Butterfly Pavillion - Xander's Perspective

Xander and I headed to the butterfly pavilion to enjoy a guys day together.  The butterflies were beautiful and we had a great time watching them.

We listened to a class about butterflies and saw one of the zookeepers release lots of new butterflies into the pavilion.  Xander saw me taking pictures and wanted to take some too.  So with a little trepidation I handed him the big Nikon and let him have at it.

About two hundred photos later, we have photo essay of the butterfly pavilion, from Xander's perspective!

I told Xander the sign said to watch your step!

Everyone thought it was hilarious to see this little boy running around with a camera almost as big as he was!

Lots of fun!  After over two hours I finally had to pick the little boy up and carry him out of there.  He was having so much fun I think he would have stayed all day.

A pretty typical conversation at dinner:

Erin: Xander, your muscles got very strong today!
Xander: I'm strong!  So Strong!! (shows muscles by raising arms above head)
Jake: When you are big, are you going to be stong like Daddy?
Erin: and Mommy....
Jake: and Mommy....
Erin: Xander, who do you think is faster, Mom or Dad?
Xander: Daddy!
Jake (trying to make up for the previous miss): I don't know Xander, Mommy is pretty fast!
Erin: Xander, who do you think is stronger, Mom or Dad?
Xander: Daddy!
Erin: but Xander, who do you think has the greater strength of will?
...
pause
...
Xander: Xander!!!!

Yep.  He know's exactly what's going on around here!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is so much more fun with children.  We have spent the last couple of weeks talking to Xander about Santa Claus, watching the Polar Express (any movie with trains and Santa Clause is clearly Totally Awesome!), and generally getting excited about Christmas.  We went to zoo lights last week, just as the big snow storm moved in.  All the lights were really pretty with the snow falling and because of the weather it wasn't quite as busy either.  Life in the Lewis houshold has been so busy that we still didn't have our Christmas tree up, so in the end we decided to do it on Christmas Eve.  Xander and Maya had fun decorating the Christmas tree, and we enjoyed putting up our own baby ornaments, as well as the kids baby ornaments.  We put out milk for Santa and carrots for Rudolph and then cuddled on the couch for a story.  We all read the Night Before Christmas together and then sent the kids off to bed.  Just for fun here's a little Christmas video for you all!

When Xander woke up in the morning he came out of his room to find presents under the Christmas tree.  He exclaimed, "Santa's been here!".  We opened presents from stockings (chocolate bars for everyone, well not Maya) and then had breakfast.

After breakfast it was time to open presents.  Santa brought Xander a board game which was a big hit, we played all morning.

By nap time it was time for me to head out for my last 20 mile run before the Phoenix Marathon.  I decided that if I had to run 20 miles on Christmas day that I might as well have fun with it, so I put on my green tights, red shirt and a Santa hat to complete my elf costume.  I got lots of smiles out on my run and hope that I put a smile on peoples faces, although here's hoping that the guy who drove into the slush just to spray me gets a stocking full of coal next year!  I ran a 7:12 pace for 20 miles on snow packed roads.  I'm feeling ready for Phoenix!









The next day was warm and beautiful and a perfect day to go sledding.  Xander had yet to go sledding this year and it was a perfect opportunity to get him comfortable in his new ski boots and have some fun.  He started out a bit hesitant and took some runs first with Mom and Dad.  Maya got a chance to get in on the action too, she giggled the whole way!

Xander got bolder, especially after a few older boys showed up to play on the sledding hill too. Eventually he wanted to take runs on his own, and then wanted to do the BIG JUMP with Mommy. He loved it, although I think Erin was a bit worried for her tailbone. Much fun was had by all!

I hate it when my parents are right

Turns out you really can't skateboard in the snow.  Drat!

Christmas Portraits

Maya is nearing ten months now so we figured that it was high time to get some more portraits of her too!

When you have a little boy as adorable as ours, you have to get some photos of him too.  Don't let that angelic look fool you though, there is a devilish twinkle in his eye!

Early Christmas Trip to DC to visit Gran

We took an early christmas trip to DC to visit my mom.  Xander hadn't been there since he was a very little baby and Maya had never been there.  Gran had a set of foam blocks there for Xander to play with and they were an immediate hit.  Xander immediatly wanted to build towers with them.  One of these days I will get him to understand the concept of foundations and stability, but for now building tall towers and having them fall down is way more fun!

We took the kids downtown to the Museum of Natural History so that Xander could see the dinosaurs. I think when we originally told him that he expected to go to a zoo to see dinosaurs. It took him a little while to understand that all the bones were dinosaurs, but after that he thought they were pretty cool.

The ocean exhibits ended up being quite a hit too.  The little aquarium was of course awesome, filled with Nemo and Dori fish.  The whale though was probably the coolest.  Xander was totaly enthralled.



Since we were down on the mall we had to go and ride the carousel too.  Xander had never been on a carousel and was totally excited about it, until he got on, at which point he wasn't so certain.  It didn't take long though before he was having lots of fun!

The trip downtown was a success, but honestly half the fun was getting there and back.  The metro was quite a novelty, and Xander is completely in love with escalators.  Here's Maya having fun on the Metro.



Christmas gifts were a hit.  This was the first year that Xander started to get the gift idea and he had lots of fun opening presents.  Maya totally enjoyed her gifts too, Christmas Poo is awesome!

Opening presents is exhausting work.

What a wonderful start to the christmas holidays!

Water Baby

Yep, it really was that much fun!