New Year's Eve - An Entertaining Night!

New Year's Eves have changed dramatically since we've all had children. We were lucky enough to spend this year with the Koltz Family and the Coppens Family again. We've done this before (many times), but this was the first year where the girls kept up with us until the wee hours and we finally had to force them to go to bed!

Abby is now almost 4, Quinn almost 3 and Sophia is just over 2. Man, it's fun to watch them interact now that they are older. This was the first time we really noticed them all playing together instead of playing parallel. And a funny side note is that Abby still calls Quinn "Baby Quinn!" Carrie, Brenda and I all joke that Quinn will be 16 years old and Abby will still insist on calling her "Baby Quinn." I fricken love it!

We did our usual gift exchange and the only little munchkin missing this year was Dylan. Poor Dylan was home with a babysitter because he was suffering from RSV. No worries, Chad stayed until after midnight (enough to see all of us other adults get kind of tipsy) and then went home to be with him. And we were happy to hear in the morning that Dylan had had a good night of sleep and was doing very well!

After watching the girls play HARD together for hours and hours, we finally got them all to bed and enjoyed a couple of hours to ourselves. We really enjoy each others' company and it was a great way to end our trip to Michigan!

...And Then We Headed to Michigan

The trip was fun - as it always is. We got snow - as we always do! Quinn outlasted us in the snow - as she always does...

As the whole Swanson-Meland family gathered for another holiday, I was so happy to see how much Quinn has an effect on everyone. Alex and Aric just think the world of her, and she loves them right back. It's amazing to see how much she changes at this point. I look back on pictures from last year and see significant differences. From longer hair, to longer sentences, she is growing faster than I care to acknowledge.

We all had a wonderful Christmas. One of my favorite times was when Laurie and I got to go shopping. I LOVE Girl-Time, and I can't wait to share it with Quinn when she gets older. But this was just myself and Laurie, which I savored every moment of it! We went up to Port Huron, which was a nice change from the usual trek to the Clinton Township area. I hadn't been through Old Town in a long time, and it was nice to see that it seemed to be building up again. We hit Birchwood Mall, along with Kohl's and just really enjoyed ourselves.

This year we had to ship THREE very large boxes of gifts home - mostly Quinn's gifts, as expected. The girl cleaned up. Between clothes that will last her for 2 more years at least to books and toys, it really was a treat watching her tear through the wrapping and get to the gift beneath. She is loved, it really it apparent!

Christmas with the Kirchers

Quinn made out like a bandit this Christmas! Thankfully, she went to sleep early on Christmas so Santa Clause could come to the house early and drop off the gifts. She came into our room at about 7:30am and we got her to sleep with us until 8ish, when we finally got up and took her out to the tree. She was pretty excited to open up all of her gifts, of which 2 were the major hits - the purple tutu and the Ariel dolly she had asked Santa for.

Once we got the house in considerable order, we headed off to Grandma Kircher's for the traditional breakfast and gift exchange. Again, with all of the Kirchers and Beavers there, it was a controlled mess, but a happy one nonetheless. By now, Quinn was getting pretty accustomed to opening gifts - and we still had Christmas in Michigan the next day, meaning gifts from Poppy and Manka, and lest we forget Santa Gail! But this day was good. Long, but very enjoyable. After we spent several hours at Paula's, we packed up and went to Bill & Suzie's for their Italian Christmas dinner. By the time we got home, it was 11pm and we had to be up at 4:30am to catch our flight to Michigan!

Back to gifts - Quinn got another Ariel doll from Jodi, and she was thrilled. She had 2 Ariels to play with now! She received some very cute clothes and other toys that have since overtaken our little condo.

The day itself was a mild one. Once we were over at Bill & Suzie's, we actually spent some time outside playing and hanging out by the fire pit. We were looking forward to some snow in Michigan!

Borowski Christmas Party

The Weekend before Christmas, we went to the Borowski Holiday Party. I have to say, this was the best venue yet - they had it at the Howard County Fairgrounds in the 4H building. There was a Christmas tree and all! And suffice to say, our little elf had a great time, seeing Santa for the THIRD time!

Sugar Cookies!

I had no idea what I was getting myself in for when I suggested to Quinn that we make Christmas cookies. It was a HUGE undertaking! I made the dough (from a bag, of course - do you seriously think I'd take the time to make it from scratch?) and then set Quinn up at the table to do the cutouts. Oh My Gosh, it was a LOT of work! I rolled the dough, and she cut the cookies, but at first the dough was not cooperating. It was so soft, I couldn't lift the cookies onto the pan. Very frustrating... So I just put in more (and more) flour until the dough was thicker and then we went to town.

I put Quinn down for a nap (which, of course, she didn't sleep), cleaned up the first disaster, and then when she got up, we took to frosting and decorating the cookies. Well, I thought the cookie cutting part was a chore! Quinn's idea of "light shaking" of the candies was practically dumping on the sugary substance! Needless to say, our cookies are not the prettiest by far, but I got some great pictures and some memories out of the ordeal!

At the end of the excursion, I gave Quinn a cookie to test (I have not had the courage yet). She licked off all the frosting and candy and threw the cookie away... Hmmmm - I wonder if Santa will enjoy these cookies this year?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This is Quinn's 3rd Christmas, but last night was our first tree decorating experience as a family. She has really gotten into the Christmas spirit this year, seeing Santa Clause twice and each time telling him she wanted the same 2 gifts - a purple tutu and an Ariel dolly. The girl is obsessed with purple! Everything she wants now is purple - it's quite sweet, actually!

Here are some shots from our evening together. Quinn was quite the little helper, hanging bulbs at our knee cap level, sometimes 2 bulbs to one branch! Safe to say, after we put her to bed, Mommy rearranged a few of the ornaments to even out the tree a bit :-)

I love this tree and these lights...

...and I am just SO ESSCITED about Christmas!!!

Try not to disturb my concentration, I want to hang this bulb just right...

She had us laughing like crazy just the other morning - we brought her into our room about 6:30am to sleep with us for a bit (she'd had a bad dream). We had gotten her back to sleep and then had started to get ready for our day while she was still snoozing away. Both Kirch and I were whispering to each other, looking at how stinking cute she was laying there so peaceful, when all of the sudden, with her eyes still closed, this HUGE smile came across her face! The little turd knew we were talking about her! Then, she sits up, opens her eyes, and... wait for it... looks right at Kirch and me and says, "It's almost Christmastime!!!" We about fell over laughing! She never ever ceases to completely crack us up!

Daddy, are you back there behind me and Tiki?

Strange Sleeping Habits

Quinn has taken to some funny habits during nap time - mostly at nap time, but sometimes at night time, too. I think she gets into more trouble at nap time because she isn't always cooperative for an actual nap, so she just plays and she can see better and isn't fumbling around in the pitch dark like she would at night time.

Just as of last week, we've eliminated pull-ups at nap time, so now we keep her bedroom door cracked open in case she needs to use the bathroom. But up until then, she's been "sleeping" behind closed doors. And this is what I mean by "sleeping"...

All tuckered out after playing dress-up with her shoes!

Ok, the above picture was actually at night time, and I blogged about it back in October. She found those shoes in the dark, put them on, then fell asleep with all of her babies :-) I figured it was worth an encore.

The next two are nap time pictures...

See the white opaque tights with the little red hears OVER her pj's???

Tights AND shoes for this nap! Look at how her pants are all bunched up past her knees!

This one is at night time...

You don't learn how to read through osmosis, Q-Bug!

Just Saturday, I put her down for a nap and left the door cracked open. I went into my bedroom right across the hall to watch a movie. I heard a bunch of clatter, so I got up to check and see what she was up to. I caught her red-handed with an armful of toys from the living room AND one of her baby's pacifiers in her mouth. She gave me that deer-in-the-headlights look and then scrambled back into her bedroom - if only I had a camera for that sight!