Holiday 2010 Professional Pictures

Most of you have already seen these on our Christmas card from this year, but I thought I would post on here as well! I should be able to have more for a slideshow soon!

Santa comes to Norwood!

Alex with his new guitar from Aunt Krista and Uncle Michael!


Evan was excited about Alex's new present as well!


Santa brought Evan a Cars bowling set!


Alex couldn't believe Santa was at his house!


Evan showing Santa his sucker!

Christmas Eve - we went to the 4pm mass at St. Cecilia's. Then we headed home for the Bajorek Family Polish traditions. This year Paul and Carol came down here to celebrate in Cincinnati. We also had Michael, Krista and Michael's parents, Norman and Sharon. We cooked pistachio crusted flounder, roasted root vegetables and of course, Periogies (homemade by Carol & Paul). Then the kids were surprised by a visit from Santa! He came carrying presents for everyone! It was a great time!

Christmas Eve Mass

The boys were all dressed up ready for church!

Christmas in Somerset

We all headed down to Somerset to celebrate Christmas a week early. We picked Tim up at the airport (thankfully he made it back from London - all the delays started after he got out) and we drove straight to Somerset. We didn't get there until around 8:30pm, so we picked up dinner at Sonny's and headed over to Granny and Poppy's for a quick visit. We were exhausted when we finally made it to mom's a little after 10pm.

The next morning we went to Granny and Poppy's for breakfast - she had made our favorite Uncle Charlie's tenderloin - yum! This started the food coma that would last all weekend. We opened presents and headed home to get the kids down for their long overdue naps. They slept until dinner time! Mom had cooked some lasagna and Krista and I made a salad - again, great food... The boys really enjoyed getting and opening presents this year - I think this is evident by the large smiles on their faces!

It was a quick trip - but we had a great time!

While Dad is away...

...mommy has had a rough week. Poor little Alex came down with a fever on Saturday and literally getting off our exit, after we dropped Tim off at the airport, he barfs all over the car. He was so sensitive about it and worried about getting the car dirty. So, in the rain, I get the kids back in the house, go back out to the car with cleaning supplies and wipe everything down, then I have to uninstall the carseat and take it apart to get the barf out of the nooks and crannies of the carseat and take it all inside to wash, all the while the kids are inside by themselves - not safe. Alex was naked at this point, still feeling sick, hovering over a towel in case he throws up more, screaming at Evan to go away. Brutus was trying to lick the barf off his clothes. That was Saturday night. Fun times - I hate barf!!!

Sunday - he woke up feeling better, just a slight fever, but boy did it start snowing... So we just played around the house, nothing big.

Monday - was a slow start due to the snow and Alex still wasn't feeling well, so I worked from home and kept Alex with me. BTW - I think he totally faked it, but whatever, I love to spend time with them any time I can...

That brings us to Tuesday and the attached video, the absolute highlight of my week. Poor little Evan went to bed with a fever and was up around 11pm, crying and just whiny. I didn't know what was wrong, but he was saying his stomach was hurting, so I just thought, here we go again. I sat in his room until 1am - he was waking about every 15 minutes and asking if I was still there. As much as I didn't want him to puke in my bed, I gave in and said let's go to mommy's bed. Well, Alex was already in there since he won't sleep in his bed anymore (this can be a whole other post). Since I was afraid Evan was going to throw up everywhere, I tried to move Alex to his room. Well, he woke up and was livid. He demanded that I take him back to my room so he could sleep with me. So, I decided to put Alex at the end of the bed and put Evan next to me, on towels, mind you, in case he throws up. Evan was already just disoreinted and crying, but then Alex started screaming at me too and was really angry that Evan was in his spot. He was throwing his blanket at Evan and just started have a full on fit. Wait - where and how am I supposed to sleep??? So, needless to say, it was a rough night. I eventually put in a movie at 1am to calm them down. Evan watched the entire movie and then fell asleep - finally.

I am posting this video for the following reasons:

1.) The boys can see how they acted and feel bad for the way they treated their poor mom,
2.) I can use it as evidence/blackmail when they get girlfriends,
3.) I can use it against Tim next time I need leverage because I am not sure they have ever acted this way when I am out of town.

The video is hard to see, but make sure you have your sound up and my playlist paused so you can get the full effect.

The little angels slept peacfully Wednesday night -well, Evan woke up once, but I will take that over Tuesday night anytime!

That brings us to today and another 3 - 5 inches of snow. It has been totally annoying this week with all of the snow and clearing the car. I have already told Tim that the garage is next on our lists of updates to our money pit because I am over the snow already. I have to leave the boys inside alone, while I go out to clear the snow off the cars - which is not safe at all. Today I came back in and they had taken the ornaments off the tree and totally wrecked the house by throwing the shoes in the shoe basket all over the first floor, so that took another 15 minutes to pick up. Needless to say, I sure will be glad to see Tim tomorrow...

November News

Thank goodness my busy season, for the most part, has past... I am so looking forward to the rest of fall and the holidays. We were out back playing today and I got a few good pictures of the boys. Definitely my favorite time of the year... Everywhere we go, Alex sees the Christmas decorations and he is like, "Look Mom, Christmas". I am sure it will be a fun Christmas this year, since he definitely knows what is going on! I got them both Grinch shirts that say, "Give me all your presents" yesterday, so fitting.

Halloween: Trick-or-Treat?

The boys had an awesome time being Woody and Buzz for Halloween. We branched out to a few more houses this time and they really enjoyed getting (and eating) all of the candy. We had invited a few people that have never experienced Halloween - Norwood-style and I think everyone had fun people watching. There were some interesting outfits this year and what was up with the chainsaw guy - I didn't like that! Now Alex says, "Next it will be Christmas Mom". At least I can bring out the Elf of a Shelf trick for a couple months to try to get him to be good...

