The rest of the Christmas trip, 2012: The Stemms

Bear with me while I finish posting the last of our holiday trip north. After visiting Nicholas's Dad and Tamara, and then Nicholas's Mom, we headed out to stay with my parents on the farm. Mom and Dad have two guest bedrooms upstairs, so it is kind of like a suite! On the first day out there, Steph and the kids came over for dinner. I can't even remember when we supped where, but we had a great time playing with Grandma Dorothy, Grandpop Steve, Aunty Stephy, Uncle Brandon, cousins Craig, Abby, and Luke. And my cousin Justin was in for a part of our stay with his four-year-old daughter Lily, which was awesome since I hadn't visited with him in years! I won't linger on all the details, but just get to some of the pictures of all the cuteness!

Craig is such a great big brother and a great cousin! I know Leo will always feel included with the boys!

Little Luke had his two-month birthday while we were there! He is so cute and getting so big! I loved seeing him in some of Leo's old clothes!

Leo liked "playing" with Luke. Leo is giving Luke his paci. Leo doesn't know what that is. I wish he did! 

Craig is such a good sport. When I asked to take a picture of him, he just said, "Okay!" and smiled! His Grandma Cindy has him trained!

Lily asked Grandpop to read a story. All the girls wanted in on it! I thought I got better pictures than these. It was super cute in person!

The next day over at Steph's house, this was the scene in Abby's room. The girls' were putting on a horse parade. Stephanie took one look at Olivia when she walked in and said, "Let's fix your hair!" And so she got her first french braids!

Later, Lily shared sparkles with the other girls.

Another day, we had a little Christmas at Grandma and Grandpop's house. Olivia got several really cool books, including a seek and find book from Aunt Heidi and eight books with a little electronic reader that went with it from my Aunt Vicky. I love books that Olivia can really read by herself--especially when we go on car trips!

Leo mostly just crawled around and ate Cheerios during the present opening.

Here are Grandma and Olivia looking at some of those books.

And Olivia giving Grandpop a hug for the horse and Barbie they got her.

All the cousins enjoyed the books during the trip.

Olivia has mentioned repeatedly that she misses her cousins and her Grandma Dorothy. We had to call Grandma the other day. We love Alabama, we just wish it was closer to all of our family!

Visiting with Mutti, Charlie, and GG, Christmas 2012

We had a great time visiting Mutti this trip, too! The first night Uncle Chuck joined us for opening presents. He got the kids the biggest gifts ever: a Giga ball (four feet in diameter--you can get in it and roll around--we haven't blown it up yet) and a princess tent. Mutti bought Olivia the blue sparkly dress in the picture below and she wanted to wear it then and forever! The kids love Mutti and Uncle Chuck!

Charlie telling Olivia a secret.

The scene of opening gifts.

Notice the wardrobe change.

 The following day, Mutti and Olivia fought with swords (golf clubs).

And laughed a lot!

Then we visited Nicholas's Grandma who lives with his Aunt Judy.

Did I mention that Leo clung to me the entire trip? I think he thought I was going to give him away as a gift. This is as good a picture as we could get of GG, Nicholas, and Leo.

Notice busy Olivia on the phone in her apron. She is talking to me!

A kiss for Leo!

Aunt Judy watches Nicholas's cousin's daughter who is two months younger than Olivia, so she has great toys!

GG and Nicholas

The whole gang! From left, Jane, Charlie, Grandma, Nicholas, Olivia, Christine, Leo, and Sota

And here were the sleeping arrangements: Olivia and Leo in the pack-n-plays in one room. They had a good time!

Look at Olivia trying to bother Leo.

Leo is so cool!

Visiting with Grandpa Bill and Tamara, Christmas 2012

(I know this post is so late, but I wanted to record our visit!) The day after Christmas, we let Leo recover for one more day from being sick and Olivia and Nicholas took some time to ride her new bike around the halls of Shelby Hall on campus and have a picnic in Nicholas's office. We packed up that night and set off for Grandpa Bill and Tamara's house the next day. That evening we had Christmas again at their house. Olivia opened all the presents, and there were a lot! Olivia always loves Grandpa Bill and Tamara, and our visit was really fun! Here are some pictures of the present openings:

Olivia trying on her zoo visor.

