"Bubble" Bath

The other day we indulged Daniel and allowed him to play with bubbles while in the bath tub.  He thought this was the greatest fun!  And we got some adorable pictures of him. 

Daniel had great fun trying to catch the bubbles.

Here's a fun shot! 

Because Daniel was wet the bubbles stuck to his skin and the tub and didn't pop.  He thought that was totally great and was trying to eat them!

Our sweet little boy :)  Melts my Mommy's heart!

Christmas is here!

Christmas time was particularly fun this year as Daniel is almost two and really was able to grasp the concept much more.  We have a childrens nativity set/activity from Family Life that we used with him.  It takes the various characters from the Christmas story, Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the shepherds, and the wise men and tells about their part in the story.  It is a 7 day activity, every night we read him a character's story and then he got to open up a little box that had the figurine in it and place it in the nativity set.  He really enjoyed this and while certainly he didn't get the full picture he did talk a lot about baby Jesus and could name all the figurines.  We're really looking forward to using this set in the coming years to help him understand that Jesus is God's greatest gift to us! 

We decided to let Daniel open two gifts here at home and then we went over the Grandma and Grandpa's for brunch and to open the rest of the gifts.  This will probably change in the coming years, but for now Josue and I still find it more enjoyable to spend the morning with the grandparents.  The more people the merrier!  Daniel had a ton of fun this year!  We took some time after brunch and before openning gifts to read the Christmas story.  Dad read it primarily from a toddler bible (pictures and all for Daniel).  Then on to gifts, Daniel really got into openning the gifts this year as you can see!

So here are some pictures from our Christmas activities.

Here's a picture of us on Christmas Eve at my parents.  We went over there after the Christmas Eve service for a little bit.  Note the baby bump!!

The first thing Daniel did when walking into the living room Christmas morning was to grab the largest bow he could find!

Daniel getting into the unwrapping!

Daniel was super excited about the farm set from Mommy and Daddy!

Daniel really enjoyed helping everyone else open their gifts!  Here he is helping Grammie open her gift from him.

Openning the larger than life present from Grammie and Grandpa, he was really focused on this one as you can see!

Diggers!  So much fun for a little boy!

Daddy and Uncle Ryan sacked out on the couch after all the activities! 

Uncle Ryan helping Daniel put together the puzzle he gave him!

Daniel watching the cars and trucks go by sitting on his new toy box and window seat from Abuela and Abuelo!

Daniel was super excited about the tent and tunnel from Grammie and Grandpa! 

It was a fun Christmas as you can see!

Daniel tries out his sled and builds a snowman

So after all the snow from the "blizzard" stopped Daniel and Daddy went out to explore again!  The snow was up past Daniel's knees and he wasn't even touching the ground!

As an early Christmas present Grandma and Grandpa gave Daniel a childrens sled.  Really perfect for a little guy because it sits flat on the ground and has a high back and also a strap to hold him in.  So we pulled out the sled and put our bundled up boy in it.  Daddy started to pull him out ove the snow, but unfortunatly tried to pull him over a hump of previously shoveled snow.  That promptly dumped him in the snow and Daniel decided that he wanted nothing what-so-ever to do with that sled ever again.  So sad!  I was particularly bummed because I love sledding so much!  We will certainly try again when we get another reasonable snow.

Sledding, about to go over the hump :(

Trying to convince Daniel to get back in the sled after face-planting in the snow...

Happy face again!

So after the failed sledding adventure Daddy went on to have snowball fights with Daniel and build a snowman which was much more acceptable to our boy.  The snow wasn't very good packing snow so they had to get creative and use the wetter snow near the gutter drain pipe.  But they managed to get a really nice snowman built!

Working hard to get that snow to pack!

The finished snowman!  Not bad at all for a guy from Miami!  :D

Snow! Snow! And... More Snow!!

The weekend before Christmas we had the "Blizzard of 2009" where we received around 18+ inches of snow!  I didn't believe the forecasts when we heard them.  We haven't had that much snow in years!  It snowed all day Saturday and through the night and by Sunday morning we had a huge, beautiful blanket of white over everything!  What a treat for a little boy!  (And poor Daddy who had to shovel the driveway all by himself!)

