You know what…Chad is Right

It is more fun to cook knowing someone else has to clean up the mess!  Happy New Years Eve Chad!!!!

Retraction

The other day in my post about the City Museum I may have quoted some inaccurate information and being the credible news source that I am I thought I should correct the error.  I stated that multiple children die every year at the City Museum.  Chad has since corrected me and told me that he merely said that children have died at the Museum before.  Then he proceeded to search the Internet and did not find a single story to back his theory up.  So, at this point I'm not sure where we stand on this issue but for now I believe I will stop constructing the bubbles I was making for my children to live in and I might even allow them to go back to the Museum….eventually.

I mean when I take a second look at this place it is TOTALLY safe.  There's a friendly Big Boy statue how could it be bad?  I mean if you ignore the chicken wire to crawl through, the things to balance on and the holes in the floor it is completely safe.  Like putting your kids in a padded room really.

Bring on the Mess

We all knew the day would come.  The day we would have to break out the Bumbo, the bibs and the cereal and start feeding this kid some real food (if you can even really call it that).  Not gonna lie I put it off a bit just because I knew it would be such a mess and honestly it's so much easier to just feed your kid a bottle.  Is it cool to send them to Kindergarten with a bottle?  No?

So here is Bennett's first take on real food.  Look at that boy giddy with anticipation!

We got some mixed reviews I'm not gonna lie.  At first he was not so sure…

Then he started to think this was A-OK!

And of course every kid loves a good clean-up crew...

Next thing you know I'll be making him some delicious homemade baby food.  You read that right folks, this chick got a Baby Bullet for Christmas.  The box says and I quote…"Just wholesome food that your baby will enjoy…because it was made with love!"  They have obviously never tasted my cooking.  Chad thinks I won't use it, and honestly I doubt myself sometimes too.  I'm merely writing it in this blog to hold myself accountable.  Bring on the sweet potatoes!

Where the Imagination Runs Wild

No, I'm not that clever that is the actual tagline for the City Museum…I think.  And honestly they couldn't be more spot on.  If you've never been to the City Museum you really need to put it on your list of things to do, whether you have kids or are a kid at heart it is incredible.  I will give you a small disclaimer though…this place is flat out dangerous.  There are little crevices to fall in, sharp objects to fall against…all in all it's a mother's nightmare.  But it's so fun you just have to get over it.  Chad conveniently told me AS WE WERE LEAVING that multiple children die here every year.  Not sure what his source of information is, but he reads a lot of news on the internet (and everything on the internet is true) so I'll believe him.  I guess we'll never be going back.

Just to prove that we were living on the wild side, here are a few pictures of the "oh so safe" museum.  Basically the rule at the City Museum is if you can fit in it, it's fair game.  A big huge jungle gym basically, unfortunately my 3 year old is a lot smaller than I am and he can fit in all sorts of interesting places.  Note the picture on the bottom, Nolan crawled underneath some sculpture and Chad had to follow.  You can see Chad's shoes sticking out and Nolan's wee little head sticking out from yet another little hole underneath.  Woohoo for Chad and his skinny self for following him around.  Words to the wise:  don't wear any sort of low rise jean to this place, no one wants to see your underwear I promise you.  Knee pads might be nice too, just saying.

And here are some things that make the place so neat, from left to right….
1.  What can I say, we love the poke your head through the art pictures in this family.
2.  You can wear a 3 year old out in NO TIME, sliding down ramps, running from his parents, going down slides…HEAVEN.
3.  Enough visual stimulation to keep a 4 month old happy (although I wouldn't recommend bringing one if you don't have to ;))
4.  Cool things to climb on/in.
5.  Cool things to take pictures of (that's me in the mirror in case you were wondering if I was on this trip or not).
6.  And if all else fails a little train for the kiddos, makes every kid smile.

Then we came to the HUGE ball pit, and honestly Nolan would have stayed out here all day but it was COOOOOOOOLD outside so we made him come in eventually.

We even got the whole family in for this little party, woohoo for the City Museum!

Santa Baby

Well you knew it had to be done, I had to torture my child in some form or fashion this holiday season so here it is.  I kept it on the light side this time and just dazzled him up with a little santa hat, I mean who can resist a naked baby in a santa hat?  Not this chick that's for sure!

Serious Santa

Happy Santa!

And just because I think it's kind of fun, here is Nolan on his first Christmas vs Bennett on his first Christmas.  Pretty cute little Santas if I do say so myself!!

Do-Over

Last year in our little circle of friends we had a Pregnancy Epidemic, lots of pregnancies not a lot of drinking.  Soooo, we are having a few 30th birthday do-overs around these parts so we can celebrate getting old the proper way with a great group of friends and some great bottles of wine!  Perfect combination, yep I think so.

