Elsie's First Christmas

Today's post is more of a picture collection from Christmas day than anything. Hope you enjoy! :)

Elsie opening her stocking and a gift from Ash's mom and dad.

My mom was taking pictures, and so was I... :)

Elsie awaits the siblings' arrival...

Good Morning!

My dashing prince.... I love you. Silly face and all.

My dad

The siblings with their stockings.

Elsie examining the contents of her stocking. 

Ashleigh and Brandon sent gifts for each of us. Elsie got 3 teddy bears. Perfect for this blog! Haha!

We had a wonderful Christmas, although I've been missing my sister lately. She didn't get to spend the holidays with us. I can only imagine how much my Ashley must miss his family. They are all the way on the other side of the world. My favorite part about this Christmas is that we had Elsie with us. She brings us so much joy.

My baby wants to walk!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm so excited.... My husband informed me the other day that it is a tradition in his family to open presents at midnight. I was happy to hold up that tradition this year. Because I am impatient.

Our beautiful 4 foot tree... Yes, our stockings are already stuffed. 

Thursday was a special day. Elsie turned 6 months old! This is what we did for Elsie. But not really, because she can't eat it...

Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum.

Happy half-birthday to Elsie! To celebrate, I made a half a cake. Then decorated it. It's pretty sloppy, but I'm still kind of proud of it. Of course, she couldn't eat it, but WE could!! And yes, it was delicious.

I just can't believe how fast she is growing up! Elsie has been learning how to crawl lately. It's pretty exciting!  But she is in such a hurry to get to the next step... Check out this video. It's one of the cutest things ever! This was recorded last night. She looks so pleased with herself when she makes it to her dad. :)

Teddy Bear Tree

Let me start off by saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister! Kristen turned 17 today, which means it's her golden birthday... ooo...

My gorgeous sister.

One of the things I really love about this Christmas is that I get to look for presents for Elsie! Actually, let's be honest. I've been shopping(/window shopping) for Elsie ever since I was 20 weeks pregnant. Haha. I love shopping for baby things! My mom also loves shopping for baby things, so this little girl is spoiled!

I have to tell you about this weekend. One of our neighbors, Rosalea, does this thing each year called the Teddy Bear Tree. She invited Ashley, me, and Elsie over for about an hour this Saturday. When we got there, she led us to a room with 2 Christmas trees covered in teddy bears, a miniature town surrounded by train tracks, and lots of other teddy bears. First, we got a little tour of her miniature town, then she showed us a few of her favorite teddy bears and told us stories behind each of them, then one of the teddy bears told us "'Twas the night before Christmas...". Elsie's eyes were completely glued to it the whole time. I wish I had brought my camera, but I didn't.

That room was all about "getting gifts", and the next room was all about Christ. She had about 50 different nativity scenes set up around the room. Some were about as big as my fingernail. It was really cool. She talked to us for a while about what gifts Christ received, as we sipped our wassail. At the end, we got to pick out a bear for Elsie. She was staring at the big blue one... Thanks Rosalea!

Also, we had our ward Christmas party on Friday, and we got to play the part of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus! Afterwards, a few people laughed with us about how active and lively the baby was... sitting up in the manger, trying to look at who all was there, sucking on the toes... It was awesome. One little boy shyly approached us, hoping to see the "real baby Jesus". How cute is that?

Anyway, we're really looking forward to our first Christmas as parents! 

The Babysitting Adventure

Ashleigh and Me when we were little :)

Last week, Ashley, Elsie and I had a babysitting adventure! We babysat 5 kids from our ward for 3 days. Four boys, one girl (the youngest), and all so... perfect! We really enjoyed it. I told Ashley that if our kids are that good, we will have 5. He agreed.

The youngest girl wanted to play with Elsie constantly. The first day, she followed Elsie and me everywhere! She danced, sang, made faces, played "baby hide and seek", and squealed in delight every time Elsie grabbed onto her finger or touched her face, "She LOVES me!!!". And Elsie did love her.

The two younger boys are best friends, and SO cute! They played made up games together, slid on the wood floors together, helped each other out, and occasionally had arguments. They remind me of how me and my older sister Ashleigh used to be.

Little Me and Ashleigh again

The two oldest were so helpful! They did all of their chores without being asked. They were never grumpy. The oldest one has (apparently) read every single book in their house, which is like, 500 or so.... And they are both really friendly.

I just can't rave enough about this family. They are all just so good-natured. We got to see them again yesterday at church, and the little girl was peeking over her mom's shoulder at us and smiling :)

Anyway, it was pretty tiring, taking care of 5 kids + 1 baby. Even 5 perfect kids. It kind of makes me wonder how my mom stayed sane with all of us. We were not nearly as well behaved as those kids were. Yeah, my respect for my mother grows more and more every day. She is amazing.

And NOW, for the Mommy Monday part of my blog post:

Yesterday, Elsie did something really cute and really funny. My dad was holding her, and she was playing with her feet. Pretty normal... then... she started sucking on her big toe! Elsie sure does bring lots of smiles and laughs. We were all laughing so hard at this, and I just had to get the camera and take a video of it.

Yes, Elsie sucks her big toe instead of her thumb.  And my voice is so annoying in this video! Sorry!

Trying New Foods

Elsie is at that stage where we get to introduce her to new solid foods each week. So far she's tried apple, avocado, and broccoli (oops). She loves avocado! 

She was doing so well, then we made the mistake of feeding her broccoli. For those of you who might not know (we didn't), babies should not have broccoli until they are at least 8 months old. Her little tummy was definitely not ready, and she didn't sleep well for 3 nights! (Aghhh!) But I think she liked it...

Doesn't it look like she's posing for the picture?

Ahh... The cuteness! Yet another fun part about being a mom!