Laina Lu: Week 48

December 27, 2017

It was Christmas week!!! We had lots of parties to attend (though none of them were all that party-ish, but that's okay!). Daddy and I went to our work party and then joined Laina and Jules at Grandma Nore and Grandpa Mike's for Christmas. I was missing one of Grandma Nore's presents but we all had fun anyway.

On Saturday, we went to Grandma Charyl and Grandpa Ron's. You and Julie got a TON of toys, most of yours Julie was more interested in than hers... sort of anyway. We stayed late and came home to sleep. The next day we had all the grandparents and Auntie Kara over for Christmas Eve. It was a big gathering and lots of fun and good food, thanks to Daddy.

The next day was your first Christmas. You weren't all that thrilled with everything but you got lots of fun stuff. Sadly, however, you started feeling crummy about halfway through the day and you still aren't back up to normal Laina. It's a crappy way to end your week but hopefully we'll have you on the mend soon!

^You aren't into the pretties anymore, that's for sure!

Merry Christmas to You, Babies!

December 25, 2017

Laina's first Christmas, and Julie's third. It was a good time, with Grandma Patti, Poopah, and Auntie there with us. Lots of presents and the girls got more than they needed, but at least a few practical things. Laina wasn't feeling well as the day progressed but the morning was a fun time at least. Merry Christmas!

^She climbed up onto Julie's present. Julie was NOT thrilled.

^Opening things!

^Maui costume!

^Silly Lu!

^Happy girls.

Eleventh Month

December 25, 2017

Little Laina is only one month away from being done with weekly and monthly photos. It's fun but gets a bit daunting, so it'll be time but I'm glad I was able to do it with both kids. Keeping track of milestones like this is great. As they grow, it's still fun to see what's new with them, but we'll be done with the heavy duty recording. But this little lady has mastered walking and started feeding herself (which means we have reentered the messy stages!), and though we definitely aren't as good of a sleeper as our big sister, we sure are just as cuddly, if not more!

Keep being awesome Laina, but let's work on getting to sleep a little bit, Mommy and Daddy aren't good at this sleep deprivation business ;)

^Pretty Jules got into photos this time, wearing her necklace and pretty dress.

Dooge Christmas 2017

December 22, 2017

Another year in the books, and a pretty good one. I feel recharged and ready to go... even if I do slack a little. Glad to be a part of this company. We had a great time. The food was good (even if mine looked kind of questionable!) and the service was fine. My wine was tasty too ;) Got a little too cheerful for a bit but that's okay.

Anita ended up being my Secret Santa and I was hers! Weird! We did a sock exchange that that was pretty fun. I sort of got into it and was the one telling people the rules, as I was slightly intoxicated. It was fun anyway and we had a great time. Here's to another year!

^Cheers :D

^Photo bomb :)

^Best buds.

^We're cool ;)

Miss Lu: Week 47

December 20, 2017

Christmas is almost here! We celebrated with a red and green outfit for Laina Picture Day! It wasn't an overly eventful week, just finished up shopping and such. We had some ROUGH weather, which made me nervous but we got through it okay. You also got to watch the big girls (Julie and Ellie) decorate cookies so that was fun. I didn't let you have one, even if Angie did let Simon eat one. You didn't seem to notice anyway.

We finally got back to church, even if we didn't send you to the nursery. You were being pretty good, though by the end I had to walk you around outside of the Ark. The rest of the weekend was relaxing, and now we are ready for your first Christmas! Oh and you keep on walking and it's awesome. You can catch your balance, turn like you've been doing it forever. I'm so impressed! And you won't leave Jules alone, she's not thrilled with that ;)

^Cheerful-Lu

^Trying to escape

Christmas Cookies

December 14, 2017

We usually do some sort of Christmas cookie event. With younger kids it's a little bit daunting to organize, so this year, we kept it short and sweet with the originals... Just Julie and Ellie (Angie being the original) decorating a little bit. I made the dough on Tuesday and Mike helped me cut them out and bake them before bed that same night. The weather was BAD on our original planned date so we did it on Thursday instead. Angie said poor Ellie cried when Angie told her we couldn't do the cookie event on the original day, but they had fun on Thursday at least.

We also did gifts which is always fun. Julie has already used hers up and Laina plans on wearing hers sometime this week!

^Ellie was definitely the most excited with her gift.

^Laina is feeling sly.

^They look concentrated but they would rather be eating these.

^That is a RED cookie.

^We segregated the little ones ;)

^Our pretty big girls.

Baby Laina: Week 46

December 13, 2017

You escaped the stomach bug! Despite the fact that you did puke that day (coincidence?!), I don't think you were ever sick and me and Daddy escaped too. Julie was better the next day but got another day off of school to celebrate ;) On Friday, we went outside in the snow, as we finally have a decent amount. Neither of you were happy with the struggle to get all your cold weather gear on, but once it was done, you seemed to enjoy your ride in the sled.

We went to Allie's birthday party at SkyZone and put up the Christmas tree this weekend too, which you thankfully aren't super interested in. Oh, but now you are WALKING, seriously you have it all figured out! It's so weird to turn around have you standing there. But I'm proud of you!

^Such a pretty smile.

^Clap clap!

^Getting angry with Mommy.