Best Christmas Ever

There have been several years where the holidays pass and I look back and think, “wow, that was the best Christmas ever.” This year was definitely one of those. So filled with family, fun, laughter, and delicious food … and with a little girl around, filled with cuteness too.

First off, there was the most adorable holiday dress for V. Here we are just before church on Christmas Eve.


I already know I’m going to be sad when she outgrows that dress!

Maybe it was wearing a pretty dress, or maybe it was being in church, or maybe it was daddy’s lap that did the trick … but she was a perfect angel at the candlelight service. She snacked on some puffs, smiled at the people behind us, and went with Mommy to the front of the church for the children’s sermon.

The puppies, meanwhile, waited in the car. We had planned to leave them home, but my mom pointed out that they would be very missed if they didn’t join us for Christmas Eve. So we didn’t tell her they were coming, and made sure we parked far away from them at church so she wouldn’t see Hannah and Piper in the car. It was great to see the look on her face when our two dogs rushed to their door after church! They were very happy to be with the whole family.

Adam was on duty, but was able to stop by for part of the evening. V loved his shiny badge and radio – and had to show him her “toy,” the remote control.


We all sat around the table for our traditional fondue dinner. My mouth is watering just remembering all that delicious food!


While it wasn’t V’s first Christmas (she was three weeks old last year), this was her first fondue dinner. She especially loved the cheese, and peas off of Mommy and Daddy’s lettuce layer salad.


We played a little bit after dinner, and V was being very silly with Mommy.

We always save most of the gift opening for Christmas morning, but since we were all together on Christmas Eve, it was important to open a few. V was really good at opening all her gifts – she’d pull the bows off, then rip the paper (sometimes into tiny pieces). Mommy and Daddy gave her new PJs to wear for Christmas Eve.


After ripping off paper and getting the lid off, she threw the PJs aside so she could instead have the tissue paper. We all laughed at her excitement over tissue paper!

The best part of Christmas Eve was still to come … Adam’s gift to Victoria. She was presented with a large box. After pulling off the paper, Mommy helped her pull out something large, wooden, and heavy. Her very own step stool … which Adam made himself. She loved it instantly. We lifted the step and converted the stool into a little chair. The smile on her face at having her own chair lit up the whole room.


Who would’ve guessed she would be so happy to just sit in her chair?


She swung her feet and smiled at the whole room. She clearly felt so special!


The pups opened presents from Adam and Molly, Grandma and Grandpa. And, of course, they patrolled the living room to make sure we were opening presents correctly. By the end of the evening they were pretty tired … we particularly loved this shot of Piper plopped up against V’s stool, with her new toy.


The pups may have been fast asleep, but not Ms. V! She was a little party animal, not even falling asleep in the car on the way home. She stayed up ‘til 10:00 … and was still up plenty early on Christmas morning. We came downstairs to see what Santa had brought.


The puppies got “candy canes” in their stockings.


For V, there was a new sled. She loved the ride around the living room.


From Piper and Hannah, she got this awesome tunnel. She loved it instantly.




There were so many other wonderful gifts given … from each other, and from Granny Gail and Grandpa Earl. Granny Gail sent V another handmade gift – a fleece jumper perfect for winter in Minnesota. Another highlight was this quilt to Matt from Jenn – made from t-shirts of memorable bike races. Thanks to our friend Deb for all your hard work on this!


We took lots of video, but most of our video footage is still on the video camera and needs to be downloaded yet. However, I had two cute clips taken on my phone. This one of Daddy helping her open her toy vegetables. Watch how she needs to make sure the silver ribbon gets placed on top of the basket.



(yes, of course Mommy wants to encourage vegetable gardening early!)

and this one of she and Piper playing with the new squeaky toy – Piper is really gentle playing “tug” with her and they played several times Christmas morning.



Love that laugh!

After all the gifts were opened, I warmed up some homemade cinnamon rolls. V had eaten her breakfast upstairs, so I didn’t think she’d need cinnamon rolls. Guess I was wrong! She clamped one little hand around my wrist and stood right in front of me, so I would give her a bite every time I took one. I have to say, as much as I love those cinnamon rolls, I loved sharing them with her even more.


Later that morning, my parents came to exchange gifts with us, and for a delicious Christmas brunch.




V was full of hugs for Grandpa!

After a short nap for V, we then went to my grandma’s for a visit with some extended family.

We’d already had so much Christmas fun – but it wasn’t over yet. That night, the first of a whole series of out of town guests arrived. Stay tuned for another post soon about all the fun we had with visitors!

Christmas Party

We have the best daycare ever. One of the many reasons we love it is because of all the fun things LouAnne does with the kids. This week, it was a Christmas party. We dressed V in an adorable holiday dress, and wrapped gifts to give to all the other kids. Santa arrived at 10:00. I can only imagine the anticipation among all the kids as the time approached! Victoria, as expected, wasn’t so sure about the big guy.


Candy canes, on the other hand … that brought a smile! Here she is with her first candy cane ever.


And she knew exactly what to do when it came time for presents.



She came home with a bag of fun toys from the kids. Santa gave her a new book. (And later in the week she came home with a gift from LouAnne as well as a gift from Victoria to Mommy and Daddy.)

