Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning was so much fun! Grandma and Papa Bug showed up at our house at around 8:00, and Andrew was still sleeping, but Allison was wide awake. We woke up Andrew around 8:30 and he was so excited to dive into his gifts from Santa. We were all so surprised to see how much fun Allison was having tearing open the tissue paper wrapped gifts that she received. Andrew was starting to get so excited that he would help someone else unwrap their gifts and just throw the gift on the floor and go for the next one. I think that it is safe to say that Andrew's favorite gift from Santa was his music set... go figure. It came with a drum and drum sticks, maracas, a tambourine and a lot of other stuff to give mommy and daddy a headache. We happily snuck the little baby sized maracas into Allison's pile of gifts, they are just her size and Andrew could care less because he has his ever so loud drum. I think that Allison's favorite toy from Santa was a glow worm. She kept sucking on it's face and flapping it up and down.

Paul and I cooked a yummy breakfast of peppermint chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and of course kielbasa from back east. My folks left around noon and we put both kids down for a nap. Around 2:00 Paul's parents arrived with a car full of gifts and we had part 2 of our Christmas and opened up more presents. For dinner, Paul made a rotisserie chicken in our "big R" and we had all the fixings: cranberry sauce, dressing, mashed potatoes, and crescent rolls. Once we were stuffed full and had a house full of wrapping paper and toys, it was time for me to go to work. I was hoping for a Christmas miracle and they would cancel my shift, but that wasn't the case. I kissed my little family and off I went. Can't wait to do it all again next year!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at my Aunt Pam and Uncle Mike's house. We got to see all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We ate dinner and caught up and then had a little rock session with all the little cousins dancing. Andrew of course had his guitar with him and was shaking his little tushy to the music. Isla and Rachael were right along side him as his back up dancers.

On our way home we looked for Santa up in the sky and we are pretty sure that we saw Rudolph's bright red nose. Allison fell right asleep in her car seat and Andrew managed to play his guitar the whole way home and fell asleep with the guitar in his hands once we pulled up onto Conquista Ave.

Andrew and Allison Meet Santa Claus

We took the kids to meet Santa at the mall. We had a hunch that Andrew would want nothing to do with him, but we tried anyways. Andew refused to sit on his lap and we weren't going to force him, but he did give him a few high fives and knuckles. Allison on the other hand sat on his lap contently until she looked up and saw who was holding her, then she wailed out!

Disneyland Wonderland

My parents bought us season passes to Disneyland as our Christmas gift this year! We are spoiled!! We met up with them for dinner and a couple of rides. We ate at Pizza Port and went to the Tiki Room. It just so happened that Katie and Mike went to Disneyland the same day so we were able to hang out with them afterwards as well. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean and stayed to watch the Christmas firework show over the castle. Once the firework show was over, snow started to fall over main street right on us! It was so magical that I had to wipe the tears away as I watched both of my children and husband reaching their hands out to try to catch the snow as it fell. Andrew absolutely loved the snow, the look on his face was priceless. Merry Christmas Disneyland!

The Demboski Family Christmas Party

We had yet another wonderful Demboski Family Christmas Party. We had tons of yummy food and conversation. Although Andrew probably could have skipped the whole Santa visit. He really enjoyed the gift that he received, but not so much Santa himself, he started crying immediately. Allison on the other hand didn't really mind Mr. Clause. The gift exchange was a lot of fun as well. We ended up walking away with the movie Up and Andrew's favorite a remote control helicopter.

That night Paul and I and the kids stayed the night in Katie's room, Katie and Mike slept on an air mattress in the TV room, Mike and Becky slept on a bed in the den, Buny and Doug slept in Mike's room, Matthew, Natalie and Lexie slept in the grandkid room, and John and Adrienne slept in Paul's old room. There were people everywhere!!! Gramma and Papa were in heaven! We ate a huge breakfast and then opened up Christmas gifts. The kids are being spoiled appropriately by their aunts and uncles.

Allison sleeps in her crib

Well it is official, Allison is a big girl sleeping in her own bed at night. We put her in her crib for a couple of nights about a month ago, but she developed a cold with a stuffy nose and a little cough, so being the paranoid mom that I am, I quickly aborted the whole sleeping in her room plan and put her back in the bassinet. But now it is official. She has slept in her room now for over a week and I think she likes it. She still continues to sleep throughout the night, and we bought her a heater for her room to make sure she stays toasty warm during these cold winter nights.

