A Christmas Like No Other

Given the fact that there's a teeny one about to enter our lives, we got no visitors for Christmas.  Why come out now when the dudette will be here in the flip of the January switch.  SO....we spent our first Christmas on our own.  Well, not really on our own.  We were surrounded by family and friends and plenty of generous offers to join in family festivities.  We hung with the Jansen/Syers clans Christmas Eve and day (thank you Cara and Wes for putting up with chaos AND a 3 day old all in one breath).  They handled the holidays with style.  Much more than I think I could have mustered.

We totally enjoyed the dude this Christmas.  He got into the Santa bit, while still seeming to understand that it's Jesus birthday.  At least we think he got it....doesn't flow all that well, but that's okay.  He was spoiled with gifts on Christmas morning, but enjoyed observing Mom and Dad getting gifts too, which was refreshing.  We had a lot of relaxing time with him and are trying to enjoy every second of it.  Although, I must say, I was more than ready to come to work yesterday.  5 days in a row of family Christmas love was plenty. 

 The reindeer dust that Dude sprinkled on the driveway, allowing Santa's deer to find our house.

 Oma's house was adorned with Christmas fun.  Dude ate it up!

 Cara, Wes and the kids partied like they didn't have a 3 day old.  My heroes. 

 Oma Bosch...the most amazing 90 something woman I've ever met. 

 The dad's playing in the backyard with the kiddos.  I believe they were racing to the snowman in this shot.  Dude actually beat Brady, which made us oh so proud.

 Oma and Opa.  Aren't they darling?

We left cookies and milk out for Mr. Santa.  Dude was NOT happy to find that Santa left a bite of the pretzel.

 

 Christmas morning!  Dude found his stocking full of presents from the big fat man in red.

 Duder's daycare provider, April, had the kids paint these and wrapped them to put under the tree.  Precious.  My favorite gift of Christmas.

Spoiled little man.  He loves his gears from Adam, Carin and the kids.

We did a lot of smiling over the weekend and shed tears every time we talked to my Gram.  Losing Jerry definitely put a damper on the holiday spirit for all of us.  My Gram is holding up remarkably well.  The funeral was yesterday and Mom and Dad will go back home tomorrow, so pray that she does okay on her own.  I know how lonely she's going to be and that makes me so sad.  Not a great holiday for her or for Jerry's family.  

We hadn't heard anything from Wyoming for about a week and were starting to get quite anxious about that.  On Sunday morning our case worker called, informing us that her husband's brother was murdered right before Christmas.  Horrible.  She obviously hasn't checked messages or emails and we understand why.  We're keeping her and the family in our prayers and hope that someone else can help carry this adoption as her stress load right now is off the charts.  Christmas can be a wonderful time, but man can it be a sad time too.  This year just wasn't that picture perfect Christmas, but we're oh so grateful that we have faith and a little baby who came to earth to bring hope and peace and grace.  

There's a video at the end of the post highlighting further dude cuteness.  We hope you had a Merry Christmas.  And we hope to be posting good news very soon!  

 Christmas day at the Syers.  Tons of new toys to investigate. 

          Little Landon.  Oh how I loved just sitting there holding him.  He's a little angel...an angel with a whole lotta' hair.

Masterpiece

The nursery is complete. Above is a photo of the hand painted work of art that arrived this past week from my sister-in-law, Kira.  This beauty is what finished the little one's room in the most precious and meaningful sense.  Isn't it perfect?  And it's something that we and this baby girl will treasure for years to come.  It's timeless and we love it.  And we love you Kira.  Thank you so much for such a priceless gift. 

  The phrase written in the tree is ,"And God Found Us You."  This is from Duder's book about an adopted fox in the forest.  We can't wait to read this to the next Mile High Vogel. 

Mixed Emotions

Today.  It's a weird day.  We came off of a high meeting our newest little buddy, Landon, yesterday.  Cara gave birth at 2:20am on Tuesday morning.  It all went smoothly and everyone is healthy and doing well.  And Landon is just a sight to behold.  He has more hair than I have ever seen on a newborn.  He was nearly 10 pounds and already looks like a 3 month old.  We're so grateful for his safe and healthy arrival and love him so much already. 

