Oh, Christmas Tree

Spencer helped me decorate the Christmas tree, continuing the now 2 year old tradition.  He also spontaneously burst into "Oh, Christmas Tree," which was too precious and hilarious to adequately describe.  

He would not rest until every Christmas ornament he could see was on the tree (I've hidden away the glass ones, which will reappear about the time Spencer leaves for college).  

He did so well, and he seemed so grown up.  

He was very serious about his assigned task, and he chastised Jonathan and me if we paused from our work.  

We waited until Evelyn was down for her nap, and it was a sweet, peaceful time for Jonathan, me, and our first born little love.  

i had to convince him to save the star for last, and when it was time, he was so excited, just like last year.  

Someday he'll know what an exceptionally special dad he has.  

Here he is, so proud of his hard work.

When Evelyn woke up, she helped by un-decorating the tree.  And she continued to help in that way the entire Christmas season.  When Spencer was this age, I skipped the Christmas tree altogether!

To be fair, she did try to put them back on too.

This year there have been countless funny, sweet, and odd Christmas stories I've wanted to remember as we try to teach the kids about Christmas, and as they encounter the larger "Christmas culture."  I managed to jot down a few of them.

After I'd let Spencer watch "The Grinch that stole Christmas" a couple of times, he told me that he had a plan to "stole" Christmas and then did his evil laugh.  That wasn't the exactly the point I was hoping the movie would convey, but it was funny.

At Music and Missions on Wednesday night, they did a craft where they put a little cut out person into a manger they had glued "hay" on.  When I ran into our Children's pastor, she was cracking up, and told me that Spencer looked at what he was supposed to glue into the manger and told his teacher, "That's not baby Jesus, it's a gingerbread man!"  And, he was right.  "Baby Jesus" as the exact shape of the stereotypical gingerbread man.  You tell, 'em, Spencer.  Not much is going to get by him.

The new Christmas movie for Spencer this year, was VeggieTales' "The Little Drummer Boy."  In it, they mention the legendary names of the three wise men--Melchior, Casper, and Balthazar.  Spencer surprised me with his interest in their names and with his ability to remember them.  I still continue to forget.  His speech therapist had to work hard  to keep up with the details this Christmas season.  

Celebrating Christmas with my babies is one of my favorite things I've experienced in life so far.  

Trampoline

This is the grin of a little boy watching someone put together a trampoline for his birthday present from Gigi and Papa!  He was so very excited.  He had all sorts of questions and comments for the very kind, gracious man who assembled the trampoline, and he had a lot of fun with his dad as he waited.

     

He is one very loved boy...who loves to bounce!  The inaugural jump is on video.

Evie Roo At Fifteen Months

Fifteen months has been a busy time, Evelyn.

You got to wear your adorable hat from your "Auntie Jan," and you and your brother got to help Maddox celebrate his second birthday.  You had so much fun climbing and playing (I have video but no pictures).  You seemed so very grown up!

You also had a great second Thanksgiving, celebrated with family and friends.  You rocked the honorary 1-year-old turkey costume.  You also went with me, Spencer, and Gigi to help "Miss Judy" celebrate her parents' anniversary and birthdays.  Miss Judy's daughter, Rebecca, babysat for me, Hillary, and Natalie when we were your and Spencer's age.  It was so fun to take you to meet Rebecca, and to show you off to Miss Judy and her parents.  

We also threw a small birthday party for your Gigi and Papa at our house.  Aunt Hillary got to be there, via Skype, and that was a lot of fun.  You loved the cake.  A few days later, you, Spencer, and Daddy visited Nana at her school for her birthday.  December is full of birthdays in our family!  That Saturday you had a blast at Spencer's 4th birthday party, and we even managed to squeeze a play date with Hudson and Greyson into that week.  

You've quickly grown up, and you do new, sweet, hilarious things every day.  Lately, after diaper changes, you hop up and try to put up your diaper supply basket where it belongs on your dresser and you pick up your changing pad and lean it up against the dresser where it belongs.  

Spencer got a trampoline as an early birthday present, and you ask to "bounce! bounce!"  You also say "dis" and "dat," and you try to say yogurt.

