Christmas Cookie Baking!!!

On Sunday, my mom and I spent the day baking Christmas cookies! It was lots of fun and we ended up with lots of cookies... although some turned out better (a lot better) than others....

oh well. There is still time to finish those cookie trays before Christmas :)

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Sunday we woke up to a BLIZZARD!!!! There was an inch of snow blowing all over the place!

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Seriously though... the roads were slick and icy and it was really really cold. But we didn't get nearly the amount of snow we were expecting. Jack was very disappointed that there wasn't too much snow, and that it was too cold to play in for very long.

Before I could leave in the morning to start baking, Jack helped Daddy shovel the driveway. Jack is such a fantastic shoveler!

I planned to take Jayden along with me right away in the morning, put him down for his morning nap - have a good two hours to bake child-free, and then Jeff was bringing Jack around 11am, and I'd put both boys down for naps around 12:30 and have two more child free hours to bake..... however, here's what happened......

Jayden didn't want to nap. He wanted to help bake. So he was in the front pack carrier for a while watching, and in his exersaucer for a while watching, and playing with Grandpa, and Grandma, and Uncle Hayden.

He finally did fall asleep at 10:30 - but only for an hour. And since Jack arrived at 11am, that wasn't too much mommy alone-time!!!

Jack did take a nap, finally at 12:45, but Jayden didn't fall asleep again until 2:30... and by that time I was too tired, so I kind of quit baking and sat down.....

Here's Jayden helping make my first cookie - the traditional and wonderful kiss cookie - my only cookie that actually turned out really well.

Jack was very well behaved after he arrived before he went to sleep... he played with Grandpa, and the train set, and ate lunch (and some cookies!)

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Cookie baking day 2010 was a fun way to spend a cold, windy day!

I now have lots of cookies in my freezer :)

Winter Fun!

Jayden having fun with lots and lots of toys in his exersaucer!
Jack & Jayden playing trains in their pj's! Jayden loves to watch Jack play.

Jack getting a snowball ready to throw at daddy!

5 Months!

New things this month…

Back to work & daycare!

Jayden has done really good. (Although we have all had a never-ending cold since then…) Most days he sleeps 2-3hours. I had to tell Cathie to start waking him up or he doesn’t go down good in the afternoon. He's had one or two days where he cried a lot after waking from his nap, but he does ok most of the time. Today he never cried once!

However, he will not take a bottle. So he is eating cereal mixed with his milk sometime between 10:30 and noon most days. He eats that really good.

This past week we tried out Oatmeal for the first time – it was a hit! Soon we’ll try the one with banana as well. I’m holding off on anymore real baby food until 6mo.

Right before Thanksgiving I put the bumper pads on the crib again. (I never put them on for Jayden) But he kept waking up crying at night because he would roll or scoot himself into the wood rails and get an arm stuck or just be uncomfortable with his head against the sides. Nights have been much better ever since! He still sleeps on his tummy and sucks his thumb/fingers.

Jayden can push himself up on his arms when on his tummy and scoot himself backwards a little, and he loves to watch Jack! He coos and laughs alot! It is really cute!!! He loves his big brother :) He likes to play in the exersaucer and is staying in it for longer periods of time now.

Jayden is sleeping good. He goes to bed about 8pm and wakes up between 4-5am to eat, then sleeps until 6:30am. His morning nap is usually from 9:15 – 11:15ish at daycare. His afternoon nap is from 1:30 – 3:30ish. He gets a bath every other day, and really likes it!

He likes to hear stories (St Nick brought him a new Sandra Boynton book!)

Jayden is wearing size 3 diapers and 9mo clothes. He is very smiley and happy.

Jack is talking up a storm and loves his brother Jay-day! He is very happy to be back to Cathie’s with his friends Tore & Parker (“Tore-Parker”). He is getting better at being gentle with Jayden and at sharing his toys.

Jayden is nursing well. He eats around 5am, 7:30am, 12:30pm, 1:15pm(sometimes) 3:45pm, 5:45pm and 7:45pm. He gets cereal 3x a day - after breakfast,for lunch at daycare, and after dinner; about 2tbls mixed with 2oz milk.

I finished Jayden’s baby clothes quilt right before Thanksgiving. It turned out really nice.

School is going well. Except I miss playing with my boys in the morning :(

St. Nick!

St. Nick is a wonderful way to welcome the holiday season.

I'm glad I was able to introduce Jeff to this candy and gift-filled holiday :)

The boys with their stockings!

