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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Old and New

Out with the old and in with the new! We got Eden's mattresses for her big girl bed. While we were at the furniture store we found a bedroom set that we fell in love with. Because we finished paying off our couches we decided that we could afford to splurge and get another bedroom set. We've been wanting a king size bed for so long and I'm so glad that we broke down and got the set. I love it! It was a pain to get here and dressed, but I love it none the less!

Here's how the furniture buying/delivering went:
We ordered the Eastern King because it's more of a square {California Kings are more narrow by 6 inches, but they're longer}.
We went shopping for Eastern King bedding {hard to come by out here in California!}
Delivery guys showed up *on time* with our new stuff.
Delivery people put our new furniture up in our room and begin to assemble it.
They discovered that the bed frame was a California King and the mattresses were an Eastern King set.
Delivery guys tell us there's no way to get the Eastern King headboard up the stairs, so we had to stick with the California King {but still get new mattresses delivered}
I had to go shopping for new bedding {again}
They didn't have what we wanted in California King, so I had to shop at 3 different stores to find something for us - which I like better anyways, so that's fine.
Our mattresses didn't show up until 9:30pm and they woke Eden up by tearing off the plastic wrapping in the hallway outside of her room.

Anyways, here's our new stuff...I could quite possibly be in love!




December Part 2

As promised, our elf traveled to and from the North Pole every night and came back to visit Eden to make sure she was good. There were a few days that I wasn't able to capture him on camera before he moved the next day. Well, I guess I should be honest here...there were days that I kept telling myself that I needed to take his picture and then didn't. He was pretty great and Eden is still on the search for him, not quite understanding that the elf is with Santa in the North Pole. When we tell her, she just asks to see Santa, and then it all starts over and there are some tears on some days.They don't last long, but it makes me sad to have to say goodbye to Christmas decorations in the coming days/week.
Swinging from Eden's bag in her toy room.
Putting on Eden's socks. This day was a tricky one because she wanted to pick him up and hug him, but she isn't supposed to touch him because he loses his magic if he's played with. The laundry room had to stay shut most of the day.
On the wreath in the {half painted} bathroom. The wreath hung out in the bathroom without be put up because I think its beautiful and just couldn't make myself paint the bathroom in time for the wreath. Glad the elf got some use out of it!
Daddy changed out the thermostat in the house to be a digital one and the elf thought we could use some prompting to get the wall around it painted.
Hanging out at the top of the tree. This is where Eden most often looks for the elf now that he's back at the North Pole and we still have our tree up.
Eden told us that the elf was a "silly elf" when she saw him hanging on the fan above the kitchen table one morning.
On Christmas Eve the elf left and came back while we were at church. When he came he brought gifts to be opened that night. What an exciting time!!!
The other part of our December traditions were the Beary Merry Christmas and Eden's advent tree that she decorated until Christmas. These items were both taken down and put away the day after Christmas so Eden couldn't be distracted by their presence since there was nothing else for them to do. There was no more moving the bear and no more decorating the tree, so they just needed to be gone and forgotten until next year. She's not asked to do either, so we're in the clear so far. 

Hug
Kiss Santa
Kiss Snowman

Friday, December 30, 2011

Eden in 2011

I found a one page "time capsule" for children and figured I'd start one for Eden. I plan on keeping them in a notebook or in her baby book for safe keeping. Here's what Eden's time capsule looks like:
Name: Eden Layne Daigle
Age: 1
Height: 32.5 inches
Weight: 26 lbs
Grade: na
Friends: Nelson, Cael, Coen, Ozzy, Sam, Abby, Laney
My favorites:
Toys: kitchen, baby dolls
Games: Peek-a-boo
Food: "chicken, fries"
Color: na
School Subject: na
Christmas Gift: kitchen/foods, Twinkle Twinkle book
Animal: "neigh"
Book: Baby's First 100 Words
Movie: Yo Gabba Gabba, Baby Einstein's Baby Newton {aka "circles"}, Nemo
Song: Twinkle Twinkle {aka "tar"}, Itsy Bitsy Spider {"pider"}, Jingle Bells, Wheels on the Bus
What I do in my free time: Play, read books, say "no," color, climb
What I want to be when I grow up: na
What makes me laugh: being tickled, Ginger jumping at her
What makes me cry: Not getting her way
Best thing that happened this year: Found out she's going to be a big sister in 2012
Worst thing that happened this year: Moved away from friends in Texas
A place I want to go in 2012: Grand Canyon {Mommy's wish}

Monday, December 26, 2011

Giving

This year for Christmas we were smart and got gifts over time and didn't wait to get all of our gifts at the same time at the last minute. It can get SUPER expensive if you wait and do it all at once! I guess it still costs the same, but it doesn't hurt the bank account as much if you buy over time. Glad we got smart this year because gift giving has been so much fun for us and we were able to actually give meaningful gifts.

