Christmas Was ...

... wonderful, amazing, epic, incredible, fantastic, perfect, magical and even ... white!

But we will get to that. First, our pre-Christmas in Seattle. The morning before we flew out to Denver, we let Sienna open her presents and Noah open his present. Heh. Then we lazied around watching two of Sienna's presents at once:

Her other presents included some books .. and other stuff I can't recall.

Do you like Adam's bathrobe? I got that for him. He loves it.

Noah had one present and Sienna fought him for it.

It was an owl. Our wise Mr. Noah and his owl! Isn't he sweet?

Onto Colorado! We went skiing two separate times, once just us two and once with Adam's brother and sister. It was perfection. I have not felt that free in ages.

I had to get a pic of Noah in the snow, just like I did when Bird had her first Christmas in Colorado.

We went sledding.

Sienna got snow in her face and declared sledding the worst activity ever.

I got snow in my face and felt fantastic about it!

 Sienna "helped" grandma make her famous, delectable shortbread. No shirt needed.

Diane planned a lovely night out with just us ladies to go to The Nutcracker! It was delightful in every way.

Noah slept most of Christmas day and opened his presents around 5 pm. Most pictures I took of him included this frantic look on his face that says, "MUST EAT PAPER."

Sienna got this great pink bus. You remember she's obsessed with buses? And now she has one of her own. She's in heaven.

Taking Santa in stride.

My Mr. Noah looked especially edible near the tree.

Isn't he the best? Yum.

Adam's whole family was together this Christmas! Hooray! It really was a lovely 10 days in beautiful and often SUNNY, warm and snowy all at once Colorado. 

Christmas Card

If you didn't get a hard copy of our Christmas card (we didn't send out many), here's your very own virtual version plus this year's blurb about 2011.

Happy Holidays to you, dear family and friends! In our own words, here’s what is brewing in the Ware house.

Adam: Never in my life has so much changed in such a short time. Before moving to Seattle I was sitting in a cube combing through financial statements (bleh). In the last 12 months I've had amazing experiences delivering presentations at places like Amazon and Zillow, and I finally feel I might end up doing something with my career that I can be excited about. Business school has been crazy and has come at the expense of things like cycling and watching baseball (oh... and my paycheck), but I wouldn't go back to the way things were for anything. Still, nothing makes me happier than the sound of Sienna and Noah giggling when I come through the door at night. I hope my kids stay babies forever. Fortunately, I've talked with them about it, and they've agreed not to grow up.  

Martha: Around this time last year we found out baby number #2 was going to be a boy! No surprise to me, I could see my little brother, Owen’s, profile in the ultrasound. In May, Noah Hullinger Ware was born and he does indeed look a lot like a Hullinger. The transition to two children continues to kick my hiney. I don’t know how people do this. My only goal at this point is to make sure we all live to see at least a few more birthdays. That’s about as far as I can see. (I’ve had my own conversations with them, and they’ve actually agreed to grow up! Thank heavens!) In my spare time, I continue to blog, book club and try to get in a few girl’s nights. I’m mostly happy when there’s good food in the house, Adam comes home at a decent time, and I can get to the gym a few times a week.

Sienna (2 ½): I bonk a my noggin’. You have a some throw up in the potty, mom? I have a some throw up in my crib. Oh, Noah, you so cute! Noah, that is a crazy growl. Daddy, we’re best pals. You see all the letters, daddy? See a bus? See that bus? Bus? See that bus? Airplane! Oh, that’s a big truck! Garbage truck, mom. Garbage truck, mom. Garbage truck, mom. Clock! I have a owie. I hurt a my ear in the bouncy house. Go to a park? Have a some slides and some swings? We go to a tiny park? I have a rock. I’m not scared of a vacuum. It’s just noisy. We go in the alligator (elevator), mom? I spill my hot cocoa on a table. No rip a books. Yes, that’s very bad. I’m happy. Jump on a couch, Dad? Where's my cashew nuts!? You have a big 'ol yawn, Dad? Whiskers! You better run... I'm a get you! (She’s just getting started…)

Noah (6 months): yee-yee, gee, ga-ga, wah-wah-wah-wah, grrrrrrrrrrrr

Thanks for tuning in! We hope you have a blessed season.

Christmas is Here

 Lately we've been:

Baking ... mint chocolate brownies to be exact ...

Getting lots of sweet smiles from this adorable child ...

Hanging out at the record store ...

Walking around Seattle Center and the Space Needle ...

 Showing Sienna the little train village downtown ...

Getting a family photo taken in fall leaves .... it's still fall here, by the way ...

Having John and Krista Malfatto visit with their new little Lola, plus their friend Cody ...

 Having a pre-Christmas before we head to Denver tomorrow for 10 days ...

Why Have Kids? or Could There Be Life After Kids?