In Jack's stocking was a Word World DVD and the Play-Doh Fun Factory!!!
In Jayden's stocking was a Gloworm and a new Sandra Boynton book!!!!!
Jayden is soooo happy to have a gloworm of his very own to eat and kiss and love :)
Jayden also got a puppy lovey blankie from G&G B and Jack got a Toy Story shirt!
The boys with their gloworm brothers!
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We opened out St. Nick gifts on Sunday morning instead of Monday, because on Mondays Jayden is still sleeping when Jeff leaves and everything is kind of hectic on a Monday! The boys don't know the difference - yet!

Blankie!

OH NO!!!

Blankie's corner tear is becoming a larger hole...

I keep meaning to sew it up, but Jack will never let me take it away from him to work on. (Luckily I wrestle it away every once in a while to wash it.....)

Maybe I'll have to slip it out some afternoon after he falls asleep at nap time - it he ever naps again.

.......sigh.......

First Snow!

On Friday night/Saturday morning it snowed!!!

(Although we only got 2 inches)

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When Jack got out of bed we looked out his window and the first thing he saw was "go outside and make snowman!"

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It was cute :) But I told him he had to wait until the sun came out.

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By about 8:20am he was all set to go out! He had his new snowpants, coat, boots and mittens.

For the first 10 minutes or so he was outside by himself waiting for Daddy, so he just walked slowly back and forth across the driveway and backyard making tracks :)

Then he helped Daddy shovel the driveway and sidewalk for a while....

And after all that hard work was done,
Jack got a sled ride around - and around, and around, and around - the back yard.

AND, they even made a snowman!!! It was little, but it's cute :)

Back to School...

We have survived the first two days of school/daycare. It's actually been pretty good so far. School is fun and busy, busy, busy.

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Jack is having a great time playing with his friends at daycare, and pretty much all Jayden has done is sleep.... but that's a lot better than just crying! Jayden has not yet shown any signs of hunger or wanting the bottle while away, but he is sure hungry when he gets home.

Christmas Tree!

Last night we bought our Christmas tree!

We got it from Stein's this year. They had a good selection and we found one that wasn't too wide or tall, perfect for our living room! It was a cold evening for tree shopping - Jayden didn't enjoy it very much (until he fell asleep), Jack had fun.

All we did last night was put the tree up and put the lights on.

We saved the ornaments for this morning.....

Jack was a pretty good helper with the ornaments.

We didn't put too many on this year, mostly just non-breakable ones and a few nicer ones on top.
I'm sure that within a week the bottom half will be completely empty because of Jack anyways. And I hate putting ornaments away after Christmas, so I tried to keep it simple this year.

The almost finished tree. I just need to add the tree skirt and the angel on top!

Jayden's First Snow Flake!

You can't really see it in the pictures... but on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got our very first snow flurries of the season!!! It was coming down a little harder, but Jayden was napping - these pics were as soon as he woke up. I don't think he was too thrilled to be out in the cold.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all had a very nice Thanksgiving and hope you did too!

Here are the boys waking up Thanksgiving morning.

Jack was a little slow getting out of bed, so I put Jayden in with him - Jayden loved being by his big brother!
On the way to Grandma & Grandpa Stollenwerk's. We were trying out the car dvd players again... but they weren't working very well. Jack loved it while it lasted, though!
(He's watching Cars)

And Jayden was happy as could be for most of the ride. Which was pretty surprising, since he had just woke up from a nap when I put him right into his car seat. We had to get his snow suit out for the first time - it has been a COLD weekend!

After playing at Grandma & Grandpa's for a little while we headed over to Auntie Megan's mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Jack had a great time playing with Chase and Jillian. Here they are playing play-doh in the basement before it was time to eat. For the most part Jack was very well behaved all day.

Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious!

And Jayden was so nice to me, he fell asleep right before it was time to eat and didn't wake up for 45 minutes - when I was all finished with my turkey!

What a good little boy.

Jayden and Jillian

Jayden playing with baby Emma, who is 1 1/2 weeks older than him. They liked to look at each other.

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After such a fun Thanksgiving, Jack had even more fun - he was spending the night at Grandma & Grandpa's!

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And here is Jayden at 4:45am Friday morning all set for shopping with mommy and Grandma!!!! He was very well behaved. I think he really enjoyed the experience (his one and only Black Friday shopping day.......next year he'll be at home with Daddy and Jack!)