Holidays – Page 2 – Our Family Adventure

Attempted holiday pictures

On Christmas Noomi refused to cooperate for a decent photo, so today I put both kids back into their Christmas outfits in an attempt to capture at least one memorable picture (Noomi’s dress was sent from my aunt Lynda in Washington, which was once Anya’s holiday outfit, and is so adorable, thank you so much aunt Lynda). I even brought up a little tree that I picked up at Kohls after Christmas, hoping it would hold Noomi’s attention. Ajax did wonderful for the pictures, but Noomi just wanted nothing to do with it. The only thing Noomi seemed to find joy in was the laundry basket. So yes, that is where her holiday photo was taken.

After our impromptu photo shoot we bummed around a bit and then went outside. It was colder today than it was yesterday, so Noomi and I weren’t out very long, but the guys started work on cutting up the large limbs that fell during the great ice storm.

On a side note- Noomi is quite a spirited child and certainly in her hitting phase. At the moment whenever she gets mad she marches over and hits me! If Dave tells her no, or makes her mad, she heads right to me and hits me. I have no idea why, I didn’t tell her no, lol. Sometimes she’ll whoop Ajax on the head while he’s watching TV and so far he has been extremely patient with her. Noomi watches everything Ajax does and immediately tries to copy him. Lately Ajax has been jumping from the coffee table onto the couch, well of course this means that Noomi wants to jump from the coffee table onto the couch. Unfortunately, she’s not that good and ends up walking off the coffee table with blind faith that you will catch her. We haven’t dropped her… yet.

Fun at the Farm

Today we headed down to Brooklyn to visit the family. We headed out fairly early, about 10 am or so, and got to my parents’ at lunch, perfect timing. The drive down went very well and Noomi did not get sick, which was a relief as our last 2 trips over an hour ended up with her getting very very ill. After lunch, we all headed out side for some sledding. Luckily there was still snow on the ground, as the Michigan weather hit near 50 degrees, which was just incredible as we’ve been stuck in a bitter cold spell this past week.

Ajax insisted on sledding down the big hill himself and did wonderful. There was a bit of a bump at the bottom, which sent him into the air, but he loved it. Noomi refused to go down the hill, but did help grandma Mary feed the horses by carrying around a grain bucket. She also enjoyed being riding in the sled and having aunt Emily pull her around. When Ajax was tired out from sledding, they headed into the barn where he helped sweep and pick up poop. Then grandpa Gordy set him up on the tractor and they drove all over the farm with Ajax steering. Noomi insisted on seeing her favorite horse Frannie and giving her a good pat. Frannie is the best horse with small children and stood perfectly still so that Noomi could pet her (which turned into wild swings with her big winter coat and gloves and large hat).

Afterwards Noomi went down for a 2 hour nap and that let my mom and I sit around drinking tea and talking, while Dave napped. Grandpa and Ajax hung out in the basement doing “guy things.” At one point they busted out the keyboard and microphone and we could hear them singing. Ajax actually knows quite a few words to songs. Grandma Flo was still a bit under the weather so we hung out and watched HGTV and criticized people’s tile choices.

We stayed for dinner and did baths there before loading the kids into the car and heading home. Ajax was asleep before we hit the expressway, but Noomi stayed up chatting most of the way home. Her word of the day was of course- horsie and Frannie.

Christmas 2013

Here are pictures from Christmas day.

Noomi received some sparkly shoes which she loved. She also got some baby dolls, one of which is a certified Cabbage Patch doll with her own red sparkly shoes. Noomi keeps taking the shoes off and on, off and on. She is also dragging it around the house, but it’s almost as big as she is. She also recieved two other baby dolls which she keeps pushing around in her new shopping cart and giving them bottles. The kids also received a kitchen play set and steel pots and pans, dishes and food. Noomi loves the kitchen stuff and has now been leaving my own pots and pans alone, since her appear look so real.

