Christmas 2009

We're home!!

After a whirlwind adventure over the weekend, we finally made it home yesterday around 3:00. There wasn't anything better in the world to me last night than my own bed. =)

We had an amazing Christmas and were so blessed to receive many wonderful things. Paxtin, of course, got more toys than one child could ever need, but she has successfully managed to play with everything she has gotten at least once, leaving a trail of destruction behind her.

Instead of waiting a decade to upload the 200 pics I took over Christmas, I am just going to share our photos via my Facebook page. Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081310&id=73101688&l=9d7ceee856

Enjoy!

Quoting the Greats

"I want an official, Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range, model air rifle!"
"You'll shoot your eye out."
-The Christmas Story

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means just a bit more."
-The Grinch

"What about Santa's cookies?? I suppose parents eat those, too?!"
-Elf

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. "
-Roy L. Smith

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time. "
-Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. "
-Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away.
-Eva Logue

At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year
-Thomas Tusser

Wishing you all a very merry Holiday Season. I will be back after all our travels and celebrations to post all our Christmas pics. =)

LOTS of words Wednesday

What's Christmas...

without the cookies!?!

Pax and I made some yummy sugar cookie stars & trees last week. I LOVE Christmas cookies and want this to be a tradition we do each year together.

As you can see, she was QUITE the helper. =)

After she (and I) gobbled up more dough than necessary and she coated my cabinets and floors in icing and sprinkles-we managed to turn out about 12-14 decent looking cookies. We, of course, shared with everyone, even taking some to daddy at work!

I think next week, we will do a gingerbread house. Wish me luck! ; )

18 Months

That BIG GIRL (not baby) pictured above-is my 18 month old. I know I always say how I can't believe she is another month older, but this one is very surreal. She's an official toddler and has all the personality & independence to go along with it. ; )

We haven't been to the Dr. yet, so I don't have any measurements, but I know she's taller (I see her reaching for stuff she couldn't have gotten a month ago) AND she is definitely heavier...ask my back. Although, now that she is a full-time walker-on the verge of a tiny trot-I have noticed her legs slimming and toning up. There go the ham hock thighs...well, sort of.

So, at 18 months we have quite the little chatterbox on our hands. Her 'actual' words are doubling by the day-she blurts out a new one everyday it seems-and I am working with her on using her words in order to get what she wants. Up until now, she really only would give a point and a demanding EH EH when she needed something. I usually will make her SAY the item she is wanting-praising her and encouraging her along the way. There are also the total gibberish rants that still occur quite often. Those are my favorites. =)

Her comprehension at this age is also astounding to me. She fully understands lengthy directions and commands I give her, such as giving something to someone else or bringing something to me or daddy. She is an incredibly bright baby and I am amazed by what all she can do.

Pax is silly, independent, curious, and even a tad mischievous at times, but perfect and sweet in every possible way. The past 18 months have been so incredible with her in our lives and I know the next 6, on the way to TWO, will fly. I am reminded everyday to stop and do something simple with her-like singing a song or explaining something we see outside-just to make these baby days stretch out as long as I can.

You better watch out...

you better not pout!!

This one picture (and maybe one with the Easter Bunny) is what every mommy needs in their arsenal. =)

Silly Baby

For every "Oh my word, did she just do that??" moment, there are these moments. The ones that make everyone laugh and remember how silly and funny Pax is.

This picture was hard to catch, but Poppy was blowing rose petals on her face and she was DYING with laughter.

I mean...SILLY!??!!?

Poor Ollie...I think that's the face of a desperate dog. ; )

I'm so excited December is here!! I am so ready for Christmas this year with Paxtin-this will be the first year that it takes forever for it to get here...the one I am MOST anxious to celebrate. Oh well, makes me remember to slow down and enjoy the season.

Turkey Day-Belated

I thought that I didn't really get any good pictures at Thanksgiving Dinner, but I did get a few. =)

Pax REALLY enjoyed being awake this year during the eating, of course. She was so tiny last year, it was always nap time. She loved the turkey and I also forgot how much she used to love sweet potatoes. I swear she ate her weight in sweet potatoes.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in OK with Cody's family and then that night with my family. We kept the road hot. (As usual...)

Little Mommy

Cody & I bought Paxtin a little stroller for her babies on our huge shopping expedition, but I wish we would have waited! My parents have a great neighbor, with a little girl outgrowing all her baby toys, and they gifted P this neat little stroller and a cute highchair, too (which we ALSO bought, but will be able to return....). I guess we will use stroller #1 at Nannie & Poppy's and the other can live at our house.

As you can see, she LOVED the stroller. She pushes them inside/outside...all day long. She's figured out how to turn it around, get it over the things she bumps into, and how to stuff as many babies in there as possible! I think she is really moving into the "imaginative playing", so I know what I am going to exchange the highchair for. =)

Still rockin' & rollin'

We're still here!

