Christmas Part II

Willow has been soaking up her time with Nana and Grandpa (I'm soaking up my time as well!!). She keeps us all going, going, going and she continually motions for us to "come" with her hand (it's pretty cute and hard to resist).

Willow observes Grandpa frying ham and potatoes for breakfast...

so she can make them in her kitchen, too!

(thanks for the adorable hair bows, Morgan!!)

Willow always loves going to Inflatable Palace, and this time was no exception.

Six Flags, here we come!

Making green wreath cookies with Nana.

Willow is still getting in a lot of mileage on her car every day. She's even let her baby doll drive and tried talking on her cell phone while driving. Her favorite is for us to put in the floor board (to keep her feet up) and push her around the house. (thanks for the cute hat, Nana!)

Willow has enjoyed her new farm with animal sounds. Take note of the pink John Deere hat from Grandpa - very appropriate to wear while farming!

Willow loves petting cats at the SPCA. Most of them let her pet them much longer than Alli will.

We visited the Children's Museum (love the indoor options for the winter!) and Willow played more than she ever has. She's usually more interested in watching the other kids, but this time she really relaxed and played herself!

Since getting her new car, Willow LOVES driving! Thankfully there were two trucks and not much competition!

Cadence came over for some fun playtime at our house - they had a great time playing with Willow's strollers.

Christmas

Willow definitely came out well this Christmas. She still has all the gifts from her mama and dada to open (her attention span wasn't quite long enough...) but she was excited about the others that she got to open. Her top 4 (determined by the length of time they were enjoyed today) were definitely her car, her baby doll, her chair, and her KITCHEN!

Grampa and Gramma got her this toy car. It took her ONE time walking past the play room before she noticed it and ran right over. Here's a little video of her first few minutes:

(note: this is a plastic knife used to "cut" her plastic food)

We intentionally saved the kitchen for last, knowing that nothing else would get played with after she found it...and we were right. Her reaction was pretty priceless. She was quietly playing with her baby doll in the kitchen with Nana when she walked by the play room and saw it. The video is kindof long, but she was just so excited that I couldn't stop recording.

Christmas Eve

Since we're in town for Christmas this year, we were able to attend our church's Christmas Eve service. Last time we went, I was pregnant and life was pretty different. Childcare isn't available during the service, which makes things "interesting" with a church full of kids. Willow did really well considering how long of a service it was.

Willow and her friend Ella (can you believe she's a year older than Willow and they're only 1" different in height!) entertained themselves by looking out the window.

Willow was on the move when we got home from the service, so it was difficult to get a motion-free picture of her in her dress.

Christmas Part I

Willow will get to celebrate Christmas for two weeks - one week with grandparents in PA and one week at home with grandparents from CO. Christmas has definitely been different this year, with Willow showing a greater interest and ability to open the presents herself. Willow is soaking up time with Gramma and Gramps - usually not allowing them to leave her sight. Here's Willow begging for Gramma to come out of the bathroom:

Willow has started to enjoy playing pretend. She'll have a tea party with all of her stuffed animals or feed her baby doll. We're now even reading books to our baby!

Aunt Linnie and Uncle Paul got her a stroller for her baby, which she's really enjoyed pushing around the house. It's strange to see her being "too big" to sit in it!

We stopped by to visit our friends, the Shannons. The girls were great with playing with Willow. They enjoyed playing dress up and playing the piano. Chris had to cringe when he saw Willow come downstairs with a Rothlisberger jersey and a terrible towel.

Eating Christmas dinner at a table just the right size for Willow!

Willow is starting to smile/"cheese" for the camera.

Willow looking like quite a grown little girl!

We had a chance to go outside and play in the foot of snow this afternoon. Again, Willow was indifferent to playing in it herself. Dada and Gramps enjoyed a snowball fight - Willow can't quite understand that they're "playing."

Willow's doing a good job of keeping Gramma and Gramps smiling!

Making Cookies

We had a couple more inches of snow so we enjoyed making cookies today! Chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips and sugar cookies!

Of course we had to test the batter to make sure it was worth baking!

"Hmmmm...I think I like this."

Willow loved sitting in the middle of the action!

Quality control on the sugar cookies:

Willow had her turn with the sprinkles...

I'd say the container needs smaller holes!

YUM!!

Of course after eating all of those cookies, you need to run around a little. In the video she only says "Go," but earlier she had been making a couple grunts ("ready, set") before saying "go."

First Snow

We woke up this morning to see a snowing surprise! About an inch of snow had fallen overnight! We enjoyed the day at home together in our pajamas. I had already called in sick since I was still recooperating from the stomach virus Willow "shared" with us this weekend (the 3 of us combined for a total of 5 throw-ups in 21 hours...make it 10 in 32 hours if you count Auntie Kim!). Willow was still feeling under the weather so we're hoping she'll warm up to the snow more next time (fingers crossed for LOTS more snow!!).