Easter Hunting

Easter morning, Coraline was up a little earlier than Jameson, so I brought her downstairs for a little egg hunting testing. I wanted to see how observant she was, since the Easter Bunny had to hide the eggs a little better this year for Jameson than in years past.

As it turns out, Coraline was very observant (perhaps more than Jameson at that age?). I took some video of her, and later after church, of both kids doing some Easter egg hunting.

When Jameson joined us downstairs, he spotted eggs right away and wanted to find more. It was tough, but we told him not until after church (just as it was for me growing up!). So we ate breakfast, got ready, took some family photos, and went to church before hunting eggs. It was quite a busy morning.

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The Easter Bunny left their two baskets full of good things. Jameson got a box of 7 Jake and the Neverland Pirate puzzles; new bath crayons and bath bubbles; Jake car keys and stickers; a little metal school bus car; and chocolate covered animal crackers and gummy penguins.

Coraline received a new sippy cup which she quickly used with its straw; a Mega Blocks stacking egg with chick; a touch and feel Thumper the Bunny book and hippo puppet; new finger paint colors and stickers; and this Peek N Shake egg carton toy with little eggs and chicks inside which she just adores.

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Jameson helped find one of the pink eggs which were designated as Coraline’s, and she got to munch on goldfish (off the floor, how thrilling).

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Jameson just loved finding eggs this year, but still passed up likely spots I thought for sure he would see right away. He found all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid high up, but had a harder time being thorough looking at his kitchen set which had several hiding in it.

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After Coraline’s nap, we went over to Grandma and Poppa’s house, where the Easter Bunny hid even more eggs for him to find! Aunt Melissa and Grandma helped the search, but Jameson nearly lost interest by the end. Looking for eggs outside was hard work.

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Inside, Coraline and Jameson played so nice together while dinner was prepared.

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The kids got to open a couple more Easter gifts, and Coraline loved her new pink lounge chair!

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After dinner, we played with Jameson new toy, a lightweight Styrofoam airplane. Poppa taught Jameson how to fly it, though Jameson was a bit too excited to launch with a steady hand or figure out the proper position or posture. Still, it was a lot of fun for everyone watching him throw his airplane so excited!

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Coraline loved being outside. She has no fear or concern for the grass, and was happy to watch all the activity. And crawl, too, because she certainly doesn’t sit still much any more!

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By the end of the day, she was exhausted. Coraline loves to throw her head back and assume someone will catch her (most of the time, this works). She loves to be upside down, so at the end of the tiring day, she was a little slap happy and throwing herself backwards over daddy’s leg. Too funny!

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It was a fun Easter, though I imagine next year we might see some more competition for hunting eggs. We’ll see!

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March Visit to Meemaw’s House

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At the end of March, since I am still out of work, I took Jameson and Coraline to visit with Meemaw and Grandpa. Our drive there wasn’t too bad; I think that Coraline is slowly getting better in the car.

Jameson jumped in right away playing with toys at Meemaw’s house. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really that warm yet, so we didn’t spend a lot of time outside.

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Don’t let Coraline’s happy face fool you! Within a day of our arrival, she was starting to get sick. She just loved the dogs though, particularly Mayzee who was perfectly nice to let her pet her without getting all up in her face like Shiloh does.

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The dogs are always a hit with Jameson too, and he finally seems to be getting a little too big for Shiloh to give him “hugs” constantly. He was so good with them both. When they’d follow him upstairs, he’d say “thanks for coming up with me” and enjoyed tossing their toys for a game of fetch (he wasn’t too keen on tugging the toys out of Shiloh’s mouth though). He even claimed Shiloh was his best friend once.

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We did get bundled up and went outside one day. Jameson flew airplanes with Grandpa and wanted to swing in the baby swing (he fell off the big swing when he wasn’t holding on properly–oops!)

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I can’t get enough of that excited swinging face! He drove the car around too, but then decided he was too big for it for now.

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Coraline was out too, but it was really quite cold and I forgot gloves for her, so we grabbed a couple (mismatched) for her to put on while we walked. She was fascinated. Despite the cold, I did get out on a run with Grandpa which was fun, our first run together.

