How to Get L to Sleep in the Car

If you've read this blog for a while, you may have figured out that L does NOT sleep in the car. She hasn't, since she was about 9 months old. Now believe me, we have tried to get her to sleep in the car. Remember this? And after a couple of years, you just give up (or at least we did) and as a result, L has not slept in the car for over 2 years...until yesterday! And, while it's a long story and one I don't care to repeat, here is how to get L to sleep in the car...

December 22 - Drive to Grandpa and Holly's and stay up until 9:00pm

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December 23 - Have lots of crazy busy Christmas fun with Grandpa, Holly, Ben, Jen and the A Team (no nap)

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December 24 - Drive to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's (without a nap of course)
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MORE crazy busy Christmas fun with lots and lots of relatives!!

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Stay up until 11:00pm opening presents, playing and laughing

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December 25 - Wake up at 3am screaming because you've just gotten sick (stomach flu) and aren't sure what you've done or what to do about it

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Take a 3am bath and change pajamas and bedding

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Wake up at 6:45am ready for the day

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Spend all day watching movies in hopes that you won't get sick (again!)

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Go to bed early (8:00pm) but wake up 3 times in the night just for fun

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December 26 - Wake up at 6:45am and refuse to go back to sleep

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Drive home with a DVD playing not a half an hour into the trip (Don't judge, it helps take away the whininess!)

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Throw a fit during 'lunch' (eating sandwiches in the car) because you have a butter and jelly sandwich instead of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

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Continue throwing a fit because you can't drink water with the amount of bread in your mouth

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Continue fit because you'd rather have crackers than butter and jelly buns

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Eat crackers and grapes

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Listen to your music (Kid's CD)

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Fall asleep

(and stay asleep for almost 3 hours!!)

{Thank you, Lord for knowing that the thoughts in my head (you know, SuperNanny and Boarding School) would be greatly reduced by having L sleep in the car!!}

Oh, and much to my dismay, Baby I must need the constant talking, whining, crying and singing of big sister L in order for him to sleep in the car because he did NOT take an afternoon nap.

Sigh!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Because we live between our families (D's family is north of us and mine is south) we end up traveling for each and every holiday. This makes having our 'own Christmas' a little tricky. This year, it ended up being on December 21 and besides reading Luke 2 and opening presents {which we do every year}, we also had a birthday party for Jesus...

D brought home cupcakes (I had envisioned us making cupcakes but, life happened and we didn't have time!)

L asked if she could blow out the candles (with help from daddy, of course!)

Then, we sang Happy Birthday, Jesus and ate the cupcakes. Even Baby I had some!

D read the Christmas story from the Bible

and L read her Christmas story.

Then each of the kids got to open their remaining presents from us. I know this is kind of anti-birthday for Jesus (as we should be giving Him gifts), but I have some ideas on this for next year (thanks, Lesley)!

"Huh, what do I do with this?"

"Thank you SOOO much!"

"Oooh, paper!!"

Then, while L went straight to playing with her new things...

Baby I preferred the plastic wrap!

We hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of the Saviour!

Signs of Christmas

It is December 21, 4 days before Christmas and just like last year, there are some definite signs that Christmas will soon be here! Yes, we've gotten lots of snow already, seen L in her Christmas Program, and even made a gingerbread house! But there are other signs of Christmas around here too...

1. Our Christmas books are out and have been well read in recent weeks.

2. We have read the Christmas story (Luke 2) and L has made her own book about it (I got this idea here)! She loves this book and reads it to whoever will listen!

3. L's favorite songs to sing are O Holy Night, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus (both at home and in public!).

4. Most of the presents are wrapped!

(with "help" from her...

and him!)

{No, this present (wrapped by L in case you couldn't tell) will not be given to A1 as L has requested. It is the angel from our nativity set and A1 already has one and doesn't need ours thankyouverymuch!}

{Oh and this one has yet to be wrapped...I wonder who will get it??}

5. D and I have picked out our Christmas present to each other ~ Coronado, California for 12 days in January (yes, with the kids!!). :-)

6. These two are being cute (oh wait, that's an everyday thing and not a sign of Christmas! I'll include it anyway just because I like it and it's my blog so I can!).

