Counting Down the Days! (Grover Family Christmas Tradition #2)

This is the Advent calendar that we made in MOPS back in November. We have filled each muffin cup with M&Ms and are counting down the days till Christmas every evening after dinner. In future years, I'd like to see us do something a little more meaningful than M&Ms but, right now, they are meaningful to a certain little person! Let me know if you can think of other things we could put in the muffin cups!

O Christmas Tree! (Grover Family Christmas Tradition #1)

In December of 2005, my birthday wish was to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down a real Christmas tree, just like Laura Ingalls used to do (sort of!). After a little bit of online research, we found The Walls Family Farm in Terrell and it quickly became our first Grover Family Christmas Tradition. In the five years that we have been going, we have learned a few things:
1.) Go as early as possible. The best time to go is the first weekend after Thanksgiving.
2.) Take along a measuring tool, such as a precut ribbon, to ensure that you don't buy a tree that won't fit in your space.
3.) Be careful where you cut! Christmas Tree 2007 (see below) had a bit of a hole because we apparently cut above a rather important branch! Oh well, we decided this corner was a perfect place for our tree!

4.) Take along some friends or family! The Connells have joined us the past three years.
5.) Have fun! The Walls family is always so gracious and hospitable and their cookies, hot chocolate and cider is yummy too!
6.) Kids make the Christmas tree hunt all the more fun! Last year was Amity's first trip. The year before that, I was pregnant with her, and the year before that, she was just a much-longed for dream!

This year, we were some of the first people to arrive and the kids were raring to go find the perfect tree.

Amity thought she had found a good one... but her Daddy thought that we should look for one a little more substantial!

Eiley let Amity borrow her plastic saw.

Eli brought along his chainsaw for the third year in a row.

Amity tried using the saw to cut some grass.

We found lots of potentials, stopped to give Mom a snuggle, picked up a couple of sticks,

and finally found THE TREE! Daddy measured it with our ribbon. Mmmm...it looks a little tall!

Still looks really tall! Dad is 6'3" and our home just has 8 foot ceilings! Can you do the visual math here? :)

We're thankful for our big and strong Daddy that can fell the tree with just a few swoops of the saw.

The four of us and our tree!

Amity loves her Uncle Dylan ("Duh Duh")!

The men head back to the road with the trees. Wouldn't you know that we picked trees that were the furthest from the road?

Waiting for the tractor and posing for the camera!

The tractor and hay trailer picked us up and took us back to the house where we enjoyed some cider and cookies. We were surprised to learn that our tree measured 9 feet! Oops! Once we arrived home, we cut it down a bit and it soon fit perfectly in our living room.

We think it is our best tree yet! We couldn't wait for Amity to wake up from her nap so that we could show her our new tree!

Since Amity is talking and comprehending so much more this year and since we will be stuck at home over the holidays awaiting the arrival of Miss Vivien, we are looking forward to the opportunity to begin several more Grover Family Christmas Traditions. I will be adding them here as we think of them and have the chance to document them. I don't know who said it but I like this quote: "The most vivid memories of Christmases past are usually not of gifts given or received, but of the spirit of love, the special warmth of Christmas worship, the cherished little habits of the home."

Amity is 19.5 months old! (Recap of months 18 & 19)

Things have been a little nutty around here the past two months as we get ready for the holidays, for Baby Vivien's arrival, and keep up with a very busy little girl!

These are the pecans(or "balls" from Amity's perspective) that we picked up in our yard in just a few short minutes last night.

This is the little girl that is just 14 days away from being 20 months old and I never did an 18 or 19 month post so here it is! Due to sickness on the day of her original 18 month checkup, we rescheduled her appointment for November 3rd. At almost 19 months, these were Amity's stats:
Weight: 27 pounds, 1 ounce (85th percentile)
Height: 35 inches (above 95th percentile...we are now officially "off the charts")
Head: 19 inches (90th percentile)
We always love Dr. Moore's informational sheets that he provides at every checkup. The introductory paragraph seemed especially appropriate this time:
"Warning!! Two-year olds do not usually wait until they are two to begin acting like they are two. If you don't understand what I mean, consider yourself fortunate. For now. You will learn soon enough."

If we had received that at the time of Amity's originally scheduled appointment, we would have been those parents that didn't understand, but three weeks later, Amity had made sure that we understood exactly what Dr. Moore meant! :) I also like the last few sentences that he wrote: "Do not be afraid to teach them what is best for them. You will not lose their love and they will develop respect for authority. Real parenting gets tested and shaped now."

While we originally thought we would prefer not to have our parenting tested :), we are learning that there is even more joy in watching Amity choose to obey and do so with a happy heart! Of course, along with all of these so-called "two year old behaviors" comes a lot of fun personality!

Amity loves to pretend, especially with her baby dolls. She is always careful to make sure they are well fed and never thirsty...all the while carrying out her motherly duties in her fashionable tutu!

She loves to help me vacuum and do other chores. She is getting especially good at picking up trash and throwing it away and putting her shoes and dirty clothes in their baskets.

