November 24 = Zachary's Birthday and Early Christmas

Grandma and Dops came up to visit us this weekend for Zachary's birthday so we decided to go ahead and do Christmas gifts since we won't be traveling to NC and they have to be close to home for Christmas eve service and Christmas day since it's on a Sunday this year.

Here's a hat Zachary got but that Malia promptly took as her own:

Malia's a big fan of the tree.

Here's her dress-up stuff from Grandma and Dops- she tried to see just how many pieces she could wear at once:

She wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a picture of her in her pretty Thanksgiving dress- this is as good as it got:

And here's Liam and Zachary in their matching Christmas presents:

December 20 = Hang with Gramps Day

Matt stayed with Grace last night after his birthday dinner so today, we headed back to Southpoint to pick him up.  Grace got Liam and Malia Christmas presents- beautiful clothing that they've worn a lot.  Here's the wrapping paper that Grace so skillfully decorated:

The lack of sleep these children have experienced is starting to catch up I think!  Liam has a new sleeping habit- putting his monkey blanket over his head.

He got really tired in the late afternoon- tired enough to do this:

He got his power nap in and then it was time to check out the Christmas tree some more.

December 18 = NC Day One

I won't go into all the details of sleeping when we're not at home because I don't like complaining and that's all I've got when dealing with that subject.  Let's just say Malia was up early and enjoyed looking at the Christmas tree.  Since Daisy's crate is so huge, we decided we didn't have room for one and since we weren't going to be home for Christmas anyway, we decided not to get one this year.  So it made Malia's discovery this morning that much more special.  She was intrigued for sure.

Matt still had a headache from all of Malia's screaming yesterday in the car so I asked my mom if she would accompany me for an outing.  First, we went to Light Years, this amazing jewelry store in Southpoint Mall.  One of their locations is on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and I used to go there all the time.  Now, I try to visit when I come to NC because they have so many neat things.  So we went there first and then headed to McAlisters- another if at all possible must stop when I'm in NC.  We went to get him out of the car and he had spilled his juice all over his lap.  So we got back in the car and went across the street to Buy Buy Baby to get him some pants.  I always travel with diapers, wipes and extra clothes for both kids but when my dad and brother helped unpack the car last night, they got put inside.  Thankfully I had an emergency stash of diapers and wipes so I only needed to get pants.  So we got him changed and while I could have stayed and done the shopping I was planning on doing in Buy Buy Baby, I was so hungry so we went back to McAlisters and I enjoyed my bacon spud.  I got the kids a cheese pizza and some Hi-C.  They loved it!  They drank out of the straw like pros and ate their whole pizza.  Then we headed back to Buy Buy Baby and my mom sat in the car with the kids while I ran in and got a couple of Christmas presents for the kids.  I hit Barnes & Noble next and then we headed home.  

We were gone for so long that my dad got home from work soon after.  We got a family meal from KFC for dinner- my dad always makes sure the kids get (more than...) enough to eat.

December 16 = 5 Months Old Day!

Malia is five months old! While she is still our smiling sweet little thing, she also has shown us a serious side- she is serious about her toys, her bottle and her sleep- she knows what she wants! I'm expecting some teeth to come through any day now but she's taking it all like a champ. Her eyes are still a gorgeous blue like her Daddy's and her smile becomes more expressive and heartwarming every day. I am so in love!

December 6 = Get in the Christmas Spirit Day!

Zachary and I have spent most of our Christmases traveling to NC.  Having recently gotten back from a trip to NC during which Liam nor Malia slept very well and Liam did not eat very well... and the ride back was nightmarish... we decided- after making sure our families would still come see us- to stay in Maryland for Christmas.  So not only did this mean no packing and better sleeping and eating but it also meant there was a legitimate reason to get a Christmas tree!  We've never really had to have the artificial tree vs. real tree conversation but I grew up with artificial trees and he grew up with real trees.  But marriage is all about compromise ;) and he knew I would love the way the tree would make our house smell so we headed out to Target (of course) and got lights and a tree stand and a few other things and then headed to the tree lot.  I was hoping to make a huge spectacle of choosing a tree- letting Liam walk around and see if he gravitated towards one... taking lots of pictures... but it was cold and when we left Target it started raining so Zachary let me pick one and we headed home to decorate!

They are such a pair.

We got a few battery powered stars to put in the window- they were a hit with Liam.

Missy Mae supervising.

Reaching for the button to turn the lights on...

Success!

Liam telling us what color each of the lights were- he loved them so much!

Santa's helper relaxing after all her hard work.

2/3rds of our family- just missing Marley & me.

November 22 = Christmas Tree Lighting Day

One of Zachary's classmates' wives texted the group of us wives and asked if we'd be interested in getting the families together to watch the tree lighting at one of the shopping centers in Annapolis.  Everyone was eager to come together so we met for dinner at Brio and shared dinner and conversations!  Since it was so close to Zachary's birthday, I had one of his classmates order desserts for everyone to celebrate- it was a big surprise for Zachary and for someone who never demands attention to be on him, it was nice.  We missed the tree lighting but a lot of the families took advantage of the photo op anyway!

Also, here's a picture of Malia just because she's really cute.