Another little talk

Once again, we had to sit down with Lucy and discuss her report card.

Merry Christmas!

This has been our best Christmas in a long time, being that Patrick is now old enough to begin to understand the concept of Santa. We went to mass at St. Francis last night and then headed over to to Brian's parents for the Bretz family Christmas. After snacking, the gift opening followed upstairs, Patrick scurrying up the steps saying "dash away, dash away, dash away!" The kids were bushed after the evening and Brian and I got to work to the background tune of "A Christmas Story". This morning started early and Patrick was absolutely estatic to see his train table and new pieces (especially Cranky the Crane) under the window after realizing Santa's cookies were gobbled up....and it just went on from there. Lucy enjoyed unwrapping and got to work immediately on her laptop at the breakfast table. After breakfast, we realized that Santa left a gift out in the carport, apparently it couldn't fit in the house, and his new trike was the last gift given this Christmas. We are so blessed, so fortunate, to have these kids and this life. Check out the additions to the slideshow -- sorry, I know it is over 100 images! Merry Christmas!!!!

Santa cookies

Today was a great day to be at home, so glad we are done shopping and fighting the crowds and ice this week. We decorated sugar cookies for Santa and watched the Polar Express. The kitchen was a disaster zone at the end of it all, but it was well worth it. We are all ready now!

Breakfast with Santa

We headed up to Indy this weekend to celebrate Christmas with the McNulty's. We went to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday morning at the Indiana State Museum. That was a lot of fun! Clifford the Big Red Dog was there as well as Raggedy Ann and some other characters, which Lucy loved and Patrick did not. I think they kind of freaked him out, he kept saying "I don't like that big red dog". It was a trip down memory lane for Mommy, they had the old LS Ayres storefront on display and the holiday train that we rode as kids when we visited Santa Claus. Patrick thought the train was the best part. Then we visited Santa Claus, and Patrick only got close enough to inform him he wanted "choo-choo's" (see above), but Lucy surprisingly sat on his lap for a few moments. That night we had Christmas dinner and opened gifts. What a great weekend! Check out the newest slideshow and stay tuned for additions throughout the week!

12 month check up

Lucy had her 12 mo check up today and she sure has grown! She is 22 lbs 3 oz (25th percentile) and 31 inches tall (75th percentile). So long and lean. She is right on schedule for everything, not yet walking but has taken a step unsupported a few times. Dr. Goldman was surprised at all the words she is saying, I guess 15-20 words is unusual for a 12 month old. Although we did think it was kinda freaky last week when she said "thank you, Daddy" after Patrick did when Brian gave them both dishes of ice cream after dinner. I attribute that to the fact that she is a girl and the constant chatter that surrounds her. Lucy was pretty much in a panic when she saw the familiar nurse and especially when she was laid down on the paper covered table, which is so interesting because Patrick never seemed to remember one visit to the next. 3 vacinnations for her, 1 for him (such a trooper) and we were outta there til March!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Happy Birthday, Sweetness. We can hardly believe this day is here. Lucy has grown so much over the past year, and she is a true blessing to our family. We celebrated this evening -- a lasagna dinner and a butterfly cake. The presents were overflowing, including a stroller, an American Girl baby doll, a tea set, and lots of books, hair accessories, and stuffed toys. Quite a bit of family travelled down from Indy including Grammie, Aunt Maribeth, Uncle Jason and Henry to join the party, in addition to all the family that is here in town. Patrick was eager to help her open gifts, and then of course play with her gifts. He had his orange-iced cupcake picked out since early this morning, and he even helped mix up the icing for her cakes. Lucy was a tad hesitant on diving into her cake, which honestly was surprising, but her brother was right there to assist!

Christmas jammies

The kids were having a fun time tonight playing around in their winter jammies, or "jammies with shoes" as Patrick calls them. Grammie sent them a special package of Christmas jammies, Lucy is wearing hers in this picture. Patrick and Lucy were thrilled to see that St. Nick found our home Saturday morning -- shoes filled with small toys and candy. A nice precursor to Christmas -- we can't wait! Big birthday this weekend -- I had to include a similar picture from last year to show how big BOTH our babies have gotten in the last year!

Oh Christmas Tree

This was probably the first year that Patrick was excited and engaged in decorating the tree, his 3rd Christmas. By the time we realized we pitched the lights from last year and the boys got back from Rural King, Lucy was done, so she didn't help hang the ornaments. Patrick thinks the big tree is alright, but his tree in his own room is really neat. And he decorated it all by himself, if you can't tell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent the holiday up in Indy and had a great time! Thanksgiving Day was at Grammie and Papa's, the day after was spent shopping with the girls (boys babysat :), and Saturday we headed to, where else, the Children's Museum. Grammie offered to stay home with Lucy, so we had the luxury of a special morning with Patrick. How did we ever think we were busy with one child? We weren't. The trip was fun and we look forward to returning in 3 weeks for our Christmas weekend -- including Breakfast with Santa at the State Museum! Yea! The pictures I included are of Lucy enjoying her dinner, Grandpa carving the turkey with a close observer, and Patrick holding Baby Shea (who he insisted was his baby and absolutely loved holding her -- we informed him he missed the boat on his baby).