Christmas Has Arrived!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!  We had our first Christmas miracle in that we survived Christmas Eve Mass!

     

     

So dapper in their Christmas Church outfits!

The whole family!

So these two had been very excited about this guy coming to our house tonight (and I had been excited with how well their picture had turned out!)...

So they were very excited when he showed up for his annual Christmas Eve visit!

     

Little Buddy was completely starstruck!  Both kids reiterated that they had been good and, if possible, would like a mailbox and books (Little Buddy) and a Wonder-Woman-Bear-With-A-Cape (said in all one breath) and a jump rope (Little Sweetie)!

The cookies, milk, and carrots were set out...

...and were gone the next morning!

Santa had been there!

     

Present time!

What's this box?

     

"Oh gosh!  It's my Wonder-Woman-Bear-with-a-cape!"

"My jump rope!"

     

"Mailbox!"

Happy boy surrounded by new books!

Our little builder had great fun with her new expansion pack of magna tiles...

...and her new toolbox with real tools!  She and Daddy built a Monster Truck from a kit immediately!

We spent the rest of the morning watching Christmas movies...

     

...before going to run some laps and burn some energy for our Run Club miles!  The weather was WARM!

A great day to be outside and have fun together as a family!

We hope all of you had a Merry Christmas as well!

LSM

Little Sweetie's Momma

December 19

As 2016 winds to a close, we have had a lot of fun with Little Sweetie as we prepare for Christmas and the new year!

     

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, it was time for the tree!  Loved having these two little elves help!

Got to have some special time with Santa at Baby Boot Camp!  We have lucked out this year that she's been pretty receptive to Santa!

The weather has continued to be crazy!  We have gone from shirtsleeves to coats and back within the course of a week!

     

Just when we get excited to wear a coat with a hat and (new!) mittens...

...the weather warms up again!

Little Sweetie has been having lots of fun with Big Brother too, which is good, because he'll soon be out of school for two weeks!  Momma's nervous, hoping that I can find appropriate activities for both of them so that they can play and have a good time together!

     

     

These two are in cahoots!  They will never look at the camera at the same time!

Bedtime story sweetness.

Height and Weight

Finally putting on a few pounds!  Up to 34 pounds and moving closer to 37 inches!

Personality

She's so happy and so fun!  She's been developing catch phrases lately...lots of "you've got it dude!" and "Awesomesauce!"  Also a lot of sweetness: I am getting so many "Momma, I love you" statements all day, sometimes multiple an hour.  With cuddles.  I won't lie; I eat it all up.  

Developmental Milestones

Verbal and fine motor are still progressing excellently.  And now I am seeing some great gross motor gains too!  She's riding her bike better and running longer distances at Run Club!

Knocking out laps at Run Club!

Fun Tidbits

We got to go visit Daddy's office this month.  Little Sweetie loved looking out his windows and seeing our usual places from a new angle.  Maybe one day she'll be an engineer too!

Future engineer at work!

We'll see you next year!

LSM

Little Sweetie's Momma

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Every since we moved to Texas from Ohio, it's always been difficult for me to feel as Christmas-y as I used to (70-some degrees instead of lake effect snow is always a difficult adjustment).  We try to do little adventures each year to get into the spirit and this weekend was this year's Christmas trip.

We were able to start our weekend off with an activity a little closer to home.  Little Buddy's horse therapy ranch had a little Christmas party for the kids.  Little Buddy was very excited by both Santa and the Chik-fil-a cow!  Little Sweetie eventually warmed up to the Santa; here's hoping this pre-exposure will help her feel comfortable during the upcoming Santa pictures!

    

Attempting a Santa picture!

    

"Daddy!  It's the COW!!!"

She allowed a solo shot with Santa!

Our travels started Saturday morning with a trip over to Palestine for a ride on the Polar Express!  We  hadn't done this yet, so we were very excited to try it out.  Thankfully, both kids loved it!

Waiting to board our train!

These two are ready for their special train ride!

Golden tickets at the ready!

     

Time for hot chocolate and cookies!

     

Are we there yet???

It's the North Pole!

     

Santa came on the train and gave the kids their magic jingle bells!

After we completed our Polar Express journey, we then drove over to Grapevine to stay at the Gaylord Texas to enjoy their Christmas decorations and the Ice Show they have each year.  It was fun, but a bit crowded.  We'd like to go back and visit the resort during one of their downtimes to see how we like it then too.

     

Enjoyed some of the decor before settling in for the night.  We all crashed!

The atrium was beautifully decorated!

Heading into the Ice Show!  It was so cold in there!

     

We were bundled up, but they gave us parkas too!

     

The sculptures were beautiful, but it was so cold and crowded we didn't get to stop and admire them as much as we wish we could have.

The weekend was a great family adventure and I know that the kids are ready for Christmas to arrive!

Hope all of you are getting into the holiday mood too, 

LSM

Little Sweetie's Momma