Christmas Day

Jayden's first Christmas and he had so much fun. He got to wear all 3 of his Christmas outfits in one day thanks to his excessive spitting up. He enjoyed all the presents and was sure to squeal with delight everytime he got a new toy. Of course he also liked the wrapping paper and bows! (By the say, Jayden's shirt is made with his very own footprint. My Aunt Linda is so crafty she can turn even the simplist thing into something so special!)


The whole family posing in front of Aunt Linda's giant Christmas tree: (Grandma and Grandpa wearing their S and J foot and hand print reindeer shirts, too!)

S and J getting ready to open presents:



S was thrilled to have the biggest present under the tree:

To end the day we all enjoyed a simple meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. It was very nice not to have to prepare a big meal. We were able to spend more time enjoying each other and our new gifts. I think we might be on to a new tradition here!

Christmas Eve Sledding

It does not require much snow to make it a good sledding day for S. All there was was a couple inches, but S and her Grandpa and Daddy had a great time sledding!

Horses, Horses, Horses, Horses - Part 2

That same afternoon we went to visit another horse, Tommy, and Tommy's friend, Happy Cloud, who is a burrow. (Did you know that horses don't like to be alone?) Tommy was even taller than Sunny and although he was friendly he was not quite as calm as Sunny was. But, Sydney, who now had a B(horse)FF was not afraid and was ready to sit right up on top of Tommy.

She even was brave enough to feed Happy Cloud and apple.

But, with all of that excitement, Sydney was not going to forget the littlest pet in the barn - the little kitten, Oreo.

Sydney seems to be a cat person, and maybe now a horse person, but definately not a dog person. Dogs, after all, can be jumpy and licky.

Horses, Horses, Horses, Horses - Part 1

Last September when we visited Ohio Sydney and her Grandma talked a lot about horses and Sydney kept saying how she wanted to ride one. Well, thankfully Grandma has some connections and she was able to set us up with 2 opportunities to visit and ride some horses while we were visiting at Christmastime.

The first horse we visited was Sunny. She was a very gentle 9 year old horse that belonged to a lovely girl named Charlotte. Charlotte purchased Sunny when she herself was 9 years old. Now 15, she and Sunny have grown up together. Charlotte and Sunny both love pink, so automatically she was a favorite with Sydney! Sunny loves kids and didn't even mind when Jayden petted her nose!

At first S was a little apprehensive. After all she has only ridden ponies and has never really seen a big horse up close. She decided one way to help herself feel more connected to the horse would be to much on a carrot from the bag we brought along to feed Sunny.

Jayden, on the other hand, was not afraid at all. He thought the horse was so cool. So, we decided we could put him on top of the horse for a minute!

Well, not to be outdone by her baby brother, S finally decided that Sunny was o.k. and she was ready to get on!

After that, Sydney loved Sunny and I'm sure she'd tell you now that Sunny is her BFF. Charlotte saddled Sunny up and they walked over to the arena. (Which we were thankful was indoors since it was below freezing that day!) What a cute sight to see Sydney, Charlotte, and Sunny all dressed in pink!

Charlotte and Sunny were both such good sports. It was really cold and Charlotte must have walked Sydney and Sunny around the arena 25 times or more. Sydney had a grand time, Charlotte froze, and Sunny just kept on walking making a 5 year old's dream come true....

Later we watched Charlotte ride Sunny and do some jumps with her. Then she held Jayden and they took a turn together around the arena.

So, it was a great morning. We all enjoyed visiting Sunny and watching Sydney on her first big horse. Now if only Sydney can get over her fear of dogs...

Christmas in Ohio

This year we traveled to Ohio for Christmas. We had a week to spend and it went by so fast. Sydney and Jayden both had a great time and were very excited to get many gifts from the family. J especially started to like any toy that had lights and music and was quite enthralled with a light-up and music Christmas tree that Sydney received from her Grandparents.

The Sweater Vest

Did you ever notice how babies and Grandpas are about the only ones to wear sweater vests these days? Somehow it misses the middle generation - much to Nathan's delight :)

Christmas pictures

Today I got S and J all dolled up in their Christmas outfits to try to get some good pictures for our Christmas cards. Thankfully J was having a good spit-up day so his outfit stayed clean during the photo session. We took about 50 pictures in all just to get a few that were card-worthy. Here are some of the best ones:

Finally, no longer Thanksgiving

I finally have a few moments to update our blog so you no longer have to look at our Thanksgiving pictures! I'm going to backdate our December happenings. (I'm writing all these next several posts on January 2nd!) But what can I say except it was a busy and event filled month. Hope you enjoy the highlights of our December!

Thanksgiving

S was really excited to help prepare the turkey again this year. The eve before Thanksgiving S helped get the brine solution ready for the turkey while J looked on with delight.

Then on Thanksgiving afternoon she helped brush on the melted butter.

And, finally, she ate it! This was a step up from the last 2 Thanksgivings at which she only ate a dinner roll.

S also helped set and decorate the table. Everyone got a hand made turkey place card from Sydney.

J enjoyed sweet potatoes, apples, and oatmeal for his first Thanksgiving meal.