Daniel was a little uncertain of what to do with the snow, but Daddy made sure he got a full lesson in snowball fights, building snowmen, sledding, and snow angels!

Daniel exploring our first snow of the season (not the blizzard obviously!).

Daniel and Daddy checking out the snow fall Saturday morning before things got too deep.  Even at this point it was hard for our little man to walk.

Trudging through the snow, this takes some balance and practice!

Speaking of balance!  Daniel had to get used to the cold the hard way :)

Daddy demonstrating for Daniel how to make a snow angel!

One of my favorite pictures of all the snow pictures, of course!  Such a sweetie my boy is!

Warming up inside after a fun time playing outside!

Daddy tackling the driveway after the snow finally stopped.  Check out how deep it is!!

Daniel was very happy to go outside and encourage his Daddy in his hard work. 

What a delightful way to start the winter season, and just before Christmas too!

Christmas cookies!

What better season than Christmas to bake a TON of cookies and enjoy them to the fullest?!  Daniel has never been given many sweets, but we have allowed him some this Christmas season.  And boy does he ever love them!

He is also my official and best "helper" in the kitchen and he loves to stand up next to me on a chair and assist me.  He always declares that he must "dump in" all of the ingredients.  Which he does except for any of the wet or messy ingredients.  :)  He also particularly enjoys decorating the cookies with colored sugar.

While helping my Mom bake cookies he also enjoyed the rare pleasure of licking the beaters which is a huge treat.  I ususally allow him to lick the beaters from mashed potatoes etc., but I had never allowed him to lick a cookie beater!

Here are some pictures from throughout the season.  Enjoy!

Daniel licking the beater while helping Grammie make Christmas cookies!

Helping Grammie sprinkle on the colored sugar!

And, of course, verifying that the cookies meet his high, high standards for sugary treats!

Getting ready to help Mommy make out gingerbread cookies!  (What a sticky mess!  That's the last time I'll be making gingerbread unless I find a better recipe!)

Very, very pleased with the results!

And again, making sure that cookie with yummy icing and sprinkles passes the taste test!

Putting up the Christmas tree!

Daniel had a lot of fun "helping" us put up the Christmas tree this year. Much of it was done while he was sleeping, but he enjoyed putting on a few ornaments and he loved the lights. This year we had to do things a little differently because Daniel is older and gets into things a lot more. I have a large collection of glass ornaments that we were not able to use so I had to get some new ornaments for the tree. Red and gold is the "theme" speckled with a few children's ornaments that I'm sure will grow in number as the years go by. :)

Here are some pics of the progression from start to completion:

Putting together the tree.

Done, now with lights!

Daniel puts on the first ornaments!

Putting one on by himself, it's harder than it looks!

The tree all decorated with lights, ribbon and ornaments. The angel and tree skirt are to come later. :)

Daniel putting on his "Baby's First Christmas" ornament!

He love's this little ducky!

Admiring the tree (with tree skirt finished now!) one evening.  I enjoy relaxing like this on winter evenings :)

UPDATE:

And finally on Christmas eve with all the presents right before we went to bed.  Such a lovely sight!

Kiss-mas Lights!!

Daniel has been totally enthralled with Christmas lights this season.  He love, love, LOVES the Christmas tree and candles at our house.  The first thing we have to do every morning when he wakes up is plug in the Christmas lights.  He's always asking when the neighbors will turn on their outdoor lights.  And every time he gets in the car to go somewhere he wants to see the Christmas lights! 

It's really so delightful to see how much he is enjoying the wonderful things about this season.  To encourage his delight we took some time to go up to Herr's potato factory and see the lights display there.  Despite the very cold temperatures at the time, Daniel had a blast.  He was particularly enthralled by the "Mr. Potatohead" and "Mrs. Potatohead" that were designed on the bushes as you can see below!

Enjoying walking through the forest of decorated trees etc.

Daniel had fun touching the balls of lights that decorated the ground.

Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead - very appropriate for Herr's seeing as they are a potato chip and snack factory. :)

Checking out the catapillar bush!

It was really and incredible display.  This picture totally does not do it justice.

Thanks to Herr's for such an awesome display and delightful evening for a little boy.