Merry Christmas...again!

For the past few years, we've had Christmas with my family in January. It just happens to be a more convenient time for everyone. I don't mind it at all. In fact, it's nice to have a little more shopping time, not to mention, I save a ton of money with all the after Christmas sales! I do love a bargain!

Ever since Christmas, Jacob has been a little jealous of the chair Santa brought for Annabelle. He sits in it all the time and says, "I forgot to tell Santa I wanted a chair!" After hearing this for the fiftieth time, I told my sister about it and she decided she would grant his request and get him a chair of his very own. Jacob could not be happier. He loves his chair. It's just the cutest thing to see him and his sister sitting side by side in their chairs. Sorry...no pictures yet. I'll work on that for a future post.

Annabelle...errrrr....Princess Annabelle loves her new tiara and bracelets. She's not even 15 months old yet and already a huge fan of jewelry. She's easy to please right now, though. Even a cookie cutter will suffice as a bracelet. She pulls them out of the kitchen cabinet everyday (and I mean EVERYDAY) and wears them around the house until I make her put them away. Now, she has real bracelets...except I think Jacob has hidden several of them underneath the refrigerator. I'm not sure if they'll ever again see the light of day.

The slinky was another big hit with Jacob...and all the adults!

As soon as Annabelle unwrapped the duck pillow, she laughed, smiled, and gave it a hug.

Ummm...will someone please pick up this trash?

So....I thought this cookie cake would be fairly simple. I mean, all you do is make the cake batter, pour it in the pan, bake it, then slap some icing in the middle for the filling. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, here's the kicker: before you pour in the cake batter, you have to prepare the pan. This cookie pan has LOTS of little designs on the top, as well as scalloped edging. I meticulously greased both pans for no less than an hour, making sure I had every little detail sufficiently covered. I even used a q-tip to get all the tiny places. I made the batter, poured it in the pans, baked it just as instructed, then waited a few minutes for it to cool. With the amount of time I spent preparing the pans, I had no worries at all about the cake sticking to them. I was overly confident. Both layers stuck. I was so disappointed. Oh well. I'll be the first to admit, I'm no Cake Boss. The cake wasn't exactly pretty, but it still tasted good. And I guess, when it comes down to it, "taste" is what really matters, right?

More Conversations With Jacob

You know that old saying, "Kids say the darndest things"? Well, they do. Jacob is living proof. a conversation with Jacob is quite an adventure. An adventure where you don't know where you're going or what will happen next. It's fun, entertaining, and always good for a laugh...or several.

On the way home from church last Wednesday night:

Jacob: Know what, Mommy?

Me: What, Jacob?

Jacob: Gwacie helped me take off my coat because I couldn't do it by myself.

Me: Well, that was very nice of her, wasn't it?

Jacob: Yes. It was. I couldn't do it by myself and I was getting too hot.

Me: I'm glad she helped you. Did you play with Gracie and Wayne tonight?

Jacob: Yes....but Wayne threw a toy at my face.

Me: Oh, no! Was it an accident?

Jacob: Yes. It was. But he threw a toy at my face and it hurt and I was sad, but then I put a smile on my face and I was happy!
Me: You put a smile on your face?

Jacob: Yes. I did. I put a smile on my face and then I was so happy!

Me: I'm glad you were happy.

A couple minutes later, we pulled up to the Chik-Fil-A drive-thru menu to order....

Jacob: Hey...do you want a number one hamburger?

Me: No, Chik-Fil-A doesn't have hamburgers. Only chicken.

Jacob: Oh. Do you know what I can't get enough of?

Me: No. What?

Jacob: Chicken nuggets!!! I want more, but I just can't get enough! Do you know what my favorite food is at Chik-Fil-A?

Me: What is your favorite food?

Jacob: A fwuit cup!

For a snack today, I gave him a little bag of rice chex cereal mixed with some craisins. He's always loved craisins. Apparently, that love has dwindled. As he and Annabelle sat on the kitchen floor eating their snacks together, this is what I heard:

Jacob: "Ooooooh! A yummy chex! (crunching sound) Oooooooh! A yucky craisin.....here, Annabelle."

