'Twas the night before Christmas

I LOVE this Christmas present that the kids got from their grandpa.



It is kind of hard to see what it is in the video but you can see that Colin loves it too. It is the book "The night before Christmas" with Paul's dad's voice recorded reading it. As you turn the page he reads what each page says. It is especially nice to have since we live so far away from them.

It doesn't hurt that he has a great reading voice too.

Merry Christmas!

Last night for Christmas Eve we went to church. Audrey wore her pretty Christmas dress and I decided we'd get some pictures when we got home. I have a cheesy smile and Colin makes faces in every picture but Paul and Audrey look good at least.










We're continuing on the tradition of opening new pajamas on Christmas Eve(see the pillow pets from Uncle Billy)


Audrey in her Santa hat and new pajamas


After the kids went to bed, Paul and I got all the presents under the tree


CHRISTMAS MORNING

Our stockings







Opening Papa's presents



Playing with Papa


Colin pretty much helped to open everyone's presents





Baby Kitchen from Mimi








Audrey's stroller from Grandma






The dogs get gifts too. Nala is much better at opening them than Simba



Colin picked out this rocking horse for Audrey, she really likes it





He has fun on it too




Colin's truck from Papa


The North Pole threw up in our living room. It was quite a mess today. We got most of the stuff picked up and put away but still have some work ahead of us.




Fun with tools



Paul had to beg Colin half the day to take this picture with him. Colin is definitely in a stage where he hates to let you take his picture.







Colin's ski goggles....Paul hopes to take him out for his first time skiing soon



Everyone probably could have saved some money on Audrey's gifts. She had the most fun with packaging, wrapping paper and a roll of paper towels








Paul was very prepared for the morning of unwrapping. We had stocked up on AA batteries. He had a counter full of wire cutters, scissors, screw drivers, etc so that he could get any package opened.
The only thing he forgot....a 9V battery, but he knew just where to find one



Good thing we have like 5 smoke detectors on this floor of the house, I think we're still safe.

We all had a great Christmas and are very worn out from the day. Hopefully everyone gets a good night sleep tonight. Thanks to all our family for the gifts. We really appreciate everything. Wish we could have been able to see everyone today. We miss you.

Elmo Live

As you can tell, Colin kind of has a thing for Elmo.


So when Paul saw that Sesame Street Live was coming to town he couldn't resist buying tickets to take Colin







A video from the show


Colin absolutely loved it. It was probably even worth the fortune that we paid to take him.

Christmas Cookies

We made Christmas cookies this weekend. Colin had so much fun. It was a lot of work teaching him not to lick his fingers or try to eat everything. He even thought the flour that was on the counter tasted good. He was very excited to eat a finished cookie that he had made when we were done.

Stirring the cookie dough


Getting ready to roll the dough


All covered in flour


Colin either covers his face when you ask to take his picture or he does this.



Frosting cookies. Colin wanted "purple frosting"



Half of the finished cookies.....the whole batch has now been eaten. Wonder if we'll have to make more this weekend.

"Tell the baby to wake up"

Colin was looking at one of Audrey's birth announcements. He comes over to me and says "Mommy....tell the baby to wake up". I think it's so cute how he interprets pictures.

Audrey is 8 months old today!

Audrey has had a rough month. She got her first two teeth a few weeks ago and that was promptly followed by being very sick. She is definitely like me and wants her Mommy when she is sick. We spent a few nights of sleeping on the couch with her in my arms. She ended up having an ear infection and went on antibiotics. We realized she hates taking medicine and is very smart at avoiding taking it. She spit it out by blowing raspberries each time we gave it to her. A few days after finishing the antibiotics, she was acting sick again. I took her to the dr's and she now had a double ear infection and spent another 10 days on antibiotics. We are hoping that now she'll start feeling better.

She's still not totally consistent with her sleeping, probably due to being sick. She has gone 6 out of the last 7 nights of sleeping all night. Again, we're hoping it lasts.

She's eating more and more "solid" food. She eats pretty well and hasn't really refused anything. I've offered her some finger foods but she can't quite get them to her mouth yet. She is starting to hold her own bottle. She acts like she would rather you hold it and she'll just let go. Or, she gets so distracted by what is going on around her that she drops it. She has started sipping on a sippy cup a little bit. She doesn't really "drink" from it, but she gets some water out as she sucks on it.

She is still working on becoming more mobile. She goes from sitting and leans forward onto all fours, and will rock. She hasn't figured out crawling but she is definitely working on it. She is doing a lot better at standing up. She can stand up at the Leap Frog table and not need me to hold onto her. I do have to be close because she will reach for something or let go and completely tip over, but I don't have to hold onto her to balance anymore.

She has been sticking out her tongue a ton the last couple of days, not really sure why.

She's started to babble, she'll say "babababa"

She seems to be having a little separation anxiety lately. She wants to be held most of the time and she gets really upset if she sees you leave the room or she is left in a room alone.

She's getting so big. I'm excited for her first Christmas. I'm nervous about the fact that maybe next month we'll be posting that she's crawling. We're in trouble!

Papa's home!

Promise Christmas Party Week

This week we had two Christmas parties for my work. On Monday the rehab department all went bowling. It was actually the first time that Paul and I have ever bowled together. I did totally awful, Paul did alright. We brought a dish-to-pass and bowled a couple games. We also did a gift exchange: the only rule was the gift had to be a $10 gift card to somewhere. It was kind of an inside joke. So we all exchanged $10 cards. It was fun though.























On Wednesday night the whole hospital had a party at Boondocks. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner and ice cream and then unlimited use of the games. There was a limited amount that Colin was able to do but he loved it. At the end, he was able to turn in his tickets for an Elmo stuffed animal. That made his day.









Colin had a lot of fun with some of the games