Christmas in Review

Warning: this is a combo of all things Christmas! Lots of pictures following :)

Growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Miller's house. Now, Anna-Kate has been introduced to that tradition. (Grandma Miller celebrated her 92nd birthday this past October!)
Christmas morning was in Shelby at my parents' house. The Miller 5 is now 8! Uncle Walter and Aunt Heather gave Anna-Kate one of her favorite presents, a shopping cart! I promise gifts were given to all of us, but the pictures somehow mostly included AK. I guess that is what she gets for being the only kid present. You can tell there are too many adults present when we get really excited about receiving a dutch oven, a crock pot, a George Foreman grill, books, scarves, ... nothing "fun" and to be played with about those gifts! It's nice having AK around to give us toys and stuff to put together and play with again. :)

I love this grin that Anna-Kate has as she meets her Elmo!

Opening presents is an exhausting process for a one year old! She so much wants to keep playing (feeding her Elmo a bottle), but is slowly showing how tired she is!

This may have been my dad's favorite part of the weekend: Gramps pulling his granddaughter in the wagon from our childhood. Notice there were no complaints from Anna-Kate.

This is the best family picture we have been able to get this Christmas season. I use "best" loosely! (Hey family, I need the one we took of all of us. I didn't get one on my camera.)

As my previous post shows, we headed back to Raleigh on Sunday, even in the snow. Sunday evening we celebrated Christmas with the Simmons. Anna-Kate was so excited to get to spend so much time with family! and so was I!!

"Opa, are you watching this?! Daddy, here I come!"

See, there were others opening presents...

After a weekend of opening gifts, Anna-Kate thought she could offer help to Anderson.

Welcome to having a girl! Anna-Kate got four baby dolls this Christmas, a bottle and carrier for her dolls, a purse, hairbands, a play dress up skirt, ... But, tell me

when did my baby girl

turn into a teenager??

Wait!

Anna-Kate there's one more!

Santa went in with me and Will to get Anna-Kate this kitchen for Christmas. One of the burners makes sizzling or boiling sounds depending on which pot you put on it. Anna-Kate was mesmerized! She must have made it make the noises at least 28 times before Will and I steered her toward the noise-less doors that open and phone on the side.

You are a dedicated blog reader if you have made it this far! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas season as well!

Winter Wonderland

While everyone is in a snow-y mood, here are pictures! Christmas to come!

We were in my hometown Shelby with my parents when it started snowing Christmas day. I loved this shot from my parents porch; I love the glittery (in the picture) flakes that are coming down.
Another picturesque scene of my parents side yard

Will and I decided to drive home on Sunday. It was soooo pretty! It flurried on us several times during the drive. (Don't worry; the temperatures didn't drop to below 30 until Monday, so we felt safe driving home with our sweet baby girl. :) This was the scene that welcomed us back home to Raleigh on Sunday. Literally the scene that welcomed us; I had Will lean out the window to take this picture.

We got home and put Anna-Kate straight down for her afternoon nap. Then Will went out and started building her a snowman. AK pretty much freaks out if you put a hat on her head or gloves on her hands, so we figured it waiting on her when she woke up was the better route to take.

We were not disappointed! She loves it! " 'no-man!" (Lesson learned: M&Ms melt in your hand, and they bleed in the snow! I will have to be more creative for a mouth and eyes next time.)

Happy Snow Days!

Necklace! Balloon!

What do a necklace and balloons have in common? They both make my girl happy these days! Anna-Kate is beginning to show her girl-y side. She loves wearing this necklace of mine. It is one of my favorite words lately, "Ne-ha!" She also has a silly band (thanks Santa at the toy store for that one). She says "Hand! Hand!" while holding it out; she expects you to put the bracelet on her hand. She loves showing it off to anyone who will look!
Anna-Kate why are you eating your neclace?
Uuummm, I'll have to think about that one?

Mom, what is going on with my hair?

I knew Anna-Kate loves balloons. I guess her hair does too!

Yesterday Anna-Kate woke up not feeling great. What made her feel the best was sitting on her daddy's lap while he read book after book. When she started feeling well enough to walk around, this was the scene in our house.

A necklace and balloons...aaahh, this is the life!

In the Morning

If you look at this blog, then you know that I keep a little girl Mary-Knowles (and everyone says "duh!"). Her mom is a school teacher, so that means we have an early start to our day. Our day is from 7:15 (okay that normally means I rush in by 7:20) to 4ish.

If you are curious what 7:15am looks like for me and my toddler, this is it!
Pajamas and coat, and all three lovies: "b'et", "mouse," "duck." I get her out of bed. She hugs Will. We put her in the car with milk and a waffle or cereal, and off we go!

7:15 on the morning it snowed, this is what my toddler looked like. "Dad, I don't think you have to go to work for two reasons: one the weather is bad, and two I have piled my toys on your lap so we can play with whatever we want." Pretty convincing, don't you think?!

Luckily, this Saturday morning, this is what 8:15 (AK woke up at 7:40!) looked like. Anna-Kate once again piled toys on her daddy. Then, she was ready to cuddle. "Dad, isn't it nice when we get to relax on the couch through breakfast?!"

Of course no morning is complete in our house without coffee!

Keepin' Warm

How amazing does Mary-Knowles look in her warm clothes! I love the shoes! (She refused to let the little puff balls be taken off. ;) She and Anna-Kate were quite warm in all their fleece today. They looked quite cuddly! even to each other!

