This is a new low for me. I only had 2 posts in all of November and 2 in all of December. I feel like I ended the year in a lull. Time to make up for it! Both kids are asleep so I'm not going to bed until I catch everyone up on Christmas!
Just some general notes about Christmas observations this year:
- the holiday season flew by WAY too quickly.
- I love being with family this time of year.
- Abby loves our holiday season traditions which makes me so happy.
- Lilly had zero interest in opening gifts. Zip. Maybe she will next year.
- We've all be spoiled having Bryce at home for 2 weeks. The girls love it! We've been eating so well.... :)
- I'm not sure how we're going to get back to our regular school schedule. We've all been sleeping in and enjoying our free time. Wish us luck next week!
I've got a plethora of pictures to post so let's just get to it!
Against all of my maternal instincts, I allowed Lilly to play out in the rain. I couldn't deny her the fun she was having. :) She had never been outside when it rained so I'm sure it's going to be a memorable moment in her short little life so far.
Bryce and his Abby brewing beer together. Or as Abby calls it, "beering."
Baby on a mission.
I was sooo happy to have a mini-reunion with dear college friends. It's such a treat to have such great long lasting friendships!
It's Christmas Eve and we're putting reindeer food out for Santa's reindeer!
We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's house this year. My MIL always does a wonderful job decorating and carrying on traditions. I try to do the same with my girls because I see how special it is for the kiddos each year.
Lilly was new to the concept of stocking stuffers this year. She was just happy walking around carrying her stocking. ♥ Even though she's my rough and tumble baby, she's equally sweet as sugar.
Abby was a pro at opening her stocking stuffers and gifts. She was so sweet and helped Lilly open things as well. My favorite part was seeing them play with their new toys together. ♥
Gift opening chaos!
Grandpa & Lilly
Grandma & Lilly
Playing well together!
Grandpa got a PT table and look who got her Aunt Karen to give her a back massage! Sneaky girly!
Homemade chocolate chip cookies for Santa with chocolate milk! Despite what it says on Abby's shirt, she was in bed by 11 PM on this Christmas Eve. :)
Santa's all ready for the kids to wake up!
It's Christmas morning! Lilly was getting better about opening up stocking stuffers today.
Abby says "Thank you A-yi and Yi-fu for my Mooshka doll!"
And "Thank you Grandma Jo & Granddad for Mei Mei and my sock monkeys!"
Abby got a Baby Alive and we fed her sweet peas and she pooped it out. It was a very interesting experience and Abby just thought it was the coolest thing! :D
My family (minus the Baldwins...boohoo!) came over later in the day and it's just the sweetest thing to see the cousins playing together! Willow and Lilly are so sweet with each other. And Abby enjoys being a big sister to both of them. No surprise there!
Family photo!
Abby got a solo pic with Lao Nian & Lao Yie since she can sit long enough to take a picture!
Abby photo bombed Kirk & Lucy's family picture. Sorry!
Bryce made a mouth watering prime rib for Christmas dinner. It was very rare (sorry Mommy!) and very delicious.
For our sides, we also had scalloped potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts and roasted carrots. I wish I took pictures of all of us eating but I forgot! I only got as far as taking the scalloped potato picture, I guess. Christmas was a huge success this year. We got to spend fun quality time with family and both girls had so much fun during the whole holiday experience.
For some reason, both girls love snacking on matchstick carrots. And cuddling. :) I love it!
Sadly, Grandpa Baker passed away the day after Christmas so Bryce and his mom drove up to KS for the funeral. We are so thankful that we got to spend July 4th with them this past year. Lilly got to meet Grandma & Grandpa Baker for the first time and Abby got to see them again. So, I packed the girls up and we spent a few days at my parents house. I had accidentally dressed Abby and I sort of similarly so I thought, why not make Lilly match too! This was my dad and my attempt to get a picture of the 3 of us.
Me & my cuddle bug!
Abby introducing Lilly to the iPad. I could have gone another year without her knowing what that is but oh well! Considering her limited exposure to tablets, she's quite adept to the concept of a touch screen as well as the game she is playing. I was impressed.
One of their favorite things to do at my parents house is to feed the ducks in the backyard!
The ducks and geese are quite aggressive so it's best to stay behind the fence. They are HUGE birds and VERY loud!
The other thing they love to do is pick oranges and lemons from my mom's trees. Of course, they can only get the low hanging fruit. :)
Playing catch and kick ball in the backyard. Great way to stay warm!
Lao Nian and 3 out of 5 of her grand babies! ♥
Look at my beautiful niece! I can't believe she's 1 year old already. :)
Abby and her Jo Jo!
Teacher Abby
They were alternating and sharing the toys so well! Very impressed.
My dad introduced the girls to Chinese Opera. :) He was translating along the way (honestly, I need translating along the way as well...) and Abby was actually interested in the story! It only lasted 5 minutes before they were ready to move on but at least they got to experience something new!
We've been rationing opening gifts and a few days ago, Abby chose to open her lab set! She was learning about acid and water in this experiment. It involved pennies, water and lemon juice. I'm sure you can figure it out from there. Thank you Aunt Karen and Uncle Gary for the gift! She had so much fun!
Patiently waiting for the lemon juice to do it's thing.
On to the next experiment: Does it sink or float?
This scooter wasn't a Christmas gift (a hand-me-down from a neighbor) but Abby learned how to ride a scooter in the last two days! We are so proud of her! She's not the most coordinated kid so this is a huge milestone!
How quickly the student becomes the teacher! Lilly loves it when Abby helps her out. It's the sweetest thing to watch. Lilly has absolute trust in Abby - so sweet and innocent. I hope it stays this way forever!
Ooookay! Whew! We are caught up to today! Thanks to anyone who made it all the way through this post. You're either super dedicated or have waaay too much time on your hands! :) School starts for Abby on Tuesday. She wants to take gymnastics lessons this spring so I'm going to look into that. Lilly continues to be our always sweet, always active, always hungry little baby. We are so lucky - she still takes at least one 2-2.5 nap a day, if not 2 naps a day. It's so awesome. We are really working on getting her to stop walking on her tippy toes. She's making progress so we're glad about that! Other than that, we are trying to have fun, stay warm and mostly importantly, stay healthy!
