Christmas Night

After a quick nap, we headed over to Aunt Mindy's for Christmas dinner.
One of the reindeer was there, too. :) Natalie crashed again.

Joanna snuggled up with her cousin Katie.

Kurt, Pop, Joanna, and Katie

We had a white elephant gift exchange, and Mamma and Pop ended up with this dancing/singing penguin. Natalie really liked it at first... then it scared her.

We had a fantastic dinner and lots of fun with so much family!

Tuesday

I heard a little voice at 4:00am this morning say "I did poop in my race car pull-ups." It was a very sweet little voice, and her wonderful daddy got up to take care of her. I listened to him changing her diaper; she just talked and talked. He put her back to bed, and she went without a fight. We didn't know until later that she'd crawled into the crib with Natalie. :) Natalie slept fine until her usual 6:10am (ick). She's playing very sweetly in the playroom (or was, until she discovered I was at the computer -- she doesn't like it when I'm here!) I'd better get back to my reading, which I haven't done in months. It's a reread...but, baby steps, I say.

Trains and Naps

After we left Grandma's, we headed over to Mamma and Pop's house to check out the giant train set-up in the back yard. Natalie was pooped. She'd skipped the morning nap, so she fell asleep in the car. She transferred right over to Auntie Kathryn to finish her nap. Yay!

Over the river and through the woods...

to Grandmother's house we go!
Grandma invited us over for breakfast on Christmas Day (which due to our lazy selves turned more into lunch!)

It was so yummy, Grandma!

Christmas Through our Years

Every year I've taken a picture of our fireplace... it seems to always be our "spot."
2006: Matt and my first married Christmas, also our first Christmas in this house. We had only started to move in. If this was a panoramic view, you'd see our bed in the living room and not much else. I remember Matt and I stuffed each other's stockings. I'm pretty sure those presents in the middle are from my dad and step-mom. 2007: Joanna's first Christmas. We put up the train Christmas Eve after she went to bed. Again, Matt and I stuffed each other stockings... and of course, Joanna's! I'm pretty sure all the gifts in the picture are from Nana and Popo! I'm noticing that this tree looks so much better in this picture than the one a couple down from this year. Did it wilt? :)

2008: I was imminently due with Natalie so I decided not to pull out any Christmas decorations. I did not want to put them away pregnant or with a newborn. Ick. So, what you see here is ALL of our decorations last year. The tree was already put together in the garage (lazy storage from the year before) and all the ornaments on it were gifts in December! We did pull out stockings. We had one in reserve for Natalie just in case she showed up a little early -- the fourth one here is my mom's. I think I stuffed everybody's stockings last year (including my own!)

2009: I think the problem with the tree is that I tried to put too much stuff on it (oh, and Joanna helped decorate the bottom!) This year I got to stuff all our stockings, and Kathryn and Patrick's! It's fun to be "Santa." I love how my step-mom wraps in reusable bags -- a gift within a gift! A couple of Kathryn and Patrick's gifts even made it down from OKC for them to open... amazing how that happens!

No train again this year, but I have high hopes for next year. The girls will be bigger, more able to understand (and maybe obey?) "Don't ride/shove/move/derail/throw the train." We'll see! I know Matt would really love to have it up during Christmas!

I love looking back at these pictures -- they take me right back. I love Christmas time.

Did you know it's still Christmas?

It is at our house, anyway! I always like to keep up our Christmas decorations until Epiphany. I feel like the season's just not over yet! In fact, I picked up a new Christmas tree yesterday. I'm not going to decorate it (I think!), but it's prelit and it looks pretty in our dining room. I'll put it away with everything else. I love buying trees after Christmas!
I've got the rest of our Christmas posts scheduled to come up over the next few days so you're not overwhelmed. :) This one will be a little out of order... oh well.
Joanna is car surfing with Auntie Kathryn, sporting her new sunglasses. Still wearing the sunglasses this morning, in her new dress from Auntie Kathryn. Have I mentioned my daugter LOVES sunglasses? Sadly, though, she really goes through them. I'm hoping these will hold out longer than the last couple of pair. (That's our new tree behind her -- it really makes our "big" tree look pitiful!)

Look at us in our matching pink and black!

Natalie just wasn't having anything to do with smiling, I guess. I think she was a little affected by allergies or something this morning.

After church, Lisa and I tried to get pictures of our four girls.

Natalie's looking at the camera here, and Anna's even smiling. But Emma's looking away, and Joanna has a fake grumpy face on.

Here the big girls decided they needed to shake their hair around. Emma's examining the trash can.

And the last one before they all wandered off. No one's really looking at me, here!

My little cutie.

I just love this face. She may be chewing here, but I think it's cute!

Natalie's been doing better the last couple of days of feeding herself. Lately she's just wanted to be fed!

Opening presents!

Joanna got everything started after breakfast Christmas morning... a tiny purse...

and a coffee cup just her size!

ooohhh bows...

a train ornament!

oooohhhh paper and a box! stylin' her new Horton Hears a Who bag

We opened our stockings once Kathryn and Patrick got there.

Natalie wore that bow for quite a while; I think I actually took it off her head before we left.

Our present opening actually spread over a couple of days. :) The girls lose interest kind of fast still.

Both girls got some clothes -- Joanna is modeling, here.

