Christmas Party in Lanesboro

This weekend was our family Christmas party in Lanesboro. It was great fun! We don't all get to be together as often as we'd like, so it was special to have all my siblings, their kids, and my parents together for a couple of days. As usual the food was plenty! The kids had a wonderful time . . . enhanced to the limit when Santa Claus made an appearance! Amelia was the only one who wasn't too happy about sitting on his lap:





Amelia was afraid of Santa, but found the courage to try on his hat after he had left:



On Sunday, the kids went outside to go sledding and play in the snow. Kelly, Chris, Justin, Jeff, and Duey all "supervised." Actually, I think they enjoyed the sledding more than the kids did!






And finally just a few more nice photos from Christmas. Happy holidays, everyone!






Oh, and a note to my siblings: Whoever took a picture of one of my brother's butts, very funny! That's an image I really don't need to see. And, yes, I've erased it.

Merry Christmas!

We hope you are all having a lovely day with your loved ones! We traveled to Chris's dad's house last night to spend the afternoon with him and Chris's brother and family. When we got home, Mira got a mug of milk and a plate of cookies for Santa and put them by the fireplace.



Then we woke this morning to find the stockings stuffed! Mira was especially excited about that. Santa brought her lots of items for her craft box (stickers, pom-poms, glitter, pipe cleaners). She went right to work making a new creation for us. Mom and Dad drove up last night and spent the night at our house, so it was very special to have them spending Christmas Day with us. They left just after the snow started falling, but not until Chris broke out his "Christmas Sweater!"



Here is Mira enjoying a craft table she received. She LOVES to create things. If she's not artistic when she gets older, it certainly won't be for our lack of trying!



Chris and I gave Mira a kids digital camera for Christmas. We figure she'll stop asking to take pictures with ours now. It doesn't take great photos, but it does give her the opportunity to take as many photos as she wants. And it has this great feature where you can put elements on the photos. Check these out!





And Amelia is LOVING her stage and sing toy. She bops around with the music and likes to watch herself in the mirror. Does she know it's her?



In the afternoon, Mira and I went outside to play. It was too bad the snow was too dry for a snowman, but Mira did make her first snow angel:





So far, it's been a great Christmas! We have another celebration at my parent's house this weekend, followed by another at my grandma's the following weekend, followed by one at Chris's mom's house two weekends after that! They are spread out, but it sure does prolong the Christmas season. And the kids love it!

I guess the only bad thing that's happened so far is that Mira got a candy cane stuck in her hair:



Fortunately, no hairs were lost in the removal of the candy cane. And don't feel too sorry for Mira . . . she was told just minutes prior that she couldn't have a candy cane in the first place. Karma!

Finally, a couple more of Amelia to give her equal face time. She's clapping when asked now and is so smiley and happy! We feel the hardest part is over and it's such a wonderful feeling. Now we'll just relax and really enjoy our two girls! The fact that Amelia no longer needs a middle-of-the-night feeding is awesome! We are suddenly well rested.





Merry Christmas to everyone!

Amelia learned to clap!

Among other things, like sitting up by herself and eating cereal like a champ (she's up to carrots, squash, and applesauce), Amelia learned to clap this week. Below is a video of her latest "trick':



Other than this, Mira and I have been very busy making batch after batch of Christmas cookies. They are the roll-out kind that I've never attempted before, but now she and I are old pros at it. Mira mostly gets the frosting on the cookie and not into her mouth. It's been a nice task we can do together during the cold winter days.



Mira also got a letter from Santa Claus! It was an exciting day for her! She is trying to be good so that Santa fills her stocking on Christmas morning. It's a struggle some days, but she is trying. And Mira also is going all night without a pull up. So far, pretty good. She was about 1/2 wet nights and 1/2 dry at first, but the last SIX nights have been all dry! Great job, Mira! We bought her a room for her doll house for trying so hard. No more pull-ups! That's an extra $10 in our pocket each month.



We hope you all have a wonderful last week before Christmas. It can be hectic, so take some time for yourselves. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Elf Yourself!

My coworker showed me this wonderful site called Elf Yourself where you can upload a photo of yourself and turn into a dancing elf. It's hysterical.

Here's the link to one with Mira and Amelia:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1161422405
(Loading time is a little slow.)

And here's one with me, Chris, Mira, and Amelia:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1161191265



Happy holidays, everyone!

Happy holidays!

Happy holidays to all our family and friends!

Meet Betta-pet!

Today Mira and I went to Petco to pick out a new Betta fish. So, meet Betta-pet! We hope he lasts longer than the 6 months Betta did. Mira seems to like him and decided to pick a red one this time.

Good-bye, Betta

Tonight I was cleaning Betta's tank and noticed he wasn't moving. Betta died today and I debated whether or not to tell Mira, but decided to let her be a part of the flushing ceremony. She handled it well, then after a few minutes had this to say:

"I wish Betta was home and not died. I want a new fishy. I want Betta-pet. I want a blue fish. "

She wants to name the new fish Betta-pet. We will go to Petco tomorrow and pick one out. Betta lasted 6 months, which is pretty good, I think.

And here is one last thought from Mira: "After Betta-pet, I want to get a new fish when Betta-pet dies." How quickly we get over it.

