The Schoenholtz Family: 2011

Friday, December 30, 2011

Decorating for Christmas

Now we fast forward to December 17th, the day we finally decided to get out all of our Christmas decorations!

First up was Alfie the Christmas tree

Jacob with his hand knit stocking from Great Grandma Peg.

The Maestro

We had to move our storage bench to make room for the tree. Ethan was climbing in the cubbies and yelling "fire in the hole!".

Would somebody please stop this kid from growing!?

Ethan was in charge of the scissors to unwrap the tree

Jacob in the box!

Look who can still squeeze himself in the box

After not so patiently waiting for Steve and I to get the lights on the tree, Ethan got to hang the first ornament...Jacob immediately removed it.

A little higher this time

Steve and I have always used a little wool hat as our tree topper. Ethan wanted to use a beaded angel that Suzanne made for us years ago. We compromised and used both.

I knew there was a reason we had kids...

The Polar Express around the tree!

We were all making different bridges for the train with our bodies. Jacob wanted to play too but didn't quite get the whole concept.

This was December 5th. For those of you keeping track, Jacob was not even 13 months old yet but here he is trying to climb the rock wall at the playground! He's just a tad more adventurous than his older brother was at this age...

Jacob got some pretty cool toys for his birthday that Ethan is just a bit too big for...we try not to let him on them because we don't want them to break but sometimes we cut him some slack. He really is too big though!

This kid is all business...with his striped socks and too big mittens...

We were cooking meatballs for The Spencer's holiday party. The oven is even more interesting when it's on with something in it!

My handsome boy actually let me take a picture of him!

Bum Genius 4.0

Over the summer, before I went back to work, I decided to give cloth diapering a try. I've been making small changes in our home to reduce the amount of waste we're producing but this was a big change to take on! I started with 6 of the Bum Genius 4.0 diapers that were recommended by Katie. She's been using cloth with all of her 3 kids and was my inspiration for giving this a shot. It's really nothing like you're thinking. It's actually not bad at all if you have/take/make the time to care for them properly. That's where my experiment fell apart. I couldn't find the energy to make this work for me all the time but I was regularly rotating them through on a weekly basis and at least felt like I was making an effort. They fell by the wayside for a few months but since they're adjustable, I got them out again and had to take a few pictures. They are seriously adorable! It helps that he is too, but I love the colors. It's time to get them back in the rotation.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Ethan's letter to Santa

Henry Turns 5

On December 4th, the kids and I headed to Saco, ME for Henry's 5th birthday! Jacob was in awe of all the bouncy things. He wanted to be a big kid so bad. There was one open jumper that he and I went into again and again and he loved it.

Ethan, Kyle, Cole and Brady were wrestling fools! There were a few instances of tears but they did play very well together overall.

Thanks for bringing him back Henry! Jacob is busy, busy, busy everywhere we go...

Wilmington Tree Lighting

The Town of Wilmington lit up the common on December 3rd. They do a really nice job with hot chocolate and cookies and music and hay rides (although the line is always too long to bother with). It is kind of a long time before they light the trees though so we'll have to keep that in mind for next year. Luckily it wasn't too cold, but Jacob was less than amused by being there so long. One thing is for sure...I am thankful for strollers! Keeping up with this kid in a crowd is a huge challenge! He just marches around and doesn't look back.

I wish this wasn't so washed out because it's a cute picture of my big boy.

And then Jacob lost the privilege of wearing the glow band. Who knows what's inside of these things!?

Yeah, yeah, the giant Santa is cool but what are these ropes all about?

Checking out the train display

We ran into Ethan's friend Connor from school...over by the stinky horses.

Ethan! Hold on to Jacob for a second!

Bubble Bath Night

Sometimes I think that I'm underrepresenting Jacob's babyhood compared to Ethan's. I don't think I took this picture for any reason other than I think I thought it had been a while since I took a picture of him. It was really just 4 or so days in reality.

Fun with bubbles!

Jacob loves to stand on this stool any time he's allowed in the bathroom. He can see the baby in the mirror from there!

This is why we no longer get him dressed until after Ethan's bath is over.

Look at those cheeks!

The Last Weekend in November

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to the Cape for a night with Grandpa Cliff and Louise and then a night with Grandma Jan and Chris!

George was home from UMass for the weekend

GC and Louise gave Jacob the coolest set of tents and tunnels for his birthday! It took up their whole sun room!

Jacob wasn't too interested in playing in it so Steve was trying to entice him.

Technically Jacob's breakfast was over. I'm not sure what he was eating here but a seat on the floor is still a seat!

He still gets that skeptical look sometimes...

Ethan is getting really good at riding his bike. He needs a bigger bike and a bigger helmet though...he's growing all the time!

Who says kayaks are only fun on the water?

Saturday night we took the kids to Heritage Plantation for their festival of lights! It was beautifully lit up all over the gardens.

I was very excited for Jacob's first carousel ride! Unfortunately I didn't put the harness around him and he almost fell off when it started moving! He lasted through most of the ride but I did end up holding him in the end.