Saturday celebration

SATURDAY was a busy day here in Michigan.  It started out with some major sleeping in, I'm not even sure what time we got up but I know we weren't all showered and dressed until close to lunchtime.  We watched Haley play and hung out until lunchtime.  Then we ate and put Haley down for a nap.  At 2pm David and I took Emily downtown to a coffee shop and hung out with one of David's friends from high school and his wife.  He was actually one of the groomsmen in our wedding, his name is Jordan and his wife is Jodi.  He was the groomsmen with Corinne for anyone that's interested.

Jordan and Jodi have been living in Detroit while she finishes school and he finishes an intern job at a hospital in the southside of Detroit.  He works in the operating room and it was so interesting to hear his stories about what he's seen.  Detroit has a lot of crime so a lot of the injuries they had were gun wounds and gang-related.  He even saw a car drive by the hospital and push out an injured person and drive away.  Well now his internship is over and they are moving to Orlando where he will be in anesthesiology school.  He figures his patients will be a lot different in that location.

Well Emily was an excellent commercial for having children because she slept the entire two hours that we visited.  I never even took her out of the infant seat.  David showed them a video of Haley on his phone but we kept her at home so she could nap.  Plus I'm pretty sure Jordan and Jodi would have waited another five years to have children if they had been stuck with Haley in a coffee shop for two hours.

After our visit we went to Target to pick up a gift and card for David's parent's anniversary.  They celebrated their 30th anniversary back in May but we didn't get to really celebrate it so they wanted to do it while we were in town.  We had reservations at the Alpen Rose restaurant in downtown Holland at 6pm.  It is a European themed restaurant and it is super nice, David and I actually went there back when we were dating.  Our visit this time was very different from our first, this time we had Haley and Emily along.

Emily definitely did her part, she slept through the first hour or so that we were there so that was super convenient.  Haley actually did not do too bad herself.  We ordered her food as soon as we got there and asked them to bring it out whenever it was ready.  Jesse and Adj did the same thing with Isa so she and Haley got to eat together.  Since there were ten of us they had put us in our own room and it was super nice.  After Haley finished eating and got bored we turned the Ipad on for her and eventually we just let her get down and she crawled under the table with Bennett and Isa.

I ordered crab-stuffed salmon and it was amazing!  David had pork and he gave me a bite and it was pretty good.  Abuelita still had the boutonniere, bouquet and cake topper from their wedding so she brought those along and put them on display in the middle of the table.  For dessert they brought a beautiful white cake and Abuelito and Abuelita cut it and fed eachother just like they did back in 1982.  We ended up having a wonderful time and the kids did so well, especially considering that we were there for three hours!

Our gift for them was the game of Settlers!  We played it with them back at Thanksgiving and when we arrived in Chicago one of the first things Abuelita asked us was if we had brought the game along.  After that we figured we had to find some excuse to get it for them.  When we got home we put the kids to bed and then got the game out and played.  Abuelita and Abuelito actually went to bed but the rest of us played.  Adj won and then we went to bed.

Haleyism:
At dinner Haley requested to sing 'happy birthday' to Emily.  I ended up having to sing it super quickly and quietly to her because she was being really persistent in asking.

Emilyism:
The table at the restaurant was super big and the place next to me was empty so Emily had tummy time on the table.

Haley and Bennett, do you think they look alike?

Haley and Bennett at the restaurant.  She may or may not have been hitting him... 

Abuelito and Abuelita made a grand entrance, she even had her original veil! 

Our Canche Christmas

FRIDAY, our first full day in Michigan, was started with sleeping in.  Haley really outdid herself by sleeping in until after ten!  Considering she went to bed at 7:45, she almost slept fifteen hours.  By the time we had woken up and taken showers, it was almost lunchtime.  We ate a late breakfast and then later had a late lunch.  Sarah was not feeling well so she and Abuelita went to the doctor for a diagnosis.  In the meantime Haley and Emily played with Aunt Chris who arrived in the morning.  Aunt Chris is house sitting for a lady who lives in Grand Rapids so she drove in for the day.

After lunch we left Haley and Emily with Abuelita and Aunt Christ and Aunt Sarah while David and I went downtown to do some shopping.  We were not gone long and didn't find anything so when we got back we went to Wal-mart with Abuelita to check out the after Christmas sales.  I found a star for the top of our tree next year.  We made it back to the house in time to have our family Christmas!

Haley was getting tired by that point so we put her to bed and opened all of the gifts except hers.  The theme for presents this year was used or homemade.  Most people went the used route and we actually made out pretty good.  We even decided to go with the same theme for this coming year so if you know of any good yard sales just let me know.  It took over two hours to get through all of the presents, Christmas is not for the faint of heart.

