firefighter......

we got a boatload of new dress up clothes for christmas, including a firefighter outfit. here is otto trying it out......

christmas morning 2010

above is the slideshow of pictures from christmas morning, plus a few from christmas eve. you can watch it here or click on it to watch it on picasa.

not to be too cheesy, but seeing the holidays through the eyes of your children is truly what it's all about. they were so excited about every little thing!

when we got home from joe's parents on christmas eve, the kids opened a christmas book that we got for them. i am hoping to give them a christmas book every year. there are so many beautiful christmas books out there, and it's been neat to hear the kids talk about "baby jesus" and "the three wisemen". then we put out cookies and milk for santa. i tried to talk greta into leaving carrots for the reindeer, but she was convinced they could just share the cookies with santa. otto was unfortunately traumatized by the cookie event. he apparently thought we were putting the cookies on the plate for HIM to eat, and he was a mess of tears when we said he couldn't eat them, that they were for santa. when he woke up christmas morning, the first thing he said was, " cookies? otto eat? santa!"
both kids were so excited to open their gifts. we continued the idea of getting them each 3 gifts from santa (like jesus got from the 3 wisemen)and then a gift from mama and papa. they have no idea about what gifts were from who, but i think in the years ahead it will keep us in touch with the true meaning of the day and we can keep it scaled down a bit. it was such a beautiful morning. we opened gifts, ate pancakes, and then stayed in our pjs and played with all the new toys all day long.

speaking of pajamas, these jammies make me laugh. they are hand-me-downs from the ford cousins (LOVE), and i think they are "vintage" rudolph jammies. both otto and greta thought it was hilarious to have matching pajamas....even though otto's were a bit big and he was slipping all over the place because the footies no longer have any traction, we had to wear them for christmas morning!!
merry christmas!!

beauty and babies

like i mentioned, otto has really been into all the gifts that greta got for christmas. this works out well when she feels like sharing and they can play together, but often it doesn't end so well. they have both been VERY into a "beauty set" and also some doll accessories (the front carrier is pictured on both kids) from grandma and grandpa hansbauer. otto will ask to "play beauty" and will get the hairdryer or the nailpolish bottles.

christmas farm

on the day after christmas, we decided to head to a christmas farm to check out their walking light display. and man, was it neat. but man, was it cold!! the wind was ridiculous. we bundled up the kids as best we could and check out the lights and the displays. at the end of the walk, there was a barn where you could come in and warm up with free hot chocolate and cookies. and bonus, we were there in time to check out the entertainment, a "juggler for jesus". i kid you not. the kids didn't seem to mind the cold at all and the lights were pretty neat.....

snow at grandpa's

on the morning of the day after christmas, we headed up to joe's parents to play in the snow. they got significantly more snow than we did, and the kids had fun playing in it for a short time. they went sledding down the driveway, made snow angels, made footprints. check out the slideshow above to see pictures.....

nestheide christmas 2010

after christmas with my immediate family on saturday, we headed to christmas on sunday with my extended family. joe was again not feeling well, so i braved the festivities with the kiddos on my own. we had a ton of fun....i was a bit distracted having to chase the two kids around, but everyone was more than willing to hand otto or greta a cookie (or two or five) to help out. and i lucked out in the annual gift exchange...a giant cupcake baking pan!! sweet!!

tumblison christmas 2010

on saturday the 18th we headed to my mom's for christmas. joe has been battling migraines lately and he was having a doozy of one that day, so he wasn't able to go with us. the kids had fun playing with their cousins, and greta was thrilled with her dress up outfits from both grandma joan and uncle john and aunt jessica. i think she spent the entire party in various stages of undress. check out the slideshow above for pictures from the day.

festival of lights 2010

with frigid temperatures and a forecast for snow, we plowed forth with our plans to meet our friends, the burkholders, at the zoo for the festival of lights. as the snow began to fall and the streets covered quickly, we wavered but decided to brave it and head on out. it was snowing pretty good when we left our house, but luckily cincinnati road crews are much more efficient in the snow than newport, because the worst road conditions were from our house to the taylor-southgate bridge.

