Trimming the Tree

We put our tree up on Thanksgiving. I think it's cute that many families have a nice tradition of going to a Christmas tree lot and picking out their tree together, but really, I'm just as happy with our tradition of getting the box out of the basement and assembling our small tree:). It's quick and simple and it doesn't drop needles on my floor or require water:).

Layla enjoyed helping put the ornaments on (we purposely did it while Gibson was sleeping:D), however, we then had many ornaments on the lower portion of the tree:).

Her ornament from the year she was born...

I hope to buy each of them an ornament each year that represents what they were interested in that year. Unfortunately I didn't remember to get one for Layla last year (you would think I would have had plenty of time to shop online during my bedrest??), but hopefully from now on I won't miss a year.

I was trying to decide what to get Layla this year and looked at the mall, but nothing really stood out. I thought about one of the Disney princesses as she currently loves watching Beauty and the Beast, but I figured she'll have plenty of years to love the princesses. I love looking at Disney's website and she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I figured a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ornament would be perfect to represent this year. What's funny is that Em happened to pick out the same ornament for Gavin:). Layla and Gavin definitely do both love Mickey and his friends!

And for Gibs' first Christmas I thought, why not Mickey too? I'm sure he'll love him some day, plus their ornaments were all on sale and had free shipping:). On the back it says: "Gibson's First Christmas".

I tried to get a pic of the kids both sitting infront of the tree, but it didn't work at all, so I'll have to try another day:).

And here are just a few random pics from yesterday.

Here is Gibson getting into trouble with the pots and pans as he always does. He's getting better at learning which cupboards he's allowed in and which he may not open. Maybe we won't need cupboard locks after all:). Oh, and I meant to mention that he's doing way better with the Christmas tree than I ever thought. Every once in awhile I catch him pulling on an ornament that looks a little too tempting (like one that is a bell), but for the most part, he's done really well at not touching it. It's surprising b/c he still won't stay away from the corner that Elv's bowl is in. There's also a basket of devotionals, a plant on a plant stand and our wine cabinet--way too many tempting things to play with I guess. I yell "no" as he heads in that direction and he just smiles and picks up the pace! Little stinker! :)

Trying out a new hairstyle:)...

Since I've never had a boy before, I don't understand how you gel their hair in the winter--doesn't it just get completely flattened when you put a hat on??

I bought this Polly Pocket cruise ship at a garage sale this summer and was saving it for when she was older as I wasn't sure she'd really get into it yet, but she found it in our closet when I was getting Christmas decorations out and she really likes it. She just needs to be really careful not to let Gibson get it as Polly's accessories are SO super tiny. It's nice that the boat does fold up with all the stuff inside, but the Polly Pocket I had when I was little you could actually almost fit her house in your pocket--Polly has really grown since then! It made me laugh the other day when Joe was home sick (with the flu) that Layla went over to him to have him help her put the male Polly's shoe on and then was having Joe pretend to put lotion (with the itty bitty lotion bottle) on the Polly guy--what a daddy won't do for his daughter:). This summer I started a blog of my favorite garage sale finds for all you garage sale sceptics, but never finished it--I would now include this on my list, although it is missing just a couple of pieces:(. But overall the ship is in great barely used quality and still sells in stores for way more than I paid for it! Oh, and Layla was also really excited about the cruise ship when we got it out because Grampy and Gigi were on a cruise at the time.

Longest Play Date Ever

Since Lindsey and I were both going to be alone for a week while our husbands were gone hunting this fall, we decided to live together with the four kiddos to keep each other entertained. A little weird, yes:), but we had a good time and so did the kids! We spent the first part of the week at her house and the second part of the week at our house. We joked that it was the longest playdate ever:).

Gibson slept in the same room as Lindsey and me the first night, and that was the last time for that! I knew that he liked to "talk" early in the morning (I sometimes hear him around 6am blabbering while Joe gets ready for work), but that night he decided to "talk" at what felt like every hour! It was horrible! Although we were laughing at times b/c he was making such funny sounds! I've slept in the same room as him before with camping and such, so I don't know if he just wasn't sleeping good that night or what, but he was really noisy! He wasn't unhappy and would put himself back to sleep--but we didn't get the greatest night's rest the first night! After that though the kids slept good the rest of the week and so did we:).

Lindsey with Jonathn, Layla and Madison...

"What? We're not doing anything wrong"...

"It was his idea"...

Layla and Jonathan ready for bed...

Jonathan started potty training just a week after Layla which wasn't too long before our week together. Both kids did great! Although they both did go more often than normal since if one kid went, so did the other:).

The babies enjoyed trying to learn:)...

Being a good big bro and good big sis washing the babies.

Snack time...

Gibson wanted to join in on the big kids' snack time...

The babies enjoyed playing together too...

Snow and Sick

On December 1 we got our first real snow of the season. I did not enjoy it, but I do realize that most years we would have had snow far earlier than that, so for that I should be thankful. I've never enjoyed driving on snow, and seeing that I rolled my car over last year into a large ditch with both kids in tow, I enjoy driving in snow even less this year:(. But since I live in Michigan, I better get used to it!

