Summer in December

December 2015 has been wonderful.  The warm weather has allowed us to enjoy the outdoors longer than normal.  It is not the first green Christmas we have celebrated in New England, but people seem to forget all those other years and are completely amazed by the weather.  I will admit, while we don't always have snow before Christmas it usually is a bit colder.

Earlier in the month our church put on a nativity program for the community.  There was a live nativity outside as well as beautiful nativities, artwork, films, and more inside.  Amelia loved the live animals and the music.  There were activities for Children and for families and festive refreshments.  It is truly an event not to be missed.

This was our nativity that we shared for the program.

Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

After the nativity the 3 of us went bowling together.  This was Amelia's first time.  She loved the little bowling shoes, the different colored balls, and the lights and music.  She was Daddy's cheerleader on his turns, but could careless about Mommy's turn.  On her own turn she picked whatever color ball she wanted and we would put it on a dinosaur's head for her and aim it.  Then she would push the ball and it would roll down the dinosaur's back and it would continue down the lane and hit the pins.  She did really well too!




The following weekend we were very busy.  Aaron had his 2 day work Christmas Party at the Mohegan Sun Casino.  It said it was a lot of fun.  He especially liked bowling and the food.  Then we threw the Christmas Party at our church.  We had a nice Christmas program and the Spirit was felt so it was a success.  Then on Sunday we went home to Montgomery after church to see Aunty Erin who was visiting from CA and decorate for Christmas.  Our December plans kept changing.  We had expected to be house sitting the last 2 weeks of the month so we decided to forgo the Christmas Tree/Decorations at our house since we wouldn't be home to enjoy them.  To compensate we crashed Nana and Grandpy's House in Montgomery and decorated their tree.  In the end we didn't end up house sitting but it seemed silly to get a tree 1 week before Christmas so we just enjoyed the decorated trees everywhere we went (and they were everywhere).

Helping Nana Decorate her Tree

Aunty Erin, Amelia, and Mommy

Grandpy did the top

And for some reason there is a second tree, but it is Amelia sized so it made us happy

Meme, Nana, and Amelia decorating the little tree

After decorating 2 trees everyone was pretty tired.

Cuddling with Nana in an attempt to delay going home. "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Love and Giggles

Other December Morsels:

Tents, Amelia loves them.  We make them frequently and they vary greatly.

She spends lots of time in her tents coloring, reading, watching shows, playing games, napping, and eating.

Amelia loves to color and loves stickers.  She prefers markers.  And goes through easily 20 pieces of paper a day.

Playscapes in the mall make errands fun.  She even played with other kids :)

Made a "nest" in the dirty laundry basket and hung out there for an hour.

She loves swimming.  On this particular day she fell on the brick surrounding the pool and skinned her knee, so no swimming actually happened, but before the injury she was so excited.

Ready to go out with Aunty Kandi to Stew Leonards

Amelia hates having her hair done, she rips out immediately.

It finally snowed, 12/29/15.  So we're going out to play

It isn't nice snow, but who cares, it's white and cold

CHRISTMAS POST TO COME IN THE NEW YEAR WHEN WE HAVE FINISHED CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS WITH EVERYONE

November Fun

Life has been busy so blogging hasn't really happened.  And at the same time I wonder what we were busy doing..... hmmm.

November Highlights:

We love November.  Aaron and I celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary.  Aaron was still sick, but pulled it together for the day because friends kidnapped Amelia and it seemed crazy not to take advantage of the kid-free time.  We went bowling, something we hadn't done since before we were married and something sentimental to us as a couple.  It was lots of fun, even if I am a horrible bowler (evidence below).  After bowling we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and super overate. We just had to try the fried pickles, not bad, but put us overboard.  

Dinner Selfie.  Despite feeling icky we wanted to document our date.

We also celebrated Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday.  For the first time since 2008 we went home to my parents house.  Bumpy, my 99 year old grandfather, had been struggling healthwise so it was wonderful to see him.  Amelia has a way of brightening him right back up.  And for 99 he is doing well.  It was great seeing my family, and extended family, especially those people I hadn't seen in a long time.  Life pulls in in different directions so often, we never seem to all be in the same place at the same time, but I'm grateful to catch a glimpse of some every so often.  

4 Generations on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with Daddy

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we drove up to Yankee Candle to meet Grandma O.  She had been sick too, so we were a fun group.  We watched Santa arrive by helicopter, played on toy boat, looked at lots of fun stuff, and had a yummy lunch.  Grandma bought Amelia a hedge-hog purse and some pretty rocks that Amelia picked out in the toy room at Yankee Candle.  She loves them, and plays with them daily.  Nothing else is allowed in that purse, just rocks.  The boat pictures are missing, but here are a couple of Amelia in front of a bunch of Christmas trees in the Yankee Candle Food Court.

Update:  Grandma O Sent some picture of our fun trip to Yankee Candle.  We have Amelia on Daddy's Shoulders Watching Santa Arrive by helicopter and pictures of Amelia/Mommy and Amelia/Daddy playing on the boat.  Thank you Grandma for saving the day :)  The other pictures must be on Aaron's phone.   

  

Other November tidbits:  Amelia loves coloring, swimming, dancing, building lego towers, tea parties, and being naked.  She loves all of the Christmas decorations that have come out and feels the need to have her picture taken in front of every Christmas tree she sees.  

Every Boring Clothing Store Should Have a Sheep