best.of.2011

January: Eden's 1st birthday party!

February: Josh builds tamers for the girls' closets {absolutely lovely}

March: welcome to the world sweet baby girl

April: sisters!

May: girls' weekend at the lake

June: lazy days at the lake

July: vacation

August: replace the deck boards

September: family vacation {look at all those cousins!!}

October: Tin Man, Dorothy, Giraffe, Elephant

{seriously, this is the best picture I took of all of them!}

November: stocking the freezer

December: a very Merry Christmas

Please join in and share your year in pictures!

the.potty.dance

I walked in the house tonight from running errands.  I really had to go to the bathroom, but I had to get my boots and my coat off first. 

Amelia was standing in the entryway, and I said, "I really need to go to the bathroom!!" 

She says, "Just do this."  {picture her standing there, knees together, walking/bouncing/dancing around like she has to potty}

Yes, I do believe that I've seen that look before around here...EVERY SINGLE TIME SOMEONE HAS TO GO TO THE BATHROOM.  We call it "the potty dance" at our house.  Sometimes it's a dance, sometimes it's a wiggle, sometimes it's a shake.  I'm pretty sure I see it daily.

december.fun

Let's just all face the fact that I'm a terrible December blogger.  Last year was exactly the same.  Oh well.  Take me as I am. :)

We have had a fabulous month so far.  We've made a lot of fun memories, and I'm looking forward to the many more that this week will bring.  I can't believe that Christmas is this Sunday!!  Wow.  Here are some highlights from the month...

My Aunt Barb always showers our girls with Christmas gifts, and this year Eden, Jill, and my mom joined us for a Christmas brunch at our house.  Mom jumped in a pic with the girls, and I thought this one turned out really cute {except for Amelia's completely dazed look}. 

One of Josh's college roomies was in town a couple of weeks ago to visit, and we were able to spend a couple of days with them.  We took our three oldest girls to a gingerbread house decorating class.  It was worth every single penny of the $11 each that we spent.  They had tons and tons of different kinds of candy to decorate the houses.  Everything was prepped, ready to go, and we left the mess there!  Loved it.

This picture below was nothing but pure fun.  Claire and Meredith decided to play a jump rope game, and Olivia crawled over to be part of it, too.  The girls handed her one end of the jump rope, and she couldn't have been more thrilled to be playing along.

She shook that rope as hard as she could.  Each time it came out of her hand, she would crawl right to it, grab it, and shake it again as hard as possible.  They all played together for at least 15 minutes.  It was the most adorable thing that I've seen in a while.

Here are a few other highlights:

-cookie baking

-my new Kindle Fire arrived {and the crowd goes wild!}

-Olivia is a crawling machine

-we went ice skating today

-made lots of memories with friends already

Have I mentioned that I love December?  It is seriously one of my favorite times of the year for making memories.  What are some fun memories that you've made this month?

advent.calendar

Last week, Simple Mom posted this super-easy-absolutely-perfect-for-my-family advent calendar.  Last year, I had some grandiose ideas about sewing one, but that is just not happening this decade.  This one took probably, at most, an hour from start to finish.  My kind of project! 

{I'll apologize in advance for the dark pics...I took them last night.}

So, I took Simple Mom's lead and headed to JoAnn's.  I had tags in hand and was looking for that perfect number paper, which I could not find.  Then, I stumbled across this mambiKit in the scrapbooking section.  Originally $10, but 40% off that day...so it ended up only being $6 for the tags and numbers.  Love it.

I already had the clothespins {dollar store...36 for $1}.  The ribbon was already in my stash as well.  I cut sticky notes for the daily activities.  I altered their design and didn't use all of the pieces in the kit, but I loved how all I had to do was fold the tags and stick on the numbers!  I loved the patterns in the kit, too!

