Christmas 2014

I  always loved Christmas.  The food, gift giving, food, sweets...it's pretty fantastic. However, with Miriam, Christmas is not just great, but amazing again.  The preparation; baking, grocery shopping, gift wrapping, was so much fun with my little sparkly helper along.

"M, let's get a picture with the tree"

Rocking the Target cart.  "Wheeee"

Wrapping gifts is easy.  Do we have more tape, mom?

Christmas Eve had a whole new focus.  Although M has no idea who Santa is yet, we followed him online all day, put out cookies, wrote him a letter for her stocking, and Jason and I got to play Santa for the first time...i.e. we drank egg nog and put toys together all night.

Christmas Eve breakfast at La Bellavia

Christmas Eve walk in the park

Opening our Christmas Eve gifts, new pajamas all around!

Cooking Christmas Eve dinner.

"Santa...I tasted all our cookies!"

The image I will forever have in my head of this Christmas is Miriam on Christmas Day, in her fleece night gown, tights, slippers, sticky-out-ponytail, chocolate and biscuits all over her face, bouncing from one edge of the house to the other with her new toys.  Play with kitchen, color on table, push dolly, put dolly in other pushy thing, push dolly again, back to the kitchen...repeat, repeat, repeat until you collapse in an exhausted pile of tears!  It was brilliant.  She is not really crazy about opening presents yet (our last gifts weren't opened until about 3:00 that afternoon), and when she does finish meticulously, carefully opening each package, she would break again from opening to play with the toys all over again.

Baby!!

Santa's all ready!

New kitchen!

Breakfast.  Yes, that's all 3 bows in her hair.  They were stocking stuffers and she wanted all three:)

Wow!  A new table!

Going, going going!

Daddy's gifts:)

We ate, drank, and were very merry. I loved every second of it, and cannot wait until next year!  A few other pictures from the past few weeks...

Recovering from a time change is tough.

New trick: teeth brushing.  Miriam brushes her teeth at least 3x a day!

Her new "Choo Choo" blanket.  A napping must.

Other new obsession: cuties.  She eats at least 4 a day.  Highest count was 5 in one sitting.

Her hair is so long she rocks the spiky pony daily.  I love giant bows!

Because Maddie never gets any blog love...here she is getting a drink.

Sporting one of her Christmas gifts, a "Choo Choo" t-shirt.

Still a favorite: hummus & celery

Thank you cards in the works.

Have Toddler Will Travel

**I've been very bad lately, I wrote this post about 3 weeks  ago about our trip, but just got photos organized. More to come on Christmas & NYE**

Miriam is squarely in the toddler camp these days.  Testing boundaries, learning words, going, going, going, she's a force to be reckoned with.  Jason and I must be a little crazy to take a 16 month old on a 2.5 week other-side-of-the-country trip, but for us, it's worth every headache to spend time with family and explore new places.

First, Miriam and I tagged along with Jason while he had a conference in NYC.  We stayed right off 5th Avenue in Manhattan.  Miriam loved the city and every morning after breakfast she took off running out of the hotel restaurant, up lobby stairs to watch the chaos outside in the street.  As I've mentioned before, she has no fear, and if strong enough to push open the giant glass doors she would have been out on the sidewalk with the rest of the crowd.  We shopped, visited a Children's Museum, & played in Central Park.  A different experience for us all.

Keeping warm in NYC

Central Park

After a few days in NYC we drove to Massachusetts / Rhode Island to see Jason's family.  Miriam's only cousins live in Rhode Island, and the 3 girls had a blast together! They are quite the little trio. We ate seafood, devoured cakes and cookies, and played, played, played.  I know my sweet-hearted niece did not want to say goodbye to Miriam, bear-hugging her in the lobby of Outback, and I spilled a tear or two when we left our little monkeys.  I really look forward to visits in the future and watching the girls grow together.

Hoodsie with Grandpa

After Massachusetts we headed further south to Wilmington, DE to my parents' new house.  We were together with my parents, Richard, Timmy, and Richard's new fiancee, Lauren, for Thanksgiving.  It was a holiday for the ages.  My mama outdid herself getting their new house ready for us to destroy, and preparing so much great food .  We ate, shopped, got pedicures, watched football, friend a turkey, visited, and enjoyed many a libation.  Miriam has her own little play area off the basement family room and she had a blast playing with all our old toys, and a few new ones too.  Uncle Timmy and Grandpa introduced her to Thomas the Tank Engine and she's completely hooked on "Choo-Choo" now.