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Even though Coraline was sick, bedtimes went pretty smoothly until our last night there. Each night, I’d put Coraline down first and then Jameson. A couple times she woke up as I was putting Jameson to bed, but I was shocked that they both fell happily asleep. Jameson couldn’t wait to get into Meemaw’s big bed (a blown up full size mattress on the floor is like sleeping in a bounce house to a toddler!)

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Meemaw read them Hairy McClary from Donaldson’s Dairy which became a hit while we were there. We got a few more Hairy McClary books and some movies at the library near the end of the week. Our last night though Coraline woke up Jameson and both were up for a couple hours. It was difficult with just me there since they both wanted me. Jameson hung out in my bed with me until Coraline finally fell back asleep and then insisted on going back into his own bed.

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Jameson was a big fan of the small cucumbers while we were there, eating them like pickles, whole.

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Coraline practiced clapping on command! Whenever I chanted “fee fi fo fum” (just like Daddy does in the mornings), she would clap her hands. It was super cute, and a highlight from our trip which otherwise mostly involved her crying, fussing, clinging, or sleeping. Poor thing! She developed a persistent fever, which did respond to Advil, but returned every time it wore off. She stopped eating solid food, so I was thankful we were still continuing with formula for her bottles.

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Meemaw brought out the dollhouse, and the kids both did some playing with it. Jameson enjoyed swinging the Little People from Coraline’s new Little People set high in the swing.

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But… the box all the furniture and people came up in was quite a bit more fun for him.

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Both kids spent a lot of time in their pajamas, though Jameson was by choice! He would stay in them all day if we let him. Coraline visited the urgent care once for her fever, where they told us it was viral. We followed up with the doctor when we came home on day 6 of her fever, and the doctor requested some tests including blood and chest xray. The white blood cell count was double the norm, and indicated an infection. We never got a certain answer, but when they ran a catheter the following day the almost-too-small-sample did have indications of a urinary tract infection. After a shot of antibiotic, she immediately started getting better. Within 24 hours, she was back to her normal self.

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We didn’t let Coraline’s illness stop us from having a little fun at Meemaw and Grandpa’s though. We managed to get out at least once a day for a short period of time. I did take Jameson to visit and play with my friend Katie’s kids, Finley and Marky. Finley is Coraline’s age, so we were disappointed we weren’t able to get them together too.

We played at Marky's house today. Coraline had to miss seeing Finley this trip though!

Jameson and Marky played so great together, it was like they remembered each other! They played with Marky’s turtle masks, so when I needed to use a gift card received for Coraline’s birthday at a close Toys R Us store, we went ahead and used a portion of it for a mask for him.

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Not thrilled to be at the toy store

Coraline was less than thrilled about being at the toy store though, ha! She did get some cute baby dolls out of it though. As Meemaw says, you can never have enough baby dolls.

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Our last full day at Meemaw’s we went to the library and grocery store, where Jameson got to push his very own cart. It was very exciting for him, though he resisted our efforts to steer him properly. He wanted to do everything himself, of course!

Decided to stay an extra day at Meemaw's and Jameson got to push his very own cart

We had a nice time (all except for maybe Coraline since she was sick). Jameson may even get to go to Meemaw and Grandpa’s by himself this summer. He said he’d like to, we’ll see 🙂

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Birthday Dinner

Coraline’s big party was on Saturday after her birthday, a couple days following her actual big day. On her birthday, Brian’s mom and sister came over for family dinner (pizza) and cake, of course.

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We opened some gifts first before dinner, and Coraline was very interested in the Mega Blocks from Grandma. Whereas Jameson used to tear things down at her age, Coraline likes to put things back together. She does her fair share of tearing down though, too.

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After pizza, Coraline, with Jameson’s help, blew out her candle on her cake.

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We tried getting Coraline to eat the cake again, since she didn’t like it during her cake smash session in the morning, but she still refused.

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Afterwards, we opened more gifts from Aunt Melissa, and then a couple from mom and dad and Jameson.

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She quickly got the hang of feeding her new baby doll!

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And herself, haha.

