On to the many photos...
Austin was very excited for Christmas to come. He asked every day this week if it was Christmas Eve yet. When we asked him a while back what he wanted Santa to bring him, he said "green sunglasses" because he had lost his. We found them under the seat in the car, so he has been happily wearing them around the house recently.
Sarah got to wear the sunglasses for a while too.
(Check out how well she is standing on her own now!)
Christmas Eve!
We decided to go to Christmas Eve Mass at 4pm to allow time for Christmas morning activities since we were hosting the family for Christmas Day. We tried to get there 1 hour early to get spots where the kids could see, since they are SO much better behaved when they can watch the musicians and stay interested in the Mass. Well, we ended up getting there 45 minutes early and got the very last seats way way way back from the altar. It worked out OK and the kids were really pretty good, but it was very frustrating that people were there saving multiple rows of seats by putting coats over them. Oh well!Here is Sarah ready to go to church...
After church, Austin threw a fit in the car because his shoe came untied and we refused to attempt to tie it while driving home. He continued to throw his fit when we got home, but Sarah was happy to pose for some photos by the tree.
Showing off her standing skills in her new shoes.
Austin in his footie jammies ready to put some cookies out for Santa.
Look how tall he looks in these jammies!
Cookies and milk for Santa.
Christmas morning!
Austin came downstairs and stood in front of the tree with his beebee (blanket) trailing behind, in awe of the numerous gifts under the tree.
It took the kids a little while to wake up and Sarah was wary of her stocking at first. She cried when I sat her down with her stocking, so she sat with Mommy for a while.
After opening stocking gifts, we had some breakfast, then got everybody dressed.
My cuties by the Christmas tree all dressed in their Christmas outfits.
Nanny and Grandpa arrived, followed shortly thereafter by Michelle and Brian.
The kids started opening their presents.
Sarah got a big pink puppy dog from Santa. She loves Austin's big teddy bears, so now she has a big stuffed animal of her own. She loved it and was all smiles and hugs!
Austin got bouncers to jump on and was jumping through the living room as soon as he could find a clear spot.
Sarah with Auntie Michelle.
This is pretty much what we saw of him the rest of the day...."Say cheese, Nanny"
Sarah had lots of fun sitting with Mommy and opening presents. Of course, she was taking her morning nap when Austin was opening some of his presents, so Austin had run out of presents to open when Sarah was opening hers. Austin decided he must "help" Sarah open her presents. He had a hard time accepting that some of the new toys were Sarah's toys and he had to let her play with them.
Sarah loves Austin's little white wooden rocking chair...and now she has her very own!
Thanks Nanny!
Austin and Nanny flying his new toys around the playroom.
Nanny, Austin, and Alexis playing with Mr. Potato Head (including Austin's new Santa Potato Head).
We had Nanny, Grandpa, Michelle and Brian, Kevin and Keng over for brunch in the morning and I made a French Toast Strata (so yummy!), scrambled eggs, bacon, and Amish Cinnamon Bread. It was a delicious brunch! Then we had fun playing with the kids and exchanging some gifts before starting to work on dinner. We had Trish, Greg, Jenna, Michael, and Alexis join us for dinner as well. I made a ham and it was the first time I had ever hosted a holiday family dinner and the first time I had made a ham that big. I decided to try to optimize oven space by making the ham in the crock pot, so I looked up recipes online, read lots of reviews for different ways of making it, and picked out my best bet recipe. I basically put the ham in the crock pot, poured a can of pinapple (juice and all) over the top, poured some maple syrup over the top, added some brown sugar on top of that, put the cover and and let it cook on low for a little under 8 hours. It turned out SO GOOD! It was absolutely delicious, very juicy, and so tender it literally fell off the bone as I took the ham out of the crock pot. Also, the pinapple that cooked in there with it was so amazingly flavorful! Total success! We also had buttered corn, cheesy potato bake, crescent rolls, and raspberry applesauce jello. Top it off with pie (Trish's specialty), cookies, and homemade caramels (wow, Jenna!) and it was quite the feast.
The kids did great on Christmas Day and handled the chaos, noise, and activity quite well. Austin and Alexis had a blast playing in the playroom and Sarah was impressively delightful despite being very tired. By the end of the day, we were all worn out and ready to get some rest. Today, we laid low and enjoyed some time together to unwind and explore new toys and games.
Austin building with his new mega blocks.
Here she is showing off more new cuteness...blowing kisses! She even makes the "mwah" sound.
Austin peeking out of his new Lightning McQueen tent.
Sarah also turned 11 months old today, so here are the monthly pictures of Sarah in her rocking chair. She is looking so big now! She sits in the chair like a big kid, even holding on to the armrests. Remember when she was a little lump who couldn't sit up in the chair at all? Wow, time has flown by. Her first birthday is coming up fast!
- Walking - she can walk across the room without holding on to anybody, but still doesn't know she can do it, so she gets down and crawls or walks holding onto somebody hand still. She is really fast cruising around furniture.
- Talking - she is making lots more words and noises. She is starting to vocalize for communication - like speaking up for herself by protesting when Austin takes a toy away from her. She still says "dada" a lot more than "mama" but we're working on it.
- Teething - she has 2 bottom teeth and just had her first top tooth (front right) pop through on Christmas Eve. She also thinks biting me is fun now that she's teething again.
- Growing - like a weed!
- Eating - everything. She still eats baby foods and breastmilk, but she also loves to get her hands on what the big people are eating. She chows down table food and protests if we are eating something that she wants and she doesn't have any on her tray. This is most pronounced when we are eating Christmas cookies. She will just not tolerate being excluded from Christmas cookies! She also loves to feed herself with her little pincer grasp or with her spoon. She is getting more and more skilled with her spoon. Cheerios are currency with her...a good bribe to keep her happily munching away for a few minutes while we make Austin's lunch or get dinner on the table.
- Sleeping - still sleeps through the night, but has been much more fussy going down to sleep for bedtime or naps lately. I think it's a combo of teething and her recent cold. I do love when I get to rock her to sleep and get some snuggle time!
- Fun - loves to smile, laugh, clap, dance, play, blow kisses, give wet slobbery kisses, tackle her brother, "play catch" (roll a ball back and forth), point to things, and squeal with glee! She is absolutely a delightful baby!
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! We feel so blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas with our wondeful family in our new home. Now on to 2011, with more fun, hugs, smiles, and giggles to come!
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