Christmas Spirit

We have spent the last week doing all sorts of Christmas activities, including the last of our shopping and going to look at Christmas lights downtown in the middle of a major snowstorm! I think the hot chocolate stop was the highlight over the Christmas lights. At any rate, we're really getting into the spirit and Isabelle is super excited for Santa! I don't think Mark knows what's going on either way, but he sure has fun trying to join in on all our activities.

Isabelle did a great job making Christmas cookies this year. Making the dough...

 Kneading the dough....

 Rolling the dough and Mark getting in on the action.

Cutting the cookie shapes....

 A whole lot of frosting and whole lot of sprinkles = the best cookies...

 And finally! Eating them!! Thanks, Sierra, for cleaning up the gazillion sprinkles that landed on the floor.

Isabelle and Mark also got to open an early Christmas present from Grammy and Pepe since they will be in Portland with Robin, Guy, and Phoebe. Isabelle got a dress up basket which pretty much was the best thing in the entire world. We spend, oh, about all day long playing dress up now. Mark also enjoys his new shoes which he likes to try to pull off and chew on (two more teeth are appearing!) I figured we don't really need another picture of Mark chewing on his personal items, but here are some pictures of what Belle refers to as "Princess Belle", "Getting Married Belle," and "Spider Girl Belle."

 We also finally finished our giant Santa.

And finally, two kids ready for Santa (well, not so sure about Mark).

Merry Christmas!

Nine Months!

Nine Months old!!  Mark has brought pure joy (and lots of tiresome days and nights) for nine months already! This past month was a month of milestones!

The biggest milestone (and I think it's safe to say now) is that Mark has been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks!! We're talking 10-11 hours! We never thought we'd see this day. After being up every night a handful of times for 8 months straight, it's hard to imagine that he is suddenly sleeping so well. We had a couple really rough nights doing some sleep training (I think it was harder on me than Mark), but he finally realized that he doesn't need mom or dad to hold him all night to still sleep well. I think Jamie and I both miss our cuddles with him, but there is no question that we are enjoying the rest we're getting. Mark gives us plenty of cuddles and love during the day to make up for the ones we don't get at night anymore. It was definitely a well needed milestone and we are all much happier and feeling more energetic during the day. Besides, he really likes his crib now. He also takes two really great naps (usually) during the day! Way to go buddy!

Not only is Mark the world's fastest crawler, but he has become a champion "puller upper." Once he finds a piece of furniture and pulls himself up to standing position, he tries to climb onto the furniture. He's still a little too small to actually get up on things, but he did manage to crawl up onto the dishwasher yesterday. It was just the right height. I'd like to say he was trying to help, but pulling out the dirty silverware and sticking them into his mouth isn't exactly helping much.

He also really loves to play in Sierra's water and food bowl. We usually have to move it so he'll stay out. I remember Isabelle doing the exact same thing! Luckily we have the greatest dog who doesn't care for one second when Mark or Isabelle tries to get into her bowl as she eats. She just looks at them wondering why the heck they want dog food.

Isabelle doing the same as Mark at 10 months

The best thing about Mark is his constant smiling and the constant love he gives. We just can't get enough of him crawling as fast as he can to us, pulling up on our leg, and wrapping his arms around our neck when we pick him up. We will always cherish his hugs and all the slobber that gets smeared across our face as he shows his affection. He is the happiest, most loving baby ever! 

Some of Mark's favorite activities include, peek a boo..... 

grabbing most anything in sight and testing how it taste (unfortunately, most of the time it is not food)...

standing to play and trying to push his toys (he doesn't get far)...

messing with anything that involves technology (tv, stereo, remote control, wires, cords)

and playing with Isabelle (whether it's crawling all over her, wrestling with her, cuddling with her, or pulling her hair).

We can't believe you are nine months old!! We are so excited to see what new milestones you bring to us this next month. Love you buddy!

Boulderado Christmas!

Every year for the past few years we celebrate an early Christmas at the Boulderado in honor of my grandparents. My great grandpa was the manager of the hotel for years and my grandpa grew up there which is why we pick this spot. My great grandpa's picture is still hanging next to the check-in counter.

The whole family gets together for a delicious brunch at Q's, we look at the enormously giant tree inside the hotel, and then visit my Nana and Papa's gravestone and have cookies and champagne. It's a very special time for the family. This is also the side of the family we named Mark after, so that's special for us. Unfortunately, Jamie, who is the best husband ever, was dealing with the hot water heater at our rental property, so we were sad he wasn't there.
 
