Holiday Staycation

I think when people have a staycation it means that they stay in town but do lots of fun things around their home city.  I am choosing to take the term staycation a little more literally, and for the first week of break we have barely left the house.  If you know me well (or maybe even a little), you know this is very unlike me.

I could blame it on the holidays, which, of course, is part of it.  I could blame it on contemplating potty training Trey.  I could blame it on friends being out of town or having family visiting.  I could blame it on Trey wanting to stay home to play with his toys.  But, what it really comes down to, is that I've been lazy.  And it's been awesome.  

Since Christmas happened, I ask Trey in the mornings, "What do you want to do today?"  and he almost always replies, "Stay home all day and play."  Ummmmmm, okay.  I have very few pictures from the past few days, and that's because...well, we haven't been doing anything.  And did I mention that it's been awesome?  

Cuddling with my boy

One day last week, Trey crawled in bed with me at 6:15am.  He proceeded to fall back to sleep until 8:15, and it was the latest I've stayed in bed in months.  It was fabulous.  Later that day we spent a fair chunk of time (I'm embarrassed to say how long and, actually, I lost track) lying in the comfy bed (aka guest bed) watching Trey's shows and me reading my book.  It was heaven.  

I've been doing a lot of reading over the break.  I had a bunch of books come into the library at once and wasn't sure if I'd be able to tackle them all.  So far I've been making good progress.  

First, I read the Tao of  Martha by Jen Lancaster.  This book is about the author spending year trying to follow the guidelines of Martha Stewart.  It's not going to win any awards, but it was light and funny and a great read for getting through the holiday stress.

Next, I read one of my favorite books that I've read in a while.  It may be my dream book: a combination of travel and cooking that takes place in FRANCE!  I am super motivated by this book to try some new recipes.  I also may venture down the path of trying a cassoulet some day soon, but this book says it takes three days to make and Julia Child's recipe is six pages long, so I'm not too sure.  But I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy reading about travel and cooking and FRANCE!  

Now I am going to start the Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes.  I read Me Before You which I really liked, so I hope I like this one too.  Next on my stack are the last Maisie Dobbs novel and a book about chickens...

I think we will get out more next week.  I'm going to try some new recipes (tonight is chicken shawarma...who knew it would be so hard to find tahini) and even try some that take more than five ingredients and longer than 30 minutes to cook.   I have some playdates lined up, and Mindy and I are taking the kids to see Peter Pan (Trey is obsessed with Peter Pan right now so it should be AWESOME!).  And don't forget New Years, the greatest holiday of all... <insert sigh> 

"Is it time yet?"

Our sweet Trey had a hard time waiting for Santa's arrival and then kept asking for a few days after Christmas if Santa was coming again.  It's hard for a three year old to wait for an entire year for Santa to return!

Trey was thrilled that the 24th had finally arrived and he got to put Santa on the calendar.  He knew what this meant...only one more day until Santa brought his gifts.

Excited boy!

Trey woke on the morning of Christmas Eve and asked if it was time to open gifts yet.  I told him he could open the one from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bob.  He ran out to the living room and before I had even gotten out of bed, I heard his little voice saying, "It's what I've always wanted!  It's what I've always wanted!"  I walked out to the living room and asked him, "What is it?" and he replied, "I don't know, but it's what I've always wanted!"

Trey finally got a turn with the remote control car...

I think his father likes it just as much, if not more.  

Clark family tradition is to make freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.

Doug and Carmen brought 50 pounds of citrus with them to the northwest, 

and Trey got to help Grandpa make the juice.

Another Clark family tradition seems to be the road trip.  I don't know why or how, but it seems that every time we see Grandma and Grandpa, we end up in the car headed somewhere far away.  This Christmas Eve morning it was to the Dalles to visit Great-Grandma Julie.  We stopped in Gresham on the way back to visit family from Doug's side - Uncle Rick, Aunt Vernie, and cousins Tad, Tanya, Ryan, Melissa, and their kids.  We wish we would have had more time to visit, but we had to get back to our house so I could prepare food for Christmas Eve dinner.

