A Cup of Christmas Tea

What do you get a 2 month old for Christmas? Well, we weren't sure but we had to get her something because Cole kept asking what Santa was going to bring Lily. When we went to see Santa we let Cole ask him for something for Lily Kate. He quickly asked that she receive a tea set. I have no idea how he knew what a tea set was but he did and he asked for it. And luckily we found one and bought it. Once Cole had time to play with all of his new things he wanted to open Lily's new things. We let him open one toy to share with her and he, of course, chose the tea set. So, the day after Christmas we all sat down to have a nice cup of Christmas tea and tea cakes...courtesy of Santa!

Christmas 2010

What a fun Christmas this was! Cole was so into the whole experience which made it so much more fun for Rhonald and I. We have had gifts under the tree for weeks and Cole has been so good not to touch them. I wanted Santa's gifts to stand out so we wrapped them in different paper and placed them by the fireplace. Cole was so cute when he walked in to the living room that morning. He slowly walked over to his presents and just stared at them. We had to tell him it was ok to open them. He loved everything! We learned a big lesson this year...Christmas is very overwhelming for a child and maybe less is more! Cole would have been happy with a stocking and 2 gifts. I was shocked when he asked me to unwrap his last two presents! He simply wanted to play with each thing as he opened it and there was so much going on. Cole loved passing out the gifts and telling us who they were from. He helped open Lily Kate's gift and would comment on everything she got ("Oh she likes that mom!"). It was a perfect day! We stayed in our pj's all day, ate when we felt like it and played with all of our new things. It was so relaxing and wonderful to be home just the 4 of us.

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Putting out the Reindeer food before bed

Singing Jingle Bells by the fireplace

The boys favorite part of Christmas Eve dinner - the ho rs devours. Especially those that could be picked up with toothpicks!

Christmas cuddles from Mr. Jim

Last year we decided that we would no longer travel on Christmas. We wanted to start our own traditions here at home and allow Cole and Lily to enjoy the day in a relaxed way. Normally we spend Christmas with Rhonald's parents but his mom had to work and so they could not come up until the day after Christmas. We really wanted to make a traditional Christmas dinner so we invited Jim and Em and Ben over to share it with us. It was so much fun to catch up with them (Emily is pregnant and was not feeling so hot during her first trimester) and share the holiday with them. It was a lot of fun to see Cole and Ben play and take it all in....in their own way. During nap time Santa dropped off a few early presents for the boys and both of the babies (both born and unborn) and the boys loved that! I had decorated the table with traditional holiday "poppers" - one for everyone - however I think it ended up that Cole and Ben each had 3. They had these cute paper crowns in them that the boys wore around the house. They watched a Christmas movie and ran and ran and ran. Luckily Jim and Rhonald were the ones that Cole and Ben wanted to play with so Emily, Lily Kate and I hung out in the living room and talked. After they headed home we quickly sprinkled our reindeer food on the lawn, set out our cookies and milk and read Twas the Night Before Christmas. Cole likes that book so much and even remembered several parts of the poem. The one part that he always laughs like crazy at is when they say that Santa's belly shook like a bowl full of jelly! When I was tucking him that night he was full of questions....what if the reindeer get thirsty-we only left milk for Santa! What if they get lost? What is Santa forgets to fill his stocking? And on and on...until he finally fell fast asleep...

Smile!!!

Choo Choo...All Aboard!

One tradition that we started last Christmas was that we put together a gingerbread something...last year we made a house and this year we made a train. It is really a lot of fun if you haven't tried it. I have not gotten brave enough to make my own gingerbread yet - we stick with the premade kits...but it is fun all the same. Cole has been waiting to do this project for days....asking, begging and pleading...and finally we had time to sit down together and do it. Last year, when we were new at this, our house looked awful but this year we did rather well if I do say so myself. And we all did it together which was the main thing...and we all had a lot of fun. At one point we did catch Cole placing a candy on the train while also placing a candy in his mouth (well, a couple of times actually). We had to explain that if he ate all of the candy we wouldn't have any decorations. He gladly got back to decorating but kept asking when we could eat the whole train! Gotta love his persistance!

Woo Pig Sooie! Razorbacks!

I know one Little Hog Fan that is ready for the Sugar Bowl!!!

Cookie Decorating 101

Eden

Jacob and Katie (Cole is madly in love with Katie by the way-he says that one day, when they are big, they will get married and she will give him 2 babies. A brother and a sister.)


Cole, Lily Kate and Mommy

Jackson

Ben and Jacob

Audrie

Traditions...I love them! Cole and I have enjoyed decorating Christmas cookies together the past 2 Christmases. Each time we have made them he has been more fun and more involved. This year I thought it would be fun to include some friends in on the decorating and Cole loved the idea. One afternoon a couple of weeks ago we invited 7 of Cole's buddies over (and 2 of them had younger siblings...Lily Kate entertained her guests in the living room) to decorate cookies. We had sugar, frosting, sprinkles, m & m's, candy canes and juice boxes everywhere!!! The kids had an absolute blast, and so did the parents! We were very brave and let the kiddos do all of the decorating (except the frosting) on their own and then, of course, they all got to eat their cookies! After decorating they all ran in circles (literally) around the main level of our house - running off their sugar highs no doubt. When it was time to head home Cole passed out a bag of Reindeer food to everyone (another tradition we have grown to love) and said good bye. The party was so much fun and I am so excited to continue the tradition but the best part of the day was right before bedtime when Cole gave me a huge hug and said, "Thank you for the party mommy! You are the best!" Um...for that we can have a million cookie parties!!!

