Playing at Bobbi & Papa's house

Here are just a few pictures of the kids, enjoying their visit to Bobbi & Papa's house.

Papa is so funny!

Snow boots!

Molly is really getting good at sitting up!

Elijah with his new remote-controlled car - how fun!

More Christmas

On the day after Christmas, we celebrated with Bobbi & Papa and Diane's & Danny's families, and then with Papa's extended family. The kids had so much fun opening presents and playing with everyone's new toys!

Elijah & Rylee coloring

Papa telling the Christmas story to the kids

Molly with Aunt Joann and Daddy

Maiah holding Molly

Christmas in PA

We got home last night from a fun trip to Pennsylvania. We got to spend Christmas with Patrick's family this year, for the first time since we've been married! We spent a really nice day with each side of Patrick's extended family, plus getting to spend a lot of time with Bobbi & Papa, Diane's family and Danny's family. We enjoyed introducing Molly to the extended family and getting to catch up with all of them. Elijah had so much fun playing with his cousins, and you know you can never have enough grandparent time! Here are some pictures from Christmas Day with Bobbi's family.

At Christmas dinner - Molly is admiring the pretty table!

Handsome little man

What a grown-up girl - sitting at the table!

Molly and Papa enjoy the gift exchange

Elijah - oblivious to the gift exchange

Bobbi - "Santa's Helper"

Merry Christmas!

We have a lot to catch up on from the last week, but here's your Christmas picture of Molly, for now. More pictures and stories to come!

Christmas Eve!

2 days 'till Christmas!

Molly's Bobbi sweater set

Here are a few pictures of the sweater, hat, booties and blanket that [grandma] Bobbi made for Molly. Aren't they beautiful?! Molly is just growing into them, so I'm sure there will be more pictures of her wearing them throughout the winter and spring.

Molly with her blanket

3 days 'till Christmas!

Just some cute kids

Elijah and Molly were hangin' out together in Molly's crib yesterday morning. Molly likes to sit in the corner of her crib (or the couch), where she can practice sitting on her own, with a little extra support. Elijah thought he would like to sit in there with her.

They each have a special little animal that they especially love: Bixby the bear and Bunny

Gotcha!

4 days 'till Christmas, and 6 months old

Molly turned six months old yesterday! I can't believe she is so old already. She is such a sweet heart, always smiling and giving kisses. She is trying to sit up on her own and is rolling and scooting herself around the room to get to things she wants. She has recently discovered that her toes are great fun to play with. She loves to kick and squirm in the bathtub and changing her diaper has become much more challenging since she is constantly trying to roll away. Here is our little doll in her Christmas dress. Thank you, Nana! It's so pretty.

5 days 'till Christmas!

Miss Molly has enough little Christmas outfits to keep her decked out for a couple of weeks (thanks mostly to hand-me-downs from her cousin, Rylee), so here's a little countdown for you!

Baby's First Christmas

And Wizzy tagged me with this Christmas themed list - so here goes! =)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, mostly. I love really pretty presents, and I enjoy wrapping for a while, but I feel like they all have to be unique and really pretty, so if there's too much to do I get burned out and reach for a bag. =)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Either. I like both - artificial are easy to decorate and generally symmetrical, but the real ones smell so good!

3. When do you put up the tree? Growing up we did it December 1st. This year we didn't put one up at all.

4. When do you take the tree down? After New Year's (or March ... ha!)

5. Do you like eggnog? Yeah, in small doses.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Mandy doll.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Patrick, usually.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Elijah.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes - olive wood that Patrick's parents brought back from Jerusalem. Cool, huh?

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Snail mail cards. I love getting mail - and getting cards and pictures from everyone at Christmas is so much fun, so I try to send ours in the mail, too. We have done the email thing some years when sending out real cards was too overwhelming to attempt.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't remember anything standing out.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story and White Christmas are my favorites. Patrick loves them all, and I enjoy pretty much anything Christmas (except Jingle all the Way or the made-for-TV ones), so we usually watch a bunch.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I see something that looks great for someone - any time of the year, or after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No comment. =)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The cookies, definately.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, lots!!! Sometimes I like white lights, and sometimes I have a colored-light itch. It depends, but I love them!

17. Favorite Christmas song? God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, especially this version - I love the parts of We Three Kings mixed in there - aren't the words great!?

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually I'm for staying home, but this year we're traveling and I'm looking forward to it.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Um, yeah, but I don't know why ... Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen, and Rudolph!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I like stars.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Growing up we did stockings on Christmas Eve, and presents in the morning. I also like the new-PJ's on Christmas Eve tradition. =)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The crazy shopping, and I'm not a big fan of all the Santa stuff, especially the take-your-picture-with-Santa at the mall thing and all the poor, scared babies crying ... (sorry, all you S.C. lovers out there).

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Stars and angels, mostly, in golds, reds, white and silver.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, the prime rib John & I have made the last few years, and stained-glass jello.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A trip to Colorado and a yard for Elijah.

Hey, babe!

Molly, clean and happy after her bath last night.

First food

Today Molly had her first "solid" food - some (quite runny) rice cereal. At breakfast she tasted a little, but didn't get more than a spoonful down. At dinner, though, she really went for it and ate three little bowls of cereal! She didn't even make a huge mess. I'm sure we'll have plenty of messes in the future. I didn't get any pictures this morning, but here are some from dinner:

Waiting patiently for dinner to start

The messy face afterward

Elijah thought I should take a picture of him eating, too!

I also took some video. I figured I needed to document Molly's first day of eating, but you'll have to excuse the view - I was wrangling dinner and camera by myself tonight, so I set the camera on the table to get whatever I could get. We'll take some better video where you can see Molly's face another day when Patrick is here.

Molly's (almost) six month check up

We went took Molly in for her six-month well baby visit yesterday. (It's hard to get in at the right time when your birthday is the week of Christmas!) She is doing well and growing consistently. She is 17.2 lbs (77%) and 27.25 inches long (95%). (I actually got the numbers printed out this time, so I wouldn't forget them again!) Yep, we've got a tall girl. She is rolling both ways consistently and reaching and getting toys at a distance. She isn't sitting up on her own yet, but I don't think she will be as slow as Elijah was to learn those things. She got more shots, and was very sad. She still has a little fever this morning and is a little less happy than usual, but I'm sure she'll be over it soon. We also made a plan for starting solid food - how exciting! I can't believe how old she is getting already! We are adjusting her schedule a little bit, now that she'll be eating as well as nursing, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to settle into something that works quickly so that we can be as ready as possible for traveling next week.

Sweet girl

Winter Wonderland

On Saturday evening, we went to the Pawtucket Winter Wonderland with friends from church. It was cold, and it was a late night for our early-bird kiddos, but we had a great time. Elijah got to ride in the little train (with Mama) and on the carousel (with Daddy). Molly spent the evening in the stroller, trying to sleep. The lights were very pretty and it was a fun Christmas-time family outing.

Getting ready. We really had to bundle up!

Riding in the train.

Molly wasn't so sure about spending the evening out in the cold! But she did very well.

Riding the carousel - the oldest stationary* carousel in the world

They were going so fast, it was hard to get a good picture!

*Stationary - the horses don't go up and down, but the carousel does go around!