december at the kings' castle

a busy month with our anniversary (that we didn't even get to celebrate!), christmas, and a crazy ice storm that pretty much shut everything down for several days!  december 2013 has shaped up to be a busy month, here's what we've been up to:

sammy has made the biggest changes this month, i think.  she actually started walking!  for months she seemed close, but this month she finally decided it was time to make it her primary mode of transportation.  she now shuffles all the way across the living room, kitchen, etc and can finally attempt to keep up with her brother when he runs around the house :)  everyone is really excited for her around here.

she has also learned how to get down the stairs on her own -- by sliding down each step on her stomach! it doesn't look comfortable to me at all, but she seems to love the fact that she can go up and down the stairs of her own free will, and i enjoy not having to carry her down *every* time she sneaks up there.

"night-night!" and giving baby kisses

sam has also started pretending to go to sleep, she will grab a pillow from the couch, put her head on it and say "night-night!"  she also is very good about giving her toys kisses, mainly the paramedics from the fire station set we have...not sure what to think about that.  other new interests include "talking" on any toy phone we have available, (still) dancing and singing, and sitting on chairs.  yes, that last one sounds strange, but she figured out how to climb into and out of the small chairs at the kids' table in the office.  we have to keep the door closed now for most of the day because if we don't we will look up and realize that sam has wondered into the office and is not only pulling highlighters and pens out of the desk drawers, but happily climbing into and out of the little chairs.  it's only a problem when she falls, gets stuck, and/or knocks one over :/

the other thing sam decided this month was that, i guess now that she's big enough to walk around, she's no longer going to sit in the high chair.  she had started putting up a big fuss anytime we tried to sit her in it, despite being hungry at mealtimes.  one day i just brought out the booster seat and sat her next to noah at the table.  viola! problem solved.  it's actually nice to have them both in the same place, to clean one surface, make them both plates, etc.  and now no one has to trip over the high chair -- literally, it liked to bite people's toes!  it's put away for now, in a while we'll have to drag it back out for the new little one, but that's far enough away that i will celebrate this little victory for now.

sweet noah continues to fill our days with narratives, songs, and laughter.  he continues to be a wonderful big brother and, if you are wondering, yes we've told him about the new baby but he doesn't seem to grasp the concept just yet.  he does tell us that "when we have another baby i'll get to ride in the back (third row) seat!" because i've already started preparing him for the fact that there will be some car seat rearranging taking place some time soon.
our growing boy continues to be a great help around the house, no longer needing to be reminded after meal times that he needs to take his dishes and towel (that we use to protect the chairs) to the counter and put them away.  he is also very responsible about saying the mealtime prayer, but for some reason typically wants to say it "faster" and will speed through the entire thing.  okay.

noah has developed a greater love of puzzles, trains and blocks, probably because he doesn't need nearly as much assistance with these as he once did.  and he is very excited about christmas this year.  we received several gifts from ohio early in the month and they were placed under the tree, wrapped.  noah and i have had several conversations about when and why we open gifts, so he is very excited to "open those presents on christmas."

we also enjoyed some time with family at our house hosting the annual cookie fest.  have i mentioned that noah *loves* cookies?!  so in addition to getting to spend most of the day with his cousins, he was really excited that we had tons of sweet treats laying around.  of course, he only got to sample a small part of the sweets we made, but he seemed okay with that.  check back for pictures from christmas eve and christmas day!

the kids snuggled up to go "night-night"

sam shows me her baby

 the crazy ice storm -- it broke several branches on our holly trees, but didn't seem to damage anything else, thankfully! it did cancel any plans we had for actually going out and celebrating our anniversary :(

some pictures of the christmas decorations

my sweet morning buddy, pretty much always the first one awake here :)

cleaned out the kids' closets, including organizing a bunch of clothes they had outgrown which has all been shoved into old diaper boxes.  noah decided he should use them all to build a tower 

as noah likes to say, "we're all eating together!" 

a few pictures from CookieFest 2013:

gifts for the neighbors after the cookiefest

because of the ice storm, we had to cancel our (outdoor) family pictures with the photographer.  in order to have something with all of use for the christmas card, i attempted some at home.  here are some of the best, and some of the trials: