Christmas Eve

We had Bernie and Martha over for Christmas Eve tonight. I made chili and cornbread muffins for dinner (perfect for a cold night!) and we exchanged Christmas presents. David and I gave Bernie and Martha gifts through Oxfam: a cooking stove for a family in need (in Bernie's honor) and a school meal program for a child in need (in Martha's honor). They gave us a great Blu-Ray player with Wi-fi and a year's subscription to Netflix--you can create a list online that automatically pulls up on the Blu-Ray player to watch on TV. How cool is that?! Perfect for the parents of 2 little ones who don't get out much :)

Some of Leah's gifts: a soft little teddy bear, a Glow Worm,

and car seat toys (along with 3 new sleepers)

Joshua got his very own basketball goal that adjusts
as he gets taller (both in height and the diameter of the rim)

And a second basketball ("Rameses ball")

Joshua loved this Cars storybook with a pull-out

playmat of Radiator Springs and all the character cars

so he can act out the story (this was a big hit!)

How cool is this Radio-Flyer 2-in-1 tricycle?

When he gets bigger, it transforms into a

big-wheel style cruiser...I can already picture

him flying down the street in front of the house

on this thing!

What a fun night with family! :)

Like mother, like daughter

We've had a number of people ask us who Leah favors, since Joshua is so obviously a mini-David. I asked my dad to scan this picture for me from home (we refer to it as my frog picture), and I'll let the images speak for themselves :)

Baby picture of Erin (1981)

Picture of Leah-bug (2010)

I think this should take care of any questions! :)

Loungin' around

More pictures of Baby Leah being entertained by her big brother :)

Leah's very interested in Joshua's crazy hair

My two sweet babies :)

Bouncy, bouncy!

When Joshua was little, he was in LOVE with the doorway jumper. As Leah has gotten more active and loves being upright to look around, we thought we'd try her out in it as well...with a blanket stuffed around her to help her stay up since she doesn't quite fill it out yet :)

I promise this is not a look of terror related

to being in the jumper...she's watching Joshua

dance around me while I take the picture :)

Look at those big pretty eyes!

More watching Joshua :)
She seems to like it so far--no jumping, but
she'll spin around on one foot or the other
and she likes when Joshua pushes it like a swing.



Getting her to look right at the camera is next
to impossible...but I'll forgive her because she
is just so cute!

Just because she's so cute!

This little gal has a special place in my dad's heart. I can't talk to him on the phone without him asking, "Why haven't you put up new pictures of Leah?" So even though I was running late for our Relief Society Christmas Dinner tonight, I had to stop and take a few pictures of this little cutie pie all dressed up and ready to go :)

And she obviously takes after her brother in her interest in the camera and lack of interest in smiling...but I still think she's precious!

A Nativity for Joshie

David's parents came over to spend time with our little family last night and we had such a great time! Bernie made pot roast and homemade bread (and pecan pie for desert), so dinner was obviously delicious. Martha brought Joshua this Fisher Price Little People Nativity set:

There is Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the 3 wisemen,

a camel, a cow, a sheep, and a donkey, along with

an angel, the stable and scenery.

Joshua loves him! He can play with all the figures
and he likes to tell us who everyone is (and
what noises the animals make, of course).


There's my handsome boy!

Apparently I said something hillarious :)

I love that this lets my favorite little guy

learn the story of the Savior's birth hands-on!

And here's a cute picture of Leah just because :)

Seriously?!

So having a little boy, I expect him to get bumps and bruises with how active he is. But I was not expecting self-imposed carnage at church on Sunday morning!

After the sacrament had been passed, Leah was ready to eat, so I took her to the mothers' lounge to nurse her. According to David, Joshua was *done* with being in the chapel about 10 minutes later, so the two of them left to go into the Relief Society room, where Joshua could play quietly and David could still listen to the talks over the speaker system (this happens most Sundays because I'm not going to keep a screaming child in the chapel and distract everyone from being able to hear the talks and feel the Spirit).

Well, Joshua is not the most coordinated of kids (look at his parents--did he really have a chance?), and he has the bad habit of looking behind him as he walks/runs. David said Joshua was walking around the corner of the hallway, looking behind him, and turned around just in time to smash his nose right into the wall...which would be bad enough it were just a normal bare wall. Unfortunately, the lower-half of the walls in the hallway of our church building are covered in this burlap/carpet-type stuff so that they'll last longer and people won't lean on them. It might as well have been sandpaper for what it did to Joshua's little nose.

I hate to say this, but in person, his nose looks

way worse than this picture! There is a purple bruise

across the bridge of his nose and the lower part

and side of his nose are scraped raw.

So much for Thanksgiving family pictures!

I love that he's finally giving me big smiles for the

camera...but his poor little nose!

My favorite little faces

Just a few pictures of my favorite little people :)

Joshua's typical accessories:

backwards Carolina ball cap and rain boots

(sometimes he puts on just one, sometimes both)

Leah giving Joshua the morning stink-eye

(he'd been up for a few hours and was obviously

being a little too active and too loud for her, since

she'd just gotten up)

My cute little chubby-cheeked girl!


