Bangs pic

What I can do on the iPad .

Christmas

We have had an absolutely wonderful Christmas! The kids are such great ages for Christmas this year. Nicholas is old enough to really understand and anticipate but still young enough to be excited and swept up in the magic. Elizabeth had no anticipation but was thrilled as it unfolded.  I was actually very proud of Nicholas for his attitude throughout the day, excited and grateful for everything he got even though it wasn't what he asked for and weren't big or dramatic presents.

For example this was the reaction for Spirograph:

From 2014 December

Christmas Eve we went to church and the kids looked adorable in their finery.

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

They were even pretty good through most of church.  About an hour in (which was about an hour and a half after we got there) Elizabeth started to go a little stir crazy and so I took her in the back to let her walk for 10 minutes and of course Nicholas had to come too because he couldn't be left out.  But other than that they did a good job.  Nicholas got really into the singing and sang loudly to almost every song.  He has figured out how to read not the notes of the music but the words for the various verses and most of the tunes were familiar so he was able to follow along.

We had made a bunch of cookies that day (although not yet frosted the sugar cookies) so we put out some for Santa.  Nicholas tried to explain to Lizzie why she couldn't eat them.  She was unconvinced.

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

Christmas Day Nicholas got up at 6:15 and we did the 3 of our stockings then because it seemed cruel to make him wait for Elizabeth to wake up, we weren't going to wake her, and she was too young to understand and be upset that we'd started without her.  Then when Elizabeth woke up she did her stocking and we had breakfast (Joe made french toast) before doing the presents among the 4 of us.  We then opened presents from other relatives while talking to them on Skype.

We also took advantage of the warm weather to spend some time at a playground burning off some energy.

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

Nicholas then made Grinch fruit kabobs based on ones his Aunt Shayna showed him the week before over Skype and had Joe's cousin Sarah and her boyfriend over for dinner.

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

It was a wonderful day!

And Christmas just kept going because the next day felt like Christmas again.  My parents came up and we opened more presents, played outside, finally finished decorating sugar cookies, and played a bunch of Pictionary. 

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

Bangs

Elizabeth needed her bangs trimmed.  There was no doubt about that.  Her hair was constantly in her face and it was to the point that she was walking around looking up to try to see through her hair.  Well, I guess in theory we could have just let it all grow out, but that would require her to leave hair clips and ties in reliably, which just doesn't happen.

But she needed probably between half an inch and an inch cut.  And I cut more like an inch and a half off.  Oops.  It has been a long time since I've had bangs or really thought about bangs and I had in my head that bangs are in the middle of the forehead.  That is where Nicholas' hair is cut and I haven't thought much about girl hair.  As soon as I cut the one side I realized they were wrong and too short, but then I had to go ahead and cut the other side that short too to make them even.  Bad.

I started to feel better when I googled and found all sorts of people who had done just as bad or worse.  And then I read that they will be even shorter when they dry and so now I'm worried about just how bad they will look in the morning.

My only consolation is that hair grows back and that even though the extra inch is really noticeable because it is bangs, it really is only an inch and so (if google answers on how quickly hair grows is to be believed) they should have grown to proper length within the next two months.  Also, she is too young to have any idea what I did.  Maybe I just won't take pictures for the next couple months and go back and delete this post and she'll never know.

I won't know just how bad this is until tomorrow when her hair is dry and I see if I can do any damage control with a hair clip.  You'll have to wait as well because I didn't take any pictures tonight.  I'm so bummed and annoyed with myself. :(

Christmas Eve

Some pictures from Christmas Eve:

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

Flashback

We were watching videos of Nicholas at approximately Elizabeth's age and I just loved them.  There is one above.

And here is another one: Click here

Read to Me!

I love this picture because it so accurately captures our lives these days.  Elizabeth uses her new skills in walking to chase us around the house with a book.

From 2014 December

Seriously, how do you resist this? 

Pure Adorable

I know I'm biased, but these 2 are pretty gosh darn adorable. 

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

From 2014 December

Toddler

Elizabeth has become a much more confident and capable walker over the last couple weeks.  Tonight she was almost running!  Still a little unsteady at times, but really a toddler now.

Spoon

Tonight I decided to let Elizabeth try to feed herself with a spoon.  It was half laziness and half curiosity.  And she did shockingly well.  So well, in fact, that I suspect that she must use a spoon at daycare.  Not that it was perfect:

I got this, Mommy:

From 2014 December

Hmm, is there a faster way?

From 2014 December

Num num num num num

From 2014 December

What?

From 2014 December

Books

Have we mentioned that our kids love books?

From 2014 November