Nana and Popo sent lots of canned goodies. Here Joanna is trying to eat the green beans through the jar. :)

And Natalie is trying to lick the paper.

We finished up this morning with some new books!

We all got spoiled with lots of goodies!

All those teeth!

Natalie started cutting teeth last weekend. I thought it was just the ones on either side of the front two, but she's now cut all four across the front on the top. And she's been none too happy about it, either. This is the best pic I've been able to get so far:

She was much more back to herself today, but the last few days she's been pretty miserable. Part of that is due to the different schedule and extra activity, but I think those sharp, pointy teeth are to blame, as well. Christmas Eve she went to bed late because of church, around 9:00 or so, and then was up about 11:30 for a couple of hours, then up again at 6:00am. Ick. Oh, well. And amazingly, she's still a pretty fun kid even with not much sleep and a lot of gum pain. Love her.

Christmas Eve

Matt had to work some on Christmas Eve, but Kathryn and Patrick were here! We decided to skip the morning children's service at KUMC because of Joanna's fever. It was day 2 of the mystery fever. It went away that evening, and she really was fine. We did a little shopping before lunch and nap. Kathryn wanted to get the girls each an outfit. We picked out cute matchy dresses -- I'll post a pic when they wear them.
Matt came home that afternoon early (yay!) and we all got ready to go to church. Poor Joanna hasn't napped in her bed all week. Things have just been so crazy I've let her "cheat" and take snuggle naps, often late in the day. We're going to have a rough week coming up, I think, getting back on track... oh, well!
We ate a quick dinner and got ready to leave the house at about 6:00.
Cheese-ball smile:
(side note: Joanna is actually wearing a onesie under this. Randomly, we had an off-white 3T onesie that was perfect... you know, except for those crotch snaps on the girl who is potty trained. :) My plan was to cut and hem the shirt (or convince my mother to) but I forgot/ran out of time. I just left them unsnapped; it worked.)
Natalie was wearing one of Joanna's dresses from last year!

We went to the 7:00 service because I was singing with Sola Gratia (new name for the Women's Ensemble). The girls made it through THE WHOLE SERVICE, I couldn't believe it. At first, I was a little bummed I couldn't see my family when I was sitting in the choir loft, but then I decided it would have just made me anxious!

It was a beautiful service, and we managed to get a family picture in the Sanctuary before we headed home.

Having only one bed sure would save space...

I just posted below about how Joanna finally settled to sleep last night in the crib with Natalie. I was just thinking how quickly she settled tonight. She must have skipped all the crying, whining, tearing the room apart stuff and gone straight to crawling in bed with her sister. When we walked in to check on them, Natalie was more at Joanna's right foot. As I watched, she snuggled into her legs like this. Of course had to take another picture. It's in the mother's rule book. Check it.
They'd probably both sleep very well like this, but we moved Miss Joanna back to her sad, lonely little bed yet again. I will try having a chat with her about this tomorrow. I don't know if it will work. :)

This one's long... just warning you.

Have I mentioned lately that my children adore each other? Cause they really do.

And there is not one thing I could wish for more than that.

Look closely below and you'll see some evidence of Natalie's recent teething activity. I noticed Saturday night that she was sticking out her tongue a little bit and rubbing it along the top of her mouth. I noticed the teeth the next day. I'm thinking she was feeling them.I've been working on getting a "Christmas picture" of Natalie in front of a tree this year. Our bigger tree isn't very tree-like at the bottom and it's hidden behind the couches, so I've been seeking out our friends pretty trees. :)

We were at the Fisher's house Saturday night for our Home Group Christmas party.

The babies: Seth, Logan, and Natalie. They're all very close in age. Seth just turned one, Natalie will be one very soon, and Logan is 10 months, I think.

Will and Shaun have a nice, high hearth... watch the fire, but no touch!

All the kiddos sang happy birthday to Jesus and enjoyed his cake! Joanna wanted to know where Jesus was. (I mean, she sort of knows, but was confused because all the other birthday parties she's been to have included the birthday boy or girl.)

We tried for a family shot just before leaving -- pretty good! (This is the one Matt and I look the best in. :) The girls get plenty of opportunities to look cute.)

At my grandma's house last night, Joanna ate her weight in enchiladas (She really is a true Sturman), then played in the box castle that Uncle Mark built for her.

Natalie wasn't far behind on that fun. I was just so proud of her -- she "strutted" (crawled) right into that tunnel and didn't stop 'till she reached the other end, like it was no trouble at all. That kid has no fear, I'll tell you.

Joanna had some trouble going to sleep again last night. All the excitement of family in town has her pretty wound up. This is NOT me complaining... just noticing. Anyway, she finally drifted off...

naked...

in her sister's bed.

Of course I had to chance another flash photo. They didn't budge.

We budged Miss Joanna back to her own bed though. Where she slept, diaper clad only, all night long.

Can you believe she climbed in there herself?

She was stuck, though.

I've been thinking lately how very glad I am that Natalie held off being born until after Christmas last year. Because of my work schedule, everything is so busy until right before Christmas. It would be hard to properly celebrate a birthday in all that mess. Even without a busy Holiday job, this is a funky time for a birthday. I think January 11th is a delightful length of time away from Christmas. Thank you, Natalie, and Dear God thank you for NOT answering "yes" to all those prayers of "please please let her be born tonight." He is always taking care of us. Even when we think we know better.