Our own little family Christmas

This year we decided to spend Christmas Eve at home with just the four of us - no traveling, no big gathering, just a quite, low-key day with our little family - sounds too good to be true? Well, it was. This was the plan for the day: sleep in, have a nice, relaxing morning do whatever we wanted, make some Christmas treats, maybe take the kids outside if the weather was nice, head to church around 5pm (during which time Santa would make a stop at the house), go home and open presents, play with said presents, and turn in for the night. This is how the day actually went: we did sleep in, um, I think that is when the plan went out the window. Lauren, unfortunately was having a hard time with a cold - think lots of snot, boogers, and restlessness - not a good combo. She "napped" in 5-10 minute increments throughout the day because she was constantly waking herself up with her coughing and stuffy nose. The lack of sleep made it hard to do much as she was crabby and just wanted to be held (mostly by me) for the entire day. Ryan and I did manage to squeeze in enough time to make "puppy chow" before Lauren had probably her fifth meltdown for the day. Around 4pm Trav and I were going crazy trying to keep Lauren comfortable so I decided to try a warm bath, some Vicks vapor rub, and some very good (if I must say so myself) singing to get her to sleep. By 4:30pm she was out cold and there was no way in heck we were going to wake her up - result, no church. With church out of the plan, we no longer had a time for Santa to quickly drop by unseen so we came up with another option. Around 5:30pm Trav and Ryan headed out on the town to see if they could find Santa working his way around Shakopee. Unfortunately they did not see Santa, but in what can only be explained as a pure coincidence, during their little trip around town, it seems the big guy snuck into our house undetected and brought some presents with him - what a sneaky guy that Santa is. Here is a video when Ryan and Trav are getting home.

Here's another video of Ryan opening his "best" presents from Santa - a fire guitar and police helmet.

After the presents, we realized we were starting to get hungry. So, like any good mother, I went to the kitchen and whipped up a fantastic Christmas Eve meal - not so much! It was almost 7pm so we opted for the easy route - pizza! After a few calls to some local pizza places, we found one that was still open and put in our order. So Christmas Eve wasn't the picture perfect day I dreamed it would be, but it was still memorable and is just the beginning of the many family traditions we hope to have together, although we may leave the pizza thing out in years to come. By the way, Lauren slept through all of it and didn't wake up until the following morning around 8am - obviously the girl needed some serious rest. She work up feeling better, but still not in great shape. Let's hope this (sick children) is another thing that DOES NOT become a tradition during the Christmas season.

Round #2 - DONE

Quast Family Christmas

We did Christmas too many times to count this year, so I am going to write up 3 separate posts to cover all of them. So here goes . . .

Last weekend (20th and 21st) we celebrated Christmas with Trav's family. We headed down to Gaylord on Friday afternoon and spent a relaxing night with Trav's parents. On Saturday, the craziness began. It started early Saturday morning when Doug and Connie's Christmas present was delivered - a John Deere riding lawn mower. Trav, myself, and the kids were the only ones home with Doug when it was delivered sowe got a first look at the goods - it seems like it was a hit. By late morning, everyone else started to arrive for the festivities - to sum it up, lots of people, lots of food, and lots of presents! We even had a special visit from Santa - who knew he made house calls a whole week early!Ryan was thrilled, Lauren was less than thrilled with the big guy.

Here are a couple other pictures from the day/night.
After our big day on Saturday, we woke up Sunday, went to church, and got ready for another family Christmas. This time we got together with Connie's (Trav's mom) side of the family. To sum it up, lots of people, lots of food, lots of presents - sound familiar? Christmas round #1 is done, onto round #2 and #3.

Ryan's Christmas program

Today was Ryan's last day of preschool for the year, and that meant it was party time! The kids had chocolate pudding, juice, and a variety of other treats to celebrate before it was time for the big show. All the parents were invited to attend the last twenty minutes of class to watch the kids sing all the Christmas songs they have been working on. It was pretty cute to see 20 little kids running around with big green "Christmas trees" on their heads trying to find their spot on the circle. When everyone was finally situated, the songs began and to my surprise, Ryan seemed almost completely oblivious to what was going on. For days he has been talking about all the songs he has learned and seemed very excited to have everyone (me, Trav, and Lauren) there to watch him, but in the end, maybe stage fright got the best of him - oh well, there will be plenty more opportunities in the future. Here he is getting his hat on and finding the perfect spot on the circle. And here he is not singing "Jingle Bells" - not sure what he was doing, it looks like maybe he had something in his eye, but I'm pretty sure he didn't - just dinking around I guess.

Naughty or nice?