Ajax received some pretty awesome things as well. Some cool play dough trucks, some John Deere gear, Legos. Specifically, Ninjago Legos which he and Dave put together. Ajax has really been enjoying all his games and art stuffs. He received Connect 4, which was a childhood favorite for both Dave and myself. He’s also maxed out on Matchbox cars, he has to have 100 or so, and keeps lining them up in his room and racing them along his new dinosaur track. Since he’s also getting into dinosaurs, he also received a bunch of cool dino books and puzzles.

Christmas Eve – 2013

Christmas 2013! I think I must start this post by saying that both kids slept in until 8 am on Christmas morning. Let me repeat – 8 am! They never sleep in that late, never. All us adults kept waking up at 6 am, 6:30 am, we couldn’t believe they were still sleeping.

On Christmas Eve we had the family over to our house. My parents, aunt Emily, Dave’s parents, and my aunt Liz’s family. My grandma Flo couldn’t make it as she was feeling under the weather. Everyone had an excellent time, there was great food, including a 14 lb prime rib which was incredible, and family. The kids were blown away by everyone’s kindness and Ajax helped Noomi open more than one present. She was pretty overwhelmed. I tried to get good pictures of the kids all dressed up, but Noomi wasn’t very cooperative.

Ajax made reindeer food, he actually made up his own recipe, straying a bit from the traditional – oats and magic recipe. This year he also included glitter, sugar, and crushed up crackers. He said the crackers were for Rudolph. He also put out cookies for Santa that he and Noomi decorated. The kids were ridiculously cute in the Christmas jammies and of course slept beautifully. I didn’t get pictures of the kids in the PJs unfortunately.

Grandma Dara and Grandpa Rod stayed the night with their little dog Mabel (or as Ajax says – Mee-bel). It was so wonderful having them over and Christmas morning was excellent. The rest of the day was spent bumming around, eating, and playing with the kids.

Thanksgiving 2013

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving Ajax and I stayed home to bake pies and cookies and Noomi went to school for a half day, as we probably wouldn’t have accomplished much cooking with the nina. Ajax was a great help and declared that his apple pie was the best (it was darn good).

On Thanksgiving we headed to Brooklyn as dinner was at my parents’ house this year. My aunt Liz and her family were over, as well grandma Flo, and Jill even came in from Colorado. It was a was a wonderful meal and on top of that the Lions even won the game this year, so horray! Ajax and grandpa spent a good deal of time in the basement, playing pool, watching movies, and eating junk. Noomi had an excellent time running around the house nonstop, playing with the dogs, and demanding to be picked up by everyone. This was also the Thanksgiving that David challenged Emily to a game of Wizard’s Staff and totally lost.

After dinner, Dave and I headed back to Lansing, while my parents kept the kiddos. On Friday, my parents took Ajax into Dearborn to the Henry Ford Museum, while Emily, Jill, and Grandma Flo babysat Noomi. Both kids had an excellent time. Ajax loved all the old cars, planes, and trains.

I actually headed out on Black Friday and did a bit of shopping with a friend, while Dave enjoyed a quiet house. Emily brought the kiddos home on Saturday, which was nice as the house seemed a bit too quiet without them.

On Sunday, Noomi and I went grocery shopping and then when we got home we put up the Christmas tree. Ajax was so excited, he’s been asking us to put it up for a while now and loves the house decorated for the holidays. After putting up the tree, our Elf on the Shelf showed up and is named – Guillermo. Ajax is excited and a little concerned that the Elf is now watching his actions and reporting to the North Pole at night.

Halloween 2013

What a great Halloween this year!

Both Dave and I were able to leave work early and made it to the kids’ Halloween party at school. This year the school went all out and did a full on costume party. Everyone was dressed up and each class went around the school collecting candy and oranges. It was pretty darn cute. Ajax was Spiderman and Noomi was a neon colored owl. Most of the kids in Ajax’s class were super heroes of some sort.

