Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas around here.  Getting to relive all the excitement through your kids is just so much fun!

Whitney had a fun little party at school where they ate way too much sugar and had a book exchange.

 Christmas concert at school

Her buddy Emilie

Parade Downtown

Breakfast with Santa--Colin's first time meeting Santa went down in the books.  I mean when have you seen a one and a half year old hugging Santa!

Making Nanny's Sugar Cookies

Checkers break with Auntie Ann.

Tree Trimming at my parents house.

Gifts from my parents and Ann!

Whitney was in full gear this year and really into all that had to do with Christmas.   She wore this hat almost every day.

So we had to get Colin one too!  Quickly Colin got familiar with Santa and said, "Ho, Ho, Ho" all season!

 Every morning she would run down to find the elf and just think it was hilarious wherever he had camped out.  Then we had three advent activities that were next on the list.  She asked many questions about Santa and we often would play pretend it's Christmas morning.  So, when Christmas Eve came and she got very sick (probably the flu) and woke up forgetting it was even Christmas it was kind of sad.  But she quickly rallied and we had fun rushing down to see what Santa had brought.

Christmas Eve

Colin was super excited about his big Mickey Mouse!

The train set was the biggest hit with both of them.

Around 9am my parents and Marguerite came over for a big delicious breakfast!  We spent the next few hours leisurely opening gifts.  It was a wonderful Christmas morning.

The next day Sue and John came into town and we enjoyed another Christmas celebration.  Then the next day Casey and Jess joined us and spoiled the kids with some more wonderful gifts!

Super fun airport and airplane.

City Cafe lego set she asked for.

We have been enjoying all the fantastic gifts that everyone showered them with.  Finally some boy toys in this house!  

Uncle Casey being a good sport !

That Saturday my parents had a big party with the Butler, Ashbaugh and O'Neill families.  It was so fun to have my relatives all in one place!  

Christmas was a huge success this year.  We look forward to a crazier one next year!

Snow Day

As the snow is falling I am posting a few pictures from the first snow of the season.  The first time Colin really got to participate in all the fun!  Luckily, Tim has the flexibility to work from home and was able to take the kids out that day.  And he is home again today too!

Yes, Colin is wearing pink boots.

Sheer Delight!

3 Years Ago

3 years ago today Christine was born.  It was the most heartbreaking day of our lives.  Something a pregnant woman never expects to happen to them.  I can't explain what it feels like to carry a baby, give birth to a baby and hold a baby in your arms that you have to hand over and never see again.  I don't know how I even survived it.  But I did.

What I learned from her is that everything is out of our control and that life can change in a second.  That nothing is more important than your here and now. I want to say how grateful I am that it has made me stronger, made my relationship with Tim stronger and made me appreciate motherhood in a way I never would have otherwise.  

Today, January 10th, will always be a significant day.  But really, we think of her every single day and are reminded of how blessed we are.

4 1/2

Whitney was a super excited to turn 4 1/2.  She wanted to be sure that I told her teachers and several other random people that week!

We marked off her new height on her growth chart.  She is now 43", still one of the tallest in her class.  She is growing up but staying around the same weight, so she is slimming down and looking like such a big little girl!  Sometimes I just cannot believe how old she is!

A big change in the last few months is no more naps for this girl!  She would sleep so deeply during her nap and she wouldn't want to wake up, resulting in a grumpy girl.  Also, it would take her an hour to fall asleep at night.  Though we have really nipped the bedtime drama in the bud, it just didn't seem fair for her to be sitting up there forever!  So, no more naps and it has been great!  She still has a rest time, playing games in her room or my room or just watching a movie.  That way I still get some alone time!  We usually have her in bed now by 7:45pm and she is out by 8pm.  It has been a win all around.

She is doing so well at school.  She can write both her first and last name.  The other day she sat and counted to 60 on her own.  She is super excited on the days that she is a helper.  Like line leader or calendar duty.  The teachers say she is really coming out of her shell and answering questions, speaking up and having fun playing with all her little friends.  It is so cute to hear her talking about her "buddies" at school.  They have started writing numbers, have science and spanish class and she loves to color and do all the arts and crafts activities.

School Pic

When she is not at school she loves to practice writing letters and numbers.  She can now do a 48 piece puzzle by herself.  We play many games like Dominoes, Candyland, Bingo and I Spy.  She has also taken to Legos. And I mean the tiny little legos.  She is good at following the directions and building the pictures that are shown.

Since turning 4 she has started dance class and soccer.  This summer she took dance and did dance camp at Bella Ballerina.  She had so much fun.  While we were happy there, it is super expensive.  So we made the switch to one of the main dance studios in Leesburg.  Crazy enough it is where I took dance all through high school.  I was one of the first students when this school opened and now 18 years it is huge!  Her class is ballet, tap and gymnastics.  Her favorite being gymnastics.  She has been asking to take soccer forever and we finally got her signed up this Fall.  She was the only girl out of 5 in the class and rivaled being the "best" with the other little boy who seemed atleast a year older.  We continue to be impressed with her strong left kick!  She starts an indoor soccer class in January.

At home Whitney still loves to help around the house with laundry, cleaning windows, stocking the toilet paper and helping us cook.

