a week away

after a long semester, and a long two weeks apart, mike and i were blessed to be able to take our family away to the lakes region of new hampshire for a one week stay.

it was gorgeous.

this was the view from the balcony.

gorgeous.

and it was a wonderful place.

we had a fireplace, and we had a little kitchen, and we had a room for maggie and a room for tennyson.

the place was so nice, we didn't even mind being snowed in one day.

we just worked on a puzzle all day, while the kids played. occasionally tennyson "helped".

and it was so nice, that we decided to do a little christmas while we were there, instead of doing it at the best western we were going to be at on christmas day.

we were even lucky enough to only be a short drive away from mike's parents, so they were able to babysit a couple times for us and we got to see a movie, and go shopping without two kids in tow. things like that need to happen more often.

cookies

i love decorating cookies.

it instantly makes it feel like christmas.

so that is what we did today, to start really ushering in the season.

and to get a little more in the spirit.

i was nervous that tennyson wouldn't like it.

after all, his track record with messy things isn't great.

turns out, he was a champ at putting on the sprinkles.

(as long as he didn't accidentally bump the frosting)

Seven Months

our little baby is growing up.

so fast.

but really, not much has changed since last month. she is still just working hard trying to figure things out.

like she's been trying to figure out crawling. and now she can get up on all fours and rock.

and she's been trying to figure out how to eat puffs without gagging on them, or how to eat purees without getting them all over the place.

she's been trying to figure out how to give kisses.

and trying to figure out how to talk. her babbling is the cutest.

she is still trying to figure out how to sleep through the night, and i am trying to figure out how to teach her that she doesn't need a million bottles during that time.

one thing she has totally figured out is sitting independently. it was about time.

we are still waiting for her to figure out how to keep that tongue in her mouth.

and we know it won't be long until she figures out how to torture her brother.

until she figures all these things out, i'm just going to enjoy having a little baby.

because one thing her brother taught me, and she is reteaching me, is that this time goes by too fast. they figure things out too fast. and then your little baby disappears and is replaced by a kid. and i want to keep my baby just a little bit longer.