Home at last

I was right: There is nothing better than walking into your home after a tiring trip. Making it even more worthwhile: Mira threw up twice on the plane (we caught it in the barf bag the second time . . . yay!) and has been throwing up all evening. She's finally asleep, but I think she caught what Amelia had yesterday. Say a prayer that Chris and I don't get whatever it is. So that puts a big question mark on if we drive to my parents' house tomorrow for Thanksgiving. If you are reading this, Mom and Dad, and we don't make it down, Happy Thanksgiving! We love you! Plus, the roads are icy tonight. 2 1/2 hours in a car with a sick kid and stressful icy roads? Not so sure.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Michelle

Disney World, Days 5 and 6

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. We went with Chris's aunt, who works at Epcot, to a employee souvenir shop and got a few souvenirs at a discount. Then we drove 1 1/2 hours to Palm Coast where Chris's aunt and uncle, cousin, and her two girls live. We visited with them for a couple of hours, had dinner at this great seafood restaurant, then drove back to the hotel.

Today we tackled Islands of Adventure, part of Universal Studios. It was awesome! Chris and I had been there before a few years ago. I quick rode the Spiderman ride, which is my favorite, then Chris and I took the girls to Suess Landing, a whimsical, colorful land based on the Dr. Suess stories. It's a great place for kids and Mira really loved it! She got to meet the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat. Then Chris went off on his own to ride the rides I've deemed too scary for myself.

Amelia, on the other hand, got a stomach bug and basically threw up and slept the entire time we were there. She's not feverish or acting sick, so we're not too concerned. She's just starting to keep an ounce of milk down every 15 minutes now, so I think (hope!) the bug has passed through her. We're going to take the rest of the day easy and go down to the pool after the girls nap. It's our last night here, then we return home tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that moment when we walk in the door of our house. There is something wonderful about a vacation when you finally return home. I just wish I'd had time to clean my house before we left. My mom would always make us do that before we went on vacation when I was a teenager and I never understood it . . . until now. Now I realize how wonderful it is to come home to a clean house. So, if anyone wants to sneak into my house to clean it before 5:00 tomorrow afternoon, feel free!

See you all soon!

Mira on Caro-Suess-el:



Mira with The Cat in the Hat:



Mira and me on Caro-Suess-el:



Mira playing on the playground called "If I Ran the Zoo":

Disney World, Day 4

Wow! We've been here 4 days already. Such a wonderful vacation, although I think we are going to need a vacation after we get home. There's your nice relaxing vacation, then there is your tired, pack it all in vacation. This is the latter, although we are making sure to plan a couple of "off" days so we don't get too tired.

Today we tackled Animal Kingdom. It's a pretty nice park, but not as fun as Magic Kingdom. Mira only went on one actual ride, but she saw "It's a Bug's Life" show and "Finding Nemo, The Musical." The Nemo show was OUTSTANDING. Very Broadway caliber. It was a really great time. Chris rode a couple of the scary rides and we saw some of the sights.

Mira's big highlight was meeting Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Pluto, and Goofy! She got pictures with all of them and really loved giving them hugs. After 6 hours, we headed back to the room. Just pizza out for dinner and maybe a walk to the playground at the hotel. Tomorrow is a trip to Chris's aunt and uncle's house and souvenir shopping with his other aunt.

Chris, Mira, and Amelia near The Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom:



Before "It's a Bug's Life" starts:



Mira meeting Piglet and Tigger:





Mira playing the bongos in "Africa" at Animal Kingdom:

DisneyWorld, Day 3

We had a wonderful, relaxing day today. We got up slowly, ate breakfast in our room, and decided to go see "Bee Movie" at Downtown Disney. It was Amelia's first move, and Mira's second move. And believe me when I say tthat movie is FUNNY! I can't wait to buy it. It reminded me a bit of Monster's Inc. Really really good.

Then we had lunch and took Mira for a swim in the pool while Amelia napped in her stroller poolside. It was a nice safe pool adventure and Mira did great listening to us near the water. She still talks about that incident (see our Day 1 entry).

Then Chris and I hired a babysitting service and went to Magic Kingdom by ourselves. What a different experience! Not having to tote around a stroller and a diaper bag and two kids was very nice for one evening. We love showing the kids around, but Magic Kingdom is a completely different experience at night without kids. We rode on all the adult rides that the kids wouldn't have enjoyed. Cinderella's castle all lit up at night was spectacular! It was a wonderful date night for me and Chris.


Michelle

DisneyWorld, Day 2

Hello! Yesterday was a wonderful day in DisneyWorld. The kids got up around 7:30 after BOTH of them slept ALL NIGHT! So we were all well rested for our day in Magic Kingdom. And we had so much fun! We got to the park around 9:15 and went straight to the back like all the guidebooks say to. We rode the Mad Hatters Tea Party ride first, then went to Mickey's Toon Town area and saw the sights, then over to Fantasyland where we spent pretty much the rest of the day. We rode the Dumbo ride, Winnie the Pooh's Adventure (twice at Mira's request), Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventure, the Carousel, Pirate of the Carribean, It's a Small World, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, and Mickey's Philharmonic. Amelia was able to ride on nearly all of these, which was really nice. Mira did well, even though she didn't understand the concept of waiting in line at first, but got used to it by the end of the day.

So 10 hours later we finally left the park. It was a chilly day for Florida (about 65 degrees all day), but better than being really hot. Mira took a nice trip on the way out and skinned both her knees AGAIN (she did that near the pool the night before), so her knees are a pretty big mess today.

But both kids did a great job at Magic Kingdom yesterday. Today they both have colds, it seems. So we are planning to take it easy, walk around Downtown Disney, see "Bee Movie" and have lunch, then make sure they both have a nice nap. I think we'll head to the pool if it warms up enough, or maybe some mini-golf. I love an uplanned day!

Tonight, Chris and I are going to try to get a sitter for the kids while we go out to dinner and maybe to Magic Kingdom again to go on the adult rides. Chris was only able to go on Splash Mountain yesterday.

Hope you are all will. Will post again when I can. In the meantime, here are a few photos: