Date Night!

One more December post before I can move on to 2014...

It was a year ago when I took Gavin on our first mommy/son date to see a play at the Walton Arts Center, so I guess we've made a mommy/son date a December tradition because we headed out in mid-December to see another play this year.

This time, it was a play by the local children's theater, but as soon as I heard they were doing a Christmas performance of Junie B. Jones I knew I had to take my Bug.  We love reading those books together.  Of course, the play was the week of our big winter storm so I was nervous all week that we'd have to miss it, but luckily it was just a cold, rainy evening the night we went.

Despite being freezing, I made him take a quick pic with me before we headed in.  I hope I can steal kisses like this from him for a long time to come!

The play was really cute and we saw a few different friends there.  My favorite part was when he wanted to sit on my lap.... I just sat there taking it all in.  This little guy is growing up so fast and one day he won't fit in my lap anymore...

After our play, we stopped for frozen yogurt at a new(er) place in town.  We both agreed it wasn't our favorite.  Guess we'll just stick to Yum Yos!

 

We headed home rather late (8:30!!) and Gavin fell asleep in the car.  Another perk of mommy/son date night - I got to carry my sleeping boy into the house and lay him down for bed.  That's one way to melt mommy's heart!

 

Unlike last year, Riley was big enough to have a little daddy/daughter date of her own this year.  So, while we were gone, Daddy and Riley snuggled up with pajamas, popcorn and, of course, glass slippers on (just for Riley!) and watched Cinderella together.  Aren't they adorable? :)

Riley was so excited about her Cinderella date that she wore her glass slippers all day!

I'm looking forward to many more mommy/son and daddy/daughter dates in our future!

Santa came!

The first Christmas Eve sleepover was a success.  Gavin started waking up asking for water starting around 5am, and he made it til about 5:40 before he just couldn't take it any longer and wanted to come out.  So, by 5:50, we were all up and ready to see what Santa had brought!

 

I didn't take many pictures on Christmas morning.  We just enjoyed opening gifts and seeing all the exciting things the kids received from Santa.  Riley's big gift was a dollhouse and Gavin was surprised with lots of Legos and a new chair for his Lego table, among other things.

We made our homemade cinnamon rolls, which made a TON and were beyond delicious.  So so so good!  Here's the recipe I used: http://temptingthyme.com/2013/03/31/cake-batter-cinnamon-rolls/  and we used this idea for our frosting: http://servinguplove.blogspot.com/2013/10/serving-up-breakfast-cinnamon-roll.html?m=1

We decided to give the movie theater a shot and take Riley to her first movie.  On our way, we stopped by a fire station to deliver some of those cinnamon rolls because we surely didn't need to keep so many for ourselves!  We saw Frozen, and let me tell you, I think I loved it more than the kids!  I am excited about maybe making both of those things part of our new Christmas Day traditions - delivering cinnamon rolls and a family movie!

The rest of the day was spent playing with all our new toys, watching Christmas movies, and making pizzas.  So much fun and so many wonderful memories.  I love these little ones so much. <3 font="">

The holidays are over...

...time to document our memories!

I know some day I'll be so glad that I have these memories recorded, but I also love that I can share them with our family.  Being away from them at the holidays is tough.  As many of my friends and I have talked about, it's tough when you grow up and the desire to create your own traditions for your children means moving on from the traditions you've had with your own parents and siblings.  I miss my family terribly at Christmas time, but experiencing all the magic of Christmas with Gavin and Riley is what it's all about - baking cookies to leave out for Santa, sprinkling the yard with reindeer food, taking pictures in front of the tree....  I'm so thankful that we get to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in Ohio with our families so that we can make these memories I will treasure forever at Christmas time in our home. 

Christmas Eve Jarrod worked until about 2, so the kids and I decorated cookies for Santa early in the morning, made some new ornaments together, and got some prep work done for Christmas dinner.  Then it was time to get a picture of our two goofballs in front of the tree...you can tell how giddy Gavin was that it was finally Christmas Eve.  I couldn't get the kid to stop being silly!