On the flip side, this morning we got word that our Grandpa Jerry passed away suddenly in the middle of the night in Grand Rapids, MI.  It was a massive heart attack.  My Grandma and Jerry got married 3 years ago after my Gram spent 40 years alone and Jerry had previously lost two loving wives.  We were so thrilled that they found happiness in each other and would spend their remaining years taking care of one another.  And that he did.  He took care of my Gram better than anyone else could.  He was a blessing and was a kind hearted, gentle and patient man.  He and my Gram spent a week out here this past summer.....we're so glad they did now that he's gone.  That time will be treasured by all of us, including the Dude.  He remembers Grandpa Jerry very clearly.

Of course I would give anything to be with my Gram right now....but leaving when Brook could have the baby any time just can't happen.  And so here I sit.  So sad for my Gram and Jerry's family and for my family.  I pray that God will give her peace and that her heart will come back from this break.  Hearing her voice on the phone was just wrenching.  Losing 2 husbands in a lifetime sucks.  It just sucks.  Especially right before Christmas.

Jerry had allowed Duder and Riley to put stickers all over his face, shirt, arms...what a trooper.

So that's the latest.  We don't have any baby news yet, which is okay.  There's enough going on right now that early January would be just fine.  For now, we'll bask in baby Landon and all his cuteness.  And in our little man, who has brought me much needed smiles and laughs today. 

From Our House to Yours

We're holding off on sending out Christmas cards until we can combine our well wishes with a birth announcement....so...from our virtual house to yours, Merry Christmas friends!  Have a wonderfuly peaceful and happy holiday week.  We're especially grateful for the birth of a Savior who has gifted us with more than we could ever dream to ask for.  We hope you feel especially blessed and loved this coming year as well.   

 

Meeting the Big Guy

The Santa report is better than we expected it to be.  The car ride there was filled with Santa talk....how nice he is, how fun it is to talk to him, how cute the pictures will be etc. etc.  Dude was buying in.  I said, "Are you going to maybe stand next to Santa?"  "Yes, I fink I will stand next to him."  Then I said, "Will you sit on Santa's lap?"  "No.  I will not.  I will toot on him."  Ok.  We all concluded that standing would probably be in every one's best interest.

We did a little ice skating with the Tebbens, but Dude asked every 2 seconds if it was time to see Santa, so that ended quickly.  We walked into the Santa room, which was empty.  Perfect.  They allowed us to take our own pictures and not pay $23 for a 5x7.  Come on.  Santa's not that hot of a commodity.  Dude walked over there, rather, I carried him over with his head buried in my shoulder.  I stood him kinda next to Santa and surprisingly, he stayed put.  He reached his hand back to hold Santa's hand, but refused to look at him.  So, Santa had a heart to heart with the back of Dude's small head.  Dude told him that he had 5 boogers in his nose and that he wanted a big huge race car.  Done.  Santa was quite impressed I'm sure.

Note...Santa had eaten one too many gingerbread cookies, allowing no room for children to sit on his lap anyway, so it all worked out splendidly.  Next year's goal will be eye contact and no booger or tooting talk.  Small strides.  

Catch Phrases of the Week

* We're at the new dentist for Dude's first real appointment.  Dr. Brian comes in to chat with him about how many teeth he has and do the final check.  Dude says, "Scuse me Mr. Brian?  When I get to be a big and strong boy, I will come here to clean YOUR teeth ok?"  This was after Dude firmly told Nurse Stacy to inform Dr. Brian that he was NOT to move the "moving chair."  Dr. Brian got quite a kick out of my little man.  He was a total charmer and passed his first dental experience with flying colors. 

*Dude was going through the mail with me.  He opened our friend's, the Tebbens, Christmas card and said, Wow...I am imPRESSED!"

*We were in a rush to get dressed for preschool and Duder was lagging big time.  I asked him why he wasn't getting dressed quickly and he said, "Mom, I just need a little snuggle wif you and then I can be dressed."  How could I resist that request?  We snuggled for 3 minutes and apparently that was just what the doctor ordered.  He got dressed immediately following. 

*After waking up, Duder asked for his number candy (from the Christmas house that Santa's elves place candy in each day).  I told him that was for after dinner.  He then announced, "Well, it's time for dinner Mom!  Let's go to the table to eat!"  If only it were that simple buddy.

*Dude was bombarding Tim with questions at breakfast Sunday morning and Tim kept saying, "Sure bud.  Sure.  Sure thing Dude."  Dude finally responded with...."Dad, stop saying sure all da time." 

*We're in the car and Dude randomly says, "I have big big bright blue eyes!"  We said, "Yes you do buddy.  You have beautiful eyes."  He then said, "And God and Jesus GAVE me my beautiful eyes!"  Sweet stuff.  Yes, he did. 

