Holly Jolly Holiday Time

We had such a fun and festive December.  Nothing is better than watching Christmas through a 2 year old's eyes.

 

"WHOOOOAAA" 

"LOOOOOOK"  

"CANDLES" (christmas lights... ha!) 

"LIGHT IT UP!" about the Christmas tree 

"LIGHT UP YOURS!" about her christmas tree

This kid has been pretty dern cute himself...

Ben lit up the house Griswald style.  Kate loved the lights on our mailbox and every night she runs to the window yelling "MAILBOX! LOOK!"  

Our tree was massive as always and the house is chock full of decorations and Christmas cheer.  So much fun and so fun starting traditions with our littles.

We had a blast at my work Christmas party.  We had the best time having a night with no kids and some much needed fun with friends out on the town.

We got to see the lights at the zoo...  

It was cut somewhat short due to the fact that it was freezing and there was poop... and no diaper bag.  Whoops.

We had breakfast with Santa!!

Kate was pretty unimpressed.. She sat on his lap with no hesitation but wasn't really sure what all the fuss was about.  Bruce thought he was pretty snuggly and if we would have given him a few more minutes, he probably would have just cuddled right up and gone to sleep on the man!  

Oh and be still my heart when they read the Night Before Christmas and Kate just snuggles right up to her brother and puts her arm around him.  "Sit here baby, story, listen"

I love these kiddos so much my heart could burst.

We made (and ate) lots of treats and cookies

And we just enjoyed a month of full of Christmas excitement and fun.

Little Miss Kate

I feel like I haven't really done a Kate "update" in a while and there are just so many things that I don't want to forget about this funny little gal at this age.

Seriously, this girl has so much personality and cracks us up all day long.

She is full of sass and spunk but at the same time she is sweet as pie.  She will be this close to getting a big ol' spanking/time out/stand on the wall and then will turn on this super sweet voice and come over and say "hi mommy, hi daddy" and give us a hug and pat our back.  I'm not kidding, this girl can work her parents.

She talks NONSTOP.  No joke.  She does not have an "inside voice" and she is either talking or singing pretty much every waking hour.  Lately she has been really into singing different songs and I feel like she has learned every word to all these songs like overnight... ABC's, twinkle twinkle, jingle bells, old mcdonald... so many more, oh and if she isn't singing a song everyone knows, she is making one up.

Speaking of our little chatterbox.. I feel like her vocabulary and language are ridiculously advanced for a 2 year old.  I really have no clue and don't really have a whole lot of 2 year olds to compare her to, but she blows me away with some of the stuff she says.  Maybe I am just a crazy proud mama and that's ok too :)

Some of my favorite things she says right now... "come get cozy mama", "oh my word", "oh my goodness", "snuggle buggle", "wait.... patient"  Anytime she walks into the room or if she notices we aren't really paying attention to her she will come over and say "hey guys, watcha doin?" She has started calling us Ben and Becca and it is kind of hilarious.

She doesn't meet a stranger.

She is stubborn.  Our punishment for her is to make her stand on the wall until she stops throwing a tantrum/crying etc.  She has to stand there until she calms down and says she is sorry.  Half the time she will get quiet and look at you and you ask her "are you sorry?"  

"No"

We wait a little while longer.. "are you sorry?"

"No"

This could go on for a few minutes and then eventually she will come over with the sweetest voice ever and say sorry mama/daddy and give us a big hug.

Well... at least the girl is honest, no fake apologies from her!

She still loves her binks. 

They are slowly starting to break and I am resisting the urge to buy her more.  Her most favorite purple bink broke a couple months ago so we made her throw it in the trash.  She still talks about it occasionally but seems ok with the fact that it is gone since she threw it out.  

She likes to have one in her mouth and one in her hand which she likes to press against her nose when she is going to sleep.

We have 3 left.

I'm nervous.

She loves to run and jump and ride fast down hills in her car.  She is such a thrill seeker and truly has no fear, especially when her dad is involved.  I feel like she is going to be this perfect mix of loving girly things but also being able to get dirty and play with the boys.

