Christmas Eve with the Mitchell's

Christmas Eve with my in laws is mostly pure bliss with a side of organized chaos.  Christmas Eve was especially great this year: kids buzzing, drinks flowing, good soup eating, present opening, white elephant exchanging and a baby announcement!

I thought Everly was looking especially cute trying to walk.

I love this Christmas outfit.  And that sweet, gummy smile.

This was the first set of Christmas presents that Emma opened- a little confusion at first :).

Then, ripping right into it.

Everly, of course, had no clue what was going on- I helped her with her present opening ;).

Sophie!!!!! And a bow!

Aftermath of so many kids + so many presents.

After the kids open their presents, Wes's parents open their presents.

I got my act together at the last minute and made both sets of grandparents a calendar this year :).  I think they liked it :).  I am vowing to myself to start earlier on these next year!

Wes and his sisters got their mom a Dyson vacuum cleaner- Emma was right there to help open!

They played a joke where they got her a kids Dyson (pretend) vacuum cleaner.

Then, the real deal.

Last present was a baby announcement- we are going to have another baby added to Wes's family in August!!

Then, it was time for the White Elephant exchange.  I drew number one, so Emma helped me open my present first :).  Do you love her one sock on, one sock off look she was rocking??

It was a pretty tame year as far as white elephant exchanges go- the only notable was Monica (Wes's sister), opened her own present :).  In the first picture, you can see me standing behind Monica taking a picture.  The second picture is what I was taking a picture of.

There was ice cream drink + kahlua + whipped cream vodka deliciousness.

While the "adults" do the white elephant exchange- the kids play in the back room.  Emma was having loads of fun with her cousins.

We had a great Christmas Eve :).

26 Weeks of Everly

I can hardly believe that we have had our sweet girl in our lives for 26 weeks (or 6 months if you prefer to look at it that way!)- sometimes it just feels like she has been part of our family forever :).  We just love her to the moon and back.

I made a flipagram video from her weekly posts.



Here are all of the pictures (of her whole body) in weekly order.  I can hardly believe remember those scrawny chicken legs (these pictures didn't work out too well in flipagram- it cut off her cute head in so many of the pictures!).

One thing that has stayed the same since the day she was born- that hair!  Everly, baby, you were blessed with the best hair :).

Everly Grace: 26 Weeks

Likes: chewing on anything and everything you can get your hands on, sitting up like a big girl when taking a bath, going to the zoo and riding in the double stroller/on mommy’s back, practicing standing up

Dislikes: green beans (go figure!), being put down for naps or for the night 

Emma: 23 Months

Skills: This month Emma has really started talking in more phrases.  Definitely not to many sentences unless we prompt her and she repeats us.  My favorite has to be “I am a big girl” but imagine this all slurred together.  She will go get her own diaper and when she comes back, she is so proud and will usually say “I’mabiggirl”.  This month we have also worked quite a bit on “happy birthday” which often comes out as “happy day” and “Merry Christmas”.  After my birthday, we have been telling Emma that her birthday is next.  We would ask her how old she was going to be and she would say 3.  We would say “Emma, how old are you going to be”.  Then, she would say two, while holding her fingers up.  She will also say “I’m sorry” and “are you ok” if she accidentally hits one of us or (not so accidentally) if she hits Everly.  She learns new words everyday and we are constantly amazed at how much she knows.  My favorite word that she says is still Eh-bah-leah followed by blueberry and Clementine.  

She can and does throw overhand when throwing a ball (which according to babycenter is a skill, who knew? J).    

Likes: Emma’s favorite foods this month have been blueberries and steak.  She will literally prance around “dancing” saying steak if we tell her that is what we are having for dinner.  Other constant favorites are cereal, soup (especially taco soup), pizza and strawberries.  Dare I say, that my child might actually enjoy eating out in restaurants?  We ate out two or three times with her this month and they were all pleasant experiences.  I am still in a bit of shock.  She is obsessed with stickers, especially these number and letter stickers that we have at home- she will take them out and put them everywhere!  She likes to take baths again!  I am so thankful because this makes bath time so much easier (she went on a strike there when it was so cold, she would just stand there and whine the whole time).  Her favorite place to be is outside running around- we try to ensure that she gets her toddler energy out each day!  

Struggles:  Our biggest struggle this past month has been the hour between when I get home from work and we eat dinner.   Emma just wants me to hold her and take her to the kitchen (I often tease Wes that he must starve her all day).  She wants to sit on top of the island which is always just a disaster because that is where Wes normally preps our food.  I will normally get her a snack, and then she freaks out when I have to feed Everly.  Then, because I have given her a snack sometimes she eats dinner and sometimes she doesn't.  And of course, we always struggle with sleep.  I hope by the time that I write her 2.5 year post (because I am giving up on monthly updates when she turns 2), the posts says what a glorious sleeper she is and that waking up in the middle of the night is a thing of the past.  We can dream, right?

Miscellaneous: Teeth- yay! Glorious teeth!  Emma has had two more teeth pop through on the bottom giving her a total of 10 teeth + 4 molars.  I think all we are missing now is two teeth on top + her two year molars.  Lord help us all when those teeth come through.  I am ready to be out of the teething stage with this child.  Emma is still in size 3 diapers and has moved mostly to 2T clothing.  The 18 – 24 month dresses are actually getting a little short on her!  I am excited to see how big she is when we go for her two year checkup.