Christmas Preparations

As I write this, I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief. My Christmas stress is done and it is five days before Christmas. Woohoo!! As I mentioned in a previous blog, we already celebrated Christmas with Dan's family over Thanksgiving and my family celebrated yesterday at our house. We are looking forward to a very quiet Christmas Day with just the four of us. Nowhere to go, nothing to do except spend time with our little family. I can't wait to just sit on the floor and play with the kids and their new toys and books all day!! Dan's mom and step dad are stopping by the next day to hang out with us and visit, so it will be a nice weekend.

This week is the first week in about three months that I do not have to squeeze in projects after the kids go to bed and I'm looking forward to hanging out with Dan again!!

Below are some pictures taken in November of the kids visiting Santa and helping to decorate our tree.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!

First Snow

We got about eight inches of snow a couple of weeks ago and we got the kids out in it before it turned bitterly cold. This was Bailey's first time in the snow!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family in Decatur and that Saturday with Dan's family. It was great because EVERYONE was home this time and we had fun!! We took advantage of the day and took pictures of the family. We also celebrated the fall birthdays of the four grandkids who had birthdays the past couple of months. Additionally, we also exchanged Christmas gifts for the kids since not everyone will be home for Christmas. It was a chaotic, but fun day!!

Thanksgiving with the Engels

Jacob's 3rd Birthday

Jacob celebrated his birthday three different times. He celebrated at school and at home the night of his birthday. We had a family party in Decatur a few days later and were lucky to celebrate with my three aunts who live out of town. We did a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed party, because he seriously would not have it any other way! We also celebrated on Thanksgiving weekend with Dan's family and included the other grandchildren who had fall birthdays. Since everyone lives out of town, we all missed the other's parties. It was fun!

Here are some pictures of the celebrations.

Jacob's 3rd Birthday

Jacob at 3 Years

It's hard to believe that Jacob turned three a few weeks ago. He is growing up really fast. He is such a great boy, fiercely independent, but a fun personality.

Here are some tidbits about Jacob:

*He is ALL boy! He is very active and will jump off anything that has height. We caught him jumping off the stairs, four or five steps up the other day!

*He is a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora. These shows are literally his bribe to do anything we need him to do. We've had to limit him to two episodes at once because he would probably sit in front of the TV all day.

*He is also a big fan of games. He currently has Candyland and Memory and could play them all day if we let him!

*He talks like an adult at times and says the craziest stuff sometimes!

*He is very strong headed and independent and we are working hard at not letting him run all over us sometimes. We've stepped up our attention to things and are working on being more consistent with things and holding him to threats if we reach "3". We are also learning to pick our battles.

*He is starting to pretend and practice his imagination. He has an imaginary house and airplane that he talks about. He also sees Swiper (from Dora) all over the place. I think it's great that he is going through this stage because it's important to his development.

*Potty training has not progressed passed it's point months ago. He refused to poop in the potty and never tells us when he needs to pee. We've tried underwear and he doesn't care when he poops in them, so back to pull-ups we went. The laundry isn't worth it to me! I keep waiting for that moment people say he will have when he gets it. I'm really not stressing too much about it, but as he gets older, it gets harder to wait on.

*He has been starting to skip his weekend naps, which is frustrating at times, but a reminder that he is growing up. It does make it easier to plan things for the afternoons though.

Bailey at 20 Months

Well, I started this blog two months ago and never finished it. Bailey is really changing fast and cracks us up all the time. Here are a few things about Bailey at this age:

*She's becoming independent and wants to do things herself or her way now.

*She is a feisty little thing and can express pretty strongly what she wants.

*Her vocabulary grows each day and she has been phrasing for a couple of months now.

*She can now sing along to parts of songs.

*She still loves to dance to any music. The video below is a fun one of her dancing to some of the singing toys the kids have.

*She's growing like a weed and is outgrowing her clothes all of a sudden. At her 18 month check-up, she had the following stats ---- Height - 33 1/2 inches (73 percentile) and weight - 22 lbs 16 oz (16 percent)

*She now has 10 teeth, but is still missing her outer four bottom teeth for some reason. I'm worried she will never get these!!

*Her eating is pretty awful at times. Still no vegetables and could live on bananas, bread, potatoes, and yogurt. She's a carb-girl!!

*She has been expressing interest in potty training and actually goes about 50 percent of the time when we put her on it.

*She is starting to exhibit the desire for routines just like her brother. She has to read the same five books before bedtime AND in a particular order.

*She's discovering her surroundings and loves to point things out now as we drive, like buses, Christmas lights, and dogs. All in all, she is a lot of fun to be around and she still loves to snuggle, which is a bonus for me!!