Christmas 2013

I was more excited for Christmas than anybody in our family! I don't sleep well Christmas Eve because I am so excited to see my kids faces and also my sweet husband's face. Our kids woke up at 7:30 ish and we explained we were going downstairs to see what Santa had brought.

Both kids were excited to see the presents but we decided to open stockings first and then have breakfast.

For breakfast we ate the cereal we got in our stockings. I remember growing up we always got boxed sugared cereal in our stockings. It was a big deal because my mom didn't buy boxed cereal. I didn't get any pictures, I was trying to enjoy breakfast :)

After breakfast we opened presents one by one. We all were surprised by the presents including Dave who was surprised to open a Smores Maker!

We made many memories and were happy to have my parents with us on christmas morning. We are so very blessed and know the true meaning of Christmas of celebrating Christ's birth is what brings us together as a family.

Sunday Snippets

:: Marcus ::

1. Marcus has learned to play with Lucy and they

are so cute together. He can make her laugh harder than Dave and I can.

2. His speech is greatly improving and he can now

call people by their names. He calls Lucy and Toby by their names (he does say "Poby" instead of "Toby")

but we take what we can get.

3. He has hit a growth spurt and his clothes are becoming too small. I bought
him socks the other day in the boys section. Makes me sad.
4. He loved all the snow we received and everyday asked if
he could go build a snowman. The snow wasn't packing snow but we still
had fun out in the snow.
5. He found my dress-up props from primary and
wanted to dress up. 

: Lucy :

1. Lucy can climb the stairs, she hates it but I make her do it occasionally.  She

still needs help going down.

2. She has taken a few steps but refuses to walk yet. I am not in a hurry

to see her walk because I don't want to think of chasing her around the house.

3. She can do the sign's for "more" and "all done". Which has become very helpful.

4.  She wants to be a big girl and loves to sit at the table

downstairs and try to color.

5. She pulls this strange face - she strains her neck and mouth. She

looks hilarious and I still don't know why she does it.

Christmas Eve 2013

It was so nice to have Lucy's birthday on the 23rd so we could still celebrate Christmas Eve. It was a fun relaxing day. Marcus really wanted to build a snowman and it ended up being so beautiful outside. I saw this fun idea on pinterest to color the snow with spray bottles and colored water. Marcus loved it!

Lucy and I went over to Old Navy to check out their good deals - I was all done with christmas shopping but it was fun to go out with my girl and her birthday doll.

That evening my parents stayed with us and helped participate in our nativity. We used the Little People nativity and a "Friend" story to help tell the kids about the meaning of Christmas. We had our tradition of yummy Chinese Food (this started 3 years ago before Marcus was born and I was sick on christmas eve and didn't want to cook, it stuck because I still hate to cook on christmas eve) and then the kids got on their christmas jammies they got from Grandma Randall a week earlier. Marcus still doesn't understand Santa which we are so happy about. He just knows there are presents he can't open. So he went down for bed right away and didn't wake up until 8:00 AM!

Christmas Card 2013

1 Year :: Lucy

I was so excited for Lucy's 1st birthday! Lucy constantly surprises us and is so sweet. She is completely different from Marcus and it's been so fun to see them grow and develop in their own way and together. Lucy is completely independent and very stubborn. She loves to play with toys and especially loves stuffed animals. She will cuddle and kiss them and carry them around. She can take a few steps and stand on her own but she hates walking. She can crawl really really fast because she crawls to get away from Marcus. She is a great eater and will even eat meat. Her favorite foods are cheese, chocolate, carrots, peas, pirates's booty, ham, and bananas. We have never had any constipation problems with Lucy but she has had a few bad diaper rashes. She has always been a great sleeper and continues to be so. She sleeps from 8-8ish. Marcus usually wakes up at 7:30 and wakes her up with his running around the house. She loves to have her hair done and be called "pretty". She also loves her toe nails painted! Her personality is adorable. She will dance to any music she hears and she loves to play with her dolls. She will rock them and push them in the stroller. She only has 4 teeth but one more is close to popping out. I love seeing how much she changes each day and what she will do next!

Her Stats:
   :: Weight 18 pounds 1 ounce - little below 50th percentile ::
   :: Length 30 inches - 75th percentile ::
   :: Head 45 inches - 50th percentile ::

12.23.13 - Lucy's Birthday

Lucy's 1st birthday was so much fun! We all went into her room in the morning singing happy birthday and she loved it! We made sprinkle pancakes for breakfast, pancakes are Lucy's favorite breakfast! We blew up some balloons and Lucy loved playing around the house with them. Marcus was so excited to celebrate Lucy's birthday.

 We invited both sets of grandparents over for homemade pizza and birthday cake. Grandma Randall had fun putting her glasses on Lucy - she looks so old!

We then opened presents (I didn't get any pictures) which she loved. We gave her some girly books, first word flashcards, a picnic basket toy, and a 1st birthday Cabbage Patch Doll. We are going to try really hard to separate Lucy's birthday from Christmas, even though they are so close together. I was so glad she wasn't born on Christmas Eve.

She had her second of 3 cake smashes. Her first was at her 1 year old pictures. She LOVES chocolate and just devoured this chocolate cake! I love the 1st birthday and all the memories of giving birth just one year ago. During the day I went through my birth experience and told Lucy all about how she was born. I could tell she loved hearing about it. Lucy is our girly girl and such a doll.