Merry Christmas!!

Holidays are so much fun with kids! A is old enough this year to understand the gift-giving and stories about Jesus and about Santa. And it's adorable to watch him try to tell E about it since it's her very first Christmas.

We attempted to see Santa, but A was terrified and E was not sure what to think!

Luckily, his wishlist was pretty simple this year. So we made up for the visit by writing cute letters to the man in the red suit.

But more importantly than Santa, I loved watching him recognize the value in the true meaning of Christmas. He enjoys playing with the nativity and tells us "I lub Baby Cheesus!" I think it's so sweet!

Keeping with tradition, we were able to take the kids to Temple Square for Christmas Eve. I love this beautiful way to start the holiday off with remembering what truly matters. We took the Trax train into downtown and the kids thought it was fantastic!

Earlier in this Christmas season, we also went to check out the lights at our favorite park. We loved seeing it all lit up last year and thought it was just a fun thing that Draper locals knew about... but apparently people from all over the valley come to see what they call "The Tree of Life." Little did we know our park is so popular!

We also attempted to make gingerbread houses this year. It was a lot of fun! And, of course, the kids loved the candy!!

We have only had one big snowstorm yet this year but we were able to make a tiny snowman with raisins for eyes and a baby carrot for a nose. A thought it was fantastic!

The two things A kept saying he wanted Santa to bring were "striped presents" and "snow!" When we woke up on Christmas morning, there was a pile of presents with beautiful silver and red striped wrapping paper. And, even more impressively, there was a plenty of fluffy, white snow blanketing our backyard. Obviously, A was in heaven!

Watching the kids tear open presents and enjoy their new toys was so fun! I think we as parents went a little overboard because it took the entire day for the kids to open everything since they stop to play with each individual item.

I love this little family of mine and spending holidays with them is so great! Merry Christmas!

First Annual Family Christmas Lunch

My family decided to try getting all the cousins, aunts and uncles on my mom's side of the family together for an annual Christmas party. Because I grew up with most of these cousins living nearby, I have great memories and friendships with them. As we've grown up, we've all ended up throughout Idaho and Utah. We had the lunch at the Maddox restaurant in Brigham City, and it was so much fun to see everyone together in one place!

Baby E at 5 Months

This cute girl has been growing up like crazy this past month! She was small enough when she was born that we're proud of how quickly she's growing and how healthy she is. This past month, I swear she's hit a huge growth spurt and is making so many developmental advances that I'm suddenly realizing she doesn't seem like my itty bitty baby anymore!

These are her stats right now:

• Weight: 15 lbs.
• Height: 26.5 inches
• Diaper Size: She wears Size 1 but she's ready to upgrade to the next size next time we buy diapers!
• Clothing Size: She fits in 0-3 Months but we've also started putting her in a few 3-6 Months outfits.
• Likes: Rolling onto her tummy, trying to crawl, giggling and smiling, playing with her blankets.
• Dislikes: Not getting attention, feeling hungry for more than 0.2 seconds.

She has the funniest laugh! It's almost a cross between a high-pitched squeak and a gasp for air. We love it and it makes us all start laughing. She likes to grab her blanket and throw it above her head and then pull it down quickly—almost like playing peekaboo—and bursts into laughter when she peeks back out.

Funnily, she loves tags and plays with the ones on her blankets as she calms down to fall asleep. She also prefers chewing on hard toys more than soft, plush toys and she puts everything she can find straight into her mouth. She also wants to touch everything and her hands are constantly moving. She has a really strong grip {and loves pulling mom's hair!}.

 

She already army crawls and gets on her hands and knees and rocks like she's ready to really crawl any day now! She is great at rolling but has never used it as a means for mobility; doesn't like to go from tummy to back.

She is a fantastic car buddy and loves falling asleep in the carseat. As soon as the car starts moving, she snuggles up with her blanket and dozes off almost every time! But as soon as the car stops and I try to get the carseat out, she's wide awake and ready to check out everything around us.

She absolutely LOVES A!! She watches everything he does with complete fascination and bursts into the biggest smile any time she sees him. He has been starting to realize how much fun she can be and they are starting to interact and play together more—which makes me so happy, as their momma, to see their friendship beginning to develop!

She's started eating solids but more of it comes back out {and all over her!} than goes in. She just wants to play with the spoon all the time instead of actually eating. She's tried oatmeal cereal, green beans, peas, and applesauce—and seems to definitely have a sweet tooth {like the rest of our family members} because she likes the sweet fruit the best! But more than anything, she just loves to eat!! She gets so excited that she starts flailing when we are bringing her a bottle; and as soon as she sees her bowl of solid food, she starts grabbing for the spoon.

We feel so fortunate to have such a sweet baby! She loves her family and smiles, giggles, and squeals for us all the time. She is so spunky and it's fun to see her trying to be a big kid and wanting to play with A. We love her so much and are so glad to have her in our lives!