Ho Ho Ho

An update to our Christmas Eve post. All went well here for Christmas day. There was much revelry and present opening. After some initial confusion about which presents were left for Eric from Santa, Eric was very

content with his new transformer and Nintendo DS Lite. Daniel didn't quite get the present opening exercise and much preferred climbing on the boxes to unwrapping them. He was so overwhelmed that he shot back and forth through the room like a ping pong ball bouncing off people and furniture. While we were waiting to hear from Uncle Ken on Christmas Day, Daniel tried to entertain himself. And, rather than play with his toys, he went back to his old standards: his tupperware cabinet and the fridge.

Mmm... Still waiting to hear from Uncle Ken.

If Grammy ain't cheatin' at a game it ain't Christmas!


Uncle Ken? Uncle Ken? I guess it's a good thing that Santa brought some coal for Uncle Ken's stocking this year!

At Christmas Dinner, Daniel ate with his feet on the table, thus confirming that he is a true Southerner!

Of course, there were the normal bumps and booboo's that occurred with all those presents laying around. Daniel had to suck on a popsicle for yet another busted lip and he offered to share:

Hey! Notice the outline of some hair in this picture!
Just in case you thought the drama bear post on Christmas Eve was an isolated incident, we've included his "I want to use YOUR laptop, not the one I just got for Christmas" episode. Ah, these little hiccups only last for what 18 years?

Welp, that's all! Merry Christmas!!!!

Twas the night (and the weeks) before Christmas. . .

Well, we have had a very very busy lead up to this Christmas. So busy in fact, that our Christmas cards are non-existent. Just think of all the postage we saved (this is looking on the bright side). We baked lots of cookies for Uncle Ken and Uncle Mattias and spent a small fortune shipping them to Sweden. We wrapped lots of presents and then we spent time decorating. I remember fondly those competitions in our old neighborhood that I had with Mr. Chambers to see who could get their Christmas lights up first after Thanksgiving. Often we would both be on our ladders at the same time and wave to each other... then hurriedly try to get our lights up first... and the more the better. However, we have moved to a neighborhood where I just can't compete. Our next-door neighbors have SIX (yes, SIX) Christmas trees, full size and fully decorated, in their home. She started putting them up on 1 November. Now, I ask you, who can compete with that? It's a good thing they are such lovely people. Did I mention that each tree is decorated with a theme?

Eric and Dan went to visit Santa and while last year's visit went smoothly this year Daniel was not so welcoming of the big guy. It could be because Santa was a scary redneck who smelled suspiciously like "Boone's Farm" but who knows?

Uncle Ken, Notice we put up your stocking this year! I hope it gets filled (but I bought some coal just in case).

Daniel is entering his Terrible Two stage already -- we like to brag that he is ahead of his peers in many things. Mark has begun referring to Daniel as "Ursus Dramaticus" (the drama bear). Often he will just drop where ever in the house he happens to be and lay his entire body prostrate on the floor while wailing for effect. View the Ursus Dramaticus in his natural habitat:

I took the boys to the Children's museum this week. Eric and I spent most of our time chasing Dan down. Eric is a good big brother.

Grammy and Grumpy came into town last night for Christmas. Daniel wasn't quite sure who they were at first when they showed up at night in the dark, but as soon as he got close enough to see Grumpy, he LEAPED from my arms, threw his arms around Grumpy's neck and laid his head down on his shoulder.

If you ask Daniel if he wants to watch Sesame Street he usually drops everything and makes a beeline for his Swedish Chair. Today however, he took a detour to pick up a remote on his way.

Daddy and Dan and Eric like to surf along the floor... at least it keeps the floors cleaned! We miss you Uncle Ken and Uncle Mattias and Aunt Lynne and are thinking of you today! More tomorrow

You can tell that this post is made in December -- I'm considering this a "seasonal" post because it covers Halloween and Thanksgiving! (yes, I'm behind on the blogging. . . I also turn my library books in late. It's just how I am.)

This post is mostly for Uncle Kenny so he can feel like he was there for Halloween and Thanksgiving! We missed you very much.

Halloween started with a Halloween parade. Daniel was none too pleased to be stuffed in a wagon with all his classmates. He is used to a more sophisticated ride in Daddy's sportscar.

Grammy and Grumpy met us to go get ice cream and brave the Colonial street that was populated with wild animals -- like lions.

