The Christmas Season Begins

Thanksgiving has been duly celebrated- now, let the Christmas Season begin! I've been listening to Christmas music clandestinely for a few weeks now, but now it's time to get it all out and enjoy this brief, fun season! Christmastime has always been one of the most special times of the year for me. Of course because of all the real meaning behind it, and even more so the more I grow spiritually to understand the magnitude of what the Incarnation really means. But also because it is a season of excitement and giving and PRESENTS EVERYWHERE. Every time I take that "love language" profile I come out high on the "Gifts" love language- I love to give them, get them, think about them, I just pretty much love presents. I love any excuse to think about the special people in my life and what I can give to them to tell them how much I care. So the holidays are a fun time for me. :) I also love traditions, and the holidays are just full of them and now that the girls are growing, we are able to start some new ones.

One new tradition we are starting is expanding the nightly reading of the Christmas story to include acting it out with the very special Nativity set that stays up on the mantelpiece until it is time for the tale to be told. I can still quote most of Luke 2 verbatim (from the KJV of course; doesn't feel like the "real" story in any other translation) because my parents started reading it every night to us when we were probably about this age. Carolyn has such a gift for memorizing that I'm hoping that when the family comes together to celebrate Christmas in a few weeks, that she'll be able to participate in the yearly recitation of the Christmas story. :) And even if she's not ready this year, she is still learning the events of the true story of Christmas. It's so much fun to share this kind of stuff with her!!

Saturday morning we went to "bag" our tree. We tried a new tree farm this year and were pleased with our find. :)

Trees were smelled, an impromptu game of hide and seek was played (it was a very nice, bright morning), and finally a tree was selected.

Nora watched the whole thing from her perch in the Ergo. She got tired of it after awhile... next year she can run around with big sister down on the ground!

Thanksgiving 2009

Since Brad's job kind of keeps him here to be available for a delivery at any time and this year just isn't the year to be asking for call coverage to go out of town, we were sort of stuck at home and felt very thankful that my family could all make the trip to share Thanksgiving with us! We had a wonderful time, and were also very glad for the extra space in the basement because it meant that everyone could sleep comfortably, even with 9 people in our house!

I didn't work Thanksgiving for once, so we all pretty much spent the day on Thanksgiving in the kitchen, preparing the Feast. I feel so thankful for my mom and my sisters- they have all become some of my closest friends. I could not hope for more as I think about the relationships I hope my girls someday have with each other, and with me. As we've grown up, my mom has somehow seemed to just become one of us, and it is so sweet to think that somewhere on the other side of the inevitable conflict that the years of growing up will bring (as we attempt to "train them up in the way they should go"), that maybe, just maybe, Carolyn and Nora will want to be my friends!

Those 2 girls couldn't ask for a better Uncle Bry. He's so good with both of them! And they are both fascinated with him in turn. :)

Dress-up was a big part of Carolyn's day. She captured any willing victims and took them to the basement to help them select various fairy costumes to wear. :)

The costumes got more elaborate as the day went on. You might notice that my dad is wearing not one, but TWO tutus, one on each leg. This is funny because I am pretty sure I do not remember ever having the opportunity to see him wearing tutus when I was growing up. :)

Even Uncle Bry was encouraged to wear wings, as was his dog Bailey. :)

The Runners went running even in the chilly weather! They must really like it... I was glad to stay inside!

Nora enjoyed having no shortage of arms to hold her and stories to be read! She loves books and turns pages very enthusiastically!!

My mom helped Carolyn make crescent rolls for dinner. I love this picture because it reminds me so poignantly of a similar picture taken 25 years ago, when my Granny helped me and my sister make fried chicken. She was turned into us just like my mom is turned into Carolyn, showing her just with her body language how important she is, and how special this time is!

The crescent rolls turned out pretty good, too!

The mashed potatoes were a hit with Nora! It's hard to find food she actually LIKES, but this was a clear winner. :) Guess we'll have to be making mashed potatoes more often...

The sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce mostly ended up all over Nora's face, but overall, it was a successful Thanksgiving feast.

I am so thankful for happy kiddos!

The inevitable, annual Thanksgiving attempt at a family photo. A little harder now with the little ones... but this was my favorite of the shots- only Nora looks displeased to be there... and she was just a bit too tired to handle it...

She went to bed shortly afterward, and this picture makes me laugh because it is funny how a baby, the smallest person in the family, can command the attention of a room! She is waving hi and bye now and it's just the cutest thing. :) Everyone likes to make Nora wave- obviously.

It truly was a Happy Thanksgiving- a time of warmth and laughter and love and remembering all of God's tremendous blessings to our family.

Thankful

Florida- Finally!

Had a great time in Florida! Hit the ground running when we came home so it's taken awhile to get the pictures together! There were almost 300 of them... so here goes...

Flight out was a little hectic getting on the plane since we left late and had to rush a bit, but we made it without any major incident and we were all excited to be in the warmer weather, even just for a few days!

True to form, we were up and at 'em early the next morning, making the most of our time- Brad's Aunt Sue works for Busch Gardens and she scored free tickets for Brad and me and Papa to take Carolyn there. We just stayed a few hours, but we had a wonderful time!

It's fun doing "big girl" things every now and then. Carolyn really thrives on all the individual attention. I'm excited to keep doing things with each girl on her own as they both grow. It's nice to just focus on one at a time once in awhile!

The zookeepers were taking these flamingoes for a walk. Carolyn was thrilled!

The only really good way for a 3-year-0ld to see the animals is on the choo choo train, so we all took this exciting ride. :) We got to see a "tiny" baby rhinoceros! Just a week old! It was very cute.

It was fun taking Carolyn to see the animals this time; she was very excited to see all the different things and always wanted to wave at them.

