we're in the Christmas spirit already!

Well, it isn't even Thanksgiving till tomorrow, but our family has been in the Christmas spirit for quite some time now! All our decorations are up, Christmas cards are all made, the shopping is done, gifts are made, and Christmas music has been playing for the past few weeks! One of my goals this season was to get as much as possible done BEFORE December 1st so we can just sit back and enjoy December and all the magic that the season brings and not get stressed out with all the gift-making, decorating, baking, and shopping that has to get done. So, I'm quite pleased with all that has been accomplished so far! I used to have that "no Christmas till the day after Thanksgiving rule", but this year Matt has been giddy about Christmas since July (LITERALLY), so somewhere in the past few months I got excited about it earlier than normal too. And then we decided that Christmas decorations only enhance the Thanksgiving holiday! So, here we are....all ready for the Christmas season to begin.....

I haven't blogged in a few weeks, and lost of stuff has been happening around here! Jackson is taking a swim class right now and LOVES it! This is his first swim class, so they are basically just learning how to be comfortable in the water. He jumps in the pool all on his own and he even now goes all the way under water!

Other exciting news is that Macy has started walking! Yay! She is still getting physical therapy once a week and Matt and I work with her everyday as well. Her legs are getting much stronger and we're really working on her balance now. She will take a few steps on her own and she also can stand up from just sitting down. And we're pretty sure she's talking way more than Jack was at 16 months....according to a list I have from when Jack was her age, he could say about 40 words....and now he's a freakin' chatter box with a vocabulary just about as large as mine....and I made a list of all the things that Macy says.....and it is WAY longer than 40 words! She just talks all the time. She repeats everything we say and she has fun yelling. Yesterday Matt told Jackson "No running." and all of a sudden Macy screams out "NO RUNNIN." It was super adorable.

A few Christmas-y photos to get you in the spirit....

Putting up lights on the tree with a toddler under your feet is a little tricky....

Jack absolutely LOVED putting up the ornaments this year. He had them all laid out in a row and was even putting the hooks on them before hanging them up. He even spaced them out well! He had so much fun he even asked Grandma if he could help her put up her ornaments....which of course she was all about! So, we'll be doing that this weekend! Macy enjoyed playing with the ornaments as well...

Wearing one of our many MANY Santa hats...

Hanging out with Daddy on a lazy afternoon....with Santa hats on of course (Macy's is sortof under her head instead of on top of it.)

We went to The Picture People for a little Christmas photo shoot.....seriously stressful, to say the least! The photographer took pictures for 45 minutes......and only was able to even take 11 photos! Of those 11 photos, only a couple were even good! Our kids were very VERY moody that night! That might be an understatement....Jack was just being a teeny tiny bit uncooperative and Macy is teething, so she did NOT want to stay on the white background and did NOT want her brother anywhere near her.....it was interesting....I don't think Matt will be going back next time. We were all sweaty and moody afterwards!

And, now for your video viewing pleasure....Macy now eats from a spoon. It takes her about 20 minutes to eat a small bowl of applesauce, but she enjoys it, so we're not complaining! Here is a video of the kids eating lunch.....it's pretttty exciting! Actually, it is kinda boring, but still fun to watch, in my opinion!! She eventually dropped her spoon and tried eating it with her fingers...