Seeing Santa

What do you do when you're waiting for Santa and discover his sleigh bells sitting next to the fire.......

 

Why you pick it up and hear it jingle of course!  Thankfully these two learned how to be a good lookout and avoided getting caught and placed on the naughty list.  

Henry's excitement for Santa and all the magic of Christmas has been at an all time high this year.  As he said "When I was 4 I didn't believe Santa and elves could be real, but then I realized you and daddy aren't buying all the presents or moving our elf so it has to be real!"  :)  

He sweetly anticipated the arrival of our elf Jelly Jack and looks forward to seeing him each morning.  He's made cards and pictures for him and Santa and has explanations for all the magic surrounding the season.  All the different Santa's you see......they're SC's brothers of course!!!

We experienced a relaxed and very sweet encounter with the jolly old elf this year.  Brunch with Santa at Lexington Country Club helped to fill our bellies and strike an extra sense of wonder in it all.    Gran and Pops joined us for the fun and it was a wonderful way to make Santa memories together. 

Henry and his bestie were too cute practically jumping out of their belt cinched trousers at their excitement.  

SC stopped by to chat with us while we ate and made sure the kids were well behaved.  

Henry was all business this year whispering his three wishes in Santa's ear; an army suit, a pistol and a Miles Morales web spinner.  

For the first time ever our sweet girl wasn't scared.  Maybe it was not having to sit on a strangers lap, or maybe it was a greater understanding of how it all worked, but she spoke to him like a champ.....other than forgetting anything she had been talking about wanting.  Santa tried to take a few guesses and thought she might like some princesses and dollies, little does he know this girl probably wants a pistol too.  She decided we definitely need to drop her list in the mailbox to make sure he knows she actually wants Marshall's Ultimate Fire Rescue, Nella the Princess Knight dress up, and an Ella doll.  

We opted out of the customary tradition of handing your baby to a bearded stranger who smells like meat and cheese and instead let him smile at him from a comfy distance.  He was down with a high five from SC and I'd say that's the cheeriest greeting we've ever witnessed at this age!  

Let the fun and excitement continue as we savor the fastest moving, wonderful time of the year.  

Trimming the Tree 2018

Hanging stalkings and ornaments with three little elves, Charlie Brown music playing and lights a' twinkling, welcome Christmas.  Decking the halls with three little loves is not far from stacking fine china teacups ceiling high on a boat at sea.  Busy little bees, making memories and trimming a tree sure feels like the days we will remember all our life.  Not an ornament was broken and though we may be decoration heavy on the bottom it is the best our tree has ever looked.  Henry and Mallie Lynn were so excited to decide where they would place each one and the fun of explaining where they all came from made this sentimental mama happy.  

Since putting it up Ford has found a handful of his favorites to take off and scoot around with before getting sweetly excited to "place" them back on again.  

Let the merry memories begin.  

Ford 13 & 14 month Love update

Time flies when you're loving on a baby.  These past two months have been such a sweet time of development and growth for our little Rutherford.  His hair has continued to be a source of conversation and entertainment as it has grown even longer and at times been untameable in the most adorable of ways.  I've learned I'd rather let it fly than to comb it into a more business like style; after all he can only get away with it for so long.  :)

He is still a hop scooting king and quickly glides with a tucked leg across the floor but started pulling up on furniture to stand at 13 months and slowly cruising around the room by 14.  I don't think it will be long before he's walking and I'm not in a rush for him to get there, it's a total game changer.
We aren't sure if he will be a kicker in football or futbal but he loves to scoot right up to the ball and with his leg in perfect position kick it across the floor.  Balls are still his favorite toy and he can throw a mean line drive and just as easily catch a grounder.  :)

We have found ourselves in a sleepy state lately with lots of night interruptions that we can't quite get past.  Molars are on there way and I hope they make an appearance soon, I can't help but think the discomfort they bring are the main culprit of night wakings.

Eating has lost it's novelty and often he'd rather practice his baseball pitches with whatever lunch or dinner is presented to him.  He will rarely turn down fruit and has become a lover of cheese and yogurt as well.
Music has caught his attention lately and he claps when a song comes on, followed by bouncing, twisting his arms side to side and nodding his head.

He still adores his brother and sister so much and enjoys playing with them especially laughing at them in the car.  He has also become more vocal (yells loudly) about things he doesn't appreciate, like being rubbed on constantly or having a toy taken from him.

He is still exploring sounds and has started occassionaly signing for his food with "more" and "please".   I can't wait to see what this next month brings us as we watch him explore the Christmas lights, ornaments and tree!
You are a silly, heart warming, laid back, loving, cuddle bug and ohhhhhhh how I enjoy our days!

Sweet Fordy, you are so loved!

Ford's 1st Birthday

ONE  Is always such a sentimental birthday to celebrate but honestly celebrating Ford turning one just felt like total celebration.  It's crazy to think he's no longer that squishy cuddly, fuzzy infant I once held, but I know and love him more now than I did then and that makes it all so much sweeter.

Every good party needs a theme, and for our little bambino we decided to roll with one that would truly make him happy.  When he was around 8 months old I had the old Dean Martin Italian music playing while the kids and I made pizza.  The song "Mambo Italiana" was a favorite for the kids to dance to and it was played several times throughout the night.  Days later it kept playing in my head and while changing a diaper that involved lots of hysterics and tears I started singing that song to him.  Immediately he stopped crying and began to smile, this quickly became our Ford whisperer.  Anytime he was upset I could sing that song and he would become calm again.  Over the summer we were on a trip back from the lake that involved 40 minutes of tears, I had told B about that song and so we decided to play it in the car.  BOOM just like some magical italian recipe that sweet boy calmed down.  The song goes off, he cries, it comes back on calm.  We were in stitches at the hilarious little boy who just couldn't get enough Mambo in his life.  

Fast forward to him at 11 months and starting to eat real food; he wasn't impressed by much until he met a strawberry.  His entire body quivers and shakes at the sight of them and he shouts for more.  We also found he has a deep love for pasta with tomato sauce, meatballs, and boy can he ever dominate a slice of cheese pizza!  

I couldn't think of anything more appropriate for our sweet Italian loving bambino than to say Buon Compleano!  

Starting the day with presents, relaxing, and strawberry jam made for a great start to his big day.  

With lots of family and friends out of town for the weeks surrounding his birthday we opted to celebrate in a small intimate way on his actual big day.  Turns out it was the perfect way to honor our guy and I enjoyed every second of it.  

I've never seen a more adorable birthday cake encounter.  At first sight he squealed and jumped, and couldn't stop moving his arms and legs till we sat the cake in front of him.  I made a strawberry cream cake, and he picked almost every slice of berry off and quickly crammed them into his mouth.  After several minutes of fruit picking I picked off a piece of cake to make him try it.  He sat chewing and thinking for a minute before deciding there was only one way to go at this new tasty treat.....face first.  

So neat, so tidy, so calculated in his bites, until he wasn't......

 

Watching him be 100% Rutherford and soaking it all in was such a perfect way to spend his birthday. He was loved on in the biggest of ways and though he's officially one year old, he still has plenty of baby left in him.  :)