February 2011

Moving onto February.  The winter weather continued and it put January's snow storm to shame.  The Relle Clan (along with the rest of the DFW area) were house bound for a week.  Literally did not leave the house for a week.  Luckily we were good with food and other necessities but eventually Nick did

have to go out for essentials.  This go round it was not as warm and fuzzy up in the Relle house.  Day one upset about school closure because I'd have to make it up, but a nice excuse to stay in our pajamas (although Noah and I were already sportin' that on a daily basis).  Day two fun for the uniqueness.  Every day beyond was confining, boring, and contributed to my future stay at the crazy community instead of retirement community.  Despite my being dramatic (not usual for me huh?!!? :) we did manage to have some fun in the backyard, roasting dogs and marshmallows in the microwave, snowboarding (which my lack of ability resulted in an x-ray), and Nick & Jack went sledding on a local hill.  And although my documentation of our family as four has not been up to par to even my lowest standards out of boredom I was able to capture some pictures of our family in the snow-ice-cluster.  Love my sweet baby Noah in his cocoon (Thanks Anderson!) and the priceless face he is making when Jack is intently following my request to kiss his brother so that we could get back inside to the warm.

 Papa and Bebe came into town and it was perfect for all that Jack (well I had) signed us up for snack in February.  With Mardi Gras being aligned with this visit Papa and Bebe gathered up some good loot to celebrate a little Louisiana culture with Class F.  Jack did not know about it of it so seeing his excited face when Noah and I walked into the room was great, but the expression when he saw his surprise guests was better than  a sack full of parade throws.  Bebe read Gaston Goes To Hollywood to the class and then passed out some of their very own Mardi Gras beads before we headed home.  The rest of the weekend we celebrated my birthday with swimming at the hotel, pizza lunch, and tasty petit fours for my birthday wishes.  Olivia came to hang out with Jack (as did Fluffy his class "pet" for us to document our weekend adventures).  After the traditional tree picture in the front yard our nighttime munches were a perfect excuse to make one more birthday wish (even though I already have more than I could ever ask for in life) before calling it a great, birthday weekend with family.

 February finished out with out any freakish weather contitions.  After being trapped inside Noah and I decided we needed to start venturing out more when we had the time to without added stress of traffic, crowds, and well...an extra passenger.  We would get dressed (well.....he would look super cute, I would look presentable at least changing out of my pajamas).  Target was our main destination and it was always a bit more stressful than it was worth....but made me feel accomplished for the day.  Noah even got a strike when he got to tag along with us to Splitsville for a little family fun bowling. 

 Pictures....a beating that although every attempt for the perfect collections results in a vow to not worry about it because we should live life in the moment and not waste our time stressing over staged moments, results in us back in the rat race that is a photo session a few months later.  Because I was on leave and am just in general cheap I made The Relle Boys an appointment at the Picture People for their $9.99 package thinking Nick and I opting out might make it less stressful.  Um...I was WRONG!  The place was packed, hot, and took FOREVER.  Although we mentioned only desiring a picture of the brothers together, they still snapped a plethora of single shots increasing my monkey blood pressure with every flash.  In the end our package was free (it comes with entirely too many portraits) for the wait, she continued to increase my pressure trying to get me to purchase more sheets, and we caved a bit which is just was those scam artists planned.  And to finish off the month...well, the picture about sums it up....an adventurous February with lots of first, fun, and family!

January 2011

The ladies and I are in Tyler this weekend at a craft retreat at Memory Lane Inn while the boys are visiting family in New Orleans.  It was beyond tough to drive away (after a few trips back in the house & calling the boys outside), but I managed to drive and actually arrive at the house instead of the airport or New Orleans.  The group had a previous retreat in McKinney which I missed due to

sweet Noah's birth day falling the same weekend.  Glad I was able to join them this trip and am happy that it is allowing me to do some catch up (although scattered and sparse) blogs so that I can get caught up and rejuvenated with The Relle Clan blog.  I'll update more on Memory Lane Inn/New Orleans weekend in a later post.

This winter was unlike anything we have seen in our 10 years in Texas.  Makes us fear what the dead of the summer is going to bring us.  There were many snow days but this was the first and just a taste of what was to come.  The Relle Clan stayed snuggled up at home, played a bit in the snow, made snow ice cream and thought it was just fantastic to be lazy together.  Little did we know what the future held.

The month was not all spent in our warm ups sipping hot chocolate.  Once we recouped from the holidays we were able to get out for some walks, Jack had a play date with his friend Joshua from Watters at McDonalds, Noah and I visited my class on their Brain Gym field trip, and Noah started to really become "independent" starting with holding his head high proud of his tolerance of tummy time.  Looking forward to what the year 2011 will bring to The Relle Clan!

Santa Claus Was In Town...