Catching up with the Girls

Okay, I am just going to admit to the oh-so-many people who read my blog.......toddlers can be hard work! The girls and I went through about a 6 week period of hard! There naps were unpredictable. Their eating habits were worse. There fights were more often and bigger. I would come home and tell Will that God equips those who He calls, but He didn't bless me with twins and I wasn't sure that He had equipped me. Will was never sure whether to laugh at my dramatics, or nod sympathetically.

This week my amazing, charming, sweet, cute girls are back!! I don't want to jinx it, but this week they have been great! They have played on their own for long amounts of time without needing me to referee. They have napped for 2 hours or more at a time. They have eaten more normally (which means only decent but better than "worse"). Everyday when we get to the last block before turning into MK's, Anna-Kate says excitedly, "Mary-Knowles!"
The excitement is genuine for all three of us! We have a blast together!! Mary-Knowles has just gotten some new mardi-gras beads. The girls have loved singing, "Shake, shake, shake your sillies out!" while shaking their beads. They have also enjoyed going around town wearing their beads.

Here are some more of our peaceful images from the last week....

Around Town

The girls and I made the trip to see Santa. There is a cool toy store in Garner, PB&J Fun Factory. They have tons of Step 2 toys along with Melissa and Doug. They have lots of the toys out, so that you can play with them while you decide what to buy. They invited the kids out to sit with Santa.

I am in the picture, because at the sight of Santa my girls started crying in fear. MK started climing up me when she thought I was going to ask her to sit on his lap!

But, they both found something they wanted to ask Santa for! That part was not scary to them!!
Can you find AK in the picture of the gorilla? She gave him at least 7 hugs!

To get ready for all the holiday parties, they decided to check out the nail spa.

A holiday trip to the mall is always a must! MK is here too; she is just 20 steps in front of the group. :)

Christmas, we are waiting!

Growing Beards

Anna-Kate used her black beans to create a beard just like Daddy's!
She loves to reach out and touch Will's beard. After she touches his beard, she will reach out for my chin and then her own. I don't think she has quite figured out what is going with her daddy's face!

A Peak Inside - my turn!

I'll join in on the showing off our Christmas decorations fun!

My favorite part about Christmas decorations is that most of it has some sort of story attached. Here are a few of my "stories":
The tree of course is filled with ornaments that were given to AK on her first Christmas, or me and Will on our first Christmas together, or my first baby ornament, or the ribbon coming down the tree that my roommate [for years before Will] loved to do, or...

That is mistletoe on our dining room light. I have loved mistletoe since a teenager. (haha!) When I was 16, my dad and uncle went outside with the boy cousins and a b.b. gun. They came back in the house with mistletoe (that had more than a few b.b. sized holes in the leaves). Since then, I have loved when I have real mistletoe. This year's came from my husband and father-in-law's efforts in a tree near our neighborhood.
I don't have an elaborate centerpiece for the table. But I thought the ornaments in a trifle bow added color. The white and gold balls are a gift from a student my first year teaching.

We don't have a fire place in this house, which means no mantle. Our stockings just hang down the stair-rail. It works out okay because Will and I can't find stocking holders we like. We do however think that the stockings my cousin gave us our first married Christmas are great!

A classic touch of Christmas...Spode Christmas dishes! Will's grandparents gave these to us one Christmas, and I love such a timeless piece in our home!

Will's mom gave this plate to me our first married Christmas. I have loved it! Put in a pretty Christmas ribbon and you have a pretty and festive addition!

A student gave the frame to me. Last year, I typed this Scripture to fit:

"But

the angel

said to them,

'Do not be afraid.

I bring you good news

of great joy that will be

for all the people. Today

in the town of David a Savior

has been born to you; he is Christ

the Lord.'"

Luke 2:10-11

18 Months

What are we up to at 18 months?

Weight - 23lb 10oz - 30%ile

Height - 32.25 in - 74%iles

(Head Circumference still in the 90th %iles!)

Anna-Kate's strength remains her verbal skills. She is repeating all kinds of words. I stopped counting a long time ago, because she is just so stinkin' verbal!

One of my new favorites is when she points to Will saying "Daddy," then points to me saying "Mommy," and then her excitement grows considerably when she points to herself and says, "AnnaKate!"

She remains very cautious. We have yet to buy a gate for the stairs. She doesn't like to try something new until she has seen someone do it in front of her. (uh, sorry AK, you got that from mommy!)

A personality is really starting to shine through. She laughs a lot, especially when she makes little jokes like the one above.

She sleeps with all three lovies at nap and bed time, so this is another common scene in our house.

This above look is one I see as often as I allow the TV to come on. Anna-Kate l.o.v.e.s Elmo!! She asks for Elmo as soon as we walk in the door. She asks for Elmo as we drive down the road. She asks for Elmo at dinner. She asks for Elmo, sometimes, as she wakes up. To help us not give in too often to a video, we have Elmo books and stickers. ;)

Meal times are interesting. She actually has a pretty large list of likes, but she likes to exercise her right to not eat whatever it is in the moment. Her favorites are cheese, beans (especially black and baked), crackers, pizza, and homemade sweet potato fries.

Anna-Kate loves showing off her coats and shoes, all girl!

I love hanging out with my little girl! I have allowed it to sink in recently that she is truly a little girl, instead of a baby. I am loving every minute (okay mommies, we know that means minutes minus the tantrums :) of watching her grow!