Christmas!

We had a fun Christmas at home with just the three of us. Aida had a great time opening all her presents and she seems pretty happy with everything so far. It was really fun having Christmas with a kid in the house, she was so excited about everything!

Before the carnage...
"Santa" left a cute note for Aida

Aida loved the rocking horse Santa brought for her. Notice that at this point she already has her mouth full of candy from her stocking.

I made a play food sandwich for Aida out of felt. There are actually two separate sandwiches but I guess she was hungry.
We bought this watercolor on our trip to Peru before we were married and I finally got it matted and framed.
Somebody was excited...
but Aida was keeping it real old school
I got Aida this digital camera for 50% off at a camera shop months ago. She loved it and took pictures of everything.
And then this is what we did for the rest of the day...

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmas Eve in Australia

On Christmas Eve we went to my cousin Joette's house. She does a "Christmas Around the World" tradition with her family where they pick a country and research that country's Christmas traditions and incorporate that theme for Christmas Eve. We've joined them for the past few years and it is really fun. This year the country was Australia and since it is summer in Australia we had a "picnic" theme with fresh bread, deli meats, potatoe salad, fruit salad, deviled eggs, and chips. It was really good. Joette decorated the table and Jed found some cute Christmas carols about kangaroos instead of reindeers. We had a great time.

Balloons and streamers for the "picnic"
Way too cute napkin rings that Joette made
Yummy food
Of course the kids all looked cute

After dinner, we went home and opened our Christmas PJ's and then Aida put out the milk and cookies for Santa.

Its been so fun this year now that Aida sort of understands what is going on and doesn't she look cute in her pj's?

'Tis The Season

I tried to be a little crafty this year when I was decorating our house for Christmas. I got the idea for hanging ornaments on the stair railing from my favorite magazine Real Simple. I modified it a little bit after I found some cute felt ornaments for .50 cents each at the craft store. I got the ribbon on sale for a buck so the whole project cost me about eight dollars. I had to play around a bit with the ribbon before I liked the way it looked. Since the ornaments have cute wooden beads I ended up just looping the ribbon and taping it instead of tying bows. I think it turned out pretty good.


Aida and I made some classic paper chains and I found some holiday scrapbook paper and made some paper stars that I strung on twine. I had the idea to have them all hanging along the top of the window overlapping each other but never got it to look quite right so I ended up putting the stars below. I'll probably try something different next year but it was fun making the chains with Aida.
And here is our tree. Zack is slowly building up his Christmas village. We are up to three buildings so we cleared out the bookshelf and put it in there. Aida loves it. She is definitely excited for Christmas this year now that she understands what is going on, I can't wait to see her face Christmas morning when she sees all the presents under the tree.

Aida says...

Aida is saying the funniest things these days so I thought I would start writing them down so I can remember them all. I'm sure the grandparents will love this type of thing too. I'll probably create a post and just keep adding to it and maybe post it once a week or so...

We recorded a Tinkerbell movie off the TV the other day and Aida has been watching it a lot. Yesterday I taught Aida how to sing "Jingle Bells." Today, she woke up and asked if she could watch "Tinkerbell all the way." I guess that makes sense if you think about it. :)

We started potty-training Aida a few months ago and then mostly abandoned the effort. We just started up again and this time things are going really well, partly in thanks to the big "potty chart" that she gets to put stickers on when she uses the potty. One of the "great" things about having kids is they are always up in your grill, including while you are using the bathroom, especially if they are also learning to use the bathroom and want to see everything that is going on. So today, Aida was in the bathroom with me and when I finished, she came over and gave me a big hug and said in her best excited voice "Good job!! I'm so proud of you! Do you want a sticker?" Aw thanks, but I don't need the sticker, I just want to wash my hands.

Aida pronounces words pretty well for the most part but there are still some words that I can't quite catch. I gave her a box of raisins yesterday for a snack and a little later she came back into the kitchen and asked for a "ball."
Me: "You want a ball?"
Aida: "No, my "baaaaall"? (really exaggerating the "ahhh" sound)
Me: "Do you want me to find your ball?"
Aida: (Huge sigh and then opening her mouth into a really big "o" shape and dragging out the vowel even longer) "No, my "boooooooowwwwl!"
Me: "Oh, a BOWL!!"
And then I swear if she could have rolled her eyes she would have, I'm sure it must be hard for her living with someone like me that can't even understand basic words.

