Merry Christmas to all.

We have been busy little elves around here.  

Never a holiday, birthday or event without a little project around here. :)

As Christmas Eve is upon us, more updates will likely come in the New Year after lots of time with family and yummy food too!

We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Love,
Todd, Lisa, Quinn & Andie

december.

We were without our main computer for a few weeks so I haven't been able to update.
Despite not uploading pictures and updating our blog, it's amazing how "freeing" it feels to be disconnected.  I can't imagine how it would feel for someone far more connected to devices than I am.  Give yourself the gift of disconnecting from all devices for a while, you will feel refreshed, grateful and keep life simple. :)

Here is just a tiny bit of what has been keeping us busy this month:

Walk with Santa - Another adorable event our town hosts.  After a viewing of The Polar Express at the Downtown Theatre, Santa and Mrs. Claus greet you outside and you walk with them up Main Street to the Courthouse where Santa will light the tree.  Such a fun event to get into the Holiday spirit.

poor little Quinn has been prone to injuries lately - her band-aid is a reminder of an incident with a heavy stocking holder that left her with a black eye for a week.

Lots of snuggles.

A Santa visit. (I don't think that chin could get any juicier :) - Andie's, not Santa's!)

Quinn's Preschool Christmas Concert
I've been looking forward to this since the moment I became a mommy.  It was adorable.
I'm working on getting a video together.

This concert was past Andie's bedtime, but she did great!

 A wonderful Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Derek

Coming up this month:
Beauty and the Beast dance recital this Friday!! yay!

More wonderful time spent with family.

Baking cookies together.

Seeing Christmas lights.

And Christmas with both of our girls - Andie's first Christmas.

gobble up.

As we still gobble up all of our leftovers from Thanksgiving, there is something even more scrumptious we just gobble up every day...

 the most delicious butterball turkey ever!
Andie, you are so incredibly beautiful and the juiciest little baby- we eat you up every day and it's still not enough - so, slow down just a bit. :)

 Quinn wore this Grandma-made outfit for her first Thanksgiving at 9 months old.  Our little 5 month old Andie actually fills it out much better. :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  It was filled with extra time with Daddy and two Thanksgiving dinners hosted at our house.  We saw both of Todd's Grandmas, his Dad, Mom, Stepdad, Aunt Polly, Uncle Hal, Aunt Linda, and cousins Kelsey and Eric.  We were so grateful for good family time spent together.

Todd and I have so much to be thankful for this year.
Especially the two little beautiful and healthy girls that fill our days with so much joy.

andie ~ 5 months.

Andie 5 months on Vimeo.

Our sweet girl just turned 5 months!
Andie, you are such a happy baby and you have the sweetest little personality.
Full of smiles, giggles, excited expressions, you definitely aren't our serious child.
You are always trying to make us smile and giggle and it is the absolute sweetest thing.
Already you have such a desire to see joy in others. :)
You are growing way too fast little miss, please slow down.

Andie at 5 months:

weight:  17 pounds  (please don't ever let me forget these juicy thighs! - they are the best!)
eating:  100% breastfed, still despises a bottle.  We never force her to take one, I just started offering                her one occasionally - zero interest.  There is no real need for her to take one.  She is with her
             mama all the time anyway. :)  For me, it's just in case my milk stops coming in.
             Andie breastfeeds about 5 times a day (5-15 minutes) and is now eating one meal.
             She just started cereal, zucchini and apples.  I love being back to making baby food!
sleep:  Andie isn't the most amazing sleeper at this stage, but I can't complain because she is a happy
        sleeper.  There is no waking up crying, it's waking up playing with our feet and cooing. :)
        Things that are consistent with Andie's sleep:
        She is ready for bedtime at 6:00-6:30pm everyday.
        She take 3 naps (usually catnaps - 30min-1hour) (sometimes 4 catnaps).
        Naps are now in her crib.
        Things that are not consistent with Andie's sleep:
       One night she will sleep 12-13 hours straight, the next it is 7 hours - wake - then 5 hours, the next        night it's awake every 2-3 hours (which she didn't even do as a newborn)
        She is having some random sleep at night lately.
loves:  the johnny-jump-up and being in your exersaucer, and just being around people.
sizes:  clothes - 6 months - some pants are a little small and tight on your thighs though
           diapers - size 3

Andie, you are our full of life baby!  We can see in you such a calmness, something mommy could even sense about you before you were born.  We predict you will be our child that will let things roll off your shoulders easily, have a strong sense of yourself and roll with the flow very easily.  As you grow it will be so fun for us to see all that you become!  We LOVE you so much sweet girl.    

first haircut.

At 3 years and 7 months little miss Quinn had her very first haircut.  And I mean very first, never had a trim or hair cut ever before!  This was a big deal.  I think I kept putting it off because it would make her look older.  Quinn's hair has always been beautiful and luckily grown very evenly, so there really wasn't a need for a haircut...until recently.  It is so long, it was starting to get in the way on the potty.

Quinn was pretty excited for her first haircut.

 Before.

She didn't believe us when she was done that she actually had her hair cut.  Good thing I had this picture to show her the proof. :)

I don't have an after picture.  But just picture the teeniest, tiniest amount cut-off and the bottom looking more even - and that's pretty much it. :)  But still, a huge day!

let it snow.

I didn't think I was quite ready for snow yet, but that changed very quickly when you have a 3 year old who screams and dances around the house like it is Christmas morning at the first sight of a beautiful snowfall.  It was truly beautiful and sparkling and falling so slowly.
One thing about living at our new house, winters are more beautiful than ever.  Our views out the windows are always of pure white sparkling snow, we aren't staring at snow that gets mucked up and dirty.  Makes winter all the more enjoyable. :)

There was barely enough to cover the grass but that didn't stop Quinn from wanting to dive right in!
She even requested the sled.  The sled pretty much pulled the light slow off the grass in our backyard on our little hill. :)
The snow gets us SO excited for Christmas and the holidays.  Time to pull out the bins and decorate!

Andie is getting so big!  Really, so big.  Peanut Quinn was about 9 months old at this size. :)
We pulled out the johnny jump up this weekend, she LOVES it!  She giggles and bounces and it's the cutest thing ever.