Daddy Fun and Daddy Snuggles

In the days leading up to Aaron's deployment I tend to get a bit obsessed with taking pictures of him and the kids. I want to be able to remember these precious moments while Aaron is far from us and reflect on these images to bring back the smiles when the tears want to fall.

Christmas 2010

We had such a fun Christmas, both in Michigan and back home here in Kentucky. The "theme" for Colton's presents seemed to be "we need to buy more batteries!" and Clara's was "princess". The kids had a blast. Here are a few favorite pictures from our holiday.

Merry Christmas!

What a great way to start off Christmas! We were in Detroit for Christmas and Santa made a special visit to our family gathering. It was so incredible! Growing up, Santa and Mrs. Claus always made a special visit to our Christmas Eve family party. I have dozens of magical memories of myself, Keri, and our 13 other cousins all running around with anticipation, giggling with excitement, and watching with amazement as Santa passed out presents and made us smile. It was so wonderful to see the next generation of "Schmidt" cousins experience that same magic.

Grandpa and Grandma "Sally"

Kalightoscope

We enjoyed a day in Louisville going to the Galt House and seeing the Christmas display, Kalightoscope. It was so cool! It's a display of Chinese lanterns done in large scale. I really can't explain it and I know the pictures are not going to do it justice. But, here are a few of my favorite displays.

The Galt House also has a life-sized gingerbread village. Again, the pictures don't really convey how wonderful it looks, but take a look at the list of "ingredients".

Some other favorite photos from the day.

It was a great day for our family. Maybe we'll even be able to repeat it again next Christmas.

Colton is 7 months old!

Seven months old. All I can say is, "I love watching this little man grow!" He is so stinkin' fun and adorable. Not crawling yet, but scooting a lot more and still spending a lot of time on his hands and knees. He's babbling things like, "ba ba ba", "ga ga ga", and "ma ma ma". It's so fun to "talk" to him.

18 lbs, 28 1/2 inches, and nothing but drool!

Loving that smile that looks just like Daddy
(That's the mouth, not the mess!)

The big guy with his big guy cup

Breakfast with Santa

We went to Breakfast with Santa yesterday. It was a very nice event put on by the FRG at the hospital on post (where I work). They had several craft projects to do and of course, the big man himself, Santa was there. Clara had a great time with the crafts, but would have nothing to do with Santa! Guess she's still at that age, sweet thing. Colton, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring at the bearded guy - too cute!

Christmas Cookies

Michelle, Scott, and the kids came over this afternoon and we baked Christmas cookies. The kids loved decorating and eating and we enjoyed watching them have fun. There was such a noticeable difference between watching Clara this year and thinking back to this event last year. Clara has developed such a fondness for baking and I love sharing that with her.

Miss Clara working hard at making beautiful cookies

Nick, Clara and Hailey

Sleeping Like a Baby?

Colton is really getting a kick out of being able to get up into sitting that he almost always does it when we put him down in his crib. Well, this morning he went down for his nap and must have been so tired, but couldn't resist playing around a bit, and decided to just stay there and sleep. This can't be comfortable! I couldn't resist snapping a pick before rearranging him so he could have a comfortable nap.

Christmas Baby

Our happy little boy was exploring the Christmas tree the other night. We are so excited for his first Christmas and thankful that we will all be together for our first Christmas as family of four.

What's for Dinner Mom?

The other night leftovers were on the menu at the Barrett house. I let Clara choose what she wanted from what was in the fridge. She selected tuna casserole, pickles, pineapple, and string cheese. Seriously! I guess we can be pleased to say we don't have a picky eater!

Blushing Bride

These days, Clara is all about playing "bride". And now, thanks to Michelle, she has a "wedding dress" to wear while doing it. My cousin gave us the flower-girl dress that her sister wore in my uncle's wedding years ago. Our grandmother made it and now Clara can have some fun with it.

Baking with Grandma

My parents came down for a visit last weekend. We relaxed, shopped, and baked! Clara and grandma made one giant cookie. Clara loves baking and she especially loves it when the end result is a giant cookie!

A Weekend of Firsts

Colton had a busy weekend. His first Thanksgiving was spent sleeping most of the day while he fought off a low fever that we figured was teething. Turns out the fever was actually the start of his first time being sick, with the culprit being strep throat. His first time on medicine turned into his first allergic reaction. Turns out our little man is allergic to amoxicillin just like his mom. We got him a different med and now he's feeling much better; and Aaron and I are looking forward to a good night's sleep.

There was one good "first" this weekend. Colton took a nice long nap this morning trying to catch up on the lost sleep from last night. When I went up to get him from his crib this is what I saw....

Yep! He got up to sitting all by himself...for the first time!

We also had the first snow of the season. We woke up Friday morning to a beautiful white blanket on the ground! The first words out of Clara's mouth were as she spied out the window were "Mommy, can we go play in the snow?" She was so excited, how could I say no. We threw some pants on over her jammies, her winter coat, and rain boots! I haven' gotten to the store yet for snow boots. She played outside for a few minutes before deciding it was time for breakfast. But, she was so excited and loved every minute of it!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I love it! Christmastime is here! And I'm determined to enjoy this Christmas as much as any other and not let what's going to happen in January (Aaron deploying) dampen my spirit. Clara is old enough now that she's really getting into the excitement of the holiday and I love sharing my enthusiasm with her.

We were busy this weekend decorating the house, playing Christmas music and getting our tree up.

Clara insisted on putting the candy canes on the tree, here's a pic of her festive decorating!

Aaron did a fabulous job, as always, with the outside lights. Now our house is the prettiest in the neighborhood...so far!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

Fabulous Fall!

We are loving this weather! Fall here in Kentucky has been absolutely beautiful! Mild temperatures, beautiful, sunny, and just gorgeous! We ventured out into the yard yesterday to play in the leaves and we walked away with some adorable pictures.

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Michelle, Scott, and the kids are coming over, along with several soldiers from Aaron's company. Should be completely crazy, delicious and the start to a fabulous 2010 Holiday season! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Little Man is 6 Months Old!

Are you kidding me? Six months old? Really? Man, I guess everyone knows what they're talking about when they say time flies by even faster with the second child. I can't believe how quickly this first six months have gone by.

Colton is such a happy little baby. He loves playing, laughing, smiling, and watching his big sister. It's nearly impossible to nurse him while Clara is in the room because he becomes more interested in watching her than eating. Colton is loving his baby food. So far he's eating avocado with cereal, sweet potatoes, banana, and butternut squash. He starting to drink water from a sippy cup. Colton is learning how to scoot and is motivated most by his play mirror, chewy giraffe, and Bailey! He still loves when I sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to him. He's got two bottom teeth and looks so cute when he smiles. Our biggest challenge right now is that he's been pushing his bedtime up now and it's starting to conflict with dinner at 5:30. Hey, if that's our big problem - I'll take it! This little guy is such a joy and it's so fun watching him grow!

Rise and Shine!

Colton is such a happy little guy! He usually wakes up from his naps all smiles. I took the camera up to his room with me the other morning and snapped these pics...but I couldn't pick one favorite so I decided to share them all!

Hey Mom!

I'm ready to get up now

Little Devil

Our sweet little baby boy!

First Big Boy Bath

We had the pleasure of treating Colton to his first "big boy bath" last week. Colton has learned how to sit all by himself and I decided it was going to be easier to do one bath instead of two. Of course, Colton was just along for the ride while Clara was the one who was super excited. She couldn't wait to take a bath with her baby brother; she loves helping give him baths in the sink and now she can do it in the big tub. Our little boy is getting so big!