Whitney's first christmas

It was Whitney’s first Christmas and it seems like she was mostly just amazed by all the attention she got while at my parents’ house in Pasco. Whitney was pretty fascinated by everything there; there were a lot of things to get into and bite. (Those are her favorite pastime activities).

She liked the Christmas tree with all of its lights. Any decorations that were on the lower branches were in trouble, but nothing was broken; we were happy about that.

There also was this little Santa decoration just sitting on the floor way too tempting to not go over and attack. I wonder if Whitney thought it was a real person, but she did like being by it and grabbing at its head.

On Christmas morning we let Whitney go near the presents first to see what she would do. She loved the wrapping and all the pretty colors. I think the wrapping was what she really enjoyed the most because it makes this cool crinkly noise. It was fun watching her grab presents and hit them and try to open them with lots of our help.

We have a couple of family traditions for things we eat for Christmas. We always have turkey, of course. My family is not big on ham. And we always have Danish pastry for Christmas breakfast. The pastry is so full of sugary goodness and chocolate chips. It is delicious. I should probably learn how to make it myself so I can enjoy it more often. Unfortunately, it is probably one of the most fattening things to eat, but calories don’t count on Christmas, right?

Every child in my family growing up has a Christmas stocking that my grandma Hein makes. This year Whitney was given a stocking. It is really cute. She even fit inside the stocking. I had to get a picture of her inside it because I know she won’t fit next year. Whitney was not too keen on staying inside her stocking for very long, but I managed to get one okay picture.

These are some of the presents Whitney received. She seemed to really like the bouncing, lighting, noisy ball. It was one of her favorites. She also liked a little simple doll that I got for her at a Mothers Trading kind of place for a buck. There were fun cars for her to play with and lots of toys that she is going to appreciate more in a couple of months when she is a bit more active. I was grateful for all the diapers we received. That means we won’t have to buy any for awhile.

We all had a really great Christmas. Here is Whitney and some of my siblings checking out their new gifts. I am most especially grateful for our new vacuum. Our last one is broken and with Whitney crawling everywhere, we really need clean floors.

This isn’t the best picture because of the light coming from the window, but this is all of us standing in front of the Christmas tree. Whitney is even holding her new doll. I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas; we sure did. And Happy New Year to all.

Christmas 2010

This past weekend we went to the Mall to get a picture of Whitney sitting on Santa's lap. The line was horribly long and then Whitney just sat and stared at Santa. She would not look at the photographer nor was she remotely interested in listening to mommy telling her to look up, but we did get a cute one of her and Santa all interested in each other. Maybe we can try to scan it into the computer sometime so we can put it on the blog. But here is us waiting in line

They had a really cute set up at the mall to make it look like Santa's Workshop. We dressed Whitney up all cute for the picture.

I was warned ahead of time to not put your kids in red when sitting on Santa's lap because then it blends into Santa's outfit. So we thought the dress woudl be perfect. we took advantage while at the mall to buy a cute Baby's First Christmas ornament. My aut gave us a first Christmas ornament when Will and I were married and we wanted one for Whitney. I plan on getting one for each future child as well because I like them.

Whitney sometimes has photogenic moments and we have to take whatever we can get because she usually has kind of a deer in the headlights look. But this time she decided to give us a big grin.

I have been telling her about Christmas, not that she understands what I am talking about, but I'm sure that she will be excited to unwrap presents in a couple of days. we will be sure to take lots of pictures. I hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Of Birthday's and Babies

Here is what I received from Courtney for my Birthday. a very nice card, Peanut MnM's and some warm slippers.

Whitney had a good time at the birthday too. I received a few other presents from all my mommies and daddies and siblings, thanks every one.

Courtney also woke up early and baked me a delicious coffee cake for breakfast. 10 extra points for Courtney.

the slippers are extremely fasionable!!

and now for your viewing pleasure, more pictures of the baby

Caught red handed !!

and now your punishment is...

... look! a cute baby


-- baby pictures end here --

we also got a cool advent calendar from mamma keeler, thanks so much

and last but not least is the little gingerbread (graham cracker) house that could. Courtney wante to be sure that every one knew that this house was made while several young moms watched all their babies, while all the husbands played halo for the evening. so it is not exactly the Bel Air of ginger bread houses, but cozy and delicious none the less (when was the last time you said that about a house) plus Whitney and courtney look pretty great too.



buh bye

winter arrives

Well, we have a winter wonderland over here in Cheney. And, don’t get me wrong, I love the snow in general. I think it is so pretty hanging to tree branches. But I don’t like the cold and I don’t like how it makes everything icy and slippery and dangerous. I was warned that this was going to be another bad winter like we had two years ago and the forecasters have been right so far.

This is Whitney outside in her snowsuit. I just wanted to see what she thought of the snow, but apparently she doesn’t like it because she wouldn’t even touch it. So we were only out there long enough for the picture and we came back inside our warm apartment.

This is Whitney’s other pink snowsuit. I don’t know how we were so lucky to have two, we must have great friends. Whitney is giving her cute “I am about to get in trouble” smile.

Will is much better at taking self shots than I am. Here the two of them are both smiling and looking at the camera. How does he get such a great picture? The world may never know.

Whitney has moved onto bigger and better things that paper chewing … cardboard. She loves boxes and I always wonder when she is going to get her first cardboard paper cut because those things hurt. Hopefully, she doesn’t cut her tongue. Silly baby.

In case you were getting bored of baby shots, that is a Families are Forever sign that I made next to a picture of the Columbia River temple where Will and I were sealed. I am very proud of my artsiness. I don’t do well with any kinds of art projects, but I really wanted to make this in enrichment. We had to use carbon paper to write the letters and then we painted the inside. It took me the whole time to do this one project, but I am proud of it.

We were lucky and actually had two Thanksgivings this year. Will had to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, so we told my mom that we would come back to Pasco after that and she promised to wait and have the big dinner on Saturday. When our home teachers heard that we would be around without big plans for Thursday, he invited us to come have turkey with them. Whitney is bigger than the turkey, but only barely. Sorry the picture isn’t the greatest, but Whitney was being stubborn. And you should just ignore the arm to the side.

Will was holding Whitney so just her head could be seen above the staircase in my parents’ house. So I had to get a picture of the “floating” head. That is all for us. Hope everyone had great Thanksgivings.