I'm not sure how long this had been going on, but it was long enough for Annabelle to have a mouth full of "yucky craisins."

Yesterday, he was playing in the living room when all of a sudden, he ran up to me.

Jacob: Know what? We're gonna have a birthday party for Annabelle!

Me: We are? But it's not her birthday.

Jacob: Yes it is...do you wanna have a dance party and a music party?

Me: Sure! That sounds like fun!

Jacob: Ok! Let's dance and listen to lots of Christmas music! This will be the best birthday party ever!

Then, he played the demo music on his grand piano and began to dance away. He tried to get Annabelle to dance with him, but she preferred to dance alone. She let him know by screaming at him and slapping his head. Not very ladylike, I know, but it did the trick.

Bump....bump....bump

And the word of the week is.....bump. Our little munchkin is getting pretty fast on her feet. Now, if she could just get the hang of that balance thing. She has bumped her head so many times this week, I have lost count. Let's see..... She fell backwards on the tile floor in the bathroom. Bump. She fell backwards on the tile floor in the kitchen. Bump. She fell and hit her face on her toy piano. Bump...and bruise. She fell face forward into the corner edge of her crib. Bump...and another bruise. She fell into the corner edge of the wall. Bump. She fell backwards into the wooden foot on the couch. Bump. She fell forward into the side of the play yard gate. Bump. She fell into the dresser. Bump. How many bumps can a tiny, little 14 month old girl take? About a million, apparently, because I guarantee you, they will continue tomorrow. Poor thing. Between her bumping her head on her own and her big brother climbing all over her or knocking her down when she's grabbed one of his toys, I'm convinced Annabelle will grow up to be one tough cookie.

With all those bumps and bruises, only one thing could make her feel better -- a nice pair of designer jeans. She is quite the little fashionista, you know. Ha ha. I have to say, I'm a tad bit jealous. Even I don't have any designer jeans. But, thanks to her Aunt JoBeth, who apparently believes all baby girls (or at least her niece, anyway) should have a pair, Annabelle is rockin' those True Religions. They're still a little big, but thanks to an adjustable waistband, she'll be able to wear them for quite a while. She actually got these for her birthday, but never wore them until this week.

So, while Annabelle was wearing her new jeans and working on her supermodel runway walk (must...not...fall....and bump....my head....), Jacob was busy being a rockstar for Jesus.

The other day, he was playing his piano and listening to all the demo songs. When Old MacDonald began to play, he looked up at me and said, "We don't sing songs like this. We only sing Lord Jesus songs." Not sure what he meant by this, I asked, "What? You can't sing Old MacDonald?" Jacob replied,"No. Just Lord Jesus songs." I'm still clueless about what Jacob deems as a "Lord Jesus" song. Jesus Loves Me, perhaps? That is one of his favorites. Anyway, he told me Lord Jesus had a band. "Someone plays the piano. Someone plays the drums. And someone plays the guitar," he said. And he must have added a tambourine and jingle bells because he wanted me to play those instruments during band practice. Yes, I am in the band. :) All I know is, that kid cracks me up. I think part of his sunday school lesson last Sunday was about musical instruments and playing music for Jesus, so maybe he picked up something there.

Jacob wants Annabelle in the band too. Looks like she'll be the lead singer (or at least a backup)...if she can stop licking the microphone.

Being a supermodel and a rockstar sure does make a person hungry. Just ask these two. Snack time is definitely one of the highlights of their day.

Yum! Thanks Mom!

Wait a minute. What's he eating?

This is totally NOT fair. You get fruit snacks and I get a crummy organic rice cracker???

Let's negotiate.

Jacob's answer?

