Friday, December 30, 2011

More Fun with Cousins

After Evelyn was sick on Christmas (and most of my sister's family the week leading into Christmas), it was Gage and I's turn on Monday.  It wasn't particularly fun...but it was a 8 hour bug almost by the book...so you could at least count down to feeling better!  I spent most of the day in bed, on the couch, or in the recliner (and well, you know)...oh what fun.  Dan got a small strain of it on Tuesday...fortunately it didn't quite knock him down like it did me, so we were still able to leave on Tuesday evening to drive through the night home.

Here's some pictures of the last couple of days in Colorado...
Evelyn and Heidi playing dolls...Heidi's showing her how to be a good doll mommy
Heidi and I hanging out (like my cool not washed for 2 days because I've been sick hair?)
Evelyn and Gunnar - looking pretty ornery!!
Eating Mommy's sweatshirt string...
Heidi playing dress up in Grammie's closet...
Grammie and Evelyn ready for the Purdue Bowl game
Katie and Evelyn
Evelyn and her Harms cousins
Ben and Evelyn
We left Tuesday evening after a quick drop in at the Crow anniversary party (the Crows are a family we grew up with, so it was great to see all of them while we were home, too!).  We made it through the night again, and Evelyn did pretty well.  She had a couple of rough patches, but slept most of the night part of the trip.  I always feel like Texas is twice is big coming back to Corpus...maybe she did too.  It was nice to be home, though.  We went to get adjusted at our chiropractor's that afternoon - and she about lost it when we put her in her car seat again.  I guess two 18+ hour car trips in 10 days time will do that to a girl!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Evelyn's First Christmas

One tradition that we started last year with all of the kids is decorating Christmas cookies.  My sisters and I usually try to mix and bake them one day, then let the kids decorate away the next.  This year the decorating fell on Christmas Eve...as did a Broncos game...so we were trying balance it all!
Evelyn getting ready to decorate her cookie
Oooo..this green stuff looks fun!
A view of the whole table
On Christmas Eve, my Grandma Uni always comes over to have dinner with us and open her gifts.  Some years some other family and friends will come as well, but this is always our time with her.  It was so nice to see her doing so well and having gained some weight!
Evelyn with Grandma Uni
Another tradition in our family is Christmas jammies.  My Mom always picks out matching pajamas for all of the kids and all of the adults.  It's getting harder now that the kids are getting older and more spread out in age to find the exact same, but we still get Christmas jammies!  We always open them on Christmas Eve (and Grammie washes them before wrapping them!) so we can wear them to bed for Christmas morning.  Here are some pictures of the jammie unwrapping!
Evelyn likes the bows - so we made a bow-hawk for Uncle Nate
After dinner and the Christmas jammie opening, it was time for Midnight Mass.  We actually put Evelyn to bed at her normal time dressed in her Christmas dress from Grammie (Katie and Heidi had matching ones) so that it would be pretty easy to pack her to church.  I thought she would sleep through church...she did not. :-)
And it's Christmas morning!!!
Still a little tired here guys, but I like this fuzzy seahorse!
Not sure what she saw here...but her face is priceless!
Opening presents with Mommy
Did I mention that I like the bows?
A new book to read with Daddy!
Heidi in her new baby play pen!
At our house, we typically let all of the kids open their gifts, then they can play with all of their new stuff while we open ours in relative quiet.  As we were getting ready to do this, I was holding Evelyn and she was acting very weird and restless.  The next thing I knew, she puked everywhere.  We initially thought maybe she got some paper in our mouth and gagged herself, but she puked 3 more times :-(...poor baby was sick on her first Christmas.  After the first puke, we changed her (and me) and I put her in the Moby to sleep...until the next puke came.
After going through 3 pairs of jammies, we just stripped her down and wrapped her (and us/the chair/etc.) in towels.  It took her awhile, but she finally went to sleep in Daddy's arms.
One thing I love (among many!) about my family is that we laugh A LOT.  We also draw names for Christmas gifts so that we can get everyone something nice instead of a bunch of something smalls.  My sister, Angie, drew my brother-in-law, Nathan, this year.  Nate is one of the hardest to buy for every year.  This year he told Angie that he wanted a cool new coffee cup.  She delivered! :-) She also found some angel wings for him, and one of my other sister's (Nathan's wife) senior pictures.  The picture actually came from our local photographer - it used to be on display in his store.
Here's Nate with what he described as, "the best present of the day"!
I had to enlist the help of my brother-in-law, Mike, to get my sister's gift (I drew her).  She wanted a new bottle of perfume, but I wasn't sure which kind it was...so Mike did some recon for me to find out. When she opened it on Christmas morning, I asked if it was the right stuff, it was.
Mike was pleased with himself.
Heidi taking pictures like all the big people
Heidi using Uncle Nate's new coffee cup for her doll. :-)
Make sure you flush!
Remember how we all get new Christmas jammies each year?  Well last year, the big boys' weren't the best.  They all shrunk in the wash, so they were wearing capris.  Dad gave Dan his pair when we left because Dan liked them.  Dan had some troubles with them, so he returned them as a gift this year.
Dad trying on his new/old jammie pants
And Dad realizing what is wrong with the pants...
After last night's bow-hawk, we had to try a bow-fro today!
Sweet baby girl sleeping...
She started feeling a lot better later in the day and was playing with her cousins again by dinner time!

