On the First Week of Christmas…

Because of the busy schedules of everybody involved, Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia came over for an early Christmas on the 7th of December! They picked a great day, too… it was the one magic day of the week that had flurries instead of snow showers.

We all had a fantastic time… Ian’s personality really shined and he did us all proud.

I’ll tell the rest of the story through video and pictures.

I took the videos that Grampa Dave shot with his camera and stitched together the best moments that he captured into one large movie. It is 7mb in size. Click this link to watch the video if you have the bandwidth/connection to handle it.
Early Xmas Highlights

Just to get us all in a festive mood, here’s a great shot that Grampa Dave took of one of our favorite ornaments! See this image larger.

And for those of you Scrooges that need to get in their mood, here’s Ian’s “poison apple” face. See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia takes the time to read Ian a story while he waits patiently to begin opening presents. See this image larger.

First present, a sweater with a train on it? Cool! “Daynkoo!” (Thank you) See this image larger.

I love this shot because of how wide-eyed Ian is about his new robot. If you didn’t get a chance to check out the highlight video, we asked him what it was, and quite clearly he said “robot!” See this image larger.

He was as patient as an almost two-year-old can be, but this didn’t stop him from being very excited. Here he leans to get a look while Grandma and Grampa attempts to release the robot from its packaging. See this image larger.

As excited as he was, this still did not compare to his excitement when opening his big mystery gift! It was a tee-pee/tent! See this image larger.

“Guys you’ve got to see this, there’s like this whole other room in here!!!” Indeed, he grabbed Grampa, Grandma, Da and Ma and pulled us all into the tent. See this image larger.

A nice hug for Grampa Dave… it is neat to see such love in my father’s and son’s eyes. Moments like these add years to your life, I’m absolutely sure. See this image larger.

You still having fun in there? See this image larger.

“Let’s see, robot – check, Grampa Dave – check, doggie – check… I’ll be right back with more!” See this image larger.

Thank you Grandma Marcia and Grandpa Dave for your generosity, and making the trip out to see us for early Christmas! See this image larger.

I can’t really think of any other good stories, but as I may have mentioned, if I leave a hanging “One…” with a pregnant pause, he’s chimed in with “two” and “three.” He also has “readysetgo” down, particularly if you ask him the right way.

Weather or Not (outlook on Florida trip)

Welcome to the present… (I’ll go back in time and continue Ian’s adventures over the course of the coming days — yes I’m even planning on catching up on the road, if possible.)

Here’s the outlook on the Florida trip. The weather is supposed to be horrible tomorrow when our flight leaves. Locally here in GR we’re expecting 6-12 inches of snow, and nothing but blizzards for the coming many days. I’m dropping everybody a note here to explain what we’re doing just in case we don’t get a better chance to explain later. The weather is fine right now — we’re thinking we should drive out to Lansing and camp out there tonight. The total damage tomorrow is supposed to be 3-6 inches there, so we’re assuming that the biggest problem tomorrow would be getting to Lansing from Grand Rapids. Why put off stressing tomorrow when we can stress out tonight? 😉

A nice woman from Melissa’s work is supposed to come over and check up on the cat twice over the coming ten days. I wish her a whole lotta luck getting up our driveway — and wish there was more that I could do about it. Sorry Quinn! See this image larger.

EDIT – We have made it to the motel in Lansing… we thought we were being clever by hopping on the road early but it ended up being a perilous trip regardless… low visibility and slippery roads. Geh. Hopefully it’ll pay off in the long run, at least we can take the shuttle from the motel tomorrow to get to the airport. I’ll keep you updated! (Computers in the lobby with internet access, awesome! 🙂 )

EDIT – We are in Florida and doing just fine. I’ll give an update as to how the Florida trip went overall after we get back.

Wincing in a Winter Wonderland

You know that thing kids do on TV commercials where they go outside and play in the snow giggling and tromping around until they’re completely numb and have to have hot cocoa to even get close to feeling their fingers again? Didn’t happen. (These are from just before Grandma Marcia and Grampa Dave’s visit!)

The bad news is this took 15 minutes to get him to look like this… the good news is we can just keep him like this for the next 6 months. Right? What, no? See this image larger.

“This is why I usually just hand Da the remote control when he asks if we should go outside.” See this image larger.

They sent this one back from daycare… Not a happy little boy! There’s a tear trail frozen down one cheek and everything. They really shouldn’t send these to parents unless they want a stream of us to come storming in and rescue our kids. 😉 See this image larger.

Thanksgiving 2008 Epilogue

Finally, here are the videos I promised everybody.

