25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Grandma and Papa came to our house for Christmas this year!!  However, they were in a car accident on the way here.  All we can say is that they/we are beyond blessed that they walked away without a scratch!

Some much needed cuddle time upon arrival!  Riley was resting his head on papa’s chest for so long until I got the camera.  But I still got some sweet moments of them together.

We did lots of FUN activities while they were here and had such a great time!  Until…..Riley woke up with a fever and strep throat the day after Christmas, cutting grandma and papa’s trip just a wee bit short.  I didn’t take very many pictures of Christmas morning (mass chaos) but have a few.  Unfortunately grandma has a bunch of cute ones which I didn’t get before they left.  :(

We, and Santa, didn’t go overboard this year. There weren’t any “big” items this year (since we already own them all!). They each got their own big bucket of legos and some mini sets to go with.  They all got a TON of books (the favs so far:  Pete the Cat White Shoes, Fudge chapter books and Karen Katz lift the flap books for Kellen).    Mrs. Potato Head, swim goggles, egg shakers, rhythm sticks and a harmonica (that $5 harmonica is totally the favorite thing they got!)  Melissa & Doug wooden tool set and pound a pegs.  And Kellen got the Poppity Pop Musical Dino….which the boys play with incessantly and put other things into it to see what will pop!

Finn patiently surveying the goods waiting for everyone to assemble.

Kellen had a rough night, so he was in the swing, BIIIIIIG Stretch!

Opening stockings!

 

Egg shakers!

Ohhh, what is it????

I love the look on Kellen’s face here, his eyes are popped like what in the world is that????

ohhhhhhh

Lego Time!!!

 

We’re heading to grandma and papa’s house this summer for “Tecumseh Trail Camp”, so grandma and papa got the boys some supplies for that adventure!

Quite possibly the favorite toy of the year, the $5 harmonica!  Evidently we should have *splurged* and bought two.  In fact, I guess going forward we should really just buy two (and eventually 3) of everything!

It was a very Merry Christmas here for sure!

Caroling & Pink Pig Videos

Neighborhood Caroling: Jingle Bells

 

Neighborhood Caroling: Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

 

Caroling at the Fire Station:  Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

Pink Pig:  All the kids are adorable, but Kellen at the end steals the show!

And Caroling for Grandma and Papa!

Kellen is 9 months old

This was the very first picture we took!  He looks almost skinny here!?!  He’s totally not though…big ole chunker!

This has been a HUGE month for Kellen!  While he started saying momma at 7 months old (11/4/11), he has finally started making other sounds (dada on 12/20) and talking up a storm!  He started crawling, and also pulling himself to standing, his bottom two teeth came in and his top two teeth are pushing their way through now making him a drooly mess!  He has started signing “more” and the pure joy on his face that we understand him is absolutely priceless!  He has completely mastered eating cheerios now too but is still balking at any other type of food I try to put down on his tray.  He is also starting to try to clap, he’s not quite there but he is watching intently and he is trying!  (I’ve mentioned this before, but clapping is my absolute favorite baby trick!)  You can see him kind of trying here, he’s watching grandma and Finn and Riley clapping behind me, who were trying to get his attention towards me for a picture.

He also had his first (double) ear infection and pink eye this month. Poor baby!

   

He’s a happy little man and I love him to pieces!  I took him in to the doctor for a check up.  No shots at this appointment, though he did get a finger prick for anemia and lead, which didn’t even phase him!  I did also have to make his 1 year old appointment as I was checking out and I got a little choked up.  On one hand it seems like he was born forever ago but on the other it seems like he is still just a baby!

And for the growth chart!