All in all it was a great first Christmas for Evelyn.  I'm glad that she got to open her gifts before she got sick...I know she's not going to remember any of this, but her Mommy will! :-)  We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Week with Cousins!

Late Sunday night we headed to Wray to beat the snow storm.  We didn't get a ton of snow here, but got enough that I danced around like a little girl, giddy to see snow for the first time in 2 years!  Evelyn was fairly indifferent to it (she'll learn!).  This week heading into Christmas we just relaxed a lot (for once!) and watched Evelyn with her cousins.  We commented so many times that we have never seen her so happy.  That sounds bad, like she's not a happy baby...she is, but this week was different.  She was laughing so much and always wondering where those crazy kids were.  Makes us really want to get back home near family so she can grow up with her cousins.  Here are some pictures from the week 'o fun with her cousins!
When she's in a coat, she just sits there and barely moves - she'll move her eyes to try to see something, but doesn't move her head.  It's cute.
Evelyn isn't a huge fan of coats, socks, or shoes...
My family calls Evelyn, "Pete," because she was named after my Grammie Peterson.
Heidi trying to steal Pete's pluggie...
Cousin Ben making her laugh...
Heidi showing Evelyn how to jump in her jump-a-roo
Evelyn could reach the floor in Grammie's jump-a-roo!
Ben is starting youth basketball this year, so Dan was teaching him about hoops.
Go Boilers!
More playing with cousin Ben
My Mom has made each of her grandkids a quilt that has their name, birthday, birth time, weight, and height.  Evelyn got her's while we were home.
I love my quilt, Grammie!
Hey guys!
Wrestling with Daddy!
Heidi eating a candy coated marshmallow
Heidi was a little concerned at times...trying to figure out why Evelyn was playing with all of her toys (or why Evelyn got a pluggie and she didn't!)
After my Mom gave Evelyn her quilt, Ben, Katie, and Heidi wanted theirs out too, so my sister brought them over and we laid them all out to compare who was the biggest baby/etc.  Made for some cute pictures!
Katie, Ben, Heidi, and Evelyn on their quilts
And a close up! 
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip!
Now it's time to wrestle Uncle Dan!
One good thing about cousins...they'll push you around in a laundry basket!
Heidi wanted in on the action!
Katie got some new snow boots, so Evelyn was trying them on!
Trying Ben's hat on...
It was such a fun week leading up to Christmas!  Dan and I really enjoyed just relaxing and not running all over the state.  We usually try to go everywhere to see everyone, but this year just stayed put to make it easier with Evelyn.  I think that may be the norm come future Christmas trips as well!  My sister, Lisa, and her family got into town late Friday night - so we were all together for Christmas Eve and Christmas!  Love my family!