After presents we woke up Haley because she had been sleeping three hours and it was after five.  Then we had a delicious dinner of pork and vegetables which Abuelita had made in the crockpot.  For dessert we had an assortment of cheesecake slices, they were amazing.  We spent our 'Christmas' evening talking and hanging out together.  After a while David, Aunt Sarah, Abuelito, and Abuelita went for a walk outside in the snow.  They pulled Haley along with them in the sled.  David said she really seemed to like it, she never tried to get off.  Haley got to stay up fairly late because she had napped so long but she still had barely been awake four hours when she went to bed.  

Haleyism:

Haley loves to play with Isabella, she calls her 'Isa.'

Emilyism:

Emily and Bennett are the younger cousins but they are also the bigger cousins.  Isa and Haley are both small for their ages.

Haley bundled up on the sled

Cousins together

Haley and Isa hanging out

In the snow!

Haley is laughing pretty hard in this one

Our trip to Michigan

The day after Christmas was our last full day in Pennsylvania and it was packed full.  We started out by leaving all of the children at home and going to Linda Smith's house for a Christmas brunch.  Linda is a friend of the family and has always been known for her amazing cooking and baking.  It was such a special treat to be able to go and enjoy brunch with her, without children.  David and Jonathan graciously stayed home and watched all of the children.  Grandma and Grandpa came by and helped the boys with the kids so they were actually in pretty good shape.

When we got back they were just finishing lunch and Haley had just gone down for a nap.  Pops was walking around with Emily who had apparently been a little bit high maintenance.  We spent most of the afternoon hanging out together and getting ready for the company we had coming at five.  This actually took a while because everything was pretty crazy after our Christmas the day before.  There was still wrapping paper out and most of the new gifts were laying around.  I told Mom it was a great idea to have company the day after Christmas because it forced us to clean up.

At five the guests started arriving.  David and I spent a lot of the beginning packing upstairs while Haley played downstairs and Emily got passed around.  Mom had made lasagna for dinner with salad and bread.  Haley didn't eat any lasagna but she did eat some bread and applesauce.  After our company left we set up Settlers and played one last game.  Caleb beat us all and then we played a new game he had gotten for Christmas called bang, it was pretty fun and I won.  Then we all headed to bed.

Our night was short because THURSDAY morning we got up at 3am so that we could leave for the airport by 3:45.  Haley woke up while we were transferring her to the car and she stayed awake the whole way to the airport.  I looked back at her every so often and her eyes were always looking back.  When we got to the airport we ended up standing in line to get our tickets.  It was a crazy long line, Southwest definitely needs to set up more counters.  David had the hardest time with it because he had to roll three suitcases and a stroller.  Looking back it is pretty funny to think about, I should have taken a couple pictures.  Haley continued to stay awake but Emily slept the whole time until we made it to the counter (she never woke up in the transfer to her carseat).

David and I only added to the long line because we ended up taking forever at the counter.  Two of our suitcases were overweight so we had to take stuff out and put them in other bags and it took a while.  We finally made it to the security line where we were ushered to the family line which is always a lot shorter.  By the time we made it to our gate we had just enough time for David to go buy us some breakfast and use the bathroom and then we boarded.  Haley ate an entire hashbrown from McDonald's, I was pretty impressed!  Emily messed her diaper as soon as we got on board so I changed it and then she sat in David's lap and fell asleep and slept the whole flight.  Haley fell asleep shortly into the flight and then I fell asleep.

After a while, I'm not sure how long, the flight attendant shook me awake to inform me that Haley was on the floor going through my wallet.  Sure enough, she was sitting nicely on the floor with my purse open and my cards everywhere.  I thanked the flight attendant, put everything back, and then held her the rest of the flight.  Our flight was direct to Chicago and when we landed we went straight to baggage claim and then stood on the curb and Dave's family came and picked us up.

Sarah, Abuelita, and Abuelito all came in the Ford Expedition to pick us up.  We did have quite a bit of baggage so our first stop was Starbucks to pick up some coffee and put a stroller onto the top of the car (it had been at David and Sarah's feet).  Emily slept almost the entire car ride and Haley didn't fall asleep until the last thirty minutes.  We also stopped for gas and Burger King for lunch.  Emily woke up towards the end of the ride and I had to take her out and feed her but then she was happy.

When we made it back to the house we put Haley down for a nap and the rest of us also laid down.  Emily was pretty wide awake so David ended up taking her while I slept.  Haley did not end up sleeping very long, I couldn't believe it, she should have slept all afternoon.  When we woke up cousin Isabella was here!  Haley was so excited to see her cousin and play with her.  Isabella just turned four around Thanksgiving (I am just now realizing, I still owe her a Birthday tribute!!!!) so she is quite a bit older than Haley but she is super polite and played so nicely with her.

We ate dinner and then Adj and Jesse came with Bennett and we all hung out for a while.  Haley was pretty pleased with her cousins, almost too pleased.  She kept trying to sit on Bennett while he crawled around.  We ended up putting Haley down for bedtime at 7:45, she was so tired.  We stayed up a little later and talked and then we all headed to bed too.

