Christmas, and Lila can count!

Bear with me as we go through the Mother of all Christmas re-caps. The grandparents like to see a lot of photos, okay?

First of all, cookies. I'm new to the whole baking thing. Tim and I had the same bag of sugar for 6 years. But lately, I'm baking like a... oh crap, like a MOM. This year I made a ton of things. Rum balls, Egg Nog cookies, sugar cookies, and mint chip brownies. The one thing I still can't figure out, is why people start baking 3 weeks before Christmas. I don't care if you freeze the cookies - they're still going to be obviously old cookies, aren't they? I could be wrong - I am new at this. But to be safe, I made all of mine 1 week to 2 days before Christmas. Mmm, they were good. And of course it was great to have help.

Decorating the cookies.


Elsa and her super fake, hilarious Top Model pose! At least she's looking at the camera again.


Christmas Eve day. We dressed the kids in matching sweaters and headed to my parents house for a lovely brunch.

The matching sweaters. Lila is wearing Elsa's old Christmas outfit. I happened to find the same sweater in Elsa's size at the thrift store for $1. Score.


Lila loved this present before it was even opened. "I climb!"


Looking festive.


Elsa helped pass out the presents.


Christmas Eve. Headed to Tim's parents house for another nice gathering with family and friends.
Elsa opening presents.


Hey, who cares about these two?!


The kids calm down for awhile and watch Shirley Temple in grandma and grandpa's bedroom.


They somehow stayed up until 10 pm. It was great until about 10 am the next day, when it was obvious they were very out of sorts. Still, they had a great Christmas morning. Tim left a note that Santa had written, while I had the more difficult task of leaving convincing cookie crumbs.


Our job done, we ran around outside in celebration, taking photos of the pretty snowstorm.


Up bright and early.


The meaning of Christmas caught on camera - an unprompted hug!


I guess we don't have many photos of the kids opening their presents. They all turned out pretty blurry, which was fitting because it was a blur. All in all, a great Christmas. Hope everyone else had a great one, too.

Yesterday Elsa found my stash of stickers and stuck them all over the couch. Thanks to teacher Sherry, her preschool teacher, she said,"Should we count them?" So she did. Then to my surprise, so did Lila!

Winter Times

Today we tried to beat the winter blues (the first official day of winter. Do I laugh or cry?) by making homemade slime out of corn starch and water. They make it at Elsa's school all the time. You can roll it into a ball and smash it in your hands and it feels powdery and solid. The second you stop moving it, it melts onto your skin. Slime! The kids had fun with it for awhile.


Lila is yelling,"Sliiime!"


We've been trying to get outside no matter how cold it is. So far it seems like more hassle than it's worth. After getting everyone dressed, we're almost out the door and it's too late. There's Lila, having a tantrum on the floor from having to wait so long. We took the kids on the sled one time around the yard, and they were already asking to go in.


About a week later, after the temp had risen into the 20's, I thought it would be a good idea to bundle the kids up myself and take them outside to feed the birds. They got their own little cups to sprinkle bird seed with, and we even made a special bird treat out of toast, PB, and seeds to hang outside. How lovely! How fun! But Lila couldn't figure out how to hold the cup with her big mittens on. She was mad. Elsa dumped a few cups full on the ground and was done. She wanted to walk around the yard but the snow was too deep for her. Good times. Good thing there's still sledding and making snowmen.

Oops!




Toast covered with peanut butter and bird seed. This thing was gone - string and all - an hour later.


Winter activities also include amusing myself and the kids with pancakes. Hippo!


Last weekend we put the tree up. The kids liked helping with the decorations.


I knew it. Lila smashed about 4 of these on purpose, no remorse. Elsa would've been bawling.


Our house at Christmas time.


Last and definitely the cutest thing ever, here's Lila singing part of Jingle Bells. I didn't get the whole thing, it's just:
"is to ride on a one horse open sleigh, hey!"


It's a cryin' shame I didn't get her singing the beginning. "Jingle all the way" is "Jimmo aw da wain". Reminds me of this classic 'Buckwheat Sings' episode of SNL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHiZ15x6Vt4

Merry Christmas everyone!

Fun with Santa

Today we hit the mall and saw Santa. Elsa was pumped. She said,"I want to see the fake Santa." We were a little freaked out, but then she explained that the Grinch is a fake Santa. Ahhh, of course. After that was cleared up, I told her we were going to visit the real Santa: the one at Maplewood Mall. We finally arrived in the parking lot and she said,"Are we at the North Pole?" No, but it sure felt like it. It's freezing! Winter is here.

Since it's Friday, the line was short. The kids enjoyed watching Santa taking pictures with other kids. Lila is yelling,"Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi Santa! Hi!"



She approaches him and waves and smiles. Elsa gets on his lap. Then we put Lila on his lap and walk a few short feet away.


And then...


She didn't like that we walked away and left her on some dude's lap - no matter that the dude was Santa. After the photos, she was smiling and waving at him again.

After the Santa experience, we had to take a ride on the carousel. They both loved it.


The kids are really getting into Christmas songs. Luckily, they have Tim, who happily plays songs on piano and guitar throughout the house everyday. They decided to hang out in the guitar case and try it out for themselves.


Tomorrow we put up the tree. I have serious doubts about Lila being able to keep away from the ornaments. To be continued...

