We Believe.....

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas With Teeti

Before Teeti traveled back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas, we had Christmas with her at our house.  She definitely knew what the kids would like!  Ryan LOVES his new Thomas tent and Lillian is really into her new pink lap top. 

Snowman Rice Krispie Treats

We Have a Crawler!

Lillian finally started "crawling" a couple of weeks ago and I finally got it on video.  Sorry it is sideways.  I am working with her to get her belly off the ground.  

Christmas Inflatables

So we started out with a little 4 foot Santa Clause inflatable that Grammy bought for Ryan.  It bit the dust with in a couple of weeks, so we replaced it with a 4 foot Frosty which Ryan adores and makes us turn on every day, all day.  Then Grammy came across a sale on the Thomas the Train inflatable that Ryan spies through out the neighborhood in envy.  This afternoon Grammy surprised Ryan with the Thomas inflatable set up in our yard.  He was beyond excited and keeps running to the window to check on it!

Squash!

Lillian loves squash!  This particular meal she decided to smear it everywhere.  She got it in her hair and spiked it up.  I think she is trying to be like her brother (although he uses hair gel, not food).

Uncle Jonathan's Visit

Uncle Jonathan came for a visit and the kids are fans of his!  It was great to see him!  Come back soon!!



Santa's Sweet Girl

Gingerbread House

Day 8 of Ryan's advent calendar was to make a gingerbread house.  It was a family project and I think it turned out very cute.  Ryan loved eating the candy more than decorating.  "1 for the 'ninnerman' house, 2 for me"!!!



Places Jingle Has Been

Frosty

Grammy took Ryan to make his first Build-a-Bear. He chose to make Frosty the Snowman.  Frosty lights up and makes a little magic sound when you tip his hat.  Grammy also bought Frosty his very own cell phone, which might be more of a hit than Frosty himself.   I was using Frosty to entice Lillian to crawl.  She has yet to master the skill, but seems to be moving in that direction.  She has recently started lunging forward from sitting position.  I think we have a few weeks to go before she figures it out though.  She can get around a little, by crawling and slowly scooting towards something.  When Ryan was 8 months old he had been crawling for 1 1/2 months, so it is pretty interesting to see the difference between Lilly and Ryan.  Lillian is 8 months old today!  I can't wrap my brain around how fast she is growing up.  She is starting to show some signs of teething, so I imagine in the next month or so she will have her first tooth! 



This is my favorite smile that she has.  She is just so happy and makes this cute face all of the time!

Jingle Bells

Along with the advent calendar, we started theh Elf of the Shelf tradition too.  The story behind the Elf, is Santa sends him to your house to keep an eye on everyone and then the Elf reports back to Santa each night.  When the Elf comes back to your house, he is in a new location so you have to find him each day.  Ryan seems to get it and loves looking for him all over the house.  He affectionately named him "Jingle Bells" (Jingle, for short). 

The first morning, "Jingle" was in his stocking!

Elmo Ornament

Last year, Grammy bought Ryan an Elmo ornament and it is his favorite ornament on the tree.  He loves to take it off the tree and relocate it to another part of the tree.  He does this a few times a day.