Pimpin' Ain't Easy

My dear friend Stephanie decided to make a last minute visit to KC yesterday with her hubby(Steve) and baby boy (Colin). Our friend Marilyn wanted to come see Steph and meet Colin as well. And Maddox did his best to entertain everyone...



Stephanie looks amused...



So does Marilyn...



Marilyn & Stephanie catching up a bit...



Evey was busy leaving a trail of pretzel bits all over the house...



...and regressing. She loved all of Colin's baby toys...



Of course, the person we really want to get a good look at is little Colin. He is now 4 months old...and this is the first time I got to meet the little man in person. So I may have gotten a little snap happy with camera. ;-)







I am just crazy about baby digits...fingers and toes. Look at those chunky little fingers. :-)







What a cutey...





Sorry, I just couldn't decide which ones I liked best so I'm posting a bunch. :-P







Tasty fingers...







Colin is not a fan of tummy time...



GREAT drool shot! ;-)



And a couple with his mama...





I'm so happy I got to meet Colin and spend some time with Stephanie...no matter how brief. :-)

A Rimel Christmas

A rundown of our Rimel Christmas activities...starting with some cookies baked for Santa.



Then we spend every Christmas Eve at Jay's mom's house. We had a yummy meal and hung out opening gifts and relaxing. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures because I was busy keeping Evey away from their Christmas tree. Our tree is pretty bare on the bottom with all of the breakables at the top out of reach. Grandma Nita's tree was covered in lovely fragile glass balls that Evey liked immensely. I did manage to document more hugging between Evey and Maddox...



Grandma Nita (snug in her new photo blanket) & Grandpa Bob watching the kids...



The only thing Evey enjoyed more than the Christmas tree was rocking violently in this chair. She would fling herself back and bounce all around...



Christmas morning...



By the time we got home and through the bedtime routine, it was quite late before Evey & Maddox were asleep. So I actually had to wake them both up Christmas morning. We had places to be!

Maddox peacefully asleep...



The first thing he pulled out of his stocking was a piece of candy that was immediately unwrapped and popped in the mouth. I love that he still has sheet wrinkles on his face...



Maddox had asked Santa for the two things he wanted most in the world. A "fighter robot"...



...and Spike the Dinosaur...



He was a very happy boy. Cash had a little package of treats under the tree...yum!



Then it was time to awaken the next child. Evey loves to sleep with her little booty up in the air...



It was tough waking up. ;-)



Evey loved pulling things out of her stocking...



I stuck one of her new barettes in her hair, but it was no match for the crazy bed head she had going on that morning...



Evey also felt the need to immediately sample a piece of chocolate...



Mmmmmm...



Maddox was busy with his robot while Jay assembled Spike...



Evey got a doll from Santa...



and a Spin & Bounce Pony...



Then we were off to my sister's house for Christmas with my side of the family. There we found little cousin Jaden looking very festive...



Jaden was quite taken with little Evey when we got there. He was all up in her space which freaked her out for a bit. But he definitely grew on her. ;-)







I didn't see much of Maddox, so I have few photos of him from the day. He was off being a ninja with Connor...



He calls this his "safari ninja" outfit...



Evey spent the day chasing my sister's cat around. Here she is climbing over presents to share a candy cane with a disinterested Ozzie...



Elise spent the day calling and texting people on her new cell phone...



This is why I don't bother to photograph much of the gift opening. When I ask Maddox to hold up what he opened, he usually holds it up in front of his face. Great product placement I suppose, but not when you are interested in seeing the boy!



Maddox in his pirate tent...



My mom (Grandma Donna) following Evey around as she wanders the house with a cracker (probably looking for the cat or dog)...



Doesn't Ozzie look ecstatic to see Evey approaching? ;-)



Here kitty, kitty, kitty...



Hope everyone had a holly jolly Christmas!

Cans for Comments = 25

Last Sunday at midnight was the deadline for Cans for Comments...though I included comments that came in on Monday as well. ;-) That brought the grand total to 25 comments. I had looked at the Community Services League pantry needs and therefore bought more than just cans to best meet their needs. So I shopped for approximately $25 worth of cans/boxes/packages/jars/etc. to make it easier. It's not a lot but I figure every bit helps, right!? :-)

Maddox Loves Evey 603

CANS FOR COMMENTS! I will donate one can for each and every comment left anywhere on this blog through Sunday 12/21! Please be so kind as to leave a comment. :-)

A little background to this story...Maddox is a numbers guy. He loves numbers. I first noticed this a year or two ago. He would ask how big something was and my answers weren't cutting it. For example...

Maddox: "How big do you think that couch is?"
Me: "Pretty big."
Maddox: "No, how big do you think that couch is?"
Me: "Really big? Not very big?"
Maddox: (getting frustrated) "No! How big do you think that couch is!?"
Me: (getting frustrated) "Ummm...7 feet?"
Maddox: "Yeah, that couch is 7 feet."

So then I realized that whenever asked a question, if possible answer with a numerical measurement. It didn't really matter what the number was, but he wanted to hear a number. He still asks these questions but not as much as he used to. Now he is really into how much things cost. He loves to find a price tag and tell me how many "dollars it costs." This desire to assign a quantity also translates to how much you love something or someone. He will ask me how much I love my sandwich, and I have to provide a number, such as 84.

I'm sure you get the idea, so let's get back to the reason for this post...

We have had a rough patch for a few months now where Maddox insisted that he loved Evey zero. Not good...very sad. I so want for them to be close. Evey of course thinks Maddox is the coolest person on the planet so it would be nice if he at least enjoyed her a little! ha

Well, I am happy to report that Maddox seems to be coming out of that phase. Here lately I've been catching him hugging on her again and when asked how much he loves Evey, he now says he loves her 603. We still have a long way to go since he says he loves me 153 million...but a vast improvement over 0. :-)

Last night before bed, Evey was inspecting the tree as she often does...





When Maddox came along to give Evey a hug...awwwwww. :-)



Then he took off running, and Evey followed.



They ran around the house in a circle quite a few times before ending up in Maddox's room on the Elmo couch together. Maddox can very easily crack her up. She laughs for him more than anyone else...



And a little more hugging. :-)





So that's 603 down...152,999,397 to go! :-P

O Christmas Tree

CANS FOR COMMENTS! I will donate one can for each and every comment left anywhere on this blog through Sunday 12/21! Please be so kind as to leave a comment. :-)

Just a few pics of the Christmas tree...