All things Ian...

Baby boy turned two on December 18th. Doesn't he just look like a little man?

Lucky for me he still sucks his thumb and snuggles up in his footie jammies. He is still my baby. It was fun to plan a party that embodied everything he loves. His one friend Willa came over with her family and we started with a transportation collage.

Daddy helped him fill up his page with monster trucks and motorcycles and lots of 'ba-po's." Then there was a little competition to see who could draw the most eye-catching backhoe. (pretty impressive for five and fifty year-olds who had to recreate a backhoe from memory :) )

It got a little heated but in the end Ian chose Anne's creation. Unfortunately I have no evidence of her victory dance.

Finally he enjoyed his banana cake covered with construction equipment and chocolate rocks. After he had classified and sorted all the trucks by size, of course.

There are just no words for how much I love this boy. He has the most beautiful sensitive spirit and brings so much joy into our home. You would pee your pants if you saw how happy he was opening his construction equipment underwear on Christmas day! I never expected that I would be embracing rock-operas about excavators or that I would know the difference between a front-loader and a backhoe but it is all worth it. And even though we're entering two -year old territory, I am excited to see more of his personality emerge. Until we get to the hitting stage, then I'll be asking Santa for a fast-forward button for Christmas.

Happy birthday my sweet boy!

Merry Christmas!!

Ok, that's about all the energy I could give to a Christmas card. Between packing up everything for a west coast family Christmas and traveling to Chicago for the Hsieh side celebration I am delegating my limited resources this year. This photo cracks me up because it was taken by a random photographer who happened to be shooting senior pictures at our favorite hiking spot and the kids were very suspicious. They both have that same, "Who the *&%$ are you?" look in their eyes. And because it shows off Ben's dimples. Oh, I love those dimples.

We are chilling at home this week with family and family friends who have graciously traveled from around the country to basically play with our kids. Duncan is here from Chicago and has become Ava's best friend. Before I even get out of bed I hear them reading and coloring and being silly downstairs. He is her adopted Uncle and I'm currently trying to convince him to quit his job and move in with us. Tomorrow I'm making cinnamon rolls to sweeten the deal. And Tia is here spoiling all of us with her hugs and crazy photo taking antics. We are one lucky family. I have more to post on Christmas, Ava playing Mary in her school play, and Ian turning two but right now I have the living room to myself and I'm going to delegate my energy into a cozy fireside nap.

Christmas Card Reject 2011

Well another year has come and gone for the Hsieh family. This year we are embracing the small joys life brings. Ian James Theodore Hsieh is now two years old! We are celebrating Ian's first epic throw-up right onto his high-chair tray. I mean could he be any more considerate? Not like Ava's first epic throw-up projected out of her crib right onto Mama's new cashmere sweater and all over the guest room. So what if his language only includes one sound from each word, or he can only build a three block tower. It's selfless acts of kindness that really matter in our home.

Ava has been thriving in school and we're encouraged that her teacher says things like, "Ava really likes to do things her own way doesn't she?" We're also thankful that she's increased her repertoire of songs with catchy tunes like, "Booty, booty, shake, shake." (complete with motions!) And her spelling has really improved. See below:

In a surprise move, both our pets decided to take an outward bound journey. Stormy took the lead by escaping in June and then our beloved nearly-30 year old turtle decided life wasn't worth living and packed her bags too. We like to talk to the kids about the daily adventures their pets are having, and the fact that they tried to ride Stormy like a small horse had nothing to do with her decision to leave.

Ben and I are surviving on the occasional date night and our nightly addiction to cable television. We endured many hardships this year, such as Ben choosing to grow a mustache and me withdrawing all physical affection in a passive aggressive attempt for him to shave. We continue to celebrate the important milestones of marriage, like returning the toothpaste to the drawer and actually remembering to start the dishwasher instead of just loading it to it's maximum capacity and leaving it overnight so that there are no clean spoons and you are forced to eat your mini-wheats with a fork.

Yes, we have much to be thankful for, our children walk and mostly talk and Ben has a job and we have a home that is not infested with fleas (at the moment). We have a sense that 2012 is really going to be our year.

Merry Christmas from the Hsiehs,

Ben, Rebekah, Ava, Ian

In Memoriam: Stormy Cat & Tippy Turtle

if you look very very close...

We have a woodpecker outside our window. It is awesome!

Da Bears!

Santa's helpers

The kids are at the perfect age for all things Christmassy (yes, it's a word). They love every part of the season, from baking to decorating to reading the advent story each morning. It is a lot of work to create all those moments for them (read broken ornaments, over frosted cookies, and tears over who pushes the silent night button on the advent calendar) but it's worth it when you know what's being imprinted inside of them...ok, most days it's worth it and other days I need an extra long nap and some kahlua in my hot chocolate. And I would love to say that I've chosen this fun color to add to the Christmas cheer of my blogging but I have no idea why it's green. Were just going with it, m'kay.

Trimming the tree

Frosting the cookies

Hanging the lights

This year we began our advent season with a Christmas kick-off party... yes, in November. We are not kidding around about taking our time this year. The kids made a clay dough and after the cutting and the drying, we took some time to come up with the different names of Jesus. This was hilarious as both John and Ava ran to find a bible and search for names. After coming up with Moses and a Camel we regrouped and looked in Isaiah for some clues. Then they started coming up with some really good ones. In the end, their list was very impressive. The ornaments were all painted with one of Jesus' names and then hung with a red ribbon. It was an easy activity and the names have really stuck with Ava over the last few weeks. She's always very proud of her homemade ornaments and they look beautiful on the tree.

The List

Decorating with glitter pens

Heart creation

The littlest elves eating marshmallows