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...