Julia turned 31 recently, although she'll be happy to tell you she is 29 if you ask, and we headed out to the wineries for the day.  Great day with a great group of people.  Thought I would share a few pictures….

 First we will start with the guest of honor making her way around the room….

Next, I will show you what happens when someone else has my camera for a few minutes.  Here are the pictures I was blessed with (along with about 50 pictures that were totally out of focus and unrecognizable).  

Next, just a few action shots.  A few noteworthy things about these pictures: 

1.  Jessie (the one in the red coat) is back in drinking condition these days which is always good for some entertainment value.  She's lucky I used this picture as opposed to the picture I have of her showing us all that she had a large hole in the armpit of her sweater yet proceeded to wear it anyways hoping no one would notice.  Oops, did I just say that?  

2.  At the bottom you'll note Steve trying to make some heartfelt speech and all Julia wanted to do was eat her delicious cakepop…but who can really blame her?

Little Thomas joined the party for a bit on this fine day and I'm including this picture because I think it's adorable and I always appreciate a good picture with a baby and their mama.  Doesn't happen too often with this family so I assume it doesn't happen all that often with other families either!  

And finally a little group shot with the girls.  Fine looking crew don't you think?  

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I'm scared to death of you, but I would really like Optimus Prime and Megatron for Christmas please.

Love,
Nolan

Hopefully Santa is a follower of this blog otherwise Nolan might be one disappointed fella come Christmas morning.  We attempted the Santa visit not once, but twice folks and to no avail.  Nolan still has yet to sit on Santa's lap, or even stand next to him without screaming for that matter.  Bennett on the other hand is getting in good with Mr. C so he should be good to go with all of his Christmas wishes.

So I guess we'll start from the beginning.  Nolan told us he wanted to go talk to Santa and since he was the one that initiated this meeting Chad and I quickly scooped up the kiddos and were out the door. Surely this meant he was actually going to talk to Santa, right?  So we got to good old Bass Pro which is a winter wonderland really and Nolan wouldn't even step foot in the area that contained all of the wintery goodness.  This is as far as he got….

I even used Bennett as bait (sorry Bennett, I know if it were up to you you would have tried to help too).  I sat Bennett up on Santa's lap and tried to convince Nolan that he wasn't hurting Bennett so surely he wouldn't hurt him either…nothing.  So here is Bennett's first trip to meet Santa….

Okay, on to round two.  Nolan again told us he wanted to see Santa.  This time he conveniently picked the busiest Saturday of the season, but again we scooped the boys up and were out the door.  Thankfully Grandpa and Grandma Struckmann were out doing a little Christmas shopping and stood in line for us for a bit before we got there.  Nolan stood in line for quite a while, saw Santa from a distance...seemed okay.  He found a fishing pole and decided he wanted to show Santa the fishing pole and ask him for it for Christmas.  Brilliant really, can't screw it up if he has a visual aid right?  So here are the boys in line anxiously awaiting their visit….

And then it happened.  It was our turn finally.  I don't think this picture needs much explaining.

So again Bennett got a solo visit with Santa.  They are getting to be good buddies this year. (someone needs to remind Santa that he should be looking at the camera at all times so that when the 4 month old baby actually looks that way they might both be looking at the camera, just a thought that might make it's way to a suggestion box)

I've pondered this whole "scared of Santa Claus" thing quite a bit.  It intrigues me a little as he is just an old man.  It's not like he's scary, or mean, or unnatural looking or even an oversized animal (like the Easter Bunny that Chad says I ruined Nolan with).  He looks like a Grandpa!  A really fun Grandpa for that matter.  To be honest there are a lot of other things that are way scarier than Santa.  How about the dead stuffed reindeer?  Or the tiny little elf that kind of resembles chucky?  Santa Claus really?  That's the thing kids are scared of?

 
So I guess that sums up our Santa visits for the year.  Everyone keeps asking me if we'll go back again, and to be honest I don't know that we will.  If Nolan is really adamant about going then we might.  All I really want every year is a picture that has the boys and Santa in it, whether it's a jolly old time or not is really irrelevant.  Any memory is a good memory, so this is the picture I'm claiming as our "2011 Visit with Santa"…Nolan looks a little less freaked out in it at least!

