Happy Birthday Blog...

Today, this little blog is officially a year old. Last year I said it was going to be my New Years resolution to keep up with it...and I did pretty good. I can't believe how much more information I have archived for my kids to look back on now, then I ever did before. Poor Maggie will look back someday and be upset that I have WAY more information recorded about Grace's first year.  I don't think I have a New Years resolution this year....I hope that 2012 is a happy year at our house, with lots of first and tons of adventures. 

The first post on the blog last new years eve was about Danica's Dance Birthday party and how much Maggie LOVED it.....well, yesterday the annual fiesta happened again and now that Maggie's a little bigger and could keep up with the big girls a little more, she really LOVED it.  I'm working on uploading a video....I'll add it later.

JJ wasn't so keen on organized dancing but he was ALL about the cupcakes :)

I love these four girls and their mommy's have become so important to me.

A few more pictures from yesterday....

Gracie's at the drive-in. (watching "the Shrimps")

Maggie trying on sissy's helmet...

"Hey, give me that back!!"

I asked Maggie a few questions about 2012, here are her answers.....
Maggie, in 2012 what do you really want to do?
-Go play in my playhouse and on my playground

Maggie, in 2012 what do you really need to?
-Clean my playroom and play with my friends

Maggie, in 2012 what do you want to be better at?
-Being nice to daddy and doing backwards flips. Oh and roller skating.

Maggie, in 2012 where do you want to visit?
-Mexico and Australia  (I have no idea where this kids new obsession with Australia has come from. She talks about it all the time. Yesterday she said, "Mom, it's morning here, that means it's night in Australia.")

Maggie, in 2012 what do you want to teach Gracie to do?
-Jump and flip

Tonight the Ries' are coming for dinner and some New Years Eve fun, we'll see how late we can stay awake :) and tomorrow we head to Omaha for Westerfield Christmas. I'm sure we'll have lots of great pictures and some good stories to share. Happy New Year!!

9 MONTHS OLD!!!

Gracie is 9 months old today....she's still the happiest baby I've ever met. She's curious and a little mischievous, but always happy. She has 2 teeth and I keep thinking the 3rd is on its way. Gracie still loves anything her big sister does, she's becoming a great crawler and is starting to try and pull herself up. She is doing pretty good with baby food and a little table food, but she still really prefers her bottle. She loves anything with blueberries, bananas, squash or spinach in it and her new favorite treat is mac and cheese.  She's a great sleeper and still wants 2 or sometimes even 3 naps a day. She loves bouncing in her bouncer or strolling in her walker, no matter what she's doing her legs are constantly moving. She's still not much of a snuggler, she wants to be close to you and to "talk" to you, but she doesn't really want to be held. I think she's going to be an independent little girl, just like her big sister. She says "mamama" and "dadada", not always to the right person, but she's getting more accurate. She is great at clapping and her sister works with her every day on her waving.  It's so fun to watch her grow and we are so blessed to have both our wonderful girls.

the shrimp...

For Christmas Maggie got the Smurf movie, but she can't remember what they are called so she keeps talking about "the shrimp"..... :) "Why does the Papa Shrimp talk like that?" "Why is that shrimp blue?" Lots and lots of shrimp questions in the car on the way home from Omaha.

Gracie had her one month check at the Helmet Clinic today.  She did great. The helmet is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. Her head has grown 4mm, and the distance "across" her face has stayed exactly the same....so she's rounding out! We go back in another month. Assuming all continues to go well, it looks like she'll wear it about 4 months.  He sanded a little bit of foam out of the inside, so for a few days, it will be a little less stinky and it looks nice and new and clean on the inside.

Hanging out, waiting to get her helmet back.

Maggie had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Deem, the last few days. It sounds like they did lots of playing. Maggie and Grandma even made a trip to see Aunt Keeli and get Maggie's crazy hair trimmed, she looks so grown up now!  They also did lots of Gator driving. Maggie told me they drove around the neighborhood and picked up trash, then when they got home they "took a dump", I think she meant they dumped the back of the truck, but it's funnier her way.

I forgot Maggie's hat, so she had to borrow the Uncle Evan hat from Grace.

Apparently Maggie and Grandma played a lot of "Baby Tiger", last night Maggie asked Grandma to play and Grandma said "not right now." Maggie responded with, "Grandma, you have to play, I'm your guest."  Apparently she does listen to me when I talk!

Maggie practiced roller skating while she was in Omaha too. She and Grandma watched some skating on youtube, Maggie is anxious to learn to spin and jump.......I think it'll be a while :)

Grace is getting really good (and quick) at crawling and then sitting back up....but apparently she's not a fan of the wood floor.

