Christmas

My goal was write my Christmas post sometime in January... YES!!!

Christmas was SO FUN this year. With Ellie almost being 2.5 years old, she had a blast and it was exciting to experience the magic through her.

And it was great to have a new baby to snuggle!


The fun started with Ellie's Christmas program for daycare. Here is a clip:

The week before Christmas we went to Scott's brother's house. The food was great and the cousins had a lot of fun playing with each other.

Then his extended side the next day. There were so many kiddos running around it hurt to watch them.

The night before Christmas eve, we went to Nite Lites. Ellie really enjoyed them but Kyla cried the whole time.  The next morning she was jumping in her bed asking to see more lights and talking about all of the things she saw lit up the previous night.  Nothing like elves riding on dinosaurs to get you into the Christmas spirit.  By this point she was really into Christmas music and would ask for it whenever we got in the car or when I turned on any music in the house.  She loved Jingle Bells.

On Christmas day we were supposed to go to my parents house but my dad was still recovering from the stomach flu.  We stayed at home and had a leisurely breakfast of french toast and omelet casserole.  Ellie opened her stocking gifts and presents under the tree from Santa. Her favorite gift was for baby Kyla - an alphabet caterpillar.  Good thing the baby is good at sharing right now. She actually slept through the whole event.  The rest of the day we enjoyed family time and relaxed.









The day after Christmas we braved my parents house.  We had a feast of fondue, opened gifts, ate some more, and relaxed a bit.





A few days later Scott got sick so he ended up only working one day the week between Christmas and New Years.  It was nice to have him home but it was under bad circumstances.

His birthday was on Friday and we took Ellie to daycare as one of his gifts =)  Then we took Kyla out for lunch at Noodles and tried to do a little shopping but she wasn't being cooperative. It was crazy busy anyway so we weren't too disappointed to get out in the mess. At least we had a nice lunch!

On New Years Eve, we headed to a friends house with the kids.  The kiddos played for a few hours and then we had dinner and put them to bed. Surprisingly, they were all asleep around 9 and the big kids could play some games and hang out.  We all played a new game called "The Game of Things" and laughed so hard we cried. 

It was a great end to 2011!

2.5 years

Time is flying by! Here is what our crazy little lady has been up to at 2.5 years:

• Moved up to preschool at daycare
• Obsessed with mustaches. Likes to put stickers over her lip.
• Fully potty trained
• Loves books
• Seems sweet and quiet around new people, but don't mess with her (take her toys)
• Speaks her mind
• Negotiates how many minutes left until nap time
• Negotiates how many m&ms she gets for going poop
• Likes to poke her sister and tries to sit on her
• Has to wear socks on her hands to go to bed
• Changes her clothes multiple times per day
• Full on conversations like this:

Mom: Ellie, what did you do at school today?
Ellie:  Umm, I colored. I put glue on paper. I take glitter and shake it shake shake it.

Mom: What else?
Ellie: I ride my bike. Oh and I go poopy on the potty. A BIG one too.

Mom: Wow, nice, what did you have for lunch?
Ellie: Umm, cheerios and pop (I sure hope not). Oh, and beans and peaches.

We love our happy funny little girl!

Baby talk

Kyla is 2 months!
She is 24" (94%)
12.5 lbs (86%)

She loves to smile and coo! She'll go on and on for about a half hour. I tried to get some clips of it today but she was mostly concerned with staring at the shiny silver camera.

The many faces of 8 weeks

Our baby is 8 weeks today! Lately she has been full of expression.

Updates

• She is a very happy baby except between the hours of 5-8 pm
• She sleeps anywhere from 6-12 hours per night, but typically around 8
• She smiles a TON. We love it!
• Was ok with the bottle at 4 weeks but we got lazy with practicing and now she won't take it
• She is starting to move her arms toward a few things
• Coos a little and almost makes a laughing noise
• Loves to track our faces
• Loves to watch her big sister!

Ellie Says

Here are some random bits of the things we hear from our silly Ellie girl...

Mommy: Don't run out in to the street
Ellie: Yeah, I get smashed
----
Ellie to Mommy: Sing happy birthday to my poopy
----
Mommy: It is nap time
Ellie: Nope its cracker time
----

Ellie to Mommy: I want some more money
----
Ellie to Daddy when getting dressed: Daddy, I don't have boobies
----
Mommy: It is nap time so let's go potty first
Ellie: No, I go potty in my bed
----

Ellie: I want a cracker
Mommy: I want to go to Jamaica
Ellie: Jamaica all gone
----
Mommy: Good job going pee on the potty!
Ellie: Mommy, I'm so proud of you
----
First snow of the year
Ellie: "It's snowing! I slide down hill outside with daddy"
(we could not believe she remembered this from last year!)

Kyla - 1 Month!

Kyla had her 1 month well baby check-up yesterday. She was 10 lbs 13 oz (87%) and 23" (94%). She is a big girl and even bigger than her sister at this age! The pediatrician said she is very advanced as she was smiling and cooing during her exam :) 

Fall Ketchup

I wanted to write this post awhile ago. After all, I was planning on at least an extra two days before baby came... but now that I have a spare 10 minutes so it is time to play a little catch-up.

This fall was a very special time for us. We had some unseasonably warm weather and tried to get out of the house as much as possible in between the numerous projects we scheduled.  We wanted to spend some special alone time with just Ellie before adding to the mix. It was such a weird feeling to know the family dynamic was going to change just around the corner.

We took a lot of walks and visits to the park. Sometimes we picked up grandma after she got out of work and took her along with us. It was nice to have the extra set of hands when it was getting hard for me to wrestle the skinny 2-year old through her tantrums.

Me? Tantrum? Say What?

We went to Binder Park Zoo which was a very fun trip! Ellie loved feeding the giraffes and riding on the train. She also had a chat with the kangaroos and almost got attacked by a flying monkey.

A highlight was a fall visit to Klackles orchard. I've never seen such a crazy fall oriented place. We picked apples, ate amazing donuts, went to the petting zoo, pet a snake, rode on a fire truck, played on ginormous inflatables, played in a giant sandbox, sat in a school bus, spun around in a giant apple... you know, the usual...

Scott and I carved pumpkins while drinking cider and eating even more donuts. We haven't included Ellie in this tradition yet.

Final touches on Ellie's new big girl room!

Trick or treating was especially fun this year. Scott stayed home and passed out candy while I took the strawberry out. She was not digging  the experience at the first house, but as soon as she got her treat, she opened her eyes wide and screamed "I GOT CANDY!" and the rest of the trip was no problem. Everyone thought she was adorable and gave her handfuls of candy (I ate most of it). She said "thank you" all sweetly and they gave her more (which I also ate). After every few houses, I took handfuls of candy out of her basket and stuffed it in my coat pocket so she could carry her basket without dragging it. The beautiful weather combined with her stellar attitude had us treating for over an hour. One couple thought she was so cute they asked me if they could take her picture. Another fun loving family got out the hose in case I went into labor on their driveway. Awesome!

Well, I think that's it. I can't believe next year we'll be toting 2 little spookies around the neighborhood!