Merry Christmas!!!

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I'm a baking fool!

I've made approximately 8 varieties of cookies and other sweet things so far this Christmas season. It's a little bit ironic because I don't actually like eating Christmas cookies but I love to make them! And it's even more fun because Lily is my big helper and we're a Mean Baking Team!!! I feel like this post is pretty lame-o without any pics, but my newest pics are on the laptop which is having an attitude problem right now. So you'll just have to settle for the recipes! =)

M & M's Cookies

(for all you Brookings friends this recipe is Kerry Pickard's in the old yellow church cookbook)

16 oz. M & M's (I used the red and green ones obviously)
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper. Coarsely chop 1 1/2 cups of the candies, reserve the remaining whole candies for decoration. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Add dry ingredients gradually. Add chopped candies. Drop batter by rounded tablespoons. Bake 10 minutes. Decorate cookies with remaining candies. Return to oven and bake 3-5 minutes longer or until light brown. Remove from baking sheets. cool on rack.

These are so easy, so cute and so tasty! They're not "Christmas cookies" in the traditional sense but they're festive looking with the red and green and they're so yummy!

22 weeks

So I realize I skipped a week. And I feel a little guilty about it. But when I realized I wasn't going to get a post together in time for his 21 week birthday I decided to be okay with that. =) I put more pressure on myself more than anybody else does so I gave myself permission to miss a week.

One factor in missing last week's update is that these last two weeks have been two of the longest weeks of my life. I. am. so. tired. Taylor has not been sleeping well at all and I'm absolutely exhausted. It's so strange because several months ago he was sleeping 5 or 6 or 7 hours at a time and since then he's slowly been going backwards and the last couple weeks has been waking up as often as every hour!!! Yes. Every hour. And I feel like I've tried everything. I don't know how to get him to stay asleep! I'm doing the same things I did with Lily but of course every baby is different and Taylor's doing things his own way. He's going to bed around 7:30 and falling asleep on his own so I'm happy about that. But then your guess is as good as mine as to when he'll wake up! Just describing it makes me feel sleepy! Last night was the best night we've had in a couple weeks - he was up about every three hours and it's funny how that seems like a huge improvement now. So anyway, I know it won't last forever. But you can be praying for me. I'd appreciate that.

Taylor rolled from his tummy to his back on Friday, the 5th. I was sitting by him on the floor and he just did it. And now he's really good at it. If you lay him on his tummy it's usually a matter of seconds before he rolls over. He has yet to roll from his back to his tummy but I feel like he's close.

He got his first haircut last Thursday!!! It wasn't a necessity but he had some really long pieces over his ears and at the back of his neck so we got that trimmed up and some off the top too. He looks like such a little boy!

Lily's dance recital is on Saturday and I am really looking forward to it! It's been fun to see the progress she's made at dance class these past four months. She has the cutest leotard to wear and of course we'll take pictures! =)

We're enjoying the Christmas season. I absolutely love this time of year - isn't it truly the most wonderful time of the year??? I love the decorations, music, lights, parties, etc and it's even more fun this year since Lily is old enough to understand it better. It's so fun to talk with her about Jesus' birth and we really do want Him to be the focus of our celebration. Because we have a young family we don't have our traditions figured out. Lily and I have been baking together since she was 6 months old and sitting on the counter. So I hope to continue doing that with her each year. And we've put together shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child since we got married and I hope to continue doing that as well. But I hope that as we raise our family we'll establish really meaningful traditions and that Christ will be the focus.

I hope you're enjoying this Advent Season! Here are some pics from the past couple weeks. Enjoy!

We had a baking day last Tuesday and Lily unwrapped LOTS of kisses - she was a very big helper

We got a bunch of snow on Sunday and Lily seized her opportunity to wear her snowpants and boots for the first time and play in the snow! It was COLD so I snapped this quick photo and then took Taylor inside.

"Playing together" in Lily's room

Taylor's 22 week birthday

Another shot of my baby

I got a much needed haircut on Saturday. I'd been growing my hair out since Lily was born!

