Christmas Catch Up...Part 3

Christmas Cookies and Movie Night

Back when Ansley was just 3 years old, I started a tradition of making Christmas cookies with the Dale girls...and of course, my girls have gotten in on the magic too. (Last year was the only year I didn't get it put together and I hate that!) I think it is so much fun to do and all the girls have such a fun time together making a GIANT mess! I usually like to get the girls for a while and we get Sonic, have on Christmas movies, and me and Seth help them decorate tons of Christmas cookies. Well, since my girls were sick all of December this year, we had to cut it close. I finally had them over on the 23rd (while Seth was at work). Luckily, Summer came over to help me handle all 5 girls! WE got lots of cookies...not many were edible since All 5 had some sort of cough, cold, fever, etc...but I don't think Santa minded at all! I know he at the ones we left out for him!

Christmas 2004...our first year! Ansley (3) and I had so much fun! (Yes, I know...I am super skinny here...sigh...)

Christmas 2006...Ansley (5), Macy (3), Jillian (6 months)

Christmas 2008...Emerson (2), Macy (5), Jillian (2), Ansley (7), and Baby Jules (8 months)

Here is everyone...even Baby Jules is in her high chair in the very bottom of the picture.

Here is Jillian licking all the icing. That seem to be all that her and Emerson got accomplished!

SUCH a sweet tooth on this girl!

Ansley and her million-dollar smile!

Macy looking like she is up to something

Emerson...the proof is written all over her face!

And Baby Jules sat back and teethed on one of those nasty teething biscuits! Only Baby Jules can make dirty teething biscuits look pretty!

Later that night, our whole family got together for a Christmas Pajama party at the Dale's house to have some fun drinks and watch Christmas Vacation! I didn't take any pictures of this night, but stole this precious one from Summer!

Look at all of those girls in their jammies! LOVE IT!

And finally...to complete the randomness of this post, I wanted to include my parent's Christmas card picture this year. Here they are with the girls in their new house! I thought the picture turned out really cute!

I have posted several today...so don't forget to keep scrolling down for more Christmas stories and pictures!!!!

Christmas Catch Up...Part 2

Some Christmas Randomness...

So, Jillian has a GIANT sweet tooth and will eat anything sweet or chocolaty. Well, I have been super excited to share Hot Chocolate with her this year because, really...what is not to like. Chocolate and Marshmallows...two of her favorite things!!! Well, I waited until we had one of our FREEZING days and I made her a cup of hot chocolate with 3 giant marshmallows in it. AND...she hated it! My first mistake was calling it "Hot" chocolate. She just couldn't get past the hot part. She kept saying it needed to cool down. Well, I tried and tried...twice...and just can't get the girl to like it! Oh well, maybe next year, I will make her a nice big mug of luke-warm chocolate to get her in the holiday spirit!




Here she is with her bag of "strawbabies" and her cup of hot chocolate. I barely got her to pretend to sip for a picture, and then she was done with it!



She did, however, totally dig the marshmallows!




One of the days when Jillian was really sick with fever and had to miss school...boo hoo...Mimi came over and brought her a GIANT Santa Clause Christmas cookie! It was super yummy...from what I heard...and it really brightened up Jillian's day!



Mimi, Jilly looking not-so-well, and Giant Santa Christmas cookie!

Baby Jules looking totally in the Christmas spirit and just a little bit like a boy! This is why I am such a big advocate for bows!!!!

My sweet girl feeding herself in her high chair! She turned 8 months right before Christmas, and I will have a post on that soon...hopefully!

My girls in their matching Christmas jammies enjoying some music making! They already interact so well together and I just love seeing them laugh and play! I didn't realize that they would be doing this so soon since Jules is still such a baby! They are definitely each other's favorite person!

Caught you!!!!

Baby Jules is starting to dance!!!! She is seen here tickling the ivories and dancing! Maybe she will be the next Alicia Keys or something.

Sweet girl!

Christmas Catch Up...Part 1

So, I have A LOT to catch up on here on my blog...which means about 4 Christmas posts. I LOVE Christmas more than most, but as soon as it is over, I am ready to move on. Still, I must post some pictures of my kids and tell our stories of the 2008 holiday season so that they can read about it one day.