Haleyism:
Haley saw Abuelita at the airport and immediately said 'Abuelita!'

Emilyism:
Emily does not seem to recognize anybody in particular because she smiles at everybody anytime.

Daddy playing with his girls

Haley saying goodbye to Jay, He was sad to see her go

Then he realized he was happy to see her go!

Isa holding Emily

Haley and Emily together in Michigan

 

Christmas!

Sorry I have gotten behind on here.  One of my Christmas presents to myself was taking a short break from the blog.  It backfired bigtime.  So here I am on catch-up, first off: Christmas day.

We had been asked to sleep in on Christmas day so that the Brust family could have their own Christmas.  Actually, everyone just pretty much assumed that we would sleep in so they had their own Christmas and then got woken up around 9:45, we were still sleeping.  We came downstairs where Kelsey and Calla showed us the highlights of their Christmas and then we all sat down to a beautiful breakfast Mimi had prepared.  She had an egg and ham casserole, french toast casserole with blueberries, oranges prepared special in the oven (brown sugar on top and butter then broiled, they were amazing), sticky bun, and our choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.  It was really wonderful.  Haley barely ate anything, lame.

After breakfast the Fentons and Mountzs came and we skyped Aunt Rin.  It was so fun to see Aunt Rin, even if it was via skype.  Haley kissed the screen when she saw her, it was really precious.  As soon as I put Emily up to the screen she started smiling, she's already in love!  We were skyping with Aunt Rin because Kelly and Josh were going to do their big reveal for the new baby due in May.  Kelly had made cupcakes and had hidden an M&M in one of them to indicate the baby's gender.  We all had to eat our cupcakes to see if we had the M&M and what color it was.  Jonathan's cupcake had the M&M and it was red: another girl!  We were all pretty excited about it because I think most of us were rooting for a girl, most of the girls anyways.  After the reveal we talked to Rin for a while longer and then we started taking showers and getting ready for the day.  The Fentons and Mountz went back home and then arrived back to Mimi's house around three.

In the meantime David took Calla, Kelsey, and Haley outside to play in the snow.  This was Haley's first legit look at snow so we were pretty excited to get her reaction.  We only had an inch or two but she seemed to enjoy it.

Playing in the woods, Kelsey did not last too long out there, maybe because she needed to zipper up her coat! 

Making tracks in the snow

All bundled up

Found an old pumpkin I guess

I think she liked it!

When everyone had reconvened around 3:30, we finally started the family gift-opening.  This process ended up lasting 2 1/2 hours!  I'm not sure why it took this long except that there were just a lot of gifts.  It's not like we were stopping to examine each one either.  Some of the highlights were:  a framed cross stitch made by Mimi, a season of duck dynasty for David, a kitchenaid mixer from Mimi!!!!!, a magnedoodle for Haley, and a place setting of China from some of my sisters and Caleb.  Overall it was a very exciting Christmas.  

After the gifts we sat down and had our Christmas dinner.  Mom had made ham, scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, broccoli, and rolls.  Carly and I helped with the corn casserole and the broccoli and Kimi brought a huge and delicious salad.  Grandma brought a jello salad and it was a good thing she did because that was the only thing that Haley ate.  The kids got pretty crazy during dinner, it turned into what my Pop-pop would have called, ' a controlled riot.'  By the end I think a lot of us were wondering why we had children in the first place, haha.  

When dinner was over we put those kids to bed and said goodbye to the Fentons and the Mountzs.  Then, as I recall, we played a game of Settlers and I think David won, I can't remember.  It was a great Christmas, although we did miss Aunt Rin all day.  Thank you to Mimi for making it so special!

Haleyism:

Haley is pretty good at opening presents, she is pretty slow at it though.

Emilyism:

Emily is completely incapable of opening presents, maybe next year.

Opening the cross stitch

I love it!

Haley opening her gift from Grandma and Grandpa

Christmas dinner!

Haley opening a present

Action shot

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started out with some sleeping in.  Haley woke up first around 9:30 so the rest of us were up soon after.  We got ready for the day and then went downstairs to breakfast.  Kelly and Clark had come so David watched the girls while I gave Clark a haircut.  Clark does not like getting his haircut, he cried pretty hard but he sat very still so it actually went by pretty fast.  He was really not happy to have it cut, I hope it doesn't make him dislike me!  After Clark's haircut we went to Grandma's for lunch.  Emily was sleeping in the swing so David stayed back and read his book and then just came after she woke up.

Grandma had quite the spread as usual.  Haley ate mostly applesauce, apples, crackers, and cookies and I had barbecue sandwiches, pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, cake, a pumpkin dessert, and chocolate candies.  After lunch Grandpa took all the great grandkids downstairs and turned on a Bible movie for them.  Haley was pretty excited about watching the movie, it's the same Bible dvd that she has at home.    Carly was holding Emily while they were down there and I was upstairs with Grandma when Emily rolled over!  She was on her tummy on the couch and she rolled over to her back.  I am not counting it though because I think the couch was kind of slanted and I think it should only count when she is on a flat surface.  We had her doing tummy time on the carpet for most of the rest of the day and she never rolled over again so I guess the couch really was helping her.

