January

 I never got around to blogging about Paige doing gymnastics camp in December. She did it with her best friend and it was at a local middle school with their gym team. She loved every minute of it. It was just for two days and the last half hour of the last day we got to go and see what they learned and see a little routine. It was fun to go and watch and Paige was constantly doing gymnastics at home for the next couple of days. 

Also in December, Baylor decided that standing is fun. She is got really good at it and is cruising along everything she can but didn't take any steps until January. 

January has come and went and here are a few moments from our January.

Paige loved trying out the gel bath we got from Santa for Christmas. 

One Saturday she had fun dressing up her doll and being her doll's personal photographer with my phone.

Paige also has fun being Baylor's personal photographer with my phone. Baylor is a busy little one and she is so cute!

 Another Saturday we had beautiful weather. It felt like spring and made me so excited for warmer weather. So we decided to go to Lake Wilderness and enjoy some time outside. It was so beautiful out and I love going out and exploring the outdoors with my family.

 Baylor is such a cute little thing and is such happy baby. She is starting to turn into a toddler and it makes me sad that they grow up so fast. She is so fun and very busy. She is always on the go. She has been taking a few steps here and there and this past week she has been walking a little more and more and has gotten up to walking down the hall before going back to her trusty monkey crawl. She loves to empty out drawers, dump the crayons and markers all over the floor, race to the bathroom if she hears the door open because she has realized that playing in the toilet water is lots of fun. I have to constantly make sure the door to the bathroom is closed or the toilet lid is shut or I will hear splashing water and were laughing with such happiness. :) 

Baylor makes the funniest faces and this is one of my favorite. She squishes her nose and squints her eyes with the cutest little grin. I love her two big front teeth and the cutest gap. This past month she has gotten quite the appetite and loves pretty much anything we are eating. I love it when I can give her food that she can feed herself.

This past week we had a little bedtime photo shoot. Whenever Paige brushes her teeth before she goes to bed she gets Baylor's toothbrush for her too and they love to brush their teeth together.

 How did I get so lucky? I'm so incredibly grateful for these two girls!

 They both love their blankets so much. Baylor will squeeze her blanket and her little body will shake because she loves it so much. You can tell when she is getting tired or when she just wakes up from a nap she loves to lay on her blanket with her little bum in the air. Paige also loves her baby blanket and always has to have them for bed or when she needs some comfort.

 Paige is one beautiful young lady! She is getting so big and is growing up way too fast for my liking. She is so very kind and thoughtful and is a very good friend and student. I hope she always stays this way and those positive qualities she has will stay with her through her life. 

 This past week Paige got pretty sick and was miserable. She threw up two times on Wednesday and felt like throwing up throughout most of the day. She complained of her ear hurting but it wasn't too bad and she has never complained of an earache ever in her life so this was new to me. The next day she was tired but a little more herself and then Friday her ear pain got worse so I took her into the doctor and it turns out she had an ear infection. I'm glad we went to the doctor to get her some medicine. 

 This past weekend our fish Lucy died. We have had her for almost three years! Paige wasn't too sad since for the past couple of months we expected her to die and have talked to Paige about it. Lucy- you were a fun little pet to have and we will miss you! Paige made a little coffin for her and decorated with her beautiful artwork and some kind words. Then Nate and Paige buried her outside. 

They even transplanted some flowers for her grave. 

Christmas 2018

We had an awesome Christmas and the fun lasted throughout the entire week of Christmas. I love the holidays with kids especially Christmas. Paige was so excited this year and had a couple of countdowns.

We had a one hour Christmas church service the Sunday before Christmas. It was a beautiful sacrament meeting with lots of music. Paige even went up by herself for the primary song which was a big deal for her.

Then Sunday evening Aaron and Rachel got to our house. We watched the Seahawks game and some of the kids decorated some sugar cookies. Paige loved having lots of cousins to play with and Carly even slept in her room.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day was just our little family. It was quiet but was really nice and simple.

Christmas Eve was a beautiful day! Since it was so nice out we decided to go to Tahoma National Cemetery to see all the wreaths by the graves. This is one of my favorite places to go because it is so peaceful and calm. The wreaths were so pretty and it was nice to walk around and look at them all.

 Some graves were decorated by family and it was fun to spot all the different ones and we took some pictures of a few that we liked.

 Whenever we go we always stop here and put a penny of his grave. It was only a few Christmases ago that he spent Christmas Eve with us.

Then it was dinner time and we started our Christmas Eve festivities with the lighting of our Santa candle.

Before and after- it burned all the way through Christmas day into the evening. 

Paige and Nate made our small Christmas Eve sandwich. It was cute watching them do this together while I was their personal photographer. 

 Baylor stayed busy playing in the fridge while the sandwich got made.

The first time we got to sign our own sandwich board.

 Merry Christmas Eve! The sandwich is traditionally 6 feet long but since it was just our little family we made a 2 foot one instead and even as we sang the traditional song around the house we said 2 feet long instead of 6 feet long.

 It was one tasty sandwich! :)

 Then we opened Christmas Eve presents from family- Baylor loved sitting on all the presents and actually got into opening presents this year. It was cute to watch her take off little pieces of wrapping paper trying to get to whatever was inside. Paige loved opening her presents and helping Baylor when needed. We got spoiled this year and we definitely  felt the love from those that gave us gifts. 

Matching Christmas pjs- I was happy to find matching ones since there is a pretty big size gap between the two. They looked so cute in them and Paige was so happy that they have unicorns on them. Unicorns seemed to be a theme for Paige this Christmas.

 Baylor making sure that the cookies for Santa were ready.

 Santa came! Christmas morning was so fun! We had to wait for Paige which was funny since she was the most excited but she is related to me and also loves sleep. The girls must have been really good this year since Santa got them lots of fun things. 

The top gift on Paige's wish list was a baby alive and Santa delivered.

 Baylor's presents

 Paige's presents

 Aaron and some of his kids, Anna and Scott and their family, and Christy and Lylia all came over on the 26th for dinner. It was fun to visit and I didn't hear from Paige all night since she was busy with cousins. I didn't get any pictures from that night but it was very enjoyable.

On the 27th Mike and Christy and their family came up for a visit. It was fun to have them stay with us. On the 28th the rest of the family came over besides Aaron and Rachel and their family and we did the traditional Christmas Eve sandwich just a few days late. It was fun to do it again with lots of family this time.

 Much bigger sandwich this time around compared to our Christmas Eve one. :)

 Traditional grand kid picture with the sandwich- there always seems to be a crying kid in the picture and Baylor was that one kid this year.

 The kids even carried the sandwich around the house and then we got to enjoy!

All the kids enjoying the sandwich- the adults decided to eat in the kitchen this year. It was a really fun evening with family and lots of good food.

Now onto the new year with new goals and new adventures!