Christmas Eve

This week has been so busy! It has meant less pictures and fun things. We are having Anthony's family over for Christmas dinner and I am making the majority of everything so I have been a busy woman in the kitchen. Anthony was out of town most of the week and Lilliana was terrible. I ended up taking her to the Dr. It was just teeth 5 teeth trying to pop through and one that already did. Thankfully it is Christmas Eve and we are all feeling good. I am exhausted but thankfully the majority of everything is done so tomorrow I can RELAX!!! Yay for planning ahead.

Yesterday Eli helped me make rolls. We made them homemade. The only problem was I think the dough may have gotten a little too worked with Eli's help. They still taste good.


Many other things were made yesterday. Finally today we got around to making sugar cookies. I never got them decorated but that is ok. We will probably do that tomorrow and Eli loved doing them.



Lilliana also fell asleep sitting up in her crib for a nap. She was not crying but playing I think. I went in to check on her and found her like this........


Tonight we went caroling to a family friend although she is more like family. We had been working with Eli on singing, "We wish you a Merry Christmas." He would only sing it with his cousin Trista though! He loves Trista. He did not sing much tonight but I think he had fun. We were able to bless and I like that.



We also started the tradition of opening one present Christmas Eve which happened to be pajamas. They also got to open two more. This was Lilliana's first present ever she opened.

She got her first Bible and we replaced Eli's as his has been loved a lot and is pretty worn.

Then we read the Christmas Story and gave them their pajamas to open. Lilliana was ready for bed so a melt down began, but Eli loved them. He loves new jammies!



Finally it was time for the big present of the night. We recently got a web cam so we could Skype with my parents. We decided that they would be able to see them open the presents they got them in real time this year. Due to the time change so they did not have to get up early tomorrow we did it tonight. So we got on Skype and they got to see their presents..........


Grandpa and Grandma always give fun gifts. Lilliana is not the biggest fan but Eli is in love with his horse! He did not want to go to bed tonight and had a huge meltdown for fear of not having his horse which he named Grandma Nicole. Then he changed the name to Brown so I am sure it will be ever changing.

We got a quick picture in our new jammies and then sent the kids to bed. Yes I am as tired as I look:)



Now the children are in bed and everything is ready for tomorrow! It has been another amazing year in the Reuther house and we have been BLESSED beyond words! I love my family and would not trade them for the world. They bring me such joy, my wonderful husband especially who we would have none of this were it not for him! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Days Equal Fail

This past week we accompolished 1 day of our 25 days of Christmas. I have to say it was not the best week. Anthony was laid off thank goodness. I know who would normally be happy with their husband not working. I was after I saw how the week was going to start. Eli was still getting over being sick so he was not very cooperative and whiny whiny whiny! Then Lilliana started with teeth. Oh my! I thought Eli was cranky. No this girl has him beat! She would not sleep but for hour increments even at night last week. I felt like a zombie. I also have felt terrible. I am back to having terrible morning sickness. I actually have lost weight this pregnancy something that never happens and I am not complaining. Thankfully Anthony and I could take shifts. Either way neither of us were getting great sleep and I have had a baby attached to my hip for about a week including most of today. Her entire back gums are swollen and look extremely painful. Hopefully they pop through soon. We did have one pop through. This has put me behind in baking and everything else. She turned 10 months yesterday and I took her pictures but have yet to even download them so hopefully those will come tomorrow.

Not sure what day it was but Eli and I did go shoppping for Lilliana. That was our "day of Christmas." It was amusing taking him shopping for her present. He wanted to give her everything he wanted. Finally I picked out a couple things and he chose. He got her a pink car and even used some of his chore money to buy it. He then helped me wrap it.

It ended in tears as he was furious I would not let him play with it.

Lilliana has been able to stand up to something if put there for a while. She pulled up to her knees and then would just sit there. Finally last week she is pulling up to standing and walking around things and she is proud of herself!



Boxes with Christmas presents have been coming for the kids from my family in Idaho. Eli loves getting the boxes as he loves to play in them.


He also has discovered a new way to vacuum............................................himself. Including trying to give himself a poor looking comb over.


As always his favorite thing to do is play with his sister. It melts my heart! I love how they play and he just makes her smile and giggle.

Yep that is my heart right there and it just makes it melt. It brings tears to my eyes which happens a lot lately either due to hormones or I just have become a crier. I love them to pieces!