Layla was really excited when she saw the snow out the window that morning. And then she said that Daddy made the snow for her...um, no, child, Daddy is pretty great, but he doesn't make snow:). Good opportunity to teach about all that God has made for us, but then she told me that God made her toys, which I guess he did, just indirectly:).

Shoveling with Dad...

Saying "Hello" do the deer...

We've gotten even more snow the last couple of days...one of our deer fell over and the other is getting pretty covered in snow pretty quickly!

Here's another pic of our snow today, it's windy so I'm sure the roads have some pretty big drifts on them! This was taken earlier this afternoon and the snow is still coming! Glad we're staying warm inside:). Safe travels to all those driving today!

Watching Dad snowblow the driveway...

While at a holiday party on Saturday night I happened to be talking to someone about how Layla has never thrown up. Well, today she has had her first puke. She has thrown up a few times today and is definitely not feeling well. Hopefully this bug doesn't last long and hopefully no one else in the family catches it! I really am quite surprised that it took her 2 1/2 years before she threw up! She just really doesn't ever get very sick. She gets colds that last a couple of days and had a couple of ear infections around a year, but other than that, she has been really healthy. Gibson however has had lots of colds this fall already and his seem to last longer than hers ever did.

Layla is now officially 2 1/2. She turned 2 1/2 over the weekend. She continues to learn new fun things and seems to be growing up so fast! It was I think about a month ago or a little more that she started being potty trained and is still doing really well--she tells us when she has to go and doesn't make any mistakes. She struggles a bit with number #2 b/c I think she holds it in, so hopefully that improves soon, but at least she doesn't make any mistakes with it. Hopefully Gibson will be as easy to train one day:).

She's in her second "comfy outfit" of the day as she threw up all over the first one:(. It's so sad to see her so miserable:(. She's had more tv time today than normal since she's sick. Her current favorites are Diego, Dora, Mickey and Handy Manny.

Every time I try to take a picture of her and Gibson she runs to get her camera so that she can "take" a picture of Gibs.

Checking out all that snow we're getting today!!

Learning to walk behind his toy...he doesn't make it too many steps before falling down:).

Christmas time is here!

I love this time of year! Christmas shopping, Christmas parties and Christmas music! Now if only it would just snow in December and then be done, this time of year would be perfect:). We started off the season by celebrating Christmas with our friends Friday night.

I was going to take a pic of just the girls but then Jonathan wanted to join:). Rex, Gibson and Alden were also there. This is Ella, Layla, Maddie and Jonathan...

We're not having a birthday party with our friends for Gibson's first birthday since it's so close to Christmas and Christmas is obviously a busy time, so in order to not completely ignore his first birthday, we brought a cake along for him...too bad he didn't even get to try any b/c he was so sleepy so we just put him in bed. He'll have a party coming up with our family and he'll get cake then:).

I was trying to find a new place to get a cake from so a friend of mine via Facebook suggested one of her friends and it was delicious and really cute! Too bad she's due to have a baby the day after Gibson's birthday so I'm assuming it won't work for her to make a cake for his party:(.

This is just a pic of my boys in their argyle after church today...they both love their argyle:).

And a pic of Layla snuggling with Daddy and with Sugar Bear. It's funny b/c that's my little Sugar Bear from when I was little. He came out of my box of Sugar Crisp cereal many years ago and I always loved him. She lately has really taken a liking to him and can't sleep without him:).

11 Months!

Gibson turned 11 months a couple of days ago! I can't believe my baby will be 1 in less than a month!! He's a growing boy, I thought for a bit that he was spreading out, but with how much he eats, I'm pretty sure he's as chunky as ever:). The "Baby's First Christmas" shirts I've seen don't even come in a big enough size:). It does seem weird that it'll be his first Christmas seeing that he came only 5 days later. In the past month he's finally learned to pull up on things. Once he figured it out, he's been pulling up on everything and has learned how to take steps forward (holding on) to get closer and has gotten brave using only one hand. It'll be interesting to see if he walks at a similar age to Layla. They've been very different on eveything else. I know it's not always nice to compare, but it's hard not to. He doesn't say any real words yet and Layla at 10 months said some words. I just started to sign "all done" to him a couple of weeks ago and just this past week he started sometimes doing it back to me and will sometimes say "ah-dah" with it. So I guess that's sort of a word:). But he doesn't do it at every meal. He rarely says "mama" but still loves saying "dada":).

He still loves getting into trouble. He doesn't listen good to "no" when I tell him to not open my cupboard doors and he ALWAYS goes over to Elv's food dish. I don't know what it is with babies' facination with dog food! He has, however, been really good with the Christmas tree which totally surprised me. He's pulled on ornamants a few times, but I tell him "no" and he stops. Him and Layla surprisingly still play pretty nice together (of course at times they fight). They love to play in his room away from mom. Guess wanting to get away from mom starts at a young age:). He loves to copy Layla and she'll sometimes come and complain to me if he won't copy or follow her:).