Merry Christmas!!!

We had such a nice Christmas weekend. Lots of fun times, family and WAY to much food.  On Saturday night Maggie decided maybe she should wear her John Deere shirt to bed for good luck....well, it worked! Santa came through with a bright green Gator and a "not real duck". Maggie was so excited she could hardly talk.

lots of pictures to share....

On Saturday Vadim Skyped with his Aunt and Cousin in Russia, Maggie
was excited to say hello and tell them Merry Christmas. (The woman next
to Vadim is the translator to help him.)

Gracie's first Christmas Eve lunch! When I was about 4 or 5, dad and I were running
errands one Christmas eve and we stopped at Joe's our favorite diner (ok, maybe more of a dive)
for lunch. We got so much grief for having lunch on Christmas eve in a dive, that we've done
it every Christmas Eve since. At some point we started inviting my mom and sister and
now it's not Christmas until we eat a greasy burger somewhere. This year we were
back at Danny's.

We don't very often have a family picture, I'm thrilled to have gotten
a good one before church on Saturday night.

I love this picture too!

 Christmas Morning!!!!!

Maggie, her Gator and her passenger, the "not real duck" she asked Santa for.

Maggie's not the only one who got a new set of wheels! Grace loves this thing.
She spent lots of time this weekend in it. She loves to turn the steering wheel and sit with
her arm out the window. I thought it would be an outside toy, but she likes it so
much, that for now it's in the family room.

Maggie was so worried about the ash footprints that Santa left, that we had to
clean them up before she could concentrate on opening presents.

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Maggie got roller skates! She was so excited. You'd hear her fall
someplace in the house, and it was immediately followed by, "I'm okay!"

It was a rough day to be a horse, baby doll, duck or Santa....

....or the neighbors yard. She had a hard time keeping it on the sidewalk
at first, but she's getting better.

Maggie and Grandpa whooping Uncle Deem at Foosball.

Arnie, Grace and I came home today. Maggie decided to stay and spend a few more days playing in Omaha with Grandma and Grandpa. We have the Westerfield sleepover on New Years day, so there is still more Christmas to come at our house....so far it's been great (and exhausting!)
Good Night!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Little Miss Personality....

In the last few weeks, Grace has really seemed like a big girl. Her personality is starting to show and she is trying to figure out more and more things for herself. Since the beginning she's been very mild mannered, she rarely throws a big fit, she's agreeable, she's sweet and HAPPY, really, really HAPPY. But, I'm starting to believe she might also be a little mischievous and very curious, it's fun to watch. 

When Maggie was small people would say things like, "does she bother the Christmas tree?", "Did you have to hang all the ornaments up high?", etc.... And I thought they were crazy, I wondered why they didn't just tell their kids to stay away from the tree, instead of redecorating it.....well, now I know why. Grace watches to see when we're not looking then she goes straight for the bows on the packages or the low hanging ornaments.  She's the kid who will find the one little toy on the floor, go straight for the outlet or grab ahold of any cord she can find.

The other day at my parents she figured out how to get the heat register out of the floor....

....over and over and over.

She's also started being a little more demanding, mostly about food. (Some would say that comes with her O'Brien genes.) After she eats dinner, I usually give her a few puffs, a cracker, etc....well now, as SOON as she finishes it she starts shrieking, not mad or upset, just loud, until you notice her. As soon as she gets another one, she stops :)

This morning while she was sitting on the potty, she started messing with the toilet paper, I very sternly said "NO!", she looked at me and laughed. I did my best to keep a straight face. She reached for the toilet paper again, again I said, "NO!", this time you could almost see her thinking about it, then she stuck out her bottom lip and out came these huge tears. Again, I didn't respond. We did this about 5 times, each time she rotated from laughing at me to crying....little turkey!

You want to get me dressed? You're going to have to

catch me first!!!

It's so fun to watch her become a little person, to hear her start to find her voice and to watch her learn new things.

Gracie's helmet got a little holiday cheer today too....

Miss Lauren is the best!!!

Miss Lauren is a CNA at the Veterans home here in Norfolk (or she was before she went to college and she works there on break).  Earlier this week Maggie and I made a few Christmas care packages for the residents. This morning Maggie and Lauren went and delivered them. I assumed she'd be really shy and maybe even a little scared, but Lauren said she did great. Maggie told me that she had a great time and she told everyone Merry Christmas and smiled.

