18 Months Old!

Holly is now 18 months old.  I can't believe it.  Two of my friends recently had babies and it is almost hard for me to remember Holly being that small.  How you forget those early, sleepless days!

Holly is such a funny girl.  She is probably the loudest baby I've ever come across.  In the past few days when she is wanting something if you happen to mention exactly what she wants she will respond with the loudest most emphatic "YES" ever. Her language skills have really taken off this past month.  She is trying more words every day.  Even if she doesn't say the word correctly we are usually getting the right amount of syllables.  She's adventurous at home and acts like everything is her personal jungle gym.  This girl isn't afraid of falling.  She also does full back floats in the tub, she will just lay there relaxed floating around.  I'm amazed.

She adores Elliott and wants to be doing whatever he is doing.  She knows his special stuffed animals and will bring them to him if he's left them somewhere.  Most days they get along really well.  Some days Elliott wants to play with her, will hug her and talk to her all the time.  Other days...not so much.

I feel like she is really starting to grow up.  She's so independent that we hardly use our baby gates anymore.  She can go up or down the stairs with no problems and is quite safe about it.  We finally cut her off her final bottle (before bed).  She was only getting 2oz for probably a month before we cut her off, so she didn't really need it but was used to it.  I am starting to get her used to the idea of potty training - we'll see how that goes...

Holly liked to play in her old moses basket.  We would load it with toys for her.

Being silly in the shopping cart. I have one of Elliott doing the same thing.

Sweet brother wanted to hold Holly 

Naughty Holly was joining Elliott in time out. (back in October)

Holding hands at the zoo a few days ago.

Elliott is doing great. He has a great time at Preschool.  Parents are required to help there about once a month. I wasn't sure about how I would like that, or if I would feel weird being there with the kids.  It is so much fun!  The kids are hysterical and it's great to see what he is doing while there.  He has made some new friends and really missed them over winter break.

He continues to be crazy over legos.  We are trying to play more board games with him so that he understands winning and losing - not always easy for him to grasp.  He is showing more interest in letters and putting sounds together.   He is definitely testing his limits and boundaries, something he started after Holly was born.  I don't think he had the terrible 2's but we are getting some of that now.  Consequently we have had to add new rules to our everyday routine, which is good for him in the long run.  Overall he's is great.  The kid can talk....endlessly :)

December and Christmas 2012

We started out the month of December with a visit to Santa at Macy's in downtown Portland.  Elliott loved it, Holly was scared motionless.  We got so lucky that Macy's was basically empty when we showed up.  Elliott sat with Santa for probably 5 minutes, it was very sweet.  Holly just stared at Santa and hardly moved when we put her on his lap.  She is normally so outgoing that it was funny to see her so timid.  

On a Sunday in early December we drove out to Sauvie Island to cut down our tree.  We had found a tree farm there last year and wanted to go back because it was so nice.  We failed.  It was closed on Sunday.  Because it was getting close to Holly's nap we stopped at a tree lot in North Portland.  The kids had fun decorating the tree and setting up for Christmas.  Elliott is interested in ornaments but usually does a pretty good job of not taking too many off the tree.  He was mostly interested in the Portland Trail Blazer candy cane ornaments and would take those off to play with.  When he was a baby I got a felt ornament kit and we hung those on the bottom so that Holly could touch them but not cause any damage.  She did well with the tree and while she did take ornaments off it wasn't that bad.  She's only 1, so it's what I expected.  Every morning she would be thrilled to watch me turn on the lights.  She would point to the plug and clap her hands once they came on.  

Dan and Elliott made Toffee twice this December!!  How did I get so lucky?  This is the second time they were making it.  Elliott really likes to help in the kitchen and enjoyed sprinkling on the chocolate chips and the sliced almonds.  We brought this toffee to the Ugly Sweater holiday party our friends host every year.  Elliott and Holly spent the night with Nana and Papa...yay!

We had taco dinner on Christmas Eve at Dan's parents house.  We opened presents there and they kids were so excited.

Holly loves the new baby doll she got from Nana Jane

On Christmas morning the kids slept in until 7:45 - not too shabby!  We went upstairs and checked out what Santa had left in their stockings.  Some santas went a little wild this year ;)  Dan's parents and Grandma came up to have breakfast and watch the kids.  

