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‘Holidays’ Category

  1. XOXO

    February 14, 2012 by Katie

    So today is apparently a holiday, of sorts—or so I’ve been told. :) You may or may not know that I personally do not celebrate Valentine’s Day.

    *GASP!*

    I know, right?

    I’ve been a proud anti-Valentine’s Day girl since 2001. In college, my friend and I tried to get ‘Half February Day’ as the official replacement, but there’s a lot of hoops to jump through to make that happen worldwide, so we gave up.

    I’m not here to explain why it’s a silly holiday or convince you to come over to ‘my side’. And just because I choose not to acknowledge it as a holiday, doesn’t mean I want you to do the same.

    Now, all that being said…..my mom has always continued to send me Valentine’s Day gifts every year, which I greatly appreciate. I just never send any lovey dovey stuff back.

    Until this year.

    Putting my feelings aside, I knew the grandparents would appreciate some kind of token of love from Elise.

    Key words: from Elise. Not me.

    So I did what any good mom would do, and helped Elise make some handmade items to send to her grandparents.

    She picked out some cute hand towels at Target, made some heart-shaped cookies {by ‘made’, I mean we made a trip to Trader Joe’s}, snapped a cute photo of herself to put in a heart frame, and finally, she created a little valentine with her hands.

    Lots of work for a little baby, but she persevered.

    I just put some cookies in a ziploc bag and stapled a tag {that Elise designed, of course} to the top of it.

    thanks for being so sweet to me

    Simple dimple. And much cuter than just sending the bag they came in—which was yellow, and totally didn’t fit in with the color scheme.

    Elise is picky like that.

    Next, we traced her hands {as best I could—some of it ended up being freehand, since anytime paper touches her hand it goes directly to her mouth} and made a tiny accordion style card.

    i love you….THIS MUCH! {and more}

    Awww…….

    And since she’s too young to use a needle, I stitched up a little felt envelope to hold them, then we threw everything in a box and doodled love notes on the outside.

    I think she had fun making everything, despite me mumbling out loud, “I can’t believe we’re drawing so many pink hearts”.

    The moral to this story is that having a child changes things, no matter how much you always told yourself that it wouldn’t*.

    Somewhere, somebody is laughing and saying, “i told you so!”.

    *I still won't celebrate it, but if Elise wants to, I will draw pink hearts 
    like my life depends on it.


    Category Holidays | Tags: | 1 Comment

  2. A Belated Christmas

    January 20, 2012 by Katie

    Once upon a time in early December, we were supposed to go back to Kansas for Christmas with my family…and then Elise got sick with a nasty cold. And then I got sick. And then Todd got sick.

    So flights were cancelled and I cried myself to sleep. {No, not really. But I was super bummed out.}

    Anyways, we were able to find a January weekend that all of us could get together for a belated Christmas—which I ended up preferring, since I still had it to look forward to after December 25th was over. {plus, it gave me extra time to get more gifts for our nephew!}

    Since we were only back in Kansas City for 3 full days, Grandpa & Grandma came to my brother’s house and we had our celebration there, squeezing in lots of cuddle and play time with Elise & little B.

    {Somebody developed a fascination for her cousin’s ears. Poor guy.}

    {‘Christmas Eve’ story time with Grandpa.}

    Then we all woke up bright & early (uh, 8 a.m.) to have our family Christmas. The babies got pretty spoiled with clothes and toys and more clothes and more toys. Repeat repeat.

    {happy cousins!}

    And then we decided we needed a cute picture of the kids wearing Santa hats.

    And……cue the tears.

    E: “B! Help me!”

    B: “I don’t know what your problem is, I’m completely fine. I like this hat.”

    We also played lots and lots of Bananagrams.

    We squeezed in a visit with this tiny little guy and his family…

    …and a dinner date with some of my bestest friends, who spoiled Miss Elise with hugs.

    Ah, I miss them so much. Seriously, spending an hour together twice (maybe thrice, if I’m lucky) a year just isn’t enough, but at least it rejuvenates my heart enough to sustain me while we’re apart.

    Also, traveling with a baby—which is stressful enough in itself—is much better when you are not doing it alone. I’m so glad Todd was along to be the one to change her poopy diapers in the airplane lavatory. Thanks, honey.

    the end.

    Category Holidays | Tags: | No Comments

  3. The Dress

    December 31, 2011 by Katie

    When we first found out we were having a girl, one of the first things I thought was, “she can wear THE DRESS for her first Christmas!”

    {THE DRESS.}

    It’s a lovely dark green velvet dress that I also wore for my very first Christmas 29 years ago. Meaning, it’s old vintage—which is all the rage nowadays.

    I was a June baby—so a month older than she was at Christmas—but since she’s bigger than I was at her age, it fit wonderfully. Have you seen her super chunky thighs and monstrous cheeks?

    And the best thing about it is that my mom made it with her own two hands (and probably some help from a sewing machine). I’m actually surprised that it has survived all these years after having been worn by many of my dolls, but it’s in pretty great condition.

    I felt so honored to be able to pass this dress down to my own daughter, and the look on my parents’ faces when we Skyped with them was awesome. Noone cried though, which is what I was really shooting for.

    Mom says she looks different than I did, so I’m waiting to get photographic evidence to compare side by side.

    Maybe she can pass it on to her own daughter someday. Many many many many years from now.

     

    Category Baby, Holidays | Tags: | 2 Comments

  4. Baby’s 1st Christmas

    December 27, 2011 by Katie

    I tried to sit back and enjoy the calm that this Christmas weekend brought, because I know this little girl who currently stays in one place will be all up in everything’s bizness next year. She probably had no clue what the celebration was about, but she certainly enjoyed the lights on the tree and playing with wadded up balls of wrapping paper.

    We spent lots of time just staring at the tree and, like always, playing with our feet.

    ..and more practicing sitting up all by ourselves!

    {notice the hand cautiously holding on—one head bonk has already occurred when mommy got distracted for a millisecond too long.}

    .    .    .    .    .

    Man, was it a tough struggle convincing Grandpa & Grandma Harris to make the drive from Idaho and spend the long weekend with us.

    Not.

    {Christmas Eve…Daddy reading about the night baby Jesus was born.}


    I’m so glad Elise got to share her first Christmas with them, even though she has no idea why she suddenly came into a wealth of new clothes, books & toys.

    Speaking of toys…..

    {we named her Shelby….like the Mustang}

    Maybe it’s just because I’m her mom, but I think this video —-> Giddy Up <—-is totally worth a minute of your time.

    Am I right….or am I right?

     

    Category Baby, Holidays | Tags: | 2 Comments

  5. Joyful Joyful, We Adore Thee

    December 25, 2011 by Katie

    A very Merry Christmas, from our family to yours.

    Wherever you are, whoever you’re with, we hope it is a day full of love, joy & kindness.

    We will be joyfully celebrating the birth of baby Jesus. How grateful we are that He came to us in the still of the night, humbly born amongst livestock thousands of years ago. He could’ve arrived in high fashion—with all the glitz and glamour in the world—but instead came as a tiny baby, filled with so much love for humankind.

    So. Much. Love.

    “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” luke 2:14

    Category Holidays | Tags: | No Comments

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