Christmas Kids

4 months is a really fun age for a first Christmas. Nora loved the pretty boxes and ribbons. She is grabbing everything within reach these days, and she could tear the wrapping paper herself once we got it started for her. She got clothes for Christmas mostly - thanks to all of our family members who know that's what we need for a little lady whose size is more than twice her age (and growing!).

Zeke has been really fun this year too. He has been pointing out stars and Christmas trees and reindeer everywhere he sees them and talking a lot about seeing his cousins and giving and getting presents. A couple of weeks ago he learned in nursery that candy canes remind us of the shepherd's crooks, and he often tells me about shepherds visiting baby Jesus. Zeke had a very Thomas Christmas this year, with most of his gifts from everyone being either parts for his train set or other Thomas-themed items.

It was a very very merry weekend. I love that each Christmas is more enjoyable than the last!

Memory Tree

We have a tree of many varied ornaments, and as I was enjoying its peaceful glow I realized that they each hold a memory. Ornaments Aaron's mom made for her kids, ornaments received as gifts from many sources, ornaments we bought together, ornaments Zeke made at church, and more.

The tree itself holds memories too. We bought it on Christmas clearance the year before we were married. The light strands were once white lights, and we swapped out each individual light on the multi-colored pre-lit tree we bought my mom at the same time. Aaron did custom colors for the lights in our star. And so many other little things. And the beautiful thing is the memories will only grow as the years go by.

Pretty Little Sitter

About a week ago we put Nora down sitting and for once she balanced for more than a fraction of a second.

The next day she was a little better at it.

And even better the next day.

And still better the next day.

She still needs her hands or boppy for balance, but she loves it.

It's been fun to see her progress from day to day. We're so proud of our sweet little miss!

Left In the Cold

Our furnace died last week. A slow death, leaking carbon monoxide at an increasing rate as it went. The first time the CO detector went off, we chalked it up to an old furnace, cold weather, and being gone most of that day. When it went off twice more that same week, we called our property manager and he sent over a serviceman. The heating guy brought a brand new CO detector and instructed me to call him if this one went off. That night it went off 4 times between 2 am and 6:30 am. Fortunately the kids slept through both the screaming alarm and the cold air that came in as we aired out the house. Aaron and I, however, didn't sleep much at all. At 8:30 I called the heating guy and he came right over. After an hour or so he pronounced our furnace dead, shut it down, and we packed up and went to Grandma's for the weekend.

We had an unexpected vacation weekend of playing, talking, hanging out, and relaxing.

Nora discovered she likes to bounce,

and Zeke discovered that Nora bouncing is a great toy.

The new furnace was ready for installation 3 days later, so I gathered up all of our things, packed the car, and took the kids home to meet Aaron who got off work early. The heating guys brought the new furnace in and got it all set up but one part was missing, meaning the installation would have to continue the next evening. So we refreshed our overnight bag and went back to Grandma's for one more night.

We are happy to now be back at home and have more efficient heat. Now to catch up on all the Saturday chores that didn't get done last week...