Elliott went to Build-A-Bear to make something for Holly.  He was super excited to give it to her.

We relaxed a bit at home then headed to Wilsonville to let Holly nap while Christmas dinner was prepared.  After dinner we drove out to my sister, Sarah's, house for dessert.  The girls were so excited to tell us what Santa had brought them.  Brooke loves Holly and will scoop her up the minute we walk in the door.  Thankfully Holly seems to love her right back. 

Grace and Elliott play twister

Yay for a relaxing day on December 26th!!

On the 27th we celebrated Christmas yet again!  This time with my family. Amy and Jake and the boys were in Sacrament for Christmas this year so we celebrated a few days late.  Three days later we all got together again to celebrate Paige's 2nd Birthday. Whew, it's a busy month!

All the cousins!  Grace, Holly, Paige, Brooke, Josh, Elliott, Caleb and Cameron.  

Girl cousins:  Grace, Holly, Paige and Brooke.

Grandpa and Paige while the kids opened presents

Paige and Holly both received fairy wings.  The girls loved it.

Thanksgiving

It's been a while, so let me catch up a bit with the holidays we've celebrated in the past two months.

We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house on Wednesday night.  Sarah and her family were spending a week down in the LA area (jealous!).  Because of Amy and Jake's work schedules we celebrated a night early.  We had a great dinner and had a good time spending time with family.  It was nice to have a few less kids around because with 8 grandkids it is LOUD!  Here are a few pictures from that evening.

Elliott was excited about the Ninjago legos that Josh brought 

Holly attempting to photo-bomb Josh, Cameron and Caleb!

On Thursday we then celebrated another Thanksgiving dinner with Dan's family and some family friends.  I only brought my camera out a few times and unfortunately don't have much to show from that dinner.  It was good to see Lauren, Justus and Cora since we aren't able to see them as often as we would like.  We also celebrated Cora's 1st Birthday that weekend.

Cora was a total ham and would smile anytime I pointed a camera at her :) 

Best family picture we could manage.  

Popular

On normal days, Dan works in his office or sometimes on the couch with his laptop.  He is by far the most popular person in the house.  Elliott and Holly can't stand that his office door is shut and they can't get to him.  Elliott, being older, is much better about knocking (pounding) on his door.

Today Dan had the day off.  So, he was upstairs with the kids while I was cleaning and vacuuming downstairs.  E & H were screaming to get to me.  They needed their mom so badly!  I guess when I'm not 100% available to them all the the sudden I am quite amazing and they have to be with me.

Apparently from an early age you always want what you can't necessarily have!

Also, Elliott says my job is "playing" and that I never get a day off.  Thanks, bud.

Happy 4th Birthday

Last weekend was Elliott's 4th Birthday.  It's hard to believe that he is 4 already.  We had a lego themed birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's.  It was really nice to have the party not at home, since I didn't have to clean before and then re-clean after.  We had a lot of kids this year.  We had 8 cousins, Holly and a small group of friends.  It was busy, but a lot of fun.  His birthday was on Saturday and the party was Sunday.  We opened his present from us on Saturday morning.  He was so excited for superhero legos.

"YES!!" 

 Grampa, Josh and Gramma

 Poppa and Holly - thanks for taking charge of this crazy girl during the party!

 Getting ready to have cake

 High Five from Chuck E Cheese first

Holly is 16 months old 

Elliott is 4

We've been very busy building and re-building many lego sets in the past week.  

Halloween

It was a rainy and cold night, which is pretty typical for Oregon.  We went to a few houses as a family, then I took Elliott out and we did a loop around the neighborhood.  Here are a few pictures from Halloween this year.

Earlier in the day Holly was wearing her costume and playing with T-Rex 

Not the best weather for pictures, or the most cooperative kids.  I think they are stunned here. 

Holly raids Elliott's candy stash while he cozied up on the couch. 

Dance party after some candy kicked in..he he

The day before Halloween, Tuesday the 30th, Elliott got to wear his costume to Preschool.  The kids did a short parade for the parents.  They had tambourines and maracas and marched in a circle around the preschool twice.  It was very cute!  Elliott loved wearing his costume to 3 events this year (he also went to a Superhero Birthday party).  Holly can't get enough of her fat ladybug costume.  If she sees it in her closet she will yell at me and point.  Basically, she would wear it daily if I let her.

Posing with Kids