Our First Half of December: Hanukkah, First Lost Tooth, and a 2 Month Old

As soon as our guests left, we had about two and a half weeks to ourselves before the next set of guests arrived for the holidays.  I swear, we might as well put a revolving door in the front of our house.  LOL!  What a wonderful situation to be in that we have so much family that wants to be with us.  This is the whole reason why we traveled to Indiana and Las Vegas in the summer because we knew we wouldn't be able to travel during the holidays ourselves.  Tackling traveling with a newborn and two kiddos was not our idea of a good time, so thankfully our families understood and came to our neck of the woods to see us.

In the meantime, we settled back into our routine.

On December 2, Penelope flashed her first social smile!!
Alex was at school, so I had the two littles with me for
lunchtime.  I set Penelope down and ran to the kitchen to
make a sandwich quickly.  When I came back, I said,
"Hellooooo!" and found William with his arm around her
and she turned, looked at me, and flashed this great big grin.
It melted my heart to see this display of love and happiness.

This little girl flashed her first social smile at 7 weeks old.

There she goes again!

Our happy babe-a-rito  :-)

She definitely has a goofy side to her, too.  :-)

Our happy little girl.

William and his classmates cleaning up some sprinkles off of the floor
after a birthday celebration.

The holiday season was upon us and I was beyond excited to take the kiddos to the Polar Express 4D show at the Museum of Science.  It's a fun, interactive movie that's only 15 minutes long and really gets me and the kiddos excited about the holiday season.  Since Joseph was at work, I packed all three kids into the car and took them there by myself.  It was my first official outing with all of the kids to a public place other than Target.  I was determined and excited at the same time.

Alex and William on some swings at the Museum of Science.

Alex laying on a bed of nails that lifted him up.
His look is pure surprise, as he didn't expect that to happen.

Movie time!  The boys and I donned our 3D glasses
while I wore Penelope in the baby carrier.  We had a blast
hearing the whistle and brakes of the Polar Express and enjoyed the smell of hot chocolate and pine.
What a fun way to get into the holiday spirit!

The boys playing around in the dinosaur exhibit.

The boys in a one room school house.

Alex and how he measured up against a very large tree trunk section.

When Penelope gets a little fussy, she likes to smoosh
faces with me....and I looooooove it!

William checking up on his sleeping sister after
one of our walks.

I love that this little girl likes to snuggle.

Woo hoo!  Time for the holiday celebrations to start!  The evening of December 6 marked the beginning of Hanukkah.  The boys were excited to light the candles, play with their dreidels, get some gelt, and open some presents.

Joseph (holding Penelope) with Alex and William,
who were ready to light the candles on the menorah.

Alex got to do the first night.

He was so excited and so proud of himself.

William got to "light" the felt menorah that night.

The boys with their gifts on the first night of Hanukkah.

Darth Vader hats and gelt!  Woo hoo!  :-)

Joseph and the boys playing the dreidel game.

Alex made a killing that evening!

That evening, our town had a small ceremony to celebrate the lighting of the park.  We met Alex's friend Oscar and his family at the park lighting and the kids had fun experiencing this together.  The ceremony began with some holiday music, a countdown, fireworks, and then the lights went on.  The kids were really excited and had a lot of fun.
I love this kind of stuff because it really promotes a sense of community and is a fun (and free) thing for families to do.

Oscar, his sister Beatrice, William, and Alex when
they first saw each other at the park lighting.

These kiddos adore each other.

The park lighting on December 6.

Alex, me wearing Penelope, and William at the
park lighting ceremony.

The boys greeting Winnie the Pooh.

The boys with Olaf.

William greeting a holiday-themed bear.

"Hey mommy!  Take a picture of me!"
How could I say no to that?  What a cutie!

I was wearing Penelope as we were walking to Alex's
school one morning and she was making this little
mooch-mouthed face the whole time in her sleep.
So.freaking.cute!

On the second night of Hanukkah, William got to
light the candles.

While Alex got to light the felt menorah.

On December 7, Alex lost his first tooth!  He was at school and bit into his sandwich at lunch time when it came out.  I was informed by the school nurse that it totally freaked him out and he took a while to calm down. 
We had been preparing him for weeks saying to him that it was an exciting time, but in the end he was kind of freaked out about losing a tooth.  Then, we told him that the tooth fairy was going to come and take his tooth away and that freaked him out, too.  He said, "Mommy!  Why does this fairy want to take my tooth?  What is she going to do with it?  Why does she want it?"  When he asked me these questions, I had to pause and think up of the best answer possible because they were all very logical and reasonable questions that he asked.  That evening he did NOT want the tooth fairy to come.  I told him that I would text her and ask her to come the next evening.  He said that he was okay with that.

Alex with his first lost tooth

I asked my mom to send me a picture of when I lost my first tooth
(so that I could show Alex that it was totally okay to lose teeth and that
even I had lost teeth when I was younger).
There's Alex on the left with his first lost tooth, and me on the right when
I was about 7 years old with the same tooth missing.
The resemblance is uncanny, eh?  :-p

William playing with Owen at his school.
(Owen was touring the school and is the younger brother
of Alex's friend Chloe.)
William actually remembered Owen and took him under
his wing and was playing with him that morning during the tour.