1. mini-Christmas brunch with my aunt/mom/sister
2. make paper snowflakes
3. drink hot cocoa
4. decorate the Christmas tree
5. watch A Charlie Brown Christmas
6. have dinner with some new friends {Josh's college roomie will be in town and our kids have never met}
7. make gingerbread houses at a local kitchen shop
8. bake cookies
9. watch Frosty the Snowman
10. attend a local Christmas event
11. put stamps on Christmas cards
12. take a walk in the snow
13. color Christmas cards for the neighbors
14. go ice skating
15. build a snowman
16. attend a local Christmas production about Jesus' birth
17. drive around and look at Christmas lights
18. take Christmas treats to the neighbors
19. open a gift {Christmas jammies!}
20. make popcorn and watch Elf
21. family game day
22. spend the night at Grandma's
23. eat a cookie before breakfast
24. celebrate Christmas with family
25. celebrate the birth of Jesus {read the nativity story}

Since I put these on sticky notes, they should be easy to switch up if it we get a good snow on one particular day, so we can build a snowman or take a snow walk that day. 

We've never done the advent calendar before, but I'm just sure my kiddos are going to eat it up!  They were so excited after I put it up last night.

I would love to hear other ideas that you all do with your kids!

8.months

Oh, hello.  You're still reading my blog?  Well then, it's nice to talk to you again!  I know, I know.  It's been a while!

We had a bit of an internet failure in our home for 9 days straight.  The whole ordeal was bittersweet.  But, alas, we're back online.  

So, during our internet-outage, my sweet baby girl turned 8 months old.  All I can say is wow.  She is one of THE sweetest babies I have ever met!  {And I promise that I'm not just being her mom here.  It's the truth.}  

8 months:

• she can almost crawl {Josh tells me that she can actually crawl, but I have yet to see it}
• she loves to say dadadadadadada in the sweetest, softest voice
• she doesn't spit up nearly as much as she used to  {side note: I told Josh a couple of weeks ago that I knew Olivia wasn't spitting up as much because I wasn't doing laundry simply because I needed more burp cloths.  Now I'm doing laundry for another reason...}
• she poops through her clothes, straight up her back nearly every.single.day. {today it was twice, which helps make up for the occasional day or two that she misses}
• she's eating baby food a few times a day.  So far she likes mixed fruit, mashed potatoes, yogurt, rice cereal, squash.  She gags on carrots, peas and carrots, applesauce {seriously?}, and beets {can't say I blame her}.
• she has the cutest little chubby thighs that I've seen and they look extra cute in her little striped baby legs {leg warmers}...see picture above.
• she has 2 little teeth on the bottom, and we just noticed that two more are coming through on the top.
• I nursed her for the last time a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't mark the date on my calendar because I'm trying not to be sentimental about it.  I actually didn't even necessarily plan on it being the last time, I just didn't nurse her again after that morning.  
• she sleeps about 11 hours at night.  {I had forgotten how much better life is with plenty of sleep.  Thank you, my child.}
• she can sit herself up after being on her tummy.
• every.single.time she is lying on her back after her diaper change, she kicks her feet really hard.  I say, "Go! Go! Go! Kick! Kick! Kick!"  And she kicks and kicks and smiles. :)
• I'm her favorite person in the whole wide world.  Who knew?!
• she is quite possibly more loved than any baby on the planet.  

The excitement of having a new baby in our home has only worn off slightly.  For Meredith, I actually think the excitement has increased.  All of the girls love Olivia, but Meredith simply cannot get enough of her!  When I say that she sits and plays with her for an hour or two a day, she really does!  Sometimes we have to tell Meredith to give Olivia a little break!

Olivia,

We love, love, love you so very much!  You are absolutely precious, and we are so blessed to have you as part of our family.  We love watching you do more and more each day, and while we don't wish away your baby days, we can't wait to see you running around with your sisters.  You bring us so much joy!

so.tired

Sometimes it takes waaaaay too much energy to walk all the way back to your bed to finish your nap after running errands.

the.contents

Contents of a purse carried by a 3 year old:

1 pair of sunglasses {they're all the rage for preschoolers these days...daahhhrling}
1 dead/old cell phone {for calling her pretend peeps...she loves to pick it up and say "Yo!"...just like Daddy}
"My A Rhyme" book made at co-op {of course she's keeping the letter A}
"Happy Birthday" cut out {you never know when it's going to be someone's birthday and you've completely dropped the "card" ball...at least she'll have something to give}
1 random apple shape from a Sunday school lesson {Amelia, why do you have the apple in your purse? "Um, I don't know." Hence the term random.}