*We were parked outside a house with a giant blow up Christmas penguin.  Ya know, the ones that kids love at night and think they died during the day.  Dude exclaimed, "Wow Mom.  That penguin is gorgeous!" 

Christmasy Catch Up

There's been a shuffle of activity over here at Casa Voge.  We'll start with our Monday night Christmas night with the Sheas.  I really do worry about what my soul will do when they no longer live there.  It's like having family 32 steps from your front door.  For so many countless reasons, they bring happy to all of us.  We exchanged gifts with the kiddos, ate pizza, drank a good helping of wine and beer and Maria and I took all the kids to watch the "dancing light house" around the block.  It goes off every 30 minutes to a song on the radio....the kids think it's the BOMB.  As did Maria and I after quite a few drinks.  It was a super fun night for all.  Thanks Sheas.  Just love ya. 

Tuesday Tim and I had the church council Christmas party at a member's house.  Sounds boring?  It wasn't.  It was quite enjoyable.  GREAT food, great drinks (Jesus turned a whole lotta water into wine for this party), great company, pool, fuse ball...a much needed night out.  Wed morning was Duder's Christmas partaaay at pre-school, so he dressed up to the nines for all his lady friends.  And I must admit, he was a handsome, stylin little man.

 Ready to party, preschool style.

We went directly to our new pediatric dentist after the party to try again for a positive dental experience.  Our first choice 8 months back was NOT pleasing for any of us.  Dude screamed the entire time they pinned him down.  Mmmmm, wonder why.  I'm pleased to announce that dude LOVED Dr. Brian and Miss Stacy more than words can express.  He adored "Mr. Thirsty" emptying his saliva (a little too much), asked about 42 times if they were going to move the "moving chair" on him (which they did not, due to my warnings), he allowed them to clean his teeth, count them, get all the plaque off...I was shocked and so proud of my little man.  He had them in stitches with his high pitched socialness. 

Wednesday afternoon brought some hostile adoption news that has since worked itself out, so I'm not going to waste my virtual breath talking about it.  It's all good and we're praying that the bebe stays in for another 2 weeks.  It'll make the legal stuff a whole lot easier.  January 2 would be ideal little one! 

The Syers, soon to be a family of 5, had us over for a rockin' basghetti casserole dinner on Thursday.  Much needed friend time made us very happy campers.  Cara is about to burst, in theory, but baby boy has yet to make any signs that he's ready to enter this world.  We're all hoping soon!

Friday night was our very first Ugly Christmas Sweater Party at our friend's Lindsay and Brian's.  Dude was invited and I realized at the last hour that he had nothing Christmaseque to wear.  SO...I visited my dear and resourceful friend Lisa's house and found the outfit of all outfits for our little elf.  I'm proud to announce that he won 3rd place for best outfit.  Clearly, you can see why.  He had the time of his life in his knickers, singing his rendition of "Santa is Comin' to Town" as heard below, for everyone present.  He made friends with many of the guests, who kept him occupied most of the night.  By the time his head hit the pillow at 10:00pm, he was one zonked dude.  Oh yeah, Tim and I had fun too.  Thanks for the invite friends!

That rounds out the weekend thus far.  We're attempting a visit to Santa tonight and some ice skating with the Tebbens.  We'll see if Dude will step foot near, let alone place his little bootie, on the man in red's lap.  We'll be floored if the report is "yes."

 I didn't look nearly as stylin' as my boy, but the cotton turtleneck and sweater vest was quite a hideous combination.

Our sporty elf in his knickers. 

Our Dude, in the Spotlight

When I watched Duder practicing for his little preschool Christmas program a couple weeks back, it got me all sappy and pumped up to see my little man on stage, doing what he does best.  Singing and dancing.  Hes been humming little tunes around the house for weeks and I smiled every time he did, anticipating the cuteness that would occur at the big event.

The big event happened last Sunday at 4:00pm.  Grandma and Marc were here and we all dropped him off in his classroom with Ms. Yvetta.  He was sporting his most handsome race car PJ's and car slippers (sleep wear was required) and ready for "da big Christmas gram."  The four of us headed to the gymnasium and snatched some seats toward the back of the front section.  I swear people were there at 2:00pm holding seats like Bono was gonna take stage.  The Sheas joined us and we started preparing our cameras for our superstars' 2010 Christmas debut.  