After lunch at Grandma's we came home and put the kids down for naps.  Emily slept for a little bit in the swing and then was awake for most of the afternoon.  We worked in the kitchen and hung out for a while until it was time to get ready for the Christmas Eve service.  My parent's church did two services this year with the first one starting at five and the second at seven.  Mom and Dad were both in the service so they had to go super early.  The Brusts and us decided to go to the second service because it was supposed to be a lot less full.  Josh and Kelly dropped off Clark during the first service so he could play with the cousins instead of being in the nursery.  He and Haley played for most of the time in the basement until Haley had to come upstairs and get ready for church.  They didn't really play together but they were usually in the same room while they played.

It started snowing around dinnertime and by seven pm we already had about two inches.  We barely made it up the little hill into the parking lot, Jonathan and David actually had to get out and help push the van up!  The service was well worth the effort and I think Haley and Emily even had a good time in the nursery.  There were hardly any other kids in there and a girl named Emily rocked Emily to sleep during the whole thing.  After the service we stayed and visited for a while before heading home.  The snow had stopped and it was starting to sleet, it's good we only live about a mile away from church.  When we got home we changed the kids into their Christmas pajamas and put them to bed.  Then Carly, Dad, and I played Settlers and I finally won!

Haleyism:
Haley got to make and eat her first snowball!  Daddy helped her.

Emilyism:
Emily rolled over on the couch as aforementioned.

Clark and Haley eating grapes together.  Haley is just under three months older than Clark.  

Haley was showing off her little sister to Clark, he is going to have a new brother or sister in May! 

Christmas concert

Sunday was an early morning for our family.  We had to get up to be ready to go to church by nine.  David and I got ready while the girls were sleeping and then we got them up and dressed and fed and left.  Dad had made pancakes so that was nice to have for breakfast.  David went to a men's sunday school class and I went to the women's sunday school class.  My parent's church is fairly big but it doesn't have a ton of young kids so Haley and Emily were actually in the same class.  It wasn't that big of a deal and was kind of nice for dropping them off and picking them up.  It did pose a little problem when I got called out of the service to feed Emily.  Haley saw me and she was not very happy but they held her at bay with goldfish and Cheerios, apparently that was the only thing that kept her content.

David ordered pizza for lunch and several people said, 'thank you David and Katelyn for the yummy pizza.'  (shout out to you Rin!).  Haley did not eat hardly anything for lunch because of all the snacks she got in church.  I let her stay up and play because we were practicing for the concert in the living room and I figured the singing would keep her awake anyways.  Well this was a bad idea because she ended up breaking some of Mimi's glass candle holders.  For the record, it was on David's watch.  Mimi said they were super cheap and it didn't matter.  David and Pops vacuumed up the broken glass and Haley went down for a nap.

While she slept we cleaned up the house and started getting food prepared for our family Christmas concert.  David held Emily while she slept and he read a book I got him for Christmas.  I ended up waking Haley up just before five because the Christmas concert started at five.  She had been sleeping for three hours so I figured it was time.  She and Emily wore adorable dresses that Mimi bought them to match with all the cousins.  We got a couple of cousin pictures but it didn't go super well.  Cousin Clark does not like getting his picture taken and Haley started crying because she got reprimanded for pinching Calla's arm.

We always start the Christmas concert off by eating heavy hor d'oeuvres and then we do the concert part.  This year we had quite a few people on the program.  Haley helped do jingle bells by ringing a bell/fighting over a bell with cousin Jay.  David and I sang a duet and David did a reading with the other brother-in-laws.  Emily did not entirely enjoy the concert but she did okay once I fed her about halfway through.  Haley watched about half of the concert, the other half she spent playing around in the living room.  At one point she was walking around with Calla's backpack on and pulling Calla's rolling suitcase behind her.  I'm not even sure where she found those things because we had put all of the toys away before guests came.

After the concert we ate dessert and exchanged gifts with our family friend Linda Smith.  Linda included a snowglobe in each of our gifts and Haley loved it.  After everyone left we cleaned up the kitchen and put all of the food away.  We let Haley stay up until almost ten because she was playing so nicely.  David won a game of Settlers he played with Pops and Jonathan and then Carly won the game she played with Dad and I.  Now I am going to bed, we missed you tonight Rin!

Haleyism:
Mimi has a riding horse that Haley loves to climb onto and stand up on the saddle.  It's the white and purple one Rin, she likes to bounce up and down while she's standing there.

Emilyism:
Emily is starting to require a little bit more effort at naptime, I think she misses her swing maybe.

