Christmas 2011

No words only than these few here at the beginning, just lots of photos! Sadly, one of my memory cards became corrupted, and I am missing a chunk of Christmas photos. I’m hoping I can eventually get the photos off the card . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 11 of 2011

In many ways it is hard to believe that I am already choosing my favorite photos of the year again. I love choosing my favorites (although it can be really difficult to narrow it down!) because it gives me lots of time to think back on the year. I love my family so much! I look forward to sharing more photos with you in a few days in a year in review (photo style) post.

Be sure to check out my top 10 from 2010!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 15 Months Troy!

Happy 15 Months Troy!

I never can seem to get these monthly posts for you out on time! Oh, well, I’m at least thankful that I remember to write them in the general timeframe because they serve as a great reminder to the life we are enjoying with you!

You still aren’t walking (I know, I know, you are making me eat my words that you would walk before Ella did!), but you have finally started taking some steps. When you turned 15 months old, you’d take a couple of steps at a time. You are quite capable of standing without holding onto anything. In fact, you’ll drink your bottle or sippy cup while standing without holding onto anything, and you’ve even thrown a ball while standing without holding onto anything.  Although you aren’t walking yet, your crawling is always the talk of the room. You are a very fast crawler, and you even have what we call “high speed mode” where you put your head down and crawl like crazy!

You love playing with balls (any kind from a football to those huge inflatable balls that are bigger than you!). You love to throw or rolls the balls, and you continue to show off that you prefer to use your left hand. You are even pretty good a catching the large ball. When your dad rolls it to you, even if it is off to the side, you’ll move to it to put your arms around it to grab it.

You continue to jabber a lot, and you’ve added a lot of words to your vocabulary this month. You are very good at getting your point across even if you don’t know how to say the words. You are so expressive! You really hate getting your diaper changed, your nose wiped (which happened a lot this month because you were sick), getting your clothes changed, and riding in the car, and you let us know that you don’t like those things!

You continue to show off your climbing skills. I’ve had to rethink how to babyproof the house – Ella never was a climber! You also get into everything whether that be presents under the Christmas tree or in the kitchen cabinets. And, no, I never did babyproof the cabinets (except the one with chemicals) when Ella was a baby – she just wasn’t interested in digging in them like you are.

You still love being outdoors, and you even enjoy getting wet from the rain. You love when your dad runs with you in the cold air – you grin and laugh a lot! Your laugh is one of the most precious things in my life – I always love hearing it!

You love, love, love to dance! At a Christmas gift exchange we ended up with a Johnny Cash ornament that played “Ring of Fire” and you and Ella played that song over and over, dancing along every time. Y’all played it so much the batteries died on it before Christmas! You would grab the ornament in your hand and wave it around while the music played. However, that ornament isn’t the only music you like to dance to – you’ll dance to almost any music, and you love to make the toys play the music over and over again. If you are sitting down when the music plays you sway side to side hitting your arms on the ground as the music plays. If you are standing up (holding on to something) you’ll bounce up and down and get absolutely crazy!  I’ve added a video of your dancing skills at the end of this post because it is too great not to share!

 

Signs you do: more, finished, milk, hungry, thank you, please (although only once, maybe twice)

Words you say: bye, ball, Bible, bottle, bite, book, blue, mama, dada, Ella, “eeses” (Reeses, our dog), “anks” (thanks), “ish” (fish), “inished” (finished), duck, “ootball” (football), RhuRhu (grandma), Gigi (grandma), hey, hi, down, up, uh-uh, “eese” (please"). I also think you say something that sounds like “what’s that?”

Animal noises you make: chicken

Favorite foods: banana, beans, peanut butter crackers, green beans (although not as much lately), but mostly whatever is on someone else’s plate. You seem to be a lot more finicky about food lately, but I’m not so sure it isn’t just because you’ve been sick and we’ve been traveling.

Favorite activities: crawling and exploring everything, especially following Ella or chasing a dog; dancing (you love to turn on the music that plays on toys and dance to it); reading books; watching Blue’s Clues; taking baths; playing with balls (you love to throw any kind of ball); trying get any electronics or drinks you can spot.

Troy dancing from Lisa Kennedy on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Activities (with a toddler!)

