Family Fun Day!

While the kids were still on Christmas break we had everyone come our direction for day of family fun.  We had a nice lunch at Bahama Breeze and then hit up the Family Fun Center in Tukwilla.  We were not sure how it would go over with such a broad age range of kids, but it ended up being a great place to go.  It had a little for everyone. 

Clara played with Hailey & Zane played in the giant indoor climbing/slide/mat area.

Almost everyone, including Carol played a round of laser tag.

Janie slept most of the time at the fun center, but when she woke up she was fascinated by all the lights on the various token games.  Like her big sister, this kid is in heaven when she is around her cousins!

Everyone, with the exception of maybe Clara, enjoyed the go-cart race.  She thought it was a little too loud (and probably a bit chilly) for her liking.

Hailey, Zac & Zane did the bungee trampolines and Clara watched on in amazement as they did all sorts of cool flips in the air. 

 They kids had fun on the bumper cars...

And Ashley and Taylor tried out this weird space ship ride while the rest of us were able to watch them being tossed about from a video screen.  The photo below is right after the ride was over.  Their looks helped me determine the ride was not really for me.  Kevin, Todd, Sherri & I even split from the kids for a few minutes and went on a virtual reality 4D ride. 

After a great time at the Fun Center, a group of us went to the mall for a little shopping and then all met up back at our house for a quick dinner, dessert and gifts.  The pass ended up getting a little messy that evening and Amy, Elmer and kids spent the night.  We stayed up playing games and had a great time together.   Hopefully we can do it all again soon!

A Little Morning Dress Up

16 month old Gem!

Mick-eeeeey Mooouse!  Siiiiister!  Want Cookieeee!  Ahhh-cado, More Ahhh-cado! 

Our Janie Bug seems to be yelling something all of the time these day!  She is a kiddo that knows what she wants and is not afraid to ask for it, demand it, and use repetition and volume to get it!  Then when she gets whatever she is asking for, the sweetest "thank you" quietly comes out of her.  At least she has figured out how to balance some politeness with her many demands! 

We are having SO much fun with Janie at her current developmental stage.  We can't believe how quickly she is learning new things, especially new words.  It really seems like she picks up several a day.  What is even more fascinating about Janie's learning is that we have spent significantly less time "teaching" her things the way we would do with Clara.  Instead, Janie is an observer and one who has a big sister she wants to copy all of the time. 
For Christmas Janie got a cute little purse and accessories from Auntie Sherri.  At first she wasn't all that interested in it, that was until Clara started playing with it.  It was then that Janie started carrying it around constantly as well as stuffing it full of other small toys she knows Clara likes.  In turn, Clara has been known to hang it just out of Janie's reach or hide it in the Lego bin.  It is cute and funny now, but I really hate to see what this sisterly dynamic looks like in ten to twelve years!

This past month Lil' Gem Baby has been for the most part healthy, which means she is sleeping better (still not great, but we are happy about "better"), communicating more effectively and all around just a happier kid.  She even has longer stretches of independent play or willingness to listen to a more complex book.  When something is not going her way, our Janie can make a LOUD and stubborn fuss, complete with some pretty miserable-looking faces.  And when she gets what she wants she can turn it around just as quickly. 
Janie is really attached to her "Binkie" and will ask for it many times during the day.  We only try to give it to her at certain times, this is one of those battles I don't always have the energy to fight.  This is different than Clara who only had hers at night and in the car at 16 months and it seemed more like an out of sight, out of mind situation.  Clara gave hers up when we explained that "Binkies were for babies" around 20 months, already I can tell that it may not go quite as smoothly with Janie.  On the other hand, one of the big lessons of parenting for us has been that you can't always predict the behavior of young children, but I am sure there will be posts about that "adventure" in the future. 
Janie has been teething again the past few days.  She has a total of 6 teeth now.  Three on top and three on bottom, that give her little grim kind of a "Z" shape.  She is starting to get top teeth further back and they seem to really bug her and have lead to a few tough nights of sleep. 

