Christmas 2011 Recap

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas. I know we sure did. It was filled with food, fun, and laughter.

Our first Christmas with Sevea we decided to make some new traditions. One of those included prime rib for Christmas eve dinner. Troy really out did himself this year. It was the best year yet. The side dishes vary each year but this years were great. There was holiday salad, simple broccoli casserole, twice baked potato, the best sweet potatoes ever, and buns with honey butter. I can't take all the credit as Carissa made both potato dishes and the honey butter. She can cook!

Sevea ready to open gifts on Christmas eve.

She had been requesting a pillow pet every time she saw it on tv. She loved the Dora one she got.

All of my "kids" helping open my present.

Lily thought they were comfy!

Cohen couldn't open his gifts but enjoyed playing with the paper.

Sevea and Troy playing with her ABC electronic toy. She is having fun learning the alphabet.

Santa came and what did he bring...the tool bench!!

My favorite part, the stockings!!

Sevea was a great big sister and helped Cohen with his stocking too.

She really enjoyed playing with the tool bench after daddy assembled it for her.

Cohen was trying real hard to roll over from his back to his tummy, doesn't quite got it yet.

Santa diapers courtesy of the Zimmers. Jolly just like Santa!

We did brunch on Christmas morning so we enjoyed a little chocolate fondue in the afternoon. Sevea was a huge fan.

Can't believe everyone is looking at the camera. Cohen may be yawning but I can see why after 30 other attempts, haha!

No Christmas is complete without a car race.

Sevea figured it was the nice to do on Christmas and let Grayson win :)

We had a lot of fun this year and look forward to even more fun next year!

Monster bars

The holidays are a time for goodies. This is a favorite time of year for me! This little treat however was not made for the normal holidays of this time of year. Troy and I celebrated 14 years together on Dec 15th!!! We have long given up on doing anything real extravagant for one another, except for the occasional baby making or announcing pregnancy news. Since the littlest things can mean the most I decided to secretly make these monster bars and hide one and a note in his bag for work. I am definitely the one with the sweet tooth but Troy surely enjoys certain baked goods especially ones his mom makes. Troy's mom makes an incredible M&M bar and has been one of Troy's requests that I make. Recently however I stumbled upon a much easier version of that recipe. Enter monster bars! So simple as in dump all ingredients but one in a bowl, stir, and then top with the final ingredient M&M's. Yum!

 

Monster Bars

Recipe from 1 Cup Awesome
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup mini chocolate chips (I use normal size chocolate chips)
3/4 cup mini M&M’s (I use regular M&M's and pile on till I think it is enough)

Directions
Preheat over to 350° F.
In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except for the M&M’s.
Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 pan or into a medium bar pan.*
Sprinkle the M&M’s evenly throughout the top of the bar mixture.
Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes.

*Note: The bar pan seems to cook the bars a little more evenly. In a 9×13, the bars are thicker and sometimes the outsides of the bars will be fully baked, but the middle of the bars will be undercooked. I normally have to cook mine a little longer because I have used a 9x13 but the outside doesn't get overdone.

Christmas fun: Gingerbread house!

I have always wanted to make a gingerbread house. Last year after Christmas I picked up a box kit from Michael's on sale ready to take on the project this Christmas with Sevea. It was a fun project for the two of us and much easier than I ever imagined. I was surprised that she didn't attempt to eat even one piece of candy. This is totally a tradition that I will try to keep for years to come.

Christmas fun: Santa and reindeer!

Last weekend the realtor who helped us in buying/building this home held a Christmas event. The event included being able to see Santa, take a sleigh ride, color Christmas pictures and other activities. We took this opportunity to take Sevea to see Santa for the very first time. I suppose it was Cohen's first time as well but he had no clue what was going on or who the man was. It was great because we didn't have to wait in a long line like we would have going to the mall. We wondered how Sevea would do since she was really excited to go. As we waited in the short line she was still excited to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. It wasn't until we were next in line that she started to show signs of not being so sure about this. But as soon as it was our turn and Troy set her down, she ran right into his lap like he was her best friend. Cohen didn't care one bit, someone was holding him. When asked what she wanted for Christmas she told Santa a tool bench. He wasn't quite sure he heard her right but I assured him he heard her correctly (I don't know why she got stuck on this one toy because it was more suggested for daycare but she says this no matter who asks...but she does want dolls and many other girlie items as well...not that she can't love "boy" toys as well!!) We wished we would have had more time to enjoy a sleigh ride before leaving but it was fun to look at the reindeer anyway.

So do they look like siblings?

The kids at 4 months

You can certainly see the extra pounds Cohen has on Sevea in his cheeks :)

Christmas fun: Ornaments!

I love trees filled with ornaments that have special meaning. It never gets old looking at ornaments that someone received each year as they grew up. Every Christmas I look over the Appeldorn tree that Troy grew up with and it never gets old. It is fun seeing new ornaments that his mom gets every year and remembering the stories of the old. I loved this idea so much that when Troy and I became a family I knew I wanted my tree to be more personalized rather than just random bulbs or ornaments. So every year Troy gets me an ornament as well as now our children. We also get an ornament from his parents. Looking at all the ornaments as we put them on the tree is one of the highlights of Christmas (it is the little things after all!). So when my mom requested ornaments to be handmade from each grandchild I was in love with the idea. What a fun thing for us parents to do with our kids and what a nice thing to be able to give to the grandparents. So many options of things to do but I ended up doing one that used a play doh like product. I had never heard of Model Magic before but it is very similar to clay or play doh but it dries hard and is very easy and fun to play with. It was a simple project yet provided an hour of fun afterward. This = success in my book.

