Christmas/Birthday

Bet my parents never thought they'd see those two words in the same post! I've always been staunch about making a clear distinction between Christmas and my birthday....after all, if your birthday is in January (a mere month after Christmas), you wouldn't dream of combining the celebrations, would you? ;) I didn't get too many pictures of either event because I was too busy making sure Logan didn't rip into too many of Brody's gifts enjoying the kids. We had a great time and the kids are still playing strong with all of their toys. We were blessed by so many of you! Logan and Brody got enough stuff that I've put some of it away so that we can pull out new toys throughout the year.

So, thank you all!

We had dinner with our wonderful neighbors who were in town this year! ...and that's the only picture I got of us on Christmas day. I did get a video of when the kids first came in the living room at the bottom of this post.

(Logan was being less than cooperative during the picture)

We spent my birthday relaxing. We went shopping, hung out around the house, the kids took really good naps and then we went out to dinner. It was perfect.

Brody and Logan do so well when we go out to eat. It makes for a nice dining experience for all.

And my request for Logan on my birthday was that she wear the PJ's we got her for Christmas to match her baby doll. :) It wasn't too hard a sell, I think she had been wanting to wear them anyway!

We picked up the pink Christmas tree for their room on Christmas Eve when it went on clearance. This way we can move all of the kids' ornaments onto their own tree and I can put more of my ornaments up (this year several of mine didn't make it onto the tree because we had so many pink and blue ornaments!).

And to top the day off my wonderful husband (who knows my crazy need to always have the house in order) spent a good hour at the end of the day helping me put the house back together after our two days of chaos and disorganization.

Christmas Eve

It's almost here!

We've spent the day basking in traditions. Our church moved all of their Sunday services to Saturday morning so we got to start the day off worshipping the King! It was so refreshing to start the weekend off like that. All day long Logan's been talking about Baby Jesus and singing happy birthday to him in Sunday school.

Logan and I made ableskivers together this afternoon:

Brody thoroughly enjoyed them.

Then we took some pictures and opened a gift:

And then we took more pictures of the kiddos in their gifts:

(I'm in love with this picture of them, by the way. I had visions of it when we bought the PJ's but didn't want to get my hopes up for a good picture and was pleasantly surprised.)

Logan and I also watched The Polar Express and read the Christmas story together before bed (Brody passed out at 6:30 so he missed out). It's so sweet creating such fun memories together.

Nutcracker

A former co-worker of Mike's dances with the Carolina ballet and offered to get Mike some tickets to the Nutcracker at a reduced rate this year. We went back and forth over who would go and then Mike suggested he take Logan to the ballet on a date. I thought this was a fantastic idea! While I would have loved to have been with them (it is my favorite ballet, after all), I'm so glad that they got some special time together. They definitely made some memories.

While Mike and I were out for our anniversary last week, we picked up this dress for Logan at H&M so she could wear it to the ballet. It was a hit!

Before heading out (yes, it was warm enough for her to go sleeveless...where's my December weather?):

During intermission:

Mike said she had a great time. She sat through the entire ballet and only got a little restless.

I know she had a great time because when she came home she couldn't stop dancing and talking about all of the ballerinas! Her favorite part was when the tree and the Nutcracker "grew bigger and bigger and taller."

I'm so glad that she's got a daddy who loves her so much! She will most certainly know how she should be treated by any man who wants to date her in the future. They better watch out, too, daddy's teaching her to have expensive taste.

(imitating the pose in the poster)

Ballet Christmas Open House

Yesterday, Logan's ballet class had a little open house for the parents. We've been so excited about this for a while now!

Sadly, Mike couldn't make it because he had a big wig visiting his store and had to be there for that. BUT I took lots of pictures and some video for him (and you all)!

Logan was mildly incredibly distracted by all the mommy's in the room. This is why you hear her name being called and her attention refocused in the video several times.

It's fun to watch her through the little window in the back but it was really fun to get to be in the room and see her in her element. She loves ballet so much! Wednesday nights, as soon as the sun goes down, she asks when she can go to bed so she can wake up and go to ballet.

She's learned so much since starting the class a few months ago. It's been fun to watch the transformation.

And she's made some good friends, too. Love it.

I'm so glad we've found something that Logan loves so much, and I'm so glad for the Lord's provision that has allowed us to keep her in the class. I can't wait to see her in her recital this summer!

I apologize for the blurriness of the video. I took it with our camera instead of the iphone so that I could get a bigger, clearer picture but I clearly should have practiced a bit before trying!

9 Months

Brody was 9 months old 5 days ago! I'd like to say that it's because it's December and it's a crazy busy month and that's why this post is so late...but let's face it--I have some excuse every month. :)

We went for Brody's well checkup a few days ago and these are his stats:

He weighs 19lbs and is in the 25% for weight.

He is 27.5 inches long and is in the 20% for height.

And his head is in the 80%. Whew!

He's such a little peanut! His sister was bigger than he is now when she was 6 months old.

This month Brody:

Started crawling! And he's been a crawling machine ever since. He is SO quick! He could be right next to you and when you look down a second later he's all the way on the other end of the house. He loves to chase his sister everywhere.

Started signing! Right now he can sign more and can sign please with help. I'll post a video of him at the end of the post doing it. It tickles my heart to see him picking up on things!

Started clapping his hands in excitement.

