Christmas Part 2

The kids just woke up so I will update this later... but for now here are some pictures of our family Christmas. I worked days on the 24th/25th so it was just the 4 of us. We tried to do some things that were unique and will hopefully become traditions for just our family.

kids at Christmas... can it get any better ?!

Presents under the tree

Our Rock star

Enjoying the new exersaucer.

We hope all our family and friends had a wonderful Christmas. We are so blessed and grateful for all we have this holiday time. We pray you will have a wonderful rest of the year and a great 2009.

Christmas, family, storms, and even the kitchen sink!

You may be wondering by the title what this blog post will contain. Keep reading! Last weekend we celebrated the Baird family Christmas at Kim and Kevin's in Fairbult. They have a lovely home down there and we headed down to stay with them Friday night. We enjoyed dinner with them, Bryan and Stacy on Friday and played some Guitar Hero (my first time!) Amelia enjoyed chasing around their 2 cats. She still has a tough time figuring out why they don't want to play with her, but she tries hard to get them to come out. Saturday Mom and Dad headed over to have "our Christmas" we had a wonderful dinner prepared mostly by Kim then we enjoyed some gifts!! This year we drew names among the siblings so it was a surprise who we had.

Samuel enjoys the puppy plush toy he got from Aunt Kim/Uncle Kevin

Here's where the kitchen sink comes in- Amelia is fasinated with sinks. She loves to pretend to wash her hands in anything resembling a sink. She also has had her eye on a doll that comes with a sink and potty. Aunt Stacy and Uncle Bryan gave her the cottage grove little sink. Amelia could hardly wait to set it up. For the rest of the day she would go up and turn the nobs and "wash her hands" she also enjoyed washing cups and other things she found around. She also enjoyed carrying the sink around with her. One of the cutest scenes came when she carried it into the kitchen and stood by Uncle Keven as he washed dishes. Everyone was giving us a hard time because we had to bring a lot of stuff down for 2 days-- pack n plays, high chair, toys, etc and now we were even going home with the kitchen sink! Thank goodness for the van.

Let it snow! While in Fairbult a snowstorm came through stranding us down there an extra night. Thankfully we had extra diapers/clothes and could just snuggle down for an extra day/night. Bryan and Stacy were able to make it back the 15miles to Owatonna, otherwise it would have been a real cozy party!!

Uncle Kevin gives Amelia a Piano lesson. Notice the headband on Amelia... her new favoite accessory of Aunt Kim's She wore it much of the day on Sunday.

Thanks Kim and Kevin for hosting a wonderful weekend, and everyone for a wonderful Christmas. It was fun to be together. We appreciate your flexibility with my work schedule.

4 months old (almost)

It's hard to believe Samuel is almost 4 months old!! Where has the time gone? Here are the latest statistics:
15lbs 3 oz (we have dropped to 50-75%)
26 1/4 inches (still 90-95%)
Sleeps for anywhere from 5-7 hours at night. We are still trying to develop a routine
He still is such a calm, easygoing boy and adored by everyone including big sister!

This very handsome outfit is courtesy of Ms Ame (yes it does fit!)

Starring in her 1st Christmas Program....

Amelia made her debut as an angel in the church Christmas program this last weekend. As the youngest in the class, I was not sure how she would do standing up front, singing, etc. Overall she did well for her 1st time. She loves "church" and of course wanted to stand by her best friend "Veig" Solveig is the pastor's daughter and has become Amelia's very special friend. I had to tell her repeatedly that Solveig had her own part and she had to stay with her class. Another comic moment came when one of the teachers started giving out goldfish to keep the young ones up there. It looked like feeding time (made even funnier because the boys in the class were sheep!)

My little Angel!

Also starring with Amelia is her bunny! She looked so cute up there and enjoyed holding the hand of her classmate. The sheep on the far right is cousin Isaac. In case you didn't know Amelia is the angel on the left.

It is such a joy to watch children share the story of Christmas.

