If You Didn't Get Our Christmas Card...

it's because I didn't send any (to quote Elizabeth). I did have intentions, and I was going to use this picture. So just envision this in your mailbox with a pretty Christmas border with warmest wishes for a VERY Merry Christmas from our family to your's.

She's Baaaack

Last year, Sage had a special visitor, and she has made her return this year. It's Cara, one of Santa's magic elves, and she's up to just as much mischief this year in our home as ever. Thankfully, she's only here until Christmas Eve when Santa takes all of the elves back to the North Pole.

For those unfamiliar with elves, Santa allows them to visit around Christmastime. They magically show up one morning and bring magic snow with them. Each night, you feed them crackers and water (reminds them of crunching snow and melted snow) and sprinkle their magic snowflakes on them. This makes them come to life in the night, allowing them to get into all kinds of mischief. Sage cannot wait to wake up each morning to see what her crazy elf has done.

One morning, Sage came into the kitchen to find this! Cara had not only painted a picture for Sage, but she also painted the floor! Sage was ecstatic! She even wrote, "Sage did it!" on the floor. Thankfully, that paint was very washable.Another morning, we woke up to find a trail of chalk that led us to her playroom...
where a huge Christmas mural was drawn! Sage said, "Holy cow!"
Cara traced herself on here too and then taped herself to the wall. Silly elf!

Love

Meeting a Princess

When we had milk and cookies with Santa, there was a paper that they gave us saying something like this: Come meet Princess Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog" this Saturday along with other characters from the movie. Games, prizes and more. Dress like your favorite Disney Princess!" Sage was supposed to go to Tennessee with Travis's mom to see some family there, but when she saw that, she said, "Well I've never met a real princess, so I want to go there." So that is what we did. Little did I know that 100s of other little girls would want to do this too. It was fun, but WOW were there a lot of folks there. At the end of it all though, Sage said, "Thank you for taking me, Mommy. I had a great time." And doesn't that make it all worth it?

Sage (Belle) and Kennedy (Cinderella), a girl Sage took dance with when she was at In His Steps.Sage, Princess Tiana, and the frog

Little Mommy

Lately, whenever we are doing anything, Sage goes, "I'm a Mommy too. Pretend you're a Mommy, and I'm a Mommy too." She wants to dress like a mommy and when we go somewhere, she has her cargo to carry. It can only be SLIGHTLY annoying when I'm carrying BOTH of our kids inside. This was when we got back from milk and cookies with Santa. I noticed what she had done and had to take a picture.

Where my bag is, her bag is.Where my baby is covered up, her baby is covered up. They were both asleep, but Jaggar woke up first. :)

Milk and cookies with Santa

The Tuesday after we got back from Kentucky, the kids had "milk and cookies with Santa" at the mall. This is something they do to help raise money and food for those in need. It was so cute. They had big tables set up with sugar cookies and cartons of milk for each child. Then they had icing and sprinkles for the kids to decorate their cookies. During this, Santa walked around for photos with all of the children. Jaggar gave me a priceless picture during that.

He didn't decorate a cookie, but he would've tried the icing had I given him the opportunity.Sage and her cookie.
ha! straight for the beard. I just love this!
Both kids with Santa. Notice Jaggar is still hanging onto his beard.
After the kids decorated their cookies, Santa read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Adorable!
This is randomly placed somewhat, but I took this picture to put in Jaggar's "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament. It holds a tiny picture, but this is the one I used of his face.

Big Boy

Since Jaggar began eating food, it was time to get the high chair down. This makes feeding SO much easier! While I was at mom's, it was like trying to hit a moving target. Actually it WAS a moving target when he was in his walker. Travis took these the first time Jaggar was in the chair, and I thought he looked so cute. This was the morning after we got back from Kentucky.Of course, Travis took this.

Saying Goodbye

This was right before we left to come back to Alabama. We had a great visit for 12 days, and it was sad to go. Sage is an entirely different kid now. She played with my dad so much this trip. She'd go downstairs and we wouldn't see her for hours. Jaggar became mobile, and he NEVER stopped once I got back. I laid him down when I got home, turned around, and he was gone. Yep, he crawls now. Anyway, mom told me not to let anyone see this because she hadn't gotten ready yet, but I just won't post it on facebook. :)

FOOD!

He finally got what he's been waiting for: REAL food. Yes, he liked the rice cereal, but that was just in the mornings. I began to feel sorry for him in Kentucky when we were all eating supper, and he screamed and cried in his walker while smacking his lips. He's been ready to eat with us for quite a while. I started Sage out on squash, so I did the same with Jaggar. Here's a picture of his first bites. He loved it. Actually, he shivered at first but then starting bouncing and cooing for more. It was so cute. He was about 6 1/2 months here. Now he's eaten carrots, green beans, peas, bananas, sweet potatoes, prunes, applesauce, and pears and hasn't turned down a thing!

Presents...finally!

As I posted previously, the kids were allowed to open one gift the day after Thanksgiving, but we stretched out the rest of their goodies to later in our stay. When the day had finally arrived, Sage could not WAIT. Here she is posing by the tree. So cute.I was videoing most of the unwrapping part, but she got the Tag reader system. She had previously played with this for as long as I was willing to stand there in Target, so it was the perfect gift for her.
And JAGGAR got a "little superstar band with mirror!" He loves all of the lights and the kids that pop up when he presses the keyboard. Sage loves it too! :)
Look at that sweet face!
Sage and mom playing with her new toy. This is a great gift that will grow with her. Thanks so much, Nonni and Papa!

Shopping Day Minus Sage

One particular day during our Kentucky stay, my aunt Robin called to see if Sage would like to come over and play with Mikayla. Robin was also keeping her newest grandson, Tyler, that day and she wanted to get some pictures of all the kids together. You can see how that worked out below. Before that, she went downstairs and brought something for Jaggar to use for the rest of his stay: freedom...or a WALKER. I thought, "Oh sweet, he'll enjoy being able to have something to sit in besides the bumbo seat." Um, no. He IMMEDIATELY started lunging in that to get where he wanted. It was hilarious. Look at his face. We couldn't keep him away from anything, particularly the tree.
This was our attempt at taking pictures of the kids. Jaggar is either in mid-swipe at the tree, or he has strings of lights in his fists. I chose this one for display. It makes me laugh. Busy boy.
Sage, Mikayla, and Chloe the dog or "Cleo" as Sage called her. hahaha.
We attempted to get some shopping done at the mall while Sage was playing, but we were either unsuccessful or unimpressed. I think it was a combination of them both. But we sat for a second to take a pic in front of the fountain that Jaggar loved.

A Special Present

This year for Christmas, my parents got Travis and I a Canon video camera. We still had one that used the small tapes, and since those are becoming obsolete (and we don't own a VCR), it didn't do us much good. So they upgraded us quite a bit, and we are loving it. One morning, to my surprise, my mom handed me another gift bag with a brand new camera in it for ME alone! See, I had a small camera that I loved, but I dropped it at my birthday LAST year and detached the lens. I have missed it ever since. This one is pink and wonderful. I've been enjoying it so much. Travis is much more the photographer than I am, so the Nikon is definitely his forte', not mine. Here's a few pics that I took with it.

Look how big she is!While we were in Louisville, Jaggar rolled his way to (ironically) his present under the tree and managed to rip quite a bit of paper off. he LOVES paper. I think Santa should just bring him a roll of paper to eat because that's his favorite.
This one is for Mitch. Self portraits are back due to easier management of the camera. ha!