The first one is of Ian and Kaylee at their cutest. Click here to see the video, of the “two man horse.” (Watch it once without reading this and I’ll point out a couple things on your second time through… Notice that the horse stops to pick up a boat? It also stops for Ian to pick up a blanket… if you turn up your volume you can hear him exclaim “blankey!” as it comes into view. A moment later you hear me laugh and as Grandma Barb comes into view “Gramma!”

The second movie is not for the feint of heart. This is Connor singing “Who Wants to be my Girlfriend?” I did my best to match his radical musical styling with crazy and chaotic camera direction. Great Grandma Chapman, I think you can skip this one. (I will say that you might love Ian’s reaction. Something about the timing of those claps…) Mostly I wanted to make sure Mel and Ben had access to this for when Connor brings home his prom date in 10 or so years. 😉 Check out “Connor Sings!” here.

Giving Thanks in Ohio 2008, Part V

Yep, I’m still catching up with Thanksgiving! So many pictures! Now where were we? Oh yes, the evening of the 28th… It’s time to switch into some PJ’s!

Ian on keyboards, Connor on vocals… singing his first platinum single “Who wants to be my girlfriend?” (I’ve got video of Connor performing this, which is certainly blog-worthy at some point in the future 🙂 ) See this image larger.

Connor and I chill out between rounds of Lego Batman for Playstation2. See this image larger.

Grandma Barb and Ian cuddle up for a nice picture, and then it’s time… See this image larger.

For another horsey ride! Oooo boy! See this image larger.

A wonderful shot. I love my kid in footy pajamas… he gets so many hugs in those its a wonder he ever gets to go to sleep. See this image larger.

Uh oh, Kaylee and her Aunt Melissa are almost down for the night… See this image larger.

“Kunnur? Kunnur!? Sorry to wake you but I need a red foam block like the one you’re lying on. I need two. No I don’t see another.” In actuality if I remember correctly, Ian may have helped supply these blocks to needy weary heads. See this image larger.

The morning of the 29th and cousin Connor helps Uncle Ben put up the outside lights… I’m glad we did get a picture of Ben in here somewhere, seems like I always manage to miss somebody per trip. See this image larger.

“Then a day or two after Thanksgiving, Grampa Ray came to say ‘Reindeer with your coat so bright, won’t you light the lawn tonight…'” See this image larger.

I believe it was the 29th when we headed on home to Grand Rapids. To be honest the ride home was an 8.5 hour white-knuckle scare-a-thon, from low visibility rain and fog in Ohio to blizzards from central to west Michigan where top speed was 55mph. It was bad. Very bad. Still when we got back it didn’t stop Ian from saying “Kunnur? Kayee? mmmmmmmmmMmmmmmmm beep beep!” This was his way of saying he was already ready to go back so that he could see his favorite cousins!

Giving Thanks in Ohio 2008, Part IV

Ah finally the photoshoot… This is still the 28th, for the record.

A moment of freedom before being posed… See this image larger.

I think it was Melissa that came up with the idea of seeing how Ian liked this rocking pony. He loved it immediately. See this image larger.

The winning shot as far as I’m concerned. Would have been nice to get them looking at the camera, but one takes what one can get when there’s three hyperactive minds ready to rebel at any moment! 😉 See this image larger.

Da – “Ok, everybody pretend you’re a mannequin… Wow, nice!” See this image larger.

You two at it again? We’re going to have to get out a family tree and explain what “first cousin” means. See this image larger.

Here’s a good full-body shot of Ian in his cure clothes and looking a little shy! See this image larger.

Catch with Connor? Ian’s dream come true! Here’s an excellent reception! See this image larger.

A beautiful throw! See this image larger.

I swear I wasn’t holding his arms back here. See this image larger.

Kaylee and Aunt Melanie both sittin’ pretty! See this image larger.

Alright you two, knock it off! See this image larger.

Giving Thanks in Ohio 2008, Part III

“I’m sorry to hear that Kermit, it is actually pretty easy being orange.” (This is from the 27th and should have been in last entry, technically.) See this image larger.

The evening of the 28th… “If only there was something fun to do…” See this image larger.

“WOOHOO! Something fun to do!!!” See this image larger.

Two more monkeys jumping on the bed! See this image larger.

Time to dress up for tonight’s big photoshoot, but Ian escapes with only his socks successfully adorned! See this image larger.

We got a shirt on ’em, oh dang there he goes again! See this image larger.

My friend and nephew Connor and I pose for the camera to show how hip we are. We’re also pretty sure we’re looking tough with that pink and purple background going on. 😉 See this image larger.

Photoshoot and more fun from the evening of the 28th coming in Part IV!

Giving Thanks in Ohio 2008, Part II

More stories, more stuff!!! November 27th, 2008! GOOOOO!

