After a great Thanksgiving in Florida with Derek’s parents, we spent Christmas in Austin with my family. It was a full house, but only for a few days, until both my sisters and Derek went back to work. The kids and I stayed in Austin for the week between Christmas and New Years to spend some fun quality time with Grandma and Grandpa.

We enjoyed fires in the fireplaces (luckily the weather was cool enough… a far cry from the 80* Christmas a few years back), decorating gingerbread houses, puzzles, movies, books, walks… even the construction of a see-saw. Let’s dive right in.

Christmas Eve morning, we decided to decorate a gingerbread house.

Ta-Da!! Toothpicks were only used to hold up the delicious candy

Colton needs a pick-me-up.

Working on a puzzle, nice fire blazing in the background. Mmmm, toasty warm!

Watching The Grinch.

Reading The Night Before Christmas before bed on Christmas Eve.

(PS. Can you spot Henry, our elf?)

And then it was Christmas morning!

Playing with some of the fun gifts Santa brought in their stockings.

Grandpa Joe played “Santa’s helper” and handed out the gifts from under the tree.

Check out the awesome tree stump Grandma and Grandpa made Adelyn! Complete with woodland creatures.

Setting up the table and chairs so the animals can have tea.

Look, Momma got a double stroller!

Christmas morning reading.

Finished the first puzzle, time to start working on a new one.

Going for a family walk. Also testing out the double stroller for the first time.

Colton says it works great.

Playing with Colton’s trucks before Christmas dinner.

Taking some pre-Christmas dinner family photos.

Taking a picture with two young kids doesn’t make for a very good family photo…

This is the best we could get… no one is looking in the same direction! Ha.

Farrell-Zivney family photo

The rest of the week was fairly quiet, just spent entertaining the kids with horsey rides…

And walks…

And even the construction of a see-saw using leftover wood that Grandma and Grandpa had lying around!

Works great!

And with that, Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Adelyn is 2 years, 7.99 months old and Colton is 7 months, 5 days old.

I showed you how it was beginning to look like Christmas around our house here.

While it was looking like Christmas, it still wasn’t really feeling like Christmas. Actually, it felt more like fall. Comfortably cool weather, beautiful red and orange foliage… you know, fall.

It finally started to get cold…

Hey look, ice!

Perhaps the arrival of the cold weather had something to do with this guy, who journeyed all the way from the North Pole. Readers, meet Henry.

Henry is our Elf on a Shelf, sent all the way down here from Santa himself. Every day, Henry watches over the kids and then at night, he flies back to the North Pole to give his report to Santa (you know, whether or not the kids were “good, for goodness sake”). Every morning we found him in a new place. He managed to get into Addy’s stocking…

and ride a reindeer…

He even hung from a light fixture, got caught in a cage and sat on a wall clock. He’s a silly elf, that Henry.

Anyway, the cold weather and arrival of Henry helped launch us into the Christmas spirit. We decided to make Christmas treats, both for us and for our neighbors.

Making fudge with Daddy.

Addy says “It’s goooooddd.”

The makings of Triple Chocolate Whoopie Pies. Oh yes.

I made one and it was literally >1/3 of the size of Addy’s face. So instead of using two cookies, we cut each cookie in half and put the filling in the middle. Much more reasonable.

We wrapped up the treats for the neighbors…

And then hand delivered them the weekend before Christmas. I think this will be a fun tradition we will continue every Christmas!

Speaking of tradition, we had our 2nd annual Christmas dinner with our neighbors. We have dinner at one house, dessert at the other, and exchange a few small gifts. Such a fun thing to do with our friends

The Thursday before Christmas (and the day before we headed down to Austin), the underside of our tree was looking pretty full…

so we opened a few gifts from Derek’s side of the family.

Addy tears through presents like it’s her job, so before long we had a pile of awesome gifts.

Some of her favorite gifts were a “sparkle shirt” (shirt with sequins on it), a clock that teaches you how to tell time, and a barbie purse with a pretend cellphone and lipstick. Colton was content watching the whole spectacle from the comfort of Daddy’s lap. You just know that next year he will be all up in the action!

And with that, NOW we move on to Christmas pics.

Adelyn is 2 years, 7.75 months old and Colton is 7 months, 2 days old.

I missed the 6-month monthly update for Colton, so I should have lots to tell y’all!  I weighed him the other day and he was 17.8 lbs, so by the time he visits the Dr. next week for his 6 month well-child checkup (a bit backwards, I know), he may just have broken 18 lbs! My big boy.

Colton can roll both directions, but he rarely rolls onto his tummy. If he can reach a toy by staying on his side and stretching his arms as far as he can, he will. And then he rolls back onto his back. He spends most of his day sitting up and playing with his toys that way, he finds it much easier. Can’t blame him! He now OFFICIALLY has one tooth broken all the way through his gums (bottom left center), with the second tooth right about to cut through (bottom right center). I can see at least two other teeth on the bottom just sitting there, ready to make the lil’ man’s gums hurt when they decide to finally emerge.

