December Festivities

This month has just flown by it seems. Lots of Christmas parties - school, PJ's work, church. We got to go PJ's work party just the two of us, while Mark and Camille kept the kids for us for a couple of hours. It is just so refreshing and nice to go out as a couple and be able to interact with people and not having cater to the kids' needs and constantly watching over them. We had such a good time!

At church, the Christmas party had a Latino flare to it. With a pinata and everything. Just a few weeks ago, our ward got split and the ward boundaries changed, so there are lots of new to us families at church. It was good to meet a few of them at the party. We ate lots of yummy enchiladas and for dessert we had cupcakes. Om the way home from the party Ophelia noted: "I ate my cupcake like Cookie monster....too fast!" :) Made me and PJ crack up!

Texas winters are kind of dry, lots of static here:

Both the kids are struggling with dry skin throughout the winter months. We use lots of hydrocortisone, which Ophelia calls "hydro-quarters".
My friend Natalie shared some Krispy Kreme joy with us. The kids were in heaven:

Ophelia's school put on a big Christmas concert this month. PJ stayed home with Emerson, since it was kind of later in the evening, but me and Grandma and Grandpa got to enjoy it. Ophelia did so amazingly great. She sang loud, she did the actions, and she truly had fun doing it. They sang 3 songs and on the last one (which I didn't get a good video of) Ophelia pretty much dominated the voices. We had friends whose kids were in the concert too comment to us later about how well and loud Ophelia sang!

Lovely Christmas jingle:

Pretty much the first week that PJ was off work, he got the flu. Not just some little flu, he got THE FLU! He was miserable. The first two days he spent in bed with chills, fever, achiness. He slept awfully. It was rough! I did my best to quarantine him from the kids, but I myself got something too. It wasn't the flu according to the flu test at the doctor's office, but I felt sick for a few days, but not nearly as bad as PJ. We were blessed that the kids did not get any of it!

My friend Candace makes the best gingerbread ever! She gave us a house making kit for Christmas, so decorated one as a family. The kids loved the project. Emerson was more interested in tasting all of the candy though, but Ophelia got into sticking colorful candies all over the house.

We had a quiet family Christmas Eve with just us four. It was neat to do our new tradition as of this year of the 25 days of Christmas with a Christ-centered message and a symbolic ornament to go with it each day. Emerson looked forward especially to videos about Jesus and Ophelia loved opening the gift box with a different ornament each night. On Christmas Eve we drove around as a family and delivered goodies to neighbors and friends in the area.

Just in time for Christmas, everyone was finally well enough to spend time with family in Oatmeal. Whatever germs we had, we shared like this:

Cousy love is powerful and there's no way around it! Here's the beautiful tree. I love that Mom always has a live tree for Christmas! I love its smell, because it reminds me of my childhood and our end-of-year festivities. I also love eating mandarins all December long because that's what I did as a kid. One time I ate so many mandarins that I got a rash all over my body!

Grandma playing with Emerson. This Sesame street house is one of the kids' favorite toys at Grandma's house:

Mark and PJ played some lovely Christmas songs for us:

And then Ophelia played some too :)

She's got the guitar hold down. Now we just need to teach her how to make the right notes on it:

The table is set! Looking good:

Grandma got Ophelia and Emerson a little play kitchen for Christmas, which they love! But they also loved playing in the huge box that the kitchen came in. As a bonus, check out Em's huge mouth :)

A few Ophelia-isms that we've heard lately:
* She told PJ one morning: "Papa, you make the best breakfastes!" I giggle at the grammar that she uses, but then I turn around and speak just like her, because we hang out so much together, I talk like her too :)
* As a proper dietitian Mom, I have been talking to Ophelia about candy and junk food, so she is starting to figure out what's good for our bodies to take in and what isn't. One day she told me: "Candy infects moods and makes us act like a baby and a spoiled rat." Petty much...nailed it :)

We had our annual dumpling night in Oatmeal. Auntie Jane was there too and Emerson developed a special love for her:

We made a few attempts to take a good picture of all three cousins. Here are the best two tries:

Someday we won't have that problem any more, of trying to have all three look at the camera and smile and sit still for just 5 seconds!!!! Here they are playing ring around the rosie:

Emerson has a special place in his heart for Grandpa. It is so sweet! Whenever I tell the kids that we're going to Grandma's house, Emerson always adds "Grandpa's house". Also when Grandma stops by on occasion, on her own, while running errands in town, Emerson asks her "Grampa go?", meaning "Where did Grandpa go?" Emerson is always so excited to see Grandpa, to give him a hug and a kiss, or to have Granpda hold him. Here Emerson is singing with Grandpa:

The kids had fun hanging on Aunt Judy:

On one of our visits to Oatmeal, Auntie Cami did some beautiful shots of the kids. Sure makes me want to get a nicer camera!

I just LOVE this one:

This boy is just so incredibly sweet and polite! He even gets excited for his sister. Like when Ophelia shows her artwork to Emerson, he says :"Awesome, Awa!" Too cute! He is starting to pronounce her name correctly most of the time nowadays. He says "Opheya" or "Opheyaya".

Emerson is getting really good with speaking in sentences too! Here are some dinner time Emerson-isms:
* "I like it strawberries." He's learned from Signing Time to says "I like it" and "Don't like it", so he plugs the "it" in his sentences when he talks about his likes and dislikes.
* When calling Ophelia for dinner to the table one evening: "Awa, eat sushi papa make it!" Blew my mind how he put all those words together. Love that boy!