We decided to mix two colors together to make a swirled effect. After playing with it she then rolled it out.

Next time for the cookie cutter. We made a star and a tree. Then after playing with the leftovers for an hour brown was now the color so a gingerbread man was made.

Use a straw to make a hole for the ribbon and let air dry. I took Sevea's thumbprint and made a heart to personalize it a little more. Wrote her name and year and done!

Cohen Month 4 Update

We are officially 1/3 of the way through the first year. It has gone so quick if I sit and think about it. We are done with what they call the "4th trimester" and with Cohen that is very exciting. He has been much more of a typical baby than Sevea was. Sevea just wasn't a ton of work ever. Within this past week I can see more and more that Cohen is starting to need less and be content more. Don't get me wrong I still feel very blessed to have had a healthy and happy baby but he just wasn't AS happy as Sevea. He most definitely had moments almost daily of having to be held. Nothing else would calm him. If I didn't have a teething Grayson or a toddler with an earache to comfort or three other preschoolers to care for this wouldn't have been an issue. Cuddle time sign me up but of course he always choose the most inopportune times. Like I said he is what I would call a normal baby but after having such an easy experience with Sevea it is hard to not expect more.

Babies constantly keep us on our toes with ever changing schedules but this month proved to be pretty easy in that respect. Cohen continued to follow a natural schedule of eating between 2.5-3 hours during the day and napping after 1.5 hours of waking. Some of his crabbiness was at times due to wanting more sleep. He would surprise us constantly with how much sleep he would want. At times he would awake from a nap and not want to do anything but be held. We thought at first he was just crabby but learned he actually wanted to be put back to sleep. We've fallen into a bedtime of 7:00 or so and he will sleep till 6:30-7:00. Recently we have loved his decision to wake up just once somewhere between 4 and 5. Keep this up buddy!!

All the crabby moments surely can be quickly forgotten when you get big smiles and that first giggle. This month we loved this the most. It has been pretty easy compared to Sevea to get Cohen to smile. This month we also got to hear his first little giggle. Troy was able to get a good round of laughter out of him along with his first belly laugh within the past two weeks as well. What a joyous sound that is.

His stats: Weight is surely not a problem for him. He weighed in at 14lbs and 10oz which is 45%. His length took a nose dive which isn't surprising since he is our kid after all. Length was 23 3/4 inches putting him at 11%. Comparing to Sevea: 13lbs 4oz and 23 1/2 inches.

Until next month!

When he drinks a bottle he is in love with holding it...or trying. He always has his hands on the bottle if you let him.

Starting to arch his back to see things. Although no sign of rolling from his back to tummy in the near future.

He does pretty well with tummy time at the right time. He doesn't consistently roll from tummy to back over but has done it again this month.

Learning lots while daddy works from home. One of "those" moments I was glad to have an extra hand or lap :)

He has enjoyed the view he gets from sitting in the bumbo.

Look who found his thumb. He still loves to suck on his hands.

Christmas fun: Cookies!

Over the weekend Sevea and I decorated cookies again this year. This is a tradition I can get into for sure. I love traditions that involve eating :) I took a shortcut again this year and just bought premade dough and frosting. The dough was very hard to work with and didn't result in the best looking cookies so next year I will make it. But I loved the frosting (Betty Crocker Whipped Fluffy White) so that shortcut might stick unless I find a good sugar cookie frosting (I am picky on this one). All in all it was a fun thing for us to do. Sevea loves helping in the kitchen!

Who wouldn't love helping in the kitchen when you get to eat afterwards!

I smell something...

Kids say the cutest things. It seems like they always say things to remind you to not take life too seriously. The other night was certainly one of these moments. We put Sevea down for the night. She has entered the stalling stage at bedtime so we often hear from her after we have said good night. This particular night Troy and I had settled in on the couch and popped some popcorn. A few minutes later we hear Sevea saying something. Troy goes to check in on her and remind her "sternly" it is time to go to bed. No delays. His attempt at being stern went out the window very quick. Sevea: Sniffs the air. "I smell something." Sniffs the air a few more times. "Yep, I smell something. I smell something yummy. I smell something very yummy." How can you not crack a smile and just be thankful for the little things.

We love you silly girl and are thankful for every moment we get to share with you, 

even when you should be going to bed.

Save this for later

I may need this later but for now I'll suck on my hand :)

Payback

Andrew should have really thought about his future kids when he did funny things with Sevea. 

Courtesy of Troy

Time Away

I spent my first night away from Cohen over the weekend. It actually was the first time I had ever spent more than 4 hours away from him. He was in very good hands though since Grandma NeNe and Grandpa Gary were watching him, Sevea, and Grayson. They surely kept them busy but I think they all couldn't get enough of the love and attention they received. We really appreciate them coming up to watch the kiddos. Thank you!!

After my first night away I couldn't have asked for anything better than Cohen falling asleep on me after eating and enjoying a little nap together. Especially since I slept worse and woke up more often than if I had been home :(