The Farm

Christmas – Take 2

Posted on by Amy
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the Farm with my in-laws. It was a very fun time. Miss got dressed up for Christmas Eve.

She had a blast playing with all of her cousins (Lass missed out on this photo as she had gone to bed).


And of course, she loved opening her presents.

She loved her new Yo Gabba Gabba backpack.

She took a break to read one of her new books.
She stayed focused on her task in spite of all the commotion around her with 25 other people also opening gifts.
Then it was time for Santa. We took the stockings down from the mantle and spread them around the living room upstairs while the kids were playing downstairs. Here are Miss’s and Lass’s.
Then Santa stomped around, yelled, “Ho Ho Ho!” and all the kids ran up the stairs and out onto the snowy deck to catch a glimpse of him running away down the driveway. One of my brothers-in-law also had a flashlight with a red light that he made look like Rudolph taking off. Miss went out with her Daddy to see, but she was cold and I don’t think she actually saw anything since she didn’t really get what she was looking for. But she did enjoy digging into her pretty stocking (all the members of my husband’s family have gorgeous stockings made by his aunt, the kids’ are all personalized).
Then my husband found an item that was not put there by me. Could it have been Santa?

He misplaced this ancient and much-loved sweatshirt a year and a half ago and has been pining for it since. He has asked everyone he could think of if he might have left it at their house. And now he has it back. We have no idea who brought it back to him (well, we have a good idea, but no one’s ‘fessing up) and it doesn’t really matter anyway. He’s just happy to have it back. He’s thrilled. In fact, I think I heard him say something like, “This is one of the best Christmas presents ever.”
Miss really loved her new placemat with animals on it.
She loved counting the different animals.

On Christmas day it was time for playing in the snow.
She and her daddy went out with all the kids to sled on the big hill. She requested to make a snowman.
She had really enjoyed being out the previous day, but on this day it was much colder and windier. She didn’t stay out long at all and didn’t get a chance to make her snowman.
We’re going to have a warm-up later this week, so maybe we’ll get out to make a snowman then. This morning, Miss finally got the kitchen that Santa left for her and Lass. She loves it. As I type this, she is checking on her “pizza” in the oven. Time to go eat!

Fun on the Farm

Posted on by Amy
We had a nice week at the farm. The girls were fantastic during the road trip, both ways. It’s a seven-hour trip without having to stop for feedings and diaper changes. With those it took us about 9 hours each way. We had a few moments of unhappiness, but overall the travel was great. My girls are road warriors.
We tried to be as prepared as possible, with as many of the comforts of home as we could bring in our huge vehicle (but not quite so huge when you remember we had two dogs in the back). Lass absolutely loves her swing, and it is a lifesaver for getting her to sleep at night. But it would have been very tricky to try to bring it along. Though my husband swore he would fit it in so we could have it, I managed to find a small travel swing at the last minute at our local Babies’R’Us. Literally, I was there last Saturday afternoon picking it up just hours before we hit the road. It wasn’t quite as good as the big swing, but she seemed to enjoy it pretty well.

So Lass spent the week swinging, and growing, and being adorable. She is such a good baby, she made it easy on me.

Miss had fun going outside with her Daddy and Baba. Here she is all ready to head out.

Over the weekend she got to see all of her cousins. Miss has nine boy cousins and two girl cousins in my husband’s family, so the play amongst the boys can sometimes get a bit loud and rowdy. They like to have my hubby be the “monster” and chase them around. This game comes complete with the scary monster noises from my hubby and screams of terror from the kids as they flee from him, so Miss was a bit overwhelmed and freaked out by it at first. She got really upset when the boys all ganged up on the monster and started jumping on and kicking my hubby. I kept telling her “It’s okay,” and she got to the point where she would run away from them while saying over and over “it’s okay, it’s okay” as she high-tailed it towards me to grab my legs and beg to be picked up. But she got over her fear and ended up having a great time.
They went on a few “treasure hunts” where the kids pile on the Ranger and ride around the farm searching for interesting things in nature. I have been on many of these and thoroughly enjoyed them myself, and I was kind of bummed that I didn’t get to go with Miss for her first one. But I know she had a great time. Here is what she found on her first treasure hunt.
I have never seen something like that before. Anyone know what the heck it is???
After she warmed up to them, Miss had lots of fun playing with her cousins of all ages. She had her 11- and 13-year-old boy cousins playing with her baby dolls and dancing with her and spinning her around so she could get dizzy and fall down. She played hide-and-go-seek with them too. She also learned some wrestling moves from one of her younger cousins a bit closer to her size.

She had to be reminded a few times about sharing.
The last night we were there, three of the small boys were taking a bath in one of the bathrooms and she wandered in there to see what was up. My sister-in-law who was bathing them asked her if she wanted to take a bath. Miss loves the bath, so she enthusiastically nodded her head. My sister-in-law started stripping her clothes off to put her in the bath and about the time she got to her diaper, Miss seemed to realize that my SIL intended to put her in the bathtub with the three boys. She quickly turned to me with a panicked look on her face and begged me to pick her up, saying and signing “All done! All done!!” I took her to the other bathroom for a solo bath 🙂
We had a good time, but as always, it’s so good to be home. Time for bed.

What we’ve been up to

Posted on by Amy
We are at the Farm this week. My hubby has been hunting in the mornings and evenings. Miss has been having a big time with her “Baba” and “Papa,” (my husband’s parents) and is now playing with her cousins. More cousins and aunts and uncles will be arriving through the weekend, so I know she’ll have a blast. Her favorite thing this week so far has been riding around the farm on the Ranger. She has gone exploring with her Baba and Daddy around the farm, picked flowers, watched Papa on the tractor, and taken a nap on it, as loud and jostling as it is. She just went on a “treasure hunt” this morning. Lass and I have joined the ride a few times and she just falls right to sleep wrapped up snugly against my chest while the Ranger rocks and bumps around. She’s just been working on growing. I love watching all the sweet expressions she makes (haven’t yet caught a smile on camera).





Other things we’ve been doing since my last post include taking a trip to story time at the library last week. Well, sort of. We got all ready with every intention of going to story time, but couldn’t quite make it out the door in time. We went to the library anyway.
Miss really enjoys the show “Yo Gabba Gabba” and asks to watch it more than I would like. She calls it “Mo Ga.” I found a “Yo Gabba Gabba” book at the library and was so excited. I figured having a book from her favorite show would be great, so she wouldn’t ask to watch the show so much. Now all she wants to do is read the book and watch the show. “Mo Ga, book??” she says. It’s adorable to hear her recite the first page of the book though, “Oh nooooo! Where’s the sun?” Over and over and over as she flips through the pages.
She also got her first “haircut.” This really just means that I trimmed about five stray hairs that were too long and kept falling in her face so they are now the same length as the rest of her bangs.

Adorable. I’ll try to blog more in October. Can you believe it’s October already?? Fall, crisp weather, good football, Halloween (I already have the girls’ costumes). . . so much to look forward to!