Christmas!!

The pictures posted a little out of order, so read for details :)

Violet got Stella some new flannel sheets for Christmas. We opened family gifts Christmas Eve night. Of course, Stella LOVED them. Rolled in them, cuddled in them, and then said, "Look mom, I'm Jesus' mom..." Loved it.

She isn't a huge cake or cookie fan, so we had ice cream sundaes Christmas Eve night to celebrate Jesus birthday.

Stella got Violet a baby pillow pet to match her "big girl" one....

We went in to get Violet up Christmas morning. Stella loves waking her up. They love hanging out in there. I love their eye contact here....Violet watches her every move, and Stella now calls her, "Sweetie."

She opened her new baby stuff and instantly had to gather all of her babies to put in everything.....

Christmas evening we headed to Gma and Gpa Butcher's house. Stella got some adorable monkey PJs, slippers, and robe....too cute!! (And of course she wouldn't put down the baby....even though it was Violet's....)

Pictures and comments from the Ringger Christmas are coming in a couple weeks!!! Can't wait :)

Christmas Eve Eve

Well, this is how the morning started.....a little grumpy....

However, it quickly turned around as we got ready and headed to the mall. We go to the mall on Christmas Eve, but this year we went a day early since we had plans on Christmas Eve. So the trip began....

Next, we headed over the play area and let Stella run off some of her energy. I think she could have entertained herself for hours on this rock....

Violet was perfectly happy just watching :)

Next, we hit up the carasoul....Stella loved the "reindeer" and couldn't take her eyes of the bells he was wearing....

Lunch in the food court shortly followed....Burger King for Stella, Sbarro Pizza for mom, Chinese for dad, and a big ole' bottle for Vi...

A long morning and it was clearly close to sleepy time.....

She caught a cat nap on the way home was was ready to play when we got home!

My little cuddle bunny...

Then it was nap time!! Woohoo!!

Wow...

We had such a great Thanksgiving. It started Wednesday evening. After work, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Brian's parents. Brenda made her famous homemade pizza, which was, or course, delicious!! We spent the evening with Brian's parents and brothers and Stella entertained us all!

Thursday morning we took off for Indianapolis to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We had a blast. Lacey and Jerome were excellent hosts! They had a houseful of people in their brand new, beautiful home.....thank you guys so much!!

Throughout this weekend, it just became clear how much we truly have to be thankful for. God has blessed our family. Some things that we are so very thankful for:

1. Our two little girls who make us smile each and every day.
2. Each other.
3. Our parents. Knowing that our parents will be there for us whenever we need is so very comforting.
4. Our siblings: we love all of them!!
5. Our nieces and nephews. I can't believe how quickly they are all growing up. Each and every one of them has their own personality and I love them all!
6. A house we can call a home.
7. Jobs. Not only jobs, but jobs that we enjoy and provide for our family.
8. Our health. This is probably one that we take for granted and can change so quickly. I have been reminded to thank God each and every day for each day that my family has good health and that we can be together creating memories.
10. My grandparents. I know I am fortunate to have 3 grandparents left that my kids to get meet and love.

As you can see, this list goes on and on, and I could keep going! We had a blast this weekend. Christmas will be here before we know it, so we better get ready!

As you can see below, Stella couldn't wait to begin playing with her "Christmas at Thanksgiving" presents!!!

Party Weekend!

We attended a great birthday party this weekend for my niece, Madeline! It is always fun to get together with my siblings (and spouses) and to have all the cousins play together. Every time I get to spend some time with my Grandma and Grandpa Ringger, I realize how lucky I am to still have them around. Not many kids get to meet their great-grandparents, and I am so happy that even though my kids may not remember, I get to take these pictures to one day show them....

The bouncy house was quiet the event: we had hurt fingers, hurt toes, hurt noses, and the list could go on. Dad decided to play a little trick on Lacey and her boys as they were enjoying the bouncy house Sunday morning....if only I could have caught Lacey's eyes on camera as all three of them dove for the door....

After getting home on Sunday, we were all tired. We had lunch, and had some fussy girls.....some Praise Baby seemed like a great Sunday movie to calm us all down. And it worked. The girls loved it, and nap time followed. They each took an almost 3 hour nap....and I even got to take a nap too!

