Story Time

I've been trying to do better about taking the girls out and doing things. It has been so cold, we don't seem to leave the house unless we need to. But we are all so much happier when we do go and do things. Story time has always been a favorite, so it's always a good option. This time they talked about taking good care of their teeth and got a goodie bag full of toothbrushes, floss, etc. Hallie was thrilled and that's all that matters.

A Rarity...

12.6.2012

We typically just shower with Paige or do a quick wash when Hallie is in the tub, but this day, Hallie was at school and I had the time to just give her a normal bath.  So we plopped her in the kitchen sink and bathed her.  Pretty normal for most people, but more of a rare occurrence around here.  Paige wasn't too sure what to think.  After awhile she thought it was pretty fun.

Christmas Countdown 6-10

December 6th:

Decorate the House for Christmas

Hallie was ecstatic that this day had come!  She loves to decorate for holidays!  After she ate her breakfast she asked if she could put her Christmas dress on.  I of course said no. (I'm mean I know.)  To which her reply was, "but I need to wear something fancy to decorate for Christmas!". Such a Hallie thing to say. So we made a compromise and found something she could wear, that was fancy, but was not her new Christmas dress.

Buddy the Elf also came knocking on our door to watch and report back to Santa if  we are all on the naughty or nice list. 

Paige has learned to scoot around the house by pushing her feet and spinning.  While we were decorating, she managed to push herself under the chair.

She also discovered her tongue, and she makes clicking sounds with it all day. She thinks it's pretty great.

December 7th:

Visit the Reindeer at Thanksgiving Point

It turned out that we needed to go pick up our license plates for our new car from the dealership in American Fork this day, so it was a good day to just continue on to Lehi and visit the reindeer.  They are in a little round pen out on the plaza by the water tower.  As we walked around looking at them I couldn't help but think of the movie Prancer.

It looks sunny outside, but we were freezing!  The wind was incredibly cold.

We headed into the store there, and wandered around trying to warm up.  They have a little atrium in the shop that Hallie thought was so fun!  Plus, it was warm in there.

December 8th:

Go to the Ward Christmas Party & Go Visit Santa

At the ward Christmas Party all of the Primary kids sang a couple of songs.  Hallie was so excited to sing Jingle Bells, because Sister Wilde had made them some jingle bells, and after they were done they got to keep them!  She had talked about it all week.  Plus Hallie and Gracie were darling and held hands the entire time.  So cute!

After helping clean up the party, we headed out into the cold to Riverwoods to visit with Santa.  Hallie had  talked for the last few weeks that she was going to be so brave and talk to Santa.  But when we got there she got more than slightly nervous, and didn't want anything to do with him.  So naturally we bribed her. :)  She got to go on a horse drawn carriage ride after and watch Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer before bed if she would talk to him, she didn't even have to sit on his lap. (I thought it was a pretty good deal)  She agreed, and we got in line.   I was impressed, I held her and she told Santa what she wanted, we took a couple pictures and left.  Walking down the stairs from Santa's little house, Hallie could hardly contain herself.  She had talked to Santa!  To say that she was excited was an understatement.  She was so proud of herself, and happy that she had done it.  I was proud of her too.

After visiting with Santa we took a little carriage ride around Riverwoods to see all their beautiful lights.  I loved listening to the horses jingle bells ring as they moved.  There is nothing like it.

It was cold!  we were glad they had blankets there for us to use!

Our little family

Eric and Hallie in front of the carriage and horses.

December 9th:

Decorate the Christmas Trees

Since we had decorated the house Hallie was constantly asking when we could decorate the trees.  But we had to wait for a day that Eric was home, and it being the last week of classes, it made it difficult.  So Sunday seemed like a good option.

Every year we get new ornaments for the tree.  Each girl gets their own, and we get a new family one.  All three we bought at the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Oregon.  The hummingbird is Paige's.  My grandma, who Paige's middle name is after, loved hummingbirds so we thought that was fitting for her first Christmas.  The squirrel is our family one for the year. We just thought it was fun.  And the shoe is Hallie's.  Definitely wouldn't have been my pick by any means, and if I remember correctly I tried to talk her into something else.  It didn't work.  But it makes her happy, so that is all that matters I guess.

Paige hasn't been napping so well recently, and fell asleep in the high chair while we were decorating the tree.  So we just let her sleep, though we did take the bottle out of her mouth.

We had a bit of a lighting problem, which we resolved by a quick run to my parents and swapping out trees.

Finally ready to start decorating.

Hallie with her shoe.  She loves it!