Me with Haley and Emily

Christmas concert, we made a little row for the kids

Singing

Haley walking around with the backpack

David and Calla eating some desserts

David took this picture of Haley on the way to church, she was standing up in the car. 

More fun in PA

Today I set an alarm to be up in time for a playdate at 9:30.  Carly had arranged for a couple of my cousins to come with their children and play with our kids.  My cousin Holly came with her little girls Isabella and my cousin Kristen came with her boys Logan and Noah.  Haley was a little wary of the new kids, she ended up playing more with her own cousins.  Isabella actually kind of looks like Haley, I should have gotten a picture of them together.  Everyone ended up staying until just before lunch so as soon as they left we fed the kids and then put them down for naps.

Emily was awake for most of the playdate and would not fall asleep in the swing so David ended up laying down with her to help her nap, it worked out well.  Haley took a three hour nap after which I actually woke her up because I was afraid she wouldn't sleep tonight.  We practiced for our Christmas program once all of the kids were awake, they loved to dance around while we were singing.

Mom made a delicious roast for dinner, Haley just ate applesauce and a croissant of course but the rest of us enjoyed it.  After dinner David and Pops did the dishes while the rest of us went to Grandma and Grandpa's to visit with my Uncle Brian, Aunt Maggie, and cousin Janelle who were over there for dinner.  Haley ended up having a great time there because people kept giving her cookies.  Uncle Brian held Emily for a while, she was in a pretty good mood for most of the time that we were there except I did have to take her into Grandma's room and feed her once.  Uncle Keith and his family came while we were there so it ended up being a full house for a while.  Haley played with her cousins and colored for most of the time.  I did have to put her on time out at one point because she was getting rowdy and started throwing things.

After Grandma's house we came home and Carly put her kids to bed but I let Haley play for a little longer because she still seemed wide awake.  She played with some of Uncle Caleb's old toy train tracks and then we put her to bed.  It was good we kept her awake a little longer, she went to bed much easier than last night.  We set up a game of Settlers and Carly dethroned Dad and won!

Haleyism:
Haley and Jay were found eating a granola bar together under a table in the unfinished part of the basement today.  Those two are trouble.

Emilyism:
Emily was kind of a stinker today, she had a hard time falling asleep for naps.

*I am going to try and take a bunch more pictures tomorrow, I only took one today, sorry!

Daddy and Emily napping together

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Thursday was my Birthday!  It was fun to be home for my Birthday and we had a big day planned.  First David and I went to Shady Maple Smorgasbord, a big breakfast buffet place about twenty minutes down the road.  I do not use the word big lightly, they have special parking places for buses.  We left Emily and Haley home with Mimi, Kelly and Kimi who were visiting.  The girls were in good hands, Haley played with Clark and Emily could play with Ellie!  David and I had a nice breakfast and then came back home.  We were only home for about thirty minutes before we headed out again.  Grandma and Grandpa came by and visited for a while and then David and I left with Emily to go see the movie the Hobbit.  I left a bottle for Emily during our breakfast but she would not take any of it so we decided to just take her along to the movie and hope for the best.  

It ended up working out wonderfully!  Emily slept the entire three hour movie.  I fed her a little bit at the beginning and then she snoozed nicely in my arms the rest of the time.  It was kind of nice watching a movie and holding my little baby.  Emily definitely sleeps well in the dark and doesn't mind noise at all.  After the movie David and I headed home where we were greeted by the Brust family!  They had arrived from Chicago while we were gone.  Haley had just woken up from her nap and was playing with Calla, Kelsey, and Clark.  We visited and watched the kids play until dinner.

The Fentons and Mountzs joined all of us for my Birthday dinner at the house.  Mom made some delicious chicken and rice and Kimberly contributed a green bean casserole, one of my favorite sides ever.  Mom also made a chocolate torte for my Birthday cake, it was amazing.  After dinner I opened gifts and we all talked and watched the cousins play.  It turned out to be a really great Birthday and we ended the night with our customary game of Settlers.  Dad won, I thought it was mean of him not to let the Birthday girl win.

TODAY our little family ended up sleeping in until 9:30.  It was kind of overcast and our room was pretty dark so I thought it was super early but it obviously wasn't.  David took a shower and gave Haley a bath and then we all went downstairs for breakfast.  All of us except Emily that is, she slept in until past ten.  Kelly and Clark and Kimi and Ellie came over to hang out in the morning, it gets pretty noisy around here when all seven grandkids are here!  David, Kelly, and I left Clark and Haley with Carly and took Emily along with us to the outlets.  It was super nice to shop in peace, we got around those stores so fast!  I finished my Christmas shopping for David and Caleb and David finished his shopping for me.  Emily slept for the first part and then I put her in the bjorn until it was time to go.

When we got home Haley was still napping.  We basically spent the rest of the day visiting and watching the cousins play.  Jonathan and David made chicken and beef tacos for dinner which were super good.  Haley ate a bunch of cheese and chips and that was about it.  After dinner the boys went to play video games at the Mountz's house and the rest of us played with the kids and then put them to bed.  Then we wrapped presents and played a game of Settlers.  Dad won again, it's his third win in a row!