They all thought this was the perfect place to take a picture.  

I disagreed because the sun was right in our eyes, 

but now that I look at the picture I can see why they didn't mind.   

Great-grandma Julie, Grandma Carmen, Grandpa Doug, and Randy 

Both Trey and Carmen fell asleep on the way to Gresham.

I have a more authentic picture of Carmen sleeping, 

but I value our relationship too much to post it on the blog.  Haha.

Later that afternoon we went to my sister's house for Christmas Eve dinner.  My dad joined us, and it was great to have so much family together.

Grandpa Gerts and Case 

Hard to believe he's almost 11 months old! 

Grandpa Doug and Randy waiting for dinner 

Family dinner 

After dinner came opening gifts which is, of course, the kids' favorite part.  The boys all got some great new toys.  Trey's new toys are so great that he doesn't want to leave the house.  Possibly ever again.

I think this gift from Sandy was meant to go in Julie's stocking, but I was too excited to see her response that I had to give it to her on Christmas Eve.  It was a picture of Julie and our mom from when Julie was little.  Julie has very few (and I mean VERY few) pictures of her alone with Mom from her childhood.  

Even though you can't see the picture close up, 

this shot of the two of them is super cute.   

Woody, I mean Trey, is super excited to be able to dress up in his gear. 

The hit of the whole Christmas season were the two Jake and the Neverland Pirate toys from Grandpa Gerts and Sanny.  It's possible that Jake and his gang is overtaking Mickey Mouse as Trey's current favorite show and toys to play with.  

So happy (even though his face doesn't show it)

Trey dictated a note to Santa, and we left it by the fireplace with cookies, carrots, and milk. Apparently, Trey wasn't super concerned about Santa getting all of his cookies as he snagged one for himself as he was setting them down.

I thought Trey would start waking at 3am asking if Santa had come yet, but luckily we made it until 6:30.

Playing with his new fire station and waiting for Grandma and Grandpa 

to get up so he could open his gifts. 

Grandma helping him open his gifts 

Hands-down the best part of this gift was the map.

Actually, Trey is sitting next to me as I blog and he has the map in his hand.  

I think he even sleeps with it.   

Playing with Grandpa Doug...I mean Grandpa Woody 

Grandma Carmen enjoyed some of the gifts too. 

After Doug and Carmen left for the airport, we went over to Kris and John's for Christmas dinner.  Trey impressed me the whole time we were there.  At one point he stood on the "stage" by the fireplace and sang three Christmas songs to six adults knowing all the words and hand gestures he had learned at preschool.  It was super cute, and I was so proud.  When the grown-ups sat down to eat, Trey settled in on the couch with his corn dog and iPad.  While some might disagree with this form of "parenting," I was impressed that he was able to entertain himself throughout our entire meal allowing for enjoyment of food, wine, and adult conversation.  I am so proud of our little boy.

We had a great holiday season with family and friends.  We got to participate in a bunch of fun holiday events with Trey, and it was really special to view the celebration of Christmas through a child's eyes.  Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas with their loved ones!

Waiting for Christmas

The presents are wrapped (except for those from Santa...Trey has informed me that Santa wraps his presents, so that will happen late tomorrow night), the grocery shopping is complete, the bathrooms are clean, the beds are newly made, and we are just waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Clark to arrive.  ETA is two hours and Trey can't wait!!!  He has been talking about their arrival for days.

We have been having a lot of Christmas fun in anticipation of the big day.  December last year was spent getting ready to move, so this year has been a breeze <insert sarcastic laugh here>.  Mostly, it has been fun to try to celebrate the holidays with Trey in mind.  He has been having such fun talking about Santa and singing Christmas songs.  Reminds a busy working mama what Christmas is all about.

This angel chime was one of my favorite Christmas decorations growing up.  

Trey looks like he loves it, but what he is really doing is laughing hysterically because I am trying to keep him from blowing out the candles.  

All of the hard work I did to make this advent calendar was TOTALLY worth it because my boy loves putting on the ornament every day.  