Owen and William playing Legos together.
Thanks so much for sharing, Tammy!  It was so heartwarming
to see our boys playing together so nicely.

During Hanukkah, I like to bake cookies with the kids.  We got them special cookie cutters and have made it a tradition for a few years.  Plus, who doesn't like a good sugar cookie, eh?  :-)

While the littles were sleeping one afternoon, Alex
helped me to mix the dough.

He got in a little snuggle time with sister while we
were waiting for the dough to set.

Penelope on her play mat with Alex watching over her.

Alex burning off some steam while running on the treadmill.

The third night of Hanukkah!  The boys got Star Wars
socks and R2D2 sippy cups.
Can you tell that these boys like Star Wars?

Alex was finally ready to have the Tooth Fairy visit.  He left his tooth outside of his door (I convinced him to do so, so that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't wake him up if she came), and went to bed.  The next morning he woke up to find these things waiting for him:

Alex got a Tooth Fairy pillow, a certificate congratulating
him on his first lost tooth (thanks for the idea, Suzie!!), a $2 bill, and
The Bearenstein Bears and the Tooth Fairy book.
He was super excited that she came.

Penelope wearing the adorable onesie that Alex picked out
for her.

Love our little Buddha.

Little P getting in some tummy time.

Like Ricky Bobby, she doesn't know what to do with her hands.  :-p

LOL!!  :-)

One morning while she was sleeping, she managed to
jimmy herself out of her swaddle and STILL put herself
back to sleep.  This was very promising.  So far she's
the best sleeper out of all of our children.  Woo hoo!

"Can you take a picture of me, Mommy?"
Sure kiddo, sure.  :-)
Love this little guy.

Oh my heavens.  I love anything with a Peter Pan collar.
Dressing her is way too much fun.

Especially when she flashes these adorable little grins.

Day 4 of Hanukkah was touch and go with these fussy dudes....
so the gift was moved to the next day.
This picture is Day 5 of Hanukkah in which the boys
got R2D2 touch watches and Star Wars jelly beans.

Fussy Penelope calming down while smooshing faces
on December 10.

Snuggle fest while Joseph was putting Alex to sleep; Oscar and
Penelope joined in on the fun.

While the littles were sleeping one afternoon, Alex and I finally found the time to make the Hanukkah cookies together.  He had a lot of fun making dreidel, menorah, and Star of David cookies.

Alex making "Hannu-cookies"

Our big boy lined them up nicely on the silpat.

While the cookies were baking, Alex helped me to
decorate our Christmas tree.

Our first batch was a success!  With the leftover dough,
we rolled out an "A", "W", and a "P."
The "A" and the "P" are missing because Alex and I
ate them. :-p

William reading books with his classmates.

Our lounging doxie.  He can't jump up onto the couch
anymore and needs us to lift him up now.  He has
a tough time getting up the stairs as well, but he's still
as feisty as ever if you ring our doorbell.  :-p

Penelope at play on her play mat.

After William woke up from his nap, he helped us
decorate the rest of the tree.

Joseph put the angel on the top of the tree.
Although this tree may have been little this year,
it was still very special.

The boys toasting the tree with hot cocoa.

William looking sweetly at the ornaments.

Day 6 of Hanukkah brought William a Hanukkah book
and a C3PO ornament.  Alex got Hanukkah Mad Libs
and a Chewbacca ornament.

William singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
to calm Penelope on December 12.

I had mentioned to my friend Stephanie that I was interested in taking the kids to see Santa.  She then mentioned that there was an outdoor shop in Lexington called Seasons Four that not only sold Christmas trees, but had a Santa there as well.  I was willing to try something new, so I packed the kids in the car one morning and took all three of them there.

When we pulled into the parking lot, Elmo was there
to greet us!

There were beautiful Christmas displays, Christmas music playing overhead, and trees being sold in the lot.  It was perfect.  Plus, we got there early enough that we were the second in line to get our pictures taken with Santa!  The double and triple bonus of this was that the photographer took the picture for free and put it in an ornament for free (you could choose to make a donation but other than that, there was no fee)!!

The kiddos seeing Santa at Seasons Four.

Penelope was sound asleep and the boys were in a great mood.
Woo hoo!  A successful visit to see Santa.

Afterwards, they had balloon animals and face painting for the kiddos.  The best part was that it was all free!  Woo hoo!  My kind of venue.  :-)

The boys each wanted a sword.  Go figure.  :-)

Little Miss P loves her play mat

Slowly getting better at tummy time.

Penelope on her play mat on December 12

Day 7 of Hanukkah brought the boys Star Wars stickers,
journals, and pens. 

On December 13, Penelope celebrated her 2 month birthday.
She was holding up her head like a champ, tracking
and following objects well, and began social smiles.
She's been really low maintenance and sleeps like a champ.
So far so good!  :-)

The first half of December was pretty laid back and full of holiday fun.  I can't wait to share the rest of our December filled with more fun with family and traditions continued.  I love this time of year.
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki