Wednesday 20 June 2012

What, January already?

January 9, 2012:  The Vaughnster hit the big 0-3 with a bang!

Here, he samples the cake, the night before his big day. 
Quality Assurance is a big thing in the House of Huff. 
He approved.


As usual, we invited far too many friends for our little house, but nobody seemed to mind too much.  I had the kids make individual mini-pizzas, and baked them while they were forced against their will invited to play in the backyard a while.

Ailsa was a bit tippy in her poofy snowsuit, but played the snowbunny quite well.


As an Adult Supervisor, you need to watch out and be careful around kids, especially in the winter.  Not only are they delicate and sensitive creatures, but they can also smell fear surprisingly well in the cold.  Rebecca is quickly taken down by a horde of hooligans.


After coming back in to warm up/dry off/eat pizza, la pièce de résistance was presented:
the construction site cake.  Ooooo.....
  

Vaughn at 3 is an intelligent, musical, witty little boy - he can count, knows his alphabet, dances like nobody's watching, and is genuinely kind and loving with his Mommy, Daddy, and little sister.  AND he still laughs at Mommy's jokes (self-high-five!).  You can see him quietly figuring things out, puzzling out questions that don't quite make sense - you can't put anything past him!  His favourite thing in the whole wide world is trucks.  He'll also tell you what's what, make vrooming noises constantly, explain his "point of view" loudly and persistently, and find loopholes in anything to tell him to stop doing.  He seems to have retained his temper, but is (still) proud of his big-boy underpants, which he transitioned into last summer. 

And the biggest deal of turning 3?  "Little Lego" - the big boy stuff.  This kid can not only put together puzzles, but build amazing lego cars, trucks, boats... and then explain what they're for, what they do, and what else he could build, if only he had more of it....

We're curious to see what the future will bring, but are definitely enjoying the journey with our little Schmoo.

Thursday 14 June 2012

A Brief History of Time (Dec '11)

Alternate title:  Holy Crap, she updated the blog

I promised a retro update of everything that has happened up to now ("First, the earth cooled.  Then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat..."  anyone?  anyone?), so here it is in brief:  Christmas till now has been an adventure and a challenge, and we've survived, so far! 




December '11:  Christmas in the Huff House!

The Huffmas 2011 Photoshoot started well.  I mean, it was practically inspired!  Two adorable kids in jammies, a laundry basket, a christmassy blanket, some holiday-themed props... how hard could it be to get a decent photo of both of them at the same time? 
Off to a good start.

One out of two ain't bad.

Wow.  Ok, let's try again.

A little less cheese, please.

Please don't lose focus on me now... it's only been 90 seconds.

Maybe I can photoshop two of these together.

One tries to escape.   Note the helping hand lifting up...
...someone doesn't like being forcibly restrained for a freaking Christmas card picture.


My helper is a bit heavy-handed with confining his sister.  This photo doesn't do the screaming justice.  And let's just say it went downhill from there.



 


My annual gingerbread house extravaganza was more ill-advised than usual (usually, Fis is my reluctant helper.  At least these two were enthusiastic, to say the least.  A LOT of candy didn't make it onto the house). 



Ailsa tries out this whole "undecorating" the Christmas tree that she's heard so much about from Vaughn.  We had only one spot for the tree, in a corner fenced in by the two couches, which turned out to be perfect for minimizing the escape options of said tree undecorators.





Daddy puts the angel on the finished tree!
 (Really?  his smile says.  We still have your cat angel?)  (Yes, Chris.  Yes, we do.  And it's awesome.)









The stockings were hung, and nobody managed to get their heads stuck between the rails.  A success!  They surprisingly went to bed quite well, with visions of Santa (sugarplums just can't compete), and were up at about 6 to see the loot. 





Santa didn't disappoint.  TWO SPOILED KIDLETS (and two spoiled parents) had a great time with everything holiday.  Chris and I enjoyed Christmas coffee and hot chocolate... well, Bailey's with a splash of coffee or hot chocolate.  So refined!  (hic)








Later in the day, the kids begged and begged to try out their new snowshovels!  (kinda)   






How could I, a trying-to-be good mom, say no to those little faces? It's Christmas.

(ok, maybe I decided that a little too much sugar and presents might be better celebrated outside for a while)






Somehow, I don't have pictures of the huge, divine feast that Chris cooked up, practically all by himself.  We asked Mom and Dad to bring some pie, and tucked into a traditonal dinner.  Merry Belated Christmas, one and all!


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