gearing up with excitement, as this is the last week before christmas week! jon's taken off the entire work week of christmas, and the following week he'll be off 3 days for the new year. AND at that point, we're just one month away from my due date! eeeek! so many exciting things happening & lots of fun stuff planned for the girls in the meantime :) 

today is our third "pajama day" of the week- it's raining & dreary outside, and the perfect day to watch christmas movies & light holiday candles. before this week, i actually have never had a pajama day with the girls, but it's been really nice to hang at home every couple days in between the busy activities we have planned. 

more than anything, i am so grateful for all of our health this year. we've seen & heard of more illnesses this season than we ever have before, and the health of our immediate family is something i'll never take for granted. 

christmas tree bingo! teaching lucy how to roll dice was pretty entertaining- [notice her nutcracker, which she's been holding onto for dear life, so much so that she broke his head off... twice]

waiting for sis at gymnastics class- my little miss christmas cheer :)

we spent one afternoon this past week crafting thank you's & homemade christmas cards for the mailman, neighbors, dance teachers & gymnastics coaches. we traced hands & feet, made these reindeer cards, then stuffed masons with candy cane rice krispy treats. watching lucy deliver her goodies to our neighbors' homes was priceless. so much christmas spirit- she has such a sweet, giving heart in that tiny little body of hers. 

miss cinnamon enjoyed a sugar scrub & bubble soak one evening, in preparation for the girls' pure excitement upon discovering her each morning-

wednesday was pajama day #1 for us. it was actually a christmas pjs & cookie party at the library- i just extended the attire to the rest of the day :)

we made these candy canes wednesday evening & i've gotta say, i am so thrilled about how well eloise sits & focuses for art projects! it's so much fun! she's generally such a busy bee, but will actually sit & create. she loves buttons, glue, ribbons scraps & being big like lucy :)

thursday morning, jon's parents had the girls over while i ran as many errands as i could possibly squeeze into that amount of time without loading 2 kids in & out of the car + lugging them into 5 different stores :)

we read the christmas star & made popsicle stick star ornaments for the tree with meme later in the day-

friday was pajama day #2. i wasn't planning on it, but we had nothing on the schedule for the day, my energy is fading the bigger this baby gets & jon was flying home from his all-week trip, so we stayed home & had some fun holiday cheer-

hot cocoa with marshmallows was lucy's special advent treat of the day :)

to go along with our star theme from the previous day, star snacks-

& lucy matched these paper plates with different colored stars. she had to match colors to their pair, then put them all in rainbow color order [which she has memorized thanks to a little song we sing]. it was nearly 70 degrees [definitely doesn't feel like christmas weather!], so we brought the fun outside :)

friday night, meme came over after we'd put the girls to sleep & jon took me on a shopping spree at the mall. he filled my closet & we stopped by sar-ko-par park on the way home to check out the gorgeous light display-

& miss cinnamon was ready to bake come saturday!

ready for dance class!

eloise spent the dance hour at meme's-

& a little no-mess ziplock baggy painting activity with some christmas shapes afterwards-

during the girls' naps yesterday, meme came over & we BAKED- our annual cookie bake day! we tried to tone it down this year, just making peanut butter with reeses, shortbread with chocolate drops, peppermint bark, chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, fudge [& snowballs, which were a flop due to a new recipe that clearly has never actually been used by anyone!] the girls woke up in time to taste-test & wreak havoc on the already disastrous mess of a kitchen :)

last night, jon & i went on our annual [although if we have a baby who's nursing often, it doesn't happen annually!] christmas date on the plaza to see the lights & have dinner. it was 70 degrees outside & just a gorgeous night to walk around with my favorite person-

& oh hey! look who i recognized in the kansas city business journal-

looking forward to the week ahead, with more counting down to christmas! i have an ornament exchange with girlfriends tonight & some [more!] stuff planned for the girls to get in the holiday spirit over the next few days. maybe some snow?!

-ivy

as per usual, december has been absolutely busy busy busy. we have so much planned, especially on the weekends, and fitting it all in along with continuing to get rooms prepped for our newest bundle of joy is just a bit overwhelming. gone are the days where i would sit & obsess over every last detail of the freshly painted pink nursery :) the girls are loving all of the new & exciting events happening around them & lucy has taken quite a few naps over the past few weeks alongside eloise, which has been really helpful for all of us. i don't know if it's a growth spurt, if she's all of a sudden simply exerting more energy, or if God just knows what this mama's in need of, but she's been napping 1.5-2 hours in the afternoons if we're home! i'm 32 weeks today- 8 weeks to go, which completely makes my head spin! grateful to be getting through the holidays with betsy nice & cozy on the inside before the inevitable chaos to come in the new year :)

some overflow pics from thanksgiving-

the dandurands

lucy & her 4th cousin, cavan. cavan's sister, callie, was the flower girl in our wedding-

cousin alice-

uncle jack, jon, rob & uncle doug [jon's look-alike!]