He was obviously not willing to negotiate. It was nice of him to be so polite, though, don't you think? :)

Christmas Morning

On a typical day, Jacob usually wakes up just before 7:00 AM. Christmas morning, we knew we needed to be up before him or all the presents would be opened before we even opened our eyes. So, Heath, my parents and I all got up just after 6:00AM. We positioned ourselves in the living room, cameras in hand, to capture the moment as Jacob walked into the room and saw what Santa had brought. We waited and waited and waited...and waited. With the stormy conditions outside, Jacob's room stayed dark longer than usual. It was close to 9:00 before he woke up. Can you believe that?!? If only we had known. We all could have used a couple extra hours of sleep!!!!!

When Jacob saw the tree and the presents, he remained totally calm, as I knew he would. He walked up to his Handy Manny workbench and whispered, "Wow." He was also very concerned about Annabelle and searched for the gifts Santa brought for her. Then, it was stocking time. Anytime Jacob pulled out a tiny toy, he said, "Annabelle can really choke on this." So thoughtful -- always thinking of his sister. Well, for that moment anyway.

Once his stocking was sufficiently emptied, all the way down to the toe, he wanted to go get his sister out of bed. He grabbed a little pig Santa left for her and ran down the hall to her room to wake her up.

Annabelle was a little startled by the abrupt wake up call, but when Jacob handed her the pig, she smiled and gave it a big hug. She loves stuffed animals and baby dolls - a girl after my own heart. :) Then it was stocking time for Annabelle. Stockings are so much fun. Going through my stocking has always been my favorite part of Christmas morning. You just never know what kinds of things you will find stufffed down in there.

Once Annabelle found Puffs, it was all over. She was concerned with nothing else except figuring out how to get into that container.
I realize she may be holding Hershey's Kisses, but let me assure you, Santa did not leave those in her stocking. :)

After the stocking, Annabelle moved on to her presents. She absolutely loves her new little chair.

And Jacob loves his Handy Manny workbench.

The rest of the morning is kind of a blur. All I know is that it ended with a sea of wrapping paper and boxes and we had used up a pack of 24 AA batteries and had started on a second pack. EVERY toy takes batteries these days, and lots of them.

When Annabelle walked into the room, the puppet theatre caught her eye and she got really excited.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man....Sing us a song tonight.....

Jacob's new piano even has a microphone attached. I'm pretty certain he's going to be the next Billy Joel. :)

Leave it to Annabelle to notice Santa left a few crumbs on his cookie plate. "Not to worry, Santa," Annabelle said, "I'll take care of these for ya." And she did.

Conclusion: Between Santa, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and Mommy and Daddy, I'd say Jacob and Annabelle are totally spoiled. And we still have another Christmas to celebrate in January with my sister. Now....I realize Christmas is over, but Santa, with all these toys, I have a request of my own: A bigger house!!!!!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

Merry Christmas! What? Christmas was last week?? Oh...so it was. So...it...was. Yeah, I'm a little behind on my blog posting. In my defense, we have been incredibly busy. I mean, it is the holiday season and (insert any excuse you can think of here).......

Christmas is always a whirlwind of activities -- so many things to do, places to go, people to see. But somehow, we always manage to fit everything in. My parents came down to visit the Tuesday before Christmas and I was sooooo thankful. They stayed until the day after Christmas which allowed me to actually get out of the house on my own for a while. Heaven. Pure heaven. I love my children, but I can't even begin to tell you how much easier it is to run errands alone. Ahhhhhhh. Heath's parents babysat the Saturday before, so we were able to do a little Christmas shopping then too. It was a VERY good week. :)

Christmas eve day we headed over to Walterboro to have Christmas with Heath's family. Of course, there was music...lots and lots of music. :) And a little dancing too.

Sing, Annabelle! Sing!!

Believe it or not, the musicians did take a short break to open presents. Actually, one musician (I'm sure you can guess which one) began opening gifts on his own while the rest of us were eating lunch. He walked in, so excited to show us a gift he had opened. Unfortunately, the gift was not his to open. It was one of the presents we brought for Heath's parents. Oh, well. He only wanted to help. I don't think the grandparents were too upset about it. :)

I absolutely love Annabelle's outfit and was thrilled she was able to wear it for Christmas. I've had it since just after she was born. It's a 6-9 months outfit, so I wasn't sure if it would work or not. Lucky for us, she's petite. It fit her perfectly...except for the pants. They were too big!! I had to gather them up with a safety pin in the back!!!

