Christmas 09

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The girls were so much fun. Christmas Eve we made cookies for Santa and before the girls went to bed they set some out with some milk and read some Christmas stories. In the morning Brayden went to check on them and she was so excited that he had eaten them. She even did a fist pump with a "YES!"

Christmas morning Brayden woke up first and we wouldn't let her go down until Ayla woke up because they had gotten a doll house among some other things that weren't wrapped and we wanted them to see them together. It wasn't long before Ayla was up and then both went running down the stairs and were so excited they didn't even know where to start. The checked out the doll house and they also got a tinkerbell art table that were sitting out and then we decided to open their stockings first. Brayden's favorite part of the stocking was the purple gum Santa put in there for her. After breakfast we went back to the tree and the girls tore through their presents. haha It's not like it was before when they would carefully look at each one.

Then since Brant had to go out shoveling (we got about 2 feet of snow) I dressed the girls up and we went out and helped and then did some sledding. It was a blast. Last year when we took Brayden sledding she didn't want to have anything to do with it. Now she keeps asking me when we can go again. Abby even came out and enjoyed the weather with us. We tied her up to the sled with the girls and she pulled them! It was pretty funny. The girls were giggling the whole time.




Since none of the family was able to make it down here we were able to pack up and hike up to DL on Sunday to spend Christmas with everyone else. The girls as always had so much fun playing with their cousins. Of course they also loved seeing the Grandpa's and the Grandma's. Brayden always says how lucky she is to have so many Grandpa's and Grandma's that love her. :)

Her other Grandpa, Grandpa Rick also flew in on Tuesday evening so the girls were lucky enough to be able to spend some time with him as well. We enjoyed it too since we had a babysitter for NYE! It was our first NYE out in 5 years!! I couldn't even believe it when Brant figured that out. I have either been pregnant and sleeping by midnight or had a 6 month old on my hip (or boob) haha

Brayden's Holiday program 09

Brayden is now in Preschool and they had a little holiday program that they put on. It was so cute. It was only 7 minutes long which is perfect for her age. :) She was definitely a little Diva. She loved being up there on the stage. She didn't see us till about half way through the program and when she finally did in the middle of one of their songs she yelled out "HI MOM" and waved. Made me feel pretty special :)
Also when the curtains opened and Ayla saw Brayden up there she kept yelling "SISTER!"

In the hall waiting to go in.





Brayden and her buddy Callie

Winter Wonderland...AGAIN

The snow was gone and now it is back! BUMMER!!! I am not even sure how much we have so far, maybe 16 inches or so. It looks like it is currently taking a break but the weather report says there is more ahead this evening. Here are a few pics from this morning. Brant and I went to workout at 8:30 this morning and came back around 10:30. In that time the city had come by and plowed the roads and blocked our driveway with a big pile of snow so Mike had to come and plow it out. He got stuck!! One of the big city plows had to come and get him out.

Stats

Miss Ayla Jane at 9 1/2 months weighs in at 17 lbs 14.2 oz. which is in the 25%tile. She is 28 in long 56th %tile and her head circ. is 17.4 in which is the 47th %tile. She did not have any shots today YEAH!! I never like it when she has to get those, breaks my heart to see her in pain. She did just finish taking antibiotics for her 3rd ear infection. The doctor said that the average number of ear infections in a child's first year is 3 and it is cold and flu season so it is all normal but if she continues to get them thru the summer season then we may have to go see an ear specialist. Brant had to have tubes in his ears when he was little so Ayla could follow in his footsteps. We shall see, as of right now her hearing is great and she is happy and healthy.

Been a month...oh my

Let's start with the youngest of the Schmitz clan. Tomorrow is Ayla's 9 month appt. I don't think she gets any shots for this one just a checkup. However Brayden said that she is coming along to hold Ayla's hand and make sure she doesn't get sad. :) Such a good big sis. She now has 5 teeth! 3 on top and 2 on bottom. Now that she has some teeth we have been experimenting with table foods. So far her favorite is grapes and crackers. She has also tried tofu, noodles, strawberries, bananas, pancakes, bread, and mandarin oranges. She WAS NOT a fan of the mandarin oranges. I don't think she liked the texture of them as she did not even want to touch them.



Brayden is enjoying every minute with her little sister. Especially now that they can share snacks. Sort of funny how they work. If Ayla has some crackers and I have already told Brayden she cannot have anymore, somehow Brayden still ends up with more. She gets all excited and tells me that "Look mom, Ayla gave me some cracker!" She also said "It's ok we can share cause Ayla is my best buddy" Oh melts my heart! However I know this is just the start of some innocent manipulation. I can already invision them working out some sort of scheme in the future.

Brayden has become alot more inquesitive. She is always asking "Why", sometimes to the point of annoyance but I guess that is how they learn about the world around them right. For example, have you ever been in a bathroom where a kid and mom or dad are in the stall next to you and you can hear the kid asking if you are pooping and why and is peeking under the stall at you? Yep I am now the mom with THAT kid. So embarassing.

This weekend was actually a nice one so we decided to take advantage and do some outdoor things. Brant started it off by picking up dog poop in the backyard that has now been uncovered since most of the snow has melted. SO GROSS! Saturday we went to the Red River Valley Zoo in Fargo. It is no Woodland Park Zoo that is for sure but Brayden still enjoyed it. We got to see a baby camel that Brayden thought they should name Gracie (that was one of the choices that they had up for the camel). We also saw some Red Pandas which were really cute! I just wanted to cuddle them. Brayden's favorite's were Ralph the Bald Eagle. I named him Ralph because she kept asking me what his name was so that was the best I could come up with. She also really liked the wolves especially one named Sirius (No I did not name him). After the zoo we went to the dog park because we had brought Abby with us. We were hoping there would be some dogs to play with but it was pretty muddy and noone (except us) wanted to bring their dogs in there. Abby got to run around for a little bit though and of course was happy to be anywhere we were.

Today,(Sunday) We decided to go for a walk out at Dunton Locks which is a couple miles from us. It was pretty slushy but we had a great time just being outside. It was a really nice family weekend. We had a nice springy warm weekend but it looks like the week ahead may be nasty. The forecast calls for rain and snow YUCK. Come on Spring quit teasing us already!

Crawling, Running, and Daddy's Sweatheart

Oh news news news! After 8 1/2 months Ayla is now crawling! YEAH This morning she decided to go after the kitty toy. Of course she has to do this when I am trying to put clothes on her so in the video she is just in her diaper. :)


Brant and Brayden had a great time at the Daddy's Sweatheart dance. Before the dance was a grand march of the daddy's and their sweethearts. After that we all had to leave. A few of Brant's friends were there with their little girls as well. Brant said that Brayden had a great time running around with all the other little girls and dancing with the Polar Fest Princess'.


Last weekend was also the Freeze Your Buns 5k. Since we had not worked out very much if at all before the run my only goal was to run the whole thing. I not only did that BUT I also beat my husband by about 2 minutes hehe. It was really cold out I didn't even warm up until some time after mile 2. Brant came in looking like the abomadible (sp?) snowman. I am signed up now for the St. Paddy's run in the cities in March but Brant will not be joining me cause running is not for him.(BOO)

Brayden's favorite movie is Mamma Mia. Here is a clip of her singing the song Super Trooper from the movie. Usually she is singing Dancing Queen but this is her second favorite song from it.