Kellen’s Growth Chart

Age	Weight	%	Height	%	Head	%
Birth	8lbs 8oz		21”
5 Days	8lbs		21”
1 Month	11lbs 9.5oz	90th	22.875”	95th	15.25”	90th
2 Months	14lbs 6.5oz	90th	24.5”	95th	16”	90th
4 Months	16lbs 10oz	85th	26”	85th	16.625”	75th
6 Months	18lbs 8oz	75th	27”	75th	17.25”	75th
9 Months	21lbs 7oz	80th	29”	80th	17.75”	50th

25 Days of Christmas: Days 18 thru 24

18. Caroling

We went caroling with our babysitting co-op for the second year in a row.  It was MUCH warmer this year than it was last year which made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable for the kids! 

We got the kids bundled up (unnecessarily) but this scarf wrapped around Riley was the cutest thing ever!  Finn would have nothing of the scarf, so Todd gave it a try….and then Riley tried to run away with it….

The Gang’s All Here!

 

Me, making this look easy…..

 

And Finn got a little crazy at the end and just started doing summersaults up and down the hill and singing “blah blah blah blah blah” instead of the words.  It was super pleasant.

19. Annual Holiday Dinner

We had our annual holiday dinner with our friends.  Such good friends, great conversation and amazing food!

Unfortunately we had alot of the above and food and we’re split between two tables and people started leaving before we got our group photo.  :(  So there are 7 people missing from this picture. 

  

20. Spread Holiday Cheer

Again this year we went to the local police and fire stations to take them treats, sing them songs, say thanks and check out their awesome equipment!  We went to two fire stations this year because one of them is currently under construction and one of the fire fighter was momma to a boy in our group!

Finn had been dying to sing “Hark the Herald, Angels Sing”, the song he sang in the church Christmas pageant….given that I barely know the words, I knew that no other children knew, but by the time we got to the last place he was REALLY wanting to sing it.  One other momma sang along with him, but he belted that song out loud all by himself!  He got a huge applause, and mommas heart practically burst with pride.

 

Riley was a little shy at first, so he was hiding behind me.

Then we went out to the garage and checked out the fire trucks!

 

He pulled out the jaws of life and showed us how they worked!  Scared the pants off of Riley though!

 

21. Ride The Pink Pig

We met up with some friends to ride The Pink Pig and had SO much FUN!

Posing while we wait

 

Pig Eating Dino….

And now we ride!  How cute are all four of them riding in the caboose together?

Kellen’s 1st Ride!  I love how he is holding on to the seat belt!

 

We got THE CUTEST picture of everyone with Priscilla!

Proudly displaying his sticker!

The boys hanging our new Pink Pig ornament!

22. Pajama Cookie Decorating

We headed over to decorate some cookies in our pajamas with our friends.  Riley just wanted to play at first and was not at all interested in decorating cookies, but he came around eventually.  It was definitely a lot less messier than last year!

 

Finn and D playing spies, sneaking up on us, slithering across the floor.  Hysterical!

23. Minivan Express

Another amazing internet find has become a new Lakes Family tradition…..I printed out tickets to give to the boys for a ride on the Minivan Express, a tour of Christmas lights!  We ended up going out to dinner that night, so we decided to have the waitress deliver the tickets to the boys at the end of the meal.  I brought along my hole punch to punch the tickets for entry and away we went!  It was magical and the boys absolutely loved it!  Finn said he wanted to save the tickets and get them punched every year until he was 22.

   

24. Christmas Eve:  Rudolph at Center for Puppetry Arts and goodies for Santa and his reindeer

We went to see Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer at the Center for Puppetry Arts this year.  We had tried to get tickets last year but missed the window (they sell out FAST!), but were able to get tickets this year!  And I am SO glad we did, it is by far the best puppet show we’ve seen there.  Adorable! 

 

After church service and dinner, we put out cookies and hot cocoa for Santa, and water and carrots for the reindeer.  Riley had also brought home a special bag of “reindeer food” which had oats and glitter in it to sprinkle in our front yard to help Santa and his reindeer find our house.

And the boys also wanted to sing carols to grandma and papa on the front porch.

There is also a video which I’ll put in another post I have of other videos to share……