Is wearing 6-9 month clothing. Love the fact that because he's little we're getting a little extra usage of his clothing.

Wears a size 3 or 4 disposable diaper when he's not in cloth.

Started eating table foods. So far he's tried beef stew, ravioli and lasagna. He's so good at self feeding and that's started to make meal time a lot easier for us since we can eat while he eats.

Is showing NO signs of wanting to drop his first nap which is so nice. Logan didn't actually drop her first nap until 16 months but around 9 months she started really fighting it. Brody naps 2 hours in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and goes to bed at 7. He sleeps usually until about 6am, wakes up to nurse and then goes back down until 7:30. SO NICE!

Had his first fat lip, his first set (yes, set...of 3) goose eggs on his head all at once, and caught pneumonia. Actually, all of this happened within a week of each other so it was a crazy, crazy week.

Has been trying to pull up. Though, he refuses to do it on things that would be easy to pull up onto (his standing toy, our ottoman, lower chairs). He prefers to give mama heart attacks by trying (and succeeding) in places like the bathtub. Boy, much?

Is an incredible snuggler. The ladies in the nursery informed us they now have a "Brody rotation" where each week one of them gets to snuggle him the entire service because he'll curl right up into their laps and just observe what's going on around him.

Is proving to be ALL BOY. In a house filled with dolls, tiaras, and pink, he beelines for the cars and the balls. We love it!

Brody is developing such a sweet, sweet personality. We love him so much.

Dare to Dream

Last night we surprised Logan with tickets to Dare To Dream (otherwise known as Disney Princesses on Ice)! It was so hard to keep it a secret, but I'm so glad we did. She was SO surprised and SO excited when she finally realized what we were doing. After I gave her a bath last night, I asked if she wanted to wear something new instead of her pj's, so we put her in her new Tangled shirt. She asked if we could go out since she wasn't in pj's (very confused at this point) and Mike told her he thought it would be fun to go out. We asked where she would want to go if she could go anywhere and she told us she wanted to go to Target.

We made a quick stop off at Starbucks for some hot chocolate to start the evening.

While we were there Logan continued to beg if we could go to Target. Finally I told her that if she didn't like where we were going after we got there that we'd leave and go to Target. That appeased her.

When we got in the arena we were bombarded with souvenir stands filled with all kinds of princess memorabilia. At this point I think she had some idea what was going on. When we got to our seats we gave her the news and this was her reaction:

The show was fabulous! It highlighted The Princess and the Frog:

Cinderella:

And Tangled!

Our favorite part of the show was when Rapunzel and Flynn flew in Rapunzel's hair.

The entire show Logan asked when it was Belle's turn and we just weren't completely sure she was even going to be there, so, we breathed a sigh of relief when Belle came out and made a brief appearance.

We were so tickled watching Logan clap. She kept her hands in the ready position for much of the show just waiting for her next opportunity to do it.

We were so thankful to be able to take Logan out and have a special night just with her. I don't think we've gotten to do that since Brody was born. It was definitely a night we'll remember and cherish.

If you talk to L in the next few days, make sure you ask her about it, she LOVES to talk about going to see the princesses!

25 Days of Christmas--Jesse Tree

Logan is at such a fun age this year for Christmas! She started asking about a month ago if it was "tris-mastime" yet and has asked about 20 times a day since. When we put the tree up on Thanksgiving, we officially declared it Christmastime and she's been beside herself with excitement. I wanted to do something fun every day with her to help her count up to Christmas, so I made a countdown for her. Each day she gets to pull an activity out of a different pocket and we have something fun to do together. So far it's been the highlight of every single day. I usually have her pull a card when there's a lull in the day or when she's going particularly nuts.

Day 1 we put together ornaments and went and picked up a small tree to be our Jesse Tree. We want to make sure we maintain that the message of Christmas is not presents and stuff, but the wonderful gift that Christ bestowed on us by becoming human so that He could give us the greatest gift of all--salvation! The Jesse tree gives us a different part of the story for 27 days (it's an advent calendar of sorts). Logan gets to sort through the ornaments, find the one for the day and then we all sit and read that part of the story.

Logan did a great job helping paint the mod podge on to help the ornaments look nice. We also got a great opportunity to talk through several of the different parts of the story as she picked out the pictures to put on the wooden chips. While we were doing this Logan declared, "Hey mom, I know Santa's not really real. I know he doesn't live at the North Pole and really he just lives in the mall. But Jesus is real!" What's one to say to that? I am so glad that she already has the ability to decipher between what's fantasy and what's reality.

We love that it incorporates the entire Bible, not just the "Christmas Story." Because, really, the Bible is one beautiful story of a forever king that's intricately woven together to bring us closer to Him and we want our children to remember it's not a collection of separate stories that teach us morals and values; but rather, one large story that teaches us about the most wonderful thing in the world, our Savior and King. And it's a story we read all year long--not just one saved for Christmas.

Aren't they pretty? On one side they've got the picture relating to a specific part of the story...

...and the other side has the scripture reference.

Our prayer is that our children don't get wrapped up in the what's of Christmas, but in the who and the why of Christmas. While the presents and traditions are fun and wonderful, we want to really remember the real reason behind it all. The Jesse Tree gives us a wonderful opportunity to daily remind them.

If you're looking to make your own Jesse Tree ornaments, I got the templates HERE.