2014 Christmas Happenings

While Matt was in California, I took the girls to the Byron Center Christmas Parade.  It was a COLD, windy Saturday morning, so I was not at all sad that the parade lasted only 15 minutes.

I also took the girls to two live nativities this year.  The church right around the corner does one every year, so we went there on a Thursday night.  Kate sang along to some of the songs, and Liv was mesmerized by the whole thing (which means I enjoyed lots of snuggles:)).  Afterwards, all Kate wanted to do was ride on the animals - she's a nut!

The following day, we went out to the Critter Barn in Zeeland, where they do another one.  It was super fun to look around and see and pet the animals afterwards.  Thankfully, my parents came to both of the nativities with me; I'm not sure I could corral Kate and keep Liv happy on my own at this point!

I know the girls are young, and probably won't remember these things, but I just want to be teaching them and reminding them of the story of Jesus at Christmas time.  There's so much other stuff going on, and I think it's important for them to understand the reason for Christmas and the incredible gift we have in Christ.  Hopefully, as they get older, we'll get to talk more about it:)

christmas tree adventure

We went to Prince Christmas Tree Farm with my parents again to cut down our tree this year.  They only have Frasier Furs, so all of the trees are beautiful.  It was a bit strange to cut down a Christmas tree with no snow on the ground (and weather in the 50's), but we had fun anyway.  Kate wanted to wear her 'work pants' which are her overalls (since that's what Bri Guy wears at the farm).  They 

We had lunch afterwards at Embassy Bar and Grill, right around the corner from the tree farm.  I'm going to go ahead and say it wasn't worth stopping, but oh well.  Live and learn.

We decorated the tree after Livvy went to bed later that night.  Kate was such a cute helper this year.  All of her ornaments ended up in one spot on the tree, but it was very sweet.  Don't ask me why she doesn't have any pants on - I have no idea!

our series of unfortunate events

I was able to laugh about this a few hours after it happened, so I thought it would be good to write it down to remember it.  At the time, it was SO not funny.

Sunday, December 7, 2014 7:30 pm

Matt is in California for a Hematology conference

I had just arrived home after a Christmas party at our friends house (16 adults, 13 kids - pure chaos) where Kate varied between temper tantrums and stealing toys from all the smaller kids and Liv wouldn't be set down or held by anyone but me

It's past Liv's bed time, so she's crashing and cranky.  As soon as we walk in the door, I take her upstairs and give my phone to Kate so she can watch Curious George (because I'm awesome like that)

I'm feeding Liv, when I hear Kate come sobbing up the stairs: "Mommy, I peed on myself"

I immediately stop feeding Liv and set her down, so she starts screaming

I take Kate into the bathroom to clean her off, all the while, she keeps repeating, "This is terrible"

Liv comes to find us and almost crawls down the stairs

Kate has a temper tantrum when I leave her to rescue her sister from going down the stairs

I finally get Kate cleaned up and put Livvy down for bed

Liv is now super over tired and won't go to sleep

I let Kate keep watching Curious George so I can rock Liv again

Once Liv is finally asleep, I take the trash and recycle outside and down to the road

Kate locks me out of the house (not entirely her fault...I locked the door because Matt was gone, and she shut it while I was outside)

Thankfully we have a spare key outside

Needless to say, once both girls were asleep I got in a good workout and went to bed!

winter walk

what's a winter walk without hot chocolate?

Froze U.P.

Every year, the Hematology Oncology group at HDVCH does a Christmas party for all of their patients and families.  For 23 years, the party has included a play, written by one of the attending physicians.

This year, the play was a take on Frozen, called Froze U.P.  In Matt's theatrical debut, he played the part of Kristof.  My mom and I brought the girls to the dress rehearsal Wednesday afternoon so they could see daddy in action.  Liv watched intently and Kate LOVED it.  She was so excited to see Olaf and Sven and Elsa on the stage.  She got to meet 'Elsa' afterwards and it was probably the highlight of her year.

It was hard to have Matt gone extra nights for rehearsal, but totally worth it for the kids to have such a fun night out.

trolls dancing

Sugar Plum Fairy

Santa asking Elsa to come to the North Pole to make snow for the reindeer

weekend with Bri Guy

Brian came up to spend a weekend with us in late November.  It was filled with Christmas shopping, playing with the girls, and lots of culinary goodness.  We made homemade sausage and ricotta stuffed ravioli with mushroom cream sauce on Saturday night for dinner and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast on Sunday morning before church.  It was super fun.  The girls really like their Bri Guy and had tons of fun with him.

YUM!

Sunday morning snuggles and books

9 months

Olivia is already 9 months old! Crazy how fast time flies.  She is army crawling all over the place now and can pretty much get anywhere.  And she's into EVERYTHING.  I always thought my house was relatively clean, but she finds any and every little thing on the floor and it goes straight into her mouth.  Gross.  She has gotten very good at going from sitting to crawling and back to sitting up on her own.  She really likes to play with door stoppers.  And anything Kate has.

She said her first word this month! Daddy.  Not da-da, but a true Daddy.  It was so sweet.

Liv is sort of settling into a 2-nap-a-day routine.  She goes to bed around 7:00 and has been getting up between 6:30-7:30 am.  She started sleeping through the night again on her own, and that has been really nice.

She still has a bit of a feisty personality, and seems to know just what she wants.  She's very observant, and she's funny.  Her giggles and laughs bring so much joy.  She loves peek-a-boo and keep away; she initiates both of them now.  She's pretty much over pureed baby food and just wants to pick up her own food and feed herself.  But, she still doesn't have any teeth, so her options are sort of limited.

Livvy is getting more and more fun every day.  We are really loving watching her grow.