On the Nice List

I'm not sure what's more daunting, the Christmas season or trying to get all your pictures and stories on the blog.  So here goes my attempt to include all the Christmas festivities and cheer that we enjoyed this year.

First things first, Carter LOVED Christmas this year.  He made me love Christmas a lot more than normal too.  We had so much fun with our tree decorating, watching Christmas movies (Dr. Seuss' Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas, and Polar Express were his favorites), dancing to Christmas tunes, baking cookies for Santa, and reading Christmas stories.  He really understood the whole Santa thing and he also took an interest in religion class when he heard that Christmas was really a big birthday party for Jesus!  Mia also had a wonderful Christmas although I'm not sure she really noticed it being much different than any other day (minus the truck loads of presents and food).  She was her happy-go-lucky self as always.

We started the official celebrating with a trip to Traci Pries' house the weekend before Christmas.  Grandpa and Grandma B. were home from Florida and we were able to spend some nice time with them and Traci's, Susan's, and Mike's families.

Carter and Dave checking out Carter's new "car in a car"

  Mia and Grandma taking a break from all the presents

Fast forward to Christmas morning for the next round of presents, food, and fun.  Carter actually woke up at a decent time and was literally jumping down the stairs to see if Santa left him any presents.  He was so excited when he saw the pile of presents and his stocking full of goodies. 

Santa actually filled this gigantic stocking to the brim!

Checking out the stocking goodies

"A car I don't have!"

Peek-a-boo!

After the stockings we dove into the presents under the tree.  Mia did pretty well ripping the paper off her presents (with some help from her big brother). 

Lots of good assembling by Daddy

Here's Mia walking behind her new baby doll and stroller combo

After everything was opened and assembled, we cleaned up and started getting things ready for Grandpa and Grandma J., Grandma Webb, Uncle Josh, Uncle Mark, Kathy, Max, and Grandpa Mike.    Everyone came over in the afternoon and we enjoyed more present opening and tons of food.  A new member of the family also joined us, Uncle Josh's new puppy, Dozer, who is only 3 months old.  He is the sweetest little guy and the kids (and grownups and dogs) absolutely loved him. 

Grandma Webb and Mia enjoying some play time

Leapster carrying case!

More assembling!

Dozer was hard to catch sitting still...this is the best I could do

Carter's cool tent with a tube - both kids LOVE crawling through the tube.

Playing peek-a-boo in the new tent

Here's Mia posing for the opening credits of the next James Bond movie, "007 Baby"

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful Christmas.  It was a special first Christmas for Mia and we really appreciate all the awesome presents for the kids.  We can't wait to celebrate a late Christmas with the Heinrich's and Grandpa and Grandma B. eight days from now down in sunny Florida!!

Buddy the Elf

We had a new addition to our family this Christmas season, an "Elf on a Shelf" Elf which Carter named "Buddy."  The "Elf on a Shelf" Elves are scout elves for Santa who come with a cute book explaining the story and purpose of the elves.  As the story goes, your scout elf comes to your house during the Christmas season and watches you during the day and notes your behavior.  At night, he reports back to Santa if you have been naughty or nice.  The story also explains that you cannot touch your scout elf or his Christmas magic will disappear.  So, every night after the kids were in bed, Buddy would fly to the North Pole and report to Santa and return in the morning and hide in a new spot in the house.  Buddy found some creative places to hide for about the first 2 weeks but finding new places every day for a whole month can be hard for a little elf.  The mantle was a favorite spot that he visited a few times during his tenure here.  Carter really loved finding Buddy's new spot each morning.  He also did very well with the "no touch" rule.

Christmas Eve was Buddy's last day with us this season.  As the story explains, he hitches a ride back with Santa on Christmas Eve and spends the rest of the year at the North Pole with his other elf friends.  He will join us again next Christmas season and Carter can hardly wait!

First Trip to the Dentist

Carter had his first trip to the dentist on Thursday.  He went with Dave to Dave's 6 month cleaning, mainly to see what the dentist was like and take a ride in the chair.  They told us this was a good way to get him used to the idea and not think it was scary.  He was having such a good time, the hygienist was able to count his teeth, brush them, floss, and do a small cleaning on him!  He did very well and told me "I love the dentist!"  He also told me he loved playing with the chair, the straw thing, and the water squirter.  A gadget kid's heaven.  Dr. Z mentioned that Carter has an overbite and he might need braces someday, not a huge surprise since Dave and I both had braces.  We'll see, it's nothing we're going to worry about at this point.  We're just glad he did so well and had a great first experience!