7. Each of the kids has already opened one present from us (and as expected, each preferred to play with the other's toy (not pictured)! Sigh!).

8. Another anniversary (7 years!) has come and gone again! See the flowers D brought home? He also took me here for supper (the food was delicious and there was a beautiful view of the river and falling snow). Thanks D and J for babysitting!

9. L says, "Merry Christmas" to anyone and everyone who will listen (and then asks if I'll put a marble in her jar because she was being 'polite').

10. And my favorite sign of Christmas...

{While at an Open House the other day, L had the following conversation with the realtor}

L: "Do you know whose birthday it's going to be on Christmas?"

Mr. Realtor Man: "Whose?"

L: "Jesus!"

Mr. Realtor Man: "I did know that!"

Yes, but thank you L for reminding us of the real reason we celebrate Christmas!

11 Months Old

Baby I is 11 months old today! How can it be that in one short month he will be 1?!?! Seriously...where has the time gone?

Here are some things I want to remember about Baby I at 11 months:

He now uses signs for 'more,' 'all done' 'airplane,' 'light' and 'book' (though still not always consistently) and will occasionally sign 'milk,' 'water' and 'thank you.' He typically waves goodbye and smiles at almost everyone.

He loves to play peek a boo and is known to constantly have his hands on his head with or without a blanket to hide behind. This is especially frustrating {for me!} at mealtimes (think bananas, peas and other food in his hair - YUCK!). He loves to feed himself and prefers this to a bottle. Too bad he's such a s l o w eater!

He hates having his diaper changed and being strapped into his carseat.

He now has 4 teeth and the hair around his ears is getting so long I think he might need his first haircut soon - yikes!

He adores his big sister and is the cutest little boy we know (though I may be a bit bias!)!

He is now army crawling all over the place...

and wants so badly to pull himself up to standing on things

(but can't...yet!).

Happy 11 Months, Lil' Man!

Some Brother and Sisterly Love?

The other night, L and Baby I were having a grand old time wrestling!! It started out with L laying next to Baby I who would then grab her hair and/or smack her in the face. Much to my surprise, L thought this was absolutely hilarious (which is ironic since she usually throws a major fit if he touches her or anything that belongs to her!) and was even upset once Baby I seemed to tire of the 'play' and move on. She would lay in his path and say, "Get me, Baby I!" and complain when he wasn't doing it anymore! I got a few pictures of all the fun...

{I love this one...even though you can't see Baby I's face, you can tell he's smiling!!}

Post wrestling (notice the messy hair!)

Baby I moved on to something much more interesting (his own reflection!).

Run, Run, Run

...as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man baby! Today we read The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. It was a favorite in my Kindergarten classroom and after buying a gingerbread house kit (because that is SOOO much easier than making my own), I thought it would be fun to read it before making our gingerbread house!

The book turned about to be a great distraction for L while D frosted the house!

L was more than ready to start decorating, though!

(that is when she wasn't eating the frosting... Oh and thankfully, we were practically done decorating before L realized that what we were using to decorate was candy!!)

Baby I was there too, but he mostly played in here before getting tired and eventually going down for a nap.

Voila! Gingerbread house...

but unfortunately for the gingerbread baby...

he won't have a house to live in...

since later this afternoon...we ate it!

Fa, la, la, la, la, La, la, la, la!

Alternately titled 2010 Kid's Christmas Program (but that's a little boring, isn't it?!)

L was in the Kid's Christmas Program (her 2nd) at Church last night. You may remember that last year, I had no pictures since I left my camera at home (but remembered the cookies!). This year, I remembered the cookies and my camera! Take a look...

(Obviously excited about something!)

I've circled L in this picture for you (SOOO many kids!). She started there until she sat down on the step...

then she got moved to the front. Hey, better for pictures, right?!

She did some singing

and even stayed {standing!} on her step for the remainder of the program.

Yes, she may have been the one who said, "Hi, mom!" loud enough for all to hear and laugh about, but her dress remained down and there was no nose picking other embarrassing behaviors to speak of. Hooray!

After Church, she got to pick out and eat a cookie (green with red and green M&Ms), too. YUM!