THEN Lauren asked if she could take both girls to Colin's (her booooyyyyfriend, as Maggie likes to say) parents house for lunch. Colin's mom loves the girls and Maggie adores Colin....she loaded both into the car and off they went...I can't remember the last time I was in my house without at least one kid. It was so quiet. When I left for the grocery store I felt like I was forgetting something. I'm not sure when the last time I went to the grocery store alone was either?? What a treat :)....it's the little things right?

When they got home, both girls were ready for naps and I think Lauren probably was too. We're so lucky to have her around, she's alot more then a babysitter to my girls.

Happy Hanukkah.

Tonight we had Hanukkah at our house....I know, I know, I spent all of my last post telling you about how it was 8 days long. BUT between Maggie being sick, Christmas chaos, travel, etc., we decided that we were going to make today Hanukkah at our house and really focus on it. So after dinner tonight we lit all the candles and then let the kids open their gifts.

Thankfully Maggie is feeling better, the bug was nasty but quick. She was definitely sad not to get to go to school today, but staying home and resting was the right decision. By dinner time she was back to acting like her regular bouncy self and I think tomorrow we'll be back at full speed. (be careful what you wish for!)

Arnie got me a couple of bottles of wine for Hanukkah, they were in a basket behind Maggie's kitchen tree....after dinner she went to Arnie and wispered "Daddy, does mom know there is beer behind the Christmas tree yet." :)  Those are the kinds of things you hope she doesn't repeat at school!

Maggie lit the candles all by herself.

Doesn't Gracie's face look different without her helmet? It's definitely changing
her head shape. Tonight was probably the longest she's had it off since she started
wearing it full time.



Goodnight Y'all! Uncle Evan and Aunt Amy sent matching cowgirl jammies, Maggie couldn't
wait to wear them! They went perfectly with her "horse riding hat", if only it was still warm so she could
go ride her horse.





Aunt Trisha & Uncle Jeff sent Hanukkah presents for Arnie to open everyday. We got behind by a day,
so tonight he had to catch up, I'm so glad he opened these at the same time. I think he's planning on wearing
this ensemble to church on Christmas Eve :)



Hanukkah or Hannuka or Chanuka: 101

This time of year, we get lots of questions about how we handle “the Holidays” at our house, and as Maggie gets older, it’s becoming more important that we have a clear answer.  We celebrate Christmas in our house, but we also observe the tradition and custom of Hanukkah.  Arnie and I have always lit the candles together and said the blessings, but as Maggie is forming her own religious identity it’s more important than ever to me, that I be able to explain things to her and help her make sense of them.

She understands that Christians celebrate Christmas and Jews celebrate Hanukkah, she regularly asks “is he/she a Christmas or a Hanukkah?”  Yesterday she and I talked about Hanukkah and I said, “Jesus even celebrated Hanukkah.” Well that brought about all kinds of confusion (who can blame her) and she quickly responded with “but mom, Jesus is Christmas, it’s his Birthday!”  So we talked a little bit about how Jesus was Jewish. That idea is going to take her awhile to catch on to.  

Anyway, back to my Hanukkah lesson- I’ve been compiling information about different Jewish Holidays and customs and how they are intertwined with my own Christian beliefs and customs.  I really knew very little about what Hanukkah was, other than that we lit 8 candles because the oil in the temple lasted 8 days.  There is WAY more to the story….so here is the cliffs notes (or 3 year old) version.  (As with lots of things that happened thousands of years ago, there are several versions of this story, I tried to take the pieces that would make the most sense to Maggie and that were easiest to understand and piece them together….so forgive me if this doesn’t go right along with the story you were told as a child).

In about 165 B.C. , this time period technically falls between the writing of the old and new testaments of the bible,  Israel was ruled by Antiochus, he wanted the Jews to quit worshiping God and start worshiping  Greek Gods, he gave the Jews a hard time for several years and was a real jerk. At some point during his rule, he placed a statue of Zeus in the temple and he slaughtered a pig (thought of as REALLY unclean to the Jews) on the altar. There was a very devout Jewish family, with 5 sons, named the Maccabees.  The Maccabee boys created their own army and went to defeat Antiochus and his army. The Maccabee army was successful at winning back the temple. Once they won, they spent 8 days scrubbing, cleaning and rededicating the temple. When they started cleaning the temple they could only find enough oil to burn the lamps while they worked for one day, and that little bit of oil lasted the entire 8 days they needed.  In Hebrew the word Hanukkah means dedication. In John 10:22, Jesus is taking part in the Festival of Dedication, this festival later became known as Hanukkah.  So really it’s more about the cleansing and rededication of the temple then the candles….but who wants to clean for 8 days??? 