Thanksgiving, and Sisterly Love Part II

We went to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving. I am thankful we can still go there after all these years.

My cousin Kelly and her fabulous homemade pies! I assure you, you haven't lived until you've had square pumpkin pie. :)


Pass the knife, will you Elsa?
But of course. Pass the fork, please Lila.
No problem.


Elsa and uncle Shane.


After dinner, Elsa wanted to watch one of Great-Grandma and Grandpa's movies. Of all the movies she saw based on the cover art, she chose Rio Grande, starring John Wayne.
"Momma, what's that stickin' outta that guy's chest?"

These kids are becoming sisters. A real pair. Partners in crime. I've said it before, but I just had to post more pictures. Now they've been demanding to be put inside Lila's crib to play. Hmm, a safe place to play that leaves me guilt-free "me" time in 30 min increments. Am I freakin' dreaming here, or what?

Read.


Rest.


Read.


Rest. Wow, reading is exhausting.


Peek-a-booty! Lila loves to do random yoga-esque poses throughout the day.


Lila will be 17 months old in a couple days. She's growing so tall, and talking so much. She can even say sentences like,"Turn the light on, Mommy." She rarely wakes up talking and happy; it seems she always wakes up screaming and upset. I've been telling her she doesn't need to cry, and now she wakes up yelling,"I CRY!" before screaming her head off. Stubborn. But she's sweet and she dances and hugs and charms everyone. She has a little lisp, too. Her F, S, and CH all come out sounding like a TH. She'll try to read the Foot Book and say,"Theet in day, theet in night!" Or,"The Ginth" (The Grinch). I try to teach her and she says,"Fffff...Theet!"

Elsa is trying to write letters. So far we've only practiced her name. She's getting more advanced at drawing, too. She's really such an easy kid. Sleeps easily, even-tempered, careful and kind. I think she's had less tantrums at 3 than Lila has at 1! She helps out in the kitchen and wants to be part of everything. A few weeks ago we found a stuffed Grinch toy at the thrift store. For awhile I thought we had a new favorite, but no - Hippo is still the reining king. She asks,"Why?" all the time, and throughout the day you'll hear conversations like this:

As we're watching the Wizard of Oz:
E: Mom, say, "What are you watching, Elsa, is it Barney?"
M: Okay. "What are you watching, Elsa, is it Barney?"
E: No! It's the Wizard of Oz!

As she's eating her carrots:
E: Mom, say, "Elsa, are you eating peas?"
M: Elsa, are you eating peas?
E. No! These are carrots!

Kid update

Lila is officially 16 months old. She's so sweet. She always wants to hug and kiss and sing and dance. But she can also be hardcore. In fact, sometimes we call her The Brut. While part of her pastimes involve peace and love, the other half are all about throwing herself onto the furniture with a huge,"HUH!", and almost knocking the wind out of herself. She doesn't seem to realize she's hurting other people, either. She innocently says,"Bling!", as she smacks Elsa on the head - hard - over and over with a plastic magic wand. She also hurts herself a lot. Almost every day I can hear her say tearfully, "Bonk on the head!". Lately she loves to read books with Elsa. In fact, I've been getting 30 minutes here and there to make dinner, clean a room, etc., while they look at books together on the bed. When it happens, it's the 'Leave it to Beaver' moment of parenthood.

Elsa's new thing is reading books from memory. Complete books, even ones we don't read that often. Lila loves to listen to her, but often I hear,"No Lila, I'm not reading to you, I'm reading to Hippo." Lately she's developed this goofy voice that she uses sometimes, and just today I heard a wacky new laugh. She's totally getting into characters and voices and it makes her seem so much older. You can't see a lot in this video, but just listen to the voice.
She's reading," Ahoy to Lila Pirate. Ahoy to Lila's crew. The Jolly Jake is setting sail, there's a lot of work to do."


I've suddenly been cooking/baking up a storm, and Elsa is always more than happy to help.


Lila likes the big girl swing, Elsa prefers the baby swing. Of course.


Saturday morning acrobatics.



We don't always realize how much Lila understands. I can't believe she's been listening when Elsa excuses herself from the table. Elsa usually says,"I'm all done. May I be excused?" And for a couple weeks now, Lila has been saying the same thing! It took me awhile to get it, but I know that's what she's saying. Check it out:

"Nooo. Get down. (Maybe I be excused?) I'm all done. May I be excused?"

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...

The day before Halloween we carved some pumpkins, and by "we", I mean Tim. He carves a mean pumpkin, and fast. Here are this years beauties:


The kids had fun watching and helping Dad with the carvings.







By request, Elsa was The Grinch. I made the costume and I think it turned out pretty alright. Lila's costume was another homemade creation that Elsa wore 2 years ago.

The Grinch!


Lila Strawberry.


Earlier in the evening we took the kids to see Grandma and Grandpa with their costumes. Then we went home, bundled up, and got ready for trick-or-treating. We borrowed a wagon from my parents, filled it with warm blankets, and hit the neighborhood. It was a pretty cold night, but the kids didn't seem to notice or care. Elsa had a good time of course. She always likes to be "out in the darkness!" Lila sang and smiled a lot, and after we'd leave the houses she'd keep repeating,"Sack-ooo!" (Thank You.)




This lady didn't seem too impressed with my paparazzi-style photography.