Christmas Season is Offically Over!

We finally took down the Christmas tree/decor on Tuesday and it was TIME. We were dutiful Catholics and waited until the ephiphany. I was so glad to see the clutter go back into boxes I couldn't focus so sat on the sofa during most of the process--I was totally useless. Isaac called me the fire chief---yep, barking orders while sitting on my bum was my role. Isaac and Donavan managed to get it all put away in less than 2 hours.

Isaac was so happy that the train table could return . It went into hibernation during the Christmas season. You see, we simply do not have room for it all in our apartment. He loves playing with his newest additions to the train set--Christmas gifts from Mimi and Poppi.

New Year's Day & Pictures from this weekend

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Donavan went to Orlando with some guy friends for the Georgia Game on New Year's Day so Isaac and I stayed busy by going to the park to play with his new trucks (gift from Mimi and Poppi Yarnall). It's been raining the last couple of days so we've been finding inside activities.

Donavan and Isaac put together the Lincoln Log house (gift from Uncle Brad and Aunt Gina). Isaac's favorite part was tearing the structure down. He's been making cookies out of his play doh by using the roller and mold (from Uncle Phil). The sugar cookies were quite good, but I didn't care for the ginger bread:) He wanted to send some to Uncle Phil, but I convinced him that pictures would last longer than the cookies. He's been really enjoying his new trike (gift from Mimi and Poppi P). As you can see he manages to play with it in the house. Also, the fire truck puzzle has occupied our time (gift from Mimi and Poppi P).

We're glad to be home and Isaac (in particular) missed his pugs during our trip to Indiana. The other day I was getting Isaac ready to go to the park and Quincy brought her leash up to me. Needless to say, she went with. Just call it child favortism--I couldn't manage Isaac and 2 dogs at the park. Honestly, I don't know how all my friends can handle more than one child at the park on most days. Maybe someday I'll learn. Anyway, Isaac has been enjoying playing (aka torturing) the dogs. They are so good with him.

Today after lunch Isaac asked when Santa was coming to bring him his new bed. Donavan and I just stared at each other. As I mentioned in an earlier blog he spent a week earlier in December climbing out of his bed, but we haven't had a "'problem" with that for over 2 weeks. I'm not ready to make the move, so I guess for now the answer is "Santa will come again next December." I'm not sure we all can wait until next December for the toddler bed.

Christmas 2008

Here's a re-cap of Christmas 2008 at the Powell-yarnall house. Santa came a day early to our place in Athens. Isaac has been asking for a fire truck and pumpkin which Santa delivered. Santa also thought Isaac would enjoy an easel so one of those arrived, too. This was the first time in 7 years that Donavan and I have been home for the Christmas Eve service and it was really, really nice to attend the St. Joe's children's service. Isaac slept through half of the service which was nice for mom and dad. I was actually able to focus on the service.

We hit the road on Christmas eve for our annual holiday trip to visit family in Indiana. We arrived on Christmas day, after spending Christmas Eve night in a hotel, and had dinner with Mimi and Poppi Yarnall. We spent the next 4 days celebrating Christmas with the Yarnall and Powell families. It was especially nice to have my brother home from Hong Kong for a visit. We ate very well and can definitely tell it's time to get back into the work out routine by the way my pants are fitting today. Our car was packed to the brim (as it always is) with an abundance of gifts. We've been pulling out the gifts one by one since coming home and Isaac loves all of his new goodies. Isaac especially enjoyed spending time with his family and LOVED his 10 month old twin cousins (Ella and Emerson). He was so gentle, kind and shared the toys very well.

Today is boys last day of vacation (Donavan returns to work on Monday, Isaac's preschool resumes on Tuesday). We thought it was time to put away the Christmas decorations. We've been talking with Isaac about this for about 4 days--the fact that the tree has to come down so we can make room for his train table again. He keeps telling us it's okay for the tree to "go away" until next year. I started to take down our mini 3 foot tree and Isaac had a fit. Then, when the larger living room tree starting to come down, he had an absolute breakdown. Tears, tears and more tears. Sometimes I wonder if we involve and communicate with Isaac too much. I know that if we tear down the tree during his nap, he'll still be devastated. At this point there's going to be tears one way or another.

Preschool Holiday Party

We've had a touch of a "bug" around here this week. I felt really lousy yesterday and learned this morning at the Y that several of the kids have had the stomach flu. Isaac was "off" on Wednesday evening and laid around on the couch most of Thursday morning. This is just not like him--he's so active. I don't think he felt very well either. I just hope we stay healthy from this point forward.

Isaac has learned to climb out of his crib. This has caused stress in my world this week. He hasn't been napping, but then is ready for bed at 5 p.m. --which is too late for a nap and too early for bedtime. After 5 days of persistence, I finally got him to stay in the crib for a nap today (It's Friday). He insists that "santa is bringing a big boy bed." With the help from our friend, Dane (Mary's husband) we installed some new locks so Isaac can't escape from our apartment once he gets out of the crib.

Donavan's last day of school is today and we're really excited that he'll be able to spend a couple of weeks with us. He plans to go into the office on Monday morning to clean it, but then won't be back until Jan. 5. Isaac has started his list of things to do when Dadda's home--the first is to go to Chick Chick (CFA).

Here are some pictures and video from Isaac's preschool earlier this week. The class sang a few holiday songs for their parents. I was impressed that the kids stood still for three songs. Overall, all the excitement about Christmas has thrown Isaac into a whirl. There's just been too much. I've stopped talking about Santa, baby Jesus, the gifts, the tree, etc. because it gets him to excited and he has a hard time settling down. He has done much better the last couple of days when I resumed normalcy to our lives--without any hype.

Christmas Party with play group

We had so much fun at the play group Christmas party at Julee, Connor and Ryan's home this morning. I really wanted to have Isaac eat a well-balanced breakfast this morning but he refused. I knew that he'd go straight for the cookies and juice boxes at the event. We had a great time playing with friends and putting together some Christmas crafts. Here's a group photo (I think most of the kids are in the photo).

Trimming the Tree

Here are photos from trimming of the Christmas tree over the weekend. This is the first year we have used an artifical tree and we really don't care for it. First, we miss the smell of natural pine. The candle doesn't do the trick. Second, we seem to have gapping holes in it. Oh well. Isaac is really excited about Christmas this season. We went to breakfast with Santa over the weekend at the Church. Although donavan and I sat on his lap, Isaac was still not interested in getting that close to a man with a funny outfit and white beard. I think Isaac's favorite part was pulling out the pieces of the nativity scene. We also celebrated St. Nick's Day on saturday. After nap St. Nick had visited Isaac's shoe and brought him a candy cane, hershey kisses and Thomas the Train pajamas. He liked the candy most of all and wore his new pj's to pajama day on Tuesday at Emmanuel preschool.