Hattie's 1st Christmas

Well, Hattie's first Christmas has come and gone. And it was BUSY! She rolled with the punches, altered her nap schedule and was really just her usual happy, easy, good natured self. In the last week she has been busy mastering new skills. She is finally sitting up by herself. For the past few weeks you could sit her up and she would topple over pretty quickly, but as of December 29th, she is sitting up and straight on her own for a few minutes at a time. Such a big girl! And she has also started making advances as far as scooting/crawling. The Girl can move! She gets around by rolling and scooting and if I put her down and walk away, I have no idea where she will be when I come back in the room. On the morning of the 26th Mitch went into her room to grab her and she was up with her knees under her lunging forward. So the countdown is on...when will she crawl? Her sisters were both crawling around 7 months so I have a feeling she will be right on track with the other two. I can hardly believe my baby is past the 6 month mark. But what an amazing 6 months it's been. 2012 was pretty good to us...it's going to be hard for 2013 to top the last year, and adding Hattie to our family. But we know there are good things in store for all of us. May you continue to be blessed in the New Year!

Waterpark Wonderland

I just have to preface this by saying that I have the BEST nieces ever. And I am not biased in the least. Shelby, Rylee and Lexi are all quite a bit older than our girls. That comes from Mitch being the baby of the family by 10 years. But it doesn't seem to make any difference. Whenever we are together the girls are so attentive and helpful with our girls despite the age difference. This trip was no exception. They played with them in the water, took turns taking Leah down the slide....they were all around GREAT, again! I just love them. And so do the girls. They get so excited for the chance to see and play with their cousins. Shortly after hitting the road, Leah got teary-eyed and said she was going to miss her cousins. In addition to being so very helpful they are just sweet. They are good girls, with good heads on their shoulders. Their parents have taught them good manners and they have great morals and values. I'm so glad my girls have some wonderful role models in them.

Back to the swimming...The girls have both been taking swim lessons at the YMCA off and on for the past year, and it's definitely paying off. Leah was showing us her swimming moves and was even jumping in the water and Kiersten showed no fear. They loved the slides. There was one slide there that Kiersten easily went on 200 times and that is no exaggeration. Wouldn't it be nice to live near a water park that you could visit frequently, especially in the winter months when the kids are stir-crazy from being stuck inside.

Hattie even put on her swimsuit for a bit, but she was not amused. Mitch said that while the air temperature in the water park was warm, the water temperature was actually a bit chilly. Plus, I think the poor girl was just tired. With 18 people in two hotel suites she wasn't really able to nap and sleep like she normally would. So there was lots of little cat naps...twenty to thirty minutes at the most. Poor Girl slept for 4 out of 5 hours on the ride home. But she was a trooper. All the kids were well behaved and Grandma and Grandpa did a great job hosting the family Christmas in the Dells.

Schultz Family Christmas

Since Mitch's family lives in Minnesota and we live in Central Illinois it works out perfectly that the Wisconsin Dells is smack-dab in the middle of the road between one another. For the second time since we moved to Decatur 18 months ago, we have met for a holiday at the Dells. And the kids love it! Grandma Tootie took care of reserving 2 suites and all 16 of us piled in for a weekend. It was tight quarters but we made it work. Christmas dinner was prepared with crock-pots but for the most part we didn't care what we ate, we just wanted to enjoy one another's company...and that we did.

We arrived around 2 PM on Saturday and the kids were in the water by 4. We did dinner around 7 and then received our stockings from Santa. He is always so good to us. On Sunday  morning we woke up to Monkey Bread and fresh fruit. Again the girls were eager to hit the water parks. We stayed at the Great Wolf  Lodge and their indoor water park is made up of three parts so there is plenty to do. We breaked for lunch around noon and then somehow by the grace of God were able to get Kiersten down for a nap. And since Kiersten was napping, everyone else decided to nap too. Around 2:45 we all gathered back in one suite to share our Christmas gifts with one another. The girls got their Princess and the Pop-Star barbies, pajamas, lots of Art/Creative toys and more. Hattie got the Fisher Price Magical Mirror toy and she loves it already and we can't wait to try out her new frog bath toy from Aunt Lori, Uncle Todd and the kids. What fun! That night we did our adult gift exchange with our gag gifts. It is always a fun time. Since Justin is 18 he got to be entered in the drawing for next year. This year we had Uncle Brian and he wanted a "Fresh Engine" for his race car so we made him a Flaming Eggnog drink. You light the Bacardi 151 on fire...except Mitch was making them in plastic cups...not a good idea and no one seemed to enjoy their drink much. But it sure was amusing.

Monday morning Grandma managed to whip up a great breakfast of homemade pancakes and sausage using electric skillets. After Breakfast the kids and Dads went swimming one last time for an hour or so before we got everything packed up to make the long trip home. It always goes by too fast, but it sure was fun. The girls definitely thought so too!

Then the Whos, young and old, will sit down to a feast!