Haleyism:

Haley loves playing with her cousins, sometimes she is a bit of a bully.  We think she's trying to make up for her short stature by acting tough.

Emilyism:

Emily has been sleeping great here so far!

Sorry it is late so I just uploaded this video:

Pops and Haley

Traveling to PA!

Tuesday David had to work and the girls and I spent most of the day getting ready and packing.  We ran some errands in the morning, ate lunch, and then packed in the afternoon.  I was hoping that Haley would nap on the way to Dallas so I tried to keep her awake while I was packing.  Unfortunately she started getting pretty ornery so I put her on a time out on our bed and she ended up falling asleep after about two minutes.  David got home around 3 and we were on our way to Dallas by 4:15.  Haley did not fall asleep but she was pretty good for most of the way.  Emily was a champ, she slept almost the whole way and never made a peep.  We met David's roommate from college, Austin, and his wife Sarah, at a Mexican restaurant about fifteen minutes from their house.  Haley ate a bunch of chips and then watched the Ipad while we ate and talked.  Emily was wide awake after sleeping in the car so we took turns holding her.  

After dinner we went to the Mertz's house and Sarah made rice krispies treats for dessert.  The Mertz's have a little toy poodle and Haley was completely captivated by it.  Her name is Lila and she is super small, I think that's why Haley liked her so much.  She kept following her around, Lila did not care for Haley very much.  We put Haley to bed after a bit and then stayed up and talked until almost midnight.  It was really nice to catch up with them.

We had to wake up around 5:30 on Wednesday morning so we could leave the house by 6:15.  Sarah had a bunch of food out for breakfast, it was super nice.  We made it to the airport by 7:15 (we didn't end up leaving the house until 6:30).  I got a little nervous when we were checking in because I remembered that I didn't have any identification information for Emily and I only had a battered old shot record for Haley.  The battered old shot record ended up being enough for Haley and Emily was obviously under 2 years old so they were okay with her.  We made it through security without any hiccups and had enough time to grab some McDonalds before we got on our flight.

The McDonalds was actually food we saved to eat on the plane to count as our lunch because we didn't get in to Philly until 2:30 and they don't serve real food on the plane.  It ended up working out because Haley ate a bunch of biscuit and hashbrown.  Emily slept most of the flight and Haley only slept the last thirty minutes.  She was super happy to play around with the magazines behind the seats and put stickers on the throw-ups bags.  We also spent a lot of time eating snacks, those Southwest flights give out a lot of snacks.  She ate a bunch of pretzels and peanuts.

We landed at 2:30 and Mimi and Pops were there to pick us up.  Haley was pretty excited to see them.  We drove home from Philadelphia and a couple minutes later Kelly and Clark came and visited!  Haley played with toys and we unpacked and put Emily to sleep for a while.  Haley did not eat much for dinner, I think she was still full from all the snacks.  After dinner Pops played with Haley in the basement for a long time and then Kimi came over with cousin Ellie.  We had so much fun laying Ellie and Emily together on a blanket and watching them interact.  To be honest, they did not interact with eachother very much but it was still fun.  David put Haley to bed pretty early because she was so tired and then Dad, David, and I played Settlers.  Dad won.  

Haleyism:

When we got to Mimi's house Haley immediately started asking for Calla, Kelsey, and Jay-bird.

Emilyism:

Emily's voice is a little lower than Ellie's and she is a little shorter.

All of us sleeping on the plane

Getting ready for take-off.  Fortunately there was enough room on the plane for Haley to have her own seat. 

Emily and Ellie

Emily was trying to suck on Ellie's arm

Almost holding hands!

Cuties!

Waiting on the jet bridge

Waiting to check-in

Haley was thinking, "come on, what's the hold up!"

Getting ready to leave Longview!

Sunday David had to fly right after church so he went out to the airport before church to get his plane out.  We had also signed up to bring donuts so he picked those up on his way to church.  I was on my own to get out the door on time with the girls.  Both of them slept in pretty late and I had to wake them up so it was actually no problem at all.  I got to get ready in peace while they slept.  The only problem was that I waited a little too long to get Haley up and we didn't have time for breakfast.  She ended up eating a donut when we got to church so it worked out okay.

David and I were in nursery for the sermon so I brought the bjorn along so I could wear Emily.  Haley acted like we were always in there with her, she didn't seem particularly excited or anything.  David put his phone on the podium and Pastor Liebengood recorded the sermon on it so we could listen to it later.  It was a pretty easy gig in the nursery.  Evelyn and Lucy were not there because the Caldwells already left to visit family over Christmas so it was just Haley, Campbell and Christopher.  We did the story time, then the craft and song and then we let them play.  After the class David headed out to the airport and the girls and I stayed and talked for a while and then headed home.