As soon as Daddy arrived home from work, we posed with the self-timer for our annual Christmas tree picture.  I tried to do it while it was still light out to help with the lighting, but that kind of back fired and the right side of these pictures is a little blown out, but still cute!  I like the pose in the first one best, but it's a little out of focus.  Too bad I couldn't get Riley to put her boots back on for them because we're left looking at her socks in the second one.

Gavin prepared the reindeer food this year at school during his holiday party, so we headed out before dinner to sprinkle it all through the yard.  Definitely need to make sure Santa and his reindeer can find our house!

Considering how bedtime has been taking longer than usual most nights with little Miss Riley, we decided to skip nap on Christmas Eve so that she'd go down easily.  Well...that didn't work out as we had planned.

While we were prepping our amazing pork dinner, she fell asleep on the couch.  :)

 

After dinner and cleaning up the kitchen, it was into our jammies we went and time to open Christmas Eve presents.  We exchange all our gifts from each other on Christmas Eve night.

Gavin wanted to know why we couldn't open presents before dinner, as soon as Jarrod was home.  I had to explain to him that it was just part of the excitement of Christmas Eve!  When I was little, we always had to wait until super late to open gifts, giving everyone a chance to arrive.  Now that it's just the four of us, we don't have anyone we're waiting on, but it still feels like the appropriate way to do things....build up the anticipation all day! 

I always make sure the kids get each other a present.  Gavin really gets the idea of picking out a gift, but not Riley just yet.  I gave her two options and let her pick...obviously she did a good job with the Legos she picked out. 

Daddy gets at least one nutcracker every year, so of course I had to pick up this R2-D2 nutcracker I found at Hobby Lobby.  It's an appropriate addition to his collection.

We spent some time before bed playing with new toys!

Then it was time for a new tradition!  A couple days before Christmas Eve, Gavin asked if he could sleep with Riley.  I knew that could be a complete disaster, but I also thought it would be a really cute tradition for Christmas Eve.  So, I didn't let him that night he asked, but after we read The Night Before Christmas, they did get to have their sleepover for Christmas Eve!

By the time bedtime rolled around, Riley had gotten quite the second wind and was super giggly.  She kept bugging Gavin and it was quite comical to listen to over the monitor.  We heard a lot of 'Rileyyyyyy, stop!  I'm trying to sleep!'  All the while, I sat on the couch getting teary eyed thinking about how big they're getting!  I still can't believe it...

After the kids were in bed, it was time to prep cinnamon rolls for the next morning.  Usually Jarrod and I do this together, but we waited too long and he was exhausted so I did it on my own before crawling into bed around 11:30 while this beautiful tree awaited us...

Christmas Love

Not a Baby Anymore

I cannot believe these pictures.  Last week, we went to our last Mom and Tot class of the session and were heading to decorate gingerbread houses afterward with our friends Mara and Addison, so I grabbed the camera.  I'm so glad I took it with me, but seriously....this is definite proof that she's not a baby anymore.  She looks crazy old in these!   Cue the tears...

 

 She loves singing all the songs during class!  

Riley is usually the only one that wants to ride on the 'bus' while we sing Wheels on the Bus.  So different than her brother...he was always one that preferred to walk with me than ride, but she hops right on!

After one ride, Addie did decide to join her for a short ride.

But her favorite is probably singing the 'Popcorn' song with the help of the parachute and foam balls.  It goes a little something like this....
You put the popcorn in the skillet and when it gets hot,
Sizzle sizzle sizzle and pop pop pop!

Riley loves the balls popping all over!

After class, we headed over to Addie's.  Mara did an adorable job setting up a little station for the girls to decorate gingerbread houses and cookies.  Super mom, huh?

Before we left, the girls played, danced, and sang.  Riley loves singing.  I think we'll end up getting her this microphone someday....she sings all the time!

Our baby is growing up so fast.  It's so bittersweet!