Valentine's Day Fun

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a fun time this year celebrating the pink and red holiday. I signed up to bring treats for Hayden's valentine party, and I went the domestic overachiever route and made red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting from scratch. Hayden had fun decorating them with red sprinkles and candy hearts. I didn't take a picture of the finished product but I did get Hayden after tasting the batter. Yum!

We also spent quite a bit of time making homemade Valentine's for family and teachers as well as putting together class valentines. Hayden signed an H to every single one! (sometimes multiple Hs). She was especially happy about the singing card we picked out for Jason. She did let him in on the secret, but did start to learn that we couldn't give it to him for "two weeks," even though it was really only a couple days. Here she is working hard on decorating it - keep in mind that it's playing "you are my sunshine" over and over as she works! She can sing most of that song now too!
Hayden got lots of valentines at school and had fun opening them all up while Eliza watched. She was especially excited about the candy; particularly the tangerine lollipop! And what better place to eat a lollipop than in a bumbo!



Saturday was a pretty quiet day but the girls were still festive in heart covered onesies and fuzzy pink pants. Hayden like when we moved the coffee table out of the way to make a really big train track! Then Eliza took a nap on daddy - that's the best kind of naps!



On Sunday, we went over to help Brittany move some furniture and she graciously agreed to watch the girls while Jason and I went out to lunch. She did just fine with the two of them in their matching pink/red outfits. When we came back, Eliza was fast asleep in her arms. So snuggly!

Brittany also took a family photo that turned out nice! Don't we look festive?!
And one more cute photo of matching outfits! Aren't they both getting so big?! And yes, Eliza's cheeks are quite pink- they almost always are.

Pleasant Conversation

In our house growing up, if we asked to be excused from the table too early, we were told to stay in our seats and make "pleasant conversation." We always hated being told that but I think Hayden might feel differently. She's well on her way to making pleasant conversation, even if she's not so good at letting someone else get a word in edgewise!



She started chatting about how sometimes when she's in bed, she hears the door open and she thinks "hmm, is that Mommy coming in?" and similar thoughts. She had talked for a bit already when I grabbed the camera and then the narrative just kept coming. I wish I had the patience and time to transcribe her conversation. You'll just have to see what you can pick out. She talks a lot about upstairs and downstairs, folding her hands together like this, etc, etc. I think she's still talking about lying in bed hearing things and thinking things but you just never know. I just love how animated she is about and so detailed! This is often what she sounds like as she talks herself to sleep at night, though there's often songs included in the narrative at nighttime.

Want to come over for dinner and see what else she has to say?!!! If you're lucky she might talk about (and ask you lots of questions about) what we spotted recently in a parking lot near the library...

And not to leave Eliza out, since it was her 4 month birthday recently. She went to the doctor for her 4 month checkup. She is one happy, healthy and huge baby. 17 lbs! H

And then here she is practicing some emotions, right after Hayden's big speech at dinner.

Sad....

Happy!
If only the camera blinked less so that it made her avert her eyes, this would have been super cute!

S is for Snow, Sore Throats, and Super Bowl

As the title suggests, we had quite the weekend. For the first time both Jason and I got sick at the same time-aches and sore throats. Luckily it was staggered just a bit. I begged for quiet time Friday evening and Jason was able to do the girls by himself. And then we took turns being "on" for Saturday. I rallied enough to shovel the driveway and take Hayden out to play after we got almost a foot of snow. And somehow we managed to get better so that we could host our annual Super Bowl party. (but not take any pictures of it!) All in all, it's hard to believe it's Monday already since the weekend wasn't the most restful, even though we didn't go anywhere the whole time!

We didn't quite as swamped as Virginia did with quantity of snow, but there's still a lot out there. And this Southern girl did a pretty good job shoveling the driveway. It did take two trips outside and then Jason finished the last part by the road, but we did get it shoveled in time for the party. This is how it looked right up to our door - which has an overhang! And there was a TON of snow in the carport - weird!

Hayden had a good time in the snow. I was less efficient at shoveling that I would have liked because she kept wandering around the yard. She'd venture into fresh snow and fall down and call for me to help her up. Sometimes she just sat down, sometimes she fell on her back, sometimes on her front. It was pretty funny. She liked coming over where I was shoveling and making a "seat" in the snow. We also tried a snow angel but it was too deep.




Eliza and Jason didn't get out in the snow but they did watch Hayden and me play in it. Jason took some cute pictures and Eliza got to spend a little quality time with our shoes while he did so.
(I don't know why this is sideways - it's not sideways in the file on the computer!!!)

this one shows you how deep - those are galoshes I'm wearing!