Like I mentioned, we have just been very busy and I have little time to sit down and type out a good blog. I also noticed I was lacking in some good pics (FOR SHAME-I know!)

The weekend before last (actually before her last kindermusik class), we all went to Branson and completed ALL our Christmas shopping. YES-you heard me right. We are DONE. I didn't think we could actually do it-buy for everyone on our list in one day, but we hit every store we could find and all the outlet malls. I even came home and wrapped my goods. I am so relieved to be done with our shopping-we've got the tree up and it's starting to feel a LOT like Christmas. =)

Paxtin has been her usual silly self. Playing, growing, and loving life. We couldn't ask for more. Her little friend, Cady, is here from Houston for 2 weeks, so we are looking forward to doing something fun with her (and Court) while they are here.

I'm going to try and do a better job this week and next of blogging. Pax has gotten some cute new toys that friends donated to her and I took some cute pics with those. We will be going Oklahoma bright and early Thursday morning to meet up with Cody's family for Thanksgiving lunch. We are going to try and make it back home that night in order to eat with my family-just crossing our fingers our tiniest traveler cooperates. :-/

Have a great week everyone.

Goodbye Kindermusik

I can't believe how fast our little music class has flown by! It just seems that I was all excited about starting it and meeting new baby friends for Pax.

Today was her last class and I noticed that the last few classes (especially since she is now walking), she really came out of her shell. She was still a little unsure about the activities and things, but I know she enjoyed it.

She made a new friend, Audrey, who was by far the life of the class! I loved her energy and she was always ready to give Paxi a hug as soon as we got to class!

Pax was still a little unsure about all this hugging. LOL.

But they got along well, which made me so happy to see that she is great with other babies.

This is me, Pax, Audry & her mommy, Amanda.

And a SUPER big thank you to our Kindermusik teacher, Ms. Beth. She did so good with the girls and I learned some fun things that Pax and I will FOR SURE continue to do at home.

I wish I would have taken more pics throughout the session, but I was always too busy dancing or swinging Pax around. =)

When we got back into town-KM is 45 minutes away-we decided that we would go take a tour of her new school that she is going to be starting ONE day a week in January. I worked at this church based Mother's Day Out type school, so I am not worried about their reputation at all. I wanted Pax to see the room she would be in, where they eat lunch, and their toys. I know one of the teachers well, we went to high school together, so I know she will be in good hands. I am just spazzing because for the first time in 17 months, I will give control to someone else for one whole day. I know she will LOVE the social play and interaction, but it is just my nature to want to control what goes on in her day. I have NEVER been this way in my life, but with Pax, it is different.

It will be a good thing for us both and I am looking forward to seeing how she does.

We have LOTS AND LOTS of things coming up and it seems everyday is busy with something. I am so ready for Thanksgiving-Pax will actually get to eat with us this year and not nap through it. =)

17 Months Old

I think this is my favorite picture we have taken. Well, besides the 1 month old pic, where she is all little and squishy. =) This one shows off her personality SO good. She has gotten good at posing-as you can see-and I LOVE her scrunched shoulders look.

So, Pax at 17 months:

We have an official walker. Pax hardly ever crawls anymore and very rarely even sits down for that matter! She is all over the place and everyone is reminding me that I got what I asked for. I love being able to get her out of the car and let her WALK to the door-doesn't sound like much, but when you have 4 bags from Wal-Mart and a huge diaper bag-it helps tremendously!

We have since been able to do more fun things with Pax-go more places. Cody took her to the marina aquarium yesterday and she got to walk around and look at all the turtles and fish. He said she loved it. I am looking forward to December and a visit from our favorite cupcake. =)

I hate to say that this is my favorite age, because each month gets better, but right now, this is BY FAR my favorite age. We can have conversations and we play more pretend type games. It's such a blast. She has recently really gotten into coloring and after Christmas, when we get her easel, I hope to do more painting with her.

Cody & I are so blessed and so happy to have such an amazing little girl.

saturdays with nannie

So, ever since Cody went to work an extra job on Saturdays, Pax & I have been left to our own imaginations, as to what to do with ourselves all day. =) I clean pretty intensely throughout the week, so the weekends I am able to spend a ton of time with Cody, Pax, and my mom.

The highlight of my Saturdays with Nannie usually consists of a yummy local lunch and stroll through Wal-Mart (try not to be jealous.) =) This particular trip, Pax scored herself a sweet new ball to play with in the yard and after nap we decided to try it out.

She hasn't quite got the kicking down, but the running with it-she's all over. I can't say that any sports related ability will come from me-I was terrible. Like, worse than terrible. So, I'm praying she got some of Cody's athletic genes.

I think she just enjoyed watching it roll!

It was an absolutely AMAZING day today and we both got some great shots together with Pax.

My little ham.

The 2 Goobs.

No one should be concerned when she turns up super goofy one day...she comes by it all natural.

=)