How Bailey learned the word "dominate"

thanks to grandma and grandpa charlie, we are the proud owners and users of a wii and wii fit :) we have all played with it a ton more than i ever expected!

here is bailey doing the bowling gameit's all about the lean

and that's pretty much what we have been doing in the first month of 2010. well, that along with 2 rounds of sickness for both kids and myself, leaving us with about a cumulative of a weeks worth of regularly scheduled life which explains for the lack of pictures and postings.

Crawford coloring

he looks like such a big boy sitting at the little table :)

poor crawford, i realized the other day that i don't think we had officially colored together yet. so, while big sister was at pre-school, i plopped him into one of our little chairs, offered him several lovely crayons and let him color away. he definitely seemed to like green the best and made big sweeping marks on the page. i remember bailey just barely making small soft little markings all over the page. it always amazes me just how different they can be but i love them both just the same :)

Bailey usually opts for the more direct approach

yeah, i know, this is gross but it's also kinda funny :)

Bailey's first bike!!

on the day after christmas, in the cold of the afternoon, bailey began her maiden voyage around the neighborhood on her new bike. she was so excited and really did awesome!!!crawford also got to ride in his new big blue car outdoors. although this was what we bought it for, it is no longer an indoor toy and i think crawford secretly mourns that a little.

billy was in charge of walking with bailey while i pushed crawford. in true bailey form, she was cautious at first but became noticeably more comfortable the longer she rode. we were so proud of her :) despite the visible snow left on the ground, we didn't realize it was so incredibly cold so i ran back home to get one of crawford's jackets and a hat. even armed with his own personal sippy cup of water, sunny skies and the joy of watching his big sister ride her bike for the first time, crawford stayed quiet, still and almost somber with his cute little bundled up arms sticking out the entire time. seriously, he didn't move. not at all.

crawford looks so impressed with this activity, right?

i sure hope we can spend more family time outdoors this year. bailey did great with her bike and i see many more bike rides in our future once it warms up a bit. crawford and i headed inside to warm up after one lap while bailey and daddy stayed out. we swapped and i got to go with bailey on her third trip and wow, she sure did improve quickly!!! i had to run a few times. braking is still an area to work on but overall, bailey did better than i expected!!! fun times :)

hmmmmmm.......

bailey has been all about ariel for months now so one of her christmas gifts from grandma and grandpa charlie was this lovely ariel costume from the disney store. it cracks me up and i kinda don't know what to think about it but she LOVES it!!!

some poses. you could tell she felt pretty confident in her beauty with this sparkly fitted masterpiece on.

a little sassy

nice shoulder throw back there, bailey boo!!! what a very model-ish picture. this is as close to toddlers and tiaras i ever hope to get.

thanks for the joy and the laughs grandma!!!!! i have a feeling this one will be our costume of choice next halloween. that is, assuming she can still walk in it then.

New Christmas tradition?

grandma and grandpa charlie caught a flight out here on christmas morning this year. the kids had a blast and i love that they were there to see them rip into and enjoy their presents in person! this is only the second year we have not traveled on christmas and i feel like we are still learning how to make our own traditions. it would be so wonderful if we could see my mom and charlie every christmas!!! i loved having them there to share in the fun! there is just something special about kids on christmas morning and who better to enjoy that with than your mom?

bailey and crawford playing together with one of crawford's new toys

wanting to be the first to enjoy our new family toy, crawford had a lot of fun climbing up and down off the wii fit step.

one of many new toys for crawford. he has really liked playing with all of his new stuff.

crawford and his cute grandma!!! although he is still really in his separation anxiety mommy hold me phase, crawford had no problem reaching for grandma and letting her carry him all around! i love that even though my mom does not live close, she sees the kids enough so that they really know and love her.

crawford still loving his new car!!!

mom and charlie, thanks so much for coming to spend christmas day with us!!!! we all loved having you here and just wish you could have stayed longer. mom, sorry about the after christmas sales, i will try to be in better shape next year. but thanks for the sleep, i really needed that! we love you and hope you enjoy making special christmas memories with us! i think it's just going to keep getting better!!! LOVE YOU!

