More Big Boy Excitement!

And the big boy events just keep coming! This haircut was way overdue, but he just didn't seem to have that much to cut! He wasn't keen on the idea of a haircut, but once he was in the chair, he just went with the flow. Zoey was there the whole time giving him a pep-talk. She was saying things like, "Don't worry little buddy, I'm right here for you." It was sweet.

Before:

During:

After:

A view from the back. . .
After a little shopping trip yesterday, I semi-completed Zander's room with some accessories. Zoey loves Zander's "Feme Room." She now wants a "feme" room of her own--a princess "feme".

The little pirate enjoying his new digs.

Follow Up

At about 3am this morning, Zander decided it was time to go back into his crib. I told him it was his last night in his crib and he said ok and went back to sleep.

The Big Boy Bed

We took the plunge today and bought Zander his brand new big boy bed. He was very excited about it and couldn't wait to try it out. Didn't even wait for the box to be opened! Tyler spent the good part of the evening working on it so that Zander could use it tonight.

All done! (The cool thing about this bed, is that when he is a little older and used to the bed, it flips over and bunks--so that he will have all that floor space underneath as a play fort.)

I got to put Zander to bed and he seemed pretty excited, but I think he felt the same bittersweetness that I did. He asked for more stories and songs than usual and was a little extra cuddly. But I told him that the rule was he had to stay in bed! He repeated the rule and within about 10 minutes of leaving his room, he was snoring away in his new bed. I am so proud of him!
We'll see if it is always this easy, but he did good tonight! That's what counts!

Christmas 2009

We hope that everyone has had a blessed Christmas! It is definitely a white one and we are all snug at home enjoying a very lazy day!

Here is Zoey at her Church Christmas program this year, next to her "best friend" Paige.

After Zoey's Christmas program at church, we came home and
she and I put together the gingerbread train.

This is really mostly what she did. . .
The final product. . .

On Wednesday we went to the Annual Daycare Cookie Party and enjoyed a visit
from Santa. The kids got their last chance to ask Santa for what they really wanted.
We were glad that they stuck to their list!

On Christmas Eve, the snow was falling and Mommy was cleaning for guests--so Daddy took the kids outside to enjoy the snow. Zoey stayed out for almost 2 hours! Here she is in her snow fort.

Nana, Poppa, Auntie Tammy and Uncle Eric all came over that evening to enjoy dinner and company. It was a nice relaxing evening and the kids really enjoyed all of their gifts. Zander opened his baseball beanbag first and thought that was the greatest gift. . .that is until he opened the percussion set from Nana and Poppa! Can't get him to stop playing the tambourine with his maracas--we have a little rock star on our hands!


The Livingston Family Band
Zoey really wanted to leave a note for Santa so that he would know the cookies were for him.

The note must have worked, because in the morning, the cookies were eaten and Santa had left a red bag with everything the kids asked for. Zoey even got a dog toy for her dog (that she will get when she is 7 years old.) Zander got his baseball and a baseball mitt. He was so happy!


We thought he can start the potty training process by learning from Elmo!
Zander's face says it all. . .Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The HolliDisaster Parade, A Christmas Story. . .

It has been literally months since we have gotten together with our good friends Roz, Kevin and Hazel. Tyler was away reffing again, so I took it upon myself to make plans for the kids and me to meet up with them in a naively grand fashion. The plan was perfect! Meet downtown Minneapolis (the weekend before Christmas on a weekend night) and go to the Macy's Christmas display--the kids would love it-- "A Day in the Life of an Elf!" then eat, exchange gifts, and catch the Hollidazzle parade as none of us had ever seen it before. I wish the story went even close to this, but alas. . .it is nothing like our vision of the evening.

I was actually pretty proud of myself that I successfully drove the kids and myself to the Macy's downtown, parked and found Roz, Kevin, and Hazel with no problems. Then we headed up to the 8th floor to see the Elf display. Never a good sign, the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor and we were told that this is where the line started. Yikes! Then came the news that it was an hour and a half wait. There was NO way that the three adults were going to entertain two 2 year olds and a 4 year old for that long. So plan B. We went back to the cars to exchange gifts tailgate style as we didn't want to be lugging around the extra weight all night.



Then back inside for some dinner. Macy's food court was packed so Plan C was to walk over to the IDS tower where we enjoyed the really big Christmas tree and tried to find some food.

It was about 5ish at this time and Kevin wen t to get us some food and Roz and the Kids and I sat in the skyway, thinking that we can just hang out there until the parade started--at 6:30. That's right, we sat for an hour and a half, ate our dinner and enjoyed very little conversation, as it is difficult to carry on a conversation with the kids around. Zander and Hazel took everything is stride, but Zoey was having a few meltdowns during all of this. She wanted to see the parade, but she also really wanted to go home--I just couldn't win.

