Happy Birthday Auntie Karen

Tonight the extended Wu family gathered to celebrate Auntie Karen's birthday. We had dinner at Mama Campisi's on The Hill.

After dinner Daddy and his girls posed for some pictures:

For the first time in her 13 months and 20 days of life, Taylor slept in a nightgown tonight. Here she is just after bathtime. She carries the Ernsts' giftbag all around the house as if it is a toy!


Moments later, Miss Peyton was up to NO GOOD in the kitchen. She tried to take a red velvet cake off our counter and ooops, it fell. As it hit the floor the top busted open and the cake landed upside down on the recently mopped floor. I immediately took Peyton's nightgown off because it had butter cream frosting all over the left sleeve. In an effort to help "clean" Peyton began licking the frosting off her toes. Definitely a memory book photo!

December 28th

The girls wore their matching PJs (kindness of Miss Moshi) tonight. They sat still for an hour to watch a portion of "Finding Nemo" on the big screen:


Uncle Craig got some help from Peyton as he did the "Army crawl" through the girls' new tunnel:


The O'Briens enjoyed some beverages while listening to Chuck tell some jokes:

Happy Birthday Nanny & Sir (a.k.a. Papa)

Today was a double birthday. An extra special year for Nanny who turned 95. Gung Gung bought a full sheet cake for Nanny so that all the nurses, staff and most other residents could have a piece. Nanny's great grandchildren assembled a "choir" for their very own birthday salute:




Dinner was fun as we saluted Papa's birthday at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We came back to our subdivision for present opening and cake. Peyton blew out the candles without even giving Papa a chance to make his wish.


Patrick took some time to pose with Taylor:


Uncle Charlie thought he could burn off the calories by jogging on the treadmill during digestion. We never told him the treadmill required Johnston & Murphy shoes and a tie....that was his choice!

Luke

Today we met cousin Luke (& the rest of his K.C. family) for lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then for a couple rides at the Carousel. Peyton kept talking about LUKE LUKE LUKE the rest of the day. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Luke's new baby sibling as he/she will be yet another great reason to take a jaunt to Kansas City.



"Avril" even took a ride on a pony:



Daddy put Taylor behind Peyton and let them share a saddle:

Merry Christmas

Taylor and Peyton woke up around 8:30a.m., opened Santa's gifts, inspected Santa's trail....he left the fireplace screen half opened and there were a few crumbs on his cookie plate. They were thrilled to each receive a remote control car. Santa even knew how much they enjoyed Walt Disney World because he brought them a miniature Cinderella's Castle (a.k.a. "A Disney Dollhouse") and a Monorail (no regular train with tracks....this is the infamous elevated Disney train).

They were so caught up in the moment that Taylor assumed her breakfast was cookie crumbs. She ate what Santa forgot to lick off the plate!



We got to Grandma and Grandpa Wu's about an hour later and enjoyed a delicious breakfast with the family. Following breakfast we exchanged gifts. Somehow how gifts grew in size and quantity by the time we left and packed up our van. I attempted to take a "cousin photo" after breakfast but this was the best I could do:




We headed over to Gung Gung and Papa's around 4p.m. Santa dropped off a ride-on golf cart for Peyton and Taylor at their house. Cousin Colleen enjoyed sitting in the driver's seat and touching lots of buttons. The horn has 4 sounds, one is "It's A Small World" which brought a grin to Peyton's face.





Patrick is Peyton's driver. I think that she knows he is a veteran when it comes to operating these motorized vehicles so she handed him the keys. They cruise around the basement for quite a while. As they passed by, Peyton would smile and wave as though she was part of a parade or something. Patrick enjoyed activating the TURBO booster. Here they are after the cruising:

Christmas Eve

After Peyton helped Daddy light our candles for our subdivision's annual Luminaria, we attended 6:30p.m. Mass at Ascension. To our surprise it was not overly crowded. Arriving at 6:20 we assumed we would barely find a seat but we were simply amazed to see the cry room was completely vacant.

Uncle Charlie and Auntie Potsou invited us over after Mass. Taylor got to wear Patrick's reindeer antlers to get in the spirit:

We posed by their tree for a holiday family photo:

Sir and I tried to get all of his grandchildren to cooperate for a picture but it was close to impossible....especially once Colleen and Taylor started leaning forward. Brendan gets bonus points for actually looking at the camera, Peyton gets credit for having her dimples visible. Patrick simply put a bag on his face. Taylor and Colleen are too young to criticize :-)

Just before bedtime, I read Peyton "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and we were reminded to make sure our "stockings were hung by the chimney with care".....a few weeks ago we had to store our stockings in the hall closet due to an injury Taylor sustained after a stocking holder collided with her tiny little dainty nose.