I fed Haley lunch and let her play for a while before naps.  I held Emily and sat with her at Haley's table and chairs and Haley served me her pretend food.  It was kind of fun.  I referred to her as 'mommy' and she met most of my demands.  After a while she started to get a little cranky so I put her down for a nap and I put Emily in the swing to sleep.  Haley ended up sleeping three hours!  Emily slept about an hour and a half and then she woke up hungry so I fed her and then held her for the rest of her nap.  When Haley woke up we played some more for a while and then David got home.

David had ordered a pizza for lunch on his trip so he brought us back the rest to eat for dinner.  The men from church were meeting for a prayer meeting so David was only home about thirty minutes before he had to head out again.  Haley and I ate pizza and then she ate a leftover donut from church.  By then she was pretty messy so I put both of the girls in the tub for baths.  Honestly, we kind of had time to kill so they were in the bathtub for a while.  I think Emily must like the weightless feeling or something because she just can't get enough of the bathtub.  After baths we got ready for bed and then played until David got home.  He played with Haley for a while and then we put her to bed.

TODAY David had to leave at 4:45 for an early flight!  The nice part was he was home by noon.  The girls and I got up and got dressed pretty early because we had women's Bible study at our house at nine.  We decided to meet on Monday this week since most people weren't going to be around on Thursday.  Again, Evelyn and Lucy are out of town so Haley was on her own playing.  I realized that she is not super great at playing by herself when there are a bunch of adults talking in the living room.  First she tried to get Bonnie Mason to play kitchen with her and then she kept rotating to different people's laps.  One of the ladies kept commenting about how cuddly she was being.

Bible study ended around 11:15 and David got back a couple minutes later and we all had lunch together.  The rest of the afternoon was pretty boring if I'm going to be honest, and I am.  Haley went down for a nap and we cleaned the house.  Emily slept in her swing for a while and then woke up and David held her while I finished the floors.  I like to have a clean house to come home to when I go away, it just makes it easier to come home.  Haley woke up and played and "helped" vacuum and then we all headed to the gym around five.  The workers said that Emily slept most of the time and Haley played in a toy train they have set up.  When we got home I made a Mexican casserole thing and we ate and then I went to Bible study.  Emily was super good during Bible study, she fell asleep on my chest when we got there and stayed sleeping until I transferred her to her infant seat.  David took Haley with him to the airport so he could use the shop vac to vacuum out our van.  Then he brought her home and gave her a bath and put her to bed.  When I got home we listened to Pastor Liebengood's sermon from Sunday and started packing for our trip.  Now I'm going to post this and go to bed!

Haleyism:
David said that Haley brought her laptop in the van on the way to the airport and played with it the whole way there (about 25 minutes).  She got that last year for Christmas, I'm not sure that another gift can top it!

Emilyism:
Emily had a lot of tummy time today, she is getting really good at lifting her head!

Haley in the bathtub tonight

Our early Christmas!

Sorry I haven't been on here for a while, we've had a couple of late nights the past couple of days.  I think I have to go all the way back to Friday!  David had to work early on Friday but the girls and I had no plans so we got to sleep in nice and late.  Haley woke up around 8:15 and cuddled with me for a while.  Then I called the gym to see if they had any openings and they had one at nine so we quickly ate breakfast and then got out the door.  I dropped Haley and Emily off at their class and then went and worked out and showered.  I picked up the girls after just under an hour and Haley was still playing nicely.  I'm so relieved that Haley likes the gym place now.  She always plays super hard too so it tires her out for naps.

When we got home Haley played with her toys while I finished my hair (I didn't blow dry it or anything at the gym because I ran out of time).  Then we headed out again to run some errands.  I had to drop some random things off at Amanda's house, then take some library books back, then drop some stuff off at my friend Amy's house.  Emily fell asleep in the carseat and Haley ate her snack I had packed.  The errands took about an hour, Amanda lives in the way south side of town and Amy lives in the far north.  By the end of the hour Emily was awake and starting to fuss so we hurried back home.  It made me glad that we are not driving anywhere for Christmas.

Once we got home Haley helped me arrange Christmas cookies on plates to give out to our neighbors and friends.  Haley is kind of an odd child in that she was not at all interested in eating the cookies.  She was eating lunch while I did the first couple of plates and I offered her a cookie when she was finished but she didn't want one.  What little kid doesn't want a cookie?!  We arranged all of the plates and then I put Haley down for a nap.  She ended up sleeping about two and a half hours.  David got home shortly after she woke up and we all bundled up to pass out the cookies to our neighbors.  It wasn't that cold but it was raining so we took the van.  

A lot of our neighbors are older than us and they are always super excited to see the girls.  One of the ladies offered to baby-sit, haha.  Three of the neighbors invited us in to visit so it did take a little longer than we had estimated but we decided that was a good thing.  The point is to build relationships, not just throw cookies at them.  It took about an hour and a half to pass out cookies to seven of our neighbors.  Then we came home, quickly changed clothes and headed out the door again.