When we got home my parents, sister and grandma Flo came over and we all enjoyed some of Dave’s wonderful chili before gearing up. Ajax was so excited he kept doing laps around the house. And Noomi was excited because Ajax was excited and was also trying to do laps. It was of course raining outside, but on the up side it was quite warm, which was kind of odd given the season. Given the odd weather we only took Noomi to a few houses in the cul-de-sac. She seemed to enjoy it, though one house had on “scary music” and she did not care for it.

I brought Noomi home and then Ajax, Dave, grandpa and Emily continued trick or treating. Grandma Flo, grandma, Noomi and I passed out candy. Noomi had so much fun carrying around her little plastic pumpkin and dumping out the candy and then putting it back in. She also enjoyed handing out candy to the kids and when Ajax got home he took up the job. Sometimes I think it’s more fun to hand out candy.

Fall activities

Fall is in full swing here, what a wonderful season. It’s cool, a bit rainy, and the leaves are changing colors. Today we carved pumpkins. This was the first year that Ajax put his hand into the pumpkin to scoop out the guts/seeds. He also asked for scary faces and they turned out quite well. Noomi sat at the table and licked the pumpkins and somehow managed to eat some of the pumpkin guts that landed on the table near her. She gobbled them up before we could stop her. Oh well, veggies right?

Besides pumpkins today was pretty darn quite. We bummed around the house. Dave and Ajax did a bit of running around. Emily stopped by to visit, but other than that pretty quiet.

While I was making dinner tonight Noomi insisted on being right under my feet. As I was working at the stove with hot oil that wasn’t the best place for her to be, but every time Dave brought back into the living room she threw a temper tantrum. We ended up putting her in her high chair in the kitchen with me so that she could watch me cook. That seemed to make her happy.

Noomi’s First Birthday!

On Saturday we had a party for Ms. Noomi Dumix! It was a wonderful day for a party and we were able to be outside for most of it. Up till Saturday Michigan had been experiencing several days in the high 90s, low 100s, with the heat index. It was down right miserable. Saturday, however, was a cool 85 in the shade. Excellent. Dave barbequed hamburgers and brat and my mom helped with the taboulli. Dave’s parents drove down early and helped with the kiddos, my parents, grandma flo, and aunt Emily came over, as well as my aunt Liz and her family, plus a friend from work. It was lovely.

Ajax helped bake Noomi’s birthday cake and insisted we put sprinkles in it; it turned out quite well. I also built Noomi her own little cake to demolish, however, when we placed her on the table with it, she daintily poked at it, then swiped it a few times, and really only ate a tiny bit before pushing the cake/plate all over the place and sticking her feet in it. I think she was more excited to sit on the table. Her party dress was quite a mess afterwards; in hindsight we should have taken it off her. She did very well when everyone sang happy birthday to her and loved the attention.

She received some lovely gifts and some fancy jewelry that I’ll put up for her in true mom fashion (I can remember my fancy jewelry being in on my mom’s dresser for years when I was little). Ajax helped her open presents and was so happy to give her the his present (a Minnie Mouse doll with a light up bow). Overall, I think she had a great first birthday. Thank you everyone for coming down and celebrating!

After cake Noomi had a mid-party bath before presents.

Summer Weekend and a First Birthday!

This past weekend it finally felt like summer. Sure we’ve had the heat and sun and annoying fireworks, but between summer events and the fact that both Dave and I have been swamped with work, we finally got some down time and it was wonderful.

As a little recap, Ajax spent Wednesday night and Thursday at my folk’s house as my cousin and her four kids (visiting from FL) were out and they all went to the lake. Ajax brought his fishing pole, but didn’t catch the bass as he’d predicted. My dad brought the boat and took all the kids for short rides. Ajax said he wanted to spend the whole day on the boat. Ajax had so much fun playing with his cousins, they ran and swam all day long and then at 7 pm aunt Emily dropped an exhausted and hysterical Ajax off at our feet, lol.