Now that Ella is getting a little bit older, I was excited to do lots of fun Christmas projects with her this year. We didn’t get around to doing as many things as I had originally planned, but we did do a couple of fun projects.

First, we made a gingerbread house. We used a boxed kit, and Ella had a ton of fun directing me where to put icing and candy as well as placing some of the candy herself. She was even more excited when she figured out that she could eat some of the candy. : ) By the way, no judging on the quality of the finished product – I’m not very creative and my helper was a two year old! ; )

 

 

 

 

We also made salt dough ornaments. They were incredibly easy to make, and Ella really enjoyed picking out shapes as well as using the cookie cutters (or other utensils) to cut out the shapes.

 

 

 

(Ella was sick when we did this activity, so ignore the snotty face . . .)

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for the Almighty God who rules the heavens and the earth.

I am thankful for His sovereignty.

I am thankful for God’s perfect love and grace.

I am thankful for God’s salvation found through Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for God’s supreme knowledge and wisdom.

I am thankful for God’s holiness.

I am thankful for God’s truth and peace.

I am thankful that this list could never be complete because there is so much to thank God for.

Pep Talk

I love the time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the atmosphere of this time of year: everything from Christmas cookies to finding and wrapping the perfect gift to driving around looking at Christmas lights to receiving Christmas cards in the mail to traveling to see family and friends.

Time seems to fly more quickly these days, especially as I watch my children grow.  We haven’t even reached Christmas yet this year, and I already feel like this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas has passed too quickly. Throughout this time I’ve felt a bit too spread thin, and, not only have I felt like I haven’t had much time to relish the season, but I have also felt like I haven’t been able to do many of the things I’ve wanted to accomplish. I had great plans to do lots of fun Christmas activities with Ella (who is really getting engaged into the whole idea of Christmas), but we’ve only managed to do two of the many fun ideas I’ve found.  After three Christmases searching, I finally bought material to make Christmas stockings, but I didn’t even make it to the point of pulling the sewing machine out of the box.

This post isn’t about complaining, but simply a reality check for me. I can’t be everywhere at once. I probably won’t get everything done on my to-do list because it is too long and unrealistic in the first place. With two little ones in the house, projects will inevitably get put off and plans will change. Ella and Troy were both sick for a week (my husband and I didn’t feel great either). And, besides actually dealing with kids that didn’t feel good, we also had to deal with the severe lack of sleep (the kids don’t sleep well when they are sick and they share a room which only complicates that problem). On top of sick kiddos, I almost sliced the tip off of my index finger (so, please ignore any typos in this post), and was out of commission for an entire evening after that incident (what can I say, I have an extremely week stomach for almost slicing the tip of my finger off). Things types of things are not things to be worried or bothered by; they are simply things (and not really big things) that happen in life from time to time. But, I need to give myself that pep talk when I get bogged down by these things. And, when I say that I need to give myself a pep talk, I really mean that I need to listen to my husband’s encouraging words (because he is always the one who realizes I need the pep talk).

Hopefully this last week before Christmas will be a chance for me to slow down and breathe a little. As long as I actually figure out what to get for the last few folks on our Christmas list . . .

Holiday Bokeh Party

I loved this challenge last year, and I’m excited to participate again this year!

I Heart Faces: Furry Friends

“I’m not sick!”

Our household has been teetering on the edge of sick all week long, and over the weekend, the sickness finally got the best of Ella and Troy (and me too, to some extent). Ella and Troy weren’t able to go to Bible class and worship service this morning because of the sickness. Ella was incredibly disappointed that she couldn’t go to Bible class and services. In fact, she was running around saying “I’m not sick!” trying to convince us otherwise. She portrayed the same attitude tonight as she also had to miss the evening services. Ella’s attitude about the whole situation amazed me, and I’m thankful that she already has such a perspective.

Ella’s actions and enthusiasm remind me about the attitude I ought to portray about an opportunity to learn more about God and the Bible, and an opportunity to worship Him. It is easy to fall into a pattern of Bible class or worship services just being another event on the calendar, rather than the blessed occasion that it truly is. A time to go to worship the Almighty, for He truly is worth of praise and honor. A time to partake of the Lord’s supper. A time to fellowship with the saints; to share in suffering and rejoice in salvation. A time to learn more about God’s magnificent Word.   I’m reminded of David’s attitude in Psalm 122:1: “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord”.”

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Tree