Janie's hair seems to be getting a little darker, and when she gets out of the bath is seems really curly.  Once she sleeps on it, it flattens out (unless she sweats).  She has a few clips that she is willing to wear, or maybe doesn't notice, but she really does not like to wear the little ponytails that look so darn cute on her and pulls and pulls on her hair till they come out.  Over the past few weeks we are finally seeing a lot more of Kevin in her appearance.  Several people have commented and you can really see it in some photos we recently took (I will try to post soon).

Janie continues to get better with walking and now likes to try to jump and spin in circles.  She also does a cute little "dance" when we sing songs, by shifting her weight back and forth.  She loves to climb, especially Mommy or Daddy.  She also seems to always prefer the direct route even if it has obstacles, instead of going around.  For instance, if she wants a certain toy across the room, she beelines to it even if she has to climb over Daddy and falls twice wading through the sea of toys.  In this way she is really different from cautious Clara. 

One of the best milestones this month is how much better she has gotten at showing affection and even saying "Luv you" to us.  She really gets excited to see Kevin when he gets home from work and she seems to get a little sad when he leaves saying, "Dada, Bye-Bye" several times in the first hour he is gone.  She greets us when we walk into a room with a sweet "hi" and grin.  She has enough sweetness to far outweigh her orneriness. 

I know this sounds weird, but somewhere in the past few weeks I feel like I have stopped being as sad about her growing up so fast and turned the corner into feeling excited for our future with her as a part of our family, in a long term sense.  I thinks about the relationship the four of us will have when they reach their teen years or even adulthood. (I also really look forward to a night without getting up with her.)  I guess all her changes have allowed me to better conceptualize her as our child instead of our baby, that I just wanted to keep a baby. 

As the girls get older, I am reminded of what a treat is it to get to just know Janie and Clara both, with their unique little characters they are such incredible pieces of God's grand masterpiece!  How lucky we are to be their parents!

2012 - Girls in a Box

Another year of our silly tradition! 

Christmas Day in Quincy

Around noon on Christmas Day we piled in the car and headed over the snowy pass to Quincy.  Clara has really gotten into a lot of holiday songs and books this year and seemed a little confused that it was Christmas and there wasn't any snow.  Good ole' Western Washington for ya!  As we approached the pass she started oohing and aahing at all the snow.  There really wasn't a ton for that area but it was very impressive to her.  She was disappointed that we wouldn't stop and play in it, in our Christmas clothes of course.  Well, not long after being at Grandma Carol's we noticed that there was some Christmas snow starting to fall.  Somebody was SO excited that she raced outside and immediately tried to catch a flake on her tongue.  The snow didn't last long, but either did Clara's patience.  Soon she was distracted by thoughts of Grandma's dinner and more presents and right back inside.  In the days following she talked about how cool the Christmas snow was because she had hoped for some snow.   What a good reminder it is about what things kids notice.  In the hustle and bustle of gifts, food, travel and family the wonder of this tiny bit of snow still meant something special to her. 

Christmas Day was a nice day for us all. We did our best to laugh often and share some nice memories of Murray.  There were some tough moments, but we were comforted by being together.  Our girls helped in keeping things lighthearted with their silliness and excitement of the day. 

Daddy and his Baby Girls

Janie and her baby!  She loves dollies, especially feeding them and them flinging them in their beds with a "Nite, Nite, Baby."

Uncle Elmer and Janie have a little bond.  He spoils her with attention and she eats it up!

Clara opening up her gift! 

I attempted taking more photos but I received a new lens for Christmas from Kevin and am still getting used to using it.  I thought I was getting some good photos but they ended up really blurry.