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A couple weeks prior, I took Jameson out for lunch and errands. He had a great time, and we went to the toy store to pick out a birthday gift for Coraline. Of course, he got a little something too (a little wooden train, Diesel #10). But he also picked out a great gift for Coraline, this little scooter bike.

It’s small enough that I think she’ll get some use out of it later this summer after she’s walking. I look forward to her trying to follow Jameson around as he rides his own bike!

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The next day, Meemaw and Aunt Holly came up to visit before the party the following day. We opened some more gifts on Friday then too, and Jameson was excited to get a few things himself again, like this little zipper monster pouch for good zipping practice!

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But in particular, both kids really enjoyed the airplane from Aunt Holly. The Little People were a hit, and Coraline received more Little People gifts at her party. Both Jameson and Coraline like to play with them!

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Coraline had such a great birthday celebration from the day she turned one through her party. Now that it’s over, it’s hard to believe she’s one.

It means we need to make some changes over the new few months, like transitioning to whole milk and moving her from bottle to sippy (she never did like holding her own bottle, nor could she be trusted to eat enough if we weren’t holding it anyway, so that will be a big change!). I am thankful we won’t need to eliminate the pacifier this time though!

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Pink Pinwheel Party

Coraline had a pink pinwheel party for her first birthday. Sometimes pink can be elegant and playful without being overwhelmingly girly, and that’s what I was going for. We rented a little community center nearby for her party since there are so many more kids with friends and family now! It was well worth it to reduce chaos, and that we we didn’t need to figure out what to do with Sasha, who is confined to our first floor at home now that she is older.

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We had two kids tables, one of ours and borrowed one from a neighbor, which was a great idea. We had a lot of 2 and 3 year olds in attendance!

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The kids had a little craft to make their own pinless pinwheel they could do as well, and while I think the parents enjoyed it, I think it would be even more perfect for 4-5 year olds. I prepared all the paper for the pinwheels so no hole punching was needed, and gave directions for finishing off the pinwheel. All you need are some pipe-cleaners, pencils, stickers and crayons, plus scissors & stapler for parents to secure the pinwheel.

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Each table had pinwheels for a playful centerpiece (a few of the arrangements were taken with them by guests, a sign of a great little centerpiece in my opinion!!). To make the pinwheels, I used a spray adhesive to make double-backed 12×12 scrapbook paper, then cut them down with a paper cutter in various sizes from 8×8 to 11×11 (most were around the 9×9 range).

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I made the pinwheels without using pins, to keep it safe for all the kids attending the party so no one might be pricked. Instead I used pipe cleaners and buttons (I will allow that the buttons were small and a choking hazard themselves, but trusted they would keep secure to the sticks under parents’ watchful eyes, as they did).

The pinwheels are attached to candy sticks I purchased at Jo-Ann, or pre-painted dowel rods I purchased from Factory Direct Craft. The two types of clear glass bottles were a relatively cheap find at Factory Direct Craft (I cannot find them online anymore), and I put sand at the bottom.

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I wanted to integrate photos into her party, just as I did with Jameson’s, since I take so many and love the conversation starters they provide to guests. Since the room had a chair rail along the walls, I avoided doing the giant “1” in photos that I did with Jameson’s because it would’ve looked awkward. Instead, we randomly put photos around the room with painters tape.

She also had her monthly photos banner above her high chair. I made small pinwheels, secured with brads and a glue gun to the clothespins, hung on twine. The pinwheels are top heavy, so it needed to be against a wall where they wouldn’t move around much.

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For food, we kept it simple party fare: pulled pork, pasta salad, cheese & crackers tray, veggie tray, chips and an assortment of dips, fruit salad and of course, dessert. I made the same yellow cake recipe from her cake smash into cupcakes, and tried a chocolate cake from the same site as well.

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I thought maybe Coraline would like a chocolate cake since she wasn’t fond of the vanilla, but no dice. She did taste it though, but putting her tongue right out onto the icing!

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Daddy cut up the cupcake a bit and she tried the actual cake, but for the most part she was content (and sometimes concerned) just to look around at all the activity.

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Coraline is big into trying to put things back, and she attempted to buckle herself up without success.