“I hear reindeer hooves… and… DID YOU HEAR JINGLING? YOU CHECK YOUR WINDOW!” See this image larger.

Ok so you’re probably wondering what this is all about. Kaylee has this toy, it is kind of like a really simplified tent… just two pieces of somewhat rigid fabric with flexible support pieces at each end. Kaylee and Ian hopped inside of this and began walking around like one of those two-man horse costumes. If you don’t think this is cute, wait for an entry or two and I’ll link you to some video guaranteed to make you smile. See this image larger.

While a lot of time was spent establishing which toy was whose this trip, it was awesome seeing these two work together the rest of the time. I can’t wait to get that video on here. See this image larger.

I don’t know if you noticed that shuffling around under that tent made for a little bit of static, did you, Ian? See this image larger.

We had a blast jumping up and down, and running all over. See this image larger.

Uh oh… spontaneous dance urge! See this image larger.

This image is too easy, you guys can choose your own caption. If you can’t think of one try something involving the authorities like “OHIO DIAPER PATROL, NOBODY MOOOVE.” or something with a dance move like “WHYYYY (picture) SEEEE AYYYYY!” or even “Heeeeey Macarina!” See this image larger.

Here’s some other stories:
Ian slept in our room all three nights of our stay, and we were surprised to hear him blurt out words in his sleep in the middle of the night. “Hi Bob!” was on the first night. On the second night I suddenly heard BEEP BEEP! followed by the sounds of regular breathing. And on the last night he exclaimed “DOGGIE!” as if somebody had revealed one under a blanket or something. If only we could see into those dreams, I wonder how much fun we’d all have?

Connor has a fan in Ian, that’s unmistakable. During the trip Ian followed Connor around saying “Kunnur?” or “Kunnur! Kunnur!” depending on whether or not he was within sight.

Earlier in that week, just to note it, he went from saying “curcle” to “Diss izza curcle.” He also said a very hilarious “NoooOOOoooo” to Melissa when she asked if he was spitting out his water. If you could have seen the smile on his face during that response, his chin wet with freshly spit out water… it would be more amusing. Suffice to say that sarcasm has found its way into our child’s mind and I have no idea where it came from. Wink wink. 😉

Giving Thanks in Ohio 2008, Part I

On November 26th we drove on down to Ohio, with a car full of stuff and sleepy people. It was a fast trip this time, with little in the way of issues. (We’ll save those for the trip back to Michigan a few days after this entry…) Over our stay we had a great time, as usual, with lots of shopping, eating, and video games to be had.

First, let’s give thanks to Melanie for organizing, hospitality and preparing, and all the ladies for the cooking that went with said preparation!

Next let’s give thanks to life’s three big necessities, family, milk, and a smattering of toys! See this image larger.

“Not now Grandma, I’m on the phone… buy buy sell sell sell.” See this image larger.

Tea for two, and probably a little drool for three 😉 See this image larger.

Kaylee and Ian check out Ian’s sleeping accommodations and find them acceptable and also quite a bit fun to play in! See this image larger.

“Weird nightlight thingy, tell me your secrets!” See this image larger.

“Go give Kaylee a kiss Ian, Kaylee give Ian a kiss…” And boom this happened. It was hilarious, and cute, but it did make me wonder where they’ve seen people kiss that nicely… arms in the right spots, heads tilted to avoid nose-bashing. Heck I don’t think I knew that until I was 15! See this image larger.

“You think I’m funny? I’m some kind of JOKE to you?” Ian has a “Goodfellas” moment. See this image larger.

“9mm uzi…” Kaylee has a “Terminator” moment. See this image larger.

That girl’s got some serious energy! And a whole lotta happy! See this image larger.

And this one’s in here because sometimes the best pictures are a little out of focus. I think Ansel Adams said that. I’m kidding. See this image larger.

It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

When Ian goes down for a nap, one of three things generally happens. The smartest thing that could happen is that Melissa and I would take a nap to try to get a fraction of the energy necessary to keep up with out child’s recharging batteries. Usually I decide to go play video games, or work. But this day we decided it was time to get out the Christmas tree and set it up. And this is no three hour task. Furniture is moved, floors are vacuumed, gates are reoriented, dead Christmas tree lights are tossed aside and quickly replaced by energy efficient LEDs. So you can imagine Ian’s surprise when he awoke to find all of this work completed… he went upstairs leaving the old living room, he came downstairs to a slightly new world.

Ooooh, somebody’s still a little sleepy. See anything different kiddo? See this image larger.

“OVER THERE, MA!” See this image larger.

“I am as overjoyed as I am exhausted and surprised!” See this image larger.

“Hurray!” See this image larger.

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” See this image larger.

Ian checks the lights to make sure he shouldn’t say “Haht!” See this image larger.

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