Turner Farm

The day before Halloween, the neighborhood kids went to visit Turner farm - thanks to Holly for planning the outing. This was a very educational trip for the kids and parents for that matter. First, we loaded two wagon-fulls of kids and adults and headed out for a hayride to the turnip patch. The farmers proceeded to tell us that it was mating season for the sheep and that they needed turnips for energy (or something like that). They let the kids loose in the patch and they found a ton of turnips - the boys loved this part. After we picked the turnips we headed out to feed the sheep. The sheet were very friendly, but the farmers told us not to make too many sudden movements because it could literally scare the sheep to death. Seriously? We were with like 14 kids under the age of four... Luckily no sheep died that day and they seemed to enjoy eating the turnips. I am sure they will be good and pregnant soon. Next we went over to see the momma pig and her little piglets - they were so cute. Finally, we went to the pumpkin patch and although it was extremely picked over - we managed to get some cute little pumpkins as souvenirs.


Boys feeding the sheep.

That's a big one Alex!

Alex and his best friend Jonathan.

So happy, he got a lot of turnips...

Evan got up close and personal with the sheep - HERE SHEEP, HERE!

Hollywood Studios - Day 6

You might ask - what happened to Day 5? Well, Day 5 we took a break from the parks and just hung close to the house. We had finally figured out how to turn on the heater for our house pool, which made the water warm enough to swim in. The house came with a ton of pool toys, so we swam around all morning. Alex was super-brave and just jumped in with his float - he does pretty good, still can't swim though... Evan is still pretty timid in the water, which is complete opposite of how he is on the ground! He usually isn't afraid of anything. Thursday evening, Christie's aunt that lives in Florida came over and offered to watch the kids, so that we could have an adult night out - how nice of her! We went to Downtown Disney to eat dinner at Fulton's Crab House and then we walked around for a few minutes before we hit the Ghirradeli's up for some treats! Thanks again Aunt Patty!

On Friday, we went to Hollywood Studios in the morning. This was our last day and we were all really tired. We wanted to make sure we did as much as we could - but some of us (including myself) didn't have it in us. We did get to see Lightening McQueen and Mater and again - Evan was the most excited. Alex was again pulled away by security when he tried to drive Mater - maybe that is a good idea for a new ride, but wasn't an option at the time. We walked around until it was time for lunch with the Playhouse Disney Characters, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and Special Agent Oso. The kids really enjoyed the character themed meals, however, it was a process. We dreaded when we saw them waddling over to us because we had to take our places with the camera, video camera, signature book, then we had to try to get the boys to look at us and not the characters to take pictures. The food was good, but we sure couldn't enjoy it! After lunch, we went to meet the Sorcerer Mickey and to see the Little Mermaid show. By this time, the boys were done, but I insisted on us waiting in line for 90 minutes to ride Toy Story Mania. It was a fun ride, however, a big mistake because they were so mean and tired that they refused to nap when we got home, so that made for a long last night...

OH - the Sorcerer's Hat picture - has a story... The entire week Alex kept saying he wanted a Sorcerer's Hat - it was this huge hat and there was no way I was buying it. I had wanted to get the kids the Mickey's ears with their names on them. Well, I thought Alex would be super-excited that I got him the Mickey's ears hat that had a Sorcerer's Hat on it, but no - he hated it and wanted the Mickey's belly hat that I got Evan. Normally, I would have been okay with them switching, however, they were personalized. Drama! So then, I thought that I would redeem myself by getting Alex a Mickey wearing the Sorcerer's costume and I just bought Evan the plain Mickey. I was so excited and just thought he would love it, but he threw it on the ground and grabbed Evan's from him, so know Evan has the fancy Sorcerer Mickey and Alex has the plain one - I can't win. Moral of the story: I should have just bought the big Sorcerer's Hat and called it a day. I took a picture of the Sorcerer's Hat to remind of me...

Magic Kingdom Part II - Day 4

So Magic Kingdom Part II, was the day we decided to just go back in evening to catch the parade and fireworks show and also, most importantly - we had to find Buzz. We laid around all morning, went to the pool for a little bit, then naps, then we were ready to go. We found Buzz pretty quickly and got in line - Alex was in a state of shock the whole time. Evan was hilarious - if you haven't seen it - check out the Flip Video that captured the excitement of meeting Buzz that I sent out - hilarious. After security pulled us off of Buzz, we went to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride and had dinner at Cosmo's Cafe. We searched high and low for the best spot to watch the Electric Parade and the Fireworks - what a mess. We didn't get the best spot and Alex was being a brat, so we only stayed for the parade and then we tried to beat the crowd and watched the fireworks as we walked to the car. All-in-all, a very good day!

Magic Kingdom Part I - Day 3

We knew we would never make it a full day anywhere with the kids, they are just too young and still need their naps and the adults needed their pool time too... So, we split the Magic Kingdom into two different days (thanks to Christie, who planned this all out perfectly). We started the day bright and early by getting to the park around 7:45am - we had the best parking spot since the park didn't even open until 9am. Christie had made us reservations at Crystal Palace in the park to have breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends. We met Winnie the Pooh, Tiger, Piglet, and Eyore. We then headed up to the ride area and was able to get on the Peter Pan and Snow White rides right away - the kids really enjoyed those. I was super-bummed that the It's a Small World ride was closed - I was looking forward to that. Then we waited for the Dumbo ride forever and I am not sure why. After that, we went to meet the Disney Princesses - Mackenzie and Katie loved that! We tried to find Buzz Lightyear and Woody, but Buzz was hiding and Woody's line was way too long and in the hot sun, so instead we went to the castle and caught the end of a super-high-energy parade and then set up camp to watch Mickey's show at the castle. It was a fun-filled day!