Just Like Old Times!

The Monday before Christmas we met up with Hillary and Lincoln for a play date.

Christmas

Christmas is more and more fun every year for us thanks to Norah. We tried really hard to explain to Norah the true meaning of Christmas in terms she could understand. We talked about how Christmas was Jesus’s birthday but this alarmed her because she feared all the presents under the tree were not for her so she started insisting “No, Norah’s birthday.” Eventually we gave up on it and just enjoyed the secondary meaning of Christmas: Presents. We even had Norah put out Oreos and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

Santa was very good to Norah – here she is wearing her princess dress, apron and chef hatGrandpa Guy giving Norah a beat to dance to in her princess dressCourtney with her two nieces in their Christmas dresses from MimiWe had church at 1:00 and by the time we were home and giving Norah lunch she was completely exhausted and fell asleep

Alice’s Blessing

Bryan blessed Alice with his dad and Kimball on December 23rd at his parents home. Alice wore her Aunt Courtney’s blessing dressAhhh, life with a big sister.Norah gave Alice lots of kisses once she realized how much attention she’d get for it. When we were done taking pictures of her with Alice she promptly pushed her off her lap. Fortunately we were all near by to catch Alice.Ashley, Matt and Louis came down for the blessing.Norah with Baby Louis. He is soooooo cute.

Norah's Nutcracker

Norah decided that she couldn't let Courtney take all the limelight and decided to do her own performance of the nutcracker.

The Nutcracker

Bryan’s little sister Courtney was the Sugar Plum Fairy in her ballet academy’s performance of the Nutcracker. She has been in the Nutcracker every Christmas as long as I have known her but we’ve never made it down to Virginia in time to see it. Since she is her academy’s prima ballerina this year and a senior in High School we decided we wouldn’t miss it for anything – not even a two week old baby could stop us!  She did a fantastic job. Her choreography was extremely difficult and her dance teachers said that she was their first Sugar Plum Fairy to completely nail the routine. She was absolutely lovely and I’m so glad we were able to see her perform.

Norah fell asleep in the car on the way and slept through most of the first half but didn’t miss any of Courtney’s numbersNorah handing Courtney a bouquet after the performanceCourtney posing with some of her friends after the showThis is Norah very seriously imitating the ballerinasAnd this is Susan with sweet little Alice after the Nutcracker

Alice’s Newborn Pictures

My friend Stacy Hutchison is building a portfolio and kindly offered to take pictures of baby Alice. These are my favorites:

Sleeping on the Job

I put an awake Alice on her brand new baby quilt from Mimi today for some tummy time and she promptly fell back asleep. She had a rough night last night so I guess she was making up for it. This is Alice having tummy time after her nap under the tutelage of her big sister.Norah showing Alice advanced tummy time moves – notice Norah AND the dog are doing downward dog