Santa Baby

Lyla quickly got into the Holiday spirit and was so excited every time she saw anything related to Christmas. By far her favorite part of Christmas was Santa Claus. She loving referred to jolly Old Saint Nick as "Ho, Ho". Even though we would say "Santa" and "Ho, Ho, Ho" every time we saw him, she would only say "Ho, Ho!!" So I laughed and joked that the second "Ho" was silent. 

It was so cute seeing her get in to everything that goes along with Christmas. She loved the Christmas trees and was so great about leaving the ornaments alone. She especially loved her personal pink Christmas tree that was in her room. She loved seeing the lights on the houses and the decorations in the stores. We told her that is was Baby Jesus' birthday and that we celebrate because God loved us so much He sent Jesus to earth to save us. She loved talking about the "baby" and playing with a manger set my mom has that is soft and for kids.

She loved every single Holiday outfit she wore and still asks to wear them (it is now February!!). It is no secret I love Christmas, so I think she pretty much had a different Christmas/Holiday outfit for every day of the Christmas Season. 

She was MOST excited about "Ho, Ho" however coming to her house. We celebrated Christmas several times, over about a week period (due to family and sickness)....more detail in the next posts, but with so many Christmases, Santa Claus came several times. So she still talks about Santa coming and will get really excited and say that "Ho, Ho" is coming tomorrow....yes it is February and randomly she will still ask if "Ho, Ho" is coming. Too cute.  

So here she is in her "Ho, Ho" dress. What happened to my baby?!

My Tiny Hinny

I don't normally take a whole lot of pictures of Lyla in the bathtub, but the other night I was watching her splish and splash all around in the tub and boy is she CUTE. 

I mean how much longer will I get to squish that cute booty and scrub her up in that sweet smelling baby shampoo and wrap her in a warm towel when she is all clean??!

I love this little baby (who is really not a baby) and I love her bath-time. Sometimes she just likes to play around and pretend on her own with her tub toys. Sometimes she likes to go over her foam numbers and letters and talk about the people and things that start with certain letters. Like "P" for Pawpaw. "A" for Allison. "S" for Sarah (Da). "E" for Ellie. "F" for fish. "L" for Lyla (Ta). "T" for Tripp. Those are a few of her favorites. Sometimes she likes for me to pull the string on her froggie so she can watch him swim around. Sometimes she likes to lay on her belly and "swim" in the water. And sometimes she likes to get wild and crazy and splash the water all over and try and get momma wet and then hide behind the shower curtain. 

She likes to help soap herself up, especially her feet. 

It takes a long time for her to get out of the tub. It always has. She loves her bath. Normally we have to drag her out. Once she is out, "brrrrrr, momma"!!! It is cold and we must wrap her up like a little baby and snuggle so she gets nice and warm. I smell her clean hair and kiss the bridge of her nose and think, oh if she could only stay this age forever!! And yes, I have said that with every bath since day one! Good thing she keeps getting better with age (even though it is hard to imagine she could get any better!!)

And then she is off and running again and I can barely get her diaper and jammies on her. But before I do, I sneak in a few pinches on that booty and tell her that she has the cutest bottom in the world and she knows it!! That silly girl!

Bath time memories I will never forget!

Christmas Cookie Decorating

Now that Lyla is old enough to enjoy holiday traditions, I really wanted to incorporate some this year that she could enjoy and be apart of. Holiday traditions are BY FAR my most memorable  childhood memories, and everyone knows how much I love the Christmas Season, so I hope that Lyla grows up feeling the same way.

I have great friends. I had a few great friends growing up, but the Lord has really blessed this season of my life with several GREAT friends. I am not the kind of person who has to have a million friends and everyone I meet does not become my best friend. I prefer to have a few really deep meaningful relationships rather than a million best friends. The Lord has really provided that for me over the last several years and it has been amazing. I do not know what I would do without these special ladies. My heart is full with their friendship and what they mean to me. They have gone far beyond the call of duty as friends and mean more to me than they could possibly ever know. They love me well and they love my daughter well. I know that they would do anything for my family!!

So, I thought it would be fun to have a few of them over to have a cookie decorating party for the kids before Christmas. These girls are girls I met through work before having Lyla and we have all gotten engaged, married, bought houses and had babies together. Those HAVE to be the best kinds of relationships, where you go though the most important events of your life together. We get the kids together on a regular basis and had a fun time painting pumpkins as our Halloween/Thanksgiving get together. Now that they are old enough to actually have fun doing these activities it will be fun planning fun holiday get to togethers with them each holiday.  

Lyla and I were so excited to host and we had fun picking out fun cookie decorations and icing. She helped me bake the cookies prior to everyone coming over. We had fun setting the table and getting things ready for our friends.

I put several cupcake holders at each child's place filled with several different kinds of toppings. We had several different colors of frosting as well. I made several different shaped cut-outs for the cookies. There were Christmas trees, snowmen, candy-canes, bells, stars and angels.

Lyla put all of her decorations on one single cookie!!

Lindsey and Oliver decorating their cookies.

Lyla excited to taste her creation. And yes I took my child's shirt off because I knew she would end up with red icing all over it.

I think Tripp ate all his mini m&m's before they ever made it on his cookies.

"Cheese!"

Molly tasting her cookies.

"I got this mom"

No hands needed.

Nicole and our newest addition to the group baby Camille watching.

"Yum, Yum!"

Just licking all the icing off.

Messy face.

Tripp still eating his m&m's.

Oliver decided his cookies were better without anything on them.

Sweet boy.

Still just eating the icing.

All done with that one....

...on to the next.

All the cookie decorating necessities. 

Molly likes the frosting too.

Sweet baby Camille.

Just hanging out.

"Any more m&m's mom?"

Lyla's finished product.

"Anyone have a wet paper towel to clean me up with?"

It was so fun to see each kid's personality shine through their cookie decorating decisions. They really are all so very different, but they get along so well. I love watching them grow up together. It is nice having mom friends in the same stage of life!