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Meemaw and Aunt Holly came up for the occasion; unfortunately Uncle Tyler and Grandpa had to miss it.

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We also had some baby friends join us, and Jameson’s friend Nathan came as well ready for St. Patrick’s Day!

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When it was time to open gifts, Jameson wanted to jump right in and help. He certainly entertained, putting a bag over his head!

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Coraline wanted to “try” her gifts before opening them. She got a lot of great toys and adorable clothes. She’s become partial to the Little People dolls, as well as putting together the Mega Blocks (Jameson was always into taking things apart when he was this age, so it’s fun to see Coraline putting things together instead).

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We were so excited with all our friends and family who were able to come. We saw cousins and uncles who we hadn’t seen in a year and nearly all our friends invited were able to join us to celebrate Coraline’s birthday!

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I love this one of Coraline, playing peekaboo with Grandma with her hands which is new!

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I can’t believe that our little girl is one. From here out, our little baby will be growing up into an awesome little girl.

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Sledding

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Last weekend, Jameson spent the afternoon at Grandma and Poppa’s while Brian, Coraline and I ran some errands. When we returned later that afternoon, I headed home to their house early so I could capture some of Jameson sled riding since I missed it the first time!

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Grandma and Poppa have two sleds. One is a classic one with metal skates, and the other a more modern basic plastic one. The snow was deep, so the classic one went a little slower, perfect for Jameson and Grandma to ride down together.

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Grandpa did pave the way a couple times and test out the plastic sled to see how fast it was going to go (really fast).

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There is a stump a little in the way of their perfect sled-riding hill in the backyard that they’re going to remove this year, so we were cautious of him going down himself. But after Grandma stopped him from going too fast on the plastic sled he insisted on riding, we gave in and let him ride the one with the metal skates all by himself! Then he moved on to the plastic sled, but starting just a bit further down the hill.

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He even let me ride with him once. But only once, because I went faster than I expected and screamed and threw snow into his face when I stopped us at the bottom. And I may have squished his face a bit.

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Jameson had a great time sledding and making snow angels with Grandma and Poppa, and I think everyone got a workout going up and down the hill. (Especially Grandma who kept asking Jameson if he wanted pulled back up the hill on the sled, haha!)

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Visit from Griffin & Uncle Mike

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A couple weeks ago, Coraline got all dressed up for a visit from Brian’s Uncle Mike and cousin Griffin. Who couldn’t love that adorable skirt on her!?

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We went over to Grandma and Poppa’s house to play and visit, along with Aunt Melissa and her boyfriend Vince. As usual, we had to get out all the guys (stuffed animals) at Grandma’s house.

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The jack-in-the-box was a hit with both kids, though Coraline mostly wanted to eat the clown’s face. I loved Jameson’s exaggerated excitement face.

Jameson loved playing with his older cousin Griffin. They had fun playing cars. We’ve had a tough time getting Jameson to stop playing and sit down to eat lately though!

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Coraline also wanted to play with the cars like the boys.

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After dinner with lasagna and meatballs, it was time to open some belated Christmas gifts.

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As usual though some of the best toys were empty boxes. I may have encouraged it a little by putting Coraline in one first.

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Christmas Visit to Great-Grandma’s

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The weekend after Christmas, we made the 2 hour drive to see Brian’s grandma, Jameson and Coraline’s great-grandma. Jameson enjoys great-grandma’s house. He’s always very shy initially, but warms up within an hour to play with his cousins and pet the cats. He wouldn’t give great-grandma even a high five when we first arrived, but by the time we went to leave, he voluntarily gave her a big hug goodbye.

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Coraline was fascinated with great-grandma’s face, as she is with most people’s right now, but was very concerned when great-grandma held her! She was also in general a bit fussier because of both the drive and getting a top tooth in! Overall though she was great with sitting in laps and just needed a little walk once to get a change of scenery.

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Everyone on that side of the family was there: cousins, aunts, and uncles! We had lasagna and chicken and, of course, cookies that Brian’s Aunt Sue brings.