Meijer Gardens Christmas Party

We recently went to Frederick Meijer Gardens for their annual Christmas Party.  They have "Christmas Trees of the World" displayed, Santa and Mrs. Claus, crafts for kids, and an enormous toy train running throughout the green house.  We started by visiting Santa, which I realized is more for the parents than the kids.  Every parent in line, including us, was talking their kid into sitting on Santa's lap.  Every kid was crying or trying to back out in some way.  Yet we all kept telling our kids "this will be fun!"  Carter told us he would stand near Santa and that Mia had to go on his lap.  He did o.k., he didn't cry at least, but he barely stood next to him and he wouldn't answer Santa when he asked what Carter wanted for Christmas.  Mia on the other hand took one look at Santa and threw a huge crying fit.  All while we're yelling "Smile!  Look at the camera!"  Yeah right.   After the traumatic Santa station, we did all fun stuff.  We did some crafts, watched the train, and tried to get some good Christmas pictures of the kids together. 

Thanksgiving and a tree hunt

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend spending time at both Grandma Webb's and Grandpa and Grandma Jernstadt's houses.  We started the long weekend at Grandma Webb's on Thanksgiving Day.  Uncle Josh, Uncle Mark, Mark's new girlfriend Cathy and her son, Max, Grandpa Mike, and the Keech family were all there helping us celebrate. 

The grownups ate a ton of food, played some cards, and watched a lot of football.  Mia drank some bottles, ate some crackers and puffs, watched us play cards, and crawled all over the place.  Carter ate a tiny bit of food, hid some cards, and did not watch any football.  Instead, Carter and Max, age 5, played together in Grandma's basement.  The boys got along fantastically.  Grandma Webb's basement has a lot of open space and (per Grandma) nothing for a 3 and 5 year old to damage, so they got free rein of the basement.  Cathy and I would peek down at the boys every so often and they were always playing very well and having a blast.  Grandma proclaimed several times that there was "absolutely nothing they could hurt" down there...but of course they found some things to get into.  Including dumping water on the python snake (it's real!) that Grandma Webb houses for the time being for Josh.  I'm no snake advocate, but I think that thing was slightly tortured by the boys.  By the end of the day, the basement looked like what I picture Toys R Us to look like after their Black Friday sale.  Toys everywhere.  But both boys helped pick up everything and we definitely had a tired kid when we got home.

Friday we woke up and headed off the Grandpa and Grandma Jernstadt's house for their annual Christmas tree hunt.  We brought our wagon and trekked around the tree farm until we found the perfect tree.  Carter loved helping Daddy and Grandpa use the saw and drag the tree back to the car.  After enjoying some hot chocolate and pumpkin bread, we headed back to their house to put up the tree and have some lunch.

Friday evening Dave played in the annual East Kentwood alumni hockey game.  Dave was on the "old timers" team, who lost by only one point, and the kids and I were able to watch about 2 periods of the game.  Carter loved trying to pick out Dave when he was on the ice.  He also loved jumping around in the bleachers and general non-attentive 3 year old activities.  Hence the 2 period limit for us.  Dave hopes to get Carter out on the ice this winter so he can learn to skate.

Saturday and Sunday we lounged around the house and put up our Christmas tree.  Carter had a lot of fun decorating this year.  We also got out his beloved "singing snowmen" and other various characters that play Christmas tunes and dance around.  Mia seems to love the snowmen just as much as Carter, so Dave and I are already wishing those things were back in the box!  Tis the season.

Fully Mobile

Mia hit the 8 month mark on November 16th and she started fully crawling the same week.  She was moving around backwards and sideways for a few weeks leading up to her 8 month birthday, but until now, she was not moving forward in a real crawl.  It's taking some getting used to for the rest of the family, you forget how quickly they can dart across the room once they get the hang of it.  No more setting Mia in one place surrounded by toys while I check on the laundry...because when I get back, she'll be across the room checking out a light socket or putting her hand in the dogs' food dish.  One time she parked herself on top of Carter's puzzle (while he was doing it) and decided to gum on a few pieces.  Carter's been pretty patient so far and he seems to understand that she is going to be more and more interested in his toys as she grows.  I think he's getting the hang of sharing (at least a little).

She loves crawling over to the coffee table and pulling herself up to her knees.  She hasn't quite made it to her feet yet, but I'm sure she'll be there before we know it.  Anything within her reach is fair game now.

Another favorite is to crawl over to Shady and lie over her back and play with the dog tags on her collar.  Shady actually sits very still and lets Mia check her out.  Maisy has been good with Mia too, Mia  stuck her hand in Maisy's food dish while Maisy was eating and she backed up and waited patiently.  Both dogs seem to know that the kids are top priority and they need to act accordingly.

Other stats - Mia has been excellent with her sleeping.  She goes to bed around 8pm and doesn't wake up until around 8am.  She also takes great naps in her crib.   She has been talking up a storm in the last week.  Lots of "Ba Ba" and "Ga" and other consonants.   She also LOVES eating puffs and crackers and other real people food.  It may be wishful thinking but I think we actually have a decent eater on our hands!