Christmas in a Nutshell

Our Christmas vacation started as expected...weather caused delays delaying our flight that was supposed to leave at 6 pm, then 7:40, then 10, 11:15, 12:30, then finally at 1:30 am. Luckily Brooke did really well. She is now at a point where she won't fall asleep in our arms and she loves to see what's going on so during the 9 hours we were at the airport she took 2 naps about 20-30 min. long each. By the time we made it out of the airport in Salt Lake she was completely zonked out. Saturday was a very chill day. We relaxed and slepted in then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Burt's to watch the Las Vegas Bowl. Monday was the Ware Family Christmas party. It was fun seeing all of Troy's relatives that we hadn't seen since 2005. There were a ton of little kiddies running around. Tuesday we met up with some old friends for dinner. (Thanks Ashley, Steve, and Kalli!!!!) Wednesday was Christmas Eve and we opened presents from the Troy's family. We were even able to include Jer and Kenz via the webcam. That was pretty cool. Christmas day we another lazy and relaxing day. We opened presents from Santa then spent the rest of the day playing games or duets on the piano. Friday was the Burt Family Christmas party. And Saturday we met up with my family. Thankfully our flight back Sunday went smoothly and we came home to Lexie ready for some lovin'. We didn't take as many pictures as we wanted but here are some of the highlights.

We had Christmas at home the Friday before we left. Brooke liked her bow the most.

Troy did a photo shoot of Brooke with her new beanie Uncle Brett made. I think we have a future model on our hands.Ware family tradition - making sugar cookies and frosting them for Santa on Christmas Eve.


Brooke hit her 5 month mark Christmas Eve to and got to celebrate by eating peaches and green beans for the first time.Kristin and I learning how to dance to Wake Me Up by Wham. We were a sight to see. Luckily only Will and Troy were there.

Some Funny Things

Brooke has started to really enjoy her jumper. She can actually get pretty good air. It also helps that we have something underneath her feet. She's still about 1/2 in. shy of touching the floor. She has been somewhat lazy in there too. I found her all scrunched up resting her head in the seat and her legs curled up underneath her.

The other night I was feeding her rice cereal in her bouncer. She was super tired by the time she was done.

Lastly, I gave her the green pacifier that everyone gets from the hospital. I guess there's another meaning to having a green thumb!!!!

Ummm, it's really cold outside

So, all that warm weather we had in November was not excess warmth for the year, turns out we were just borrowing warmth from December. We are looking at overnight lows tonight of -14, but don't worry, we should warm up to 7 for a high tomorrow!

We got Brooke all warm to head to choir practice. Notice how cool she is with her collar popped! Props to Shane for getting the hat back to us in time for the cold weather.

We've had our tree up, and for the most part, Lexie has been content knocking an ornament or two off of low hanging branches (The proverbial low-hanging fruit). Well, now that there are presents under the tree, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. This is how we found her this afternoon.

On the cuteness front, Brooke has discovered her feet and toes. She grabs them at any opportunity. She had tights on at church today, and proceeded to soak her left foot as she sucked her toes wet.

We must be getting close to Christmas, because it seems like we have some planned activity every night. And on nights were we don't have anything planned, like Thursday when Tracie brought cookies to the office and we went to Spaghetti Factory for dinner, the nights still seem to fly by (maybe because we spent forever getting home, I mean how much traffic can there be on a Thursday night at 7, when the weather isn't bad?). We are looking forward to the vacation starting on Friday, and hopefully Brooke will be ok on the flights and sleep well while we are there. At least we know that she will be a help around my parent's house while we are there!

Christmas Time is Here

Last week went by quickly. Monday we bought our Christmas tree. We decided to go with an artificial one since we would be gone for so long during Christmas. We got a great deal and I think it looks pretty real to me. We finally hung the ornaments on Saturday. Troy gave Lexie 2 days before she knocked some off. I gave her less than 1. Troy won. This morning I found a few strewn on the ground.

The week of Thanksgiving, Brooke started rice cereal. It's been going so so. She's really good at pushing the food out so I don't know how much she is swallowing. Here's a before and after shot. She has been doing a bit more tummy time. We haven't been really good about doing it and we want her to learn how to roll over completely. She's not a huge fan of it but hopefully she'll learn quickly.

She also has found her feet and loves playing with them. She even likes to suck on her feet!!!!

We bought her a beanie since the weather is getting pretty chilly here. We're looking forward to the ones that Grandma Ware and Brett are making her.

Last but not least, I had finished feeding Brooke and she had fallen asleep. Lexie didn't want to be left out so she decided to join us. Brooke wasn't a fan.

Saturday, Troy surprised me with a Day in Paris. I woke up to breakfast croissants and mmmm they were delicious. We put up the rest of the lights and ornaments on the tree then played a little Wii Fit. Apparently, Troy and I are not well balanced and the game asked us if we trip a lot. We had French Bread pizza but as a amuse bouche. They were also yummy. We headed to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping and people watching. Afterwards, Troy made me a delicious dinner of Cordon Bleu, vegetables du jour (as he liked to call it. It was zucchini), roasted potatoes, and for dessert...pumpkin souffle. We then went to a friends house to "play games." The guys watched the Missouri/Oklahoma game and the girls chatted. It was a ton of fun. Even Brooke decided that she would stay up way past her bedtime to socialize too. It was a great week and we're looking forward to spending more time with family next week!!!

Here for your viewing pleasure is Brooke finally getting the hang of her jumper thing.