The things that Andrew says and the things that Allison eats

~I caught Andrew eating a spoon full of butter and I took it away from him and said "Andrew No No! That is Yucky!" He replied "I like it! I like it! I like it!"
~Whenever I get ready for work and Andrew sees my uniform or my lunch box he says "mommy work, miss you."
~Whenever Andrew sees Paul getting ready for work he says "daddy work, diapers, food" because we tell him that daddy goes to work to buy food and diapers.
~One night when I was at work, I called Andrew to say goodnight and he said "mommy work, diapers, food, warhammer" Apparently he thinks I go to work now to also buy Warhammer.
~Andrew can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by singing "Twinkle Star...are" then he is so proud of himself and says "yeah!"
~When we ask Andrew what his guitar's name is he says "Johnny" because Uncle Johnny asked that Andrew name his guitar after him. When we ask where does Johnny live, Andrew says "heaven". ~When we ask Andrew to say God, he says "Grbarbgrargbgr" He refuses to say God, he just mumbles with a bunch of "Gr" sounds and laughs.

Allison is now eating bananas, pears, apples, yellow squash, carrotts, sweet potatoes, prunes, avocados and rice cereal. She is also breastfeeding 5 times a day. The other night Paul, Andrew and I made her baby food. Andrew was surprisingly a really big help. We steamed carrots, boiled sweet potatoes, steamed squash and pureed it all including a 5lb bag of pears. Our freezer is filled with baby food. I love making her food, it just feels like the right thing to do. Knowing what I am feeding her is a good feeling and knowing that her brother and parents made it for her with TLC makes it even better.

Andrew goes Pee Pee like Daddy!

Andrew has developed a huge fear of public bathrooms ever since he was sitting on the toilet one day at a resturant and the automatic flusher went off on him while he was still peeing. Since then we have had to sit on the toilet and put him on our laps and then spread our legs and he wil pee. It sounds ridiculous, but that is the only way to get him to go to the bathroom without screaming like we are pulling his legs off and shaking like a leaf. It is really a sad sight to see. So our solution to this problem is to teach him to stand up and go pee pee like daddy.
The first time that Andrew stood up to pee was simply ridiculously precious. He was standing next to me and I was squatted down by his face and he was holding his pee pee in his hand and he started to aim and peed. Of course I yell out "Andrew you are doing it! Good job!" He immediatly got a smile on his face, looked at me and then tried to hide his smile as if he were embarrassed at how proud he was. When he tries not to smile, his lips push out and his eyes look down...oh my gosh it melts my heart. Ever since then when Andrew goes pee pee like a big boy, he says "Daddy Pee Pee!" because he is going pee pee just like his daddy

Decorating Allison's First Christmas Tree

Tonight Allison got to decorate her very first Christmas tree! Daddy and Andrew went with Papa and Gramma Demboski to pick out a tree while Allison and I went to a meeting at my work. When we got home we had pizza waiting and a tree with lights on it waiting to be decorated. Paul's Uncle Mike was in town and joined in the festivities. Andrew was so excited! He would pick up an ornament and place it on the tree, not exactly on a branch, more like shoved it into the tree, and he would say "I DID IT! I DID IT!" Then we would run over to the box. grab another ornament and say "MORE MORE MORE!" He did that for about 4 ornaments and then he was done decorating the tree. Allison even helped out by holding ornaments and I would help her put them on a branch. We had Christmas music playing and drank cappuccinos. Can't beat that!

Andrew's first Run!

Our first Christmas Celebration this month was at my parent's house AKA Grangra and Papa's house. We actually went the night before and had the grandparents babysit while Paul and I did some major Christmas shopping at Toys-R-Us. We all stayed the night at their house, the first time we have stayed there since Andrew was born. The next morning we all woke up at the crack of dawn and went to the Elves's Trott race in Loma Linda for Andrew's first run! It was supposed to be 1/4 mile, but it turned out to be about 100 yards. When we got there my dad registered Andrew and put his race number on his chest.

Paul and my dad each held one of Andrew's hands. They went over to the starting line and when they blew the whistle, they all took off... It was quite a sight! Andrew came in running like a champ. Once he reached the finish line they gave him a medal. But Andrew was upset when they tried to put it around his neck and he started to cry. Once he calmed down, he ran the race again for a photo opportunity. He was so proud of himself. After the race we went to the local sponsoring firehouse for a pancake breakfast.

Later that afternoon, after nap time, my dad's side of the family came over for an early Christmas celebration. We had a great time. Andrew and Allison wore their new Christmas outfits and entertained us all night. Andrew played the guitar and Allison was passed around from one aunt to another. Merry Christmas Clark Family!

Andrew and Daddy's shoe

The other day Andrew walked up to Paul with one of Paul's work shoes in his hand and said "Daddy Dump it" then proceeded to say "Dirty PeePee". Paul looked in his show only to discover that Andrew peed in his Steve Madden shoe! Now how can you get mad at that?