Hello 2022! Well, here we are. We've made it to a new year and heading into the 2 year anniversary of living through a pandemic. I'm glad we're here but I am very tired of living through historical milestones.
After our holiday trip to San Antonio, we enjoyed getting into the Christmas spirit back at home!
Pat the Elf left us a LEGO wreath to create!
Got to visit the Gingerbread Village!
Christmas Cookie baking time!
Enjoyed our long-awaited playdate with G!
More Gingerbread House making!
And then it was finally Christmas Eve!
Little Sister did a beautiful job singing at Christmas Eve Mass with the choir!
Cookies and milk are ready for Santa!
Just one more sleep till Christmas!
Shhh...Santa came!
Not patient at all waiting for Big Brother to wake up to come open presents!
Finally...presents!!!
Being a wonderful super sibling and helping Big Brother open his presents!
And somehow our odd Christmas traditions of hooded towels continues...this year Little Sweetie asked Santa for an Eagle and Big Brother got a Shark!
Enjoying more presents...a new cooking recipe set from Ms. S and matching ponchos for Little Sweetie and her dolls from Mimi!
Ready for Christmas dinner!
We filled the the rest of our holiday break with a lot of fun and some service!
Nothing like a zoo trip over break!
Enjoying painting Crowns at Little Sweetie's school!
We were also excited to welcome the new year! We're big fans of sleep and starting off the new year well-rested, so we let the kids do a few fireworks and before bedtime. Then we recorded the ball drop and celebrate noon New Year on New Year's Day!
Happy 2022!
And, as always, there is cooking. Break and her new cooking recipe set has given us more time in the kitchen (we were kind of slacking in the fall with the business of our schedule). This is an Asian-based kit, with 3 different recipes each from 5 different countries. Glad to get back in the kitchen with her to practice and learn new skills!
First Box: Japan! Little Sweetie made salmon teriyaki with sautéed spinach and Japanese sticky rice.
Next up was Pork Katsu with sautéed cabbage and Japanese potato salad tonight! This 3 part meal was definitely more involved with lots of slicing, grating, and chopping, so I’m glad we did it on her last day of break so she could start cooking early. Her favorite part was getting to use the “big hammer” to tenderize the meat! All the work was worth it; the entire meal was delicious!
Our final recipe from Japan was Okonomiyaki (Japanese cabbage pizza) with bacon strips!
Our next box is South Korea and Little Sweetie already has kimchi fermenting in the fridge for two weeks for one of those recipes!
With all of these complicated recipes, sometimes it's nice to go simple and just roast some marshmallows for s'mores!
We were also happy that, over break, Little Sweetie was able to get vaccinated. We are hoping to help her stay healthy and to help insulate her brother. Proud of our brave girl.
Vaccinated!
Height and Weight
Little Sweetie is at 57.8 pounds and still just above above 50 inches on the growth chart.
Hi there, sweet girl!
Personality
Over break, we also reflected on how adorably innocent our sweet 8-year-old is. Having a brother with special needs who still enjoys television and toys geared towards younger children has kept Little Sweetie happily immersed in young childhood longer than we've expected. We know it will come to an end sooner or later, but for right now we'll enjoy her continued love of Paw Patrol, PJ Masks, and simple toys and action figures. She's even willing to Batgirl it out and watch Daniel Tiger with her brother!
Perfectly happy to have her stay "young" for as long as possible. Enjoy it, sweetheart!
Developmental Milestones
Little Sweetie has had some big moments this past month! So proud of all of the interests she is pursuing.
Checking out the moon with her new telescope!
Putting her own earrings in! This was a HUGE moment. Turns out Little Sweetie has a pretty intense metal allergy, so we've had to get her special earring backs so her ears would stop getting irritated. This finally allowed her ears to heal and she's now so much more comfortable with them. But she is sticking with solid gold and special backs for awhile.
She finally finished hand-sewing her cat stuffie! This was quite a long-term labor of love but she did it!
Fun Tidbits
Little Sweetie and Momma got to have a special day together at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. She really enjoyed seeing the paintings projected around the room!
Mother daughter fun!
Overall, 2022 has started off ok. Here's hoping we can all stay healthy and enjoy more adventures together!
Good night,
LSM
Little Sweetie's Momma
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