christmas 2009

what a wonderful day! the only thing that would have made it better was if my family had been out here!

we woke up to a beautiful white christmas and lots of fun gifts under the tree. the boys slept in later than normal, thanks to a late night christmas eve, but were definitely excited to get to the tree in the morning.

ethan's favorite gift was by far the cranky the crane for his train set. he has been asking for it for a long time, so i knew it would be a hit. miles started off with the rody horse, but moved onto the train signal gate since it made noise when you hit a button. ethan was eager to help miles open his gifts and miles didn't seem to mind, so e went to town.

after we opened all of our gifts, we headed to the grandparents house for a yummy waffle breakfast and more gifts.

the boys really enjoyed the new ford truck from aunt laura and uncle jeff and ethan was soon filling up the truck bed with all sort of gear from the playroom. hilarious! after breakfast we opened the rest of the gifts and the shake and go race track from the aunt dawn and family was quite popular. ethan was getting so excited (and so was lance!) i will have to get a video soon! he jumps up and down and gets so loud, ethan that is!

sweet new niece, lucy jane

we finished off the day with a wonderful dinner prepared by my mother-in-law and some family pics in front of the christmas tree.

i put up the good family pic in my last post...here is our silly one...

it was so wonderful to see ethan enjoying christmas this year, not that he hadn't in the past, this was just different. he knew what was going on and could get excited for everything.

week 4 activities

our last week of events leading up to the big day. here is a recap:

1. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)

2. family picture in front of the christmas tree (this should be fun and interesting!)

3. make ricotta cookies

4. make creme brulee

5. read the polar express

6. christmas jammies!

visit festival of lights: it has been several years since i've driven through and it seems that it has gotten even longer. after our drive, we determined that 3 (or almost 3) is definitely the minimum age for the festival of lights (unless under 1 and you can fall asleep in the car :) ) miles actually did well for the first 20 minutes, but after that i think it was just too much. he isn't a huge fan of car rides these days. the candy canes at the end of the trip did wonders to make both boys happy though!

family picture in front of the christmas tree: well, this didn't get done in front of our christmas tree, but it did get done! we took it christmas night at lance's family's house and i love that we have a family photo for christmas day, we never did get one last year that i recall.

make ricotta cookies: this has long been a favorite cookie recipe of mine. we always made it growing up and it is very easy and so good. it makes so many cookies you have to freeze at least half of them, but they are even better right out of the freezer.

make creme brulee: i LOVE creme brulee. if it wasn't so bad for you, i would eat it every week! yum! but i try to limit it to special occasions. my sister gave me a creme brulee set and recipe book a few years ago and i tried out a recipe from it and it was perfect! i've enjoyed it guilt-free this year too, thanks to the baby in my belly :)

read the polar express: i had wanted this to get done on christmas eve, but that didn't happen. we did it one day before naps and ethan loved it. he had actually seen the book a few weeks earlier and was very interested in it thanks to the beautiful pictures of the train. my parents gave me my copy of this book christmas 1988 (i was 10 years old) and we've read it at least once a christmas season almost every year since. we always read it on christmas eve. i hope that we can continue this tradition with the boys.

christmas jammies: i love the boys' jammies, i think they are just perfect! last year they only wore them on christmas eve and christmas day and i decided that wasn't enough. so we broke them out a bit early this year (for our christmas card pics too) and ethan has been very excited about them so i bet we'll keep them up until spring at least.

