special visitors

Before Christmas we had the pleasure of spending time with my long-time (and far away living) friend Tami, her famous-in-New-England husband, and their super-duper son. Their son was, in fact, born just a couple weeks before Maggie and sadly this was the first time we've met him. When he got out of the car Maggie's first words were "oh, he's cute!" That girl. Anyway, they made the effort to come see us for the day and we had such a nice time catching up in person, having dinner and letting the kids play a bit.  

for Maggie's buds

Maggie and I made some Christmas peppermint play-dough to give to some of her friends this year. We had fun making it and hope they are enjoying it too.

for Loren

She was distracted at the park and this video is the best I could get. Hopefully you get the idea?

Meet Manny

This year we jumped on the Elf on the Shelf bandwagon and started the tradition for Maggie. My mom bought Maggie her first elf and he magically appeared in our house at the beginning of the month. Manny, as Maggie named him, has been all over our home, but particularly loves to hang upside down in our house. She thinks he's hilarious and is always enthusiastic when she looks for him each morning. She also loves showing Manny off to her friends when they come over. Unfortunately he had to leave us on Christmas Day and Maggie was disappointed. The good news is that I'm sure he, or one of his friends, will come back next year. (Sorry for all the poor snapshots of him here. He's cuter in real life.)

Merry Christmas

We hope you are able to relax and enjoy this special day!

the shiner was worth it

Maggie's friend turned three this month and we got to help her celebrate at a local kids gym. She had a ball and I had a good time taking a few action shots of her playing. As you can see she absolutely loves jumping on this (as did most of the other kids) and I was able to capture a few shots of her catching air (look closely). At one point she did bonk heads with one of her buds, but they were both fine and no one cried. Maggie got a little shiner as a result. She's tough.

Garden update

Our lettuce has been growing steadily in our garden. Baby romaine is great. And easy to grow!

Pom Poms and Pine Cones

Earlier in the month Maggie and I hosted our moms group toddler art club again. I thought it would be fun to make pine cone Christmas trees with the kids and I think they enjoyed themselves. I was able to photograph a few of the finished products before everyone left. The kids were proud of their trees and were enthusiastic about taking them home.

Holiday Baking

Last week my mom came up for the night so we could do our annual holiday baking. This year we made lemon cookies, ginger snaps, oatmeal bars and rocky road.

Jingle Bells

Two weekends ago my dad sang Jingle Bells to Maggie. I'd say he sang it a total of 4 times. Here she is repeating what he sang the next day. She's a fast learner!

Decorating for Christmas

After we returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Shaver, Chad, Maggie and I decorated our house for Christmas. Maggie's favorite item from the boxes was a Christmas item from Chad's childhood. It's an angel candle holder that spins due to the heat from the flame. And as it spins, it dings a little bell. Maggie was fascinated by it and sat and watched it for awhile.

Santa

Over Thanksgiving weekend Maggie met Santa. He was in Shaver that Saturday ready to take pictures, talk to the kids, and give out stockings and candy canes. Maggie was excited to meet him. I was super curious about how she'd react to sitting on his lap because last year she didn't think it was the greatest. This year, however, I really talked him up for the week or so before they met and she lit up when she saw him sitting in his chair. Here's the funny thing: she was way stoked to sit on his lap, but would not look at his face. Even once. She smiled and giggled and talk to him, but was totally timid when it came to looking at him. At least she was brave enough to sit on his lap and talk to him. After the kids all met the big guy they took their gifted stockings to the shops in town and got treats from the store owners. It was basically like trick or treating for Christmas candy, pencils and hot chocolate. No one complained.

Thanksgiving

Our family had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We were able to spend it with Chad's parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews up in Shaver Lake. There were four people out of the 24 who couldn't make it this year and they were certainly missed. We went early on Thursday and left Sunday afternoon. The holiday weekend was filled with eating food, playing games, doing crafts, riding on the swing, playing in the snow, making bracelets, seeing Santa in town, opening gifts and spending time with each other. So much fun.