BEFORE

AFTER

20 weeks

This week is a little bit of a blur. Last week at this time I was getting ready for the big Thanksgiving gathering at our house. We had a total of 11 people - Andy, me, Lily, Taylor, Sam, Vicki, Auntie Shari, Grandma Elaine - and the night before, I found out that my Uncle Al, his wife Joyce and my cousin Robbie were also coming. We don't have a big house so it was cozy. =) It's pretty rare these days for mom, Shari and Al to be in one place so that was nice. Robbie and I were the only cousins! Jon, Tim and Mike and my sister were all with their spouses' families. Chrissy is in Iraq and Kyle is living in Colorado. We got the news that my cousin Tim and his wife Janice are expecting their first baby in June! Woo-hoo! All the food turned out great - there were lots of compliments and no complaints. I thought the turkey tasted good and they loved my stuffing and sweet potatoes!!! (See recipes in earlier posts) It was such a nice day. One of the things I love about the Thanksgiving holiday is the simplicity. There are no gifts, no decorations per se, no egg hunts, etc. It's just about being together and focusing on our blessings. Love it.

Andy had the entire weekend off and it was wonderful. We stayed close to home and did lots of family bonding. =) He did go to the Vikes game Sunday night with friends. The Vikings crushed da Bears so he really enjoyed the game.

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Lily is doing great. One of the big things happening in her life (that I keep forget to talk about) is that she's not napping anymore. This is a big event in our lives! She was (and is) at that hard transition point where if she does nap she has a difficult time getting to sleep at night, but if she skips her nap she's a zombie by dinner time and not very pleasant to be around! On days when she would nap it would sometimes take her until 10:00 or later to fall asleep at night and it just felt cruel to make her lay there forever. On the other hand, I can hardly stand her when she's a total crab from lack of nap. But for the most part she's weaned from her nap and it's getting better. Occasionally after a week or so of no nap she's pretty tired and we'll do a "catch up" nap. The hardest part about it for me at this point is that I don't ever get a nap during the day anymore. Taylor takes a couple naps during the day and when both of them were ever asleep at the same time I would try to catch a little nap myself. But those days appear to be over. Sometimes the days are looooooooong and I could fall asleep sitting up. But I still believe people are praying for me! Because there is Supernatural Power at work here. There's no other explanation for the fact that I'm not passed out on the couch!!! =)

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Taylor is doing great too. He's still up in the night more frequently than I'd like, but I keep reminding myself this is a short phase in the grand scheme of things and just try to enjoy our middle-of-the-night bonding time. We've tried rice cereal a couple times and it's going okay. The most recent time was last night and he seemed to be spitting it back out at me. So I'm not sure what to think. I'll keep exposing him to it and hope he gets the hang of it. Some people say that it'll help him sleep longer at night but so far it isn't making any difference on the nights he eats it. Bummer! He's a happy kid and he really loves his mommy. His little legs start a-kickin' when he sees me coming and it melts my heart. It's so hard to believe that I've only "known" him for 20 weeks but I would do anything for him and I love him as big as the sky!

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He's getting so good with his hands - he reaches and grabs things and loves to put stuff in his mouth. Total opposite of Lily - she almost never put anything in her mouth - including food! We had to put each individual cheerio in her mouth. =) That seems forever ago now! Anyway, even though Taylor has only been reaching and grabbing for a week or two, I almost can't remember what it was like before he could!

My first bird!!!

Our family - Thanksgiving 2008

(Notice Lily's lovely ankle bracelets - it's the first time she's ever worn bracelets on her ankles!)

Back row l to r: Vicki, Elaine, Taylor, Dawn, Andy, Lily, Robbie
Front row l to r: Sam, Shari and Al
Photographer: Joyce

Yay! She won the "color game". This is one of her favorite games right now.

Taylor's 20 week birthday

Chewing on a toy. He's getting really good at grabbings things and putting them in his mouth.

My kids. She's trying to hold his hand. =)