Awhile ago...at least I'm getting this in before next December.  Noah and I were still doing a lot of sleeping and not leaving the house much because well...we were sleeping cause it ws cold and dreary outside so Nick's birthday was low key.  Jack wanted to bake an Easy Bake Oven cake but after Bebe's we know that it isn't quite enough for sharing so Nick made a pan of brownies...Noah and I were asleep.  Jack helped him blow out the candles while Noah was...asleep and it didn't take me long to finish off his pan being at home all the time.  Don't be mistaken though, Noah now doesn't nap much at all during the day, but is a TROOPER at night.

Once Nick's birthday passes is when the holiday festivities began...but with Noah being so young we divided and conquered this year...can't wait til next year although he is growing up way to fast for me!  We started with Jack and I stepping outside the box and decorating a rice crispy house from a kit that we turned into an ornament.  Once it was finished we turned out the lights, flipped on the Christmas tree lights, and watched Frosty the Snowman with hot chocolate and of course, rice crispy treat.  Why make the gingerbread house when no one eats them at our house....we ate this for sure. Another night we continued the craft streek by making a holiday house that Bebe sent..it was peel and stick and Jack loved making it.  Put it with his train table and it was hard to sneak it out....we agreed to put it in the Holiday boxes in the attic...not sure if Nick followed through with this...but I bet Jack will remember next year that it is supposed to be in there.  Another movie with cookies this night.  The other activities that we did this year were that Jack and I went to Santa's Village in Richardson, Spaghetti with Santa with Olivia, and ICE at the Gaylord-the ice slides while getting our family pictures taken with Chantel.  The Clampetts party was very intimate this year with hot dogs...we'll be back up in full swing next year-I just couldn't mess up our annual aspect of the tradition so we threw a little something together.

 School was out for Nick and Jack so it was time to load up to go home for the holidays.  Well as the picture below show...we were delayed a bit by Nick coming down with the stomach bug.  He was just too weak, the house was a mess, and none of us wanted to be in the car with him for over 7 hours.  So we postponed our departure by a day.  Our first stop was New Orleans.  Jack loves to play with Nana and Blake so Nick and I had sometime to rest while we had extra hands.  Family gatherings were great- lots of tasty food, family, and fun!  Christmas Eve we went to Domini's house where the kids played and the boys...played with their iphones.  Before bed we opened up one present for Jack and Noah--matchingish pajamas that didn't fit Jack and Noah would have been too hot so Jack slept in an alternate pair I brought (which came off shortly after waking up Christmas morning.  He was really into wearing a Daddy shirt to sleep so I had to bribe him to keep the cute holiday pj's on for Santa presents.  Next year I'll be better prepared for this.  Back to Eve...only Jack Relle would want to put a fork and wrap the carrot ends so Santa didn't get his white gloves dirty....what can I say- He might look like Nick, but he sure acts like his Mom. 

 Santa did a good job at getting the boys great gifts this year. Jack had asked for a bike, changed to itouch, and then robot. His original robot was something not in existance, so with some ad persuasion we got him turned onto Alphie. His gifts included Alphie, Duplo Toy Story, Lama Lama Holiday Drama book with Lama stuffed animal, Trio pieces, Don't Spill the Beans, and a few other odds and ends.  Noah got a lot of things that "his brother had when he was younger-wink, wink) and a Sophie giraffee that I have wanted since before getting pregnant for my next baby...and he loves his Sophie.  In the end thought the scooter from Nana and Gramps was the favorite for Jack this year.  We cleaned up as the family started making their way over for turkey and spaghetti.  Jack played with his cousins hard...that afternoon it was time to head to Baton Rouge for the steak dinner and more gifts. 

It is so sweet how Jack and Gab pick up where they left off like no time has past or distance is between them.  They all looked so cute in the matching initial reindeer shirts (onsie) from Aunt Betsy.  Dinner was great, Jack enjoyed playing with Nicholas & Joseph, and the hit from the day in Baton Rouge was the Hot Wheels radio from Mary Beth that we just "love" that Jack blares the music often to do his dancing.  Bebe was under the weather so the day was a bit chaotic without our director...but we managed just fine.  Lots of lazy days in Baton Rouge and Nick relapsed so our departure was much like or original departure...delayed. 

 

We made it home after a long drive (which Noah was a trooper but was done with the car about half way- bless his heart) and unsure where all the new loot was going to go.  Not long after being here I ended up getting the stomach bug and life was difficult feeding Noah while Nick held the garbage can for me.  I feel like the whole holiday was spent taking care of someone and cleaning up to avoid spreading the germs...which didn't work because Jack ended up getting sick too.  Good thing Noah was spared the stomach funk of Christmas 2010.  It was overall a nice holiday and was great having Noah in the Clan to celebrate, but hoping that next year has no illness, a better car ride, and just as much fun as this year.  Merry Christmas in April.