Paige and her hummingbird.

Our littlest angel on top of the tree.  We decided she probably wouldn't be too happy up there, she is too wiggly.

All decorated.  Paige was loving this little teddy bear ornament from Hallie's first Christmas, and wouldn't look at the camera for anything.

 Hallie also loves Rudolf! Grandma Lorie let her borrow this cute figurine that Hallie loves!

I don't remember if I have shared the story about our star or not.  But either way, here it is.  The very first Christmas that Eric and I were married, we decorated the tree, and obviously wanted something to put up on top.  We went to the store and looked and stars or angels, or whatever, only to realize that we really did not have the money to spend on one.  So in the next few days I still really wanted something on the top of our tree.  I dug around in my craft supplies, which were pretty limited at that point, and found this thick wire.  I bent it into this rough shaped star, with a coil on the bottom for the top of our tree.  Was it ideal?  No.  Is it perfect or even beautiful? No. But it worked, and it filled our want of a star.  In years since, we have looked at other tree toppers, and could have easily bought one, but neither Eric or I want a new one.  This little imperfect star, has so many memories, and is such a part of our Christmas's that it is fitting.  Eric said this year as he put it on the top of our tree, that he wouldn't care if we ever got a new one.  This one is way better than anything we could ever buy.  I agree.  It will always be something that we treasure.  (Even though Eric thinks he is the one who made it. :) )

December 10th:

Eat Dinner on Our New Christmas Plates

Eric had a super busy day lined up, with finals and an orientation for his internship, today.   So I knew today's activity needed to be fairly low key. (That is, until he threw up out in the parking lot after his orientation and just emailed his final paper into his professor) My mom bought us these cute little Christmas plates for Hallie to use, so we had dinner on them.  It was simple, and different than the usual.  Even though Hallie was not happy that we were having baked potatoes and broccoli for dinner.  Because she does not like potatoes.  Which was news to me. :)

Seven Months...

On Sunday Paige hit the seven month mark.  I can't believe how time has flown.  We actually have pictures like this for every month, but I have yet to blog them.  So I figured I better just do it while I remember what she is doing.

It is amazing to me how quickly these new little ones just fit into our lives as if they were always there.  I can't imagine our life without our little Paige.

Paige has gone from being a fussy, Mommy's girl, to being a pretty happy camper.  She is still a bit hesitant with new people, but warms up pretty quick I think.  Though she definitely likes her space. If some random person comes up and talks to her and touches her, or something, and she doesn't like it, she will definitely let them know.  It seems to happen at the store, or at church or new places the most.

 She loves her toes! They are her favorite toy.  She chews on them and tickles them, all sorts of stuff.  But she is also quite the yoga/Pilate's master.  She can hold positions longer than anyone I know. :)

 Paige is starting to sit up some.  She can't hold herself too long, but I think it is partly because she is such a busy body and doesn't want to just sit.  She wants to grab her toys, or her toes, or anything in sight.  She also has become semi-mobile this month.  She doesn't crawl, she just wiggles herself anywhere she wants to go.  Luckily she can't get too far, but she can get pretty much anything in sight. :)  

 She rolls some.  Mostly onto her tummy.  She can roll from her tummy to her back, she just doesn't like too.  She would much rather be on her tummy.  That way she can see everything and look around better.  I'm often surprised at how far she can lift her body off the ground.  She pushes her arms up and gets her chest, and almost down to her hips off the ground.  She has also tucked her knees up under her a few times, just not at the same time as her arms.  I don't think it will be too terribly long before this one is crawling, and I have a feeling that she will be into everything. :)

She is a squirmer too!  She has started to jump and arch her back and wiggle when you hold her, so she often get put on the floor so she can squirm away. She cannot sit still, which causes problems at bedtime.  She is busy, busy, busy.  Though when she is tired she will just crash.  

 Paige loves to talk.  She just jabbers all day long.  Lately she has started yelling sounds.  It seems to be in the car, but it is quite hilarious, it sounds like she is scolding someone.  She also squawks quite frequently too, but she has always done that.  We call her our little "squawky".

She also loves to shake her head back and forth.  It is so darling, and often gets all of our attention, to which when she realizes makes her smile and do it even more. She also has learned to wave with her whole arm up on down.  I think she picked it up on the airplane to and from Portland, with everyone waving at her.

She also adores her big sister! (Her big sister adores her too).  No one can make her laugh or smile like Hallie can.  It is my favorite to watch them together.  A couple of nights ago we were all laying on our bed watching TV and Hallie was playing with Paige, and I overheard her say, "what's the matter Paige? Your big sister is always here for you."  It made me smile on the inside and out.  I hope she always is there for her little sister, and takes as good care of her as she does now.  