I have not been in a very "bloggy" place the last couple of weeks and that is why I have had a lack of posts and comments on my friends blogs. (And having my Dad point out that he is about to boycott my blog all together if I don't do a new post...I figured I better get on it!) I have had several things on my mind and me and the girls were sick for 3 whole weeks of December. I have been to the pediatrician 7 times since December 1st! We missed EVERYTHING...Christmas parties, Jillian's Christmas program, her MDO party, we never got to see Santa...Etc., Etc. I have been pretty bummed about missing it all because Jillian was SOOOOOOOOO into Christmas this year and it was Baby Jules' first Christmas. I can prove Jillian's excitement by telling you that we watched Home Alone about 20 times this month!!!! Anyway, I just haven't felt like posting because I really felt like we were missing out....but I will try and catch up now!


So...Here is my post of building Jillian's FIRST Gingerbread house. Now...let me tell you that Seth and I learned out lesson this year that from now on, we will build the actual house ahead of time, and then let the girls decorate with candy and icing AFTER the house has set. We did not know that this first attempt at building!!!! So, we got the kit out and starting building and following the rules. Well, lets just say that you need A LOT of icing and A LOT of patience to get that dang roof to stay in place! I had to sit there and hold the thing for a good 20 minutes before it actually stuck to the house! Meanwhile...Jillian was fine with waiting, as she just sat there and ate all of the candy! We finally got the house together and Jillian and Daddy decorated the entire thing...well, except for the back of the house. We ran out of icing while trying to will the roof to stay on, and so the back of the house had to miss out. Still, I feel like we did a pretty good job for our first attempt!

Jillian and Daddy diving right in to the construction

Here I am holding the roof into place while Jillian is decorating/eating with the candy

She is having a blast! I think she is shocked that we just have bowls full of candy sitting right in front of her and she is just allowed to go at it!

SUGAR HIGH!!!! (See the missing roof?????????)

Here is Baby Jules crawling around under the table!

Jillian putting away some candy! We made her brush her teeth several times that night!

Jillian showing off her very FIRST Gingerbread House!!!

We tried to get a pictures of Jillian and Baby Jules, but Baby Jules just went right for the candy and Jillian was NOT too happy about that!

The finished project

The poor backside

Christmas Through The Years...

On a lighter note...

I love to get out my old Christmas cards every year and see how our little family has changed and grown since we have been married. My intentions were to have a picture with Seth, Me, and the kids every single year...and so far, Seth and I have already skipped out on 2 of our 6 Christmas pictures! What a slacker I am...but I promise that from now on (and TOTALLY against Seth's will) we will ALL be in every Christmas Card picture from here on out!

Here are our previous cards...

2003

Seth and I the first Christmas after we were married. I am holding our first son, Miller...who died 2 years ago today. I loved that dog like my child! MAN, we look young here!


2004

This was the night of Seth's Christmas party...which is why I am so tan...I spray tanned that day. I also had LOADS of time to work out, which is why I am so skinny and hot here! Sigh...I REALLY hope that I look like this again by Christmas 2009...maybe not so orange!


2005

Here we are so young and not knowing what was in store for us that next June! I am 4 months pregnant with Jillian here!

2006

My first year to forget about putting Seth and Me in the picture...oops! Jillian was just too cute and I just had to send these pictures out! The big one on the left is my VERY favorite picture of Jilly ever! Such a sweet little baby!!!

2007

Here we are again...expecting another baby girl...again! I hope this doesn't happen every other Christmas or I will definitely not be as hot as 2004 in 2009! I am 6 months pregnant with Jules and Jillian is just 18 months old!

And finally...the 2008 card!


Jillian just looks so old to me here. Comparing her to last years card, she has just grown and matured so much in this short year!!!! It was impossible to get Jules to smile for the pictures, even though I always talk about what a smiley baby she is! One of these days, I will be able to prove that!

So, in case we didn't get to send you a card this year...

