Getting in the Spirit of the Season

We're ready for the Christmas Season to get into full swing here in the Stella household. This past week has been quite busy between work, car shopping, doctor appointments, physical therapy and sick little peanuts! But we've trucked right through and came out with Christmas all over the house! Tomorrow we head outside to light up the night with our bushes and trees!!

The Candy Apple Tree

We have our two Christmas trees up. One in the living room with all of our sentimental and "regular" ornaments. Then another in our entryway that I like to call our Candy Apple tree. It is covered in real and plastic candy canes and miniature apples, as well. I love it! I love that we have two trees this year and Nicholas is really enjoying this explosion of Christmastime all over!!

With Christmas expanding all over the house we were "forced" to break out the fun pen. They no longer make play pens like they had when we were kids so we've had to improvise, slightly. When Nicholas got really mobile we wanted to make sure that we kept him safe and we bought a plastic "pen" with walls that have toys attached to them. He loved it and didn't even realize he was being contained. We've broken it out once again, now that Addison is mobile and the Christmas trees are up. The kids LOVE the fun pen and have been playing in it together each day. Nicholas actually gets upset when we put Addie to bed because he doesn't have a playmate his own size anymore. Daddy makes up for that with some wrestling and football!!

Tonight we decided to head into Sparta, a local town by us, for the Annual German Christmas Market on the Lake Mohawk Boardwalk. While it was really quite cold, it was really nice to walk the boardwalk and see all of the Christmas vendors and smell all of the yummy German desserts and food that was being cooked up. Everyone was nice and bundled up but the cold still hit pretty hard so we walked the boardwalk a bit, bought Nicholas a mini tractor and Daddy a pie and then headed home. It was well worth the ride and 35 minute wait for a parking spot. We'll definitely be back next year!!

Doesn't everyone just look so happy here?!?!
It was REALLY cold by the water!

I'm just so cold Mommy...please....take...me...home...

Saucer Surprise

I've been cleaning up around the house most of the day so we can start getting ready for Christmas. While I was doing that, the kids were entertaining themselves and every so often I'd check on them. It was working out great...still is, especially since they're both napping now! At one point I went to check on them and this is where I found the peanut.

I'm fairly certain I have a number of pictures of Nicholas in this very same position!!

Christmas Kickoff!

The Christmas shopping season kicked off today in crazy fashion...I was not a part of that.

After some PT in the morning and car "shopping" in the afternoon, I spent the evening with the kids at grandma and pop-pop's. We enjoyed some Thanksgiving leftovers and mild napping and then headed into Madison to kick off the Christmas season with the annual Christmas parade and tree lighting!

Nicholas really enjoyed watching the parade and waiting anxiously for Santa to arrive. He even got to see Aunt Jen with the ambulance squad! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snap a picture as she danced by!

Addie all bundled up in anticipation of the beginning of the parade

Nicholas and his new hat waiting for Santa

The Great Big Wreath getting ready to go up!

Santa and his reindeer

Post parade bread...we kept her hat on because she was still cold even after being home for 35 minutes!!

Some more post parade noshing!
We had such a good time at the parade! Nicholas decided he wants to learn to play the drums after seeing all of the bands go by and really I'm not completely opposed to that.
We didn't have a chance to stay for the tree lighting, it was just too cold, but Nicholas did get to see Santa's house and we made a deal to come back and visit with the big man really soon!

Turkey Day Round 2

Happy Thanksgiving All! We hope you had a wonderful day filled with family, friends, many blessings and plenty of food!
We spent the day at grandma and pop-pop's with Uncle Timmy and Aunt Ann and my cousins Alanna and Ann as well as Aunt Jessica. It was such a nice day filled with plenty of fun and food and reminders of all that we have to be thankful for!

The day was really pretty out, just warm enough and pretty enough out for Nicholas to be able to play outside with Aunt Jessica. We were also able to have dessert on the back porch before the weather shifted and the rain came.
It was just a perfect day!
Here are a few of my favorite shots as well as a slide show of all the pictures of the day, we had quite a few!
Enjoy and We are Thankful for All of you!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Just Peachy in my new Cart Cover

A few weeks ago, Jane Maynard, over at This Week For Dinner held a contest for a shopping cart and high chair cover from Just Peachy Baby. I decided to enter with a comment and as luck would have it, I won! I was very excited because it was quite the bright spot after a rough week- it was the same week as the accident.