 The big sister...

 I know this is blurry but it makes me smile!  Paige is getting to an age where she can interact with her sister more, and they have a lot of fun together.  They both get laughing and then none of us can stop.

 This picture I took today (12.6.2012) and I had to include it.  Our little Paigey girl has the sweetest smile, and makes us smile too.  Her hair always seems to be the first thing people notice, for rightful reasons.  It has calmed down and for the most part so it doesn't poke up everywhere anymore.  Which kind of makes me sad.  I just love her pokey hair!  It is also getting long!  I have started to have to do something with it or it is in her face all the time.  Her hair is also getting more red I think.  Maybe I just haven't noticed it before though.  I don't think it will ever be as red as her sisters, but it definitely has a touch of red. And blond. And   brown.  People pay big money to make their hair look like this little girls hair. :)

Like Hallie, Paige has an array of nicknames: Paigey, Paiger, Paigeroo, Paigerooski, Bug, Little Lovey (I call both my girls that though), and many more that just fit the situation I guess.  But those are the most common I guess.

Oh our sweet Paigey Girl, what would we do without you?

Christmas Countdown 1-5

 This year I decided to copy my sister Kelsie, and do a fun Christmas advent activity each day in December, leading up to Christmas.  I've looked for the last few years for a cute advent with drawers, but haven't found one.  So I decided to just get a cheap little stocking and put the note in it each night explaining the activity for the day.  So far it has been good, and has forced me to do things I would put off and we have had a lot of fun already.

December 1st:

Attend the Samuelson's Family Christmas Party at BYU

This is an annual activity for us, and it is always crazy busy, but for whatever reason we seem to go every year.  This year we all slept in and just went for the last hour. Which was plenty.

As we walked in Cosmo was walking out.  So he stopped to take a picture with Hallie.  It was very cute!  Hallie calls Cosmo her "Big Furry Buddy," so she was thrilled to see him.

 We tried going over to the Garden Room to make a craft, but they were just cleaning everything up.  So we took a few pictures instead.

 This year we were not going to wait in line for hours to see Santa.  We waved from a distance though.

 Instead we headed over to the Terrace to play a few games. Hallie's favorite every year is the fishing.  But this year they had a pinata, a reindeer ring toss, pin the nose of Rudolf, those types of games.

 Paige was oh so good.  She just relaxed with her feet up in the stroller.

 To end we found the coloring table.  Perfect for our little artist.

 We decided to just grab lunch at the CougarEat where Hallie downed a bottle of chocolate milk.  It was quite impressive actually. :)

December 2nd:

Watch The First Presidency Christmas Devotional

December 3rd:

Listen to Christmas Music

I had plans to do something more fun, but I ended up having a huge order come in, and had to work on it all day.  So this was a simple activity that filled our day. Hallie danced, and was very excited and song she semi-knew, or had heard came on.  She would yell, "we know this one!". It was very cute.

December 4th:

Make Christmas Puppets

I found a foam sticker puppet kit at the craft store, and figured that would be a fun and easy craft to do.  Hallie loved it! 

 The penguin was her favorite

 Yep.  They work!

December 5th:

Do something nice for someone at school

I should have taken a picture of Hallie with her backpack on but I spaced it.  They are doing a food drive at preschool and she has been so interested it, and kept asking questions and talking about people who don't have food.  She reminded me last night that she wanted to take food to put under the Christmas tree.  She stood on the counter and picked out some canned food to take, and some baby cereal. Then she packed it up in her backpack to take to school today.  We had a good talk about service and people not having food and not having the money to buy it, especially when I told her to pick a box of baby cereal.  She was surprised that some people don't even have enough to feed their babies.  But it was a great learning experience on both ends.  Her, realizing that others aren't as blessed as we are, and myself, watching her child like love and desire to help in anyway she could.  What would life be like if we all had that attitude?

In addition, I asked Hallie to keep an eye out at school for an opportunity to do something nice for one of her friends at school.  She was a bit hesitant at first and didn't want to do it.  Once we explained that it could be playing with someone, or complimenting someone, or helping in some small way, she was excited.  When I picked her up from school she told me all about it.  She had colored with Bria, and played dolls with Braylee.  Which is a step for her.  I have been surprised with how shy she has been at school, and often tells us that she just played by herself.  So we have been trying to help her to overcome that a bit.