Bedtime Stories

We figured out how to spice up our bedtime routine.

They were on board with our idea!

Matt read bedtime stories to them like this one night. It was a great and fun idea until it was time to get down, at which point Nathalie had a bit of a meltdown because apparently she's afraid of heights (what?! This is Nathalie we're talking about).

What do we do with these two high-up alcoves? Any ideas?

3/4 of the way there!

Lydia is 9 months! It is right at this age that I start thinking babies are really fun. Lydia's personality is really starting to shine through now and her big smile warms my heart every time.

She easily pulls up and stands on her own now. She doesn't cruise a lot but usually lets go of whatever she is holding in order to stand by herself. Her favorite thing to reach is the toilet paper!

She can clap and say "mamamamamama", as well as converse with happy little sounds. She loves music and rarely cries in the car when we have Frozen playing.

She has the cutest smile. I keep waiting for more teeth, but we're sticking with two for the last few months. She doesn't really laugh unless she's being tickled, but she will smile at us, especially me!

And she's chubby. See her wrist rolls? I just love them!

I love this picture because she's finally starting to let Matt hold her occasionally. It's rare, but thank goodness!

Her sleeping habits are still horrendous. Some days she takes a good nap in the morning, other days she takes 20 minute cat naps. I can never tell what kind of day it is going to be and I'm really good about a routine, but she doesn't seem to care. Nighttime isn't very pleasant either. Some nights she'll only wake up twice but other nights she wakes up 4-6 times. That gets pretty rough after a few of those nights. There seems to be no rhyme or rhythm to predicting if she'll sleep well any given day or night.

But she is cute.  And very wiggly.

She still loves her "mimi", which is what we call the pacifier. Emily called it that when she was little. Lydia looks a lot like Emily did at this age too.

See that great smile? I always get the best smiles.

Sweet Lydia, you are teaching me so much about patience and love. We are grateful for you and for your health. Only a few more months to go!

Our Spare Time

 We like to take on projects in our spare time. Here's what we've been up to this last week. Matt built a "hoop house" for our garden. Right now it protects our plants from cold. Savannah doesn't get that cold, but at night it's down in the 20s and some of our plants have died because they weren't protected. Sadly, we lost our basil plant to the cold. But no more!

 The finished product. It'll also protect our plants from the hot Georgia sun this summer. We'll open up the bottom to let the air in and out, but leave most of the garden covered so our plants don't burn.

 On Monday we headed out to the National Wildlife Refuge. The girls and I have been there before, but Matt hasn't.

 If you ever visit Savannah, makes sure to check out the wildlife refuge. It's absolutely beautiful. We didn't see any gators today, but we did get to play swords with cattail reeds!

 Also, I would like to introduce: World's Cutest Baby.

 Matt's one lucky guy!

Lastly, I've been finishing up Emily's uniform wardrobe. Just in time for the 100th day of school, right?! I made 5 skirts, 3 shorts and 3 pants. Nathalie will wear them next year too, although I'm going to have to make more pants for Emily because she's growing so fast.

I'm still training for my half marathon. I'm increasing my distances slowly to avoid injury, because I had a few small temporary setbacks in December. I seem to have recovered and don't have pain in my knees anymore, so right now I'm at 4 miles, 3 times a week. I'd love to run more than that, but not at this stage in my life. Running is what keeps me sane. I will finish off January with 4 miles, then increase a mile a month for my long runs. Hopefully I can do this without injury! I'm excited to run longer and farther.

Matt's extra curricular activities include reloading ammunition, hiking and watching our favorite cooking show, River Cottage. Look it up on YouTube! He's going to walk the half marathon because he hates to run and would rather get eaten by the bear than outrun it.

I figure that's a win-win for me because then the bear won't chase me!

Right before the cold

 We headed up to Ohio after Christmas for a visit with friends and family. One of our friends had this hysterical wig and we couldn't resist putting it on Lydia! Did she love it? No.