At 4:00pm, out they came.  The entire preschool and kindergarten student body lined the stage and Duder was put in the front center.  Perfection!  Great placement for all of us to view and absorb his musical genius.  His class was assigned the role of "sheep" and wore little white ears.  For starters, we were pleased that he allowed this fixture to be placed on his head.  He looked out and immediately found me in the aisle, taking pictures. I got a smile and a small wave.  We were off to a good start.  

And then they turned on the spotlight.  Directly in front of the dude's little smiling face.  Upon impact, he scrunched up his face, squinted his eyes quite dramatically, yelled something about the "rays being too bright," turned his back to the light (and the audience) and remained that way the rest of the 30 minute program.  Occasionally he would attempt to turn around, but those attempts only lasted mere seconds before he could no longer handle the torture of the light.  The other children around him didn't seem to notice this nuisance.  Or maybe there was just one extra bright bulb directed right into the small section of stage that Dude stood on.  I'm sure that was it.

We finally concluded that our son was not going to show his precious face to the audience and chose to take joy in the fact that he was singing and doing the motions for the kids standing behind him.  I think he was quite mesmerized with all the activity of the forward facing children.  At one point, he got really fed up with the light and screamed, "Mom!"  He then covered his eyes, complaining to an unsuspecting little girl next to him that the lights were hurting.  Luckily, the "Christmas gram" was wrapping up by that time and all the little stars were escorted off the stage.  Dude was free from the light monster. 

Despite the light tragedy, we all walked out with smiles on our faces.  Not the smiles of musical pride I anticipated us wearing, but smiles none the less.  Our quirky kid.  Oh how we love him.  At least he didn't run off the stage, announcing that he had to poop or decide to tackle someone for fun.  There is much to be thankful for.  Enjoy the video.      

Oh the Fun

Grandma V. and Grandpa Marc joined us this past weekend for an early Christmas celebration. And it was awesome. Dude quite enjoyed having full attention from these two super fun visitors.  Grandpa Marc adds nervous excitement to Dude's world in a way that no one else can. Our son is never quite sure when he'll be picked up and held upside down. The mere presence of Marc in the room brings out giddy giggling, which brings joy to all of us.  Dude trusts that Grandma won't throw him in the air at any given moment, so their play time is a whole different kind of fun.  She's available to do whatever random activity Dude wants to partake it and is not afraid to spoil the kid in a way that only Grandmas can.  That too, brings us joy.

 Dude looks a bit drugged, but it's better than his cheese face, which comes out constantly these days.

  Come on.  Do they get much cuter than this?  I think not.

 Dude and his Dad running through the halls of the Brown Palace.  They opted to disregard Marc's advice of throwing pennies on the highfluent folks having Saturday tea in the lobby.

 My dancin' dude.  Always moving.  Always.

Sometimes we like to have pictures taken without the Dude's cuteness dominating. 

 One of Dude's many rock star gifts.  Now he needs to learn how to shoot.

 Waiting for our table at Denver icon Sam's #3.

We ate a whole lotta good food, drank a lotta wine, opened a pile of exciting Christmas presents, visited the Brown Palace for picture time (guess whose idea that was - yeah, mine), ate breakfast at Sams #3, went to church, ate some more food, witnessed Dude's first preschool program (an upcoming post will be dedicated solely to this grandiose event), went out for dinner and finished off the weekend with Dude's first ice skating experience.   

 A Euro bus was another hit.  Way to go Grandma!  We love surprise presents. 

 Christmas dinner.  Again, Dude ate a couple pieces of ham and bread. 

 Grandpa Marc picked out Dude a mini football.  Every little dude needs a football and ours didn't have one, so great pick Grandpa!

 Dude's favorite gift...his own digital camera.  The thing gets high ratings for awesomeness.  Holds 500 pictures, includes Cars characters in your shots and keeps Dude away from my camera baby.  Well done Grandma.

The whole concept of my kid being in ice skates melted my heart.  He was in winter heaven and could have stayed out there all night long, forcing himself to fall every chance he got.  Made us think that maybe he's ready for ski lessons this winter?  My little baby.  My little ice skating baby.  It was the perfect way to close out a wonderful weekend. Thanks for coming out and spoiling us guys!  Mom, we'll look forward to your next visit in 4 short weeks!  Hopefully they'll be a little dudette for you to add to your spoiling list!       

 The falling motion brought the most joy, but he was able to stand on his own by the time we were done.

Oh this little boy.  I could not love that face any more.

A fun little video for your viewing pleasure....