A-Bug's Christmas Program

I have been feeling so old. On Sunday night, A-Bug was in her first ever Children's Christmas program. The first of many. Unfortunately, the 2 minute video is too big to share on the blog, and all the still shots are on my hubby's iPhone (I'll try and fix that soon.) But she did adorably, if not fabuously :) She got a little "stage struck" when she walked out and saw all the lights and people, and didn't exactly sing like she normally does, but she did clap with her usual level of exuberance. She does love to clap. The adorableness was exacerbated by the bells they all had hanging on their arms. It was just too cute. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you should be able to view the video by clicking here.

After the program, the church had a Christmas Cookie Fellowship for everyone - nothing like adding sugar to the adrenaline rush all the kids already have lol. Here are some shots from that. A-bug loves being around people, and she was truly in her element here.

A and her friend, Baby B

Aria and her "Aunt" Kara

Family shot :)

Me and my baby girl <3

A with our pastor's wife - Joyce Hands

Playing ring-a-round-the-rosie :)

K sporting one of the leftover mustaches from the play lol

K and my sweet friend, Katie.

  

Comedienne in the Family

Everyone loves to tell me how funny and entertaining A-bug is. Trust me, I know. Here are some classic examples from the past couple of weeks.


Several days ago, this conversation happened while I was changing her diaper.
A: "Look, mom! A star!"
Me: "Yes, Aria a star! Is the star purple?"
A: "Yes, mom! Good job! Star is purple!"

Yesterday, A-bug was having a crabby day early on and she told me, "I can't like him (K) today. I tired."

Earlier this week, A was playing with her magnetic dress-up doll which she loves. Every time she got a complete outfit on her, she would say to her doll, "Oh, you're so pretty!" And then, when she would start to take the clothes back off she would say, "Please, excuse me!" as if she was afraid the doll would be offended that A was removing her clothes. It was hilarious.

Today, A-bug stood at the window watching all the rain come down. She looked up at my sadly and said, "It's raining, mommy. I cannot go play outside." I felt so bad, I almost let her go out. Almost.

One of A's favorite things to do on the computer right now is to watch the iTunes visualizer to The Piano Guys. She gets very upset if we have to turn it off to do something else lol. You should see her dance to "You Don't Know You're Beautiful." It's pretty awesome.

Today, A slipped and fell while doing something she's been told over and over not to do - try to climb into K's crib. Of course, she hurt herself and was devastated, but instead of getting angry per her usual MO, she reached over, held K's hand and said to him, "It's ok Ky-Ky. I cry, but it's ok." I almost laughed out loud.

Recently, A likes to pretend that cookie cutters are hats for some reason, so all morning she's been putting cookie cutters on K's head and singing happy birthday to him lol. He's not impressed.

Josh: "A, do you wanna play the cello when you get older?" A: "Oh cello! Yes daddy, i lub cello! I eat strawberry cello (jello)!" LOL

Playing with some of mommy's old jewelry while mommy
finished sorting the laundry. Gotta distract her lol...

I love my silly girl :) 

Just to see you smile :)

Sometimes I feel like Mr. K isn't getting the same amount of attention as Little Miss A on the blog since he doesn't say anything or do as many cute or funny things as she does. Yet. So I wanted to dedicate an entire blog post just to him and his adorable little smile, and other various and interesting facial expressions. I think this kid is going to be a little heart breaker :) Just look at those dimples! :)

His usual happy face :)

Laughing while I'm tickling his toes :)

Totally sacked on daddy

"Come on, mom. Don't you think you have enough pictures?"

Forcing himself to stay awake after a big meal

AH! The dimple :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS! Yes, it's here. Even though the snow is not, we must carry on and pretend that it's Christmas time. Well, I guess it is Christmas time, but it sure doesn't feel like it. We've had weather mostly sitting in the 40's, sometimes even warmer, and it just makes the Christmas lights feel premature. But alas, it is truly December.

Every Christmas, we go with my parents up to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland to take pictures, buy ornaments and get a picture with Santa. This year, we once again made the horrible mistake of going on  Saturday. We really gotta do something about that. It was incredibly packed out. I was shielding K's head from strangers elbows, and we definitely needed a leash of some sort for A-bug. It was just nuts. But we did get our ornaments and our pictures with Santa. A also discovered the Sesame Street display, which made the wait for Santa much more bearable.