Merry Christmas from the Patterson's!!!!!!

I am Debby Downer...wha wha wha

Here is a look at what is going on in our world:

• Seth...bronchitis and pink eye


• Me...bronchitis and haven't had the chance to sleep in DAYS


• Jillian...pink eye, ear infection, and RSV


• Jules...so far NOTHING, but I am sure she will get nice and sick just in time for Christmas

Here is what all we will miss this week:

• Tonight is a big party in our neighborhood where Santa comes, hands out gifts, and all the kids get to eat cookies and play together


• Tomorrow Jillian has school. She only goes once a week, so when she has to miss, it REALLY sucks for her and me!


• Tomorrow is also Jillian's VERY FIRST Christmas program in school...and she can't go.


• I was supposed to meet up with two different friends this week for play groups...and now we cant! Sorry Summer and Suzy!

So basically I am writing this blog because I am tired and just plain sick of all this sickness around here!

And that is all for the complaining! I am just stuck in this house AGAIN and needed to vent somehow...so my blog readers are the unlucky ones that have to hear it. We will now go back to our regularly scheduled program...

Peace Out Paci!

It would be a fair statement to say that Jillian's FIRST love was her pacifier...or "weewee" as she lovingly calls it. (Yes, this does make for some interesting conversation in public when Seth and I have discussed the weewee!) Anyway, I have been threatening since she turned 2 that I was going to get rid of it...and just haven't gotten the nerve to do it yet. Let me first set up the situation by telling you that as of the day that Jilly turned 1, she was only allowed the paci in her bed and in the car (the car thing was for me because J HATES the car...still does!). Then, at 18 months, I took the paci out of the car, and she only had it in her bed. So, no one really ever saw her with a paci in her mouth, but still...I just wanted the thing gone. I think having a baby around now just really makes Jillian seem even older than she is...and it might be my BIGGEST pet peeve when I see grown kids with paci's in their mouths!





Anyway, my hesitation also came from the fact that J also held one paci in each hand while she slept...kind of like her lovie. She used to sleep with about 8-10 paci's at one time...and I am not exaggerating! Well, one by one, they have gotten lost or fallen under the bed, and I have never gone after them. I was just hoping that eventually I would have no choice but to tell her it was gone for good.






So for the last month, I have really been threatening to do it, and Seth kept saying to hold off. I think he was just worried about losing some sleep or something! So, we were down to 2 paci's as of last week, and I decided to cut the tip off of one of them. After doing so, J did something with that paci and it hasn't been heard from since. So...down to one. Well, on Monday morning of this week, she wakes up and tells us that she can't find her paci. I decided that God was giving me a sign that now was the right time. So, I told her that the paci's are gone and that now she is a Big Girl anyways and doesn't need one. Then in my hasty thinking, I remember what my bloggy friend, Dallas told her little girl Nora...and I stole the idea. I told Jillian that maybe Santa came and took the paci's away to give to the new little babies that really needed them. Well, she really seems to like this theory because she is doing AMAZING! (Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Dallas!!!!! I owe you!)





So...here we are...4 days and counting and Jillian hasn't even ONCE asked for it! I can't believe it. She woke up 4 times the first night crying, but went back to sleep within a couple of minutes, and I never even had to go into her room to comfort her. I thought that getting rid of the paci would be our hardest transition (minus potty training), but I have been SO pleasantly surprised! She has not said anything about the paci except to keep reminding me that Santa is giving it to new babies and she is a big girl! YEAH JILLY!!!! Also...just to note...she happened to get pink eye and an ear infection on Tuesday, and so she has made the transition while being sick...and is still going strong! I am so proud of her and happy that we just happened to find the perfect time to do away with that dang paci for good!





Here are just a few pictures to show how Jillian really HEARTS the paci!

New baby...6 weeks old

8 weeks old

4 months old

11 months old

12 months old

12 months old

15 months old...but sick and laying on the couch

18 months old...showing me her new Big Girl Bed

19 months old

AND NOW PRESENTING, MY BIG GIRL.....


Way to cool for a paci in her mouth!!!!!!!!