The Christmas party also included an afternoon of making gingerbread houses. When I picked V up that evening a whole row of them were lined up waiting to go home with the kids. Victoria had her own, complete with edible decorations galore.



Thanks to Matt for taking time out of his work day to go photograph the holiday fun!

Local Gift Ideas

Yes, there's only 10 days until Christmas! If you're like me, gifts are already purchased and (mostly) wrapped. But maybe there are some Duluth-area folks who are still looking for things for the special people on their list. I've posted articles about shopping local (or not at all). I'm not perfect, but compared to my usual M.O. (I do love Amazon Prime), I've done pretty well. If you're looking for ideas, here are my local favorites ...

• The Duluth Pack store in Canal Park. This is such a great store with seemingly something for everyone. Of course, the Duluth Packs themselves are about as local as it gets. But I was pleasantly surprised walking through the store and seeing outdoor gear, clothing, books, dog toys/treats/gear, decor, and other fun stuff. From there you could wander into neighboring stores along Canal Park Drive.
  
• Explorations, downtown in the Holiday Center. If you have any kids in your life, you need to visit. It's such a different feel from buying stuff at Target or Wal-Mart. Toys are fun, often educational, and shopping there makes me feel like a kid myself. They offer free parking and free gift wrapping.
• 185 Chocolat. Ok, I haven't bought anything here but I've seen them mentioned around town, and looking at their web site makes me drool.
• Blue Heron, in the DeWitt Seitz Building. Kitchen and specialty food store. Mmmm!
• Sproutlings, a baby/kid boutique along Central Entrance.
  
• Local artisans. I can't say too much here without ruining surprises, but we are surrounded by some pretty talented people. When you have a gift idea, try to think whether it can be made locally!
• Homemade. We are doing several homemade gifts this year, as well as yearly calendars which aren't quite homemade but allow us to share Matt's photography.
• Gift certificates to local services (like massages!) and restaurants.
• And, finally, one I haven't yet been able to visit, but is on my list ... Matilda's Dog Bakery.

I know there are many other ideas ... my boss loves Serendipity in Lakeside. I've heard people rave about Northern Waters Smokehaus. What's your favorite?

Birthday Week

Miss V celebrated her first birthday in full force ... by spreading the birthday fun out over the whole week.

Last Sunday, we brought her to the studio for her first "birthday cake" -- a cake that served as a fun prop for a photo shoot ...


Discovering that the gooey stuff was fun to play with and tasted good and sweet was quite the treat for her.

You can also see a time lapse video Matt put together of the whole photo shoot ... complete with mommy's pajama legs walking in the background.

The real "big day" was on Thursday. I sent her to daycare with homemade pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes to share. When we walked through the door, the kids were gathered, ready to yell "Happy Birthday Victoria!" and then start singing to her. She was a little bewildered and stared with big eyes at this phenomenon -- our day doesn't typically start with a singing greeting, after all.

Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Doug joined us for dinner -- one of V's favorite dishes, homemade macaroni and cheese, followed by yet another cupcake (V says, "I could get used to dessert!"). We sang to her for a second time, of course.


Then we opened up some of her gifts. She was very interested in every card and every gift ... and every piece of ribbon and wrapping paper, too.



She played so hard with the gifts, paper, cards, and gift bags that we let her stay up a little late, hating to interrupt her intensity -- and she had a major meltdown when she realized it really was time for bed. Birthdays are so fun!

On Saturday, we had a big ol' party for her. Mommy and Daddy, Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Doug, Uncle Adam and Auntie Rachel, Auntie Karen and cousin Madi, Roger, Ron, Teresa, Brooke, Cruz, Janet, Bob ... all came to celebrate this very special occasion.

Grandma and Grandpa posed for a picture with the birthday girl before the other guests arrived ...


We had balloons and snacks ...


And homemade triple chocolate cupcakes with a very tasty buttercream frosting ...


I've never made as many cupcakes in my life as I have this week. Does being a Mommy require buying extra cupcake pans?

Victoria still wasn't quite sure about the candle and singing ...


But knew exactly what to do with that cupcake when it was finally placed in front of her.


She started shoving it in ... and kept shoving and shoving until her chipmunk cheeks were full and she couldn't even close her mouth all the way! Ha ha -- we all laughed at her enthusiastic response to the chocolate cupcakes. Mommy was just glad she approved!

We asked guests not to bring gifts. Victoria has so many toys already, and we want her to grow up knowing that celebrations are about family, togetherness, and fun -- not just about gifts. I didn't want our guests to feel obligated to spend money ... and freeing them from that obligation made me feel like I could invite more people. (And selfishly, I just don't want to find places to store all that extra stuff.) A few people just didn't listen, though. So that night we opened gifts. Again, V was interested in every gift, envelope, and piece of wrapping paper, and again she played for hours with her new toys and books (thanks, everyone!). Auntie Karen and cousin Madi stayed overnight, so she had lots of people to play with.


Just to show that sometimes the ribbons are more important than what's inside ...