The intense concentrating scowl that she
inherited from her mommy :)

Joshua decided that Leah needed a little company

on the playmat--I'm looking forward to seeing them

play together in the future!

Chunkin' up and smiling

Leah was officially 8 weeks old yesterday--I can't believe it! She's getting so big so fast...I love the chubby arms and legs! There is nothing cuter than a baby in just a diaper, is there?


I love all the smiles we're getting these days. It is hard for me to catch them on camera when I'm the one she's smiling at, so I try to take pictures when she's smiling at Joshua or David. This cute little grin was for Daddy tonight :)

What a cutie pie!

Spiderman...sort of :)

Last year for Halloween, Joshua was Superman (and a pretty cute one, if you ask me). One of David's coworkers passed down a bunch of really great 2T clothes from her son to Joshua, and in the mix was a Spiderman costume...so we continued the superhero theme! But just like anything else, Joshua puts his own little spin on things. He decided to skip the mask and wear his Carolina cap instead. He wears this hat (or one of David's) pretty much all day, every day, for every moment that he's awake. He's all boy...and pretty stinkin' adorable too!

I love the stuffing in the sleeves

and chest that make the "muscles"

***

We had our church chili cookoff and trunk-or-treat tonight and had so much fun! Leah was a trooper and rode around in the baby carrier on my chest the whole time, sleeping some and just looking around some as well--she couldn't have been better! Joshua loved seeing all the people dressed up in fun costumes...and the yummy food didn't hurt either :) Happy Halloween!

Leah's baby blessing

We had Leah's baby blessing on Sunday, October 24. David's little sister Erin got married on Saturday, and since all the family would be in town for that, we figured that would be the best time to do her blessing so all of David's brothers would be there to participate. Two of my really good friends from high school, Katherine (with her husband Dan and cute little girl Josie) and Erin (with her boyfriend Jonathan), came as well. David gave Leah the sweetest blessing and then we were all entertained by the ward primary program--Joshua was enthralled each time the kids sang a song. I can't believe that he'll be participating before long!

Here's my handsome little guy showing

us one of his cars...doesn't he look sharp

in this outfit his Grandma Martha gave him?

Like his Mommy, Joshua likes to get

in comfy clothes as soon as we get

home from church :)

He also enjoys hanging out in the

baby swing (which he hated as an infant)

and pushing himself REALLY high!

My wonderful friend Katherine took some

beautiful pictures for us at our house after

the blessing...I love this one of my two

precious little ones!

I usually avoid posting pictures of myself,

but I absolutely loved this one...

Mommy and baby Leah smiling!

This is the blessing dress that my

extremely sweet and talented friend

Jenny made for Leah...isn't it just

beautiful?

Look at those sweet cheeks and

chubby little arms...I could just

kiss her all day long!

More smiles for Mommy :)


Pretty girl

We love you, Leah-bug, and we are

so grateful to have you in our family!

Funny kids

Neither one of my kids has been a huge fan of the swing, but Leah will at least let it buy me 10-15 minutes when I need to finish something up or help Joshua with something. Joshua likes to help "push" the swing and Leah doesn't seem to mind.

So, even though Joshua has his own toddler-sized baseball cap, he still likes to wear Daddy's hats sometimes. He'll find them and put them on, usually backwards or sideways and wear them like that all morning. I'm not sure how he can see very well with one eye covered, but I guess it is all in the name of fashion :)

Joshua surrounded by the typical morning carnage

(I sometimes wonder why I bother to clean up)

What a cutie!

David and I are counting down the days until Little Miss Leah decides that she wants an earlier bedtime...right now, she doesn't knock out until 11:00pm. She's bright-eyed (as seen here) way past when I'd like to go to bed! She gives me at least a 5-6 hour stretch, though, so I know I shouldn't complain. We're getting sweet smiles now, but she's hard to catch on camera at this point.

***

Joshua is in complete sponge/parrot mode. He picks up everything he hears and says it at the funniest times. When coughing yesterday morning, he patted himself on the back and said, "Are you okay?" He also loves to say the things he hears Mommy tell him often, like "Don't touch" and "Get down," and he likes to narrate what people are doing, like "Mommy's brushing teeth" and "Baby's taking a bath." He also learned how to blow his nose this week because it has been so runny (and for some reason, he thinks it is fun), so we're both quite happy about that! He's so much fun (and so exhausting) at this age...he's certainly keeping me on my toes!

Posing with Grandma

My mom came up for the State Fair and some time with the grandbabies. Since someone else could hold Leah while I took the pictures, I was able to get a few shots. On Grandma's request, I made sure she wasn't in the picture--since I make that request often myself, I'm very respectful of other people who do the same :)

Big yawn!

Must we use the bright flash, Mommy?

Oh okay, if you insist.

Cutest. face. ever.

This baby loves her baths, and I love all her

cute little rolls!

Look at that strong little neck!
She loves holding her head up and trying

to look around :)