Eli has just been hilarious lately. His new things are..........

~Anthony's work is the "truck station."
~Our car is dirty and "we need to get a car wash." I hear that every time I get in the car. He may be right but I think he just likes to go through the car wash.
~Anything that does not work that is a toy that makes noise etc. "needs fixed." This means he wants me to get him a screwdriver and he will change the batteries on his own. He does not want help. He does fine with the screw driver it is getting the batteries to go the right way that causes problems.
Those are just the recent funny things I can think of.


He got to go to daycare today so Lilliana and I enjoyed our day together. I should say I caught up on sleep! She has not slept well so we tried to get caught up. She also screamed a lot from teeth. I saw this a lot.......

Notice the curl!! Sister has curly hair and we are LOVING it! Although it was a little wild today!

She also got her first pigtails! Might I say she looks adorable!


I made baked spaghetti tonight. I decided there is always a first for everything so I let her go to town. She was of course cranky from teeth but she enjoyed it and then enjoyed her bath.

Gotta love the way she had her feet propped up on the chair.




Happy Monday everybody! Hopefully tomorrow we can get more baking done.

The Real Reason for Christmas

Last week really put us behind with our celebration of Christmas. We skipped days 7 and 8. Poor Eli was just not up to it and that was ok. He looked like this pretty much both those days.


I ended up taking him to the Dr. as I thought he might have strep throat. Thankfully he did not and just had a double ear infection that she actually did not want to treat as he was not complaining of his ears hurting. They are trying to cut down on the amount of antibiotics they use. Thankfully he is feeling better but has been a little pistol the past couple days.


Lilliana enjoyed her first peanut butter and jelly sandwhich the other day. She loved it and made a huge mess.


Friday brought...................

Day 9: Go to live Nativity Scene
Every year Anthony and I have wanted to go to this. A Church in Lansing puts on a great show where you walk through an outside play almost of Jesus' birth. Unfortunately every year when I go to buy tickets they are gone! Thankfully I got them this year. It was so cold the night we went. We went out to eat first. Eli took of his hat and had some crazy hair.
He thought it was so funny and kept looking in the window to see his reflection.
We had to arrive at the Church 15 minutes before our scheduled departure time. I did not bring a stroller as I had planned to carry Lilliana in the Ergo. Of course since I did not bring a stroller my Ergo broke. So that brought having to readjust everything and I am so glad we arrived early. The kids were wound up and crazy. They had lots of trees to look at and some room to play so they did.
Eli refused to take off his clothes even though he had to be dying of heat. I think he was afraid he was going to miss something. When it was time to go we began our walk through the Church then outside. It was the complete story from Creation to Jesus' death on the cross for our scenes. It included angels, animals, wise men, a pregnant Mary, an empty tomb, lights, and torches that lined the walkway through the woods. It was humbling, beuatiful, and brought to us the real meaning of Christmas. We will be going to this every year from here on out!


After our "Journey of Christmas," we were able to go inside and see how candy canes were made.
Then we enjoyed warm chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate. The hospitality of this Church was wonderful and everybody was friendly. We really enjoyed our night.



Day 10: Go look at Lights in our Pajamas
Eli has been fascinated by the Christmas lights this year. He loves seeing them when we drive and has to tell us all about them. I remember being like that as a kid so I am loving seeing it from his perspective this year. We climbed in the car and decided we would bundle up so we could roll the windows down as we looked. Lilliana was crabby and not a happy camper about going.
Eli on the other hand was so excited. He would not be quiet.


Away we went and enjoyed everybody's lights. We had great plans to put up ours this year but Anthony has been busy working on the hosue and other things so it has not happened. It is ok as we have enjoyed others instead.


Sunday brought a lesson for Eli............



Honestly, I am over messes. Yes, I know it has just begun but Eli purposely makes messes. Since he has been purposely making messes and I mean taking his dirty hands and rubbing them all over the wall. So, he cleaned my wall and he did a very good job. He has not done it since so hopefully he learned his lesson.

Day 11: Make a Gingerbread House
We had a lot of fun doing this. Eli decorated pretty well and I was happy it did not just have candy stuck everywhere but looked somewhat nice.


Lilliana cried until we put her in her chair so she could watch us. She did not want to be left out.


We have a lot more fun things to do this week. Eli is enjoying it all and I am happy for that!