Christmas is coming!

So I jumped the gun for the picture's sake and added the manger and baby Jesus. Christmas is almost here and our hearts and home are 100% ready! We had a more adult celebration tonight with the family. Babysitter, dinner, movie. A little kid free time to prepare for the next two days that will be centered around the kids of course!

My mom designed and made this advent calendar for us and the kids love it!

100 Words!

Julie is 16 months old and nearing the 18 month mark! Its time to catch up on her latest milestones.

#1. She got a haircut.
More like a mere trimming of the bangs but still! We can see those big baby blues again.

#2. She says 100 words.

I wasn't on top of the whole hanging on her every new word thing quite like I was with the first child. She went through a period where she wasn't saying very many new words so I stopped counting and then a couple weeks ago I realized she had learned a ton of new words so we jumped from around 40 to 100 in one day! We celebrated by eating cupcakes and singing the "Happy 100 Words" song. Not really. We just ate cupcakes.

Its pretty fun to review the words she learned. They are actually in order of when she learned them. I love how quickly she learned to put two words together. Apple sauce in the top 10. Cookie Crisp in the top 20. Apple core in the top 30. Get down and all done in the top 50.

#3. She climbed out of her crib.

Julie is such a climber now its scary. I have to watch her carefully, especially around chairs and our tile floor.


One early morning I woke to the sound of a loud WHOMP!!! I run into Julie's room and she's sitting on the floor, outside the crib just like the picture below. Except instead of smiling she's crying hysterically. It gave her a good scare and she hasn't tried it since.
We always joke that Julie will be in a bed before Lizzie. Lizzie is not a climber at all so we haven't felt the need to switch her to a bed. Maybe we will "bed train" them together....

Meow's Story

When I put Lizzie down for a nap today I told her a mini story before leaving the room. It went something like this:

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Lizzie and she was so special that she got to go to Charlie Safari! She jumped and played all day with her cousins. She did so many fun things today and lived happily ever after." (It was so late and she needed an especially short one this time!!)

Then, before I could leave she said Meow wanted to tell a story and it went like this:

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful priness cat named Meow. She didn't go to Charlie Safari with Lizzie today. She stayed home all by herself. She stayed in bed. But she didn't cry! And then Lizzie came home and they lived happily ever after."

Lizzie is always so desperate for Meow to go everywhere she goes. No wonder! I guess she has visions of Meow alone and stifling back tears while her beloved Lizzie is away.

My Birthday

27?!! Life happens quickly. I can hardly believe that is my age. It sounds old to me. Yet, I am old enough to know that I am still young. Does that make sense?
I am so grateful for my parents who brought me into the world and raised me and look forward to the many years ahead with the privilege of raising my own kids!

Well, it was another great birthday. Dave spoiled me. He's good at that. He took me out for dinner at Benihanas followed by Cinderella musical at the 5th Ave. (the story was modernized and so comical!!) My birthday gift this year is my all time favorite. He created an advent calendar just for me! Each morning I have a suprise waiting for me- my favorite candies, coupon for a dishes free night, or a thoughtful note! I love it. The notes are so clever and correlate with the date and many times I get all teary eyed after reading them!

And my Birthday/Christmas gift (something I have been wanting for a long time) that was bought as a steal on Cyber Monday at less than half its normal cost: A 6 Quart Kitchen Aid Professional!!!! Here is the evidence that I presented to Dave as to why I needed one:

The other day I mixed up a QUADRUPLE batch of cookie dough in my new monster mixer. At that moment I knew I would never regret that purchase :). I've been baking up a storm: cupcakes, chocolates, cookies, and lots and lots of homemade bread!

Now, I made this homemade applesauce, apple-raspberry sauce, and apple-raspberry butter last month the old fashioned way with a Foley food mill but now that I have a Kitchen Aid there is an attachment that will make this even easier! This stuff made for great Christmas gifts! I remind Dave that this year's birthday gift is the gift that will keep on giving back to him and others :)

No Cats at the Dinner Table!

We only have a couple dinner table rules:

1. Always say please and thank you.
2. No throwing food on the floor.
3. No cats at the dinner table.

Lizzie always tries to bring her stuffed cat, Meow, to the dinner table. Just recently, Julie has been trying to bring Mimi to the dinner table as well. Every time the response is the same. We say, "No cats at the dinner table!" "They will get dirty and ruined!"

However, it is Christmas season and that extra good cheer has gotten to me. So we have made an exception. Meowma has been allowed to join us at the dinner table. She even gets her own seat. She actually sits there throughout the whole meal, watching, purring, and sometimes sleeping.

Merry Christmas Meowma! Our little gift to you during the Christmas season! She has certainly moved up in the world from her starving, wandering the streets days!

Trimming the Tree

The Christmas festivities are in full swing! We threw our tree up and had a family decorating party the day after Thanksgiving. The Christmas spirit is strong around our house and these little girls are all pumped for the holiday!

It was so fun to watch Lizzie decorate the tree. She placed all the ornaments on the bottom row of braches. Took them off, rearranged them, placed them in a different order, took them off again, replace them, and so forth. It kept her busy all night!

Now, Julie's style was more of a hoarder. She gathered up as many ornaments as she could hold in her tiny hands then gaurded them from her big sister with all her might.

At the end of the night we had a beautiful Christmas tree with a ton of ornaments all lined up along the bottom branches.
I don't think Lizzie even noticed the next morning that they had all been rearranged magically in the night.

The irony being that our tree is still lopsided despite my rearranging! Now there are NO ornaments on the bottom 2 feet of the tree. Julie is too much of a busy body, and low hanging ornaments are just too much temptation!

Largest Cruise Ship in the World

I have been waiting to get my hands on these pictures and here they are! The whole S family (minus all the kids) hopped on the largest cruise ship in the world and we headed off to the Carribean. It was a week of luxury, relaxing, eating, and being waited on hand and foot.....aaaaaahh...that week became my new happy place :) .



Grandma and Grandpa W were so very kind and watched the kids for us while we were away. Big thank you to them for sure! The kids had many adventures of their own from what I hear!

This cruise ship was a monster- just gigantic. There were endless activities, restaraunts, pools, hot tubs, entertainment, live music, and did I mention free food everywhere??

We stopped at various Carribean ports and enjoyed the beaches, shopping, and scuba diving!

Linda made these fun matching headbands for all the girls!

This was our second family cruise but this time Stephanie and Blake were able to join us!

The beaches are always a favorite. Unless they are filled with jellyfish!! (One beach at one point had us all pretty worried )

The entire experience consisted of : shopping, eating, reading, sleeping, swimming, talking, laughing, rock climbing, zip lining, gaming, show watching, dancing, and beaching.

The best part was the fun moments we had together as a whole group. Every night we would all eat dinner together and you better believe there was a lot of laughing and craziness. It was a week that I will not forget....especially since I am always slipping away to my fantasy land where I get to cruise all the time :) A big thank you to the Chris and Linda who made this great time possible!

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And this concludes all the catching up from my little section of "Blast from the Past"!!