So here are some shots of our annual Christmas weekend tradition. What are some annual traditions that you have with your kids?

Family Picture :)

Playing at the Sesame Street display

Had to give the giant Big Bird a hug :)

Every year, we gt a picture of A with these
ear warmers :)

Me and my baby girl

She was not so much thrilled with Santa

K was cool with him, though

Make Believe

Most toddlers like to make believe. It's a great kind of play for them - they are using their imaginations and learning how "the adult world" works. Any child development expert out there will recommend "make believe" play for children of all ages. And just like everything else she does, A has her own unique way of make believing. 

Typical make believe play consists of make believe cooking in a play kitchen, pretending school or house and sometimes "doctor." A likes to make believe nap time. Every day for the past couple of weeks, A pulls out all her blankets and pillows (which has become quite the collection, let me tell you,) brought out her favorite stuffed "animals" (Elmo, Abby, her owl and teddy bear, and occasionally Huckle Cat and a Dr. Seuss bird thing,) and laid them down on the pillows, tucked them in with blankets and read and sung to them. It's quite the process and it's absolutely adorable.

How does your child make believe? 

Sibling Love

I just wanted to publish a few pictures of A holding K. I never ask her if she wants to hold him - I let her ask me. She's been asking more frequently the past couple of weeks, which makes me happy. Jealousy is still something she's experiencing on a daily basis, so it makes me happy when she says to me,"A- hold baby K- now, please?" :) These pictures are just too precious to keep to myself :)

Holding baby brother's paci in :)

This just cracks me up

<3

Love his smile!

She was being so gentle with him, and he was
just sporting the biggest smile :)

K at 2 months

My little boy eats like a monster. Or a horse. Or a teenager. However you want to put it, this kid eats a ton. And he's growing a ton. You may remember that he only weighted 6 lbs. 8 oz. at birth. After he was born, I was in a bit of a panic, because I was afraid I didn't have enough newborn sized clothes. As small as he was, I thought he would be in them for a couple months at least, and I didn't have enough for that. Boy, was I ever wrong. Before he was 1 month, they were starting to get snug. Now, just after 2 months, he's entirely in 3 and 3-6 month sized clothing. The boy's a beast. I never thought that after A had stayed so small that we would have such a chunker in our family, but we do. And he has taken full possession of that role. Here are a couple shots from his 2 month pictures. You can see the insane size difference when you compare them to his 1 month shots, in which he is still very much in a newborn onesie. In these 2 month pictures, he's squeezed into a 3 monther, and that adorable hat is pretty tight.

Practicing for Christmas

I can't believe it, but my baby girl is old enough to be in this year's children's Christmas program. Yesterday, when I picked her up from her class after church, her teacher let me know what they would be singing and asked me to practice with her a few times. Since they're only 2, remembering 3 songs and a "Bible verse" is a lot to expect from them if they're only practicing once a week. So yesterday on the way home, J and I tried to go over the "Bible verse" section of the program with A by having her repeat it over and over again. This is how it went.

J: A, can you say "John 3:16"?
A: John 16!
J: Good! Now say, "God"...
A: God...
J: Loved...
A: Jesus!
J: Well, I guess that's theologically correct...

Then, later last night, when I was practicing with her again, trying to get the right ending to her verse section, it went something like this...

Me: A, can you say, "God"?
A: God...
Me: Loved...
A: Counting things!
Me: Hmmm.... not quite. Let's try again. "God"...
A: God...

Me: Loved...

A: Tacos!
Me: Oh boy... I better video tape this Christmas program.

Finally, at dinner, I was singing through the "B-I-B-L-E" with her, attempting to get her to sing along. The whole time, she just looked at me like she had never heard the song. I was thinking while singing, "I thought they had already taught them these songs...?" When I reached the end of the song, however, A threw her hands up in the air and shouted "BIBLE!" right on cue. For some reason, I feel like I'm getting played with this whole "practice with your toddler" scheme...