SNOW!!!

and a lot of it! it started snowing around lunchtime on christmas eve and didn't stop until late that night. it did make travel kind of crazy for some family getting down here, but thankfully all arrived safely.

a white christmas, miles' first time playing in the snow (and hating it) and 2 days worth of fun for the other kids. ethan loved it. he wanted to go outside on christmas eve even though it was windy and cold and wanted to go first thing christmas morning. we did sledding on christmas and a snowman this morning.

here is a collection of pictures from the past 3 days in the snow:

christmas eve:


christmas day:

today:

merry christmas!

wishing everyone a merry christmas!!

he speaks!!

miles has been babbling and chattering and making lots of noises for quite some time now, but nothing that was every for sure a word other than mama and dada. in the past week though he started saying "uh-oh" and it is so cute! he will just repeat it over and over if you keep chatting with him. ethan likes to get in on it too. he also said "hi" and it just sounded so sweet. i know there are a few other words here and there that he has said once or twice, but it is nice to start getting a list of real words that he is saying regularly. i know when ethan was about 17-18 months he started talking a lot more, so we'll see if miles follows pretty closely to that.

25 days of christmas: week 4

hard to believe this is our last week of events leading up to christmas. i am glad that i did this (i know part of it was for me and part for the boys). i know as they get older they'll be able to participate more and i hope they enjoy all the traditions we'll have for christmas.


1. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)
2. family picture in front of the christmas tree (this should be fun and interesting!)
3. make ricotta cookies
4. make creme brulee
5. read the polar express
6. christmas jammies!

week 3 activities

we did well this week! only missed one activity. here is a recap:

1. pick out and decorate christmas tree!

2. drink eggnog

3. make gingerbread cookies

4. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)
5. make a christmas ornament

and if we can fit it in...as you can see i like the option of more events without actually committing to them :)

6. christmas movie night

pick out and decorate christmas tree: we broke the tradition this year due to a shortage of acceptable frasier firs available at lowe's, but it turned out well! growing up we pretty much always got a frasier fir because of the smell and i just continued that, but this year we had to pick something new. turns out the noble fir is a perfect substitute. fluffy and full (i always LOVE short, full trees) and soft needles so it is much more comfortable to decorate. i put lights on the tree while the boys napped so they woke up to a lighted tree and then they helped decorate at night. miles really just wanted to throw the plastic balls around (though he tried putting an ornament on the little tree we have in the foyer), but ethan helped hang a few of the ornaments. i really had a great time decorating the tree this year with the boys and loved seeing how excited they were to see it.

drink eggnog: well apparently i am the only one that thought this was fun. ethan took one sip and declared he had had enough and i don't think miles even finished his first sip. guess we'll have to stick to hot chocolate for the boys.

make gingerbread cookies: at lance's request i attempted gingerbread cookies for the first time. i don't know why i have been scared of them since i love to do sugar cookies. for some reason gingerbread cookies always scared me. i found a recipe to try from good things catered and it turned out delicious. while i made some that were gingerbread man shaped, i ended up doing more that were snowflakes with sanding sugar on top - no extra decorating - and they look really pretty! i think these will end up being a cookie i make every year.

drive through festival of lights: didn't happen this week, so we are going to try this out on sunday.

make a christmas ornament: i found this adorable martha stewart felt christmas ornament kit that i thought would be fun to try, especially since there was a train ornament. well, it was even more perfect than i thought! no glueing, no cutting, perfect for a toddler! all of the pieces came with adhesive on them and you just had to peel and stick. ethan loved the train one and also the stocking since he thought it came with a candy cane in it just like in the picture on the kit. after he made his two ornaments, he put them on the tree.

watch a christmas movie: thanks to a new thomas dvd, we spent friday night snuggling on the couch watching the trains of sodor get ready for the holidays.

16 week update

in a way it is hard to believe i am 16 weeks already, but in some ways it didn't seem like it would ever get here! 16 weeks was my light at the end of the morning sickness tunnel (or at least that was the time with both ethan and miles when i really started feeling better) so i had that in my sights from the beginning this time.

