Christmas Prep

 We have been busy getting ready for Christmas over the last few weeks. Despite the fact that we have been married over seven years, we got our first ever Christmas tree this year! I love how festive it makes our house feel. Darcy is old enough to be excited about the tree, Christmas lights, Christmas cards, and lots of the other fun things that go along with Christmas, like gingerbread houses! My mom, who is a woman of many talents, crocheted some big snowflakes to go on our tree. We had a family home evening party at our house to starch the snowflakes, and make a gingerbread house. It was so fun to have everyone here, and I love the snowflakes on my tree.

Drew and my dad were in charge of babysitting Matthew and Ezra, and they handled themselves quite well. (except for the multiple times we had to tell them to come get the babies away from the frosting and candy) :)

Darcy loved this activity! Especially the eating part. Everyone was trying to get her to save the gingerbread house so it could be decoration for the Christmas season, but it was basically gone by the next day. (Drew and I might have helped)

We eventually set some chairs up to block the boys. Darcy slipped through the back of the chair, so my dad thought he would try too. He wasn't quite fitting so Darcy tried to help pull him though. We all had a good laugh over this one.

My mom and I hard at work starching the snowflakes.

The finished gingerbread house. It took some work to convince Darcy it would be ok to put a dot of frosting and a little piece of candy on her nose. That just didn't seem right to her.

Our Christmas tree. I spent hours making that popcorn and cranberry garland, but it didn't last long.

A close-up of a snowflake

The reason the garland didn't last.

We have to redecorate the tree every once and a while. This was Darcy working on it one day after dance.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with the Jenne's this year. I was in charge of bringing cranberry sauce and making a couple pumpkin pies. I was pretty much worked to the bone! :) This year my mom's birthday landed on Thanksgiving day so it made it even more exciting (especially for Darcy who loves birthdays). My Grandpa made us all weigh in before and after the meal to see how much we had eaten. It's been a while now so I'm a little foggy but I think I ate something like 2.5 lbs. of food. Haha. I was really pushing myself to try to get a good number on the scale! I love Thanksgiving, but it is always hard to accept that it's all over in about 1/2 hour or so. Darcy is just getting old enough to get excited about these holidays and was pretty excited about Thanksgiving which made it even more fun for us. Everyone was so sweet to make a second version of almost all the food that was safe for Ezra, which I really seriously appreciated!!

Mmmm, pumpkin pie!

Almost ready to dig in

Ezra is 15 Months

Ezra is coming up on 16 months now so I figured I should really get this post done. Our cute boy is a ball of energy these days, and he is definitely keeping us on our toes!

Some things we want to remember about Ezra at 15 months:

- 23 lbs. (25th percentile) and 30 inches (also 25th percentile) and I don't know the number for his head circumference but I know it is in the 99th percentile!! Plenty of room to grow some big brains I guess! :) I am happy that he is moving up in percentile with his weight and height.

- He was just retested for a couple of his allergies. The wheat and soy allergies are usually the first to go, so they just tested him to see if they had gone away. Honestly I wasn't surprised to find out he hadn't grown out of them. They will retest him for all of his allergies in a year.

- The thing that is keeping us on our toes most of all is his climbing! He loves to make his way onto the table and throw whatever is on in onto the floor. He also likes to dance up there which is scary. I am amazed he hasn't fallen off yet. We end up with our little chairs up on the table or counters, so he can't use them as his step stools.

- He says a few words these days, but none of them are really consistent. He is getting there though. He says Mama, Dada, Da-y (Darcy), hi, and ball (This is my favorite. He says it like "ba-O" with lots of emphasis on the O.) He also says a lot that we don't understand. :)

- He uses the signs for please, more, and all done.

- He loves to wave good-bye. If he ever hears a car drive up, drive away, drive by, or even just start he will immediately start waving. If someone opens the doors, steps outside, or walks away he starts waving. So when we are out shopping he is doing lots of waving in the parking lot as all the cars are coming and going, and then inside as people are walking passed us. It always makes us laugh.

- He is a pretty content little man, but most of the time he has a really sober expression on his face. It takes some effort to really get him to smile. If you do get him to smile or laugh though, it's especially fantastic!

- He still loves to push things around. He loves to knock over the block towers we build. He loves to throw a ball around. He likes toys he has to sit and figure out.

- He loves clomping around in shoes other than his own.

 The only place I can get him to sit still for a picture is his high chair. Even with a little milk on his shirt he is ridiculously good looking. :)

One of those smiles we love.

Looking smooth in Haley's sunglasses.

During Darcy's dance class Ezra and I get to hand out in the pickup together. He likes being able to roam and get his finger prints all over the windows.

He has had some awesome bead head lately!

Wearing some heels around the house.

Same day, new shoes. Darcy's this time. It takes a real man to pull off sparkly pink shoes!