Best Christmas Gift I could ask for

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with our extended family and it was great.  We got to enjoy mom’s home cooking, presents, relaxing, cornhole, gingerbread train making (kind of) and lots of just catching up. 

This was a bittersweet celebration as it was probably the last family get together for the holidays we will have for the near future.  There will be gatherings again but the timing of them is unknown. 

Christmas has always been my mom’s favorite holiday.  I have many memories of decorating the house while her Christmas records (yes, records) played.  While Mom decorated the inside, Dad was always working away outside with the lights.  I have more memories about traditions we had around Christmas than any other holiday.  St. Nick, the decorations, making cookies or pies, sleeping in to purposely drive my brothers crazy on Christmas mornings :)

For this past weekend it was a pretty perfect Christmas for me.  With all of the traditions and holiday hoopla we can get caught up with I was very grateful for my family and being able to spend time together.  I love my brothers, my sister in laws, my nieces, my daughter, my husband and my parents.  This was the tradition I was most grateful to have, to spend time with each other.

Merry Christmas

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend in Childress, but man it was exhausting. 

We drove in late on Friday night and got into town around midnight.  Usually we just sneak Addie back into the crib at Granny’s house and she goes right back to sleep, well not this time.  She had a hard time sleeping on the road this time and when we rolled into town she didn’t like the fact she wasn’t in her bed in her room.  We tried everything to get her to go to sleep but nothing worked so we were going to let her cry it out.  Well, that seemed liked a good plan until her screams of desperation changed to an evil little laugh behind our legs.  Little stinker climbed out the crib for the first time.  After some additional baby proofing around the crib and little more playing she finally went down around 2 in the morning.  She was up for the day at 6:30 in the morning.  Seriously!?!?!?  Addie and I got out of the house so someone could get some rest, we picked up some donuts and headed to the park to watch the ducks.  She went ALL day with just a short little 30 minute nap and another late bedtime.  The next day was a bit better but still tiring.  When we headed out of town to come home she was fast asleep within 2 minutes of the drive and thankfully slept soundly for the next 4 hours.

Despite the lack of sleep we had a great time with the family.

Addie loved spending time with her Granny.

She got to spend some quality time with Aunt Gracie.  How sweet is the picture of her cuddling with Gracie below.  Love it.

We had some typical west Texas winds which were perfect for flying a kite.  Addie started out slowly with her daddy.

Then she went solo for a little bit, she is starting to get the hang of it……

She is quickly taking it higher…

AND HIGHER…not bad for an 18 month old

We got the girls in their Halloween outfits.   How cute is our little lady bug, Kendall.

The Seal boys and their girls. I am pretty sure this was the 100th picture we took in this pose and we finally got everyone to look at the camera and even a couple of smiles (including the boys)

Butterfly Festival

What a fun, great weekend we had.  We happened to trip upon a little butterfly festival in Grapevine several years ago and this week I randomly came across an ad for the same festival and thought it would be a fun family outing.   It was definitely worth the trip even if it was a bit overwhelming for Addie.  The little festival had definitely grown significantly from years past but is still super cute. 

They start out the festival with a little parade of all the kids who dress up for the festivities.   There are small babies, kids, adults, dogs all dressed up in some sort of butterfly gear.  They judge all of the costumes and give out prizes based on age groups, we didn’t stick around to see the winners but we definitely saw some cute costumes.

 

We tried to get a shot by the pumpkins, she wasn’t as enthused about the idea as the rest of us.

Watching the parade begin

Granny, Mommy and Addie enjoying the free crafts

The release of butterflies wasn’t as pretty as you would of hoped for but it was still pretty cool

After the festival we ended up eating an early lunch at Esparza’s and buying some fresh produce at the farmer’s market.  Once we got home Addie slept for 3 hours, I would say it was a pretty perfect Saturday. 

1st Dentist Trip

One more firsts off the list…first trip to the dentist.  It was everything I imagined and more. terrible.   16 months is too early to go to the dentist.

We took Addie to the dentist a week after a nasty spill on the tile floor that caused her to bleed profusely for hours.  Thankfully there was no damage done to her teeth.  As a precautionary measure we decided to take her to the dentist just in case.  

There was a brief attempt at x-rays and an exam that was just looking at her teeth without instruments.  It took 3 of us to hold her down.  Addie was frustrated, crying, and sweaty, I was frustrated and sweaty and on the verge of crying.  After an hour an half later we were cleared to go home with a healthy mouth.  Thank goodness….see ya in 2 years.

Watermelons

It’s officially watermelon season at the Seal farm.  We are knee deep in watermelons, squash, peaches, pears and cantaloupes.  We can’t eat it all fast enough and we are loving all of the fresh fruit. 

One of our favorite things to do is to take Addie outside, strip her down, turn on the sprinkler and let her just eat directly out of the watermelon.  We are just one big sticky mess but I love it.

    

I love that one…you see your tongue hanging out before she takes a bite.

Just a little this and that

There is nothing new and exciting going on in the Seal house hold.  Little Miss Independent  is all about exploring, talking and gaining more and more independence. 

Little Miss A is all about helping.  She likes to help take out the trash, closing doors, putting things away.  She claps for herself every time she is done being such a big helper. 

Don’t feed me, I will feed myself.  Little Independence is all about feeding her self, she gets her bucket ‘o yogurt in the morning and goes to town with her spoon and is a crazy mess in 2 minutes.

Showing love.  Addie is more about hugs and kisses.  A few sloppy kisses at that.  She is being more cuddly and I am not complaining for a second.  I love coming home and seeing her run with her arms open wanting a big hug.  There is no better feeling when I walk in the door. 

Love this girl.

Mmmm…mmmm….milkshake

Addie LOVES any and every kind of food you are eating.  There is almost no point to ordering a plate for her because all she wants is what you have.  Yesterday she enjoyed a yummy milkshake with her Daddy and she LOVED it.