Christmas Day!

This year we broke tradition and didn't drive to Black Canyon City to visit my Grandparents (in light of Daniel screaming all the way to Sedona and back over the weekend). We actually stopped by and visited with them on our way back from Sedona on Sunday and exchanged gifts with them then. So this year we had the morning to ourselves. Daniel finally got some boy toys! Up till now he only had his baby toys which he's starting to out grow and mom's toys like a tea set and some dolls. Thank goodness for Santa Clause!! now he has a Deluxe Toolbox set from Home Depot, giant mega blocks with toy cars. Heidi threw in a surprise kitchen set for him too. (what??!) a wooden spoon, whisk and spatula. Ok, he does like to help mom in the kitchen and if he goes to culinary school he better at least cook for me all the time.

Sedona

I didn't skip Christmas on purpose. It's just more work to download pictures from the camera to get them ready to post here. Ok well, we got invited to some RCI gig in Sedona to listen to their 90 minute presentation about why we should drop 35K on a timeshare we'll use once a year. In return we got to stay 2 nights in Sedona at their resort, a dinner gift certificate and tickets to a Christmas light show.

It took almost two hours to get out of Phoenix. Daniel screamed most of the way. Traffic was a joke. We stopped after an hour and half in Carefree, grabbed some dinner then made the 2nd half of the drive to Sedona.

The first night we stayed in a Studio which didn't work out so well. Since we were all in the same room we couldn't put Daniel down for bed without us going to be as well. So we all went to bed. But Daniel is not used to sleeping in the same room as us, so with us in the room he wouldn't sleep. He cried and fussed until we took him out and brought him to our bed. That also didn't work because every time someone moved it would disturb Daniel and he'd get upset. Needless to say, the next day we rearranged our accommodations and stayed in a 1 bedroom which was paradise for everyone.

The presentation was great until we told them we didn't have an extra $250/month it would cost us to buy in. They got annoyed and we got a free weekend vacation on them. Thanks RCI. Dinner was delicious and the light show was fabulous.





And Daniel absolutely hates Santa Clause.



I think just for the fun of it Daniel also screamed almost the entire way home.

Quantum Dots

What is a Quantum Dot? I was reading this article today because I'm a nerd and thought I'd share my nerdiness with you. The part about "no more hard drives, flash drives or RAM" caught my interest.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071226-the-perfect-computer-memory.html/

I was especially intrigued with the description: "the data can be stored as an absence of electrons, called holes." Absence of electrons? Absence, notably means not there. And fittingly enough a hole is empty. So you're taking data, which is something, and storing it as nothing, in an empty space. That's brilliant! And it will probably cost me a lot to do that. This is either an ingenious concept, or it's really, really stupid. Kind of makes you think of The Emperor's New Clothes. And Dipping Dots! mmmmm dipping dots......http://www.dippindots.com/

Croc dance!

Daniel was in a funny mood in these pictures. I think he was just changed but too hyper for Heidi to get his pants back on so she just let him go. He found these beads and got on the table and started dancing around. I thought about joining him in my briefs and crocs but decided to spare everyone a visual of me in my underwear.



I guess we'll try to remember that when you record video sideways you also get to watch it sideways. Someday when I can figure out how to rotate a video like a picture I'll rotate this upright. But here's Daniel Tap Dancing:

Bake Faster!

Can you tell Daniel likes cookies? Heidi was making cookies and Daniel kept steeling dough and eating it. When Heidi finally put them in the oven Daniel had to watch. They just wouldn't bake fast enough. It was a good lesson about being patient. I had to keep him from opening the oven door. We also found out he hates nuts, just like his dad. Nuts ruin an otherwise perfectly good desert. Someone shared a small desert plate with brownies and cookies with us the other day. It was funny because Daniel and I both took a cookie. When I discovered nuts I promptly exchanged my cookie for a brownie. Daniel discovered nuts in his cookie and made a face like he was eating grass and spit the nuts out on the floor. I shared my brownie with him.

Potty Training

Hey! I said no cameras! What!? can't a guy potty train around here with a little dignity??



How do you make this thing work? The chair, that is. There is supposed to be a musically orchestrated "TA DA!!" when he pees.

Getting ready for Christmas

We got out our Christmas Tree and thought it would be a fun activity to decorate it together as a family. It went something like this: Dad would put an ornament on the tree, Daniel would take it off. Mom would put something on the tree, Daniel would take it off. Dad would explain to Daniel to stop doing that. We would put a few more things on the tree, Daniel would take a few more things off the tree. Dad was getting frustrated cause Daniel wouldn't leave the tree alone, Daniel was getting frustrated cause Dad wouldn't let him take the ornaments off the tree. In the end mom kicked us both out of the room and finished decorating the tree herself. It looks gorgeous although it has no ornaments on the bottom 3 feet of the tree.