Our Tradition: Christmas at Home

Last year we made a tough but important decision for our family and told our extended families that we intended to spend Christmas mornings in our own home as long as our girls are little.  That way we have the opportunity to create our own traditions and Santa Claus always knows where to find us.  Luckily everyone on both sides of the family was understanding and was willing to work something out.  Most years we alternate who we spend the holiday with.  This year was our year to be with my family in Chehalis, but we also felt it was equally important to share the sacred day with Kevin's family this year.  It made for a lot of driving over the holiday weekend but we savored our sweet moments as a family of four and really enjoyed all the extended family togetherness. 

Christmas Eve snuggles for Mommy & Daddy!

Clara set out milk and cookies for Santa

We read a few Christmas stories and talked about the birth of Jesus.  Both girls were worn out from our visit to Chehalis that they went right to sleep.  And sure enough... Santa Came!!

Santa had a rough time choosing something for Janie but since she adores the kitchen in Clara's room so much, he had a hunch a play store would be a lot of fun for her as well.  And he was right!

Clara was very clear with what she wanted from Santa.  She knew the exact princess castle she wanted and noted that if he thought she had been good, she'd really like the dolls and furniture to go along with it.  Twinkle, our Elf on the Shelf must have given her a good report because it was all there on Christmas morning.

Daddy on the other hand found a little COAL in his stocking.  Luckily it was candy coal and in with a lot of other fun stuff so Santa just must share Daddy's silly sense of humor.

Both girls gave Mommy sweet gifts.  Clara picked out the Wizard of Oz Pez set for me all by herself and Janie gave me a sweet bunny charm for my bracelet with a little help from Daddy. 

The girls gave Daddy a funny Christmas tie that Clara selected all by herself.  Giving Daddy a wacky tie seemed like a fun way to tribute Grandpa Murray's humorous spirit and we surprised him with a fancy tie tucked behind it.  He loved the gift and Clara felt so proud about picking gifts out herself. 

Christmas Eve Eve & Christmas Eve in Chehalis

 

On Christmas Eve, Eve we played a little pretend that it was actually Christmas Even and celebrated with our Stevens Family Traditional Christmas Eve Feast.   The day really didn't matter because we were all together and in good spirits.  We fed the kids early and timed the meal during a late nap of Janie's.  The food (as usual) was amazing so we were able to enjoy our bites.

Grandma Jan, G.G. Wanda, Papa Bob & Grandpa Mark

Pretty typical of my two brothers...

Ryan & Hailey

Matt & Danielle

The Kiddos on Christmas Eve in their holiday outfits! 

After some dessert, Papa Bob read Twas the Night Before Christmas which has become a tradition with his great-grand kids.

We capped the evening by letting each of the kids open a gift.

On Christmas Eve morning, we celebrated like Christmas morning (minus Santa's visit) at Grandma & Grandpa Stevens house.  Grandma had yummy breakfast and the kiddos enjoyed singing carols with Grandma & Grandpa.  Here they all are getting into singing Jingle Bells!

And then we let the kids go at it.  They are at such a fun age for gift giving and it was a blast to watch them each tear into presents and get excited while cousins/siblings looked on.

Brendan has changed so much since last Christmas and seemed to have figured the whole present deal out! 

Daddy & Daughter Snuggles for Matt & Tay

Janie being coached through opening her present by sweet cousin Taylor. 

And Poor Hailey's initiation into the Stevens clan, a gift of a new set of neoprene waiters, boots, and a rod and reel.  I hope she knows as much as the rest of her that those items are more precious than jewelry to Ryan, so he must really like her! 

Of course it wouldn't be a holdiay without LOTS of outdoor gear.  Kevin models te new self-inflating life vests dad bought everyone for the boat, especially Kev who isn't really a natural in the water.

Ryan is really excited about his new net!

And it wouldn't be a holiday without a few of these cheesy shots.  Clara is completely willing to face the camera these days but we're still working on natural smiles and looking at the camera.  Poor thing comes by it naturally because there are quite a few of these shots of Mommy through the years too!

Big hugs for Uncle Ryan who spoiled all the kids this year!