In Lane's family we have all decided that we'll buy for the kids, but we draw names for the adults. We have a gift limit of $10 and there's a theme each year. Last year our theme was lottery tickets. You could buy any lottery ticket you wanted, but you couldn't spend more than $10. Most people gave the scratch off lottery tickets, so we all sat in the living room scratching our lottery tickets and trying to figure out the rules to each ticket! I'm pretty sure Lane's dad actually won something worth talking about while the rest of us might have won a dollar or two or another ticket. All in all it was a lot of fun!

This year, our theme was aisle 12. It didn't matter what store you got your gift, just as long as the aisles were numbered and you got your gift on aisle 12. Lane had Tommie and he got her some word searches and a bag of coal. If you know Tommie, you know the bag of coal is TOTALLY perfect for her, and if you don't know Tommie, just know that it was an awesome gift for her! We love her, but if you ask her how she's doing she always answers with a laugh and says "just as mean and ornery as cat shit." She's always smiling and she's fun to be around, but the coal was just perfect for her. I drew Angela, Lane's sister, and we found the perfect ornament for her. It was the snoopy ornament that counts down to Christmas when you set it. I also made sure to give her batteries so there's no excuse not to use it. My only hope is that it is as annoying as I want it to be! I want our niece to get excited at the countdown and announce as often as possible how much time is left for Christmas!

In Lane's family it is a tradition to read "T'was The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve. In recent years it has not been uncommon for people to be huddled around the phone in each of our different locations as someone reads the story for everyone. This year, hopefully, everyone was able to read their own book at their own time because Lane and I sent a copy of the book to his brother and sisters families. This wasn't just any old "T'was The Night Before Christmas" book though, it was a recordable book, so they got a copy of us reading the story to them. It was a hoot to record, and when we were done we kind of wished we had recorded all of the outtakes of us trying to read the book and messing up or laughing as we tried to read through the book. We did get smart and recorded both books at once before we got too far into the first book so we didn't have to do the whole thing twice. I think this might actually be my favorite gift we gave this year. I think it's my favorite gift because it worked out with Eden's pictures so well. There was a picture of her reading this book, so I was able to add it to the wrapping of the gifts for the families to have and keep.
Unfortunately this year we weren't able to overlap with my sister and her family when we were in Georgia for Thanksgiving. They'll actually be visiting my parent's house this week and since we were there just recently, we aren't able to be there again. I guess that's what happens when you have such a large distance between you and she has a family of 5 kids who are very involved in their extracurricular activities. The gift we were able to give her kids was a gift card so they could go to the movies together as a family. We tried to give a gift that is going to allow them to enjoy time together since they don't get much of that all the time anymore. They're all going different directions at different times, so this will hopefully be a treasured gift for them.

We already did Christmas with Parker and Sara at Thanksgiving, and then there's my parents. We gave them a copy of the DVD "A Simple Twist of Fate" with Steve Martin. My dad has been looking for this movie because it's the movie that my mom, Parker, and I were extras in when I was in elementary school. There's a great shot of my mom, and if you know to look for Parker and I, we're there too, so it's great to be able to have the movie in the family. We also gave my parents a canvas of one of my dad's favorite pictures of the 2 of them from France. It was a trip that my dad longs to go on again, and they enjoyed time together just roaming the streets of French cities! Ah, what fun that would be.

Like I said, I've loved giving gifts this year. It has been so much fun and I feel like we didn't just give gifts to give them. They had meaning and there was thought put into them. We made connections with the gifts we gave and they're perfect for the recipients! Those are the best gifts to give. I hope your gift giving was as fun as ours was this year!

