Lauren's 2013 Winter Break

Just as in previous years, Lauren visited Salisbury, for a week, in December.  She spent a few days with Grumpa and Grammy, a few days with Mee-maw and Grandpa, and a few days with Aunt B and Kevin.  Since I was not there during those days, I have asked everyone to do a little write-up about their time with the Bear!!

Dec. 10 - Dec. 13th - Lauren stayed with Grumpa & Grammy

We had a blast with Lauren and did so much, it is hard to remember the details.  In addition to a lot of singing and playing musical instruments, some of the highlights included:

• decorating the small Christmas tree in the dining room
• searching for Snowflake each morning
• helping Grumpa stack firewood and fill the bird feeders
• helping Grammy make cookies (and eating her weight in dough)
• making Grumpa play horse

           

           

December 13 - December 15 - Lauren stayed with Grandpa and Mee-Maw

As always, we loved every second of our time with Lauren!!!  She is such a sweet, easy going little girl!!!  We took her to see some outdoor Christmas lights, which she loved.  We got out of the car and walked through the lights.  She would linger at every display.  But the best was when she saw a lighted bear.  She took off running, saying "Clark, Clark!!!"  She had her own Clark Bear in her arms and put her Clark up to the lighted bear.  It was so cute!!!

We took her to our Church on Saturday evening for a Christmas Carol sing.  It was made especially fun for Lauren by an appearance of Santa Claus.  But the best part of the evening, for Lauren, was the cookie table.  She made multiple trips and enjoyed them all!!!  And she was given a special blinking Christmas hat from our Pastor, which she wore with a big smile!!!

Being a grandparent really is awesome!!!  Lauren has been such a blessing in our lives!!!

                     

                     

December 15 - December 16 - Lauren stayed with Aunt B and Kevin

When Bear came to stay with Kevin and I, we spent the first evening building our first gingerbread house together.  EVERY TIME Lauren went to put candy on to the house, she would stick it in the icing, pull it off, lick the icing, and then put the candy back on.  This was interspersed with her eating the candy before it could get placed on the house at all!!  During the sugar rush that followed, she played with the dogs and played with the "robot" roomba, by hiding from it on the dog bed and screaming for us to hide with her before he ate us all!  Kevin, being the brave soul he is, was able to quietly sneak up on the robot and stop it before it ate us.

The next day, we woke up, had some breakfast and then laid out plastic all over the floor, with two canvases on top!  Kevin covered the canvas with red, yellow, and blue paints and Lauren began to create magic.  She used her hands first until she learned she could skate on it and use her feet!  She then proceeded to run as fast as she could, though the slippery surface made her stay in one place.  She frequently fell down, leaving butt prints in her masterpiece!!  By the end, she had managed to turn almost entirely blue and red and she got Kevin and I covered in paint as well.  But she did not make a mess anywhere else!!!!  And the artwork turned out beautifully.  We then gave her a nice long bath, she napped and we spent the rest of our time playing with her and watching her sneak treats to the dogs.   It was a perfect visit!!!

                               

                               

A Whirlwind December 2013

In an attempt to cover all of the things that happened in December 2013, I will break it down into a few blog posts.  One post will cover most of December, one post will cover what the Bear did while on winter break in Salisbury, and one post will cover Christmas Eve/Christmas vacation.

Snowflake Arrives 

Once we made it back to Fairfax, after a late Thanksgiving, Chad and I went to work getting the house ready for Christmas.  Snowflake timed her arrival perfectly.  When Lauren woke up the next morning, the house was completely decorated, and there was a new Mickey Mouse Jack-in-the-box waiting for her.  She loved the small tree set up in her room and got a huge kick out of the "BIG" Christmas tree downstairs.  At first, she did try to re-organize the ornaments,and I tried very hard to let it go.  I am quite particular about my tree, so this was no easy feat.  Luckily, she soon got tired of it and left the tree alone.

The rest of the month, Snowflake took it pretty easy.  She moved around the house on a frequent basis, but stayed out of trouble.  (I was very exhausted this year and did not have the energy to get as creative as last year.  Hopefully Snowflake will be up to her old antics next Christmas)  But this year, she hung out with some bobbleheads, got caught up in our cuckoo clock, and even brought Lauren some Big Sister books.

                 

                                         

Playing with the Trains

While I was busy decorating the house and getting everything ready for the holidays, Chad set up one of his favorite Christmas traditions...the choo choo train!!  He spent a week getting it all ready.  Most of the pieces were from Grumpa and Grammy's house, and then he added the Dicken's Village homes that Lauren has given him every Christmas.  It was a huge success.  Lauren especially loved dumping logs onto the train, and telling Chad when to make the trains go fast or slow.  Every night, she would wait for Chad to get home and then demand to go in to the basement to play with the trains.  This is definitely a tradition we plan to continue each year!!

