Merry Christmas!

Oh joyous day!

The most wonderful time of the year...

We have been loving every minute of Christmas break. Yesterday we had breakfast together, the kids played nicely, and we played Candyland. Today we went out to breakfast, played at home, had naps, saw Santa, went to dinner, and saw the lights!

Lia has been adorable. She says that the lights are princess crowns. She thinks one of the Christmas songs us beautiful for princesses. She was friendly and sweet to Santa and had outstanding manners. When he asked her what to bring her, she said presents.

Looking forward to the big day!

Merp

Nerp is Lia's word. She uses it when she honks your nose, is bored, or poking you. It's so cute I can't stand it! And she's too busy to be bothered by pictures these days...

Break through

Time outs have gotten to be a real battle of wills. Like seriously nutso. One minute of silence took 45 minutes of yelling and crying. And it wasn't getting better. We knew it was a battle we had to win, but at what cost. We were all upset about it.

Enter the glitter bottle! This little gem has been on the web and I was skeptical. But turns out I was also desperate enough to try it.

Ah-maze-ing! In one try we were done within 5 minutes, then the next time it was just the two minutes. And no crying. Did you here that? Me either. Ahhhhh.

So there's a picture of the miracle bottle and Lia with her gift from Ulysses this morning. Note the "biggest smile" she's giving me there!

Ulysses D Elf

Ulysses D Elf has been here for a week now. He has decorated the Christmas tree, turned our milk blue, and hidden around the house. Tomorrow when Lia wakes up She will find some North Pole Snow from Ulysses and Santa.

I love to watch Lia's reaction to him. Happy to find him each morning but slightly worried when we ask her if Ulysses saw her doing something naughty. Can't wait to see her reaction tomorrow!

Pinterest Successs!

So I saw the 25 days of Christmas for your husband, I thought this was a great idea. Ta Da! I did it. It's taken me forever to come up with ideas, make the cards, and get them hung. I think it looks super cute. I hope David doesn't peek!

I made all of mine either tasks or gifts. Some will be easy like put the kids to bed alone, giving him radio time, start/scrape his truck, and bring him lunch. Others like getting a growler of beer or picking up Chinese may be a little more difficult, but it's worth it. Cus he's my main squeeze!

While the Cat is Away

Miss Lia Sassy Pants is off on an overnight with Nana and Papaw. That means taking advantage of our time! First David and I went to the parent teacher conference for preschool. Lia is doing well and we will continue to help her with her social skills, academically she is off the charts! After that we went to an adults only dinner. Ahhhh. It was like oh yeah, I like hanging out with you and not being mommy. I need to remember that.

In the meantime Jon was with Mimi. But we came home to a grumpy boy with sore tooth! A little orajel and this lady got to sleep all night long.

Today was a shopping extravaganza. I tried to get my Christmas shopping completed. I got amazingly close before Jonathan decided he had enough of his car seat. Then we went home and he started working on his crawling moves.

We had nap together snuggled on the couch, pizza with Daddy, and it's back in bed. Whew!

Rosie comes home tomorrow and I sure did miss her. The quiet is so nice, but Lia's sweet face is nicer!

Movin on Up

Little JonJon is on the move. He rolls, scootches, and wiggles his way around the living room. Today he managed to get himself completely out from under his gym and off the opposite side of the rug. Not sure I'm ready for him to be this big yet!

And here's a shot of Lia. She begged me to take her photo too!

November Fun

So we made a Turkey To Do List for this month since we finished our list last month. I like doing these because it keeps me focused on making sure to fit in simple fun tasks. Im already collecting ideas for December and January. In general we are just living life and enjoying spending time as a family!

Halloween Camp Out

We went down to McCormick's Creek for their Fall-o-ween weekend. Since its in the same town my sister lives in, they joined us too. Lia got to trick-or-treat, sleep in a tent, and play outside all day. During trick-or-treating she informed us it was "Rapunzel Tower Day." I have no idea where that came from, but it was cute.

Meanwhile, Jonathan got spoiled rotten at Nana and Papaw's house. Seriously.

My life is full....

Of the two best kids!

Hey Jonathan

Whatcha been doin?!?

The fun continues...

This is my sweet baby girl after out leaf hunt. It turned into a nature walk because we don't really have leaves. But we are nothing if not flexible....

The Princess and the Frog...