In fact, since he has discovered that the felt sticks to the felt without me pinning it on, I have found all of the ornaments on the tree more than once.

In 1994 I studied in Paris for a semester and met some really special friends.  I spent the semester traveling with some great guys - Brandon, Scott, and Damon, and amazingly we are all still in touch almost 20 years later.  A few weeks ago, Damon and his wife were passing through town and we met them for lunch.  Sitting across the table with our spouses and my 3.5 year old was a little different than our days in Barcelona or Prague, but it is so fantastic that we are still in touch.  Love it.

Kris and John had their annual white elephant party for Kris's work people.  We are always invited even though Randy doesn't officially work for her, and it is fun to catch up with OHSU friends.  What I will say is that it's not as much fun when you have a kid in tow... this is the only picture I got of Trey dressed up for the party.  The rest of the night was spent trying to keep him from crying because the other kids were in his space or on his "stage."  Trey is used to having full run of Kris and John's house, so sharing is pretty hard.

Christmas cookies is one of Trey's favorite part of Christmas.  This year we shared the event with Grady.  I am not sure they liked the decorating as much as the eating, but it was fun to see them together, as always.

One of the best features of our "new" house is the fireplace.  Watching Trey chillaxin' in front of the fireplace with the Christmas tree lit up and decorated with my ornaments from childhood, Randy's ornaments from the past 9 years (of us knowing each other), and Trey's newly started collection is pretty awesome.

Sandy has a tradition of making gingerbread houses with her grandkids.  We were hoping to make it down there this year, but it didn't work out (good thing because Snowstorm 2013 happened that weekend).  Sandy was super thoughtful and made a house for Trey and Grady and delivered them on her annual shopping trip to Portland.  Trey LOVES his house.  One night we were Facetiming with Sandy and my dad, and Sandy asked Trey if he had eaten any of his gingerbread house.  Trey responded, "No, they're decoration," and Sandy, in her grandmotherly way, said, "No, it's candy."  I wish I could have captured the look on Trey's face.  He promptly ran out and chose a piece of the gingerbread house to eat.  Thanks a lot, Sandy.

My colleague, Sarah, had her baby in mid-November after two months of bedrest.  Everett is such a blessing, and we are all so happy that he is here and healthy.  Last weekend I went and "babysat" for Sarah which basically meant holding the baby for 1.5 hours while she took a nap.  Bouncing and shushing a baby brought back so many memories.  So did Baby Everett wearing Trey's clothes...this little monster sleeper and the doggie hat were Trey's.  I can't believe he was ever that small!

That night we went to Alpenrose with Randy's fishing BFF Jason and his family.  The boys love seeing each other, and it was fun to watch them run around and play.  We could have met in an empty parking lot and they would have been fine.  Unfortunately, the line for Santa was too long, but they had fun seeing the trains and the animals.

Trey's preschool had a Christmas program.  I videotaped it, but Randy made fun of me for that and I won't subject you to the boredom of listening to preschoolers singing three Christmas songs.  What I will say is this is the first program where Trey didn't leave the group to come sit on my lap, so that is progress.  Also, he was more interested in what was in his pockets than singing, but oh well.

After the program, we went to the mall to see Santa.  I must say that whoever created the online signup for the line to see Santa is an effing genius.  Thanks to this amazing invention, we waited in line for less than 10 minutes.  The downside is that the Santa was really creepy looking.  I wish I could have whisked Trey away to another Santa who wasn't so plastic looking, but it was too late for that.

Saturday night we took Trey down to Peacock Lane to see the lights.  The place was packed, but we still had fun checking out all the decorations.

Sunday Grady came over for a while to play.  He is such a doll, and I love watching him and Trey play.   This day was especially fun because the boys played together (sometimes they ignore each other), and I got some good footage of them having a great time.

Cousins dancing...

Out of all the moments we have shared over the holiday season, this photo right here makes me miss my mom the absolute most.  She would have loved these boys so much.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we are anticipating a fun-filled holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Clark, Grandpa Gerts, and Santa.  I am so thankful for special time with our family, and I cannot wait for Trey to open all of his gifts.