Oh Christmas Tree

Today was the second annual Paradee-Duval Christmas tree hunt. It was a perfect day, weather wise - sunny and warm. After cutting down our tree, we went inside White's store for hot cocoa and candycanes then went to Cody's for lunch. We had so much fun and are looking forward to doing this for many years to come!



Poor Uncle Jimmy - he doesn't look too comfortable!

Helping daddy cut down the perfect tree

The Duvals

The Paradees

Activity Advent Calendar

I saw this in a magazine and just love the idea - a Christmas activity for every day in December leading up to Christmas. It took a while to think of all the activities, but now that we have our list, I think it will be a yearly tradition :)

1 - Hang stockings
2 - Read a Christmas book
3 - Decorate the Christmas tree
4 - Make a Christmas craft
5 - Decorate the house
6 - Secretly do something nice for someone
7 - Wrap a Christmas present
8 - Pick out a gift for the needy
9 - Go to the library to pick out some Christmas books
10 - Make a Christmas ornament
11 - Hang window clings and frost windows
12 - Have breakfast with Santa
13 - Hanging of the Greens at church
14 - Take a family picture in front of the tree
15 - Write a letter to Santa
16 - Go visit houses with Christmas decorations
17 - Make Santa pancakes
18 - Build a gingerbread house
19 - Buy a Christmas ornament
20 - Watch a Christmas movie
21 - Make fudge and deliver it to great-grandparents
22 - Make Christmas cards
23 - Bake Christmas cookies for Santa
24 - Read The Night Before Christmas and get new Christmas pjs

Hide and go seek

This hiding spot kicks a$$

Merry Christmas!

My friend Melissa, who has always done our family portraits, have a couple of our friends over her house yesterday for a play date/photo session. What an awesome morning!! Not only were we surrounded by some of our closest friends but we also got some really cute pics for our Christmas cards. And my friend Crystal designed a Christmas card for me that I can't wait to send out :) We are so lucky to have some very talented and generous friends in our lives!!

You

You....made me a mommy

And you....completed our family...

And I want you to know that I have been waiting for you my whole life...

Acadia June

At 2 1/2 years old...

Schedule -
You wake up any where between 5 and 7
We eat breakfast together around 8ish - your favorites are: pancakes (any flavor), muffins (blueberry or banana is your favorite), toast with peanut butter or jam, yogurt, Nutri-grain bars
We eat lunch at noon - your favorites are: peanut butter and jelly, soup, chicken with rice, any sort of pasta, turkey, cheese, veggies, fruit
Depending on what time you wake up for the day is when you will go down for a nap. If you wake up at 5am you normally go down right after lunch. If you sleep until 7 you can last until 2ish.
You nap about 2-3 hours
We eat dinner at 6pm
Bath time is after dinner
Bedtime has been pushed back from 7-7:30 to 8-8:30
Lately you've been waking up once to twice during the evening, I think because your cutting your two year molars.

Favorite toys -

Legos! They are your favorite. I don't know how many times you ask me "You wanna build a castle?" per day, but it's a lot :)
You love riding your bike, reading books, coloring and painting, playing hide and go seek, pushing your baby around in your stroller, puzzles. Your favorite stuffed animal is your monkey and has been for a long time.

Personality -

You are amazingly outgoing, funny and smart. You have known your ABCs for about 6+ months, can identify them all, can count to 30 in English and to 8 in Spanish, you can recognize Vermont on a map. You say please, thank you, excuse me, you like to remind us to say grace at dinner and prayers at night. The top "people" you say prayers for are: Miche, Grandma, Ella, Eden, the wall and book. Seriously. It's pretty funny!!

You are so sweet and completely in love with Emma. You love to make her laugh and will do the silliest things to get her to crack up. You'll play peek-a-boo with her and run around in circles getting her to smile.

I feel like this is your report card...first the good....and now the bad! LOL! Right now we're working on your being a little more gentle with Emma. I don't think you realize your own strength with her and will hug her or poke her in the face. You definitely have your own personality and don't like being told what to do! You go through phases where you will be very easy to deal with and then weeks at a time where things are very trying around here. Right now it a trying time, but even still - throughout the day, you make me laugh to the point of tears and I sit back in awe at how amazing you are.

Potty training -

You were completely potty trained (besides night time) by 23 months, however when Emma was born, you regressed. I decided to start potty training about 3-4 weeks ago and you are doing great! You have, maybe 1 accident per week if that - I'm amazed at how quickly you picked back up again. You have even been waking up dry when you wake up for the day so I'm thinking about putting you in underwear at night soon.

Some phrases I love -

You call Uncle Jimmy "Uncle Schimmy"
You like to do things "All by self"
(Recently you've been pronouncing Jummy and saying all by myself, both which make me really sad...I can't believe you're growing up!)
When you want something, you normally say "You just lay down for one minute?" With a puppy dog look on your face and your little pointer finger up
You tell Emma she's "so cute!" all the time

I am so, so lucky to be your mommy!! I can't believe how quickly the past 2 1/2 years have gone by...I love you, my lovey....

Sometimes you have to be careful

You never know when our house will be flooded...it's always best to wear life preservers inside as well as on the lake! Oh! And mommy's shoes. Because that helps you swim better. And your hat on backwards. Because that just makes you look cool.

Good night, daddy!

Matt came down with the H1N1 virus yesterday morning so we've been without our daddy for two whole days...and a few more day by the looks of it. He's downstairs, away from the girls and hasn't been upstairs since yesterday. We had a fridge, freezer, bathroom/shower. I've been bringing down food, drinks, movies, books, magazines. Poor guy :( I hate seeing him sick. The girls miss him....I miss him....can't wait until he's well enough to come upstairs.

Here's how your little girls looked tonight, daddy! We miss you...

Happy half birthday

We celebrated Emma's half birthday on Thursday. We made a half cake for Acadia when she was six months and Acadia helped make Emma's half cake for her six month "birthday". She had so much fun making and decorating the cake!

Happy 6 months!

Emma turned 6 months old last Thursday - November 12th. It was such a fun day! I'll download pics of her half birthday soon :)

There's nothing better...

than a penguin and her auntie...

Fun in the leaves