Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope your day was great!

Thomas' Gift to Himself

This morning Dave walked into get Thomas up for breakfast and found him sitting up in his bed. So now he can go from laying down to sitting up all on his own.

A Stocking Hung with Love

My friend Jen made Arden a Christmas stocking. It is amazing! Really, it's amazing. The stocking took her three years to make and this is the first Christmas that it will be used.

The stocking is so special to me and I know that in the future it will be special to Arden. Can you imagine in 20 years she will look at that stocking and know how special it is to her.

Jen wrote Arden a very special letter about the stocking and Arden understood how special it was because she took it right away to be hung with the other stockings.

My camera does not do the stocking justice. I wish you could see the details of the stitching. It really is beautiful.

Jen,

Thank you so much for the time and energy that you put into Arden's stocking. It will be cherished and taken well care of. Thank you so much. We love you.

Question of the Week

Do you really think it was a silent night?

The Littlest Christmas

Arden's pre-school Christmas Pageant was so much fun. She stood on the front row and did her thing. She sang when she wanted and clapped throughout each song. She was an adorable shepherd.

For some reason most of my pictures turned out fuzzy...but here are the best ones of the day.

She's in the front with her elbows out. Her red dress is peaking through.

Front and center.

Exiting the stage.


My little shepherd.

For the Grandparents

On Wednesday Arden's pre-school had their Christmas Pageant. It was fantastic. All of the kids did great. You could tell they practiced a lot before hand.

Here's one of my favorite videos.

A Princess Christmas

Our friend Marie emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking me if we would like to have a Princess Christmas tree. The tree arrived at our house on Tuesday night and Arden zeroed in on it right away.

She was so excited and wanted it to replace our Christmas tree. Once we explained to her that it was for her room she took the tree skirt and said "Don't worry tree I'll keep you warm with this skirt."

Here are some pictures of her decorating it.

9 Month Stats

Today Thomas did the big weigh in. His pediatrician said he looked great and was meeting his development needs at a 100%. He flashed his big grin for her and even though he was mad at the nurse for giving him a shot. He said smiled at her through his tears as she was leaving. He is such a joy.

At nine months:

Weight: 19.14 lbs (2 oz short of 20 lbs) 50%

Length: 29 inches 75%

Head circumference: 44 cm 25%

Click! Take A Pic!

Arden is getting better and better with the camera. Maybe now I might actually be in some of the pictures.

Santa's Stockings

Arden has been asking me over and over again why Santa wears stockings. She will take our Christmas stocking that are hanging up and put them on along with the Santa hat. She walks around asking Thomas to sit on her lap and tell her what she wants for Christmas. It is the sweetest thing. But before she takes them off she always asks "Why does Santa wear stockings?"

Question of the Week.

"Why does Santa wear stockings?"

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Our house is starting to look a lot like Christmas. Dave and Arden put up the tree while Thomas and I headed to the grocery store. It was wonderful to return home and the tree was finished. While in an ideal world it would have been great to put it up together but since we are crunched for time we maximized our efforts this year.

Dave did a great job with the tree and Arden loved to help. According to her the tree is not complete without candy canes.

9 Months

Today Thomas is 9 months old. He goes in for his check up on Tuesday so the official stats will posted then. He's growing so fast. The pajama's he's wearing here Arden wore when she was 18 months old. Just goes to show his size.

You Create the Caption

A Little Photographer!

Arden loves the camera. She wants to learn how to take pictures. She is learning how to line up the picture. She's getting better.

Here's a sample of her work.

First try...

That's better:

Wordless Wednesday

Girls Day Out

Last week Arden asked me if we could spend some time together without Thomas and Daddy. So on Saturday we got dressed up and headed out for some shopping and ended the night with pizza at a restaurant. We had such a great time. Arden is really fun to hang out with and let me tell you she can shop with the best of them. She is a great window shopper and other than one gum ball she didn't ask for anything.

Here we are getting ready to head out.

Arden shopping at the Hello Kitty Kiosk. She loves to pull out the stool and look through the different charms.

Waiting on our pizza.

Arden loves going to Front Gate at the mall and looking at their decorations.

Overheard

Last week Dave came home from work sick with a fever. He went straight to bed and I took him some medicine downstairs. My little helper was very concerned about her father so she followed me downstairs.

Arden: "Daddy, what's wrong? Are you OK?"

Dave: "Arden, my feet are slow today." This is what she told us when she was sick a few weeks ago.

Arden in a sweet, gentle voice: "Well, maybe we could get a giant to carry you."

__________________________________________________________

Me: "Arden, what do you think we should get Daddy for Christmas?"

Arden: "How about a spider-man mask?"

Me: "I'm not sure he needs a spider-man mask. What else do you think he would like?"

Arden: "How about a cattoo?"

Me (trying not to laugh): "A tattoo?"

Arden: "Yeah, a tattoo he doesn't have one."

Me: "Your right he doesn't have one of those."

Imagination

Does anyone know what to call the foot rest that is sticking out of her princess castle?

A porch.

Arden came up with this on her own. She told me that she needed a porch for her castle because sometimes she likes to sit outside. I love it.

Fun in the Tub

Arden loves the bath but usually hates to have her hair washed. Some days it is an ordeal just to get her hair washed. She is getting better and the other day we were able to have some fun while washing her hair.

The Morning Paper

Thomas and my brother Eric were hanging out one morning. I love this picture of the two of them together.

Wordless Wednesday

Over the River

We traveled to my parents house for Thanksgiving. We left on Thursday morning and had a rough trip. Arden wasn't feeling well but luckily she started dancing around again about 12 hours latter.

We all ate too much but we had a good time.