Christmas Eve

We had a very full day on Christmas Eve... We visited with some wonderful friends in the morning, came home and fought Hannah into taking an afternoon nap (gotta love my typically super-scheduled child not following the schedule while we were at my parents' house!), made a gingerbread house in the afternoon, and then were treated to a great ham and turkey dinner by mom. After dinner Karen and I gave the kids quick baths and then we all got ready for Christmas Eve church services.

We were certainly risking meltdowns by going to a church service that started at 7:30 (and the kids are usually both in bed by 8), but the kids did fairly well. Karen had an arsenal of animal crackers, books, and an aqua-doodle to help keep the kids occupied (no nursery!). At various points in the service both Mom and Brian left with a kid who was getting a bit rambunctious. We weren't at my mom's church because that service started too late for us, but we went to another church in town where one of my mom's friends was preaching. It was a wonderful candlelight service that really focused on the true meaning of Christmas - our savior Jesus Christ.

Here are some pictures from before we left the house:

My favorite picture of Hannah & Liam
Liam loves to cheese it up for pictures!!!

Hannah wasn't so sure about Liam holding her hand

Liam eventually started walking off holding Hannah's hand. She held on and he walked her in circles around the coffee table in the family room. It was too cute.
Hannah holding one of my first Christmas ornaments

I'm really loving being around these two kids - they are having so much fun together and it is so much fun to watch! They are certainly making this Christmas very memorable!

Gingerbread House

Our rec center had a family gingerbread house making night that I thought sounded like tons of fun....but when I saw a kit at Target for only $8, I thought that was even better than signing up for the class! I originally thought Hannah and I could assemble it some Friday when I was off work, but then decided it would be even more fun for Hannah and Liam to make it together over Christmas, so we turned it into an afternoon activity. I went ahead and assembled the house so they only had to decorate - it was a lot of fun.

Hannah samples a gingerbread man
Hannah samples a gumdrop from the roof
Liam enjoyed the bowl of gumdrops!

Grandma helped Hannah place some of her candy

The finished product - not bad for decorations by almost 2-year olds!

(with some help from Moms)

Hannah and Liam show off their creation!

Fun with Uncle Daniel

We spent Christmas in West Virginia with my extended family. When we got to my parents' house, we discovered that my mom had set up a tent in the family room for the kids to play with (she told us that she also had a tee-pee and a tunnel, but wanted to see how the tent went over before she made my dad drag everything out).

Needless to say, the tent was a hit! Hannah and Liam would run in and "hide" trying to get anyone within earshot to ask "where's Hannah" or "where's Liam" and they would run out giggling. They'd lay on the floor in the tent together and crawl in and out of the "window." It was so much fun to watch them play. They certainly had a good time.

At some point, the tent found its way to the kitchen, and Uncle Daniel found his way in with the kiddos. I'm not sure who was having more fun at that point - the kids or Daniel.

"here we are!"
Uncle Daniel with Hannah & Liam

Uncle Daniel & Hannah

First Snow!

We got our first snow over the weekend and I was eager to try out Hannah's new (to her) snowsuit (oh, how I love Once Upon a Child! - for those not in the area, it's a used children's everything store). Hannah did not want to put on her snowpants at first (well, or "at second" either). I wrestled them on her in the middle of the family room floor, but then once she was ready I had to send Jon outside with her so she didn't get too hot while I laced up my shoes because I'd forgotten that part!

Jon and I had a lot of fun playing with her outside. At first she wasn't too excited about the whole idea, but once she realized she could walk and move around in her boots and all of the extra clothes, she was ready to play!

I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures, so there are more than usual.... My little snow bunny!

At first she wasn't quite sure about the snow - especially when she'd fall down.

Trudging over to the slide.

She wanted to swing....so we did.

Hannah exploring.

Hannah makes her first snowball
Hannah helps Daddy make a snowman!
This snowman is almost taller than me.

Hannah didn't really like sitting on top of the snowman.

After playing in our yard, Hannah actually went to get her stroller so I'd take her and Abby on a walk....so the 3 of us went down to the park to play for a while. Hannah and Abby both ran in circles.

Hannah chasing after Abby!

The girls.

Wanting to go back inside.

I think we had a pretty usual time outside for an almost-2-year-old. It took us about 15 minutes to get ready to go outside, and I'd like to think we were outside for a little more than 15 minutes! It was so much fun!!!

1st Haircut

We had friends over for lunch on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Aunt Danila had gone out that morning to get her hair done (we use the same hair lady - she decided they were in town often enough and her schedule was more open during trips to Columbus than normal weekends in Pittsburgh) and I asked her to find out how much she charged for toddler haircuts (since I'll admit that Hannah was getting a bit of a mullet in the back) and how long they would take. Danila called me telling me that Judi (our hairdresser) could do Hannah at 1pm after her appointment was over. I wasn't sure if our friends would be gone by then because we had kids with naptimes, but everyone didn't arrive until around 11am.....so I was afraid to commit. Well, I told Jon there was an opening and he decided to just take her -- without ME -- and Uncle Josh went with him with my instruction to take pictures (which he thought was ridiculous).

Jon didn't think anything of taking Hannah for her first haircut without me...which shows he's confident in his role as Dad.....but when the boys showed up at my hair place without me, Danila (and Judi) were definitely wondering "are you sure Julie is okay with this?" Let me just say that we had a house full of 3 other couples and 2 other kids and we'd just finished lunch....I couldn't exactly protest much. What's even funnier is that Jon left so abruptly and it was close to nap time, so my friends actually thought that he went upstairs to put her down for a nap and didn't realize he left the house! They didn't know until he was home and had put Hannah down for her nap for real!

Let's just say that Hannah DID NOT like her first haircut.

Last shot of the curls....

Clinging to Daddy

Impressed that Judi could reach up to cut her hair with Jon standing holding her....

Jon and Hannah sat down to finish up

Getting tired.....we've gone over nap time....

Dazed and confused
She doesn't look happy, but she settled down.

Departing gift from Judi -- Hannah's first sucker!

Although I did hate to miss another "first" (I missed the first bath in the hospital when she was a week old), I did get to see some pictures and Jon did bring a cute little girl home (who was ready for a nap!). Although I miss the curls from the back that were cut off, her hair seems thicker now that it is a little shorter. Hopefully her next cut will be a little easier on her.