Naughty or nice, that seems to be the question of the season, and lucky for us, we have a hat that shows exactly how the kids are doing . . .

such a nice little boy

he worked really hard to pull off this naughty faceLauren wanted nothing to do with the hat - naughty

Here she gives her best "nice"pose even though she just got done ripping Ryan's drawer apart - notice all the debris laying around her? Yeah, she did that. Maybe that is why she wouldn't put the hat on the nice way - after all, lying to Santa cannot be a good thing. After Lauren's destruction of Ryan's drawers, she managed to put his undies to use in a new, very stylish way . .

Yes, those are Ryan's Nemo undies, and yes, she loved having them on her head - I think she is getting my sense of style already (not that I put underwear on my head, but I have made some awful outfit decisions in the past) and although she looks great, I'm a little worried what the future might hold. We'll have to get Auntie in here to straighten her out before it's too late!

Ryan tells us how it all works

A little background on this video. Ryan and Trav had just finished watching "Santa Clause 2" when they came running up the stairs with Ryan talking faster than I have ever heard him (and that says a lot because he is always talking a mile a minute). Anyway, he started right in with mom, "Santa is coming", "he has a big deer named Check", "he is the boy's daddy", "the fireplace gets big", and on and on it went until he finally stopped and I could try to put it all together. That is when Trav told me they were watching the movie - okay, now it all makes sense. Check the reindeer is "Chet" the reindeer from the movie, also the dad in the movie does become Santa Claus, and the fireplace does indeed grow bigger when Santa wants to go down it. So after listening to this endlessly for the next ten minutes, I asked Ryan to tell me about it again so I could tape him, and he of course was more than happy to do so. But, we couldn't stand in the kitchen, we had to go downstairs so he could show me how it all worked . . . so off we went. Here is the outcome. This is why Christmas is going to be so much fun this year!


By the way, Ryan's excitement grows more and more each day as Christmas gets closer. I could seriously have my camera out on a daily basis just to catch all the new things he is excited about. Today Auntie got a little taste of it as she got to sit and listen on the phone as Ryan described in detail what was going to happen on Christmas. To make Auntie's day, he asked her what she wanted and her reply, "a car." He then asked, "what color?" (like it was just going to show up if he knew the specifics). Apparently not getting a response soon enough from Auntie, he offered up red, and she agreed. So it appears Ryan will be getting a fire guitar and a police helmet, I'll get a bow for my hair (somehow Ryan figured that is what I needed so he put in my request to Santa for me), and Auntie will have a bright, shiny new red car in her garage - how fun, I can hardly wait for my bow, and Auntie's new car (come on big guy, you have to pull through on this or Ryan will be crushed - I assume Auntie will as well).

Code Yellow

"Code yellow, code yellow" . . . that is what I heard on my walkie while working at Target the other night. I vaguely remember something about code reds, yellows, and greens from orientation, but I've never actually heard any of them over the walkie before so I completely forgot (or maybe didn't pay close enough attention during orientation) what they meant. As I tried to remember the meaning, it became very obvious to me when the person speaking into the walkie followed the "code yellow" with, "he is wearing a green shirt and black pants, has dark hair and his name is Merrick" - oh crap, code yellow is a missing kid alert! Instantly I stopped what I was doing and began looking around the store in any place a little boy might decide to hide out in. It was actually quite amazing how quickly all the Target employees went into action. Everyone stopped what they were doing and searched the store high and low. All entrances to the building were locked, and no one was allowed in or out. There were red shirts in just about every aisle, and about 3 minutes after the initial alert was announced, the little boy was found hiding out in the woman's sleepwear section by one of my fellow employees - who says working at Target isn't stressful! During the 3 minutes or so (which felt more like 10) it took to find this little boy, I started to get very worried. What if that little boy was Ryan and I was the mom frantically looking for him - not a fun thought. Anyway, in the end, it all worked out great, the boy was found and reunited with his mom; who was both happy, and mad that her little guy wandered off in the first place, and we all went back to our normal routines. To my surprise, on my very next shift which was two days later, I heard the "code yellow" alert again (come on people, you've got to start watching your kids when you are out and about). I had a hunch this one was coming because as I was working in the accessory area I noticed a little boy running around while he mom was searching the racks. Every once in a while, she would yell for him and he would pop out from wherever he was hiding and go running to her - not my kind of parenting style, but whatever. Anyway, about 5 minutes after finishing up in that area, the "code yellow" alert is sent over the walkie with an exact description of the little boy I had just seen running around (whose mother had better things to do than watch him obviously) so I headed back towards the accessories area again and began looking around - not there. After that, I headed to the next section, the women's sleepwear (what is it with little boys and this section), and found him laying underneath a rack. When I tried to talk to him, he got up and ran away (maybe his mom told him not to talk to strangers at least). Luckily, he is little and I'm big, so it wasn't too hard to keep up with him. As he was running, his mom happened to be heading our way so he ended up running right into her arms - another happy ending. So, what is the moral of this story - WATCH YOUR KIDS!

