Santa Baby

I finally got around to taking pictures of Olivia in the Santa costume I had used for Jack on his first Christmas.

Jack was 8 months back in 2007 and Olivia was about 5 1/2 months. Kind of cute to see the comparison and that Jack had two little teeth in his picture...

Sliding

Today Steve, Grandpa Johnson, and I took Jack sliding for the first time. He got a new sled for Christmas, so with all the snow, we just had to try it out. Jack absolutely loved it and didn't really want to leave, but since we live so close to the hill we promised him another trip back.

The Christmas that never ends...

I know several of us had mentioned this, but this year seemed like the Christmas that never ended. We had started last Sunday at the Johnson's, then Wednesday night was at Grandma & Grandpa Battaglia's. It was another round of eating dinner, opening presents, and leaving with a car load full.

Christmas eve morning I woke up with the flu and spent all day on the couch. Steve took the kids back up to his parents so they would have something to do while I felt terrible and tried to get some sleep. Christmas day I was feeling a bit better so we went over to Great-Grandma Johnson's house for lunch then back up to Battaglia's for dinner.

Then, because the big Battaglia Christmas celebration had been postponed due to all the snow we got, Satuday we headed to Battaglia's in Duluth. Not everyone in the family was able to make it, but it was good to see those that did. In the evening we went back to Steve's parent's house to celebrate with his aunt and uncle from the cities.

And finally, today, Jack went with Steve's parents up to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Battaglia's to visit. He came home with yet another load of presents. I wonder if Jack will wake up again tomorrow and think it's another day of presents??

Christmas Program

They held a Christmas program at the daycare that Jack and Olivia go to, in which Jack performed a few jingles. I was pretty worried that he would be shy and once he saw me in the crowd he would coming running, but that was not the case at all. He was actually quite the little ham and stepped out in front of the kids to wave to Mommy, Grandma, and even his friend Easton. It was hilarious and I had tears in my eyes because I was laughing so hard. After each class took their turn singing, Santa came. Unfortunately, Jack was terrified and wouldn't even get within 10 feet of him.


Video was a bit hard to get because I wasn't super close, but this one is ok. It looks like Jack really isn't singing the words too much, but you can see about half way through he leans forward and spots his grandma's sitting in the second row (which he seemed to think was pretty funny).

Sheer Excitement

Last night we opened presents at our house since Jack is still too young to know what day it is and the next few days are going to be so busy.
Really there were only presents for Jack to open and a few for Olivia, but Jack opened them as well.

I just wanted to share these few pictures to show how happy Jack was to get something with Mickey Mouse on it.

Johnson Christmas

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with my immediate family over at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. We had dinner and then opened presents. Jack got a ton of stuff as usual and of course wanted to play with everything right away. He also helped open almost everyone else's gifts.



And Olivia did a great job just hanging out in the bouncer, sucking on her toes, most of the night. She actually had all 5 toes in there at one time.



And our first family photo of the holiday. I'm sure there will be many more to come...



Thanks Andrea for letting me know your little secret on how to do these pictures :)

Christmas Cookies

This afternoon Grandma Johnson came over to make Christmas cookies with Jack and I. Jack was a little whiny because he wanted to do everything himself and just sit and eat the dough and frosting. I actually looked over at one point and he had a heaping spoon full of green frosting in his mouth.

All and all the cookies turned out great, considering they mostly done by a 2 year old!

Olivia - 5 Months

Today Olivia is 5 months old and unfortunately isn't feeling well. Early this morning I got a call from daycare saying Olivia had a fever of 102 degrees. I had to go pick her up and she can't go back until her fever is gone for 24 hours. It looks like she will be home with Dad tomorrow.

In the past month Olivia has started eating more baby foods and of course her favorites seem to be applesauce and pears. We are going to try to branch out to some of the vegetables next week or so. Jack never seemed to like them, so I want to be good about trying to get her eat them.

She is also starting to sit up a lot better. Not completely on her own yet, but she can sit for short periods with pillows by her. It's hard for her to get practice sitting by herself when her big brother runs around the living room like a maniac.

The beginning of the Christmas season...

I want to start off by saying I love, love, love this time of year and really couldn't wait to start decorating. Last Sunday we went to pick out our tree in Mahtowa at this place where you can cut down your own. We have gone there for the past few years and Grandpa Johnson cuts down our tree with his chainsaw.


Once the tree was all up we got lights and decorations put on it. Sorry I couldn't reach the top to get the tree topper on...so I think Steve will have to do that.


This picture is a bit dark and blurry, but Jack wanted to pose for the camera near his stocking.


Jack seems to be very excited this year. He loves all the lights, santas, and snowmen. I am excited to see him sing in his Christmas program at school. They told me today that he is the loudest singer in his class. I'm just hoping he won't freeze up when it comes time to sing in front of an audience.