Our observance of Hanukkah includes lighting the menorah and saying 2 blessings.  Candles are added to the menorah from right to left, with an additional candle being added every day.  Some might be confused because there are usually 9 candles in a Menorah, usually the center candle is the “helper” candle or the candle used to light all the others.  In our house we blow out the helper candle every night and reuse it the next, then on the last night of Hanukkah we let it burn all the way out with the other 8 candles.

We recite both of the blessings below.  In our house we recite them in Hebrew, (yes, I do know at least that much Hebrew), though this year I think we will do them in both Hebrew and English because Maggie won’t understand the Hebrew.  Maybe next year she’ll be old enough to start learning them.

Blessing 1
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Blessing 2
Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Some other notes about Hanukkah-

·         Gift-giving was not historically a traditional part of the holiday, but has been added in places where Jews have a lot of contact with Christians. The only traditional gift of the holiday is "gelt," small amounts of money.  (Sometimes given to children in the form of chocolate coins….that’s why there are so many more chocolate coins available in stores this time of year.)

·         When we have our annual Hanukkah dinner with Dick and Betti, we always have latkas, they’re basically fired hashbrown cakes.  Based on what I can figure out, I think latkas became a traditional Hanukkah food because of the significance of oil to the holiday and of course oil is used to fry the latkas…..I could be wrong here, and I have NO idea where the tradition of putting either applesauce or sour cream on the latkas comes from.

·         Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a gambling game played with a square top. Most people play for matchsticks, pennies, M&Ms or chocolate coins. The traditional explanation of this game is that during the time of Antiochus' oppression, those who wanted to study Torah (an illegal activity) would conceal their activity by playing gambling games with a top (a common and legal activity) whenever an official or inspector was within sight.

A dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimel, Hei and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham", a great miracle happened there, referring to the miracle of the oil.

The letters also stand for the Yiddish words nit (nothing), gantz (all), halb (half) and shtell (put), which are the rules of the game! There are some variations in the way people play the game, but the gist is everyone puts in one coin. A person spins the dreidel. If it lands on Nun, nothing happens; on Gimel, you get the whole pot; on Hei, you get half of the pot; and on Shin, you put one in. When the pot is empty, everybody puts one in. Keep playing until one person has everything.

We wish all of our family a very Happy Hanukkah! 

NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Maggie seems to be sick. She's thrown-up a couple of times. Usually there isn't much that slows her down but now she's laying quietly on the couch :( We should have enough time for her to get better before Christmas, but I really hope she doesn't make Grace (or any of the rest of us) sick just in time for the weekend. Poor thing, she just doesn't complain about not feeling good, ever, so I didn't see this coming. She looks so sad!



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on the STAGE!!!

Maggie has been bouncing off the walls all day because tonight was her Sunday School Christmas program and they were going to get to sing on the stage for a REAL audience. Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Deem came for the program which made her that much more excited. She did awesome and she seemed to be having a great time doing it.

Here is a video of her classes song.... my favorite part is the look on her face at then end when she's waiting for everyone to clap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1kzkwTlt_4


Today was a BEAUTIFUL day, it was 55 degrees and sunny all afternoon. We knew that Maggie was going to be very anxious to use a Hanukkah present from Uncle Evan and Aunt Amy, and this weather isn't going to hold on for long, so while we're usually sticklers about waiting to open presents, we let her open one this afternoon. Oh my goodness....she was so excited! You'd of thought a real horse was standing in our kitchen. She bounced all over the backyard and asked a million questions, while Arnie and I figured out how to hang it and then she was off for a ride.....

"Mom, hold my horse, I have to run get my horse riding hat."

It's begninning to look ALOT like Christmas...

Yesterday Maggie and I finally made some Christmas cookies, most of the presents are wrapped and other then the lack of snow and almost 50 degree weather, it's starting to feel like Christmas is around the corner. Good thing, we don't have much time to spare.

that's chocolate on Maggie's face :)

Poor Grace, Maggie recruited Dad to help her measure her sister.

Maggie and I made some new Panther tshirts yesterday for the game.

Gracie was studying the stats...making sure daddy new what was going on.

I've been sewing and sewing and sewing (after bedtime) trying to get a special project finished for Maggie for Christmas and today I decided it was done. So it's wrapped and under the tree....
shhhhhhhh...don't tell Maggie.

My Aunt Bobbie made me one of these when I was a little girl, and it's one of the gifts I remember most. I remember hiding in it and peeking out my windows. I'm happy with how it turned out, I'm no seamstress and it definitely isn't made with the precision that my mom or aunts would have but the good news about 3 year olds is the usually don't notice :)