Right before Thanksgiving, we fed him his first bites of “solid” food and he went nuts for it. He ate rice cereal and oatmeal for a while, but after a couple episodes of projectile vomiting, we stopped giving him anything. We waited about two weeks before offering him anything to eat, and when he was practically attacking us to get to our food, we started giving him some veggies. First came carrots, then peas, and most recently butternut squash. He is loving the squash.

{{Side note: I’ve been making his baby food and I’ve found an easy way to do it. I cook up and puree a big batch at a time, and then freeze the mixture in an ice cube tray. Then, once the veggies are frozen, I pop them all into a ziplock baggy labeled with the date and the type of veggie. Perfect serving sizes! I just grab one or two of the frozen blocks of veggies and defrost them when we have dinner.}}

Since Colton was doing great with the veggies, we reintroduced a very small amount of oatmeal at lunchtime on Sunday. He kept it down, so I think we’ll be slowly re-introducing rice cereal to make sure his tummy can handle it. Originally we wondered if it was a food sensitivity that caused all the spit ups and projectile vomiting, but now I think his system was just overloaded with too much of a new thing. Anyway, he loves to eat and loves to use a sippy cup like a big boy.

At 7 months old, Colton:

• Still takes 2-3 naps a day, although it’s dropping more towards the “2x a day” side. Morning naps are usually pretty long (2+ hrs), and afternoon naps are shorter. Goes to bed between 7-8pm, depending on his last nap. He has been waking up a lot at night recently. Probably due to teeth, but it might also be due to tummy gas pains from the veggies.

• Isn’t nearly as scared around strangers as he was even a month ago.

• Loves solid food and drinking from a sippy cup! Still nurses every 3-4 hrs during the day and at night.

• Is a little daredevil who enjoys riding his horsey bareback.

• Loves our cats. He likes to grab their fur when they’re nearby.

• Has a trademark expression for when he’s studying something intently – eyebrows up, mouth slightly open.

• Enjoys a good cup o’ joe before starting his day.

• Loves to “wrassle” with Daddy and Adelyn.

• Is an oil man, just like his Daddy. Loves the pump jacks!

• Is the handsomest (and happiest) boy in the whole wide world!

• Nicknames this month include: Bear, Bear Bear

Adelyn is 2 years, 7.75 months old and Colton is 7 months old.

So, catching up!

Let’s start with Thanksgiving. Happy thanksgiving everyone! We spent 6 days in Florida visiting Gram Z and Pops and we kept ourselves busy – beach trip, fishing, boating, golfing, relaxing, eating. It was great! We enjoyed smoked turkey for daysssss… I think there was even some left when we flew home, if I’m not mistaken. Now that’s a lot of turkey.

Colton was… a little nervous about meeting “new” people. He was in that stage where anyone other than Momma or Daddy scares him, and you can only hold him if he’s facing outwards, and if he realizes that it’s not one of his parents holding him… well, all bets are off. When we first arrived? This was how Colton reacted:

{{Oh, my sad little angel.}}

Thankfully it didn’t take long for him to get back to his cheerful self.

Now, on to our adventures!

Heading into the jungle to the boat to do a little maintenance.

Time to fish.

Hot tub fun with Pops!

Beach trip!

Boat trip!

Colton’s life vest was a bit snug…

Someone was ready for his nap.

Colton had a great time.

Avoiding her nap.

Last pic before heading to the airport.

Such a fun trip! Next up: Christmas.

Adelyn is 2 years, 7.75 months old and Colton is 6.99 months old.

May 2012 be an exciting, outstanding and fabulous year for all! 

Happy New Year!

We’ve been MIA for a while over here. After spending a lovely week in Florida with Gram Z and Pops for Thanksgiving, we’re home and finally decorating the house for Christmas! I’ve been dying to put out our Christmas decorations. This is my favorite time of year.

First, we went to Lowes and picked out our tree…

Both kids approved.

Then it came time to decorate, which is not exactly an easy feat with a toddler… but we made it through. Best of all, there were no ornament casualties!

{Don’t worry, we straightened the star.}

{Demonstrating how a birdie flaps it’s wings and tweet tweet tweets.}

{The end result!}

We also put up lights on our house and trees, again with lots of toddler “help”…

{Notice what Addy is doing?}

{Wrapping Daddy’s legs while on a ladder may not the best idea…}

And of course, I had to take a picture of my Santa baby. (Ha! See what I did there? Santa baby? Get it? Moving on.)

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Lots of Florida pics to come.

Adelyn is 2 years, 6 months old and Colton is 5 months, 2 weeks old.

Sure, I know he rolls over and likes to sit up and talks to his sissy. But he’s still my little newborn! I only had him last week! Err, right…

Tonight? My eyes were opened to the truth.

Tonight? My youngest child ate rice cereal.

Let me try that again.

My youngest child ate rice cereal. And LIKED it.

I’m talking full-out, mouth-open-like-a-baby-bird, trying-to-reach-for-the-spoon, liked it.

::Sniff::Waaaaaahhhhh!

Colton is 5 months old. I wanted to wait until he was 6 months before introducing “solids” (the rice cereal concoction we whipped up was more of a liquid), but because he hasn’t been sleeping well at night, we decided to go ahead and at least try it out. Maybe he’s just hungry, we thought.