Onto other Target news . . . big Pat Williams was in the house this past Friday. Seems he and his lady friend needed to stock up on some goods before he headed to Arizona for the big football game on Sunday. I was surprised that he didn't look as huge in person as I thought he would have. Most people in the store didn't agree with me on this one, but most people probably didn't have a huge brother growing up, and most people probably didn't hang around 300 pounds plus guys in college. So maybe Pat is a little bigger than them, but, still not the giant I thought he would be.

Enough the with the Target news for now.

Other big news, Lauren is cutting two molars. The first eight teeth she cut were a piece of cake - not much crying, in fact, we hardly even knew what was going on until the teeth were actually through. This is not the case with the big teeth. The babe is crabby, crabby and wants her mom all the time. I can't say I don't love all the attention, but I could certainly do without all the crying and tantrums that go along with it. They feel like they are almost through so hopefully this will all end very soon.

Gotta go put the boy to bed now. Time to turn off the computer and say goodnight.

A Christmas Letter

Every year around Christmas time, I anxiously await the arrival of that first Christmas card in the mail. It is so fun to see pictures of how everyone has changed over the year, and on a rare occasion, we’ll still get an actual Christmas letter or two. These are my favorite as it is sometimes the only chance I have to read about what is happening in the lives of my friends and families. Because I get so much joy out of these letters, I decided I was going to write a Christmas letter this year as well. But, then I got to thinking and realized our whole life over the past year has been pretty much covered in this blog so that didn’t leave me with much to write about – there goes our Christmas letter. But, not completely defeated, I decided instead to write this little tidbit and post it to the blog. It covers the highlights and maybe even touches on a few things I haven’t yet covered in the blog, who knows. So here goes . . .

The year started off with the arrival of our baby girl, Lauren, who was born on Nov 28, 2007. While on maternity leave with her, our daycare got shut down by the county (every parent’s worst nightmare) so Trav and I decided that it would be best if I became a stay-at-home mom. I quit my job on Feb 16th and it will definitely go down as one of the best days in my life - I worked for a short, evil little man – so it was easy to leave and having more time with the kids sealed the deal. After working through the adjustment of being at home full-time and living on one income, we have finally gotten to a place where we are all happy and enjoy our new, less stressful lives. Trav (lucky for us) still has his job, which he has grown to love (okay, maybe love is a bit much, but he does seem to enjoy it). He has also started his own recruiting company – Ryan Douglas, LLC – (nice name don’t you think?) with one of his college friends. After having minimal success at the beginning of the year, he has found his stride and things are going good – he is truly our sugar-daddy and we are so proud of him for all of his hard work and dedication. Without him doing all he does, I would never be able to be the mom I have always wanted to be and for that, I am very thankful.

Onto the kiddos . . . Ryan continues to provide constant entertainment and pure joy. The kid never stops talking, but lucky for us (and everyone else who hears him); most of the stuff that comes out of his mouth is very humorous. 2008 brought many changes for Ryan, the biggest being that he became a big brother. He wasn’t too impressed with the new title at first, but has become a great big brother throughout the year by providing Lauren with hugs and kisses when necessary, and giving the doctor an occasional tongue lashing for giving his baby sister shots – a true sign of a good big brother. He also became an official “big boy” at the start of the year by being completely potty trained, started pre-school (which he loves), and just recently dropped the sippy cup for good – all huge milestones for him. Lauren did the usual “baby stuff” for the first half of the year – rolled over, sat up by herself, started eating solid foods - but lately she has really started to show us her true self. She is nosy (always in everyone’s business, especially Ryan’s), has an attitude whenever you try to get her to do something she doesn’t want to do, but through it all, is still the happiest baby ever. The kid smiles and laughs about 90% of the day and cries the other 10% (usually whenever she sees food that is not in her mouth, or has to get dressed – she hates it). For the most part, she keeps herself busy; so much in fact, it is easy to forget she is even in the house sometimes because she is off doing her own thing – an overall good little girl.

Now for me – what can I say, I am a frumpy, un-showered, stay-at-home mom who kicks back and eats bon-bons on a daily basis while the kids run wild - I wish! Actually, the frumpy and un-showered parts might be slightly true, but the rest is just a dream. This stay-at-home mom stuff is tough, but so worth it. The kids keep me entertained everyday and in turn, I take care of them the best I can. I have also tried to step up my wifely duties by learning to be a better cook for my hard-working man, and rubbing his feet every night - a small price to pay for the opportunity to stay home.

That about sums up the 2008 year for the Quast family – nothing too exciting, but fun non-the-less. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and hope to see many of you in the near future.

Lots of love from the Quast clan.

PS I hope you all know that foot rubbing thing doesn’t really happen, it just fit so perfectly I had to throw it in there.