Merry Christmas!

Santa came over night and left lots of surprises under the tree and in our stockings. Emmy had a wonderful time ripping off wrapping paper, exploring new toys and making breakfast for us in her new play kitchen. She was beyond thrilled when she saw it! Here's hoping your holiday is bright!

Walking in a Snotty Wonderland

Poor Em. She's got a miserable cold. She started losing her voice yesterday, and is very squeaky today. The snot drippith, and the eyes are gunky. I'm hoping this clears out before the big day, or at least before we visit family and friends. She still seems to be eating and playing okay, which is so typical for her. I think it would take a case of pneumonia before she's stop eating! Last night she ate about 5 big broccoli pieces...she nibbles on them like they are a cookie she wants to savor. We ran errands today, and when we got home, the neighbor's chickens were all over our driveway and front yard. Em had a ball running around chasing them. We may have to get some for our back yard one of these days! The chickens are beautiful Rhode Island Reds, and they are so pretty in the sunshine.

Cookie Baking

Emmy and I tried out a new cookie recipe, and she helped me put M&M's on top of the cookies. Or, in reality, she stuffed M&M's in her little mouth as fast as she could. She occasionally pulled one out and tried to put in on a cookie.

My girl is crafty too! She came home yesterday wearing reindeer antlers made out of tracings of her hands. She was so proud and wore them almost all day at daycare (carefully taking them off for naptime) and for a while at home. So cute...had to share the pic.

The Finished Product

Deck the Halls

It's beginning to look more like Christmas at the Stouder house. We put up the tree this week, and got the ornaments on it today. Emmy helped us with the ornaments, and even put a few on the tree herself! She was terribly excited by all the cute little figurines and twinkly lights. She says Christmas "treats" instead of tree. So cute. We worked outside this afternoon, and visited with the neighbor girls and their flock of chickens. We hung lights on the front porch and raked leaves/pine needles to the street for collection. Tonight, I'm sitting down with my recipe books to decide what kind of baked goods I want to make this year. Of course, there will be Gram's famous butter cookies, which hopefully Emmy will help decorate. That was always such a fun tradition for my brother and I. We each have some of the Gram's holiday cookie cutters, and will bring those out this year for sure. I also need to get stitching on Emmy's Christmas stocking. I didn't make her one last year because we weren't at our house for Christmas, and she was too young for a stocking. She will definitely be into it this year, so I need to get sewing. My brother and I still have (and use) the stockings that my Mom made for us when we were born. I hope Emmy's will also be in use 32 years from now! We went to JC Penney's today to get our family portrait done. We ordered our Christmas cards, which turned out really cute. Emmy was a bit of a dicken's during the photo shoot, but we managed to capture some nice pictures of her. We all wore red tops and blue jeans, staying true to our family's casual preferences! Right before our photo shoot, there was another family with a daughter named Emerson...and they kept saying "Emmy!" to get her to smile. Our Emmy was a little perplexed by the strangers shouting her name in the other room!

Post Turkey Recovery

We had a good Thanksgiving, celebrating with all the Stouders in DC. We had our Christmas exchange as well, since we won't be seeing that side of the family at Christmas. Of course, we ate too much, but Stacy did a great job cooking the bird! (She did it the day before, which is a trick I will use in the future! So nice having room in your oven to cook the sides on T-day!) We brought home some toys that Abby had outgrown, but were perfect for Emmy right now. Her new favorite is the Sit-n-Spin. She insists that we all spin, but Keith just doesn't fit. She had a good laugh when I got on it and started spinning around!

Emmy will be starting a new daycare in February, and I really think she's ready for more stimulation and being around kids her age. They don't let them come to this school until they are 2, and so she is helping out Jeffrey with all the babies right now. She's the oldest, and loves playing the the babies.

She's starting to put together 2-4 word sentences now, and it's amazing to hear her speak! She's communicating with us so much more, although we still only understand about 60% of what comes out of her mouth. She is very particular about her clothes now, and if her shirt has a hood, it has to be up. She gets a little bent out of shape if Mommy doesn't wear a hood too (although most of my clothes don't have a hood...hard to explain to a toddler!).

We finally got some of the beach photos from the photographer...what a nightmare dealing with him, but the end result was good. He did take some excellent pics!