Loving Life

I met Michelle about seven years ago when I started at Boeing.  After I passed the "trial period" she decided I was cool enough to have lunch with on Fridays.  This was big folks, this meant I now got to leave the Boeing premises and have lunch with her and Kellie (surely the innocent bystander in all of this).  I mean it's one thing to have lunch everyday in the cafeteria, but getting to go out that is a PRIVILEDGE with a capital P.  Who would have known all those years ago we would still be having the majority of our Friday lunches together, but now we share those lunches with some very special people.  You see now our fridays are full of superheroes, dirt and rowdy little boys.  We are sure to take full advantage of our day off with our little boys and now we have two new additions.  Trey gained a little brother, and Nolan and Bennett gained a new friend.  We couldn't be more excited for Friday play dates!

So total shocker, my friend had a baby and it's a BOY.  I can't believe it can you?  This little guy, and I use the term little very loosely, is just too cute.  Spencer John weighed in at 10lbs 7oz!!!  That was not a typo my friends, I say it's just more to love more to love.  I've talked to Michelle a few times since his arrival and  the only word I can use to describe her is blissful.  I mean seriously like out of a movie elated to have this little guy in her arms, her exact words were "I'm loving life".  I couldn't say it better Michelle,  congratulations and welcome Spencer John!

Hurry…Go Thank Your Mothers

I decided one day that Nolan needed a "project."  Never good, never good.  Chad for some reason agreed with me on this particular day (or he just wanted to shut me up, fine line).  Anyway, we decided that we would make some Christmas cookies.  You know the cut out ones that all kids love to decorate with a ton of icing and a mound of sprinkles?  Mistake, BIG mistake.  Who knew these cookies were such a royal pain in the rear-end to make?  Our mothers that's who.  So for all you kiddos out there that have ever had a Mom that made you cut out cookies and then proceeded to let you decorate them…run, run really fast and thank them.  This is definitely going to have to be a tradition that is executed by the Grandmas because I'm pretty sure it's the last time it happens at our house. Did that sound scroogeish?  I mean don't get me wrong it was fun, Nolan really liked the cutting out process.  But let's be honest we can do that part a heck of a lot easier with some Play Doh.  Speaking of Play Doh please note we were using a Play Doh rolling pin for this project.  Obviously not bakers around here, didn't even realize I didn't have a rolling pin.  Don't judge, it was just  the right size for my little chef.

This ended up being a two day process for us, note the two different outfits (shout out to Aunt Stephanie for the sweet tie dye shirt that Nolan made at his cousin's birthday party and now won't stop wearing, I'll be sure to return the favor someday).  I mean seriously let me break this down for you.  Make dough.  Chill dough.  Roll out dough.  Cut out dough.  Roll out more dough.  Cut out more dough.  Repeat.  Bake.  Cool Cookies.  Make Icing.  Color Icing.  Set up bowls of icing and sprinkles.  Wrangle 3 year old.  3 year old ices three cookies.  3 year old eats three cookies.  Mom proceeds to decorate the rest of the humongous batch of cookies by herself (cookies she doesn't even really like!).  Oh and then clean up, can't forget that.  Next time we are getting store bought cookies. Period.  

Mr. Bennett oversaw this activity for us.  Dreaming of the day he too can have icing...with a little bit of cookie.

Deck The Halls

It has become tradition that the weekend after Thanksgiving we put up all the Christmas Decorations (this effort begins on Saturday as to not interrupt my Black Friday shopping).  This year Nolan was a little more helpful with the trimming of the tree, but it is hard for me to give up creative control.  Below you will see why.  On the left is Chad's attempt at getting kicked off the decorating crew, and on the right is Nolan's actual decorating skills at their finest.  I mean how many ornaments do you think we can get on one branch?  

The tree is up and we are full of holiday spirit at the Struckmann house.  Even Bennett helped…by sleeping through the whole process!

Who Needs Kleenexes Anyway?

Chad was putting Nolan in the car last night and this is the conversation that went down….

Chad:  Hey Darci, do you have a kleenex or a wet wipe or something.
Darci:  I can look, why?
Chad:  Nolan has a runny nose.
Darci:  I don't think I have any in the diaper bag, sorry.
Nolan: That's okay…I have a tongue.

Gross or highly resourceful?  Okay, yes it is gross but it didn't make it any less funny.

Bon appétit!

L Squared

Lauren + Lucian = L Squared...get it?  It's late, I'm tired, I'm just not clever anymore.

Meet Lauren and Lucian a newly engaged couple that are TOTALLY smitten with each other.  When I was taking their picture I started to wonder…is that what Chad and I used to look like many many many years ago?  I'd like to think so, but I'm really not so sure.  Things get blurry after almost 7 years of marriage, 2 kids, a dog and a partridge in a pear tree.  Everyone should get to be as happy as the two of them are together, even if only for a day.

So here are some pictures documenting this joyous milestone in their lives.  Are these all of the pictures…no.  Was it hard for me to pick just a few…absolutely.