The Afternoon/Evening of Christmas Day we had company. Our friends, The Hunts have no family here in Illinois. We knew they were going to be alone, and we were going to be alone so we invited them to come and have a "Who feast" in the words of the girls. Sidney and I talked a few days before hand to make the plans. Mitch and I had come up with the menu...we had Christmas ham, bacon glazed green beans, and sweet potato souffle. Joel prepared some amazing home made dinner rolls and Sidney made a wonderful White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake for dessert. And while the dinner was amazing, the company was the best part. The kids played so nice and we always enjoy our time together. It was relaxing to just sit and visit while the kids played. I think we are going to make plans for New Years Day now too!
~No man is a failure who has friends.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning did not go how I expected at all. It wasn't bad, I just expected the girls to wake up very excited and eager to run downstairs and see what Santa brought for them. But they didn't...they hung out snuggling in our bed for a good 30 minutes. When we finally convinced them it was time to go downstairs they got really excited! Right away Leah went to see if the Reindeer ate their food and found that there were "jingle bells" left behind...so cool! It didn't take them long to get the gifts sorted and they were so patient taking turns opening their gifts. Leah had asked Santa for three things: Cinderella Vanity, Dream Light and Barbie stuff...she got all that and a little more. Kiersten asked for a Princess Castle and a Barbie Pool...she got them both and a little more. Hattie was disinterested in her gifts...she just wanted to eat the paper. Just like a baby, Ha! But she has been enjoying her Playskool and Melissa and Doug toys.

By the time we finished up and had breakfast it was after 9. The girls were happy playing while we assembled and cleaned up. My parents (Gigi and Papa) arrived around 11 to see what Santa brought. I had made Oyster Stew for dinner. It's something my Grandma Schaumburg served every Christmas and was always one of my Grandpa and dad's favorites. Surprisingly, the girls ate it too. We also had Ham-n-Cheese Panini Sandwhiches and Italian Beef to choose from. My folks took off around 12:45 and then we got busy preparing the Christmas Feast.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was low-key for us this year...no plans, no where to go...it was pretty perfect. Mitch went back to work, but it was an early office day. He stopped and did the grocery shopping on his way home. Once Hattie woke up from her nap, we gave the girls a bath and got them ready for church. We went to St. John's Lutheran for the 5 o'clock Christmas Eve service. For the most part it was really good...just what I needed. Leah was super, she colored and read books and kept herself occupied. She was so excited to sing "Away in a Manger"...Bug on the other hand is such a hand full! She won't sit still, coloring isn't her thing, and keeping her quiet is like trying to maneuver a Bull around a china shop...impossible! The only time she was good was during "Silent Night". I let the girls each hold a candle and before the blew them out the said "Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus." So sweet! Leah was super excited on the way out when she spotted Mrs. Stanzione her preschool teacher and her daughter Morgan, our babysitter. Bug kept asking Morgan if she could come home with us.

Once we got home we had a quick dinner. Italian Beef had been going in the crockpot. And after dinner we made cookies for Santa. All three of the girls helped Mitch with the baking. It was so cute to see Daddy and his girls. Before bed Leah put out the reindeer food, we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and they were off to bed. Before settling in the for the night Mitch got a fire roaring so we cuddled up on the couch and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" followed by "The Christmas Story." It was about as close to perfection as you can get.

Myerscough Christmas

Tonight we celebrated Christmas in Charleston with my family. We decided to have it on the 23rd instead of the 24th, because Macy had to go to her Dad's on Christmas Eve and we didn't want to be rushed. It was surprisingly a quiet and somewhat relaxed afternoon. We arrived around 1 PM so Kiersten could take her nap. Matt, Cynthia and the kids arrived shortly after 3. Mom started the night off right with delicious appetizers. She made Chicken Bruschetta, Shrimp Cocktail, Crackers and Cheese, Veggie and Cheese skewers, and more! The grown ups had some light conversation and were enjoying the Bears games. The kids were upstairs watching a movie and playing dress-up and didn't ask once when we could open gifts. Around 5 PM, we decided that halftime would be a good time to get going with the gifts. The kids were excited...and watching them play Santa is always fun.

Kiersten was so excited about ALL the gifts, even the ones that weren't hers. She went from person to person to see what they got. It was adorable and the expressions on Leah's face were just priceless. Macy was glowing when she opened up her Kindle Fire, and Leah, Colby and Bug were super excited to get their own NABI (android tablets) computers. They were even excited about the clothes! I snapped a classic picture of Gigi getting her very first iPad from Papa. He wrapped it himself and didn't do half bad, ha!

Hattie was a princess on her throne in her Pottern Barn Chair from Gigi and Papa. Too bad we had a Pottery Barn Fail. Mom had ordered her a pink slipcover with her name embroidered in gray and they sent a gray slipcover with her name in gray with a gray AIRPLANE...see why I said FAIL?!?!? And of course they weren't doing any more personalization so they sent a plain pink slipcover to fill in until after the holidays when the order can be corrected...still cute! She got sock monkey toys from Matt, Cynthia and the kids and an abundance of toys.

Mitch and I were spoiled rotten too. Mitch got a HUGE gift card to Scheel's to get his GPS for hunting, and a Garmin case, clothes, Sperry's and a new scope for his muzzle loader. I got perfume, jewelry, Instyler, a ceramic watch, Sperry's, new bed sheets...my mom never disappoints. What a very Merry Christmas. For dinner she goes all out too. This year it was a fantastic beef tenderloin that she was a nervous wreck to prepare so she enlisted Mitch too help. It was melt in your mouth delicious. She whipped up a horseradish sauce to go with it along with mashed potatoes, cheesy vegetable casserole and dinner rolls. For dessert there was red velvet cake with homemade cream cheese frosting and your pick of Christmas cookies. It was a Happy Happy Holiday!