A SonShine School Christmas

Cole is officially on Christmas break and I must admit, as much as I love having a little time with just Lily Kate, I am super glad he is home everyday now. They ended the semester with a fun Christmas party and a visit from Santa. These were the only pictures I was able to get. This is Cole's class - not easy to get a picture of. I LOVE the picture of one of Cole's teachers in the top picture...I am sure both Miss Lindsay and Miss Merrily are ready for a couple of weeks of R and R. At the party the kids had pizza, fruit and then got to decorate cookies. Cole frosted his cookie and then decorated it with grapes and oranges...yum?! He also made me a Christmas gift...an ornament with his picture on it and a sweet pot holder where he used his hand print to make a Santa. I will post a picture of it soon...so precious! Santa sang carols with the kids and boy was that a big hit. Cole kept asking Rhonald and I where Rudolph was. He is so into Christmas this year! We love his school and his teachers but like I said, I am excited to have him all to myself for a few weeks.

All Smiles

Little Sis (or baby Jesus as Cole is now calling her) had her two month check up yesterday. She was awesome - never cried, smiled the whole time and won over the hearts of everyone she met! Dr. T said she was very healthy and right on track for her age. Lily Kate weighs 11 lbs 2 oz and is 22.5 inches long. Perfect!!! She did have to have 3 shots and an oral vaccine but as you can see from these pictures, they did not slow her down very much!

L-O-V-E

"Every good and perfect gift comes from above."

James 1:17

Oh, Lily Kate, you are so good and so perfect. You melt our hearts each and every day. We are honored and completely blessed to have been chosen to be your parents. We cannot imagine this life without you! We are excited to watch you grow into the woman that God has created you to be. May you always know you are loved and cherished. May you always know that we simply adore you!

2 Months Old

Can it be true that our sweet Lily Kate is 2 months old? Part of me, the tired part, says yes, it is but the other part cannot believe it! It has been a busy 2 months for her! We take her to the doctor next week so I will have to update her "stats" then. Since she was about 4 weeks old Lily has been having major tummy issues. I will spare you the details but some of the milder ones include major gas, bloody stools and a very unhappy baby (and parents). After a few calls to a good friend who happens to be a pediatric nurse practitioner, online research and a trip to see her own doctor, we have discovered that Lily has a milk allergy. Yuck! What this means for me is that I cannot eat any dairy ... any. Did you know there is dairy in basically everything? A few days after I went "dairy free" Lily Kate became a completely different child. She is happy and healthy and sleeping well...finally. I miss eating some things but Rhonald and I are big believers in breastfeeding and well, after I saw how much better she became, it was all worth it! Since Lily is feeling better we are finally able to lay her down (it was a rough few weeks for all of us) and she has started to "play" with her toys. This girl loves her play gym...LOVES IT! And she is a pretty big fan of her baby swing as well. She has really started cooing and smiling a ton which completely melts our hearts. She will have a full conversation with you and tries to mimick the sounds that she hears. She loves to watch faces and movement (aka Cole). Lily Kate would be happy to be talked to 24/7 and still loves to be held. Lily takes about 4 naps a day and is eating every 3 hours. She still wakes up one time a night to nurse and then goes right back to sleep. In the morning, if I lay her down for a nap while she is awake she will fall fast asleep on her own but by night time she is ready to be rocked to sleep. Her normal bedtime is around 8 and then I wake her up for the day around 7. She is such a joy and we love and adore her so much! Cole still loves to show her off and introduce her to people. He is a great big brother to her and I know they will grow up to be great friends (and I am sure they will get in their share of trouble as well).

Deck The Halls

Christmas has already been so much more fun this year because Cole is so into everything! The past few years Rhonald and I have decorated the tree when Cole was in bed but this year he got to help us and boy did he love it! Lily Kate slept the entire time in the baby carrier which, I must say, made things a bit easier. Cole had so much fun unwrapping the ornaments and placing them on the tree. We did have to encourage him to spread them out a bit as they were all being hung in a small area directly in front of him. He only broke one ornament and it was a cheapy anyway so I figure that is pretty good for his first time! He was so cute - he would hang an ornament and then dance to some Christmas music and then he would stand in front of the tree and yell "O Christmas Tree!" It was like he was so excited and happy that he did not know what to do. After we were done decorating we all curled up on the couch and watched a Christmas movie. Cole was so worn out that he basically asked us to put him to bed (a first for our son). It was a wonderful night - I can't wait until next year when we have 2 little helpers to decorate our tree.

Dear Santa...

There are two things that Cole has not stopped talking about for days...wanting to go see Santa and having dinner at Red Lobster. We hardly ever go out to eat so we were really shocked at how much he talked about going to Red Lobster (a place we have never taken him). So...we decided to make a night of it. On Sunday we bundled up and went to make our annual visit to Santa. Cole loves that guy and was telling his sister all about him on the drive to the mall. He waited oh so patiently and then ran up to the big man to talk about what he wants for Christmas. Cole asked for a batman cave and a remote control transformer (we think he made that up because we cannot find one anywhere). He also asked Santa to bring Lily Kate a tea set (which we already had so I greatly encouraged him to ask for that). He was thrilled to talk to Santa but then to our amazement told us, "He was nice but he is not real. The real Santa was here last year and brought me my trains." Um....we did not know what to say so Rhonald made up some story about Santa having helpers all around the world. No questions were asked so we breathed a sigh of relief! After our visit with Santa we headed over to Red Lobster where Cole gobbled up a plate full of grilled shrimp, went to the potty 100 times (because the toilet flushed itself and that is so cool) and even got to pet and learn about real lobsters. It really was fun and yummy! We all had a great night together....now onto searching for that transformer!