Christmas 2012

Christmas has come and gone; we had a steady stream of family in our home.  We hosted Christmas for the first time, and it was great!  We enjoyed having people in our house, and it was nice to not pack up half the house and travel.  The kids raked in the gifts, thanks to our wonderfully generous families, and they haven't complained of boredom yet.

Every Christmas season we spend time focusing on Advent.  On Christmas morning, we lit the white candle, and left it lit all day-something we've never done before since we've never celebrated Christmas in our own home.  Here are a few shots of Advent time on Christmas morning.

Then we opened gifts:

Isabel made this at preschool:

My in-laws came on Christmas Eve, and we went to church.  We opened gifts with them on Christmas morning.  After that, more of JD's family came and we ate, opened more presents and visited.  There was a lot of baby holding:

 (My sweet new niece, Caroline)

Lots of people got some Julia love:

 Mom and Dad came up the day after Christmas and stayed for a few days.  We opened more presents and more food, played and held Julia some more:

And now the house seems empty, and I dread the routine of school in a few days.  I've enjoyed not rushing around in the morning and the extra family time.  Just three more months until Easter break.

Baby's First Christmas

Julia at 5 months

Julia turned 5 months old this week.  She continues to be a smiley, happy, chatty, and social baby.  She can roll over both ways now, but she still prefers her tummy. If I lay her on her back, she promptly rolls over and stays on her belly and plays.  She still has trouble rolling from her back to her belly in her crib; I guess because it's not a firm surface, and she has to go uphill a bit to completely roll over.  She's reaching for things and holding on to things more, and she cut two teeth.  Overall, she's sleeping well, but we went through another rough patch where she was waking consistently at 4 AM.  I even took her to the doctor because she was so out of sorts, and I was kinda hoping for a medical diagnosis.  The doctor said it was teething; thankfully, no infections.  She seems to have worked through whatever was ailing her because she's back to her sweetness.

 We all love her so:

Grandparents' Day

I love so many things about the school our "big" kids go to, but one of my favorite things is Grandparents' Day.  Grandparents (and special guests) are invited to a special Christmas chapel, and all the students perform, grandparents and special guests are recognized, and the story of Jesus' birth is told in very creative ways.  This year JD's dad, grandmother, and two aunts joined us, and Granny won a gift card for being the oldest grandparent there!  I'll have more pictures later (I hope), but here are videos of the kids singing:

Hands taste better

 

Christmas Frocks

I took this picture just before we left for church last Sunday morning.  The kids are all sporting new Christmas frocks from Nana.  I consider it a small Christmas miracle that we actually had enough time to snap a picture before heading out the door.

Julia at 4 Months

Julia had her 4 month check up today.  She weighs 13 lbs, 4 oz. (43%) and is 25 inches long (78%).  She got two shots and one oral vaccine, and it was an uneventful visit.  She can roll over from her belly to her back, and for about a week, she loved displaying that skill at all hours of the night.  It was a little nutty around here for a few days, but she seems to have settled down with her new skill.  She can roll over to her side when she lays on her back but can't quite make it to her belly yet.  She loves to coo and can be super chatty.  The more tired she gets, the chattier she gets.  She takes 3 naps/day and goes to bed around 7:00 pm.  She usually wakes up around 6:00 am; I feed her, and she goes back to sleep for a few hours.  I have to wake her up around 9:30 am unless I'm taking Isabel to preschool.  I get her up around 8:15 then.  It looks like a tooth is getting ready to emerge.  Part of her lower gum is very puffy and white.  She still sucks her right index finger, and now her thumb is also in on that action.  She's a sweet baby girl, and we're glad she's ours.

Thankful

 For the last few years, we've been doing thankful trees with the kids.  They (or I) write things that they are thankful for on the leaves, and we glue the leaves to the trees.

 Madelyn was thankful for pizza, making soapbox derby cars in AWANA with JD, her 3DS, being chosen for the ensemble in the church choir, generator, Halloween candy, new earrings, and tabs for her Bible.

 Pierce was thankful for Isabel, the van, Dad, school, God, Cars 2, the pilgrims, our house, food, and books.

Isabel was thankful for Mrs. Maria, Mr. Rob, Laura, and Leah (our neighbors), orange juice, Pierson, Thanksgiving, God, the generator, and Christmas.

I just wanted to include this picture because it is such an Isabel look.

I'm thankful for:

and silly faces:

Happy Thanksgiving!