I just dropped his dinner bottle last Saturday since I didn't have formula with me while we were at the mall (it had fallen out of my bag b/f we left without me noticing). I figured since he can be done with bottles at 11 1/2-12 months, I might as well continue to skip his dinner one since he did fine without it. So now he just gets a morning one with breakfast, one with lunch and a snack one when he wakes up from his afternoon nap (he still naps for about an hour in the morning and a few in the afternoon). I'm hoping he soon starts showing more interest in his sippy though, he can get milk/water out, but sometimes completely rejects it. Hopefully in the next few weeks he starts to like it better so we can quit bottles all together. He goes to bed at 7 or a little before and sleeps until 8/8:30. Layla and him often get up around the same time now. She used to always sleep longer, but often now she's up at 8/8:30 too, well, except this week b/c she hasn't been napping! :( Now she's been sleeping until 9 the past few days. He's wearing mainly 12 month clothes and although he hasn't been weighed in a bit, he feels like he weighs about the same as Layla:).

He never stays in one place for long, so I didn't even try very long to get a good pic since it's practically impossible...

As I mentioned earlier, Layla has skipped naps the ENTIRE week. For the past month or so she's been napping about every other day. When she won't nap, I put her in "rest time" in her room. I thought she was awefully quiet during rest time today so I went to check on her and was SHOCKED that she had fallen asleep. That is SO unlike her. She never sleeps anywhere besides her bed or her carseat. Maybe this means we should switch her to her big girl bed soon and maybe some days she'll actually still nap if she has the choice of playing or sleeping in her bed during rest time. And you can sort of see that her mattress is out of her bed--I took it out one day to see if she wanted to sleep on that during rest time as an option and ever since then she wants her mattress and all her stuffed animals out during rest time, good thing it's not too heavy:). But I thought it was funny that she chose the floor to fall asleep on rather than her mattress:).

Look closely to see the little girl in aqua sound asleep:)...

Early Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

The kids playing games in the basement...

Gibson meeting his "cousin" (my cousin's kid) Ryan...they are really close to the same age (sort of--we had really close due dates) and were playing cute together (well, for a little bit--Gibson doesn't ever play in one area too long:D)...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving Day! We have so much to be Thankful for. My list could go on and on, but at the top is my faith, my family and my friends. It was a great day spent with (some of) our family and it was great having Joe around for a whole day:). Now if only he didn't have to work tomorrow and Saturday:(.

I figured it'd be easiest to get all my Christmas stuff up from the basement while Joe was around. Gibson had fun helping:)...he just in the past week or so started pulling up on things. He's been so close for so long, bust just didn't quite try hard enough. He'd get to his knees and think that was good enough:). But now that he's figured it out he pulls up on everything which means he can get into even more trouble:).

Playing in his bedroom (yes, I know it's weird the baby swing is still in there, but he likes playing with it and it works well to just store it there:D)...

Story time!

No, Layla is not allowed to climb on toys, I just reminded her right after I took the picture:)...

This morning we went to our church service, then wasted a little time before Boston Market opened at 11, ate our turkey dinner there, then came home so the kids could nap. We then had our Thanksgiving/Christmas party with Joe's mom's side of the family tonight. It's always fun to see his cousins, although with kids there isn't always a whole lot of time to talk to everyone:). Gibson decided to have a horrible blow out diaper while we were there which put him in a sour mood plus the fact that it was 2 hours past his bed time didn't make for a happy Gibson so unfortunately we had to leave before even playing any games. He wouldn't fall asleep while we were there (which he normally is pretty good at falling asleep in his carseat--we just switched him to his big boy seat since he outgrew the length of his carrier but took along his carrier for him to sleep in). I think he was just so overly tired since he also missed his morning nap while at church. Hopefully both kids sleep in tomorrow after their big day today, but that never seems to happen! I wouldn't mind going shopping, but they'll both be so tired and that mixed with busy crowds is probably just a disaster waiting to happen so I'll just enjoy the day at home putting up some more Christmas decorations:).

Layla with Dolly after church today...

Gibson was eager for his nap once we got home, so I just quick took this pic of him in his cute lil' bow tie and matching hat:)...

This is post his blow out diaper in his back up outfit playing with Joe's cousin's daughter, Isabelle...

The kids enjoyed having the party at a church gym so that they could run around. Not entirely sure what they're doing here:)...Spencer, Uncle Bob, Lawrence, Joe's dad, Layla and Camryn...

Grandpa and Gibs...

Even Gibs got in on circle time:)...Joe's cousin had her baby last night so it'll be fun that at the next family get together there will be yet another little cousin (or second cousin or whatever your cousin's kid is called:D)...

My daughter the athlete...haha, if she's anything like her mother, sports will not be her forte:)...

All the kids having fun together...Gibs, Isabelle, Layla, Camryn, Cassidy and Spencer...

Layla actually made this basket, haha, obviously totally joking:)...as you can see, Gibson thinks he's a big boy, he does not know how to sit still!