Happy Holidays

So I haven't been very good about updating again, seeing as how I haven't posted about anything since before Thanksgiving!

We had an enjoyable time off for Thanksgiving, spending time with both sides of the family.  We are now enjoying Christmas break which has been full of exciting activities.  Although if you ask Andy it hasn't been very fun.  (No snow and slightly warmer weather = no sledding and skating.  Hanukkah started before break, so we enjoyed small celebrations each night.  Joshua got to light the menorah with little help.  This was the highlight of each night for him.  If I mentioned gifts he would get excited, but didn't think to ask about them each night.  The 1st Saturday of break we went to Wheaton for our family Hanukkah celebration.  This began by meeting at Jeff's house for a surprise for Joshua.  Jeff set up Dad's old train set in his basement.  The train set was from Dad's childhood, complete with buildings, vehicles, trees, and even some buildings that Grandpa built.  Josh adored the set-up and thrived on telling Jeff what to do next. "Go super fast!"  "Put this train car on."  "Make light come on!"  "I want it dark in here!"  After playing with the train for a while we drove over to Fermi Lab to see the bison.  They weren't all that exciting just eating hay up at the barn.  Next it was off to one of Joshua's favorite activities as of late...eating at a restaurant.  Upon arriving back to Mom and Dad's, Joshua went down for his nap, Jeff and Andy went to a movie, and Dad and I did some last minute shopping for Mom.  As always we had a delicious Hanukkah dinner thanks to Mom.  Then it was time for gifts.  Joshua did well at first, happily handing out gifts to everyone and being gracious when it was his turn to open a gift.  This changed fairly quickly as he began asking for another present.  After having him open the rest of his gifts and going to bed, the adults opened gifts, had dessert, relaxed and went to bed.

The first Monday of break the 3 of us went to the Discovery Center Museum in Rockford.  Andy and I had been wanting to take Joshua, and we decided this was a good opportunity.  I think he was a little overwhelmed at first, wanting to go from activity to activity.  They have a room devoted to agriculture.  Josh enjoyed driving the combine, well at least until Daddy came in and told him that it wasn’t very accurate and wanted to explain the purpose of all of the buttons.  We enjoyed the “Tot Spot” where Josh could play house, fix a car, drive a train, help sick animals, and operate a crane.  One of Joshua’s two favorite activities was “being on TV.”  He got to interview Mommy and Daddy and tell the weather.  It was so neat to see him come out of his shell and act like a little adult.  His interview questions were very inquisitive, wanting to know who our favorite Rescue Bots were, and then requesting that we ask him the same question.  (This is a frequent conversation while driving places too.)  Joshua’s other favorite activity was the water table.  At first he did not want to wear a smock, but we finally convinced him that he wouldn’t want to get wet and have to go straight home.  After a good amount of time there it was time to head home for lunch and nap time.  Joshua threw a full on tantrum at this point and had to be carried over Andy’s shoulder out of the building.  We finally got him calmed down with a snack and games on my phone.

 One night we went over to our good friends’ Ashley, Chris, and Lucas’s house for dinner and to have the boys exchange gifts.  They got Joshua a ride on loader truck that Joshua was so envious of at Lucas’s birthday party.  He loves it!  Ashley and I exchanged gifts as well and then decided to give the boys a bath there so that they could spend more time together.  The boys have so much fun together and get along so well.  Joshua is lucky to have such a good buddy. 

On the 23^rd I was able to enjoy lunch and an afternoon alone to have lunch with co-workers then finish up some shopping.  The weather was gorgeous so I felt bad that Andy couldn’t be working and had to stay home with Josh.  But I really enjoyed getting out alone.

On Christmas Eve the Layne’s came out.  We spent the morning at Nicholas Conservatory, and then had lunch at Red Robin before getting Joshua home for nap.  While he napped we watched “Elf”, played a game, and I baked and made dinner.  After dinner some gifts were exchanged before putting Joshua to bed, having dessert, and relaxing. 

Christmas Day was fairly low key and relaxing.  Since Lisa wouldn’t be in until that evening, we decided to open gifts with Andy’s family the 26^th.  Christmas morning we got to sleep in and open gifts just the 3 of us.  That evening we went to Dan and Kay’s for a small gathering.  Lisa’s flight was delayed so we didn’t get to see her until the next morning.  After breakfast we went to Jim and Terri’s to open gifts.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to Nan and Geno’s for Blackmer Christmas.  We had snacks, pizza and dessert before opening a few gifts.  Josh had a bit of an upset stomach so we stayed home that night, just the 3 of us.  On the 27^th, Josh was doing better, but Andy wasn’t feeling great.  We then found out that the Hartman (Schiebel) boys had the stomach flu at Grandma Hart’s.  We didn’t want to expose ourselves to that and stayed home.  Surprise, Surprise…on the 28^th I had the bug!  Luckily it only lasted 1 day for each of us and we all seem to be feeling better.