Snow Time

Recently we have had some good snow fall. We finally got around to getting Amelia some new boots and to getting some of our outside decorations up. Amelia always enjoys walking around in her boots. Playing outside never last too long though.

Getting the feel of walking on snow again.

Shortly after this the temperatures dropped and we have had no more outside play time. Amelia has now added "col" (cold) to her vocabulary.

Silent Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRSSsNbF29I

Not sure if this will work but this has become one of my new favorite Christmas songs. Here's wishing you a silent night!

Tree Time

Sorry, but for some reason these got backwards again. Maybe it's better that way so you can see the happy finished product and not see the drama behind getting the tree. Last weekend we went and got our tree. I love the tradition of getting a live tree. Several years we have gone to a tree farm and looked for the "perfect" tree. Each year it is my best tree, I say! With the kids we have decided it is better to just go to a local lot until they get a bit bigger. It's not quite the same, though I think sometimes it takes me just as long... the poor staff have to hold many for me and spin them around as I analyze them. Yes, I am picky when it comes to my tree. This year it got later in the afternoon (after naps) and was cold so Amelia didn't tolerate it well, and samuel stayed in the car. I have thought maybe it might be time to get a pre-lit tree. It can be a hassle to get it in the stand just right, get the lights perfect, and then put the ornaments on, water the tree frequently, and then take it all down again, plus the mess of needles! However, when I'm all done and sit back and admire it, I'm always glad I have bought a live one.

1st pictures in front of the tree

The Finished product

At the local lot

Here Amelia stands in front of the wreaths with a candy cane they give out. I had to take at least one picture of someone at the lot (can you tell we were feeling rushed!) If you look closely you can tell she was getting a bit frustrated and cold. It doesn't quite have the same ambiance as a picture in a field with a sleigh or something. Maybe I will look for a pre-lit tree on after christmas sales after all!

This and That

The Perfect place for a nap!

All Smiles

Sister clowning around with me.

A Beautiful Gift

Today my dear friend Amy came up for the day to hang out with us and meet Samuel for the first time. Amy and I have known each other since college and always have a lot of fun together. Amy brought some wonderful gifts for the kids but my favorite is the beautiful quilt she made. It is gorgeous!! It has a dick and jane theme pattern with wonderful colors of reds, and blues. Ame- you have outdone yourself with this one.. I know you put so much time into them and this will be cherished forever. Thanks for your friendship! Anytime you want to come to the cities to shop and do LeeAnn Chin's I'm game! And I promise the quilt will get "used" and not hang on the wall in the playroom :)

Decorating For Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of year for many reasons, but one of my favorite things to do is decorate the house. This year it seems a little tougher with two kids, but I'm still trying to find the time and places to put up all my special treasures. I can't believe it's already December. It feels like Christmas will be here in no time and the other day I was feeling overwhelmed that I just wasn't ready. Then I realized Christmas is not all about the decorating, gifts, parties, etc. It's about Jesus. I pray that in this busy season you will find time to reflect on what Christmas means to you.

My favorite Nativity scene. I love Nativity scenes... they are my thing. I have several of them and like to have at least one in each room of the house. They help remind me of why we celebrate Christmas.

Winter Time

One of the things I dread about this time of year is bundling the kids up to go outside, however I don't like being housebound either. One of our most recent purchases for Samuel is the bundle me. This allows us to put him in the carseat and have the blanket wrap around him. It is wonderful!!!! Why we didn't invest in this for Amelia, I don't know. I just love it. Now if I could just figure out a way to keep Amelia's mittens on we would be all set.

Showing off the new hat and mittens set... such a cute little man. We're all set for a Minnesota winter.

Thanksgiving 2008

Family Picture time... coming to a Christmas card near you soon.
I realize I'm a bit late in posting this... but better late than never. We had a nice thanksgiving at our house with Jim and Cari and boys and my parents. I made the turkey (with some help) and everyone brought things. The kids had a great time playing together as usual. Both Jim and I worked on Friday (my first day back!!) so it was nice to stay close to home.

We always have plenty of food!