Snuggles I

Snuggles II

Snuggles III

M's 1st 2 loves: Digestive biscuits & Uncle Timmy

Since coming back we've been getting geared up for Christmas.  The tree is up, presents are wrapped, egg nog is coagulating in the fridge, and treats are baked and ready to eat.  "Santa" put together one of Miriam's gifts tonight (he's got about 3 more to go tomorrow night...or so I've been told). Miriam still doesn't have any clue about Santa, but she is enjoying the lights, treats, and I am sure she will lose.her.mind Christmas morning when she sees all the presents under the tree.  I cannot wait to watch her little face light up as she runs around exploring her new toys...she is one loved little girl and it is going to be a very Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays, safe travels, and love to all our family, friends.

p.s. because it"s been so long, a few from before the holidays...

Foam pit @ Open Gym

"Take me to your Leader"

Halloween 2013

Uncle Richard made his annual Halloween visit, this time with his new fiancee, Lauren!  It was my first time meeting Lauren and I already feel like she's part of the family.  Their wedding season this spring is going to be a fantastic celebration.  Miriam really took to her, and she remembered Richard, clinging to his neck when she saw him, refusing to let him go.

Miriam was a lady bug for Halloween, I was a butterfly, and Jason (in theory) a bumblebee, although I don't think Jason's costume ever made it on.  We took her trick or treating to a few houses early on, but she was fast asleep before the real crowds came out.

Friday night we went out for happy hour at Pay n Take:

Sitting break with Auntie Lauren:

Dinner at Criollo:

Picked up some treats at Sweet Shoppe and walked through First Friday festivities.

*Beyond* tired and heading to the car.  She was asleep as we pulled out of the parking lot, and went straight to bed without her bath, complete with chocolate on the face, and avocado on her tights.  She was a MESS the next morning, Jason said she looked like she had a baby hangover.    Miriam is so much fun to take out, and she has so much fun getting to see new places and people.  I'm continually impressed by her good behavior and sweet interactions with folks.

On Saturday Jason and Richard built our stone fireplace, and it looks AMAZING.  If you saw the before shot of the bright gold fireplace cover, bathroom tile, and a beech wood mantle you'd be as impressed as I am with our DIY...such an improvement!

Miriam supervised their work from her highchair, eating pb & j, and wearing her new tiger outfit (gift from Auntie Lauren & Uncle Richard!)

Our last photo before they headed down the mountain to catch their plane.  Richard and I may have cried a little; saying goodbye is never easy.  Fortunately, we get to see them again very soon at Thanksgiving, so at least we have that to look forward to!

Pumpkins for my Pumpkin

Warner's Nursery Fall Festival was this weekend.  We picked pumpkins, checked out the petting "zoo" (totally blown away by the mini horse), and walked the hay maze.

We love fall around here.  Last weekend we went to Dunkin' Donuts for pumpkin donuts.  It's right off campus, so there are always tons of college kids for Miriam to flirt with; she loved it!

Miriam and I go to the library story time on Thursday mornings.  Miriam hugs, kisses other babies, "helps" Miss. Marsha with her supplies (read: pulls down felt pumpkins, steals books, digs for stuffed cow), leads the crowd in group clapping, and likes the marching and bouncing parts.  She's my sweet, free spirited, loving leading lady.  She owns the room. 

Outside story time room is a play room with toys and books.  This was her reaction last week when we arrived, she remembered where we were and how much she loved it!

She makes trips to campus with me too.  Here she is "playing with" (destroying) a co-worker's halloween decorations.  Everyone loves seeing her and is so gracious when I stop by for what we call "walk and talk" meetings; Miriam participates from the BOB.

Mid - Itsy Bitsy Spider; still her favorite.

She stayed up WAY past her bedtime for this weekend's Clemson game.  The game got too stressful for her though so my friend's 13 yo daughter put on Elmo for her; much better.

Oh, and we officially have a walker on our hands.  Although she took her first steps at 13 mo, she really hit her stride last week, just shy of 15 mo.  And today, she started running...things are going to get even more interesting around here.

From last week: a peek into my day.  Following Miriam around, picking up her path of destruction.

Too funny not to share: Miriam pushes Maddie around in her chair.

Oktoberfest

Jason and I never turn down a good festival.  Food, Beer, Live music...yes please.  Miriam is showing promising signs of carrying on this Hemmer tradition.  We went to Flagstaff's Oktoberfest today and it was a blast!  

Miriam liked walking through the crowds, mingling with other babies, dancing, smiling and giggling.  She made lots of friends of all ages, and at one point, in true Miriam form, walked daddy up to the front of the stage to check out the polka players up close and personal.  The polka player told her (and the other 1,000 people in attendance) it was never too early to become a fan of polka.  Too cute.

Family shot at the end of the evening.  It was quickly cooling (Miriam was thrilled with the hat as you can see) and Jason was scarfing down another bratwurst before we hit the road.  Not out best, but it'll do!

I saved the best for last.  A little bit of walking, a little bit of dancing, and a whole lot of cuteness. (click the link for a video!)