 Green looks so good on you, honey.

 At my in-law's 40th anniversary party, we got to see Grandma Tammy, Grandpa Chris and their family. Charlotte basically bounced between Grandma and Grandma Tammy for a few hours and didn't want anything to do with Mama!

 Lydia, on the other hand, absolutely despises anyone who is not me. Grandma Tammy got to hold her for two seconds before she started crying. True story, Lydia screams anytime anyone but me holds her. Still.

 Charlotte with K.

 Grandpa Chris loves little Lydia. Did Lydia love it? No.

 Here is a rare documented photo of Lydia smiling in someone else's arms! It was shortlived. Grandma did weasel her way in a little bit and by the end of a few days, Lydia allowed her to hold her for a few seconds at a time.

 Pretty girl.

 Oh, beautiful!

 Sleeping is the best.

 We brought snow gear and the girls were delighted by all the "snow"! It wasn't cold enough to snow while we were there but they ate what they could find.

 Grandma and Papa built a fort out of a big box they'd been saving for the girls.

 Emily made it her bed for the duration of our stay.

 Cocoa and Matt. Hey there, good-lookin'!

 Papa does this thing where he pins the grandkids between his legs and to get out they have to answer a question. Sometimes it's simple (what's your sister's middle name) or hard (a hard scripture story).

 The kids wiggle and scream while they're pinned, but once they're released they beg to be pinned again!

 Papa also makes a great horsey.

 Lydia is a stander! She's been practicing standing on her own too, a lot. She's starting to cruise a teeny bit.

 Daddy makes a good horsey too, which is good since Mommy does not like little girls climbing on her.

 Pretty little girl. A rare moment of happiness in Lydia's life. I try to document them because they're few and far between.

 The morning we left we woke up to this! The girls were SO excited. They got their snow gear on and ran around eating snow while we packed the van. We left JUST in time. By that evening the roads were iced over and the temps had dropped twenty degrees. It was the beginning of the polar vortex weather, and we were glad to get back to warm Georgia!

Holy Christmas, Batman!

Our Christmas festivities started off with my birthday on the 23rd. Matt and I normally keep my birthday low-key. He gives me a present or two, and I open presents from family. We do a bigger celebration for my birthday in June.

But this particular birthday two close friends of ours brought over Papa Murphy's pizza (LOVE) and made small angel food cakes and a big ol' birthday cake. PLUS a gift! I felt so spoiled and loved. Then we talked late into the night.

Christmas Eve began with cooking making. We were going to a friend's house for Eve Dinner and they normally decorate cookies after dinner. This is a big treat for my kids since normally I'm not willing to undertake the craziness that is making, rolling, cutting and decorating sugar cookies.

All the cookies, plus two pies.

And THEN, we got a fun surprise in the mail! A few weeks prior, Emily had sent a letter to Santa. It didn't have a wish list, it just talked about how she was so excited for Christmas. And Santa wrote back!

See the excitement?!

The letter was typed and they hadn't written her name, but Emily didn't care. She LOVED it. We taped in our wall next to all our Christmas cards.

After an AMAZING dinner with delicious sweet potatoes and more laughing than eating, it was cookie decorating time. It's a good thing I made so many! There were 11 kids decorating.

"Would you like a little cookie with your sprinkles?"

Charlotte was happy that no one was helping her.

You should have seen the floor afterwards.

Christmas morning was a blast. Charlotte wouldn't take off her fairy wings.

Santa gave Emily a huge pack of pretend money, but Emily's favorite present was the pack of glitter markers in her stocking. Go figure!

A rubber band loom, a pretend cash register, board games, a bug catching kit, wings, Frozen dolls, clothes...there was a happy bunch of princesses that morning.

It was a little chaotic.

Then, because it's Georgia and it was 50 degrees, we went on a walk on a trail by the beach. It was a little chilly and windy to be comfortable, but we cooked up some beans and hot cocoa and it was a fun thing to get out of the house.

What a blast!