Fiona in January

Fiona in January

Monday, December 30, 2013

A Christmas Wrap-Up

Well, here it is, the looming end of 2013 and the post-Christmas season.  We took down our Christmas decorations last night (mostly due to the purchase of a fantastic discounted tree-storage container yesterday) and I have spent the morning cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen and master bedroom after finding homes for all of Baby Knives' new toys.

So can I just say...whew?!

We are incredibly blessed to be able to spend so much time with family over Christmas.  Aaron and I are both blessed in the in-law department, in which we actually get along really well with each others parents and siblings.  I know that can be kind of rare, but there is pretty much zero interpersonal holiday stress when it comes to family get-togethers and I love that!  However, with that much family to juggle it means that we have several "Christmases" and spread the holiday throughout the entire month.

My parents (who now live in Oklahoma) arrived the week before Christmas and spent a few days here on the Eastern Shore with us.  It was so nice to have them here, just part of our daily routine and it gave them a chance to really start bonding with Baby Knives.  My dad often travels East on business, so he sees her more often, but my mom hasn't been able to see her youngest grandbaby since last Christmas!  Those of you who are grandparents know how hard that can be.  We spent some time at the park and just playing, enjoying some low-key family time together.

Using Grandma as her own personal recliner

Swinging with Grandpa & Grandma pushing is SO FUN!

My dad is mostly a kid too - not bad for a Grandpa!

















































The weekend before Christmas we all caravan-ed up to Baltimore to celebrate our family Christmas at my sister's house.  Baby Knives got to play with her cousins and we got to spend time with family we haven't gotten to see in 9+ months.

We also (unfortunately) discovered that Baby Knives has now hit what we hope is a short-lived phase of getting overwhelmed by lots of people in a different environment than she's used to and throwing giant screaming nearly-inconsolable tantrums.  Any of my parent friends out there commiserating with me right now?

Even with the frustrations of a now-tantrum-throwing toddler, there were a few nice moments...


We managed to get one decent picture of the cousins!

The kids had a great time in the warm weather this year

Baby's first lollipop - kept her quiet and happy at the restaurant!

Our 7-year-old nephew loved his gift from us this year!

Following in her daddy's footsteps with her own guitar









































































We headed back home and started preparing for our own small family Christmas on Christmas Day.  I made traditional oyster stew for dinner on Christmas Eve night, we wrapped Baby Knives' presents from us and her relatives from out-of-state and settled down to enjoy our evening...until I came down with a violent stomach bug.

Yep.  Sick over Christmas and then my husband got it a few days later!  Thankfully Baby Knives was exempt from all the pukey fun, but it definitely put a damper on our own little Christmas.  It also is the reason you won't see many pictures of me below!

New Christmas jammies are a tradition


















Me, on Christmas Eve night before I started getting sick

Opening gifts on Christmas morning




































Are you still with me?  I know this is a long post, but hang in there!  Our final Christmas with my husband's family took place the weekend after Christmas at my in-law's house.  Baby Knives has so many cousins, all the kids were there and I loved being able to see them (and my sisters and brothers-in-law too of course!), especially little Layla who is only 2 weeks older than Baby Knives.  I love that she has a cousin so close to her in age, it's been fun so far seeing them grow up!

My husband's family is crazy.  Hilarious, but insane.  So, the photos definitely reflect our shared insane personalities!

My brother-in-law AKA Captain America
Our oldest niece, modeling the tiara she made

Snuggle time with "Mimi"

Exploring the great outdoors

































The 2 oldest cousins hanging out














Wrapping paper carnage is heaven for toddlers














Uncle Aaron reading a new book to the kiddos














Christmas is exhausting!














































And with that final celebration, I will end my post.  Christmastime this year was eventful, exhausting and stressful at times with sporadic toddler tantrums, but there were some good memories too.  Here's to a hopefully more stable toddler next year!  Hope all of your Christmases were merry and bright and here's to a fantastic new year in 2014!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Christmas Tree Excitement

It is officially the Christmas season in our house, the tree is up!  Last year, Baby Knives was only 6 months old so she really didn't care about the tree.  This year she got super excited when she woke up from her nap and saw it for the first time!







I love that she's old enough this year to get excited about parts of celebrating Christmas. She'll meet Santa for the first time this year too, so we'll see how that goes! Next year she might even be old enough to help with the decorating, but for now she's doing really well not touching the tree, so I'll take it!