Oh Christmas Tree

Oh (SAD little) Christmas Tree!

We purchased our tree when we lived in Austin. Our house in Austin had 10' ceilings. Last year, when we put it up here, we put it in the back of the house...coincidentally, it's the only room downstairs that has high ceilings. Since last year, Chris has built a banquet eating area in that space so we needed a new spot for the tree. We decided to put it in the front room. W/o thinking at all about the ceiling height. And that's the story of why our tree was missing it's top third =)

The kids didn't care though. Aidric LOOOOVED decorating it. He was so into it, I honestly barely touched the ornaments. We did it one afternoon when our babysitter Shelby was here. I thought she'd watch Cormac and the "big" kids and I would decorate. In the end, Aidric did almost all of the decorating. We had some hot cocoa and listened to Christmas songs too. It was really a great night! (and believe it or not, my type A personality just let go of the way the tree looked and it barely bothered me that all of the ornaments were on the bottom half of the tree and clumped together in spots)







Here she is in all her glory :)

Ice Skating

Aidric and Juliet finished up an 8 week ice skating class right before Christmas. They absolutely LOVED it. Their instructor was amazing and made it really fun for them. It was fun for me to have them in the same class. They both did really well, learned how to fall first and then how to stand up on their own. They both do pretty well going forward (though Juliet "steps" more than she skates) and can kind of shimmy their way backwards. Not sure if we'll be signing up for the next session...I'd love to see them do it again, but Juliet is BEGGING to go back to dance and Tee Ball starts for Aidric next month, so we'll see.

Juliet all ready to go- I would generally get Aidric's skates on and send him out there b/c we were of course a few minutes late by the time we got everything on!


She caught up to him before the class started though and it melted me when I walked over to find them standing there holding hands.



On the ice!

Santa's Little Helper

(pics taken December 5)



Most of you have heard me talk about my "online mom's group"- whenever one of us has a new babe, we are gifted one of these sweet "lovey" sized blankies custom made with baby's initial and minky on one side and a fabric chosen for that baby on the other side. I love ours!

Cards with Cormac

These were taken on Juliet's birthday, so I'm approximately a month behind in blogging. Bear with me :)

I was taking a few pictures of the birthday girl and her little brother while Aidric was off at a playdate (or maybe school?).







After snapping the above pictures, I sat down on the couch to look at my viewfinder and see what I had gotten. I looked up and saw this:



I could have stopped her here, but I was too amused and with my camera already in hand, it was just too perfect. The look on his face and the card on his head just cracks me up. When I asked her what she was doing, she very simply answered, "I playing cards with Cormac mommy".

Getting themselves dressed

Most days, Aidric picks out his own clothes. I try not to oppose his choices, even if they aren't my faves. I'll veto for weather or just let him know if something doesn't match...leaving up to him to change if he wants or not. (Though recently, I did strongly encourage him to choose something else when he came downstairs in dark, kelly green track pants and a lime-ish light green t-shirt. His defense? "Green and green mommy, it matches!")

Juliet chooses her own clothes on some days..I try to pick something out for her before I come down for breakfast. (Kids are usually up having breakfast with daddy). If I forget or don't have time though, she does choose her own. I often have to alter it a little...add a skirt over the leggings or somehow tie it all together.

A few weeks ago, there was a day when they both dressed themselves. And on that day, both outfits were photo worthy. And I don't mean that in a good way :)

First up, we have Juliet. Not a great choice, but it doesn't look too horrible, right?? The socks are an interesting choice and if we were going anywhere, I'd throw a black skirt over it to hide the fact that the leggings and shirt are not a great match. But we weren't going anywhere, so no big deal.


Here's the funny party...while in time out on the stairs, she decided to use that time wisely and put a second set of clothes on top of the first. The outfit on top was sitting on the stairs and she just put it on right over the other outfit. Wore both all day...when she got undressed for her bath that night we saw she even had two pairs of socks on!


And then there's Aidric. I need to preface this by telling you a little bit about our plans for the day...we had no plans. Weren't going anywhere or really doing anything..just hanging out at home.

So, why wouldn't he wear a button down shirt and tie??




Seriously, they crack me up!!

3 months old!

I can't believe it's been 3 months! Love this kid SO SO much. He's so sweet and such a little cuddler. This is both good and bad. I love cuddling too, I just also like to sleep. He likes to sleep with me :)

He's a pretty happy baby these days, but he does like to make sure he is being paid attention to. Apparently, no one told him he's the 3rd child and we don't have oodles of time to dote on him and an extra set of hands to hold him ALL DAY LONG.

He rewards for the attention though. The smiles are so so sweet. And the coos melt my heart. Here's a quick video that's actually a few weeks old but shows it so perfectly. He had just finished eating and was full of coos and smiles until I turned the camera on. He clammed up and then broke it back out when I told him how cute he was. (MELT)



I put him on the scale during Juliet's doctor's appointment the other day- 14.5 lbs and I think around 25". According to the charts I found online, that around the 75% for both- WOW!

Ladybug Girl Birthday Party!

It took forever for Juliet to decide what kind of birthday party she wanted, but after reading "Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad Playdate" over and over (a "big sister" gift from Aunt Sarah and family), I made the suggestion and it was an immediate YES! And I'm so glad b/c it was so much fun to see her in her ladybug girl outfit and loving everything about her party.

Ladybug Girl!


and ladybug girl's cousin, ladybug girl :)


Playing "pin the spots on the ladybug"


after the game:


Ladybug Cupcakes


Chocolate dipped pretzel rods


Blowing out her candles...in all my party planning, I forgot to buy candles! So...we held up a cupcake and she blew out 3 candles in our red holiday flutes!



Safe to say she loved the cupcake



Jumping in the bouncy house:


Cormac with Uncle Richard


Our latest 52 weeks picture


And birthday girl was DONE here, this family picture cracks me up!

Happy 3rd Birthday Juliet!!!

Our sweet but oh so sassy little girl is THREE YEARS OLD!!!! I really need a long post about this child, but if I wait until that's ready to post, she'll be four by then :)

So, for now, a quick Happy Birthday and a few pics we snapped before preschool this morning!

Here's her fake smile


And here is the real, unedited, Juliet :)