We had a Christmas party with our small group.  The Smith's had agreed to watch Haley after I couldn't find anyone else to baby-sit.  It was super gracious of them since our party lasted almost three hours.  Emily came along with us and she was not very good.  She got tired during dinner and was super fussy and couldn't go to sleep.  I think she was overtired or something, she usually has no problem going to sleep.  Finally she zonked out and we put her on the couch where she stayed the rest of the evening.  We had dinner and played games.  The boys won the game of Cranium, they kept winning the club cranium challenges, those bonus rolls are killers!  After the party we picked up Haley and headed down the road to hear Daniel play at a coffee house.  When we got there he had just finished playing for the night so we missed it but it was okay since it was 10:00 anyways.  When we got home we put the girls right to bed and then we stayed up late wrapping presents and putting them under the tree.  We had to do this because...

SATURDAY our family celebrated Christmas!  We are going to be in Pennsylvania on the 25th so we had to choose a day to celebrate down here since we can't really fly up all of our presents.  Haley ended up waking up around 8:30 so we lit some candles, put on the Christmas music and had our Christmas!  This year was a lot of fun because Haley could actually open her presents.  She was getting really good at it by the end.  Her big gift was a kitchen set we got on craigslist back in the spring.  It has been hard waiting so long to give it to her!  I wrapped a lot of the kitchen accessories separate so that she would have a lot to open.  She did not seem confused opening plastic bananas and plates before getting her kitchen, maybe she knew she was getting it.

The best part of Christmas this year was when Haley opened her kitchen.  She pulled off the paper and then kept saying 'wow' over and over, it was too cute.  We took a bunch of video with our video camera and I'm not sure how to post it on here but we'll have to show everyone when we visit.  We did get a video of her opening her table and chairs from Mimi and Pops, she was pretty excited about them too.  She immediately pulled out one of the chairs and sat in it.  After a bit she started asking for a  pop-tart, I think she wanted to eat it there.

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we opened our stockings.  Last year I made a big breakfast for Christmas and I had every intention of doing that this year but it just got away from me.  David said he was more than happy with cinnamon rolls and Haley doesn't even eat cookies so I figured this would be my year off.  After breakfast we showered and packed a lunch and then headed to Tyler to hang out with Chloe Watson for the day.

Haley was super excited to be back at the hospice place.  Claire is getting bigger but has a hole in her heart so she is having heart failure.  The good news is that they are now saying that she will probably end up passing away in her sleep which is far less traumatic than a no-breathing episode or something. When we got to Tyler I took Chloe and Haley outside and we had lunch at a picnic table.  Then they ran around and played for a while.  I took them in to 'rest' and watch a movie when they seemed tired but neither of them fell asleep so I ended up taking them outside again.  David was in charge of Emily for the day which worked out well for him because she was sleepy.  They slept for a lot of the afternoon on a couch.  The hospice place is super nice, there are tons of places to lay down and rest where you won't be bothered.

Around 5:30 we said good-bye to the Watsons and headed out.  I gave little Claire a kiss, it is hard to think that we may not see her again, a lot harder for her parents though.  Keep praying for them if you think about it.  We drove right home and started dinner because Daniel was coming to eat with us at 7. Haley was so excited when Daniel walked in.  Fortunately, she fell asleep in the van on the way home from Tyler so she wasn't a huge crank.  I just made spaghetti for dinner and we had ice cream for dessert.  Dave and I roped Daniel into staying a while after dinner and playing two settlers games with us.  Dave won the first one and Daniel won the second.  In both games I was going to win my next turn, so close!  I told them I let them win, it was my Christmas present to them.  Daniel ended up staying for a while and talking afterwards, it was good to catch up with him.  After he left David and I went to bed.  I'm going to go to bed now, I'll write today's post tomorrow!

Haleyism:

If you say 'merry' to Haley, she will say 'Christmas'

Emilyism:

Emily loves tummy time.  She seems pretty close to rolling over but her arms get in the way.  Her arms are pretty fat too.

Christmas morning 

We were sitting and listening to the Christmas story

Haley playing with her new toys

Haley and Emily got matching hats for Christmas

Emily also got those pants for Christmas

Haley did have Christmas pajamas on when she went to bed Friday night but she had a big boo at 12:30 in the morning!  Dave said he couldn't be sure if anything had leaked so he changed her pajamas.  Who boos at 12:30 at night!?

Hard at play

The table and chairs are from Mimi and Pops

David told Haley to smile and this is the look she gave.  I obviously thought it was funny.

What a little stinker

Opening her stocking

One of my gifts was a new pillow

Haley opening up a present, fake soda, yay!

We had Emily in the bumbo during presents so she could see

Dave and I, this is pre-shower folks!

This is the video of Haley opening the table and chairs from Mimi and Pops