Play Day

Its still really cold here, but at least it hasnt been raining. Ollie keeps asking to go out and play, so today that's what we did. Rocks, dirt, leaves- what else can a little boy ask for? Oh yes-- a shovel to dig them with! Eva ate her first leaf, and Ollie counted his rocks, telling me "Three rocks, not two!" and "Take a picture of this one, Mommy!" (that was the last picture). He's such a big boy.

Dear Eva,

Tomorrow you will be 8 months old. These have been the fastest 8 months of my life. You are growing and learning so fast! You have two cute little bottom teeth, with two more coming thru on either side of them, and two more on the top. You wave and clap. You smile at everyone, especially your big brother, who you adore. And he every morning, and after every nap he says "Eva!" when he sees you, and runs to you to give kisses and hugs. He says, "Hi Eva, I'm Ollie."

You are crawling, sitting up on your own, eating solid foods. You love sweet potatoes and pears. You are very attached to Mama, and cry if you can't see me, even for a minute. Unless Daddy is home, then you are very content. This morning you learned to climb the stairs! You pull up on everything and love to stand up and hold on to things.

You love to look (and chew on) books, legos, and small pieces of paper that somehow you keep finding, and then I have to take away. You sleep in your own bed now, but I had to take out your beautiful bumpers because you sleep with your face in them. Maybe when you get bigger I will put them back.

You are are so smart and happy. We love you so so much, but please, stop growing so fast!

Playtime!

Eva has been hitting milestones one after the other. She sits up on her own, and got her first tooth. She has started pureed baby foods, but unfortunately is not a fan. She loves to play with Legos and cars.

Ollie got a painting shadowbox project from his Grandpa for Christmas and we had so much fun putting it together! He loves to paint. Its a paint by number, so after I tried to explain that to him, he just painted on the numbers (a little too literal) and then painted over the whole thing :) Its pretty cute. Unless you cant tell, its supposed to be a plane, boat and car and truck.

Christmas Day

We had such a wonderful day that I forgot to take many pictures. But here's what I did get:

W

Merry Christmas, All.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.

EEEEEEE!!!!

I cant wait! I can't wait to spend Christmas Eve with Auntie K, making sugar cookies and watching the dogs play. I can't wait to put out all the gifts once the babies are in bed, and feel the anticipation of their (well, Ollie's) happiness and surprise in the morning! Its gonna be a good one.

Tomorrow we are going to have a "Christmas lunch" with at the Davis', and then on Christmas Day all my side of the family is coming to our house for the gift opening extravaganza. I am mostly excited to see the reactions because I did a lot of handmade gifts, and put a lot of thought into this year.

Last month we had our family pictures by the always lovely Justine of J. Shelton Photography. There are some gorgeous ones and I cant wait to get them up on the walls!

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and I'll be back with PHOTOS! after the holiday. Love to all!

And Emily- if you are reading this- I still havent mailed your gifts but I love you guys and hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I MISS YOU!!!

Home Life

Now that stores are mobbed and crazy, we have been staying home a lot. One day I built Ollie a fort with couch cushions and a blanket, and he added his tunnel. We took pictures and he wanted one with Mama and his truck, so we all posed for the camera, including the truck.

Last night I made a batch of dough to make doughnuts, and finished them up this morning. Soooo good. Here's the recipe if you would like to make some of your own.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/homemade-glazed-doughnuts/

I am loving this time of year when I can enjoy my littles and work on holiday projects. Today is also Ben's last day of class for this quarter, and I can barely contain my excitement! Its been a long couple months with him gone from 7:30am to 8:30 pm four days a week. Can't wait for his beak to start and get back to a better schedule.

Crafty!!

Now that my hat shop is slowing down, I've had some time to make some things for my own family!

I got some of my own Christmas decor, and we are getting our tree tomorrow. I also made Ollie and Eva's stockings and got them all hung up on the stairs.

Last night I was looking at wreaths online and decided they are way too expensive, and I was going to make my own. So, we took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Michael's and I made a wreath for our door, and a yarn wreath for Kathryn (even though she doesn't know about it yet, hehe. I think they turned out great, and I am pretty proud of them. Nothing like instant gratification!