Liam has really started enjoying hats lately. Perhaps it's just that he can say "hat," or perhaps it's that he has the coordination to put a hat on his head (with varying degrees of success.) Whatever the reason, he put one of the Santa hats on his head in early December and allowed me to take pictures. Priceless!
Since everything had to relate to Christmas in December, and we often sculpt fun things out of Robin's breakfast fruit, we made him a Christmas tree one day, complete with raisin ornaments
It *only* took me three years, but I finally finished Liam's Christmas stocking (yes, I started before he was born, before he was even conceived.) Here, I'm sewing the stitched pattern into an actual stocking
I tried to have a family-friendly Christmas party, although only one family could come so it turned into a get-together. However, I still made Christmas-themed food. How often do you see festive pizzas?
Santa didn't come out very well. I need a way to contrast his face from his beard
Rudolph
The wreath dripped its cheese all over the place as it cooked. Oops.
Wreath rice krispies treats
All bundled up to play in the snow
Attempting to make Santa's sleigh out of a banana and strawberries
I went back to Robin's preschool mid-December to help the class bake Christmas cookies!
I decided I had to come participate in this project, as Robin was the biggest batter-eater when we made pumpkin bread. I didn't want to risk him doing that this time, since everybody else's dough was going to have egg in it. I took on the gluten-free kiddos too, and I was glad I was there since none of the other helpers seemed to have any clue about food restrictions. You can see that I divided the table in half: one side egg free, the other side gluten free.
Everybody used cornstarch to roll the dough out, just to be safe. Robin got it EVERYWHERE!
"Mama, will you take a picture of us sitting next to each other?" Okay, twist my arm... :)
This was the picture we sent out with our Christmas cards this year
Liam got to ride in a Geek Squad car when I purchased a gift at Best Buy
Robin helping Dean shovel
Meet Owl the Elf. He is Santa's scout, who watches the boys throughout December. Every night he went back to the north pole and then found a new hiding spot back at our home each morning. He got into the cookies one night.
Cookie Christmas gifts for Robin's teachers
Del's birthday is right before Christmas, so we spent much of the day with them on the 22nd. I believe I have a picture very similar to this, of Robin and Del sitting on this step when Robin was this age
Both boys went a little crazy with the wrapping paper. They were pretty excited
How cute!
Christmas pancakes!! A snowflake...
Snowman...
Christmas tree...
Reindeer...
Candy cane...
...and a Santa hat.
It's cowboy Liam! See, another hat.
Liam's officially complete Christmas stocking
Look at that thing!
He really enjoyed his stocking after Christmas, once he realized there were more presents in there. As for this picture, he's just exploring
By the end of December, Liam got very excited whenever he found Owl the Elf in the morning.
Robin's monkey and Liam's monkey blanket joined us for a breakfast of Legos
Another Santa hat shot. Hat! Hat!
Robin joined in too this time
Robin made beaded bracelets for friends and family for Christmas gifts. This activity lasted for most of December. Then on Christmas Eve, we put stickers on paper for wrapping, and then wrapped them. To my surprise, Robin wanted to label not just a few, but all of them. I spelled, and he wrote. And he did them all.
Robin told me the other day that water comes from lakes and from volcanoes. Volcanoes? Yes, volcanoes. No Robin, water doesn't come from volcanoes. Yes it does! You add salt, pepper, and baby powder to the lava to make water. Don't know where that came from, but okay.
Liam is really getting good at communicating with his single words, his points and gestures, and his nods or shakes of the head. He's growing so much! He still snuggles when tired and clings to me when he's scared thought. It's good to be the rock in his life.
And finally, after all the waiting, the anticipation, the craziness, CHRISTMAS IS NEXT!!!