Eric came to visit the next weekend and had a good time wrestling with Daddy and Little Bear. He also got to work on cleaning some rifles with Daddy.

No, Mark is not making obscene finger gestures at the camera. . .

Daniel got to go to a pumpkin farm with his school to pick out pumpkins and gourds for the holiday table.

We have spent a lot of time recently at Home Depot for new house repairs. It's a family affair.

Grammy and Grumpy came back for Thanksgiving and it was a good thing because boy did I need them!

Woob and Dan had a good time eating all the food that we had on the table! Eric liked the rolls the best.

Jacky sent Bear a coat from London and he really likes it. It is the hit of the daycare!

I think at the end of the week Grumpy was pretty tired... he began to blend in with the scenery.

I am going to try to be a better poster. Of course, both of us working full time and chasing Dan and Eric around makes it difficult, but others have persevered and so will we!
We had pictures taken today. As you can tell from the picture of the WHOLE family, I was slightly stressed out. Mark hides it better than I do. This picture experience was SO much better than the last. The only thing I was unhappy with was the fact that DanBear's nose was running in his photos... what's new. His entire school has a constant runny nose. I don't have photoshop so I can't take it out of the pictures and neither does the studio. I'll see if someone I know can do it at work.
You will be getting these pictures in the mail or handdelivered!

Lots Going On and Woobie's Birthday!

This past week Daniel Bear's class had a field trip to the ice cream shop. Mark and I met him and got to let Bear try lemon sorbet for the first time.


Woobie's ninth birthday was yesterday. Of course, I videotaped the entire thing, but did not take any pictures for the blog. (I only have two hands!)



Here is a picture of Dan and Eric playing though.

This is Eric taking a break while we were packing. We have officially run out of room!













Here are Daniel and Daddy in the box fort they built this week.

(Wish us luck!)

Nine Months Old!

Daniel Bear turned nine months old this week. He also got up on his hands and knees for the first time and crawled one hand and one foot. That was enough for now. This is Dan and Daddy on the computer... so it begins.

Dan pulled himself up to standing on his toy car today as well. He is really growing up! This is a picture of Dan and Mommy. There are very few pictures of Dan and Mommy so I decided to put one up.

Here are Bear and Woobie and Daddy and Pop and Uncle Richard.

Standing Tall

Woobie was here to visit this past weekend. Everytime he comes to visit, Daniel thinks it is party time! This weekend we went to the Virginia Living Museum to see their "Scoop on Poop" exhibit (which as you can imagine made Eric and I laugh pretty hard) and went to the Planetarium. We also ate at Woobie's choice -- the Crab Shack. Daniel Bear and Eric got to play Horsie with Daddy and Little Bear got to practice standing up. (With help of course!)











Here is Bear standing and trying to drool a hole into my expensive leather couch. Ay yi yi. Oh well, better drool than some other things Dan has been known to deposit.
Today Daniel had a fever and had to stay home sick. Here he is -- doesn't look very sick does he?

Our Little Fish?

This week Daniel Bear had his first swimming lesson. I conned Mark into taking Daniel into the pool so I wouldn't have to put on a bathing suit -- Poor Mark ended up being the ONLY dad in the pool. At least until the other dad's saw Mark showing no fear and finally had the courage to jump in. Dan did a very good job of putting his lips in the water, but couldn't quite figure out the blowing part. He spit above water and then didn't do anything in the water... We'll keep working on that. The longer Dan stayed in the pool, the more comfortable he got! As you can tell from the picture.








Little Bear also started standing without help this week. Well, not help from us anyway. He propped himself up on his table and played. We stayed nearby though just to make sure that he didn't topple over. When he did topple though, he would just shake it off and keep playing. We are working on the crawling, but he's not off the ground yet. We'll keep you posted.

This isn't so hard to do

OK. Enough I am addicted!

The first step. . .

Well... we have held out as long as possible. We at the "MattCox" household are joining the world of bloggers. Why? First, almost everyone we know with kids blogs, blogs, blogs about them. It's the best way to let family and friends "visit" when they can't. Second, Aunt Lynne accused us of being "technologically backwards" for not having a blog. So, here we are. We probably won't be as hysterical as the scribe who takes dictation from Little Macy at www.ourlittlepumpkin.blogspot.com, but we'll take our best shot at it. Actually, Mark is pretty funny so maybe he can salvage this whole adventure! Wish us luck!