Christmas Eve 2013

We decided to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at our own house - just the five of us!  We spent most of Christmas Eve in our pajamas making final Christmas preparations, and then got all dressed up after nap time.  We had some crackers, cheese and pepperoni for snack and then went to church, where Elsie got to dress as an angel and Duncan as a cow to act out the nativity scene.  On the way home, we noticed some luminaires on a side street, and decided to take a short drive...well, the drive was not so short - there were blocks upon blocks where every home had lit luminaires along the curb (most having to shovel the snow off the curb first!)  We all really loved it!  Then we headed home for some egg nog, fudge, and cookies!

Duncan absolutely loved the egg nog!  Elsie did not - so I got to have two glasses!

Yummy!

We finally got to eat some candy canes off the tree too!

Our happy Isaac!

Sticky, sticky Duncan

So minty!

We took our family Christmas photo.  Isaac is blurry because he just couldn't stop moving!

 
Silly Christmas picture!

After reading "The Night Before Christmas," we headed to bed to wait for Santa Claus!!

Christmas Dance Recital

Elsie, Ava, and their other classmates performed a fun dance recital for us before Christmas.

Tap dance.  Hippopotamus!!




And ballet dance.  Silver Bells

School Pictures!

In November, Elsie and Duncan got their pictures taken at school.

They even let us throw Isaac in for a couple shots!

This one is by far my favorite picture!!

Christmas Preparations

We only had 19 days to prepare for Christmas this year!  We kicked it off with some gingerbread house building.  The kit was from last year - the best part about it was that the house was pre-built, the worst part was that the candy was so old it was too hard for the kids to nibble on!

Elsie and Duncan each decorated their own side of the house.  They did a great job putting all of the candy onto the frosting!

So, this is more winter prep than Christmas prep.  Duncan wanted to take Nordy outside one day, and I told him that Nordy couldn't go outside because he didn't have snow pants.  So, the next day, he asked me to make Nordy some snow pants.  Nordy is a blob with only a head, no legs, and no arms - so those snow "pants" were pretty easy to make out of construction paper.  Pinky Bear's pants were a bit tougher!

We purchased our pre-cut tree in Elmhurst, strung the lights, and then 5 days before Christmas we added the ornaments.  I am hoping this means more of the breakable ornaments make it through to next year!

It was a little past bedtime when we finished, and you can tell Isaac was pretty tired.

Of course we made heavily-sprinkled Christmas cookies!

And we got to talk with Santa and Mrs. Claus at the ENNC breakfast.  None of the kids could think of anything they wanted from Santa this year.  But, at least they took a cute picture!!  We had a wonderful time again this year!

Isaac is 19 weeks old

On Monday, Isaac turned 19 weeks old.

Chillin in the "circle of neglect."  At least he was right next to us at the table!

He really likes this one toy - it has a wheel on the front that spins.  He likes it so much, he decided to spit up on it!

We have been working on sitting.  He is getting pretty good, and the kids sure have a lot of fun watching him topple over when I let go!

We pulled out some more toys recently - he really likes the glow worm.  Isaac's eyes get real big every time we squeeze the button to make its face light up and play the music.

Big milestone this week - FOOD!  Isaac has been enjoying his rice cereal at dinner time.  By the third day, he was liking it more - likely because we remembered to add formula to the mix instead of just water.

Yummy!

Isaac is 18 weeks old

Two Mondays ago, Isaac turned 18 weeks old.  At his 4-month appointment, Isaac weighed 18lb 3oz (90th percentile), measured 27 in long (100th percentile) and had a head circumference of 43.2cm (87th percentile).

Elsie wanted to get into the picture this time.  Isaac and Elsie are really great together.  Isaac just loves Elsie so much.  She plays with him when Mommy is busy, reads him stories, passes him rattles, smiles, and laughs with him!

Issac is doing well in the exersaucer.  It keeps him up off the floor when the big kids are running around crazy!

Issac's big milestone this week was falling to sleep by himself.  We started putting him to bed without jiggling him to sleep in advance.  He has no problem falling to sleep (maybe 2 minutes of whimpering) and staying asleep for most of the nights.  He has made the transition really well, and is even falling asleep for naps all by himself.  I am so proud of him!

Isaac is 17 weeks old

Two Mondays ago, Isaac turned 17 weeks old.  He had a lot of fun hanging out with Aunt Kate and Uncle Pete (and his future cousin in Aunt Kate's belly!).

Isaac took his second flight!  In this picture, you see tiny scabs all over his face.  Isaac has now moved from talking all the time to trying to grab things all the time...often this means his own face.  Poor guy!

We were all happy for Daddy to be flying with us this time!!  Goodbye Pennsylvania and hello Illinois!