After brunch, the kids are watching carolers up on the balcony. It was so cute. These are all the kids of my various cousins (minus a few who are hiding elsewhere).

 Dance time....

 My cousin, Lisa, is teaching Belle all about her great grandparents.

 Mark just loved his aunty Nellie. He stayed awake just long enough to learn about his name and visit family.

Honoring their parents--Barb, my mom, and Billy, who are all now grandparents to a bunch of sweet kids!

 

In Evergreen the next day playing with Noah and Will. This is just part of the mess they started....

 

 Mark trying to keep up with the boys.

Marching to Christmas music. We're excited for the cousin's to get together again in a couple weeks for Christmas. Wish we were in Puerto Rico with them right now!! We'll just have to dream it.

Inside Days

Not much to report here, but thought I'd add some random photos I've taken in the past two weeks. Aside from enjoying our tree and making a few holiday crafts we haven't done much. I worked a couple days this week, so Isabelle and Mark have enjoyed some time with the Nana and Papa and Grammy and Pepe.

Mark is officially into everything. He is also pulling up on all the furniture and loving it! Here he is getting into trouble. He loves to pull the Ramen noodles out of the cupboard and listen to the crinkle sound they make.

 These two love to wrestle each other. They just laugh and laugh.

 Luckily, it usually ends with some hugs and kisses. At least on this day.

 We had our friend Timothy over one day. Here they all are playing on the iPad.

And sweet Belle cuddling up and reading her books in a sleeping bag. She spent almost an hour doing this!!

 And our two water lovers. The bath is a highlight of their evening just before bed.

 

Thanksgiving Mixed With the Start of Christmas!

To start the week off, Isabelle had a girls night out with Mom and Nana. First to the Spaghetti Factory for a yummy dinner, then to the Lion King at the Buell. She LOVED the Lion King and so did we. We weren't sure how it would go and if she would be too young for it, but she watched every single move, smiled and laughed, and gave me hugs of what I think were "thanks for taking me mom" hugs throughout the show. She snuggled with Nana at the end when she was getting a little tired, but this didn't stop her from watching.

I love that I can take my almost 3 year old to shows like this and enjoy myself.  There is not a single thing that Isabelle does not like in life. She is happy doing anything and everything. Isabelle is such a sweet, polite, well behaved girl. The only time we find her being slightly difficult is when she is tired, but we can't complain about that.

Next up was Thanksgiving. Belle loves to do crafts while Mark takes his morning nap, so we looked up something to make for Thanksgiving. She decided she wanted to make turkey hats for everyone to wear. She did an excellent job and we enjoyed wearing them during our delicious dinner with Grammy and Pepe!!

Mark preferred to eat his hat, as usual.

 

We then headed to the cabin. It was quite a bit colder, but we enjoyed getting bundled up, playing in the snow, and then warming up in the cabin next to the fire. Here is Isabelle hiking. She can hike for ever and ever and not get tired. She is such an adventurer! We all followed her and got some good exercise.

Belle also gave the sled some good use. She either pulled the sled behind her, got pulled in the sled, or rode down the hill on the sled. I was jealous. It looked like fun!! 

Mark also really loved being outside and watching Belle sled. The snow pants and jacket we brought for him were about 3 times too big, so he didn't play in the snow. That didn't bother him. He was bundled up in his non-waterproof snowsuit and was completely happy in the carrier. Every time I looked back he just smiled his big smile (until he fell fast asleep).

And Sierra. She probably has more fun than anybody at the cabin. Here she is chasing sticks we throw. This dog doesn't stop running, sniffing out critters in the logs, and bugging us to go outside. We love that we can let her go free without the leash. She does too.

While at the cabin we took a day to go cut our Christmas tree with some friends. We had a great time searching out the perfect 2011 tree for our house. Here we have Belle hiking with George who she called Noah the entire time. (She must be getting excited to see Noah in a couple weeks). I'm sure George had no idea why he was called Noah, but they had fun trudging through the trees.

Belle helping dad cut down our tree.

 

Dad carried the tree back to the car, mom carried the hungry kids back to where we had some yummy chili and snacks.

We then stopped off at the fire station and Belle sat on Santa's lap without any hesitation. Mark was sound asleep, so he'll have to meet Santa at a later time. She asked for a pink car and a candy cane. The candy cane we can handle. The pink car? Well, we'll have to get creative with that.

We had a great week! We are now looking forward to getting our tree up, listening to Christmas music, and getting into the holiday season!!