On Saturday, we cleaned the house, did laundry, Dave cut the grass, and I went grocery shopping and some baking. After cleaning Ajax always says, well that was our Spring Clean Up Day! Ajax helped Dave outside and dug several impressive holes and Noomi did laps around the house. She was so tired and fussy, but refused to nap. She has also used a dozen new words this weekend like – pretty, waffle, light, cup, milk and bear. She is also tacking on “look” while pointing (there, look there).

While I was out shopping I found a flat of petunias for $1.99, so on Sunday we spent our morning outside in the dirt planting some flowers in pots. Ajax was a great help and Noomi loved playing in the dirt. She did get a bit overzealous and ended up stripping several plants of their leaves and flowers though. It was so hot that we set up the water table and both kids loved that. Ajax washed out his JD Gator and was working pretty hard.

Ajax and I ended up running to Lowes for more dirt and there he tried out all the various tractors. We also found a few more plants on clearance, so now we also have some house plants (I hope I can keep them alive as they are quite nice). When we got home we did a bit more work outside. Ajax tried to take Noomi for a ride in his Gator, but she couldn’t quite get the hang of holding on. Noomi kept wanting to crawl through the dirt and wood chips and kept going after Ajax’s metal shovel, which she knew she couldn’t have.

On Friday, Noomi also turned ONE!! I cannot believe our little girl is a year old. I do not know where the time is going. It seems like I was just pregnant. She is such a caring and happy little girl. She is still easy going and quick to smile. She still isn’t walking, but every now and then you’ll catch her free standing. We’re having her party next weekend on the 20th, so we did a lot of planning this weekend. It should be a good time. I bought her the cutest little dress for her birthday.

Opening her first birthday present from Aunt Theresa and Uncle Tim!

Father’s Day 2013

This weekend we were all recovering from a week of no sleep. On top of that the weather has been going up and down so fast that everyone has sinus headaches and runny noses. Michigan. As I mentioned previously Noomi was up last Friday, then Ajax was up every night for a week. That meant no sleep for Dave, Ajax, and I. It hit us all pretty hard as none of us are used to getting up anymore and I had forgotten how rough that is on the body.

On Saturday morning I got up super early and went into the office for a few hours and Dave wrangled the kiddos who also decided to get up super early as well. When I got home everyone was pretty beat so we did nothing. I mean nothing. It was wonderful. We played with the kiddos, Ajax showed us his favorite tractor video – which is really a tractor video game/simulator – it’s a guy playing this video game driving around a tractor harvesting wheat and talking about farm equipment. Ajax loves it and would watch it for HOURS if we let him. The only time he gets the Kindle or watches TV is on the weekends, so hey, if he wants to watch tractor videos games, by all means go ahead. Noomi crawled around nonstop exploring and pushing all the books back on the shelf. She is also pulling herself up on everything, but isn’t too interested in holding onto your hands and walking around (which Ajax loved).

We did an easy dinner of hot dogs and then pulled out the camping grill and made up some samores (?). Ajax was so excited and got a kick out of setting his marshmallow on fire. Noomi was excited to eat a graham cracker and Dave gave her a tiny bite of a marshmallow. Afterwards, Dave and Ajax camped out in the yard! Ajax was so excited he could hardly calm down, plus he was also a little afraid. Around 3 am, it started pouring rain, and the tent leaked pretty bad so Dave had to wake Ajax up and come in the house.

On Sunday we bummed around and then around noon headed to my parent’s house for an early dinner. My aunt Liz and uncle Tom and cousin Ryan were also out, which was nice. Ajax played down at the barn for a bit and Noomi was happy being spoiled. After dinner we got on the road to beat the MIS race fans and got home around 6:30 pm.

This morning the exhaustion finally hit Ajax and Dave ended up staying home with him as the poor little guy was tuckered out. I was worried that if he didn’t stay home to rest today he would be out of commission for a week and neither of us could afford that. He is now doing much better and looking forward to school tomorrow.

Noomi loves trying on shoes lately!