Snow Day

It snowed again last Friday and Aida loves it. She loves putting on her snowsuit and going out to play. She just walks around the backyard, makes some footprints, brushes all the snow off the patio furniture, and sometimes eats it but she sure looks cute.

(Sidenote: The pictures below are from Friday morning. Saturday and Sunday, the temps were back up in the high 50's/low 60's and all the snow melted. Today, it started snowing again around 4:00pm. Ahhh, Colorado weather, don't you love it?)

Dear Santa

It's snowing outside, Aida's watching some weird British cartoon in my bed and eating a candy cane for breakfast, and I don't feel like unloading the dishwasher, so let's have a cup of tea and post my Christmas Wishlist instead, OK?

(the links are just examples I found, not necessarily the exact ones I want)

Food Processor - boring I know, but I don't have one and I love to cook. It seems like every recipe I've been wanting to try these days calls for pulsing something in the food processor.

New Purse - Since Aida doesn't need a full diaper bag anymore, I want something bigger that I can throw a few diapers and a wipes case in but still use as my regular bag too. I'm thinking something in a jewel tone, like berry or purple.

Fancy Phone - my cellphone is about 4 years old and I'm ready to join the rest of world and get a PDA-type phone with email, internet, etc. (I had one for work and I had to turn it in when I quit, it was hard going back to just a regular phone. "You mean all I can do is call people?? What is this, the middle ages??") But since I've had my old phone for so long, I've earned a free upgrade from my cell provider, so I will be taking care of this one myself.

Immersion Blender - This is one of those single-use kitchen gadgets that I usually have a hard time justifying, but this would be so great to make different kinds of soups without mess of ladling it into the blender a little at a time.

Silver Circle Necklace - I've decided I need to learn to accessorize better and I've liked the look of these necklaces ever since they became trendy a few years ago.

Pepper Grinder - I have a little plastic one that doesn't work very well and would like a classic twist-top grinder that's nice enough to sit out on the counter.

Knitted Hat - you know those cute little knitted hats that have the brim, you know, those ones...with the brim...yeah, that's what I want.

A Mouse - no, not that kind, the kind for the computer. My parents gave me their old Mac laptop and I would love one of the Mac mouses (mice?) to go with it. I'm sure a regular mouse would work fine too.

Structured Black Blazer - I've been looking for one forever and still haven't found one I like. I've decided that you can get away with wearing jeans and a t-shirt everyday if you throw a smart blazer over it. Your outfit suddenly looks totally put-together and stylish.

Boots - I want a great pair of classic, flat, brown boots. But every pair of classic, flat, brown boots I've found seem to be not quite what I'm looking for, so I'm not sure about this one. I'm sure I'll know them when I see them.

Hmmm, it seems the majority of my list is accessories or kitchen appliances, when did turn into a 1950's housewife? :) Now that I've posted this, please don't run out and start shopping (I know you were about to), this is just me wasting time on google when I should be cleaning the kitchen. OK, I guess its back to the dishwasher...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at home but that didn't stop us from cooking up a storm. We made the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, maple-glazed carrots, roasted garlic brussel sprouts, pumpkin cheesecake, and orange-cranberry sauce. We had left-overs for days.

It snowed a little bit on Friday night and the first thing Aida asked for when she woke up on Saturday was to go outside in the snow. We got her the cutest little snow overalls and ski jacket at a yard sale a few months ago and she was finally able to try them out. She loved wearing it even if she only lasted outside for a few minutes.

Snow Bunny

We brought out all the Christmas decorations on Saturday. We debated about getting a fake tree last year but all the ones that I liked (and actually looked semi-real) were really expensive. A couple months ago our neighbors were trying to get rid of their fake tree but didn't end up selling it and asked us if we wanted it for FREE. Um, yes! It's actually a 12-foot tree so we have to leave off the bottom two branch attachments and then it is the perfect size for our living room. I think it looks really nice and no pine needles all over the place!

We told Aida she could put the star on top of the tree...
Maybe we should have been more clear about what that meant! :)

I'm so grateful for my husband and for my funny little girl who I get to spend so much time with now. I feel like I'm finally starting to hit a groove with staying at home full-time and I'm really getting to know Aida for the amazing person that she is.

Happy Thanksgiving!