Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas time is always a busy time of year.  Between buying presents and baking cookies, who has time to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas?  We get so wrapped up in the materialistic picture of Christmas.  We spent Christmas today celebrating the life of Jesus.  We even sang Jesus "happy birthday".  Having kids almost makes Christmas more meaningful.  Just thinking of Mary, holding baby Jesus, singing Him "happy birthday" too.  What an amazing day that must have been.

We had such a fun week.  Our anniversary was on Wednesday, we celebrated with Carrabba's take out (thanks to Brayden not taking a bottle, I don't mind), and a fun movie.  We watched the movie Despicable Me.  Now, I wouldn't recommend this movie to kids under 12 or 13, but Cavan and I found humor in the goofy cartoons.  It was cute, and dumb, but funny.

Leah is now a pro at present unwrapping.  She is so cute to watch.  Her favorite gifts this year were her Veggie Tales videos, her Learning Tower, her matching puzzles, her sock dog/frogs, and her brother's Laugh and Learn tool bench.  She is stocked up with new toys.  She was so enthusiastic opening presents too, especially her videos.  She kept screaming, "video, video, video Momma!!!"  We had so much fun watching her.  Our house was is a mess... but it was so worth it!

Brayden had all his presents lovingly opened by his big sister.  He loves all his new toys.  He got some of the new Bumgenius 4.0 bright colors, some cars, a tool bench, a snail that blinks (he LOVES it), some socks, and lots of clutching toys.  He is really starting to grab at things.  He can hold his Sophie the giraffe really well now, and tries to put her in his mouth.  I can't believe he's going to be 4 months old in 5 days!  He is such a joy.  I can't get over his huge blue eyes, amazing dimples, and perfect smile.  He is such a sweetie.

Leah told me she loved me the other day.  I don't know if she really knows what it means, but it was so cute. She is talking so much now.  I can't believe all the words she can say.  She also knows her animal sounds.  I love when she looks out the window and sees a bird.  She will say, "bird, bird, bird..."  until you repeat "bird" then she will excitedly say, "tweet tweet!".  We have to repeat her words, she will say them a million times if we don't repeat her.  She is pretty good at saying the word correctly, but when we have no idea what she is saying, it gets a little difficult because she won't stop saying it unless you distract her or finally guess the real word.

Cavan and I have worked with her meltdowns, tantrums, and ugly actions.  She is doing amazing.  When I say amazing, I mean... We haven't had a meltdown, tantrum, or an ugly action in almost a week!  I think we were slacking a bit.  We were giving her more wiggle room since we felt bad because Brayden is here now.  We have since brought her "naughty  mat" back out.  It's a bright cheery green bath mat.  She hates it!  When she would have a meltdown, tantrum, or ugly action we would warn her... if she would continue, she would go on her mat.  She knows she cannot get off of her mat unless we tell her to.  We always sit by her until she stops crying, then she'll give us a hug and kiss and run off and play.  She was terrible the first 3 days we did this.  It seemed she was on the mat more than she was off.  The 4th day she didn't have to use the mat at all.  We do threaten her with the mat if she gets out of line, but she hasn't had to sit on it for a while and we are so thankful!!!

Enjoy the pictures, and Merry Christmas!