Christmas Day Picturers

Eden was spoiled by tons of friends and family. We were able to talk to and video chat with family from afar as we all celebrated Christmas apart from the "big family." Each small piece of our large family spent Christmas as an immediate family this year - us, my parents, Parker, Lane's parents, Angela, Ryan {and their families}. It was a nice Christmas and Eden was beside herself with all of the excitement! She loved getting to see everyone {except for Parker} on the computer and being able to play with a ton of new toys today! So excited that she's having a hard time going to sleep right now.
Nugget and Ginger on Christmas morning. They're not too sure about their outfits for the day.
Eden discovering the goodies that come with her kitchen. She looked at the canned goods and said "beans!" with just as much excitement about them as there was about the kitchen itself. The girl loves her beans.
Looking at her puzzle piece.
Enjoying her puzzles, but not quite ready to let go of her kitchen yet.
Getting into her stocking that came from Mimi and Pop's house.
Wearing her bell necklace {thanks Mimi and Pop!} reaching for her present from Grandma and Grandpa.
Daddy's Backrub Shirt - the road map is drawn on the back of one of his undershirts and now Eden can drive her cars on the road and Lane get's a back rub! I made sure to trace her hand on the shirt and I also let her use some of the "Mommy markers" {sharpies} to color on the shirt too.
Wearing her "E" apron, her oven mitts and carrying her frying pan around so she could cook for us.
Her castle from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Stephanie.
Looking at the computer that Grandma and Grandpa gave her while it's still in the box.
Reading "Twinkle, Twinkle" from Mimi and Pop. They recorded themselves reading the book and she loves to hear them read the book to her.
Eden the Bow-nosed reindeer!
Eden writing on the chalk board wall desk that Pop made to go in her room. I made sure to paint the shelves of it to match her room.
Carrying her puzzles over to us so we could help her get them off the shelf.
Baking cookies for Mommy and Daddy. She loved that she could put them on the baking sheet and put them in the oven on her kitchen.
Daigle family tradition: shooting the elastic decorations from  presents onto the tree. Daddy tried SO hard to get them on the top of the tree, but these gold ones were as high as he could get them.
Eden wanted to join in the fun. She placed her elastics on the tree. Such a quick learner. Before too long we'll have her shooting them like rubber bands to try to get to the top of the tree too.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Eve Pictures

Nugget in front of the tree.
The tree before Santa came
Eden with the tree before church
Reaching for Santa, probably
This is how pictures ended up...I think she was tired of having her picture taken, what about you?!
Baby Boy on Christmas Eve - Mommy is 30 weeks, 6 days
The elf came back from the North Pole while we were at church with 3 presents that could be opened on Christmas Eve. Santa said it was ok!
The Christmas jammies that were in the gifts from the North Pole
The note that was with our jammies - Eden, Santa told me you could open these tonight! He's on his way, so sleep tight. See you next Christmas, Love, Your Elf
Santa's gifts to Eden
The tree after Santa came

Santa Cookies

Eden and I made cookies {with Daddy's help} for Santa. I realized that Lane and I ate all of the cookies that we had - they were pumpkin with chocolate chips, so who could leave any behind?! Since all the cookies were gone, we had to have some cookies to put out for Santa. It seemed appropriate to make Parker's favorite cookies since he wasn't able to spend Christmas with us. Eden loved making cookies and mixing the ingredients together. She may or may not have dumped the brown sugar onto the counter/floor/chair she was standing on because she missed the bowl. Lane and I just laughed and cleaned it up later. So, Santa got some peanutbutter/hershey kiss cookies this year {and we tested them before leaving them out and they were de-lish!}
Round 1 with the brown sugar...
Round 2, Mommy was more hands on to make sure the brown sugar went INTO the bowl this time!

All done. We rolled them in red and green sugar crystals instead of just sugar to make them look super Christmas-y!
Eden smiling with the cookies so we can send a picture to Parker at Boot Camp.
Excited to put cookies out for Santa!
Santa came, ate the cookies, drank the milk, and left a note for Eden.
Her note: Eden, Thank you for my yummy cookies. They were delicious. Be a good girl this year and I will make sure to come next Christmas. Help Mommy and Daddy with your new brother and show him how to be a good boy. Have a very Merry Christmas ~Santa