She is such a terrific big sister.  She and Colin play together so well and she is very patient with him.  Of course, we have heated moments when they both want the same thing, but really they are both good at seeing the other person is upset and handing it over.  They spend lots of time playing together in each other's rooms.  It is so great they have this relationship since my attention will soon be on the new baby.

Whitney is so excited about the baby.  She likes feeling her kick and says she can't wait to help with the baby.  Also, clothes she out grows or toys we have packed away she says, "Oh, that can be for the new baby."

We are so proud of our little girl and the polite, funny and caring person she is and continues to become.

Thanksgiving

Whitney's class had been preparing for Thanksgiving for weeks.  I had heard they were going to be pilgrims, but I wasn't prepared for how stinkin cute they were going to be.  I dropped Colin at my parents so we could make the day about Whitney.  Tim worked from home that day so he could come and we were going to get on the road right afterwards.  We enjoyed a feast that the parents all contributed towards and also got serenaded by the kids.  A very fun morning!

We took our annual trip down to Charlotte for Thanksgiving.  Whitney could not wait to get there!  With the stops it took us 8 1/2 hours.  They both did great.  Colin rarely made a peep.  He was very happy watching movies, eating snacks and napping.  Whitney did regularly ask when we were going to get there, that it was taking too long and that her legs hurt.  But who can blame her, it was a long trip!  The best part was we got to make the drive in our new car.  It made the trip much more luxurious!

We arrived around 9:30pm on Tuesday night and left around noon on Saturday.  We had a really nice, long visit.  Grandma had set a huge play area for the kids with a kitchen and tool bench.  Along with other fun activities she had, they had a blast playing hard all day.  We got to spend time with Brady and Niki everyday and were super excited we got to spend a few hours with Cole and Haley on Thanksgiving day.  Casey and Jess made the trip as well and the McDevitts joined us for our Thanksgiving feast.  The kids had so much fun playing together.  Sue took on almost all the food duties with the help of Tim.  I was spoiled as usual and had a very relaxing time and of course made it out to my favorite kids consignment shops!  Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa babysat and took the kids out to hunt down houses that had their Christmas lights up. We enjoyed an adult dinner out!

Thank you O'Neill family for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Grandma made his super cute cape!

Maternity Photo Shoot

My good friend, Kelly, is an amazing photographer.   I was super excited when she asked me if I would pose for some maternity shots that she wanted to try out.  Here are a few of my favorites.  I am so happy to have these photos to remember this special time.  We can't wait to meet this baby girl.

Only 10 weeks to go!

Halloween

We had a super fun Halloween this year.  Whitney was super excited and remembered details from last year, making this year even more exciting!

 We originally decided on Snow White but then October came and she started saying Ariel.  Unfortunately, the Ariel costume is super long because of the tail, so I convinced her the Snow White was still a great choice.  She was very happy with this and looked super cute.

Colin of course had no clue what was going on but as we got closer to Halloween he would point out every pumpkin we saw.  Saying it in his on cute way!  At this age I love that I still get to pick out his costume and try to think of things he probably wouldn't be on his own when he is older.  Since he is my little Prince and would look cute next to Snow White, a Prince costume was most fitting.  I paid more than I usually would on Etsy but I think the cutness was a big pay off!

We didn't make it to one of the big, fancy pumpkin patches this year but made a quick stop at a nursery that had pumpkins.  They also had a slide and a bounce house.  Really what else could a 4 year old want.  And Colin just pulled around the cart we had for the pumpkins.  Free admission and only $8 for pumpkins.  Success!

Love my Moldiv app for making fun collages!

On October 30th Whitney had Trunk or Treat at school.  The parents line up in the parking lot, open their decorated trunks and we hand out candy as the kids come by.  Some parents go way out.  Thank goodness Sue had brought us a Halloween flag that we had hanging on our mudroom door.  I just taped that up and at least had a little bit of Halloween flair!  My mom joined me again this year and helped keep Colin from running up and down the parking lot.  The trick, raisins, and lots of them!

Grandma brought this pumpkin making kit and Whitney spent almost two hours assembling each piece of the pumpkin and writing her name on the back.  We attached the candy and handed this out to her classmates!

On Halloween Whitney stayed home because her cough got a lot worse and I wanted to make sure we were able to head out for trick or treating. Plus, Colin seemed to be getting sick too and the next day we found out he had croup!   So, a perfect day to paint their pumpkins!

My attempt at a Curious George pumpkin.  No one seemed to get it!

Everyone rallied for the night and we headed downtown for the parade then made our way around our neighborhood.  I guess everyone was excited to have young kids on the street so we had about 15 houses participate.  Encouraging us to take as much as we wanted since they weren't expecting anyone else!  We ended up with way too much candy!  Not good with a pregnant Mama in the house!

Parade

Showing off their loot at Mimi and Grandad's house.

Taking the lead from some friends, we let Whitney pick a few pieces of candy and she traded the rest into us and we went to Target and she got to pick out a toy!  When she asked what we were doing with the candy I said, "Papa is taking it to work".  She started laughing.  I asked what she was laughing about.  She thought Tim was going to to eat it all himself at work!  Funny girl!

She selected this princess hair styling kit and has had so much fun doing her Snow White doll's hair.