Evie and Annalise Taller: December 2007

Our last Christmas

We concluded our week of Christmas parties with Grandma and Grandpa Taller coming to town on Saturday. The girls got all dressed up in their Christmas dresses to open presents.

Evie tried to be patient, but had to get started right away. Here's a good shot of her nose scrape.

Annalise helps Grandma open presents.

Annalise gets a present of her favorite things. Doggies!

Then Grandpa helps Annalise open a pink sweatsuit.

A quick pose in front of the Christmas tree before it came down on Sunday.

Crayon Eater

Whoa, whoa, here she comes...

Watch out Crayolas, she'll chew you up!

Whoa, whoa here she comes,

She's a crayon eater!!

You can see the traces of purple on her chin. We knew that something was up when she was quiet for more than 30 seconds and no toys were hitting the floor.

And look at these purple teeth!

Post Christmas blues

Now that the actually holiday is over, we are just hanging around and doing stuff around home. Today, we went to Lowe's to get some wire for the undercabinet lighting that he will be putting in. When we got home, Evie and Annalise were running around the driveway. Evie tripped and left some of her skin on the concrete. This was the result.

This doesn't show well, but she also has a big old road rash burn on her forehead.

Then we came back inside and decided to move Evie's room around

Hopefully she doesn't roll to the wall that isn't there anymore. She is so excited to have her books and a lamp beside her bed to read.

Annalise loves to play on her big sister's bed

There is still room enough for flips and running. Here is Evie standing on her head.

Annalise tries to stand on her head too. She can do a sommersault with assistance (someone has to launch her rear end over).

More Christmas

I was getting tired of posting after all the stuff I put up last night. Anyway, here are some more pictures of the girls with their presents from Santa.

Annalise drew on her portable Manga Doodle

This is how she shows us the picture she drew

And now she is demonstrating how dad cleans out his ears. Gross.

Evie received a map puzzle from Santa. She has done it about 100 times now. Her biggest problem is when Annalise wants to help her.

Here are our girls.

Annalise rides her chopper.

Then we went outside because it was about 50 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. It was probably the most mild Christmas we have ever experienced. And a nod to global warming. I've said this before, don't believe the Republicans when they tell you that there is no such thing as global warming. They are just protecting their interests in big oil. Ok, I'll get off my climate change soap box now.

Evie took a trike ride with a hitch hiker in tow.

Christmas Morning

The highlights. Stinks woke up at 5:45, but after some milk, fell back asleep in mom and dad's bed. Evie woke up around 7:30 and woke the rest of us up. She ran downstairs and had a present open before the rest of us could join her.

Annalise tries out her new bike. Later in the day, she attempted to take her white bear for a ride. She needs a side car or a basket.

Evie got Huckle and Lowly. they are characters from the Richard Scarry Children's books that are popular with Evie right now.

Annalise received a travel size Manga Doodle to do drawings on the run. It is much lighter to carry than the full size one that she hauls around.

Annalise discovers that Santa ate all his cookies!

Mom and the girls on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

We made it home for Christmas Eve Mass and then back home for a reading of the Christmas story and the Night before Christmas

Mom tries to read with the assistance of Annalise.

Annalise barely made it through the story before we threw her into bed.

Weekend in Ney, the party's over

Christmas Eve morning in Ney and we were all on the couch with a severe case of sugar coma. Mom had it the worst. Probably because of all the fudge, pumpkin pie, ice cream, spiked punch, margaritas, and poppy seed roll. Makes my belly hurt just thinking about it.

Since no one would get on the floor to play with Stinks, she had to get up on the couch with the rest of us. Along with her Hallmark dog and snowman singing jingle bells.

Evie and Dad in their sugar coma. We watched a lot of TV that morning.

Weekend in Ney, Day two, party two

After naps (or attempted naps), we all gathered for the Doug Seibert Family Christmas. It is no longer an organized activity where you know who the present is from. With 5 kids, it has become a paper throwing affair. Everyone had lots of fun, got lots of great presents, and everything was done within an hour (unlike previous years where we had to break for meals).

Annalise got a Xylophone book. I think it's from Grandma and Grandpa, but the paper was removed before i could keep track.

Uncle Kevin helps Evie open a present to play with. Stinks clenches her white bear and hasn't let go all week.

Mom captures Annalise for a Christmas hug.

Grandma and Annalie open a present. Notice Annalise's trendy dress over pants look. Dad didn't want to wrestle the "long socks" back on to her legs.

Henry seems unphased by the chaos.

Evie holds up a princess coloring book. Horray!

Natalie got a Hippopotomus for Christmas, just like the song.

Weeekend in Ney, Day two, party one

We gathered in Grandma and Grandpa Seibert's garage for the annual Wagner Christmas.

Natalie and Evie were on their best behavior. The previous night, they had a sleep over and then got to go to church together. Can you imagine more fun?

This is our attempt of getting a picture of Great Grandma Wagner with all her great grandchildren. No one sat still for long, but what can you expect for 7 kids under the age of 4?

Evie and Natalie helped Grandma pass out the presents

Natalie made a big announcement on behalf of her parents. She is going to be a big sister again! We are pretty excited for them, but not as excited as Uncle Kevin because this gets him out of running a marathon next year.

Annalise is a new kid. She wasn't shy and clingy, but entertained and visited with all her distant relatives. We think that the molar she cut a few days before was a source of her relief and change of attitude.

Weekend in Ney--Day one, party one

We went over the river (the St. Mary's river) and through the woods (you take what you can get) to Grandma Seibert's house this weekend.

Annalise takes a self imposed time out in her mom's old time out chair. Then we drove over to Uncle Kevin's house for the 3rd Annual Seibert-Meyer Christmas party.

Aunt Becky was there eating up all the fudge and sausage with the excuse that the baby was hungry. What every you do, don't let your hand get too close to her mouth.

We took a picture of all the third generation of the party. From left to right, Andy Meyer being held by Natalie, Andy's twin, Heidi, being held by Evie, Cole (the twins' big brother) holding Oliver, Jesse Coleman hiding Annalise, and Hank.

Oliver finds ways to amuse himself.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! The girls woke up this morning to find that Santa remembered us in his travels. We have lots to update, but right now we are too busy playing. Have a great day!

Lights at the Zoo

Tonight we all bundled up and went to the zoo to see the Christmas lights. It was just our Minnesotan blood that required us to put on several layers of clothes. It is December after all. In retrospect, we were probably overdressed for 42 degree weather, but we weren't at all cold. We tut-tutted all the Indiana people in their Peyton Manning jerseys and their coats unzipped (to show off their undying loyalty, we suppose). They would never survive in Minnesota even with the number 18 protecting them.

Annalise didn't move much on account of her marshmellow snowsuit. The only time she made any sudden movement was when we saw the Walrus swimming around and the cow in the barn. Not a lot of animals out at the zoo in December.

Evie decided that we all needed to ride the train as our Christmas treat. It was probably a great ride in the daylight, but mostly it went behind all the animal barns and past the Speedway gas station.

The Zoo did a nice job of decorating all the trees. We thoroughly enjoyed the display.

Of course, it was way past bedtime when we got home and two little girls went straight to bed.

Cookies

We caught a little of that snow and ice storm that hit most of the nation this weekend. First snow, then rain, then freezing rain, then more snow. We ended up with about 5 inches total. It was nice to have the snowblower up and running this weekend. Unfortunately, the city isn't as timely in clearing the roads as they were in Minnesota. Our street didn't get plowed today until 5:30 pm. So we just stayed inside and kept busy.