Monday, December 29, 2014

Our Family Christmas

Santa visited our house on December 23 this year since he knew we'd be heading to Texas on Christmas Eve.

Santa brought all kinds of goodies!  He brought a store-front thing with cash registers, baby dolls, a walking toy, and a sports center.  Plus he filled all our stockings!

Everyone was so excited!  Whitt woke up at 6:00 and his crying must have woken up Adeline, who in turn, woke up Annabel.  We listened to them talking to each other over the monitor.  Adeline said, "I don't know if it's morning yet.  Let me look out the window.  I see lights at somebody's house.  I think we can get up now!"  And then here they came running to our room.  So much fun!





We gave each child three gifts from us.  The girls were very excited about these princess Barbie dolls.


Jon was teaching Whitt how to play with his army men.  Whitt thought it was hilarious.

My attempt at a Pinterest breakfast.  The chocolate syrup for the mouths didn't work so well, but the girls were thrilled with them.

Whitt trying out his new walking toy from Santa.

We spent the whole day at home, just enjoying our goodies.  It was so relaxing and fun!  I love days with my family.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Our Christmas Eve

I was really bad about Christmas crafting with my girls this year, so we jammed it all into today, as we celebrated Christmas Eve with our little family.

We made paper bag gingerbread men and they drew faces, etc on them.


We painted Christmas trees with toilet paper rolls and added lights with finger prints.

I made this to hang up every year at Christmas.  I love it!

We made paper plate & handprint Rudolphs.  This was Adeline's favorite and she did it mostly all herself.

We made cookies for Santa.

And we made so many that we decided to deliver some to our neighbors.

Yesterday, we took the girls to Dollar Tree and let them pick out a few gifts for each other using their own money.  Tonight, they helped me wrap them.  I just had to get a picture of what Adeline wrote on Annabel's gift.  LOVE!

We had dinner, then I read the Christmas story and did Family Life's "What does God want for Christmas" advent activity.




I put the cookies on a plate for Santa and Adeline said, "What will the reindeer eat?" so we had to add some carrots and celery.


Then it was time to put on our matching pjs & head to bed!

We can't wait to see what Santa bring us in the morning!!

Random December Happenings

And now here's a conglomeration of the rest of the month so that I'm all caught up before my Christmas posts!

So many pictures of Whitt in this post, but he's the one who demands almost all my attention these days.  He was quite cranky one morning as we waited for Annabel's school to open.  Sitting in my lap in the parking lot, pretending to drive was the only thing that kept him happy.

He's discovered the kitchen toys and they keep him entertained for quite a while.

One morning before school it seemed like every single thing that could go wrong, did.  I was looking around for the hidden camera because I was convinced I was being punked.  Then the next morning they were little angels.  Kids definitely keep things interesting!

A typical after school scene: Adeline vegging in front of the tv, Annabel pretending to watch, but mostly just parading around in front, trying to drive Adeline crazy, and Whitt on the move.

Whitt has started pulling up to stand this month, and does it ALL THE TIME!  That's why I have to be near him at every waking moment, because he pulls up on anything!  I love this moment that I captured.

Jon took the girls to the new trampoline park one Saturday morning while Whitt and I stayed home and got some stuff done.

And within a few days of pulling up, he decided to start cruising between furniture.  I mean seriously.  This kid keeps me on my toes.  When the girls started doing stuff like this, they would do each skill for weeks, gaining strength and confidence before they'd attempt the next thing.  Not him.  He just goes into it full force, hence all the bruises he's gotten this month.

He also likes to wrestle his sisters.

One of my friends went to have lunch with her son one day and sent me this picture of Adeline and Parker being silly.

We got to spend some time together searching in a look & find book while Whitt napped one afternoon.  Thankful for these rare moments with my girls.

And Whitt has also finally, for real, gotten a tooth this month, so we've seen this face a lot.

I styled his precious strawberry blonde hair in a faux hawk one night after bath.

And Annabel decided to share her markers with him one day and of course, it went right to his mouth.

Soaking up these baby moments every chance I get!

"Helping" me unload the dishwasher.

And he pulled up on the fireplace, found a pen, removed the lid, and tried to eat it.  He's fast!

He likes to do this a lot.  A couple of times he's pushed with his feet and done a somersault.  He's out of control, I tell you.

Standing up and letting go....

Often leads to a bloody chin, when you're only seven months old!

I'm glad I have these two live-in babysitters to entertain him while I prepare dinner.

Who needs to sit inside the exersaucer?

He made his way over to his sisters' coloring table, found some stickers, and commenced eating them.

I'm guessing nothing is safe anymore.

But he sure makes me happy.

My man whipping me up some homemade chicken and dumplings one cold Saturday evening.

And this shopping cart is extremely flimsy.  It is not supposed to be a push toy for beginner walkers.  However, Whitt thought he'd give it a try anyway.  I'm telling you, bruises every day.

Sometimes these girls can be just as wild as a boy.  They were running and slamming into the front door, which is mostly glass.  Jon told them to stop because if they broke the door then mean men could come in while we're sleeping.  Did that scare them?  No.  Adeline responded, "let's go get our knives and practice fighting those mean men for when we break the door!"  Wow!

These kids.  So much work, so much fun, so much noise, so much happiness!