Holiday Fun

December is here and we have been busy gearing up for Christmas by doing lots of fun and festive things!

We put up our Christmas tree this weekend! The weather was pretty yucky, but we just couldn't wait any longer. We always start with the typical tree shopping dance...grab a tree, spin it around, shake it about...but we ALWAYS end up getting a tree that is still all wrapped up. It's much easier to transport and shove into the stand, plus we love the surprise of opening it up at home.



We also pulled out Lyla's advent calendar that I made her last year. She is really excited about it this year, and loves pulling the ornaments out of the pockets and sticking them on the tree.




We are also really excited to welcome Jingle, our new Elf on the Shelf, into our home this year! His job is to check on how Lyla is doing and report back to Santa. My mom and dad got this for Lyla as an early Christmas present. Lyla adores him! Each morning Jingle is in a different spot in the house. Here he is hiding in the tree and then later in the lamp!

19 Months Old

Wow! Lyla June is 19 months old! I actually remembered to take her picture on her month birthday in her chair!



She wasn't sitting in her chair, but this picture was too cute to not post! If you ask her "what do you do when you see the camera?", she yells out "CHEESE!" and sometimes I am able to capture this adorable cheesy smile!



Lyla's current favorite things:

-Cheese, cheese, and more cheese! (are you surprised?)
-Sid the Science Kid (I'm so proud!!)
-Her Grandmas and Grandpas
-Her baby dolls (no one in particular...each and every one she sees! We don't even dare go down the baby doll aisle in the stores anymore!
-books and reading
-drawing and coloring
-singing!

First Day of School

In case you haven't heard yet, we have enrolled Lyla in school three days a week and today was her first day! She had such a great day and I think overall it was much harder on us than it was on her. She loves to play, be around other kids her age, and learn new things...so we are excited for her to enjoy this new experience!

Getting ready for school in the morning: A much different experience than we are used to...instead of staying in our pj's until 8:30-9:00 we were dressed and out the door by 7 am!



Eating some breakfast and playing at school in the morning :






Lyla with her teacher.


They are having a snow themed week, so today they read the book Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson, learned about polar bears, and sang Jingle Bells. She also created her first art project at school titled "Blizzard".

She did really well and only cried a little bit in the morning. We are hoping that she will be excited to go back tomorrow morning!

Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving! We didn't get many pictures over the holiday, but here are the few that we did get.
We spent Thursday here in town with Amber's family. We had a huge feast, visited with family, and let the girls (Lyla and Cousin Bliss) go crazy!



Lyla had so much fun coloring a picture of a Turkey! Looks like we need to ask Santa to bring her a few coloring books!



On Friday we went down to the B&B to spend some time with my family. We enjoyed lots of yummy Thanksgiving leftovers, relaxed on the porch, and even toasted marshmallows and made smores!
Lyla loved drawing on the chalkboard wall in the kitchen:



As always, Lyla and Renzo had a blast together!



Here they are being super silly before bedtime.

I don't think Lyla wants the fun to end! We are home now and Lyla took forever to get to sleep tonight...at one point we heard her over the monitor saying "fire on, fire on!" (She really loved the fireplace we had in our room)

Thank you to everyone for such a wonderful holiday! Spending time with our families, eating delicious food, enjoying some relaxing time off...we couldn't be more thankful for all we are blessed with!

Singing Baby

Lyla has started singing songs! "Shongs" as she calls them! Her favorites are "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "ABC's", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and she also loves to sing the doo dah's in "Camptown Ladies". Most of the time, only her mommies can understand her, but some of it is pretty clear! I am working hard on getting video to share...keep checking in!

18 Months Old

Look who's 18 months old!





















Today Lyla went in for her 18 month check up! She is now 32 inches, 23 lbs and 4 oz, and her noggin is a whopping 49cm. It was a great check up and she is as fit as a fiddle. We also got a few tips on eating and discipline. Welcome to toddler land!

Lyla had a great 2nd Halloween! She was Dorothy Gale and even toted around a little Toto! She had a blast trick-or-treating with her two cousins and friend Lila. We were impressed how quickly she warmed up to the whole idea of walking up to strangers doors, and by the end was even picking the candy herself.










































Some of our little 18 month old's faves:

Favorite show: Baby Signing Time
Favorite toy: Any baby doll
Favorite playground spot: Swings
Favorite pastime: Reading and playing with friends
Favorite food: Blueberries (she could eat her weight in them)

Scary Skeleton Man

Lyla has fallen in love with the man across the street!

Not the man who owns the house, but his scary skeleton man Halloween decoration that lives in his front yard.
















Creepy right?!

She talks about him all the time (she calls him "Man"!) and occasionally professes her love for him by blowing kisses and yelling "I love you Man!"

Hmmm...we are a little scared at what this says about the kind of dates she is going to bring home in the future... (the very FAR FAR future, I might add!!!)