…could keep us away from celebrating Christmas in Michigan! Going to Grandma’s is always such a long trip and this winter weather doesn’t make it any easier. We even had to do a trip re-do because it was too bad the first time. But we plugged along and Daddy made sure we didn’t end up in a ditch like we saw so many other people in.

When we got to Grandma’s, the real Polish Christmas was in full swing. I didn’t want to try anything that I could barely pronounce, so I stuck with bread and ham and vegetables. The rest of the group had borscht, pierogies, kapusta (sausage and sauerkraut), golumpki (stuffed cabbage rolls) and chrusciki (angel wing cookies). We were stuffed. Only one person ate pumpkin pie! Evan.

Then it was present time. Paper everywhere! Toys everywhere! It was awesome.

Later we put a plate of cookies out for Santa and I hurried to bed. And the next morning, Santa had come! And he brought me my Jessie doll and my ladybug pillow pet. But did he forget my TinkerBell nitelight? Nope! (He remembered to leave it at my house when he filled our stockings and left presents for the kitties too.) And he brought Evan toys too – blocks and a truck.

On Christmas Day we headed to Uncle Ken’s house where I got to play an intense game of hide-n-seek with cousin Ryan and Katie. More toys, more food, more candy. I slept really good that night – mostly because I used my new pillow pet as my pillow. I didn’t even hear Evan crying during the night. Christmas was good. Thanks Santa and Mom and Dad and All my grandparents and cousins and friends (like Kay and Grandpa Ronnie).

You would think that I would not like to sit in a car for more than a few hours. It typically takes about five hours to drive to Michigan. Add in one stop because I get hungry and cranky and it takes six. Take away that stop and add in messy stormy weather, and we’re in for a long, long haul. Our trip out battled rain and sleet, but we made it there in decent time (6.5 hours). The 45 minute trip to/from Uncle Ken’s was rainy, but we were worried it would get cold and ice the roads over. We left Grandma’s pretty early and almost turned around because of snow and icy roads. It got better, but then it got worse with lots of snow coming down closer to home after a 7.5 hour day.

The good news is that Santa left us a sled to use in the 12+ inches of snow at home! We went sledding! The sledding hill is so big that you need a break halfway up to catch your breath. The big hill was too big for me, so only Mommy and Daddy took turns going down the big hill. Me and Elise took turns going down a smaller side hill, and that was plenty. On my turn, the sled when nose first into the deep powder and covered me up like a snowman. I did not like sledding anymore.

Our weekend ended with hot chocolate, video games and playing with all our new toys. Thanks to all who made Christmas 2009 so wonderful even the weather outside was frightful. Merry Christmas to all! And a Happy New Year too!

Boy, oh boy… Do I hear that a lot lately. No, Evan. Stop, Evan. That’s mine, Evan. Not for you, Evan. What IS mine?

ooh! All these toys? All of these new toys I got from Nana & Papa and my Uncles, Aunt and cousins? These? These are pretty cool and make lots of noise and have lots of parts that roll all over. (Fun for me… not for Mom & Dad.)

But they only hold my attention for about 10 minutes. The tree and the ornaments are hours and hours of potential fun… If only I could get a hold of them.

Christmas at Nana & Papa’s was so much fun yesterday! We had brunch and opened toys and made gingerbread houses. And right when everyone (that’s me and my brother) started to get crabby, it was time to go home. We got some wonderful presents! Thank you everyone!

And when we got home it was time to decorate the Christmas tree. Evan got in trouble over and over to stop touching the tree, but I got to help hang ornaments and even put the angel on the top of the tree.

And I don’t care that it doesn’t match or is weather friendly. Sundresses in winter seems perfectly fine to me. I’ll wear a dress with a coat. Leggings and a shirt work in a foot of snow, right? Of course! I’ll wear socks. Pink shirt with pink pants… pink and pink. They match. We’re good. And the really fun one that I do all the time is when I say I’m going to wear jeans and a shirt, but when it comes time to put the clothes on… the fight is on for a dress, a skirt, leggings or anything other than jeans and a shirt.