I wonder how long this snow will last? We might even get more in a couple days! Hopefully we'll get a true "snow day" too with no sore throats!Thanks Grandma and Poppop for the great snow suit. It's really getting a workout this year!

Christmas Bonus

On this last day of January, I figure it's my last chance to sneak in a few more cute pictures from December; plus one more fabulous bonus video! We did have fun with the Christmas season this year. And yes, Hayden did learn to refer to it as the "Christmas season". I'm not sure how that happened. She really took the concept of Santa Claus and Baby Jesus. I bought her a book of the Christmas Story that we read over and over and over. She frequently told us that her baby doll was named Jesus, even if it was a girl. She thought the nativity scene was pretty cool and liked when we let her play with it.


I also introduced her to Christmas cookies, which she loved. She was great at unwrapping Hershey Kisses for snowballs. She loved mixing things up and tasting them, though she wasn't too keen on helping roll "icky balls" (aka chocolate crinkle cookies)m but she was good at dipping them in powdered sugar. And she did a great job decorating sugar cookies for her teachers for Christmas. She didn't even try and eat the frosting or sprinkles - just the mini M&Ms.

Icky ball tasting mouth! Yummy!

Carefully decorating sugar cookies for teachers. See the finished products below!

Helping mommy unwrap kisses. Look at those fine motor skills!

She also had fun playing in the snow when it fell. One wet snow, she just plopped down and started digging with her shovel and pail, like it was sand. She didn't seem to care she was getting soaked!

And of course she loved the Christmas carols. You've already seen jingle bells in action and she learned many, many more: away in the manger and We three kings were favorites. And when I told her I really like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Barenaked Ladies, she liked it too and we listened to it over and over in the car. And of course we sang happy birthday to Jesus a lot too. After Christmas, it was kind of sad to tell her that we weren't really going to sing those till next year. And I still hear her singing Away in the Manger from time to time. Here's "We wish you a Merry Christmas" during bathtime!

It was a great "Christmas Season" and we can't wait till next year!

Christmas in Columbus

Eliza was extra lucky for her first Christmas experience. She got not one, but TWO, Christmas celebrations: one in Durham and one in Columbus. Here she is surrounded by presents in Columbus at Grammy and Granddad's.
We had another long drive from NC to Ohio, that again the kids did well on, while the traffic did not cooperate. We got stuck in some accident traffic that added at least an hour and then had to battle a snowstorm on our arrival.

But we finally made it safe and sound. And the next day, when Jen, Aaron, Lucy, Will and Liesl arrived, the holiday festivities REALLY began. Each kid got to open one present on "Christmas eve" and Hayden's cookie set was a huge hit with everyone!
"Christmas morning" was quite chaotic with 5 kids and 6 adults all opening presents. Luckily the DeRousies have an age-based system that worked out pretty well. And there were some good presents, like games and puzzles, that were opened almost immediately to be played with.


Eliza got a new-to-her bumbo from Liesl that she tried out. She thought sitting in it with one sock really enhanced the experience. Hayden tried it out too when we tried to take pictures of their matching shirts. As you can tell from the photo, it was not the most successful photo session!

One of the most popular activities of the Columbus visit was story reading. Hayden would usually request a story from Grammy, and then everyone else would join in. Grammy may have had her hands full but at least she didn't get cold with all that body heat around!!!
After we celebrated Christmas, things got interesting. A 24 hour stomach bug attacked the house and managed to take down 4 of 6 adults and 2 of five children. There was LOTS of laundry being done. Hoping to avoid the germs (or perhaps spread them to the world), we went to a really cool science museum for the morning. The kids had a good time, especially in the section set up for little kids. Hayden and Liesl had a blast in the water play area.
Lucy did get a touch bored in that section but Uncle Jason used the time to teach her the slap game.

And even Grammy learned the art of babywearing! Good thing I had an extra carrier in the car! Eliza just napped through most of the experience. Three months might be a little young for science, even for one of my kids! :)

We did manage a group picture of the DeRousie clan but I didn't have my camera out for that. (Patt- can you send me a digital version so I can put it here?!!) We had a great time in Columbus and it was so wonderful to see so much family over the course of our trips. Hayden especially likes her robe and easel. Thank you, thank you!



We did make it back safely to State College without any traffic. After unloading all our gear, (which took awhile! the car was packed tight!), we are now settling into winter time. Jason and Hayden play with blocks almost every day. Jason builds intricate towers and Hayden knocks them down. And Eliza is just working on smiles and giggles and wiggles. Life is good. Thank you family for a wonderful holiday!