Fun outside by the pond today!

Backyard Camp Out

Last night was our trial run camp out before we go for Halloween. Lia has never been and we wanted her to be somewhat familiar with what we were doing before we headed out. It was a pretty big success! We all had a great time. Even Jonathan stayed snuggly and slept well. I only had to get up once with the kiddos. Lia went to sleep alone in the tent, which was surprising.

Unfortunately David had to do some work this morning and we slept in a bit. We didn't get to have our campfire breakfast, so I had to settle for foil dinners and marshmallows. Not too bad for a backyard camp out. Definitely looking forward to Halloween!

Ready for Fall...

Our October Fun List is ready! We have a lot of things planned for this month. To make it easier for Lia, not to mention cute, I made one of those signs I see a lot of Mommies doing. I don't have a cricut so mines not as cool. Just a few hand drawn pictures and check boxes. That's honestly about all I had time for anyway!

PS JonJon's a wild bear. Grrrrrr!

Lia Eats!

Last week we had a huge set back in therapy. It was devastating for me. Like all our hard work down the drain devastating...not to mention I felt like a rotten mommy.

This week is a total turnaround. Lia is eating carrot, cheese, sweet potato, turkey meatball, pears, grapes, raisins of various colors. It's nothing short of amazing. I'm one happy mommy!

So here's Lia actually touching a grape before she eats it. Like actually eats it like a normal kid! Blessed!

Busy Bag

So this little gem has been floating around Pinterest for awhile now. Just getting around to it. I was pregnant so I get a pass, right?!?

It's easy. Print out the pictures. Put letters on bottle caps. Voila...game! Being anal as I am, I covered the cards with contact paper. I'm sure they will be loved on a lot.

It's really a pretty cute one with minimal work to make it happen. I like that!

Baby Blanket...

Not in the traditional sense of the word.

Rapunzel

My little Rapunzel loves her hair to be up and different everyday. It gets hard to be creative so I rely on my interweb friends. Okay I actually randomly search, which is why I can't credit this one. But it was easy...so I like it. :)

Prayer Toes

I don't know why, but Jonathan holds his feet like this 90% of the time. I love his little quirky habit. I call them his prayer toes.

My little big girl...

The first day of preschool has come and gone. Lia has counted down since orientation. So when it was finally The Day, she was psyched! She was going to go play dinosaurs with "the kids." I'm not sure if she did...but she did play Dora Castle. Right up ole Princess Lia's alley. To add to today's excitement, she went potty twice while we were out! I'm a proud Mommy!

Here's two pictures. Not good ones because those are on the big camera. One is Lia the line leader, the other is in the car on the way. She had no fear!

Lia and the dandelion

Yesterday walking to the car, I loaded Jonathan in as usual while Lia came down the steps. When I finished I saw her blowing on a seeded out dandelion. And for a second I thought, "oh great. This will be a fight to the seat." Then I looked at J asleep in his seat, and Lia having such joy with this little flower. I remembered reading about giving your child opportunities to go slow. We were just going to the grocery. Thats it. For the whole day. Why was I hurrying? J was in the car sound asleep with the doors open. He was happy. Lia was happy. So I just waited with her. She couldn't quite blow it hard enough and eventually asked, "mommy do it?" Then we picked three for the car and off we went. It was great. Plus the time I spent enjoying her would have been about equal to the time it would take me to chase her to the car and wrestle her into her seat...all while tears flowed about the dandelion. Sometimes toddler turtle speed is okay...or at least you have to make it okay.

Just being kids...

Lia in her frilly dress giving me a big hooray. Jonathan practicing his ring routine for the 2036 Olympics.

P.S. We are all sick here. :(

The Countdown

Lia and I are counting down the days to preschool since open house was yesterday. I told her today she needed to pull up her own pants after going to the potty so she could go to preschool. Needless to say, she did and promptly asked to go right then. This is my girl who cried when we had to leave preschool yesterday.

So to help her see when she gets to go back we made a paper chain. Lia cut the strips, painted the paper, and decorated them with stickers.

It's 11 days till she goes...she's ready, I'm not sure I am.

Intervention....

Hi. My name is Becky and I'm addicted to Pinterest. I have no plans to quit. It gets me through episodes of Peppa pig.

That is all.

Double decker bassinet

Jonathan on top, Lia on bottom