Friday, December 25, 2015

New baby cousin! And Christmas Eve

It's been such a busy week! But this time of year always is. The kids have been having a good week. We got a new baby in the family, little Penelope Wilde Pullen. She's a tiny sweetie and we love her. We are going to be watching her four days a week starting in about April, and we are so excited! We've also been getting ready for Christmas, and that has been so fun. I'm really looking forward to the kids celebrating this year.
Reid is starting to get his second set of molars. It has been a little rough, he had two nights this week where he was up a lot. I hope they come through quickly.
 We bought flowers for Tony and Courtney (and baby Penelope), and Reid liked smelling them.
 On Friday night we met Andy at his work with a sack dinner... and then we went to see the Christmas lights on Peacock Lane.
 It was so fun!
 Ruby absolutely loved it. Reid did too.
 They had hot chocolate and apple cider to enjoy. And we saw some people get engaged too.
We had so much fun.
 Morning time snuggles. 
 On Saturday we made our gingerbread house.
 They had so much fun! That's yogurt in Reid's hair from breakfast, not frosting. They had a bath after this.
 She loves reading cookbooks. She's excited to pick out her birthday cake.
 Meeting baby Penelope! Ruby climbed right into the hospital bed to hold her.
 Andy and the tiny girl. She was only 6 lbs 8 oz and so cute. She really looks like Tony.
 Nap time!
 And pretending to sleep in Ruby's bed.
 We watched White Christmas, and the kids loved it.
 We had to work pretty hard to get a good photo in front of the tree with these guys.
 Sweet girl.
 He loves the ornaments.
 This was the best one! 
 Here's our collage of the pictures. Hahaha. Ruby was crying in the middle right one because Reid didn't want her to put her arm around him.
I made latkes! They were yummy. 
 Ruby loves playing pretend. We were playing school and this was our snack time.
 We kept the presents in the closet even though they were wrapped, and I decided to put them under the tree... mistake. Ruby kept getting them out to look at, and then Reid followed suit and started opening some of them. So we had to put them back in the closet.
 Ruby took some photos. This is a cute one of Reid just waking up from his nap.
And another one she took of me and Reid. <3 
Ruby decided to write a letter to Santa. It was pretty cute. 
Reid likes to read cook books too! Kids after my own heart. 
Double piggy back ride! 
Reading his bible. 
 Christmas Eve! We headed down to the Pullens to celebrate. 
 Ruby helped Reid open his gifts, of course.
 The kids took a nap there. Reid had his first nap in a big bed. It took a while to get him to settle down, but when he finally did, he slept fine. When he woke up he was just sitting in bed when I went in. I think he was confused. :)

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Christmas preparations

We've been getting ready for Christmas all week! We can't wait. I think it's maybe more fun as an adult now, getting to see and experience the joy in our kids as they anticipate all of the festivities. Most of the gifts are wrapped (and still in the closet because we don't want them all to be opened before Christmas by the toddler). Ruby said, "Mom, after Christmas will you tell me where you hid the presents?" She's been super curious, so I showed them to her the other day while Reid was napping. 
Both kids still take a nap every day, which lets me have some nice quiet time to get work done. Ruby's naps have been shorter lately though. We'll still do rest time when she's done napping altogether. We both need it. Reid has been napping really well! Some days he sleeps for three hours and I have to wake him up at 4-ish. We start bed time for both kids at 7:15, and Reid is asleep by 8, Ruby sometimes doesn't go to sleep until 9. But she just reads to herself in our bedroom, which works out well. And then we transfer her to her bed when we're ready to go to bed.
Ruby has been saying, "Mom, I love you" a lot, which I LOVE. She's the sweetest thing. She has been so much fun to watch as she plays pretend, sings everything, tells stories, helps me cook, helps out with her brother, and learns how to write. Reid has been talking like crazy! He learns new words every day and has started to tell us things with his words. For example, at lunch today he said, "drink, coffee, cup." I think he was telling us about snack time in the nursery. So fun.
 We've been loving making snow flakes! They turn out different every time.
 The kids were "working" (yes, Reid is in a tutu).
 Andy has gotten into deep cleaning mode and deep cleaned the kitchen. You will not see me complaining about that!!
 He also took the kids out on Saturday morning so I could have some me time. I slept in until 8:30, and then I got to work cleaning and organizing the kids' stuff.
 I did a toy purge and got rid of a bunch of stuff they don't play with, and then I went through all of their clothes to take out the smaller sizes that they don't wear anymore. Reid is wearing 18 mo and 24 mo stuff, and Ruby is in 4T. So crazy how fast they're growing! We measured them the other day, and they both have had a growth spurt. They've grown about 2 inches each in the last 4 months.
 Yummy baked stuffed acorn squash. We all liked it!!
 Reid loves to "hep you" and get into the silverware drawer to stir things in a cup/bowl.
 Ruby has been loving to draw and color.
 I made a Mickey Mouse pancake one time, and now I have to do it every time... but I don't mind.
 They love it!
 We get to ride a shuttle bus to church every week. The kids love it. Ruby has a special friend named Fable who is often on the bus. She's 3 as well, so they have fun in their Sunday School class together. Today I heard that they got in trouble for talking and hugging during the lesson so they had to be separated. Haha!
 She's getting so good at writing her name!
 Getting into all of the cooking things. He loves it so much. "Hep you. Cook."
 It was cold and rainy outside, so we did a morning bath. They had fun playing!
 Reid's spaghetti mess. Sometimes it's hard to eat with this boy!
 But he loved it!
 Ruby made a "pea cake."
 In the morning on Tuesday the kids got out their pillows and blankets and played by the Christmas tree for a little while.
They've been loving to do picnics.
 We painted together on another cold, rainy day. They had fun, but it sure made a mess! This was Reid's first time actually painting.
 Ruby saw this picture and said she looked like Aunt Becca. :)
 We went to meet Santa! Ruby said, "Mom, that was really the real Santa" on the way home. He was a very nice Santa, and told us he wants pretzels and beer instead of cookies and milk when we asked. Haha!
 She woke up from nap and sat right next to me on the couch. 
 On Thursday I took the kids downtown in the rain. We went to Central Library and made these little cars for a drive-in movie! They had so much fun. We decorated them for about 45 minutes, then watched two short little movies.
 I helped, of course, but they had a blast.
 Ruby drew an engine on the bottom.
 Getting ready for the movie!
 So cute!!
 Watching "Is Your Mama a Lama?"
 Then they played Santa and Mrs. Clause when we got home. 
We got a babysitter on Thursday night, and we went to see Star Wars!!! Opening night. It was... 
don't worry, I won't spoil it RANDALL.

Family photos

For the week of August 18-24 Boy, with buying a house and moving and starting the kids' online school and starting my doula mentorship a...