Graham's First Birthday Video

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Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

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Officially a year old!

We are having Graham's big party back home this weekend, but I couldn't let his birthday pass by without some fanfare here at home.

After Graham's nap Wednesday morning, we packed up and headed out to the local bakery to choose a cupcake for the birthday boy (and a "cupcape" for the birthday boy's sister).  Unfortunately for me, our Frosty cupcake melted on the way home and slid apart.  Fortunately, Graham didn't care that Frosty was a little deformed when it was time to eat.

Sorry this video isn't very long.  Josh's phone cut off unexpectedly.

This face says it all.  He played around with the icing and the cake but did not like it one bit.  I'm hoping that it was just because it was cold and not because he doesn't like cake and icing!

Time for presents!

Someone was a little upset that she wasn't allowed to help.

Happily playing with his new cars and dinosaurs

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Gingerbread House decorating party (and a surprise visitor!)

Last week, we got together with some friends from church for a gingerbread house decorating party.  We had the party at one of our friends' houses, which you can see was completely decked out for Christmas--it was the perfect backdrop!  We went all out for this party.  The kids each had their own house on a Christmas plate and placemat, they had monogrammed aprons waiting to be donned, and their candy and frosting dishes had little gingerbread men on them (and the kids got to keep these, too). It was so much fun!  

We were sure how Piper would do.  This was the first time she had done anything like this, and I wasn't sure how long it would hold her attention.  Surprisingly, she stayed at the table longer than any of the other kids (the age range was 2-8).  She was not satisfied until she had placed (or eaten) all of the candy in her dish.  She had so much fun that we actually had another, smaller decorating party with some of her friends a few days later.

I was in charge of assembling the houses.  Instead of baking gingerbread, I took the easy way out and designed houses out of graham crackers.

The table, ready for decorating action!

The kids at work

Such concentration

Clint took good care of Graham

Ho Ho Ho!  Look who's here!

Initial reaction of the kids when they saw Santa

Piper is not so sure about this

Listening to Santa

After Santa talked to all the kids at the table for a while, he took them to another room to talk with them individually.  

Piper was eager to get back to her decorating

Hmmmmm.....what DO I want for Christmas?

This was SUCH a big change from last year when Piper refused to go anywhere near Santa.  She was still a little leery and absolutely would NOT sit on his lap, but she warmed up and answered all the questions he asked.  

Our attempt at a family picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus

Graham was not a fan.  This was the closest we ever got to a smile.

All the kids with the Clauses

Silly faces!

Here are some pictures of Piper's house.  We had to help her put icing on each piece of candy, but she put them on the house by herself.  My favorite detail is the doorknobs.  She thought of that all by herself!

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Sickies

We've been dealing with a pretty nasty cold for the last two weeks at our house.  Piper was the first to come down with it.  And of course, in true pre-schooler fashion, she graciously shared her germs with the rest of us.

Sunday after church: the first sign (a fever of 102)

Monday: so, so, so tired!

Tuesday: too sick to play (she's not watching the TV--just laying in the floor)

Tuesday lunch: falling asleep at the table (she later slept from noon until 5pm!)

Thursday: It's Bubbie's turn :-(

And this poor kiddo is still working hard to get rid of all the gunk!

Piper was back at 100% by last Thursday.  I took Graham to the pediatrician on Monday after he'd been running a low fever for 5 days straight.  Good news: no signs of infection.  Bad news: the virus lingers (and he cut two teeth in the past two days).  I'm hoping he will feel better soon.  But now Josh is sick...


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O Tannenbaum

We drove home from East TN on Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving, and Josh just had to stop at the Christmas tree lot before we even made it home that night.  I put the lights on Monday while the kids were napping, and we decorated Monday night!  Piper was very eager to help put ornaments on the tree, and Graham was very eager to take them right back off.

We will try to give the kids a new ornament each year.  This year Piper got a Mater truck due to her obsession with the Cars movies, and Graham got a gingerbread man because he's so active.

Graham loves the lights

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