She loves playing with her babies and being a mama.  Man she is sweet rocking those dollies and wrapping them up and
putting them "night night" and telling them shh shh shh its ok baby.. She has such a tender little caring heart... 

and then she drops them and says "BUST HIS HEAD"

I know I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again, but man I would freeze time right now.  This girl is just such a delight.  I love watching her learn new things, develop this awesome little attitude and personality, and I love watching how she loves her brother.  She is truly just such a perfect little peanut.

7 Months

11/30/15

Bruce is 7 Months Old!

Poor Bubs celebrated his 7 month bday with an ear infection, but he sure is sweet and pretty much happy even when he doesn't feel good.   This boy is seriously the sweetest baby.

This month marked the beginning of finally consistently sleeping through the night.  Praise the Lord!  He is pretty much sleeping 12 hours every night and mom and dad are very happy about that.

Now if we could just get him to figure out that whole napping thing!

He is such a ham.  

Pretty much always smiling and giggling.  He will let you know when he is hungry or tired though!

Not sure exactly how much he weighs, but this boy is heavy!  He feels like he weighs as much as his sister.  He is wearing 9 month clothes and size 4 diapers (only 1 size smaller than Kate!)

He has really gotten into his food this month. He loves to eat and you can't get that spoon to his mouth fast enough.  Current favorites are apples, pears, sweet potatoes, butternut squash.  

He still drinks about 32 oz of milk every day on top of that and has started getting a little formula this month.

He is dying to move and sometimes gets frusterated when he can't get what he wants/ can't see someone.  Although he kind of hates being on his belly, so not sure when that whole crawling thing will happen.  We may have a butt scooter on our hands very soon!

Bruce, you make us so happy every day.  That sweet grin of yours just lights up my heart.

Happy 7 months sweet guy.  Stop getting so big!

Siblings

Because it just doesn't get much better than these 2....

Thanksgiving Week

11/29/15
We were lucky enough to get to spend an entire WEEK in Virginia for Thanksgiving.

We left around 5 on Friday night and drove until we got there.  Bruce slept pretty much the whole way.  Kate is not much of a car sleeper these days, but she did so well and was pretty happy to get to watch her shows on the ipad.

Bruce got an ear infection a day or 2 before we left so he was definitely feeling under the weather and was not a very good sleeper in Cville (we resorted to buying him a swing while we were up there!)

Poor thing had to do some breathing treatments (like sissy like brother!)

He did catch a pretty good nap in his jumper...

Saturday we went to Scott Stadium to cheer on the Hoos.  Kate's first football game was a UVA game (in a suite! setting the bar high..)

MRG was one happy guy.

Monday we got to have a sweet visit with the McNerneys and Ingrahams.  We finally got to meet our sweet new baby girl Pennie.  We are all smitten with those sweet cheeks.

So amazing and fun to have my babies playing with my lifelong best friend's babes.  There just ain't nothing better than that.

Love my Nern and her sweet girls..

All these babes.

Poor Bruce- destined to be tormented by these ladies for sure!

We had some more fun visits with lifelong friends throughout the week.  The Woods, the Lucks, the Greers... I'm terrible and didn't take any pictures.  Loved every second of seeing all of yall though.  

The rest of the week was mostly spent relaxing and enjoying time at the house..

Of course there was Bodos

Then, before we knew it, it was already Thursday and time for 30 people to gather at our house and pig out. Check out this table!

Nothing better than childhood memories and stories from these guys... Never a dull moment with the Guthrie crew.

I think Kate has a new favorite holiday...  This girl can put away some food!

After dinner, we all headed outside to enjoy the beautiful warm weather.  Wrigley even got some attention and was pretty happy about that!

Kate and baby Jack were pretty obsessed with cousin Jack and pretty much followed him everywhere.  Love having some free baby sitting! :)

Sweet little turkeys...

Love this crew oh so much and was so grateful to spend Thanksgiving with them.

We spent the last few days soaking up time with family and enjoying every minute of it.

It was fabulous weather so we headed to the park

while the rest of the crew played golf.

It was a great week...

Way too many cocktails, so much good food, and fun and laughter with my family.

Our last night we enjoyed one last bath with our sweet cousin

and lots of snuggles with DiDi and MRG

Then we hit the road Saturday am.

Tired babes were just the sweetest in the car.

Back to Georgia... Back to reality.

Thanks for a great week DiDi and MRG!  Until next time C'Ville!