Mommy and Daddy went to a fun party the other night. It was a work party murder mystery and they had to dress up like they were going to a 1920s speakeasy. Mom was Madame Flamingo, a burlesque nightclub owner. Dad was hit man Tony Capone. There was motive and murder and opportunities, but they weren’t the killers. It was a really fun time and their outfits were really fancy. I liked Mommy’s dress a lot. I want to go to a dress up party.

Mommy and Daddy left us with Nana and Papa. I wasn’t happy when they got here. I cried and cried. I don’t get to see them too often and sometimes they’re a little scary. Food. Food is the answer. And once they fed me, they were my best friends.

My other best friends are the kitty cats. I like to follow them around the house grabbing their tail or their ears. Their food is always out so I want to check out what kind of snacks are available. I’ve gotten yelled at enough, but that doesn’t stop me from looking. And no Mom, I wasn’t going to eat that cat food… I was putting it back in their bowl. Honest.

This may be a blog title we see a lot from now on. That boy is into everything – especially the cat food. Ahh… it seems like such a long time ago that I myself was a precocious 9 month old getting into the feline treats, but Evan’s got me beat by a whole month and does not listen like I did. Oh I got yelled at and cried more than a few times, but those were all days and days apart. Evan gets yelled at, pulled away and then goes right back into the crime scene! When will he learn? You gotta be sneaky!

We went to see the big man himself yesterday… Santa Claus! I wasn’t particularly happy with him. He surprised me pretty bad – came from out of nowhere and “Ho, Ho, Ho’d” me out of my seat! Scared me silly. I didn’t like that. And when it came time to tell him what I wanted for Christmas, I needed Daddy to talk for me. I did get up the nerve to ask where Rudolph was. Santa said that he’s at the North Pole resting for Christmas Eve. Santa had to take a van to lunch yesterday. It took 6 days to drive from the North Pole. Wow.

And did I mention that we went on the train to get to lunch to see Santa? It was really neat! I can’t wait to go on the train again.

No baby barrier can keep me away from cat food and water! I’m like a ninja maneuvering over and under chairs. And I’m quick. Three times in under two minutes – I’m there like a flash. You can’t leave me alone or unsupervised unless I’m locked down in the high chair. Like the bathtub, the water is awesome splashing fun. The cat food, a tasty nugget that’s easy to grab and shove in my mouth. Getting yelled at only makes me laugh. HA! The only time I cried is when Mommy forcibly removed said cat food. But don’t worry, I’ll be taste-testing soon enough.

Nothing like a long weekend to get you all revved up for another week. And these next weeks are going to be lo-o-o-ng. Do you KNOW how long it is until Christmas? I have to be good for 4 weeks. Count ‘em – 4. To help with the counting we have a new picture that will count the days to Christmas. Every day in December I get to pull an ornament out of the pocket and hang it on the picture tree. We have another advent calendar treat tree too! It has all these little boxes that Mommy is going to put treats in. And every day I’ll get a treat.

We pulled out some Christmas decorations already too. We put out some little houses and hung the stockings. (St. Nick comes on December 6th so we need to be ready for him!) We’ll be doing more decorating this week. And hopefully it will get a little warmer so we can go outside – our lights outside don’t all light up and we need to fix them.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! Ok, so this was my first big family holiday gathering (I was too little to go to Easter), but anywhere there are people to hold me and feed me treats, I’m for sure not going to miss another one. Great Aunt Marcia’s house was full of people and kids and food! Cool Whip is like heaven. Pumpkin pie? Glorious! Mashed potatos… eh, gimme more dessert.

My sister likes dessert too. She ate a cupcake and it looks like she was wearing most of it. And while everyone was distracted watching me clap and smile and look cute, Elise was sneaking bites off the dessert table. I should have had her sneak bits for me too. There was a chocolate cake and some gingerbread trifle that I wanted to try too. Mom? Get that recipe.