Visiting Santa

At the beginning of December, Lauren and I met Chad for lunch at the Fair Oaks Mall.  Santa (or as Lauren calls him "Claus") was there and she was very excited to meet him.  As we rounded the corner, she saw the large Santa display and yelled out "I'm coming Claus"!  It was very cute, but I wondered if the excitement would continue once it was her time to sit on Santa's lap.  

This year, the Santa was different because this was the one day they brought in a sing language Santa Claus.  There was only one other kid there, and it was neat to watch him sign with Santa and the Elves.  Once it was Lauren's turn, I walked her up to Santa, put her on his lap, and walked away.  She did great!!   

But, on the way out, we were asked if Lauren would like to meet the Ice Princess.  As soon as she heard there was a real princess, she appeared to go into shock.  That picture did not turn out as well.

         


Shopping for Toys for Tots Gifts

One afternoon, I took Lauren out to shop for Toys for Tots gifts.  She did a great job and really enjoyed picking out a bunch of toys.  When it came time to put the toys in the donation bin, she helped with all but one toy...a Mickey Mouse Drum Set.  It took quite a bit of work and consoling to get that toy out of her hands, but eventually she did place it in the bin.

I know that she is too young to fully grasp the concept of donating toys for children less privileged than herself, but I plan to make this a yearly tradition, in the hopes that eventually she will learn the importance of giving to those less fortunate.

(She did end up getting that same drum set from Mee-maw and Grumpa and it has been a favorite toy ever since.)

First Snow of the Season

During December, the Fairfax area received a few inches of snow overnight and luckly it fell on a weekend, so that Chad was able to stay home and enjoy the day with us!  Lauren immediately noticed the snow outside and it took all of our efforts to keep her inside long enough to get her dressed.  Once she got on her snowpants, coat, hat and mittens, she headed outside to play.

She especially enjoyed playing on the balcony, while peeking back inside at Chad, Wrigley and myself.  And she also enjoyed playing out in the back of Chad's pick-up truck.  It was the perfect snow playground, because she was contained and the snow was untouched by cars or other kids.  We brought her broom outside and she went to work sweeping up all of the snow.


                 


Baking Cookies

Lauren went to Salisbury, for a week, to visit with the grandparents and Aunt B.  When I went to pick her up, at the end of the week, we stayed a few more days for our annual cookie baking day.  Lauren, Aunt B, Mee-maw and I baked sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and fudge.  Lauren especially loved sitting at the counter and eating the cookie dough.  And she also tried to help frost the sugar cookeis, but Aunt B and Mee-maw ended up doing most of the work.

                           


They turned out great and did not last long!!

Delivering Cookies to the Nursing Home

Once the cookies were done, Aunt B, Mee-maw, Lauren and I headed to the local nursing home to deliver the cookies and wish the patients a happy holiday.  Aunt B no longer works at the nursing home, but most of her patients were still there and they definitely missed having her around.

It took a while before Lauren was comfortable enough to personally hand over the boxes of cookies, but after a few stops, she was eagerly walking into the rooms, handing the patients the boxes and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!  She wore multiple Christmas hats and really seemed to brighten everyone's mood.  Once again, this is a tradition that I hope we will be able to continue through the years!


                     

Enjoying Spring-like Weather

Right before Christmas, the weather suddenly changed, and we experienced spring-like conditions.  Chad, Lauren and I decided to go outside to enjoy the 65 degree weather.  We headed to Gravelly Point Park, north of Reagan Airport, to walk around and watch the planes land/take-off.  Lauren had a blast trying to catch airplanes, while sitting on Chad's shoulders.  Of course, the good weather did not last long and we are back to really cold temps.  But it was nice while it lasted.

                 

It was a busy and wonderful December, and of course more stuff happened, but I will leave that to the additional blog posts!  Chad and I are truly blessed to be able to create these moments with Lauren and hope to continue all of our family traditions through the years.  Hopefully all of our future Decembers will be just as busy and wonderful!!

It's A Boy!!

Well, it is official!  A baby boy will be joining our family in April of 2014, and I could not be happier!

We revealed the news at Thanksgiving Dinner.  Previously, I sent a friend of mine, Chante Lasco, a box with a baby doll, a boy outfit, a girl outfit and the news.  Her family dressed the baby doll in the appropriate outfit and had it ready when I picked it up on the way to Salisbury, for Thanksgiving.  And her children, Cooper and Lorelai, did an amazing job keeping the secret, while I was at their house!  Thanks again guys!!!

Once everyone was assembled around the table, I handed Lauren a gift bag, which was filled with a baby doll decorated in either pink clothes (girl) or blue clothes (boy).  And boy did she take her sweet time opening the gift.  She pulled each piece of tissue paper out of the top of the bag and did not understand that we were waiting to see the baby doll inside.  I did not think Aunt B was going to make it through the anticipation.

But eventually she managed to get the baby doll out and everyone was excited to see blue clothes!  Lauren immediately fell in love with her baby doll.  She named him Boy Fisher and is proving to be a wonderful "mommy".  I am really excited to see her take on the role of Big Sister in a few months...she will be amazing!!