*thanks to kristi and cindy for this great little layout to keep track of things!

how far along? 16 weeks

sleeping: other than the random leg cramp here and there in the morning, nothing has really been disrupting my sleep yet (other than a teething miles!)

total weight gain? 7lbs (i may not be happy i included this later on down the road)

movement: nothing yet, but i bet pretty soon!!!

food craving: sonic mozzerella sticks and marinara sauce. and only sonic. puffy cheetos. strawberries (thankfully something healthy in there, right?)

what I miss: nothing right now. i am feeling pretty much back to normal and that is a good thing!

what i'm looking forward to: feeling the baby move! that has always been one of my favorite parts of being pregnant. should be pretty soon!!

milestones: nothing right now

how i'm feeling: sooo much better! i feel normal again! i didn't even realize how bad i felt for those first 10 weeks or so now that i feel good again. i am just thankful that my midwife (whom i just love!!) offered me some medicine to make it through. i have started getting heartburn a few days a week, but nothing too bad yet...still definitely better than the morning sickness any day! my belly has popped in the past few weeks (it is like it happened overnight) and i have been in maternity pants (or at least pants with a bella band) for the most part since about 15 weeks.

doctor appt update: had a routine visit last time. heart the baby's heartbeat on the doppler and all looked well. next appointment will be january 11th and i will have the ultrasound!!

getting in the holiday spirit

tried my hand at some holiday pictures of the boys. a candy cane + a drooly, teething toddler + a white duvet cover + new christmas jammies = good thing lance wasn't home when i attempted this! :)

the boys did have fun and miles enjoyed his first taste of a candy cane. the pink and red stains came out of the jammies and the duvet, so all was well.

25 days of christmas: week 3

hard to believe it is week 3 already! here is what we have planned this week:

1. pick out and decorate christmas tree!
2. drink eggnog
3. make gingerbread cookies
4. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)
5. make a christmas ornament

and if we can fit it in...as you can see i like the option of more events without actually committing to them :)
6. christmas movie night

week two activities

here is a recap of this past week's list - some minor changes, but still got some of our list done:

1. christmas pancakes
2. decorate gingerbread house
3. eat ravioli
4. drink eggnog - had to postone this as well since we drink eggnog when decorating the tree. we did drink hot chocolate this week though!

5. pick out and decorate christmas tree! BECAME ring bell for salvation army

and maybe if all is going well...
6. make a christmas ornament (i found a really cute kit to make felt ornaments!) BECAME hang stockings

christmas pancakes: we made some christmas tree pancakes this past weekend. ethan's favorite part was helping put the "snow" (powdered sugar) on. both of the boys LOVED eating the decorations too - chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

decorate gingerbread house: we started this last sunday and finished up this weekend (busy week for me especially!) it worked out well. we waited until miles was down for a nap otherwise, i don't think it would have been a bit crazy! i quickly got over my fear of things not be in the right place when i saw how much fun ethan was having. he was pretty good at not eating things at the beginning, but as time wore on, he was eating more of the treats than he was putting on the house, so we ended there. he did have fun and our house turned out pretty cute, i think (other than the drippy icing, we'll have to use something else next year). and yes, it true decorso/windel fashion we are decorating a gingerbread house in halloween jammies!

eat ravioli: growing up we always had ravioli and meatballs for christmas dinner. ravioli is still one of my favorite pastas! i thought we might try to make it a tradition to at least have it every december in our house (and of course when my parents visit!) i didn't make meatballs, but did make my own sauce and it was really good. miles was a fan, but ethan was not. ethan did eat some of the caesar salad with "special butter" (salad dressing) and liked it.

ring bell for salvation army: this was a last minute activity that came up. a local professional group i am in was looking was volunteers to help with the bell ringing. the daytime shifts had filled up so i had an evening one (brrr!!) but it was nice because the boys could join in. lance brought them by to visit for a bit since it was so cold - too cold for them to be outside the whole time. ethan liked ringing "toby's bell" and miles was pretty good at it too! i definitely think this is something we'll keep up in the future, though hopefully it will be warmer next year :)

hang stockings: i love decorating the house for christmas and i love our mantel. it has always been one of my favorite things to decorate. i got inspiration for this look from a pottery barn catalog several years ago and i like it so much, i've never changed it. this year though, we did add personalized stocking for the boys. the train was PERFECT for ethan and i thought miles would enjoy the reindeer.