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Sadly, just a week later, Brian’s uncle George passed away unexpectedly. We were all shocked at the suddenness of his illness, a complication and confusion over changed medication for his diabetes. When we look back on these times while we are blissfully unaware of the future, it is hard. One moment life is going on as usual and the next everything is changed. This hit home to us particularly because two of Brian’s cousins are our age and lost their father. It definitely makes us appreciate what we have now more, but I find myself now that I am older with kids of my own dwelling on the pain or situation of others, especially tragedies affecting families. For better and for worse, I think.

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Teddy Bear Christmas

20131224-Christmas-2498We arrived home on Christmas Eve, and after taking a bath and getting ready for bed, Jameson was ready for Santa Claus to arrive. For the first time, he was old enough to leave cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer. Jameson then insisted on leaving an apple as well.

Santa arrived late that night and I snuck a photo. When Jameson got up in the morning though he was fixated on (and a little concerned about) the crumbs that Santa had left behind. In fact, he didn’t notice the presents under the tree until he had his full breakfast of two special yogurts (yogurts in a tube).

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20131224-Christmas-2504Then, he approached the tree and seemed a little confused actually about the big teddy bear waiting for him. I think because Coraline had just gotten a large pig at Meemaw and Grandpa’s house, he thought it was for her! After correcting him, he got pretty into it, and for the rest of our holiday break, he insisted on bringing the big teddy up and down the stairs to wherever he was. Since returning to work though we’ve managed to keep Big Corduroy as he’s called up stairs.

He’s called Big Corduroy because Little Corduroy was another gift from Santa. Santa typically brings something read, something to wear and something to play with at our house. Santa this year thought it appropriate for Jameson to get not one, but two teddy bears from his simple request.

Jameson also got two pairs of new pajamas, and A Pocket for Corduroy from Santa. Mom and dad got him a camera, a new truck hauler that carries motorcycles, and a cool extra long book about dinosaurs among a few other things.

We did have some drama in the midst of opening presents; Jameson appeared to be getting a little upset or jealous about Coraline’s gifts (perhaps because one of the boxes was big? or the book she got was really cool and one he also liked?) and he refused to open any more gifts until I told him the he got a cool book too and he opened his dinosaur book.

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Coraline got a new sweatshirt from Santa, the Chick-a-Chick-a-Boom-Boom alphabet book, and a shopping cart from Santa.

We got her a book of all her favorite faces which I purchased from Pint Size Productions which makes custom board books. I was really happy with that book, and the pages are almost pearlescent and very high quality. We also purchased a Noah’s Ark for her and musical crawl ball. Of course, she isn’t much interested in that and wants to chew on all of Jameson’s toys instead!

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Jameson was a big helper of course opening Coraline’s gifts for her.

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Coraline then took a nap, so the last of her gifts waited until after she woke up. Sasha had some gifts too, of course, and opened two of them on Christmas (this particular one she got to open from Grandma and Poppa!)

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Coraline woke up from her nap, and we did some Face Time with Meemaw and Grandpa and opened her last gift, the Noah’s Ark. She really likes taking things out of other things now (we have a little container looking like a milk jug with big coins in it) and now she’s just starting to put things back in it, so the Noah’s Ark is fun.

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Jameson was really excited about Coraline’s shopping cart, which we insisted on waiting to put together after she woke from her nap. Little Corduroy (and all the other teddies eventually) went shopping.

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After that Jameson was completely wiped out. We hadn’t even done the stockings yet, but he needed a break after a few more almost-melt-downs.

A little while later and after a snack, we opened some stockings! Coraline got a lot of socks! As well as some more puffs. Jameson got a new caboose for his trains, some musical toys, playdoh and more.

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Later on, Aunt Melissa and her boyfriend Vince, and Grandma and Poppa came over to celebrate Christmas and have dinner! Coraline was in a fine mood in her lovely Christmas dress!

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Brian decided on a fried turkey for the menu, and insisted that this new-to-him jacket from Goodwill was going to be his turkey frying and beer brewing jacket. The flannel underneath really completes the look, don’t you think?

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After our wonderful meal of fried turkey, fried vegetable, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and wine we got to open more gifts!

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Aunt Melissa got some tools this Christmas to go with her new house. We all got some wonderful, thoughtful gifts, and Jameson and Coraline were so excited to have everyone over!

