A merry little Christmas

The other night a friend of mine came over to visit and asked Lily how her Christmas was.  I wondered what she would share first:  Time at Grandma and Grandpa's playing with her cousins?  Getting a pillow pet and Princess and the Frog polly pockets?  Leaving cookies for Santa?  None of the above.

"Santa brought me candy corn!"  she shouted as she ran into the room with her bag of candy.  Well, there you have it.  The biggest hit this Christmas -- candy corn.  Next year I can save myself a lot of time and money!

Here are a few of our highlights from this past week.

Cookies and milk for Santa.  We also threw reindeer food (sunflower seeds) in the driveway.  The reindeer ate it all and even pooped on our driveway.  (Their poop looks A LOT like chocolate chips, if you were wondering.)

Our own little Bob the Builder

Christmas morning pancakes

We acted out the Christmas Story at my parents' house on Christmas.  (No, my brother is not holding a second baby Jesus; that is Ollie dressed like a sheep!)

 

The holy family  (Did they have pacifiers in ancient times?)  

The Belle dress that my mom made for Lily 

Rides behind the snowmobile

The Rapunzel wig Lily bought with her money from Great Grandma Helen.  I am finding 2-foot-long hairs all around the house!

Time flies

It is hard to believe that Christmas is nearly upon us.  It is bittersweet since the holidays mark the end of my maternity leave.  In an effort to capture as much as possible of this last month at home, this post is a random mix of recent pictures.

My growing boy

 Lily enjoying the snow with her good friends, Emily and Bri

Dressing up with her buddy "T"

Sammy's first taste of rice cereal -- not a huge fan!

The Olson ladies at our Olson Christmas gathering

Cousin Jayda loving up Sam

 Grandma Olson with her oldest grandchild and youngest -- 33 years of grandkids!



Who knew?

Who knew that gurgling could melt your heart?

Who knew a little girl in a leotard could make you burst with pride?

Who knew dead fish could make you smile?

How to make new friends

Yesterday, Lily told me this story:

"Today at school, Evan told me that he likes the Twins, the Cobbers, and the Vikings.  I told him that I like the Twins, the Cobbers, and the Vikings too.  Then I hugged him.  Now we are friends."

I couldn't help but smile at the simplicity of it all.

Here are a few other things that made me smile the last few weeks:

These two pictures were taken only about a week apart!  I can still smile about the snow now, but ask me again in March. . .

The Latest

 What is Sam up to?  Well. . .

Pushing himself up, lots of drooling,

long, sad-sounding monologues,

trying out the exersaucer,

and being just generally sweet and adorable.

(This pic was taken by my friend Ang -- more of these to come!)

What is Lily up to?

 Using the phrase, "Awww, Mom!" any time she doesn't like my verdict on something,

climbing and tumbling all over the house and elsewhere, (she can now go all the way across the rings at the playground by herself!)

 

all things princess,

and being an affectionate big sister.

I have to say, life with two kids is busy but not as hard as I thought it might be (at least not yet!). The adjustment from 1 to 2 kids seems much easier than from 0 to 1.  After seven years of marriage with no kids, Mike and I mourned our loss of "freedom" when Lily was born. But with Sam's birth, we had the perspective of already seeing the wonderful result of our "sacrifice".

I can honestly say, I am enjoying parenthood . . . at least today.   

 

 

Goodbye Zipper

This past week we had to say goodbye to our first "baby".  Our yellow lab, Zipper, gave us 7 great years.  She went on many adventures with us in her first three years.

 

And she was a sweet companion to Lily in her last four years. She was a kind, gentle, and passionate dog.

This is our favorite campsite in Idaho.  She used to fetch sticks for hours in the river.  I like to imagine this is where she is now.  We'll miss you, Zip!

All Smiles

Sammy smiles

The pictures speak for themselves.

Fall Moments

Melts my heart.Is this my daughter?!

Super Hero

Our little Superman. . . or future Heisman trophy winner.

(He actually slept in this position for at least 5 minutes!)

She's Four!?

Wednesday, the 22nd, our little girl turned 4! She had been looking forward to her birthday for a long time. One of the first things she wanted to do in the morning was hold her baby brother.But what she had been asking about for weeks was breakfast in bed. This is something we always do for Mike on his birthday and father's day, and she had requested it for her birthday this year. She had a pannekoeken with candles, and raspberries and blueberries with whipped cream. As you can see, she was ecstatic.Then she got dressed in her "party dress" and headed to daycare with goodies bags for all her friends.That evening, we had "movie night". A friend had given her Lion King as a gift, so we all snuggled up to watch it -- Sam slept on my chest through the whole thing. After the movie, Lily wanted to hold him. Okay, so she really isn't asleep here, but I still think it is such a sweet picture, the way he seems to be hugging her. On Saturday we had a family party for her, complete with princesses, candy and balloons -- some of her favorite things in the world. And some of her other favorite things: Grandmas and Cousins!

It was great to have family travel to celebrate with us. Lily raved about what a great day she had.

I enjoyed it as well, but cannot help but get a little misty thinking about how fast time goes. Mike often tells Lily not to grow up too fast. The morning of her birthday, she asked us if we were sad that she was growing up. I told her, "Oh, Lily, I am happy for you!"

. . .but just a little sad for me.