You also attempted to pull the lamp off of the dresser behind the sofa because Spencer told you too.  Nice.  I'm so glad I was sitting right there when it all happened.  

The other day, I asked you, "Is that delicious?" and you said, "Yum, yum, yum!"  Precious.  You've been singing and dancing and keeping us on our toes this month.  I have some really sweet videos of you and Spencer from this month.

You had your fifteen month well visit on January 8, 2013, around 15.5 months.  You weighed 21 lbs. 12 oz., were 30.75 inches tall (I think this was the high 50th percentile), and your head circumference was 18".  

Clappin', Climbin', Crawlin', Sittin', Pullin' Up, Eatin'

Evelyn, you've decided to tackle all of these tasks and more in the span of approximately a week and a half.  Slow down, Little Love, you're only eight months old!

On May 30th you clapped at Gigi's house while we were all clappin' and dancin' to Fresh Beat Band with Spencer.

Then, on the same day, you army crawled to my glasses (on my face), climbed onto me (to get my glasses), and then climbed over me to the other side where I'd put my glasses when I took them away from you.

On June 1st, I ran errands that morning, and I came home that afternoon to you crawling all over your room.

On June 2nd, you sat up (and stayed that way easily and for a long time) from a crawling position.

On June 3rd, you pulled up using my legs.  You were wobbly and would have fallen over right afterwards if I hadn't reached down and caught you.  But, you're on a mission to move.

On June 4th, when I got up that morning, you were crawling OUT of your brother's bedroom (you'd crawled in when you Dad got in the shower, and the I guess you decided you were finished in there and were on your way out) when I saw your cute little grinning face coming out of his dark bedroom.

Then, later that day, I put you in your crib and then stayed in your room long enough for me to see you pull up with one little bump along the way.  I'm pretty sure you've been doing it for days because I've been finding your passys all over the floor.  You stood there so proudly, grinning, laughing, and even cruising a little bit.  I was just saying that you didn't seem to be catching on to the standing up thing as quickly as Spencer did, but Gigi witnessed the crib action, and she says it looks like you're making quicker progress than I'd anticipated.

Unrelated to your gross motor skills, but very noticeable nonetheless is the fact that you're now screaming for the spoon whenever we eat.  Guess it's time to share what we're eating.

Love you so much, Little One.

Gifts

This was probably my favorite gift of the whole holiday season.  Spencer and Evelyn simultaneously enjoying an activity and enjoying each other.  It got so cute I had to get out the camera.

Another fun gift, Evelyn's cute little Christmas shirts from Aunt Hillary.  She is also loving her backpack / lunch box which was a gift from one of my best friends.  She got it for Evelyn before she was born.  I loved it all through the nausea of pregnancy--a cute, fun little reminder of the girly fun to come.

December seems to be gift overload month.  It's surreal.  Spencer has a birthday in December.  Between that and Christmas, I have tried very hard to make this season about more than just getting stuff.  Unfortunately, materialism is a hard thing to fight against, and he gets more toys each year than many children get in their entire childhood.  In an effort to focus some attention towards giving, I had him help me make gifts for his teachers, therapists, and family members.  

"Helping" me has traditionally not meant much to him, but this year he was really excited about making the gifts.  His Nana gave him a birdseed ornament to put outside to feed the birds last year, and he loved it.  So, when I came across the recipe on Pinterest, I held my breath and read the blog post which was refreshingly clear, straightforward, and helpful.  Consequently, the project turned out great, and Spencer got to give gifts this year that he really put effort into making.  

Lucky for me, I'd been stock piling cookie cutters for years before I had any children with whom to use them.  

He was so proud of himself, and he handed them out without too much "encouragement."  They were graciously received, although I know a Starbucks gift card probably ranks higher on the list of favorites.  Even with the first bag of birdseed dumped all over the back yard by a certain little four year old, these were much more economical.  

I made labels for teachers / therapists and labels for family members, both with sad little excuses for poetry.  Unfortunately, the family member labels never got printed out.  So goes the life of a four year old and a one year old.  I counted it as a victory that we had teacher gifts at all.