Carolyn wanted to climb all over all the little statues that were everywhere. Papa was very attentive to make sure she didn't fall off.

These turtles (or tortoises?) were more active than any others I've seen! They were munching on their breakfast!

The best part of the day at Busch Gardens for us was the 45 minutes Papa hung out in the kiddie area with Carolyn and let us on our own to ride this awesome roller coaster! Twice! It was an amazing 90 degree drop that reminded me of days of yore when things like that excited me instead of scared me. The "daring" side of me that went to sleep when I became a mom woke up again for just a little while that day, and it was fun. :) Also, I got to ride the coaster with a really cute guy who wasn't embarrassed to hold my hand. :)

When we came back to "Dragonland," we found this pair of pals. :)

Papa gave Carolyn her first experience with cotton candy. :) It was a hit.

After Busch Gardens, we went to the airport to pick up Emily and her parents and brother Jake. :) Emily and Carolyn had a great time attempting to destroy Great Nana's house. :) They especially liked her many visors for playing golf. They ran back and forth from the bedroom to this side room, telling us all that they had to go to "Daddy's Office."

Great Nana kept the little ones entertained by letting them play with her coasters.

And later everyone snuggled down for a showing of Mary Poppins.

Nora thoroughly enjoyed the new place to explore and search for trouble. She is SO fast and curious and determined! It's tough to keep up with her, but so fun to watch.

We spent the weekend at a resort on Longboat Key. They had a really nice beach where Emily and Carolyn enjoyed digging in the sand.

Nora enjoyed her walk on the beach with Great Nana.

I missed most of the action with my camera because by the time Carolyn decided she was brave enough to actually jump in the water with Daddy in the pool I was upstairs taking care of Nora... but Carolyn overcame her fear of going under the water and ended up having a wonderful time- and wearing herself out in the process!

Here are Nora and Jake sharing toys. They're going to be good little buddies someday, too!

Finally, the reason we went to Florida in the first place! Brad's cousin, Mary, married a wonderful man named John last Saturday and they had the two cutest flower girls ever. :)

These guys weren't technically in the wedding, but don't they look cute too?

Nana and Papa helped the little girls practice while everyone was getting lined up... the florist forgot to bring petals, so we improvised with shells and everything went great.

Nora doesn't care for the feeling of sand (or grass) on her bare legs.

Here's the wedding party. Everyone looked beautiful- especially the bride! We were so happy for them! It was a good thing she was really easygoing, though, because 3-year-olds are nothing if not unpredictable! Once they walked down the aisle, both girls plopped down at the front, took their shoes off, and started digging in the sand with the shoes! They were blessedly quiet through most of the ceremony, but at one point, Carolyn did stand up, show us all the sand that she was holding in her skirt, and tell everyone she had a baby in her belly!

Here's Carolyn and her "Sand Baby." She still talks about it. :)

Lighting wasn't great and the camera didn't compensate as well as I'd have liked, but we did get a family picture on the beach.

And one of the whole family, complete for the first time since the births of Nora and Jake. We are so blessed!

Carolyn Laughs

Nora's growth and development is so obvious and rapid right now that it'd be easy to almost overlook how much her sister has changed in the last few months- Carolyn's changes are much more subtle, but still incredibly profound. She is becoming her own little person now! She has such a funny sense of humor and often acts silly (like in this video) to crack herself (and everyone else around her) up! I love the sound of her childish, pure, sweet laughter. It's just another one of the very best things about being a mom. :)

Fevers

Poor Carolyn's been running a fever this weekend. We think she might have a touch of H1N1, since that's what's going around, though she was vaccinated, so hopefully she won't have a really rough course of it. She has some mild upper respiratory symptoms, but other than that, pretty much just the fever. She was pretty miserable yesterday while the fever was high, and spent most of the day in her "nest" on the couch watching movies.

Nora was transfixed by the movies, too. Note the drool rolling off her chin. :) As of right now, Nora seems to be okay. If it is H1N1, we are hoping that the vaccine she got a couple weeks ago will have kicked in enough to give her some protection, and Mommy's vaccine should be active by now and maybe the milk will have some extra antibodies to help her stay healthy.

Nine Months!

Yesterday I turned Nine Months Old! Seems like just last week or something we were putting together a post for turning Eight Months and I seemed like such a big girl then, but I am so much BIGGER now!!

My personal favorite achievement of the month is being able to STAND like all the big people around me!

Want to see it again? Yes, here I am STANDING! The development of this skill has caused a significant amount of sleep disruption and angst since I was most intent on learning how to do it as soon as humanly possible. But on my nine-month birthday I finally started to achieve the standing position on a regular basis. If you are amazed at my progress, you should be. I am AMAZING!

Now that I can stand, I am able to get into all sorts of new trouble. Like my big sister before me, I really enjoy pulling all the books off the shelves. :)

I still love bathtime and I will crawl for the tub when I hear the water running.

My big sister is VERY cool.

Eating remains my most significant challenge this month... apart from being far too BUSY to be bothered with something so mundane, it's just not that easy for me. Apparently I hold my tongue in the wrong position... Mommy and my OT friend, Rose, are working with me on it, and I'm making progress. I now eat most of what is offered to me, though I still prefer my meals to be small and frequent and heavy on the beverage end of things... Mommy doesn't really mind though. I think we're both okay with me being a baby as long as I can and since I'm just rocketing off toward toddlerhood quicker than Mommy wants to think about, she's okay if eating progresses a little more slowly.

I wish you could hear me talking now! I say all sorts of sounds. I especially like to say "Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma!" Mommy might be deluding herself, but she really thinks I know what I'm saying. :)

In closing, enjoy this month's video compilation. I perfected my crawling skill this month. Now I am EVERYWHERE!