Christmas 2013

Emily is three, Natalie just turned one, both such fun ages. It's amazing to experience the joy and wonder of Christmas through a child's eyes! Emmie is finally getting old enough to understand the season and had a great time doing crafts, reading books and looking at Christmas lights. Nattie thought the tree was the most exciting thing ever!

Our Christmas Card

Daddy and Emily before they went to see The Nutcracker! She LOVED it!

Christmas Cookies!

Before the Christmas Eve church service

Opening their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve

Natalie didn't quite get it, but she sure loved the bows!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did, too!

Merry Christmas!

So I realize that Christmas was more than 2 weeks ago and I haven’t posted about it yet. I’m sorry! I’ve been consumed with other things like COUPONS! And BREAD! (More about both of those later…)

Anyway, Christmas. It was great! We spent the actual Christmas weekend with Rob’s family in Denver, CO, and Emily got to go on her first plane ride! She did really well on the first flight, sleeping most of the way and playing contentedly the rest of the time. The flight home though, not so much. We were slightly delayed because of an issue with someone’s seat assignment (the flight attendants spent a half hour straightening out a ticketing error that gave one seat to two people… duh.) so we ended up sitting on the plane for almost an hour before ever taking off. She slept that whole time and about a half an hour after take off, and for the next two hours she was AWAKE! She was fascinated with the plane seats for a while but when that novelty wore off it was overtired-cranky-get-me-off-this-plane-right-now baby. That was fun. The guy next to us couldn’t have jumped out of his seat faster when we landed, haha.

The trip itself though was great! We got to spend time with Grandpa Moose and Grandma Goose and saw a few of the sights of Denver! Christmas night we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens and looked at over a million Christmas lights that they had put up all over the garden. It was awesome, if a little cold. But we bundled up and Emmie was happy snuggled in her Ergo carrier with her Strawberry Hat on.

She didn’t really want to sleep very well while we were there so I had to spend a good deal of time trying to get her to nap. But when she was awake she was happy and smiley and had a great time playing with Grandma! We also went to the Christmas eve service at their church where Grandma sang in the choir. It was truly a beautiful service, complete with candles and Silent Night. Perfect.

Before we left for the trip, we opened presents and spent a day together at home just the three of us. Emily didn’t really seem to get the whole Santa thing, but it was still fun! She ate ribbons and shredded paper, and eventually played with her new Shopping Cart. It’s noisy and bright and obnoxious and she LOVES IT. As soon as we put her down to play she goes straight for it every time! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Ancel! She also made out like a bandit with all her new clothes! She’s the best dressed baby around! :)

I didn’t get any pictures of the trip to Denver (we didn’t want to deal with the big camera on the plane) but I do have some from before we left! Maybe Grandma Shankland can send me some pictures to add here…!

Our tiny little tree!

“I GOTTA GET THE BOOOOOOWWWWW!!!”

Mmmmm… Bow.

Happy happy!

What have you got?

The Shopping Cart!

Daddy putting together his first ever toy. Yay!

My little shopper.

Don’t mind the mess in those photos, we were having way to much fun to worry about cleaning up! Haha.

All in all, Emily’s first Christmas was a smashing success. Good times were had all around, and they didn’t even lose our luggage! Next year though, we’re staying in Washington state. Anyone want to come to visit us? :)

Three Quick Takes

(I borrowed the "quick takes" idea from another blogger, but it works perfectly for me today!)

Take 1: 14 weeks! Yes, these are a little late, so 14 weeks 4 days to be exact. I feel like I'm less chubby and more baby this week, and YAY for that! Proof:
Less than 6 months to go now, and we'll be three. Time is starting to fly by already! We have a crib and a pack-n-play that we got at a second hand store here in town, and hopefully we'll be able to find a dresser and changing table there also. Most of their stuff is very nice!


This is the picture of the week for the punkin:

14 weeks, a lemon!

Take 2: Greenbluff! Rob and I ventured out to Greenbluff last weekend. For those of you that aren't here in Spokane, Greenbluff is an area north of us that is made up of 40+ local farms that grow everything from apples and pears, to squash and pumpkins. Fall is usually their busiest time of year as lots of people come to pick pumpkins and apples for Halloween. Rob had never been, and I hadn't been in years, so we decided it was time to go! We bundled up and headed out with some friends, and came home with three pumpkins and a box of apples! The pumpkins are on the porch, and today those apples will be made into apple butter, with any luck. :)

Take 3: Christmas! Yes, I said it. It's only 9 weeks away, people! *Gasp!* The stores are becoming overrun with snowmen and candy canes already, so I decided I'd get a jump on the gift list, too! Mom and I are busy planning and sewing this weekend, and with any luck I'll accomplish everything I set out to do this year. That would be something of a miracle, seeing as how I always have to change plans and end up doing the last minute shopping thing the week before Christmas... Hopefully if I start this early I'll get it all done!

Are any of you getting into Christmas mode yet? I know, I know, it's not even Halloween yet, but hey- the stores start it earlier every year, I might as well get a head start too, right?

Or am I just nuts? Wait, don't answer that.