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And then Christmas was over! The anticipation always just seems to build up and then feels so anticlimactic when it’s over. But this year, the fun seemed to continue for Jameson into the following days as he continued to talk about Santa, or his gifts, or sang Frosty the Snowman (or Jingle Bells).

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Tis the Season at Meemaw & Grandpa’s House

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Coraline, Jameson and I spent the 4 days before Christmas at Meemaw and Grandpa’s house. Brian wasn’t able to go with us, mostly because we have chosen that for most of Sasha’s late doggy years now we prefer her to be at home and cared for by us as much as possible. Since he had visited with us over Thanksgiving, we decided that he would stay home for this trip. Sasha was taking antibiotics (all better now) so that worked out best anyway.

I feel like most of our trip was about puzzles! After Shiloh chewed on part of the traditional Christmas puzzle Aunt Holly was putting together, we decided to go out and get another puzzle. Which led to Jameson watching us do a LOT of puzzling, so he needed to do some too.

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We did manage to put together this 1000 piece puzzle before I left, but it was quite a bit of work up to the very end!

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We also celebrated Meemaw’s birthday while we were there, and Jameson brought paintings for Meemaw, and also for Grandpa, since his birthday is January 3rd. While he got pretty fussy about his hands getting dirty while baking cookies, he sure didn’t mind getting them covered making his art!

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We made sugar cookies one day, and Jameson picked the teddy bear to make. They turned out a little extra large, but tasted great.

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Decorating was mostly just dumping sprinkles, which was pretty funny.

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We made more cookies the following day, and had a bit more fun with these because they involve the mixer! Jameson just loved helping with the mixer, and even requested I take his photo helping, multiple times!

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We decided at the end to add some m&m’s, but when Meemaw asked him to sprinkle them on, he dumped them all out right on top (reminiscent of our sprinkles on the sugar cookies the day prior). Ha! We spread them out and you would’ve never known, but it was pretty funny. We called them Meemaw’s Monster Cookies.

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Despite this happy face, he was not pleased that his hands were covered in cookie dough. They were way too messy for him! But he was hamming it up for the camera big time with this activity which was fun!

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On Meemaw’s actual birthday, we went to the woodland lights. We were a bit under dressed, because it was supposed to be warmer, but that night the temperature did drop so we were all chilly.

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Jameson enjoyed riding down the slide with Aunt Holly, though they had a minor crash with another rider at the bottom. Oops! Jameson also enjoyed this little ride, despite his usual solemn face look.

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It was fun as usual, and terribly muddy. I’m not sure if that was better or worse than the snow we had the year prior! Jameson did get to feed the reindeer a grape this year which was pretty cool.

Grandpa as usual played with his little hover planes and Jameson helped a couple times. It drives Shiloh nuts, so this was a fun capture of the dog leaping to get it.

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Coraline and Jameson again shared a room at Meemaw and Grandpa’s, and they did really well. There was only one night where Coraline was woken while I was putting Jameson in bed and had trouble falling back asleep. We gave her another bottle after about a half hour, and started bedtime over for her, and she finally fell asleep. The kids both had a snotty nose cold, so we brought the humidifier. I was really surprised at how well they did!

Brian drove us down half way, and Meemaw picked us up for the second half after we stopped for lunch together, which made traveling with two kids so much easier. It is particularly difficult alone, because Coraline is still not great in the car, and of course because she can’t walk either during potty breaks! She has gotten tremendously better between this Christmas trip and the Thanksgiving trip, but it is still hard to soothe her when she does get fussy while driving since she doesn’t take a pacifier. I was thankful that I didn’t need to deal with that by myself!

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She showed us how close she is to crawling several times, but no dice! She’s more proficient at butt scooting instead.

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Her favorite parts of the gifts were ribbons and wrapping paper, of course.

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She got this great stuffed pig from Meemaw and Grandpa, as well as some necessities and a cute frog book. And the outfit she is wearing too!