The sound of the garage door going up always brings quite a bit of excitement from both Amity and Paco because it means that Daddy is home! She runs to the door and says, "Hi Daddy!" Who wouldn't want to hang out with a Daddy that brings home cool things like a 3-D movie and glasses?

She continues to love Elmo. After a previous post about seeing Elmo toys in the toystore, GG and KK thought she might need just one more Elmo toy!

We have also diagnosed her with CBPS (Chronic Button Pushing Syndrome)! One of my favorite outings when I was little was going to DeFord's Hardware and hanging out in the doorbell section of the store. I am sure the workers loved it when we showed up knowing that they were going to be hearing all of the doorbells ringing for the next few minutes! Amity also loves buttons and recently discovered all of the buttons on the dash in the car after we returned home from the store. She sat in my lap for more than 15 minutes pushing buttons!

Other favorite things to do right now are:

- playing in the front yard and collecting things in her bucket (Cool Whip container).

- doing puzzles. She recently sat at the table for an hour and fifteen minutes working puzzles ("tuzzles") over and over and over.

- tellings us to "shhh" with her finger to the side of her nose when one of her baby dolls is sleeping. She always puts her dolls face down when they are asleep. It looks kind of creepy but I guess that is how you think everybody sleeps when you are a tummy sleeper!

- telling us that her baby doll needs a new "bopper" (diaper) because she is "stin-keeee".

- sitting in her rocker while reading a book to her baby dolls.

Favorite foods:

- cheese, cheese, and more cheese

- apples

- bananas

- crackers

- raisins

- green beans

- broccoli

- any kind of noodle (especially ones that come with cheese!)

- apple sauce

- yogurt

- peanut butter

- cake, cookies, and ice cream (she now knows those words and often suggests them when I am preparing her breakfast or other meal! :))

Amity, there is rarely a minute go by that you don't make us laugh! We love your joy, imagination, and determination and pray that God will use those to glorify Himself. We are so thankful for you and can't wait for you to be a big sister!

She's Got the Moves!

There is nothing and no one that can distract Amity like Elmo! While we do have a handful of Elmo things in our house, we have tried to not inundate ourselves with his face and trademark. Even so, Amity can spot Elmo from an incredible distance or on the tiniest piece of merchandise.

This afternoon, we went to Babies 'R Us to shop for some baby gifts for friends. After spending a long time in the cart looking at clothing, she was set free for a short while in the toy section. Wouldn't you know? She found the Elmo aisle and, right there in the middle of Babies 'R Us, decided to break out in some of her signature moves!

Thankfully, she has not yet discovered that some parents actually buy those toys and take them home for their children to enjoy. We are hoping to delay that realization as long as possible!

I'm Falling for You!

This morning, we ventured the one mile to the Arboretum to do some exploring. Amity found lots of treasures!

Leading the way...My favorite thing about the Arboretum is that she can pretty much run free without worrying about getting into danger or bothering other people!

A bench made just her size

A perfect spot for a picnic

Teddy Grahams for dessert

Even those these fish are very calm and still, Amity was still hesitant to stick her finger in the water. She stood her about five minutes just giggling nervously and trying to work up the courage to test out the water.

Table Talk

When we pulled into the garage this afternoon, I asked Amity if she wanted to come inside and play with her toys. She very adamantly answered, "No-oh!" Thinking she might be tired, I asked if she wanted to go to bed but, of course, she answered, "No-oh!" I asked her what she wanted to do and she said a string of syllables and then something that sounded like "outside". When I asked if she wanted to go outside, she nodded and said "Jes!" I am amazed how my career of working with English language learners is coming in handy in communicating with a toddler! :)

After spending some time in the front yard running in the leaves and climbing up and down the stairs, we headed back inside so I could fix dinner. Amity wanted "up" but I couldn't hold her and cook so I offered the option of coloring ("rurors") or puzzles ("tuzzles"). She chose to begin with coloring. However, as you can see, the joy of coloring is found not on the paper but in the process of putting the colors through the slot in the wipes container. This process was repeated at least 3 or 4 times and took at least 15 minutes (just enough time to make the turkey sloppy joes)! I love this kind of activity!
Then, she decided that she wanted to work a few puzzles while the joes were simmering. Apparently, the horse is trotting across the table here.

We don't know what secret elf has been teaching her to work puzzles but apparently he has been doing a good job. Sometimes, we let her play with puzzles in her high chair while we finish dinner but she has never done this well. Usually she is a praise junkie and wants you to cheer her on and clap for her but, this time, she completely ignored my praise. Oh well! I'm thankful for a little girl that was happy to play at the table until I could get our dinner ready!

All That Glitters

Amity and I hosted our first playgroup today with six other moms and ten other kids from NSP. It was a fun time of fellowship and yummy food. Being a newbie at hosting a play group, I was semi-stressing about what we were going to do for two hours. I didn't need to worry because even the big kids were just happy to play with someone else's toys. However, I did find a simple craft at Family Fun and thought that it might be something that even the toddlers could do.
Earlier this morning, I tried it out with Amity. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the sticky contact paper...

but she was all about the glitter!

And now we have some lovely window art! :)