Preparing for Christmas

I love Christmas. The decorations, the baking, the Christmas carols, the food. It is even more exciting to have two beautiful children to share it all with. We've started our holiday traditions out with a little decorations, a fun preschool Holiday program where Meghan belted out Dashing through the snow and I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. We have also decorated Gingerbread houses, started baking cookies (Cranberry biscotti of course), and picked out our tree. We're well on our way... Here are a few pics from our adventures lately.

Nathan turns 1 year old

Today Nathan is 1 year old. I can't believe the time has flown by so quickly. He is a busy boy. Yesterday took 2 steps on his own and is climbing up every chair in the house, and loves the mini-slide to climb up and go down all on his own. He says Mama, Dada, and a version of 'Hi'. He has the cutest giggle imaginable, and is in general a super sweet boy. I particularily enjoy the fact that he sleeps 12 hours straight at night.. 7 to 7. He loves to copy Meghan... yesterday we took out playdough for the first time and I couldn't believe he only tried to eat it one time. He just sat there watching big sister and playing with the cookie cutters. He also loves to sit at the table and color with meghan. He will only use crayons or pencils, and not those nifty 'first crayons' that are out there... he wants the real deal. His favorite toys are balls. He will make a straight line to get one anytime he sees it. He is also an avid signer and just this week mastered the concept of 'more' and uses it often. We're so blessed to have him in our family. :)

Finding Fossils

Meghan is currently studying dinosaurs in her preschool, so last weekend we went in search of some local fossil sights. Michael found one about 1.5 hours away that fit the bill perfectly. The kids were in heaven in a massive sandbox, and we even luckily found a fossil. Luckily I say because I just looked down and there one was. I told Michael I honestly had no idea how to look for a fossil or find one, so Meghan was thrilled to have one to take for show and tell this past week. We now have a book on fossil hunting so as to read up on the procedure. At any rate, the kids were thrilled and really enjoyed the family time