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Jameson got some new food accessories and knife for “cutting” watermelon. He also got a pickle ornament and cash register! Coraline actually ate one of the little dimes and we all didn’t catch it until it was in her mouth and she was rolling it around in there! Thankfully she didn’t try and swallow it before I fished it out with my finger, but it was a reminder at how mobile she’s getting even if she hasn’t perfected the maneuvers yet!

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It was such a fun time! I was sad to leave, but we did on Christmas Eve so we could be home for Santa to arrive.

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Thanksgiving at Meemaw and Grandpa’s

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This year, my brother brought his new dog for Thanksgiving at my parents’ house. We arrived Wednesday afternoon and were introduced to Athena (which he reminds us was the name she was already responding to, not perhaps he might have chosen for himself!) Athena was a rescue, and a pretty one at that. Her and Shiloh learned to play together while we were there, but old Mayzee was not as much of a fan.

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We celebrated Aunt Holly’s birthday that evening, early for December 4th. Jameson was of course a big helper.

Next, Jameson helped Meemaw make zucchini bread for Thanksgiving morning. Chopping the nuts was the best part, because he actually really likes them. He kept sneaking pieces to eat. And even though Meemaw forgot the butter, the bread came out healthier and just as delicious (with a slightly different consistency) as usual after an overnight wrapped in foil.

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Jameson must’ve had about 4 pieces that next morning! We had the parade on, though Jameson wasn’t too interested in it (he just wanted to watch Monsters).

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Coraline got sniffed by the dogs over and over. Athena did really well with her first introduction to babies, though she wasn’t as good with Jameson, a quick, startling toddler. She nearly nipped at him once, which scared him, though by the end of the trip she was much better and he got better at being “brave” walking around her.

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Ah! That’s not a sock!

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Coraline’s first Thanksgiving outfit, courtesy of Meemaw.

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Once the turkey was prepared and in the oven, there was time for play!

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This photo was pretty hilarious, with all three dogs in the picture.

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Jameson just loved Shiloh this trip. He kept requesting that she come with him to his room and to follow him. She wasn’t a great listener (she’s not for anyone), but it was still very cute. Jameson loved his room and wanted to play in it all the time because it is a big blow up mattress bed right on the floor! So much fun.

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Another fun thing at Meemaw’s house was the big cup. He wanted ice (the ice maker on the fridge there is a novelty for him) and then Meemaw found a straw to put in it, and it was impossible to get him to put it down for photos with Uncle Tyler.

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Jameson and Grandpa practiced hopping on one leg while we waited to eat, and then Jameson played with Coraline’s toys (more interesting now that someone else wants to play with them). He also loved playing with the Little Tikes dollhouse van. It must be a vintage item at this point, but in great shape for playing with Duffy the bear.

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Everyone ate their fill for Thanksgiving with our traditional turkey, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce (the jellied kind of course), stuffing and pie. Coraline even tried potatoes the first time! She’s had a couple solid foods now including peas, noodles, potatoes, and corn.

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Friday, the boys all went to the Air Force Museum while Meemaw and I stayed home to do a special Christmas project. Coraline was great for us, though she was a little pooping machine!

She let Meemaw give her a bottle, and did really well over Thanksgiving with just the bottle feeding. We nursed in the morning but the rest of the days were all bottled fed. She’s showing some signs of wanting to hold it herself!

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Jameson had a lot of fun at the museum, though he kept saying that some of the planes were broken when they weren’t allowed inside all of them. He came home with a little toy airplane and asked me how to fly it (certainly because Grandpa had been flying little quadcopters earlier!). Alas, this one can only be flown by hand.

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He even gave us a little concert that evening on the piano!

Our final morning was Saturday, so that we could have an extra day to unpack and relax before heading back to work. We relaxed in the morning, and Jameson got an early 3rd birthday gift from Uncle Tyler.

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Coraline is still iffy driving any time past 30 minutes, so the way there was a little rough with a few stops, but both kids were amazing the way back! They both fell asleep for a time, and we didn’t even have to stop once. A first and last, most likely.

It was great seeing Uncle Tyler, who won’t be able to visit for Christmas this year, and fun to meet his new dog. We celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday, birthdays, did special projects and visited a museum. We even found time to do a little shopping (online and in store!)!

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