When the "real" present opening commenced, Jacob was ready. He would have happily opened everyone's gifts if we had let him. He did "help out" with a few of his sister's presents.

After visiting a little while longer, we loaded up the car with the new treasures and headed back to our house for Christmas Eve.

I had these visions in my head about how Christmas Eve would be: Kids dressed in their cute, new Christmas pajamas; Christmas music softly playing in the background, Jacob and Annabelle both sitting quietly, listening while Heath read from the Bible about the real meaning of Christmas. My visions were hardly reality:

Jacob and Annabelle were both getting colds...AGAIN...and were pretty tired from the day's festivities. They were whiny and definitely not in a Christmas kind of mood. Despite the crying and whining, we pressed on and eventually Jacob and Annabelle became much happier. I'm not sure what brought on the mood change, but I was very pleased with this 180 degree turn around.

While Heath read the Christmas story from the Bible, I used the Little People Nativity set as a visual, acting out each scene as Heath read. It worked...fairly well. Of course, Jacob and Annabelle wanted to play too.

After a little playtime, we put out cookies and milk for Santa, then tucked the kids into bed; however, Jacob was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too excited to sleep. He talked and sang, and talked and sang, and talked a little more for almost two hours before he finally gave up and fell asleep.

When both kids were finally asleep, Santa showed up...big time.

In fact, I think Santa may have overdone it...just a little. Note to Santa for next year: Stop at two gifts per child...really. Jacob had so many gifts to open, I think he actually got tired of it. Instead of, "Wow! Another present?!?!?", the look on his face was more like, "Ugh...not another one." We have definitely learned there is such a thing as toy overload. Anyway.....

Young Frankenstein

We have a little Frankenstein in the house -- well, the girl version of a little Frankenstein. That's right. Annabelle is walking. She has been practicing a lot this week and has perfected the Frankenstein walk. She's been cruising around the furniture for months now and has taken a few steps here and there, but last Friday, a "few little steps" turned into several little steps and now, she can walk the full length of the kitchen, or any room in our house, for that matter!

She's still trying to master the art of keeping her balance, but she's doing a great job. When she falls, she immediately stands up and starts over. She's determined to get this. I know she'll be running before we know it. Actually, I have seen her take off in a jog before. She starts walking, then sees something that catches her eye. She tries to walk faster, but ends up falling flat on her face. Poor thing. It really doesn't seem to phase her, though. She brushes herself off and goes for it again!

Yes, Annabelle's shoes are squeaking. The squeaky shoes that Grandma gave her are still a little big, but now that she's actually walking, I couldn't resist trying them out. Aren't they cute?!?!

Annabelle takes a brisk walk around the living room to the Christmas tree on a daily basis...more like hourly basis. I purposely hung several soft, unbreakable ornaments around the bottom of the tree because I figured both Jacob and Annabelle would be trying to pull them down. Well, Annabelle has succeeded in breaking all the "unbreakable" ornaments. She ripped them off the tree and the twine hooks came apart. The funny thing is, Jacob has been pulling those ornaments down ever since his first Christmas, but somehow, they survived. Annabelle totally destroyed them. So, now our Christmas tree is essentially bare around the bottom, except for the lights, with which Annabelle is also infatuated. She wants to eat them...or at least get them into her mouth.

Jacob's favorite thing to do is rearrange any ornament he is able to reach. Every time I turn around, I notice another ornament that has "miraculously" moved to a different branch on the tree. He was a tremendous helper this year in terms of decorating the tree. I asked him to hang ornaments all over, but he preferred to focus on one specific area instead. He did a great job, but, unfortunately, all those ornaments had to be moved up several branches...much to the dismay of a little Frankenstein. :)