Thank goodness for cookies!

This is Roz's "How much longer. . ." Face

The parade started and we watched from the skyway for a while. Kevin and Hazel ventured outside to the street, but Zoey didn't want to go. Finally Zoey decides that she does want to go outside. It takes a while to pack up three kids and all our stuff. We made it outside JUST in time to see Santa's float go by and then parade was over.

Luckily it was surprisingly easy to leave the city and come back home. We did climb 7 flights of stairs with kids in tow to get to our cars faster, but the sore muscles today are worth it. It is a story worth laughing at and planning out better in the future. Thanks Roz and Kevin and Hazel for a memorable evening.

Zoey's Christmas Writing--isn't she good?

December Update

It has been a busy December! So before I begin with any updates and such, I would like to extend our loving birthday wishes to both Poppa Livingston and Grandma Nyhlen! We hope that you both enjoyed your birthday.

Most of our busy-ness has been just the usual stuff. I have recently started singing with the contemporary Christian band at church, so we rehearse once a week and sing every Sunday. It has been a blast! I am really enjoying it.

Tyler is doing a lot of reffing basketball, so the kids and I have had a lot of time to hang out. Yesterday we made it outside for a while to enjoy all the snow that we got this week. Both kids had a blast in the snow--especially being pulled around in the sleds. Zoey couldn't wait to get outside to make snow angels!



In other news, Zoey has ANOTHER loose tooth. It is the one right next to the tooth she just lost.

Just think this is a fun picture!

Zoey and Nana go to Cinderella

Thank you Nana and Poppa for treating Zoey to such a wonderful evening! She tells everyone about how much fun she had!

Story written by Nana:

Zoey got a magic ticket on her fourth birthday from her Nana and Poppa. It was a fun but risky plot of ours to give this gift 5 months ahead of time. We kept our fingers crossed that all of us would be healthy during the flu season when the date came for us to see Cinderella at the Children's Theater. Finally, November 29, 2009 arrived. Poppa became the driver of the family coach, and Nana and Zoey, of course, were the Princesses being driven to the theater.

During the drive Zoey made conversation by pointing out the city buildings and lights of Minneapolis. She knew already that it was a big city that we were in, but how, I don't know. It is so amazing to view the world through Zoey! AND I really can't say that enough. That's one of the best things about children and grandchildren -- taking a look at the world anew.

When extracted out of the car seat, quite a feat for Nana and Poppa to deal with, she bravely walked right up to the huge glass doors of the Children's Theater building like she belonged there. She and I climbed some long stairs to behold a wonderland of activity. Little girls were dressed in their best dresses. Some were sporting tiaras. Zoey started waving at all the 4-6 year olds as if they were her closest friends. One little girl even had a Cinderella costume on. Zoey made a beeline over to the costumed cutie to say hi! The little "Cinderella" was shy and taken back to have such a friendly little encounter. Zoey scooted over to see her three times. I finally got Zoey distracted to something else and she told me that the little girl was Cinderella, her friend, and she was going to be in the play. I filled her in that this little "Cinderella" was just a little girl, who, like her, was there to watch the play and that she had worn a costume just for fun and Zoey would see another Cinderella very soon. The real Cinderella would probably be wearing rags to start off with. Zoey accepted this with a little skepticism but soon believed me.

I had Zoey pose in front of the Cinderella Coach for pictures but it was hard to get her to be still. There was so much going on. (The pictures didn't turn out great.) Overhead they announced the start of the play - we had 5 minutes until show time. A strolling choir came up the stairs dressed in Dickens-like attire and they led everyone to the lobby entrance. Zoey headed for the ticket takers by slithering in among the parents and Nanas. I had to hold her back to stay in line to keep her from budding in front. I gave her the ticket that was hers and she, very gown up like, presented it to the lady ticket taker. Zoey has no shyness at all... she was on a mission. We entered the theatre. She didn't realize we had reserved seats so she headed right to the front near the stage. "I want a front row seat! let's go," she said. "Don't worry, (I'm almost running) we have good seats in the third row." I explain as we hurry along.

We found our seats. Great view - seats perfect for Nanas and grandkids. Good support for the back and lots of room for squirmy kids. Zoey could not take her eyes off the whole auditorium and all the great decorations. It was done up extra for Christmas.