Darn tootin’ he was hungry. It’s like the boy-child was starved and he’d never tasted anything so gloriously delicious.

{{Cleaning off Colton’s chin. PS. Derek just finished mowing the yard, that’s why he’s all dirty. My hubby doesn’t usually look like he’s rolled around in the dirt }}

Overall, Colton loved it. He downed an entire bowl of rice cereal. A bowl, you guys. And he acted like he wanted more! He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience, sitting up at the table with us, eating his dinner while we enjoyed ours. (Breakfast for dinner, in case any of you were wondering…) He was totally and completely ready for solids, and didn’t even grimace or spit out any of the bites. I’m so proud of my big boy!

Before I know it (21 years from now Colton, don’t get any ideas…), this is something we’ll be seeing.

Again, I say Waaaaahhhhhhhhh.

PS. It totally looks like he’s got a mouthful of beer, doesn’t it? Hehehe. But he doesn’t. Believe me, he doesn’t.

PPS. I have video of his first bites, but I can’t get them off the camera. Grrr… will add them later.

Adelyn is 2 years, 5.99 months old and Colton is 5 months, 3 days old.

Hmmm, I haven’t updated much in the way of Colton’s milestones lately. Let’s see, he can roll from front to back (he’s quick too… if he doesn’t want to be on his tummy, he WON’T be on his tummy). He loves sitting up and can hold himself steady for a few seconds at a time before crumpling forward (his direction of choice). Teeth are still wreaking havoc on him, especially lately. He attacks anything you put in his hands. It’s pretty funny to watch, actually. He goes after the toy like a shark. You can see it in his eyes, he has a need… a need to feed. Well, a need to *chomp*!

What else does he do? He rubs his little feet together like a cricket (or like he’s starting a fire). He does this when he’s hungry and tired. And of course, he loves Adelyn to no end. One evening this past week, Colton was sitting in his bouncy chair while I was making dinner and Addy was playing on the floor. He started fussing and I couldn’t pick him up because I had dirty hands. Without being asked, Addy got up, went over to Colton and said “No cry, Colton” and then started singing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” to him. He calmed down and just sat there, watching his big sissy. Warmed my heart.

At 5 months old, Colton:

• Takes 2-3 naps a day. Morning naps are usually +1.5 hrs, and afternoon naps are shorter. Goes to bed between 7-8pm, depending on his last nap. Nightime sleep has been rough lately. Some nights he wakes up twice, other nights he’s up 5-6 times. Why? Whyyyy???

• Still eats every 3 hours. He’s been eyeing our food lately, so I think we may try giving him some rice cereal soon. He’s fascinated with our cups and plates.

• Enjoyed his first Halloween as a crab.

{Colton, the turkey?}

• Is wicked awesome at the jenny jump up. Even if it’s pink.

• Loves snuggling and wrestling with sissy.

• Is fascinated with the babe in the mirror.

{This is Sophie the giraffe. She is a chew toy (really). She squeaks. Addy calls her “Soapy Soapy”.}

• Likes the park. He even went down his first big slide and had his first swing ride.





Big Slide:


Swinging:


Here’s a rolling video:


• Nicknames this month include: Bear, Care Bear, Bub, Bubba, Buster, Buster Brown, Bubba bear, Baby, Handsome, Co-ton

Adelyn is 2 years, 5.5 months old and Colton is 5 months, 1 day old.

Wheerrre’s Addy? Yes, she sleeps with this many stuffed animals on her bed. Good thing she has a full size mattress!

Flat tire. Sad day.

Snuggles in bed. We need it… Colton hasn’t been sleeping well at night…

Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing. Delicious recipe found here.

Intense sketching. Look at that focus.

More sibling reading time. Warms my heart!

Trips to the “green” park. And Colton’s first trip down a big slide (with Daddy).

Temperatures cold enough for hats. Finally! Although this coming Sunday, the temperature is supposed to be 80*. Sigh.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Adelyn is 2 years, 5 months old and Colton is 4 months, 3 weeks old.

Unfortunately this year Adelyn was an epic cranky pants when we got there. She decided she didn’t want to wear her mermaid tail 5 minutes after we’d arrived, although I did manage to convince her to put it back on when we went indoors to see the games. I sure hope she won’t be so cranky on Halloween! One little girl, who was dressed up as a princess, took one look at Addy’s mermaid costume and said “Oooh, I want to be a mermaid too!”, so that made me feel happy. It’s the little things…

Colton was a sweet little trooper and wore his costume like a champ, even though Momma forgot the safety pins to fasten the straps on his costume. ::headpalm:: He still looked great though! Some people thought he looked like a lobster, and I’m ok with that. At least they knew he was some sort of red crustacean, right?

And soooo, drum roll please…

Here are Adelyn and Colton’s Halloween costumes!

{{How regal does she look??}}

{{Colton spent most of the evening chewing on his shell. And his claws. Yay teeth!}}

{{The mermaid loves her crab.}}

{{Finally, a family photo! Notice who isn’t wearing her costume?}}

{{Look at my happy crab!!!}}

Adelyn is 2 years, 4.99 months old and Colton is 4 months, 6 days old.