Decorating the tree

Today we started our annual Advent calendar. Tonight's 'activity' was to decorate the tree. We had put the tree up a couple of days ago, but tonight, the lights went up :) The boxes came out...(like our new curtains?)
...the lights were tested (our white lights didn't all work...so colored lights this year. Eli is thrilled)...

...decorations were played with...

...ornaments were hung (only 2 broke in the process)...

And the tree was decorated (forgot to take an 'after' shot...)

I had all the lights out and Leah was just staring at the tree :) This is her by the light of the tree.

Really looking forward to preparing for Christmas this year. We have a lot of fun activities planned for the next month, all with the goal of spending time as a family, focusing ourselves on Christ.

Two Months Old!

Not to sound cliche, but MAN, time flies! These past two months have just zipped by. I can't believe Leah is already at the two month mark.
I laid a blanket out to take some pictures, and Eli decided he wanted to be in them all...well...not sure if he cared to have his picture taken or not, but he wanted to play with Leah.

Leah is such a good little girl. She has started smiling a lot (though this is the only one I captured yesterday that wasn't blurry...her smiles are MUCH bigger and cuter than this one :) ). The place she smiles the MOST is when she is getting her diaper changed on the changing station on my dresser. I think it's because she can see the mirror and the ceiling fan, but whatever it is, it makes changing diapers much more fun for mommy :)

She's getting chubbier too. She's got the cutest little rolls in her legs :) She was 11 lb 4 oz at her 1 month check-up (which actually was at 5 weeks old) and I'm so curious to see how much she's gained. We go to the doctor soon. She's really a very 'sturdy' kid-which is fortunate, because Eli likes to attack her...If she makes it to age 1 with all bones in tact, I'll be thrilled ;) She holds her head up SO good. She can go in the baby bjorn face forward now, which is so nice-because she hates being turned toward me. It makes grocery shopping easier-she's in the bjorn, Eli is in the cart.

She's got the cutest little lips-don't ya just wanna kiss them?!

Eli's back...he pretty much destroyed my little 'studio'...I tried not to be too mad...

She's also sleeping pretty good too. Occasionally she has a rough night, but for the most part she only gets up once a night. She's even slept from 8:30-5:00 a couple of times. Those nights are WONDERFUL :) Usually she gets up around 3 though.

Nap time is a little less predictable. I'm working on getting her on a better nap schedule, but every day is so different here, that it's hard to have a 'normal' day. I've got to get working on nap schedules, though, because it drives me nuts not knowing when she is going to sleep. I like predictable...

A couple more things about Leah at 2 months...

Her favorite place to take a nap is in her swing. I don't know if it's because it's elevated a bit, but she could sleep in that thing forever. (Really working on getting her to nap in her crib...) If she's awake, though, she doesn't like it as much anymore. She enjoys playing on the floor for a while. There are a couple of little toys that she really likes to look at. She follows them with her eyes really well, and has batted at them a couple of times. She likes her pacifier, but I think she's coming close to giving it up in favor of her index & middle finger. She's quickly outgrowing her 0-3 month stuff. I probably should already have her in 3-6 month stuff, but I haven't been able to go through her clothes yet...maybe today? (not likely...) She won't let me eat chocolate, and I don't think she likes food from Olive Garden :( (it might have been the onions in the salad...who knows, but the night after Carly's birthday was rough) and I think she wants me to stay away from eating super rich foods. Thanksgiving weekend she seemed a lot more uncomfortable. Apparently when mommy is gluttonous she isn't happy. She eats every 3 hours during the day, though I think she might already be ready to go a little longer. I'm not sure I'm ready to trust that she can go every 4 hours-she's still so young!-but there are days when she just doesn't seem hungry after 3 hours. We'll probably stick to this schedule for another month...just to make mommy happy :)

Ummmm...I think she was ready to be done with our photo shoot (or she was afraid her brother was going to smoosch her) so I think I should be done with this post :)

Happy 2 months baby girl!

Happy Birthday Carly!

Tonight we got to celebrate Carly's birthday.

If you read Jennifer's blog, you already know we were at Olive Garden :)
Singing Happy Birthday! (This is currently one of Eli's favorite songs...)

BLOW!

I can hardly believe she's NINE! I still remember visiting when Jennifer was pregnant (and fairly miserable...) with Carly. Time flies!

We came with the kids. Leah enjoyed her first visit to Olive Garden :) It must have wore her out, because she went right to bed tonight. Hopefully she'll sleep for a LONG time.