The play was out of this world fabulous. I loved every minute and so did Zoey. This was not the Disney version of Cinderella but it had all the wonderful characters including the mice and the birds that help Cinderella. The main characters were the two ugly stepsisters, Pearl and Dorca, played by two guys - one who looked like Chris Farley, as huge as a line backer, and one tall, with bulging muscles. The mean Stepmother ran the show and moved the story along. These characters were the stars of the show. They were so funny and so very pitifully ugly women (although they thought they were gorgeous!). A lot of the humor was not only directed to the kids, who love the slapstick comedy, but to the adults, with little asides that only the adults would get. The scene where they are all getting ready for the ball was outrageously funny -- plucking nose hairs with surgical instruments and shaving under arms and tying up corsets made for all sorts of gross things kids laugh at. Zoey laughed really hard at this and kept up with the story and knew intuitively that the old hag that came to the door later was really the fairy godmother. She said in a whisper to me. "that's the Fairy Godmother, Nana."

The scenes kept changing, there was lots of singing and dancing and the special effects were wonderful. The fairy godmother's wand turned the pumpkin turned into a coach, the mice into footmen all in the blink of an eye and Cinderella was breathtaking when she arrived at the ball. Zoey's sparkling eyes and amazing grin was something I'll never forget when she saw Cinderella come down the staircase at the ball. Zoey would look at me and back to the stage and look at me with the WOW factor that we both understood. The Prince danced with Cinderella and her gown shimmered and the glass slippers shone. The ensemble was decked out in powdered wigs and purple Louie the 16th gowns and finery. We feasted on the spectacle. After all I'm a ballroom gal and I totally understand all that sparkle on the gowns and fine lace and delicate dancing. AND, I think Zoey has some genetic material that indicates we both really love dressing up like that. "Birds of a feather" and all.

There was so much excitement over the whole thing and laughter for us both and wonderment for us both that at the end we were both exhausted from the adrenaline. The family coach came and Poppa got us home. What a fantastic evening. One we both will remember for a long time.

It happened. . .

Yesterday morning, Zoey's loose tooth finally decided to come out. It is so little! Since Grandma and Grandpa are in town for the weekend, Zoey is sleeping in our room which gave Tyler and I an enjoyable experience of being in the same room with her when she discovered that the tooth fairy had visited. Here is how it went down. . .

Zoey put her tooth in a little gold organza bag for the Tooth Fairy and put it under her pillow. Then she eventually went to sleep.

Zoey woke up at around 5 am this morning. She reached under her pillow and pulled out the toothbrush that was left by the tooth fairy. From under my covers, I hear her whisper, "Yes!" Then she very politely comes over to me to show me the toothbrush. I asked her to try to go back to sleep for a couple of hours and she did.

At around 7 am she sits up in her bed and starts to examine the toothbrush in the light of the window. Again from under my covers, I hear her whisper in just a sweet voice, "Wow! It's a Barbie toothbrush! It is the one I have always wanted!" Then she leaves the room to go tell Daddy about this awesome toothbrush. When she comes back to get the toothbrush, she can't find it. She looks under her pillow and finds the organza bag with four quarters inside. She squeals in delight, "Mommy! The Tooth Fairy left the bag! And there's money in it!" Then she went back on the hunt for the toothbrush.

So she looks around a bit and decides that maybe the Tooth Fairy made a mistake and came back for the toothbrush. I assured her that I didn't think that was the case and I got up to help her look. There was a little glitter spread around on her bed. I asked her what that was, and she and I decided that it was a little fairy dust left behind. Zoey figured it was a clue and if we followed the fairy dust we'd find the toothbrush. That wasn't the case, but we did finally find the toothbrush in the living room, for those of you who are wondering where it went.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. We went over to Nana's and Poppa's house for dinner. As always, the food was delicious and it was nice to hang out with the family. The kids had an abundance of energy--I guess they didn't eat enough turkey.

Zander and Zoey pretended to take a quick nap.

Mmm. . .pie.

Zoey's goal was to get in as many pictures as possible.

Some other updates and funny quotes from the family. . .

• Zander is officially climbing out of his crib. It has only happened twice (that we know of) but it means that a big boy bed is not far off.
• Zander is a proficient singer of the alphabet. He sings it when he wakes up and to help him fall asleep.
• Zoey is learning all about money. She gets a commission each week for doing her chores. She is expected to give a portion of her earnings to church each week, the rest is hers to save and spend. We are trying to teach her that giving is good and all that stuff. . .so I asked her last Sunday if she knows what the church does with the money she gives. Her response, "They give it to other people. People who don't go to church so they don't have to give away their money."
• Zoey's language is developing daily. Some of her new vocabulary includes words such as--"ah-zah-wah" According to Zoey that is Spanish for "I have an idea." "Botswana" is Spanish for "There is underwear in my sock drawer."