I emailed with the owner of Just Peachy Baby, Bonnie, and she had me choose which cover I would like and within days I had a beautifully colorful and really well made shopping cart cover! Addison and I tested it out the other night and she really likes it. We've had her in the shopping cart a few times before this but never with a cover because Nicholas destroyed his!! This cover fits so snugly over the entire seat and handle of the cart, it's perfect. There's no way that Addie can put anything gross or dirty in her little mouth or hands! The cover has little pockets for toys and bottles as well as a couple of hooks to hook some toys on to. It's just perfect! Compared to what we had when Nicholas was a baby, this is SO MUCH BETTER! The cover is clearly well made and soft and cushiony. It hooks on to the cart seat so that the baby is strapped into the seat safely and securely. The fabric is soft and comfortable and the design is so colorful and fun! JPB has a bunch of other designs and all are fashionable and fun any baby! Definitely check them out, it is well worth it!!



Before heading out to the supermarket, Addison likes to practice her tackle. Always ready for a full contact football game!I LOVE my new cart cover Mommy! I also love that my hat and coat match my polka dots!

I still love my colors and cart cover but could we get moving? It's cold out here...

Turkey Day Round 1

Today was the McGeary Thanksgiving at my Aunt Carolyn's house on LI. After a traffic free ride out there, the kids and I and pop-pop, had a lot of fun spending time with everyone and eating and just playing! We celebrate the holidays the weekend before so that everyone can see one another without having to worry about getting together on the actual day! It is a definite reminder of what I am thankful for- my family and friends! Here are a few of my favorite shots from today plus a slide show of all of the pictures! Happy Early Turkey Day!

It's Cuptastic

This morning we introduced Addison to her very first cup. There was a bit of reluctance at first but once she realized that not only could she soothe her gums on the spout but she could also get delicious juice out of it, she was hooked! Here are a few shots of the Ad-ster enjoying her new cup as well as Nicholas showing her the finer points of sippy cup drinking!

What am I supposed to do with this thing, Mommy?

Thanks for showing me the ropes, big brother!

This cup is great and this juice is delicious!

Snow

Tonight was our first snow of the season. It was also the very first time that Addison has ever experienced snow- outside of the womb that is. The weather people were calling for snow showers tonight and we got a good dousing of snow. The grass and cars were pretty well coated and it came down fairly heavy. Addison slept through the whole thing as we drove home tonight. She did wake up briefly and experience a few flakes on her pretty red head as Pat took her from the car to her crib. I can't wait to show her some real snow fall in these next few months.

Bundled

How could I resist sharing this?? We had to run to the mall tonight and this was Addison's first real outing in her new winter coat. She just looked so cute all bundled up. The coat is 12 month size...I wanted to make sure it fit her all through the winter!
At this rate, it will fit until next winter!

Sunday Pleasantries

After Pat got home from work this afternoon we drove down to my parents for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Nicholas and Addison were able to enjoy some quality time with grandma and pop-pop and mommy got a bit of a break and a chance to rest her arm some more. (Daddy went to the restaurant to help out grandpa.)
We had a delicious steak dinner and then Addison, who did not partake in the steak, gobbled up tons of vanilla ice cream. If you look closely you can see it all over her face.After the ice cream grandma gave Addie her first sink bath! Up until now, we've been bathing Addie either in her blue baby tub or in the big tub with Nicholas. The sink was the next logical choice-the happy medium between the two!

After exploring a bit she decided that she loved it and could not get enough splashing!

All Fresh and Clean after a dip in the sink!

Nicholas and Pop-pop looking on as Addison enjoys bathtime!
Nicholas enjoyed his own bath shortly after this picture!

What a nice way to spend an extra long day! We finished it off with Mommy driving for the first time since the accident last week. Grandma very graciously offered up her car so that Mommy had a way to get to and from work and physical therapy all week, thanks grandma!
It was not too much fun driving home since I still don't have much use of my left arm and hand but hopefully it will come back!

Falling Back

Well, we're falling back into the swing of things over here. I'll be out of the sling tomorrow after my first round of physical therapy. It has not been a fun or easy week!
The kids decided to welcome the end of daylight savings time by getting up extra early this morning!
Luckily, we were able to ply them with a bottle and a juice cup to grab a few extra minutes of sleep!I'm still waiting on that second tooth and now I've got a cold to boot!

I'm not really sure if I want to smile or not....

Mmmmmm....Bottle-riffic!

I'll give you a half smile...that's it!

We hope everyone got to sleep in a bit this morning and enjoy the extra hour of shut eye!
Thank you so much to everyone who has been so generous with their time and cars this past week! Especially, my parents who have been helping us out just about every single day with rides and dinners and everything else!
Hopefully these next few weeks will get easier!