.
8. Decorating Christmas cookies (and Miss Jen’s house) with icing and sprinkles is loads of fun.
7. Puppets like to drink out of sippy cups.
6. If you poop during nap time, just reach down the back of your diaper, grab a handful of poo, and smear it all over yourself and your crib.
5. When you smear poo two days in a row, Mommy washes the poo off in a cold bath and it is NOT fun.
4. On the third day, Mommy learns to dress you in onesies and overalls at nap time.
3. It’s fun to pull the cushions off the couch and dive on them.
2. Brothers are good for hugging.
1. Hugs should be gentle. Otherwise, you are really just tackling your brother, and he doesn’t like that.

Christmas Party Playdate

After a quiet week last week, we are back in our holiday party mode. Ace and Ben's friends, Brandon and James hosted our playgroup today and we had a holiday party. The kids all played nicely while the mommies had snacks and mimosas (just one each!).

Ace learned to ride on a tricycle and he thought it was great fun. Ben focused on scooting around James and Brandon's cars and trucks. He thinks he'll ask Santa for a cool looping racetrack - he was enthralled with it.

AMOM Holiday Party

We are attending one holiday function after another this year. This afternoon, we met up with our many twin friends at the Austin Moms of Multiples Holiday Party. My friend, Traci, organized this fabulous event. There was an inflated bounce house, a ball pit, jugglers, lots of food, wine, cookies, and best of all.... a singing, unicycling, accordion-playing Santa.
We arrived early since I had volunteered to prepare half the food and the buddies got some one-on-one time with the crazy Santa. Ace LOVED him. He just watched and watched as Santa played the accordion and sang Christmas songs. I think he was trying to figure out if it was his Uncle Jeff.

After two hours of running around with their little friends, playing in the bounce house with the big kids (the buddies have no fear!), and eating multiple cookies, we took them to the car tired and happy. Ben told us as much as we loaded him into his car seat. He said, "happy, happy, happy". I'm happy too, Benny.