Snow Christmas!

after opening up presents and eating breakfast, bailey and i bundled up to venture outside into our snow-filled front yard. it sure was cold and bailey's fleece gloves were no match for handful after handful of snow but who knows when we will be able to enjoy a yard covered in fresh white snow! much less christmas snow!

the snow was absolutely perfect for making snowmen or snowballs. it was that good kind of packing snow that lightly crunched under bailey's new hello kitty rain boots. although i am apparently not skilled in how to roll real snowman snowballs, we were able to make this nice little snowman. i mean snow woman. i think her name was frostine. of course, frostine needed a baby. so, although we were super cold, our numb hands created this wonderful child for her with berry eyes, an acorn hat nose and my favorite part, the huge stick grin.

since bailey's mom rocks and strategically built these lovely snow ladies in a part of our yard that does not get a lot of sun, we got to enjoy them for a couple of days. what fun christmas memories with my sweet girl!!

Christmas morning '09

ahhhh, christmas morning!!!! how i loved christmas morning as a little girl!!! i would barely sleep at night, convinced i heard hoofs on the roof and wake up early and just lay there in my bed until i could wait no more to wake everyone up and race downstairs to see all of my new things.

although we celebrate christmas a little differently than when i grew up, it is still such a fun, joyful, exciting morning! this is what awaited our sweet boy this year.and this is what bailey ran right past her first time through.

in an effort to get the gift she worked so hard on into the hands her cute daddy. that's my girl, always thinking of others first. i cannot believe that she already understands the beauty of giving rather than receiving. bailey, you truly are as beautiful inside as you are outside.billy wanted bailey to get to enjoy some of her gifts first, so with some encouraging, she quickly dove right in, riping the presents right open with happy squeals and exclamations of "ooooh, i really wanted this!". priceless.

crawford headed straight for his big blue car and didn't look back. he joyfully inspected, pushed, rode and just had a blast with this one new toy. it was wonderful to see him so excited as well.

bailey excitedly opened all of her gifts before deciding to try out her new bike. crawford was pretty impressed with it as well and cried when he realized he could not get on it. thankfully daddy was there to save the day!

after about half an hour of playing only with his big blue car, crawford noticed that he had other new toys. and by noticed, i mean i put a gift bag right in front of his face and started pulling out cars. he quickly caught on and had fun pushing all of the glorious buttons that made very realistic, very loud car sounds.
bailey told me this was her excited face. not exactly the look i saw but i do know how pumped to have her very own barbies. i finally caved. lucky for me, she has way more fun playing with barbie's little sister, kelly, who looks to be about 5 years old. all i'm going to say is that barbie's attire sure has changed since i was a girl. bailey is now the very proud owner of 3 barbies and 5 kellys. our boy finally has real boy toys!!! i feel like we are swimming in balls, cars and other traditional boy things.

after the gifts had been exchanged, we all sat down to a delicious breakfast of pumpkin bread and muffins.

bailey and crawford, i try my best to give you both wonderful christmas memories. i know i will always look back at these years with a smile on my face. thank you for making christmas morning so wonderful and meaningful for your daddy and me!

Chances are, this won't happen again

bailey and crawford, you experienced your first texas white christmas! so did your daddy and he's lived here for over 30 years.

these pictures were taken after we got home from the candlelight christmas eve service at church. some of the roads were closed down but we made it home just fine. extra thankful for our wonderful house, especially how close it is to our church.

bailey got to run around in the snow for a few minutes before it was bath, story and bed time.

i didn't really think it was going to snow so when the first big flakes started to fall that afternoon, we bundled up and ran outside to have a little fun it in before it melted away. lucky for us, the snow continued to lightly fall all afternoon!
i wanted the boys to join us although it was so close to crawford's nap time.

bailey, understanding what a rarity snow is in texas, was thrilled.

crawford was mildly amused for a tiny bit.

but mostly, he cried and tried to take his coat, hat or hood off. had to get this picture of the two of them in the vast texas snow for prosperity.

bailey had just watched merry christmas charlie brown and happily tried to catch the falling snow in her mouth. there really was snow, i promise!!!

what an extra fun surprise to have a real white christmas!!!

Happy Birthday Jesus cake

we enjoyed this cute cake celebrating jesus' birthday with our community group just before christmas. bailey went to a happy birthday jesus party a long time ago but this was the first time i made the official cake. bailey helped me, of course, and as we put it together, i explained what each layer symbolized.

here is a slice of the cake. you start with the bottom. the chocolate cake represents our sins (romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god") and bailey and i talked about how we all make bad choices. this layer is then covered by the red icing which symbolizes christ's blood. the green cake represents our new everlasting life with christ (john 3:16 "for god so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life") and the entire cake is covered in white icing to symbolize jesus' purity and righteousness. there are several ways you can choose to decorate the cake but this year i decided to put a baby jesus lying in the manger under the star of david. i hope we keep this tradition and that both of my children grow to understand the meaning and hope behind christmas.