gingerbread house construction last week. lucy consumed more frosting than i'd like to admit & i won't tell you how long it took me to get those gingerbread walls to stick together :)

hello, december!

on december 1, the photo on the left popped up as being from december 1, 2014. i about died when i looked in the mirror at my same hairstyle & sweater 365 days later. 'tis the season i'm living in :)

lucy's old-school paper chain advent calendar. there's something special written for her for each day. we also have 2 other advent calendars we're turning to each day, but this is the one she looks forward to the most :) somedays it's just a love note from mom & other days, it has a fun activity like "have a christmas dance party" "eat a candy cane" or "curl up & watch a christmas movie" :)

christmas crafting- lucy is SO proud of her 3-eyed "gingerbread lady" :)

eloise has surprised me with how much she loves to craft. she'll happily sit in her high chair to glue & color for 30 minutes or so-

auntie amy surprised lucy with matching jammies for she & ariel- lucy's reaction was priceless! she so loves her dolly & because we've told lucy that mommy & daddy made her ["who built me, mommy?"], she's now saying that she built ariel. i just LOVE this age!

miss cinnamon, our elf on the shelf, has been sneaking around again this december. lucy's talked about the pink milk cinnamon brought her last year ever since last year, so of course, this was her favorite cinnamon surprise thus far this season, too :)

we had an interesting experince at the dentist last week :) lucy was in heaven & is pretty proud of her new "spicy" toothpaste [she went from non-fluoride to fluoride & the kind they gave her is mint flavored], while eloise threw an absolute FIT. i knew she would :) the last thing my 18 month old is going to do is let a stranger have a peek inside her mouth. she's always down to brush her own teeth though & even imitates lucy spitting into the sink :) let's just say, i could have used a real wide-based glass of wine following that toddler episode...

christmas bean bag toss waiting for the girls after naptime-

inching closer-

christmas tree sandwich for lunch! peanut butter, banana, coconut snow & a chocolate chip tree trunk :)

my dollies ready to see santa! jon's work sets up the nicest winter wonderland for the kids & one of jon's co-workers plays santa. we had pre-filled out forms about our kids that he read, which made the experience extra special for lucy. eloise, of course, was clinging to me for dear life :) lucy excitedly asked for an easy-bake oven-

i'll post the high-quality pics once we receive them :)

lucy went to the sugar plum fairy's cookie party at her dance school this past saturday & LOVED it! i was so proud of how she marched right in & told me that she'd see me afterwards, and when i picked her up she was so very excited to share everything that had happened with me. she got to color, eat a pink & purple sprinkle cookie, watch ballerinas & give hugs to clara :)

lucy's in the bottom left corner with the sweet girl who plays clara in miller marley's production. lu is head over heels excited to see this clara dance in a couple of weeks when the studio puts on their version of "the nutcracker" :)

my darling little mouse, ready for the neighborhood holiday hayride saturday night- such a fun tradition, although there were 4 middle-school aged boys screaming carols in our ears & lucy accidentally spilled jon's hot toddy all over his jeans about the time one of the horses relieved himself :) jon & i literally laughed until we cried talking about it that night after we'd put the girls to sleep-

christmas cookie cutter science experience [with vinegar, baking soda & food coloring]. i have a very serious little scientist on my hands! this kept her entertained for thirty minutes & counting...

candy cane hunt around the house-

someone quite possibly found them all & kept them for herself :)

& yesterday was so special. lucy, meme & i went to an early dinner followed by the nutcracker at the kauffman center downtown. i've been prepping lucy for the past few weeks, teaching her the story & the characters. the look on her face when the ballet began was priceless & she had to have been the most enthusiast clapper in the audience :) she wanted to know why the sugar plum fairy wasn't dancing inside a ballerina box & she says she can't decide if she wants to grow up to be clara or the mouse king :) i cannot wait for the day that we get to bring all 3 of my daughters for this christmas tradition. i still remember going with my mom as a little girl. lucy's clung on to her own little nutcracker that meme got for her since we left the theatre last night. when she woke up this morning, she told me that she had slept well last night, and when i asked her if she had visions of sugar plums dancing in her head, she told me "no, i didn't sleep with the sugar plum fairy on my head- i slept with my nutcracker" :) 

we had fabulous seats & lucy could really see the beautiful dancing. thank you, meme!

eloise has become quite the book worm, following in the footsteps of her sister, and lucy's newest phrase is "i hope!" whenever we ask her if she thinks something's going to happen. 

these girls & their daddy are my light. happy monday!

-ivy