{So you can cook your own version of Thanksgiving dinner [that's what I did on that Friday I couldn't remember] only to have them cry or jump on the couch while you and your husband try to enjoy it}

I stole this topic from this new blog that explored the question recently. I feel awkward leaving a comment on that blog because I used to date that guy. I actually don't read his posts and have stopped reading their love story emails because it's overall pretty awkward. But the other posts by his wife are inspiring and refreshing to me. Plus, her style? Come on!

Moving on. Why have kids? I hadn't thought about it before I had either of my kids. I grew up Mormon (and am still Mormon, of course) and it's what I was conditioned to expect as the normal course of events. I'd grow up, get married, and have kids.

But then! Noah came. And I realized I didn't want to do it anymore. Have kids. I can't wipe butts for 10 more years. I just can't!

So, since then, I've been exploring the question "why have kids" a lot. I still don't have a clear cut answer, but I can tell you about two things in my patriarchal blessing that have been keeping me going ever since I began the child rearing stage of life.

One part says, "To you will be born children that will be a crown of joy to you, and it will be your responsibility to teach them, especially in their early years, the great truths of the gospel to give them a foundation for life's challenges." I can't tell you how many times I get totally fed up being home all day with my kids. When I reach that point, I have one of two elaborate fantasies: running away to a deserted tropical island or getting a full-time office job. Neither of those things would solve anything, though. Running away would have so many bad consequences (mostly for my marriage - my kids would probably be fine), I wouldn't even get to baggage claim before I'd turn around and run right back home. Getting an office job (or just some kind of "out of the home" job) would also solve nothing. It would add one more huge stress onto my already full plate of stress. I don't need that. I can't handle that. And more than anything, I am a jealous mother and do not want anyone else being in charge of my kids. I would probably end up punching that daycare worker before I'd pay her. But here I am still, getting fed up on a very regular basis with all that comes with daily, never-ending childcare. So, what do I do? I cling to the phrase, "ESPECIALLY IN THEIR EARLY YEARS." This is a time frame I can deal with. I know that my babies won't always be babies. I KNOW that and yet I don't see it most days. But if I remember this phrase, I know I can do it. I can be here for them in their early, formative years. After that ... well, then comes me.

Which leads me to the next part of my patriarchal blessing, "You have your free agency to make your goals a reality." Ahhhh, if there's any part of God's plan that I am totally in love with and believe in, it's agency. I love it! I love that He trusts us. I need that kind of freedom, I thrive on that kind of freedom. So this line is rather empowering to me because I have goals. Goals that I am excited about. Goals that get me out of bed in the morning. Goals that remind me I'm not just an arm that can reach back behind the passenger side seat to reach a lost pretzel on the floor while changing lanes, shifting gears, and putting on chapstick. BOOM. AKA Supermom.

So, to answer these questions for myself: why have kids? I don't know. But is there life after kids? Yes, I do believe there is.

I'd love to know why you have or had kids. And are you that magical mother who can see the forest through the trees? Because I'm pretty sure I'm blind when it comes to that.

(And please don't comment on my Facebook page about this blog post because then Former Flame would see it [because we are friends on Facebook] and that would just be awkward because he'd know I stole their blog topic. All around awkward. And, yes, I could block him from seeing some things on FB, but I don't have time to figure that out because, you guessed it, naptime is over and my child waiteth!)

Thanksgiving Weekend

Here are some pics from our long and luxuriously school-less Thanksgiving weekend. 

I did a 5K Turkey Trot. 

It was all down hill, thank heavens! And my little cheering squad was at the end.

It was chilly but no rain until after the race!

Mr. Noah is officially 6 months old as of yesterday. I could gobble, gobble him right up!

We bundled our bodies into the car and headed to Starbucks for some post-race hot chocolate.

We spent Thanksgiving dinner with Adam's school friend Jason and his family/in-laws. It was great to meet new people and Sienna even had a little friend named Emmett her age to play with!

No idea what we did Friday, but Saturday we went on a ferry excursion to Vashon Island.

I love the ferry. Never gets old. The wonder of driving onto a boat and having it NOT SINK? Modern day miracle, I tell you.

I was taking a self portrait of me and Mr. Noah and look who creepily showed up in the background.

Vashon is just like all the other islands. Sparse inhabitants with a little town center with a few cute shops and cafes. We stopped at this one where Seattle's Best Coffee apparently got its start. Our bittersweet hot cocoa could have been coffee, it was that bitter. But we liked it. 

We put up our tiny Christmas tree. I don't remember it being so tiny last year. Maybe it's because Sienna was smaller standing next to it. Anyway, we were anxious to get her in on the decorating fun, even turned on the proper tunes, I wore my Santa socks and we gave her the Santa hat to wear. Do you think she cared one whit? No, not one whit. 

 And this kid slept through the whole event! Ungrateful children, I tell you! But get a load of that excellent plaid on the boy!