Tamara and Bill get the cutest clothes for the kids!

Olivia opened everyone's presents: Leo's, her's, Nicholas's, and mine!

Grandpa and Leo playing around.

Olivia trying on her fuzzy boots that went with her pink robe, which I have pictures of now to post later.

Our day delay made our visit too short, but we had a great time visiting while we were there! We got to see their new house currently under construction, and are super excited to visit them when they move in soon. We also got to see Tamara's office, which is impressive with her numerous staff! Olivia especially liked coloring and playing at Tamara's big desk while Grandpa and Daddy did some computer work.

Christmas 2012 -- Just the four of us!

It was so fun to see Olivia's reaction to Santa's visit! She was so excited in the morning...so excited that she woke up every hour from three AM to six AM asking if Santa ate his cookies. Leo didn't sleep well either because he was sick. Despite an early start, we were all pretty stoked!

Olivia was up early and ready for presents! She found her rainbow ribbon and glide bike right away!

Each time we opened a gift, we played with it for a while. She wanted to read each book, too!

Of course we had to put on all her princess pads and helmet and try out the bike! (Good thing weather delayed us from leaving for the northern relatives the next day. Instead, Daddy took Olivia to his office and they rode bikes in the halls!)

Thank you, Nicholas, for this camera and the beautiful pictures it takes of our children! I promise to learn more about it so that I can take even better pictures!

I'm always a second off of getting Leo's sweet grin. I will get it one of these days!

Taking some steps!

But it is easier when Mommy helps!

And after presents, homemade (mostly) carmel rolls! Heidi, the smaller pan worked better!

Another pose later that day!

Christmas Eve 2012 (At home with the kids!)

Christmas really snuck up on us this year. Work lingered for Nicholas, and the kids didn't get out of "school" until the Friday before. Then we all got sick. Leo and Olivia were very sick with coughing and fever, and I got it, too. Despite all the yuckiness of that, it was good to have an excuse to relax, watch more TV than usual, and kick around the house. We watched White Christmas one evening that I wasn't feeling well, and Olivia LOVED it. She really liked all the dancing and singing parts, so we made it through the two hour movie in about 25 minutes because we mostly skipped to just those. Here is a sweet video of her dancing to one clip. It's now a favorite!



Christmas Eve was a relaxed day around the house. We made an apple pie for us and oatmeal cookies for Santa and had a "fancy" dinner in the dining room. Leo amazed us by taking about eight unassisted steps out of nowhere! He had been taking a step or two or three and walking with strollers or walkers, but we had a little moment with him doing so much on his own.

Here he is walking Olivia's baby stroller. He isn't picky. He'll use anything with wheels, and he is good about turning it around and getting it unstuck!

Leo's favorite spot in the house continues to be the dishwasher!

Olivia helping with the pie crust.

Opening Grandma and Grandpa's present on Christmas Eve.

Starting our tradition of reading "The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve.

After our "fancy" dinner, Olivia wanted to use the good plates to leave Santa's cookies. And she wanted to leave him some hot tea, too, in case he was cold! Totally her idea!

The view during the night after Santa came!

The Christmas Program, 2012 (Videos)

The entire program: It's over 8 minutes long. Olivia comes out at 4:30:

Leo's debut: This one is 15 seconds, and he is so cute!

Olivia's Meltdown: It's a little sad...

My new year's resolution

My new year's resolution is simply to be more grateful. Yes, I hope I make more time for yoga, lose the last of my baby weight, get our house more organized, and treasure all the little moments with Nicholas, Leo, and Olivia, but if I start with a grateful heart, I think the important things will rise to the top, and I will be able to let other things go.

I'll do some catch-up blog posts about Christmas and our travels when we get back and unpacked. We were delayed leaving Alabama due to weather, and then delayed leaving Indiana due to car troubles, so our schedule is late. But, we had a great visit with all the relatives, and the extra time with them was especially welcome since my parents are moving to ND this month.

To start out my resolution right, here is what I am grateful for right now: my husband for being the best packer and unpacker--doing it all without complaints--and driving us all back to Alabama, my sweet Leo sleeping for the first leg of the trip, and for clever Olivia "reading" the books Aunt Vicky bought her for Christmas! I have had tens of minutes of a break in the car to read about my new camera, check my email, and blog!