Eli enjoyed Carly's puppets that she got. Can't wait to see a puppet show!

I hope your birthday was everything you hoped for Carly :) We had so much fun celebrating with you!

Two Cuties!

On Friday we got up and went over to Eric & Leilani's house. Eric & Leilani were getting some Black Friday deals, so Abuela was watching Isaac. Edgar was going to paint and wanted the kids out of the house, so we went over to hang out with Isaac & Abuela. Shortly after we arrived we walked to the playground. Eli enjoyed having someone ride with him in his stroller. (I put Leah in Isaac's stroller so the boys could 'hang out' in the double stroller) I was a little irritated that my camera was on the wrong setting...the pictures look terrible :( I didn't realize it until about half-way through the playground fun.

Playing with AbuelaEli has been trying to figure out how all of the big kids climb UP the slide. He's still working on that...

Isaac just keeps getting cuter!

The boys had fun playing. Eli climbed all over the playground equipment while Isaac was content to play in the mulch.

It was a beautiful day to play outside!

Thanksgiving

The table is set
The Turkey is carved (I think the 'carver' is sneaking a taste...)

The food is ready
Abuela is snuggling her grand kids

The family is together

It was a good day.

This year we were able to have Thanksgiving at our house. It was fun to host Thanksgiving in our new kitchen :) We had enormous amounts of food (which is really the way it should be, right?!) and a wonderful time with family. This year Krista & Eliott spent Thanksgiving with her parents, so they were missed.

It was really nice to have Grandpa come. He stayed all day, and beat Edgar & dad at dominoes. Eli had a blast with his cousin, Isaac. He also seemed to really like Uncle Eric :) Someone else to play with :)

I hope your Thanksgiving was as happy as ours!

Spinning with Daddy...

...is oh so fun!

11.19.2010-Thanksgiving Party!

On Friday we had a few friends over for a little Thanksgiving playdate. I had turkey sandwiches, and all of the moms brought a little something to add to our pre-Thanksgiving 'feast' :) As I was preparing for the 'event' I saw a dessert my sister had made... ...so I had to copy her :) I thought they were super cute. If I could eat chocolate right now I think I would have enjoyed them even more...but the kids seemed to like them.
The house was full, but the kids had lots of fun.

I also got the craft idea from my sister (she's good to have 'around'...). The moms painted the kids hands,

..then they put their hand on paper to transfer the paint. Then the hand prints were made into turkeys. They turned out really cute.

It was fun to have so many friends over at once. Eli had a blast-though he was EXHAUSTED by the time everyone left. I think he was GLAD to get into his bed :)

11.18.2010-My kids

Nothing makes

me smilemore than seeing my kids

smile.

11.14.2010-Eli's Birthday Party...take 3!

Sunday the 14th we had yet another birthday celebration for Eli. It truly was a birthday WEEK for him :) This time we celebrated with Edgar's family. We had gotten home from church and Eli ate and went down for a nap (that he never actually took...). Everyone arrived around 1 and we ate (and Eli got out of bed). We had (you guessed it!) chicken & rice :) Eliott got tricked into reading a book to the kids...and they just kept bringing him more :)
After we ate Eli got to open his presents. He got some more wonderful gifts!

Krista made yet another fabulous cake. Eli is completely obsessed with shapes right now-so he LOVED this cake!

He still loves blowing out the candles :)

He wanted that cake!

But we wanted a few pictures first...

'MOM! I REALLY want my cake!'

'Why won't anyone give me my cake?!'

In the end he got his cake...but didn't eat any of it. He just played with the fondant shapes on it.

Leah was completely entertained... ;)

We got Eli a tricycle. He loved riding around on it...

...and he liked pushing Katie on it too :)

Abuelo got some snuggle time with Leah...

...then went out on the porch to push Eli.

Uncle Eliott got a turn pushing him too.

After a while we went to Abuelo's house. It's terrible, but we hadn't been able to get over there to introduce him to Leah. He had a cold, so he didn't get to hold her-yet. Hopefully we'll get over there again soon so he can snuggle her :)

Right before we left Edgar's uncle let his dogs in. Eli was THRILLED :)

It was a fun day. We got so caught up in the activities and excitement of the day, that I completely forgot to give Eli dinner...oops. He woke up the next morning, and the first thing he said to me was 'Breakfast?!'...ummm...I think he was hungry :)

Something tells me he got a bit spoiled this year. Hopefully he won't expect 3 birthday celebrations every year ;)