After we had our naps, we had a little energy kick....so we decided to get the Christmas decorations down! The girls were great, and Stella loved helping off and on as she played with the huge mess everywhere. We looked over to check on Violet, and found her wanting to help decorate as well!! She was moving all over the place!

Woohoo!!

She wrote her name!! Maybe I am just so excited because I am a teacher....lol....and maybe others can't read it, but I can!!

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

She has been so close for so long, and today, she did it....several times! Started off slow and then refused to stay on her back all day....which made for a very long day because she becomes very angry when she rolls over and gets stuck!

Wedding Celebration

We celebrated my cousin's wedding tonight and had a lot of fun with family. It was a bit of a whirlwind with two little ones vs. just with one little one....but we still enjoyed every minute of it!! Stella was a bit uncooperative for the picture below....

What great looking sisters!!

Wild Zoo Halloween

We had so much fun! We got there right at noon so the crowd was minimal. We were able to walk right up to everything with no wait at all. She loved her witch outfit and saying, "Trick or Treat!" And of course, she loved all the little stations you stopped at to get candy as well.

We got to meet Elmo. She walked right up to him and gave him high five's and said hi. When we went to take a picture she got a little nervous and leaned as close to me as possible....

Prettiest witch and skeleton around :)

She is becoming so independent. She went through the straw maze all by herself....until she got stuck and Brian had to go in to help :)

Pumpkin Painting

With Halloween right around the corner we have been busy painting pumpkins! Stella painted her pumpkin that Grandma Butcher gave her along with a baby one for Violet that Stella picked out for her at the pumpkin patch. She decided to also decorate her's with some Dora stickers.

The pumpkin painting continued with her Adams' cousins as she decided to use all colors to decorate the pumpkin that Grandma Ringger gave her! This girl loves to paint!!

Dress Up Diva

I don't even know how to caption this photo! She has been sooooo into dress up lately and this is often the end result :)

"Mom's Wild Child"

Having Fun

Even though it was a bit chilly and breezy this weekend, we headed down the road to our nearby produce stand/pumpkin patch. Stella loves running around from pumpkin to pumpkin, but stopped immediately when she found the trailer of baby pumpkins....it was her gold mine.

Violet continues to love bath time and is growing like a weed! Her head is always up and her eyes never stop looking around....

Saturday evening Brian and I got to enjoy a little date night at Cork and Cleaver!

Crazy Doctor Visit

Ugh....so today Stella, Violet, and I headed to the doctor for Violet's 2 month appointment....yes, two months. How did that go by so quickly? So anyway, she is doing great and growing great. While we were there, they said that Stella could go ahead and get her flu shot (she couldn't have the mist because she recently had a breathing treatment). She did great. Yelled ouch and cried a little bit (and I even teared up....it is harder as they get older!), but candy saved the day. I then told Stella that we would have to hold Violet's hand like Mommy held her hand and that Violet would cry too. Violet really doesn't cry a lot at home.....and she let loose the big sobs when she got her shots. Stella kept saying, "it otay baby. It otay I-let. Mommy give her her pacifier. Mommy help I-let." Then Stella's eyes filled with HUGE tears because she felt so bad for Violet. She wanted us to help her soooo bad. The nurse had to think we were crazy....Stella was crying, Violet was screaming, and my eyes had tears as well. I was soooo ready to get out of there!!

Turning.....

Well, we aren't rolling over yet, but we are turning to our side!!

My Little CHD Survivor

We participated in our first Heart Walk today and it was great! It was amazing to see so many people.....kids and adults.....support a great cause. I also realized how blessed I was that I was there to show my support with my little CHD survivor when so many others were there to walk in honor of someone they lost. The moment of silence for these people brought tears to my eyes when I looked at my little girl wearing her broken heart t-shirt with a little bandaid on it.....

Violet was eager to show her support by wearing red and wearing a shirt that said, "Wearing red for my sister!"

It was a bit chilly this morning, so we had to keep her pretty bundled!!

Enough waiting around already, let's go!!!

Football!

Fall weather is here and so is football season! So far the Irish have not been so successful....hoping for a turnaround SOON! Stella and I are supporting this Bears this season and Brian is trying to convince Violet to cheer for the Colts. HOWEVER, so far she has had a blowout on his one Colts shirt and threw up all over her new pink Colts onesie.....so needless to say, I think she wants to join the Bears cheering section!