1-2-3!

Our baby, then little boy, then toddler, is now a big boy - or a big boy tiger or fish, as he says.

Cake with Mom and Dad (and Claudie)

Fire Truck cookies with a 3 for friends.

We celebrated his third birthday with a fire theme - of course. With 10 of his friends in tow, we visited the friendly Clayton Fire Department and got the full tour - complete with a look at the sleeping quarters (Murphy beds, who knew?)

Rhys in his turnout gear with friends.

We followed up the tour with a pizza party at Dewey's - a great, local pizza place where adults AND kids could have fun.

Rhys enjoys being the center of the table and attention. 

Happy Birthday, Big Boy Shark. We love you to the moon and back.

My boy.

Ho Ho Ho

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

We celebrated our first Christmas in St Louis and our first with Claudia - in the flesh as it were. In attendance -- Aunt Kate, Cousin Luke, Mommy, Daddy, Rhysie, Claudie and visits later in the day from Uncles Mark and Mathew and Granny.  It was a white Christmas -- but that didn't stop Santa and Rudolph from bringing in presents to our good boy and girl and Kate and Luke from arriving from New York.

Christmas morning arrived at the normal wake up time -- 6:45 am. Santa decorated our tree, ate his treats, left Rhysie a book with a special note in it, filled the stockings and left a few presents. Rudolph came along and munched an apple. And MAGIC appeared in the shape of a penny. Of course there were many gifts to open ... including turnout gear from Kate and Luke, a piano from Nanny and Papa, an ambulance from Zjo Zjo and Joanie, and a broom from Mom and Dad.

Eying up bunny

Later in the day, the Oldham family gathered for a traditional - ahem - dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and green beans. All in all, a wonderful Christmas to be followed up with an amazing third birthday celebration on the 27th.  2010 is ending on a good note -- and our hearts our full with love for our family and friends. 

A few more pics from the holiday....

Rhys talking to Kate about proper turnout gear requirements.

On Christmas Eve, Rhys and Mommy made cookies for Santa -- special chocolate mint cookies that we make only once a year. We followed it up with a children's caroling service and early bedtime for Rhys. Claudia - didn't agree with an early bedtime -- and wanted to stay up to see Santa arrive. 

Claudie and Daddy by our lovely tree decorated with candy canes by Santa...those clever elves. 

They must be siblings

Claudia age 8 mos w/ brown hair and brown/blue eyes

Rhys around 8 months with blond hair/blue eyes

Happy Birthday to me -- three times over for our 3 year old

One benefit of going to two different preschools -- is that you get to have two birthday parties. Rhys celebrated his birthday at Samuel with cupcakes. Today, he celebrated at "Fish" school with Nilla wafers -- along with the children's annual holiday party. On Rhys' actual birthday on Dec. 27 we will be visiting the Clayton Fire Department for a tour with about 10 of his friends. We can't wait.

Jingle Bells

We enjoyed a carriage ride with two horses through the amazing lights display of the local Tilles Park on Saturday. It is starting to feel a lot like Christmas.

What's mine is mine

Claudie makes a move for the car stash... Result: One unhappy big brother + a very happy little sister = our workload just doubled! (P.S. Happy 9 month birthday, Claudie - and reflect and view the post of Rhys' 9 month crawl.)

o Tannenbaum

Your branches green delight us.
They are green when summer days are bright;
They are green when winter snow is white.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us!

Well, our little tree is green year-round but it still delights us. Thanks to Nanny and Papa  we have a lovely tree to delight the little and not-so-little folks with.

Rhys says he is the "tree man" which means he gets to turn the switch on - under proper supervision of course. We have also been talking about having Joy in our Hearts (instead of stomping our feet) - to which he replied that he has gymnastics in his heart. Then he will go on and tell you all about when he is a man where he is going to live (nearby it appears now) - but not with mommy and daddy, he says. That is good thing we believe -  but given that he isn't quite 3 and is already planning his next move, my heart is a bit tender. I have joked with friends that Rhys will be the one we hear from twice a year in his adventures around the world and may get a postcard when he gets married in Spain. Just invite us please, Rhysie.We like weddings and we like to travel.

(And yes, he is back in his swim gear...)

Ginger House

The walls caved in and half of it was eaten before it was done -- but all-in-all it was a tasty art project with his friend Charlie. On the plate this week - R's bday party at Miss Bonnie and Miss Belle's school, a visit from the Reindeer, the school holiday party and hopefully putting up the Christmas Tree.

Hide and Seek

Claudie and Rhys enjoy a game of hide and seek. In other news, Claudie is now crawling - sort of - more a scooting action.

On the move part 2

When I am not steeped in my Irish melancholy for times past (I don't think it is a trait of the Germans or Swedes so I am assigning my yen for historical periods to my great-grandmother Mary Long who probably was actually English with that last name, therefore, I may not even be part-Irish, let alone Welsh for that matter -- sigh) , we are very busy in the house with sleep training, firefighting, working, and getting ready for the holidays and someone is getting ready to CRAWL.

Hiareth

A Welsh word that doesn't have an exact English translation-- loosely it is a deep longing for home.

How did my ancestors deal with leaving their countries and never returning? Or my relatives for leaving Chicago? I ache for that city -- it is in my blood. I worry for my grandparents' graves, left untended. I long for my home...

Photo from Claudie's six week photo shoot...my family.

Good Friends

How much do I miss my friends in Chicago -- THIS MUCH!