Ghosts of Christmas Past

I came across my Christmas blog from last year and thought I would show again this year. I had posted previous Christmas pictures. So here are the last three. I think it's amusing to see what's changed and what's stayed the same.

2007 - Disney


2008 - Parsonage


2009 - Our house


I can't believe how much Max has grown in the past year. That and Adam looks exactly the same each year. And me? Well apparently my face swells when I'm pregnant.

Playing with a new lens...

We used some saved up money for a third lens for our camera. This one is one we've been waiting for a long time to get, it's a portrait lens. So here's some fun I had today trying to get the hang of it.











Oh and Max has learned to play the kazoo. And also work our old old digital camera. I'll post some of those pictures tomorrow.

Christmas Miracles and other things...

We've been struggling with Max since Thanksgiving. It seemed he hit the "terrible twos" early and with a vengance. Waking up at night, throwing fits, not eating. It was all very frustrating. I've read time and was reassured by others that it meant he was getting ready for the "next stage" of development. He was frustrated, we were frustrated, it has not been a stellar month in the Kipp household. Add on top that I'm still not back to my regular self with this pregnancy and it was a messy situation.

But like a Christmas Miracle, my mother came into town and the bratty whiny Max disappeared and has not returned. I don't know if it was the extra attention from Nana, or the (over) abundance of new toys that make annoying noises, or whether the slur of new words I've been hearing from him to communicate have made the difference, but I'm glad that stage is over with for now. We've got our happy, self entertaining, dancing and singing child back and I love it!

And I'm super glad he came back before we were subjected to flying with that other horrible creature this weekend.

In pregnancy news, we were at the doctor today for my regular appointment and the baby's heartbeat was strong and everything seemed fine and normal. I had lost a bit of weigh during the first three months and have not gained any back, even with the holiday eating. I'd only gained a pound and that was with the addition of my winter boots. I'm glad I had Adam there to confirm to the doctor that I'm in fact eating everything I can get my hands on - especially popcorn and string cheese.

We scheduled our next appointments and I have a regular appt the last week of January and an another sono Feb 15 to find out the sex of the baby. Definitely looking forward to that. Overwhelmingly everyone seems to want a girl. Except for Papa that is who still claims he only makes boys.

We have about 6 inches of snow and yesterday while Adam was shoveling us out we decided to make Max a makeshift sled out of a clothes hamper. We have a side alley and a little slope down towards our garage that made a perfect 6 foot ramp to push Max down. He loved it!

Christmas Pictures

One big happy family (see the belly?)

I think this is the best picture ever

Max opening his kitchen from Santa

He opened all of his presents and all of ours too.

Who doesn't love a little naked Sit n Spin?

Forgot about this one earlier...

Forgot to post this one earlier.
Here's a belly pic for 14 weeks.

And also one in the reflection of the media center.

Some fun!

We ended up all getting the sniffles around here and I ended up with a sinus infection (no fun!) but we are on the mend and should be back to normal by Christmas.

On Sunday we did a second annual Christmas Carol Sing at church. Last year we had a full dinner served by the youth group and this time it was just sandwiches but just as lovely.

Max decided to join in with the tambourine band.


We are getting ready for Disney, it's just over a week away. I keep reminding Max we are going to Mickey's House to play. He goes around the house saying, "Mickey's House" over and over.


Today we played in the snow as there was no wind. It was still very cold, but I figured we should get out while we were feeling well enough and could.


I just love this picture. It makes me smile.

Just hanging around

It's been just a little too cold to purposefully go anywhere fun. So we've been pretty much sticking to the house.

Max has another cold, but it's getting better. It appears that he's going through this whiney stage that I could have just lived without experiencing and can't wait until it's over. He's been a bit of a Mama's boy and while I love to hug and cuddle, I don't particularly like being hung on all day.

I'm working on another yarn project so I'm hoping to just keep getting out of this yarn gives me the heebies phase.

I'm really hoping to be back to normal by Christmas in general and feel a little more like myself everyday. This pregnancy is definitely much harder than the last one, but at the same time I don't have the ability to think about it all day every day, except when it forces itself upon me making me slow down and be quiet, or take a nap, or rest a little. It's all just a little strange to me. Things just aren't getting done at the same rate that they were before and learning to accept that has been the best thing for me. I'm getting used to the dining room table looking like this:


I'm starting into my second trimester already so I know the time will definitely go by faster this time around than last, it's proven that already.

And just for fun here are some pictures of Max...

making a kissy face for the camera


goofy boy

Emergency Birthday Party

We had a call from friends Saturday that their daughter's 7th birthday had been kaputed by her friends' sickness and wanted to know if we could join them on a trip to the children's museum (she loves Adam) in Normal, IL. We already had plans during the day, but instead decided to throw her a surprise birthday "party" at our house for dinner.

So after a couple of hours of preparation and $20 I'd say it was a pretty good party. You know it's good when the birthday girls eats so much sweets she gets sick when she gets home right?

I knew the present was a hit because she wore them all night from the time she opened it and exclaimed, "I needed a scarf!" I used some bulky yarn and whipped up a hat and used two strands of yarn (one blue and one pink, her favorite colors) for the scarf. Done in no time flat.



It felt good to use yarn again and after only a couple of heaves and gags, I got over the texture/smell that's been making me sick for the past couple of months. Hopefully that's a good sign that I'll be back to my needles and hooks regularly soon.

My favorite comment of the night by the birthday girl... "I know you're having a baby, I knew you weren't just fat." Ha!

A good time was had by all!

More Christmas Fun.... ummm not so fun....

So energized by my success in the kitchen with Max a few days ago I decided this morning to make salt dough ornaments with him. Wow that was a disaster.

He was totally into making the dough, loved stirring and adding the ingredients.

After that I lost him.

So I made two pans of dough ornaments and they are slowly baking in the oven.

19 months= too young to make dough ornaments. Just sayin'




And just for fun here he is eating his breakfast and telling me "no"

Edited: I just saw a blog post of someone who had trouble making dough ornaments with a 5 year old.... I guess it makes me feel a little better. :)

Christmas Fun

Nativity Fun

Every year I love putting out my Willow Tree Nativity. I eventually want to get the rest of it (I"m missing some animals and shepherds and maybe an angel, also the stand) but I love putting it out on top of the "card catalog" piece that Adam's dad refinished for us when we were engaged. I love the rough wood on top of the rough wood piece. Here's how it looks without too much fussing to it.


The other day while doing the dishes I paused to check on Max, it was just a little too quiet and that could be disaster in our house.

This reenactment shows what may have happened....




to make my nativity look like this....


Snow Fun
It's been snowing a little each day here. Friends that live three house north west of here have been having blizzard conditions so we are thankful to be just a little bit south. but the wind is fierce today and the snow is blowing around. But a few days ago we had just enough snow to make it fun outside.







Cookies
I made sugar cookies the other day, but hadn't got to ice them yet because I was out of powdered sugar. Inspired by Laura's blog about icing cookies with Ella, I decided we should ice them this morning.

It started with just playing the cupboards



And then things got interesting...







Afterwards Max had an icing mustache and I told him he looked like Santa... He responded with his best "HO HO HO"