we (and the burkholders) arrived at the zoo safely, we discovered two things. one: that the festival of lights is GORGEOUS in the snow. and two: that not many other crazies brave the cold and snow to go to the zoo, so it was not crowded at all. perfect!! we had a great time checking out the sights with our friends. owen and greta mostly enjoyed playing in the snow that fell while we were there. thanks to the burkholders for a fun night!!

joe's diner

after our visits to the krohn and duke energy, we finished off our evening with dinner at joe's diner. it was a perfect way to end the night!

busy christmas evening

last weekend joe and i were sitting around during the kids' naptime. it was raining outside, a sort of gloomy day. but i was itchin' to do something christmasy. we tossed around a few ideas and then settled on a few that were close (bonus), free (double bonus), indoors (triple bonus), and pretty neat-o.
when the kids woke up we headed to the krohn conservatory to see the live nativity and all the gorgeous poinsettias and christmas displays inside. side note...live nativity at the krohn does not mean LIVE people portraying the holy family. it simply means live animals.
the krohn was beautiful and i think even the kids were appreciating the beauty.
























after the krohn we headed downtown to duke energy to see the train display. the line was pretty long, but the kids were occupied by the chocolate bars that workers handed out as you waited. there is something magical about the train display to me. there's just something old-fashioned or whimsical about it. it's not all hustle and bustle and lights and crazy santas and stuff. it's pushing open those HEAVY revolving doors and marveling in the trains. i was feeling sad about not putting the kids in their "holiday best" like so many other moms had done. my kids were in mismatched outfits that they had picked out themselves....greta with her bengals hat and hello kitty rainboots and too-small pants. and then i realized that their clothes didn't matter. not at all.

st. nick

we celebrated st. nick again this year, so greta and otto woke up on the morning of december 6th to their stockings full of goodies. you can see in the pictures what otto's favorite thing in the stockings was. greta thought getting oranges in her stocking was pretty neat. (growing up, i always got things like oranges and nuts in my stocking. joe thought this was crazy). they were both pretty tickled to see all the goodies from st. nick!

gingerbread cookies

greta and i had a girls outing last night to meg and addie's house. papa and otto stayed home and played legos while mama hung out with the girls and greta and addie decorated gingerbread men. all of the pictures i took show greta hard at work, but in reality she consumed so much candy and icing that she could barely eat any pizza for dinner! greta and addie played so well together all evening. thanks meg for having us!!

a girl and her papa

hot chocolate

after we decorated the tree, we decided to have hot chocolate. for greta, this needed to include "snuggling under a blanket". great photo op! listening to christmas music, watching our kids snuggle together sitting next to our christmas tree....i don't think the holidays get any better.

decorating the tree

we got our christmas tree up (finally!) tonight. it was freezing outside, but the kids were troopers as we headed all the way to monmouth street in downtown newport to pick out the perfect tree. they were pretty excited about the whole process. greta tired quickly of hanging the ornaments. she broke an ornament while at someone's house this week, so she kept saying she only wanted to hang, 'the soft ones'. otto kept taking any ornament he could and shoving it into the branches at the front of the tree. when all the ornaments were hung, i started to close up the ornament bin. when i did this, otto started taking ornaments OFF the tree to put them back in the bin. the tree looks and smells fantastic. and yes, the majority of the ornaments are bunched at the bottom front of the tree. and we wouldn't have it any other way.

advent calendar

the kids have really gotten into the advent calendar this year. and by that, i mean that if you are not watching otto like a hawk, he can be found grabbing all the ornaments out of all the little pockets of the calendar. i feel like such a scrooge asking him to leave them in the pockets, but isn't that the point?
greta and otto have a little tree, and each day one of them gets to find the ornament in that day's 'pocket' on the advent calendar and hang the ornament on the tree as we count down to christmas. they love it. they love everything about it. often they will stop and look at the ornaments already hung on the tree. greta likes to speculate which ornament is in which pocket, and i think (in a simple way) she gets that we are using the calendar to mark the time until christmas.