First Bites of Veggies!

Alayna had her first taste of sweet potatoes! She was not very excited about this however. She didn't cry, just crinkled her brow and would not open her mouth for another bite. :-) I tried to alternate between cereal bites, then I tried mixing a tiny bit into the cereal, but she still clamped her mouth shut! I think we were able to get about a teaspoon in! I have been trying a little bit at each cereal feeding and today she ate it pretty well! (mixed with cereal!) The sweet potatoes on her nose is just too cute!

First Bites of Cereal! Yummy!

Alayna had her first taste of "solids" December 28th! "Solids" sounds a little funny since it it is more like liquid mush! She did really well! I was ready for her to hate it at first since that was our experience with Daniel, but she ate it really well! She actually ate a total of about 6 tablespoons! I still make sure I nurse her first to get the good stuff! She is eating cereal twice a day now. It has almost been a week with no reaction, so in a few days we can move on to a veggie! We started with sweet potatoes with Daniel, so that is probably what we will do with Alayna. I'll keep you posted!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! My family came down from Ohio to stay for a few days over Christmas. Bobby is still here as well. We also had Uncle Jeff and Aie over as well. We really missed Ama and Grandpa out in California though! Daniel was excited to come downstairs to see the presents and the empty cookie plate and milk glass with a thank you note from Santa for the milk and cookies and carrot for his reindeer. :-) He enjoyed opening his presents and handing out presents as well. He "helped" Alayna open her presents too! This was the first year that he really understood presents. Last year he had just as much fun handing out the presents to people as he did opening his own. I had made most of the side dishes and the pie on Christmas Eve, so all I had to worry about Christmas day was the turkey which was nice! We had a nice huge dinner together. Brian built a fire, so everything was nice and cozy. Daniel kept saying happy birthday to Jesus and we also sang the Happy Birthday song. So sweet! I wanted to make a birthday cake with Daniel, but ran out of time. Our church in New York did that with the children and I thought it was a neat tradition. Maybe next year. I can't believe the Christmas season is almost over. I love the decorations and lights. It makes the house feel so warm and cozy that it saddens me to have to take everything down in a couple days. (along with all the work involved!) It also means I have to stop playing Christmas music as well. :-( I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! Praise God for blessing us with this wonderful season to celebrate His birth!!!

Christmas Cookies

Daniel had fun making Christmas cookies! He helped me with the Gingerbread cookies and the Sugar cut-outs. I love having a little helper in the kitchen! I'm not sure if he had more fun making the cookies or eating them!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We found our tree at the tree farm we have been going to the past few years. I can't believe this will be our fourth Christmas here. It is definitely different finding a tree in 50 degree weather! Tracking through the deep powdery snow in New York to cut down the tree was the best! When we returned home we made a fire and started decorating. Daniel had so much fun unwrapping the ornaments from the box! So cute and sweet! Then his sweet little hands decorating, oh my! Of course we have patches of ornaments all around the bottom of the tree! Brian's mom gave us an ornament of a euphonium so of course Daniel had to blow in it. Now every once in a while he will walk by the tree and "play" the horn! This Christmas will be so fun with him!

Leaf Peeping

We went leaf peeping last weekend up to Caesars Head. By the time we actually got going, it was pretty late in the day and with the time change, it was going to get dark soon, but we tried anyway. Caesars Head is a mountain around here. The twisty road to arrive at the top was interesting....I am glad Brian was driving! We arrived just at sunset so it was pretty, but quite cool. We had just enough time to climb some rocks, take some pictures and have dinner. It was nice to enjoy the quietness and to enjoy God's beautiful creation! It was pretty clear, so we could see a good distance out. Daniel had fun climbing the rocks and watching a kitten climb the rocks and trees! Enjoy the pics!

Trick-or-Treat

We had so much fun Halloween night. Daniel was so excited to hand out candy to the kids! He was so cute! Each time he would say "Happy Halloween" and ask why some kids did not say anything. A couple costumes were a little scary so he just stood there and stared with a funny look on his face. He had so much fun passing out candy that he did not want to eat dinner! Anyone that knows Daniel knows how much he loves to eat! Jeff and Chan Wey came over later and we went out trick-or-treating. We only went to a couple neighbor's homes. Daniel had fun, but was so cautious walking up to the doors! We came home and watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and had some apple cider. Daniel counted his candy and then wanted to play with it. We sorted the candy into like piles. I am so happy he hasn't asked to eat any of it. I wish I was content just playing with candy and not eating it! Anyone who knows me knows my love of candy! Maybe I could loose the rest of this baby weight if I didn't like sweets so much!! Alayna did well too. She made it to a couple houses, but then started getting a little fussy. I put her in the sling and she calmed right down! I love slings!!! Someday maybe I'll share what I love so much about slings!! Hope you all had a good Halloween! Enjoy the pics!