After we rehung the stockings and finished the book, we set up a "snack chair" for Santa. We placed it about 5 feet from the chimney landing area. Peyton selected 2 cookies & her favorite cup (the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one Great Granny and Tim gave her). We even placed 2 carrots on the chair for a couple tired and hungry reindeer.

Great Accomplishments

Peyton has a new hobby. . .potty training. She is a real champ. Each time she is successful she gets to put a sticker on her "scoreboard" and once it is full we are taking her out to celebrate. I have a feeling we will be going to Chuck E. Cheese soon because in only 3 days she is racking up stickers:

Besides walking like a woman of the world, Taylor's newest accomplishment is that as of this afternoon, NO MORE BOTTLES. Strictly sippy cups for Miss Taylor going forward. We have packed all the bottles out of sight. Peyton switched to a sippy cup right at her first birthday but since little Taylor is not as vigorous when it comes to guzzling formula or milk or water it has been a gradual transition. I'd say she is still ahead of the curve.

Taylor's favorite sippy cup is a 7 oz lavender and pastel yellow cup. More important than the color, she likes to grab the handles on it. I think it makes her feel as though she is driving a car or something. As she chugs she grasps the handles and kicks her feet up and down.

Christmas Pageant

Taylor is back in good health so we ventured out tonight and attended Ascension's Christmas Story/Pageant. Patrick played the role of Joseph and after his performance he was kind enough to pose with his adoring fan :-)




Taylor enjoyed watching all the action and hearing the Christmas carols.



At the end of the pageant, Santa came down the aisle, knelt down and said a prayer in front of Baby Jesus and then vanished. Peyton was so worried and said "Santa needs to come down the chimney!"

Musical Cards Are A Hit

We received 16 cards in today's mail. Three were musical, including Peyton's favorite which was from the Carmichaels. She opened the card just before dinner and it brought a smile to her face. Here she is trying to sing along:

After humming the tune during dinner and a couple hours of fine tuning the new song, here is "PEW singing the Hippo song"(TAKE 33)

Taylor is still fighting a virus her big sister must have shared with her. Fever was 102.9 this afternoon but the Motrin sure helps get her in decent spirits. She loves listening to this "just her size" Santa.

Happy Birthday to Ellie and Uncle Charlie

Today Peyton attended a "Princess / Pirate Enchanted Neverland" birthday party for her classmate Ellie at the St. Louis Carousel. She enjoyed playing with all the kids and took three rides on the carousel. Instead of a birthday cake, Ellie's parents' served birthday cookies (a great way to minimize the mess with a bunch of 2-4 year olds). . .as we were walking to the parking lot Peyton kept saying "we can't go home, we need birthday cake, we need to light some candles..."



Her she is analyzing the birthday cookies:


After naptime we went to Auntie Al's to celebrate Uncle Charlie's birthday. Luckily Auntie Al actually lit candles and served ice cream cake :-)

Snow!

Daddy got to use his new "toy" (plow attachment for his John Deere tractor) today thanks to the 2+ inches of snow. In addition to our driveway, he cleared a few of our neighbors' driveways. We're expecting additional accumulation tonight so he is happy that his tractor has headlights :-)

While Daddy plowed and Taylor napped, Peyton was in full gear keeping busy inspecting the snow.

Miss Louise was out with her grandchildren and we helped them build this snowman, complete with eyes made out of Walker's Shortbread chocolate chip cookies, nose made out of a hotdog, and mouth of black bubble gum pebbles (a.k.a. coal). A few minutes later I put the magic black hat on him but unlike Frosty, this guy did not begin to dance around (which puzzled Peyton a bit). As a matter of fact this snowman fell down an hour later and now it is merely a big ball of snow :-(

And of course no snowfall is complete without making a snow angel:

First Annual Beer Exchange

Tonight my cousin hostessed her "1st Annual Beer (instead of the traditional cookie) Exchange". Although I have never actually consumed more than a couple sips of beer in my life, I had fun socializing and sipping on a "Mike's Hard Lemonade" (my version of beer) while eating some wings, White Castles, chicken kabobs and brie cheese. Miss Moshi came with me and we had fun and came home with quite a variety. We got home just after bath time and Peyton was trying to figure out what was in our boxes. . .



Earlier today after some more cookie baking Peyton decided that she'd make Taylor a bottle. She kept saying "Mommy, Taylor thirsty. She needs bottle. I make Taylor a bottle." If I added some water to her bottle Taylor would have had quite a tummy ache....Peyton filled the 8oz bottle with about 6 oz of powder!

Peyton informed me that their matching outfits matched her Chuck E. Cheese hat. Once she took it out of her hat drawer, Taylor paraded around the house with it all afternoon. Here she is laying still and using it as her pillow. . .

Christmas Play

Since Peyton was unable (just getting over her fever) to attend her Christmas Party Monday, we went and joined Brendan's class for some seasonal festivities this afternoon. Brendan played the role of a lamb. Peyton and Patrick scored front row seats. . .






After eating cookies we headed down the hall to Patrick's classroom and got to meet his teacher, Mrs. M*. Peyton helped herself to a computer with headphones while Patrick looked after her.



The girls love the advent wreath Gung Gung gave them. It is extremely kid friendly using no aim-n-flame at all :-)


While Taylor napped this morning, Peyton and I baked some cookies. She was more interested in taste-testing than in decorating.

Sleeping Taylor Duck

Okay...it is 12:45a.m. and as I sit anxiously awaiting my "jacked up work laptop" to reboot for the third time in the past 2 hours, I thought to myself "I forgot to do a blog entry". Low and behold as I was putting laundry away I came across quite a sight in Taylor's room. She was impersonating Donald Duck. Or perhaps he was mimicking her sleep style :-) I guess she elects to sleep perpendicular at the end of her crib because it must feel cozy. As she continues to grow taller it is getting a bit cramped. She almost looks as if she is about to perform a sit-up with her knees bent as they are. By the way, as soon as I took this picture the flash must have been noticed as she immediately repositioned herself and stretched and let out a sigh.

Shifty Chicks

This picture was taken just after I busted these two young ladies. I accidentally forgot to put the child lock on our kitchen fridge and noticed 4 shifty feet underneath the opened fridge. Upon seeing this I automatically exclaimed (in my meanest voice) "Get out of there now!" at which point Taylor ran (in her "Frankenstein strut") about 80 MPH down the back hallway. PEW did not budge....she was way too enthralled with grabbing an egg. I just wish I had a video camera for Taylor's escape. Her heart must have been racing with fear as she high tailed it outta my sight :-)

The BLOGGER is still alive

Rest assured we are still alive around here. Peyton woke up today cool as a cucumber; however, during bathtime tonight we discovered a rash on her thighs and forearms. . . according to Miss Holly this is the "final phase" of the "West County virus" which some kids have gotten.

In addition to Peyton being ill, our internet has been very under the weather for the past week. Thank goodness we know Big Stella...she hooked us up with some extremely good technical assistance today and now we are running strong.

St. Louis Blues

Peyton is still battling an unknown virus and has had an off-and-on fever all day today. The girls are getting a bit stir crazy....crazy enough that Taylor decided to climb into her sister's baby doll stroller. Daddy saw her in it looking quite supersized and he took her for a stroll.

Gingerbread House

Peyton went to her doctor this afternoon with a fever of 103.9. Other than refusing to take Tylenol, she is an excellent patient. As soon as we force fed her Motrin she acted normal for a few hours. During that timeframe she and Gung Gung made a gingerbread house. Peyton ate the candies while Gung Gung applied the frosting paste.

Looks like Miss PEW will get some much needed rest and relaxation this weekend as she will most likely be on lock-down. Our "goal" is 2 healthy kids for Christmas this year.

Daddy & Peyton

This picture was taken just before Daddy and Peyton departed for a Parents As Teachers event called "Just Me & My Dad". When they came home Peyton proudly showed me a crown she made and tried to tell me about how high she jumped on the mini-trampoline.

The Dancing Wu Family

Check us out:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1172041236

Taylor's FIRST Word Is. . .

Perhaps in honor of an Uncle in North Salt Lake, Utah or possibly inspired by a souvenir from her recent Disney World vacation, Taylor said her first word today and it was a a six letter word- DONALD! I grabbed the camera and tried to get her to reinact the big event. Peyton was a helper.

Back to Winter in St. Louis

Our last day at Old Key West found Taylor searching high and low for an item to buy with her "Disney Dollar" given to her by Great Granny Rhodes. Check out these three in action shots of the shopper (notice how she drops the Mickey Mouse dollar bill when she dives into the candy displayed at her level):





The girls were sad to leave Mickey but thrilled to come home to Miss Louise and Mr. Frank & Bella (awesome neighbors). Miss Louise did more than feed our fish while we were away....she even cooked and baked for us so that we could keep up the eating habits formed in Florida. Thanks Miss Louise :-)






Last but not least, HAPPY BIRTHDAY POTSOU! We'll do a big party in 5 years. . .