Merry Christmas!

Helmet Head

The bigger kids all wear helmets (as required by law) when they ride their bikes on our street. Maggie noticed and excitedly decided that she wanted to wear one too. Lucky us! My parents bought her one for Christmas and boy does she love it. She always wears it when she rides both of her trikes and her red car. Proud as can be.

(It looks huge but is really quite snug. And yes, in these photos it's on backwards. Didn't realize it until I took it off. Ha!)

Last post from 2011

For some reason at Christmas I neglected my camera. I had it with me, in my lap even, but still forgot to take as many photos as I wanted to. I did manage to take a few, so here is the best of Christmas 2011.

holiday luncheon

Just before Christmas Maggie and I were invited to our friends' house for lunch. It was a moms/toddlers Christmas luncheon with Christmas tree decorating, homemade mac and cheese eating, playing and, of course, a little dancing.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Activity table

For Christmas Maggie's great grandma (GG) gave her this super awesome activity table. We decided to put it in our breakfast nook/casual dining room area since there is plenty of room. We had to rearrange a few things and overall are happy with the result. Obviously now we need some new large art for the wall and I have a feeling it won't be long before Maggie makes us something for it. Anyway, here are some photos of Maggie today after we set up her table. She tried out each stool and thinks it's pretty cool having something her size in that area. As you can see, she really likes it. Thanks again, GG!

Cubicle Farm

For Christmas Maggie got this cubicle bookcase from my parents. She can now look at her books and toys without having to dig around in her closet. So far she's enjoying it and I'm loving both the functional and aesthetic aspects of it.

Gamers

Our vacation in San Diego went by fast. We had so much fun planned and just a short amount of time to get it all in. We played lots of games. There were individual kicking competitions (check out my kick...), team competitions (balloon-stuffing-into-Bass-Pro-Shop-brand-long-underwear anyone?), fend for yourself games (marshmallow PVC shooters), and miscellaneous made up games (whirligig contests). There were other games too, but these are the ones of which we have photos. It's probably better that way.

One more to go

 
This past weekend we had three family Christmas celebrations. Lucky us! As usual we were spoiled with great gifts and we hope our family and friends feel the same way. Maggie is still a bit young to understand what Christmas is all about but she did enjoy spending time with family, the presents, and of course all of the attention.

Our next and final celebration is with Chad's family this weekend and we're really looking forward to the trip.

Happy New Year!

From Our Home to Yours

 

We are off for a bit to spend time with family but didn't want to miss out on wishing you a merry Christmas. Enjoy the holiday!

Holiday Party

We have attended a number of fun Christmas parties this year. Most recently Chad and I went to his station's holiday party. My parents watched Maggie so we could go and we had a blast. Food, friends, djs, dancing, gifts and awards all amount to a good time. Then on Monday Maggie and I went to her little play group holiday party. The moms went all out and had tables with crafts, snacks and cookie decorating. Santa and Mrs. Claus even took the time out to make an appearance. They read two Christmas stories to the kids and handed out bells and a personalized gift to each child. (The gift was a book each child's parent bought, wrapped, and gave to Santa before the party.) Maggie received Olivia from Santa this year but unfortunately she'll never know that. She loved hanging out near Santa, but when he called her name with her book she wanted nothing to do with him. She ran to me screaming. It was hilarious. I didn't get many photos from the party because we were too busy having fun. Sorry for the dumpy quality of these shots.

Santa

Maggie's second meeting with Santa wasn't nearly as adorable as her first. She wasn't thrilled with Santa this year and the visit with him was fast and squirmy. As you can see from the photos, she initially thought he was sort of OK, then she didn't at all and wanted off his lap within about two seconds.

Baking

This past week Chad left town on business and my mom came and stayed with us for a few days. Maggie, Mom and I managed to fit in shopping, a hair appointment and still found time to start and finish our holiday baking. Maggie and I had a great time. Below is what we ended up with in our kitchen:

Chocolate Covered Pretzels








Ginger Crackles

Rocky Road










Caramels

Decorating

Now that December is here we decided to decorate the house for Christmas. This time though we didn't use all of our decorations like we have before. It was getting to be too much and the house started looking junky and cluttered during the holidays. No one wants that look in her home for an entire month, right? This year we chose to put out our favorites and keep it simple. Maggie enjoyed helping Chad put the ornaments on our little tree. She doesn't quite have an eye for aesthetics and symmetry yet, but she was able to quickly figure out how to put the ornaments on the tree, so we are happy with that.

Christmas Light Parade

Saturday night was the annual Christmas light parade in town. I was a bit apprehensive about taking Maggie because I wasn't sure how she'd react to the activity. I knew she'd love it, but I wasn't sure if she'd want to run around and end up out of control. You never know. Anyway, turns out I was completely wrong to worry. We brought chairs and a big blanket and once the parade began she sat on my lap for the duration. She waved to the kids with a huge grin on her face and loved it all: the lights, the dogs, the horses, the kids, the bands...all of it.

 Self Portrait

 Who is more excited to be here?

Maggie and Chad after the parade