While I stayed home to put V to bed at a reasonable time after her very long day, Matt took Karen and Madi to Bentleyville. When they got back home, Madi helped us put up our Christmas tree. Victoria seemed really happy this morning to realize that Madi was still here. We all sat around the table for a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. I think next time we need to eliminate the chocolate from V's pancakes ;) ... too messy! She did love them, though.


It has been a great week. Celebrating this milestone has been so rewarding. We feel so blessed to have such a happy and healthy little girl who continues to grow and change every day, who takes on life with such zest that it makes every day fun. We have also had bittersweet moments where turning 1 makes Mommy and Daddy realize the things she has left behind. What a wild ride it has been so far ... thank you for a wonderful year, Victoria! We love you so much!

the cupcakes are baked

Sending these pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting to day care tomorrow ...

So worth it

There is something about having a little one that adds a shiny patina to everyday life, making even daily routines and errands rich and fun. I love taking Victoria on errands and visiting – I enjoy her company, I get to experience the world through her eyes, and it allows her to be exposed to new sights and people.

We had lots of these errands last weekend. All week I was looking forward to our Friday night shopping date. First up: Kohls, where Matt had a “Kohl’s cash” shopping spree for new clothes. We discovered right away that Victoria loves this store—she can sit in their carts facing forward, unlike Target or the grocery store. Then, on to Five Guys for burgers and fries. We brought peas for V, then gave her a few bites of a french fry. Wow, did we create a french fry monster! By the end she was grabbing for the fries and shoving them in her mouth whole. That’s when we decided it was time to head out to Barnes and Noble. I know how much my life has changed when I head for the kids’ toys section of the store rather than grabbing a book to read in the coffee shop.

We had to head home to put V to bed, but we had more on our shopping list, so returned to the mall area on Saturday. As it was lunchtime, the easiest (not healthiest) place was the food court, the perfect place for people watching:

Multitasking: shoving the puffs in while watching the crowds

V was having a ton of fun and showed off all her goofy faces:

I love shopping with my family! So worth it.

The weekend was filled with plenty of family and holiday stuff. On Saturday morning, after Matt spent the morning in the photo studio, my grandma and her boyfriend (can you call someone of that age ‘boyfriend’?) stopped for a wonderful visit. I don’t get to spend much time with her and really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Bob.

This visit was also the source of a major achievement for me. It has been ingrained in me, over years and years of family and friends visiting over coffee, that the welcoming/nice/appropriate thing to do is to provide some sort of baked good for your visitors. Had I let myself operate on auto pilot, I would have spent the morning baking. After some consideration, though, I decided it was more important to a) play with V and b) do menu planning so my family could have some healthy food this week. Yay me! I don’t even think my visitors cared, and my family is better off for me breaking tradition.

Saturday evening, Cloquet held its Home for the Holidays parade … down main street, with floats decorated in twinkling lights. I thought it would be so.much.fun to take V. People, lights, music – the benefits were SURE to outweigh the costs. So, an hour before the parade, we:

• Wrestled V to the floor (she hates getting dressed).
• Put on a fleece top.
• Yanked snowpants on the now-squirming V.
• Stuck arms through jacket sleeves – V was crying by this point.
• (Mama telling her the whole time, “it’ll be so worth it! You’ll love it!”)
• Added hat.
• Shoved hands in mittens, one.little.finger.at.a.time.
• (Marshmallow baby can’t do anything, so mittened hands just stick straight up in the air.)
• Put boots on.
• Put V in car seat. Boot falls off.
• Replace boot.
• Bundle ourselves up as quickly as possible.
• Get dog leashes.
• Hook leashes to whining, jumping, barking dogs.
• Get car.
• Everyone gets in car. Boots fall off.
• Replace boots.

Now, we can’t very easily bring our crazy dogs to a parade full of people and dogs and handle V at the same time. So we drove out of our way to drop the dogs off at my parents’ house. Yes, they’re spoiled. We simply didn’t want to leave them alone in their kennels for the evening.

We arrived at the parade in time for the start. There were good crowds, food vendors, lights, great floats, and one little girl in our stroller who took it all in. Yes, she watched, but there weren’t very many smiles. And every few minutes she’d squirm in her stroller and fuss a little.

Turns out, maybe she didn’t think it was worth it. She is a girl who likes to be doing things herself, not watching from the sidelines.

So, we left early. I thought maybe V was just tired, but when we got to my parents’ house, she was happy and playing in full force.

We had a lot more time at home on Sunday, but we were equally busy. I had decided it was the day for me to bake our cinnamon rolls for Christmas! I managed to mix, roll, arrange, bake, and frost ... all while keeping an eye on the baby. Despite an attempt to grab the oven door, she didn't get burned (although mama did).

The fact that my attention was on cinnamon rolls meant ...

... V got unencumbered access to the cupboards:


... and she got to feed herself squash and cottage cheese for lunch...


She was very happy, and mama had lots of messes to clean up afterwards!

Matt spent most of the day tearing apart more of our basement bathroom and running errands. Once we were done with the day's chores, we all got a brief nap before our sitter came and Matt and I headed off to our Sunday night bowling league. It was a good way to end a very fun-filled weekend.