Jamison week 26

Jamison had a nice few days in Tahoe this week. She relaxed for most of it.



Makes me wish I could sleep as much as a baby.

tubing in Northstar

We all went tubing at mid-mountain at Northstar. Here we all are while we waited for our time slot.





Jessica was excited to go.



Her daddy helped pull her to the loading zone as our time slot started.



She rode down with both Jim and I.

hanging out in the village and playing in the snow

The day after Christmas, we were supposed to take a sleigh ride through Northstar village. Due to weather conditions, the ride got canceled (too icy for the horse) and we instead hung out in the village with the kids.



Despite the cold weather, they all enjoyed having snacks outside.



After snacks, Jessica and Jack went to play in the snow right outside our condo.



Jessica had fun making snow angels.

And sliding down the hills.

Christmas night

Here is a photo of the four of us from Christmas night before heading out to dinner.



We had to take the gondola up to dinner. It was Jamison's first ride in a gondola (stroller and all).



Jessica actually fell asleep at dinner, but Jamison was ready to have a good time.

Christmas morning

Santa dropped off quite a lot of presents in Tahoe for all the kids. Of course, the pink princess side of the room was Jessica's stash. And, Jamison had the smallest pile since Santa only brings a few things for babies.



Jessica dug right in to her present pile and was thrilled to find dolls, dolls, and more dolls (all princess and fairy of course).





Jessica kept opening the largest presents first, so she was missing one of her most wanted items -- a Rapunzel dress. We assured her that Santa must have remembered and luckily it was in one of the last presents she opened. Of course, she had to put it on right away and I'm pretty sure she wore it for a week straight.



Jessica (and the boys too) were thrilled about the vanity and accessories she got. They did hair and makeup all week.



Jamison missed out on the chaos of the morning as she decided to sleep in instead. Smart girl! Jessica helped her open her presents once she was up. Jamison really liked this stuff dog. It is so soft to chew.

Jessica's first ski lesson

During the afternoon on Christmas Day, Jessica took her first ski lesson with her cousin Nicky. Here they are getting ready to hit the slopes.



After some coaxing and practicing on flat ground, Jessica was ready to ride the magic carpet up the hill. Here she is going up with her daddy.



She took a couple of runs with lots of help from a hula hoop, the instructor, and either mom or dad.

Eventually, she used the hula hoop and adults less and less and was ready to go down the hill and do it again and again.

After her lesson, the ski instructor helped her make her first snowman. He even found her a carrot for a nose and raisins for eyes.

Jessica decorates cookies for Santa with Jack and Nicky

Once we got up to Tahoe on Christmas Eve, Jessica and her cousins decorated cookies for Santa.



Jessica gave Santa lots of sprinkles!

Jamison week 25

Jamison seems to enjoy putting everything in her mouth now. Any toy we give her goes straight into her mouth to be chewed on.



She really likes this tag blanket that Elaine made for her. It has so many different things to chew on!



Jamison had fun hanging out with her sister and cousins at the Rockettes show and dinner. Everyone wanted to play with her and give her kisses.



It's not all fun and games either. We're trying to get her to work on crawling. We're making her work harder and harder for her toys as we put them a bit further away from her now.

And, she was finally tall enough to try her jumperoo. It seems to be a hit, although she seems to need to work on timing and coordination.

Jessica performs at Holiday Sing

On Friday, Jessica's school had a holiday sing program. Here is a photo of Jessica at the holiday sing.




The kids sang a collection of favorite holiday songs. Thanks to video, you can see the whole performance!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

The Dreidel Song

Deck the Halls

The Raindrop Song

We Wish You...

Jingle Bells

This Little Light of Mine

Jessica makes cookies for the teachers

Jessica helped me bake and decorate cookies for her and Jamison's teachers. She is a big fan of sprinkles!

Jessica's Photography Exhibit

On Thursday, one of Jessica's schools had a photography exhibit of photos that all the children had taken. Photos, cameras, and subjects had been an area of interest amongst the children, which resulted in the photo exhibit. Jessica chose "Carl" for her photo.



Jessica's description of her photo in her own words...

"It's about Carl. I took a picture of his face. Isabella and me dress up Carl. We dress him up like a princess. We ride him."

Jamison week 24

This week Jamison had fun dressing up for the holidays. She donned many holiday outfits, including a Santa costume (see previous blog post). Here she is in her elf outfit with candy cane striped pants.



Despite all of the holiday festivities, Jamison managed to hit a milestone this week when she tasted rice cereral for the first time. The results were mixed. At first, she seemed to be somewhat interested in the food and spoon.



Then, she seemed to contemplate the food for a while.



And, eventually, we think she really just wasn't sure about the whole thing.



I guess we will just have to keep trying.

Jamison has also decided to show us how vocal she can be. At times, she squeals and screams in delight.

And, Jamison is no longer just sitting. She likes to lean over to pick up her toys now. We wonder how long it will be before she is really starting to move around.

Santa and Rudolph go to the zoo

Our own little Santa and Rudolph (pretend as Jessica said) went to the zoo today for a Santa breakfast. Before heading out, however, Jessica was so excited that she was dressed up as Rudolph and Jamison was dressed up as Santa, that we just had to take pictures.







While Jessica waited for Santa to arrive, she decorated Gingerbread cookies for herself and Jamison and made reindeer ornaments. Jessica has learned that decorating Gingerbread is fun, but eating the decorations is better.





Santa came soon after and Jessica and Jamison took a picture with him.



A bit later in the day, Santa was sitting by his reindeer who were taking a rest. The girls were lucky enough to get another picture with him.



Before heading home, we had to take a quick spin on the carousel.

after school dancing

When Jessica and her friend got home from school this afternoon, they danced to the music from one of our snowmen decorations.

Christmas comes early

Christmas has come early for Jessica this year as she has started to receive some presents already. Recently, she got Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Chipettes stuffed animals from her Mimi and Papa. They are now one of her favorite toys. She takes them on fake picnics, puts them in her stroller, and sleeps with them every night. Britney also goes in the car with us everywhere now.



She also got a Princess laptop from Benjamin, Elaine, and Mike. It has princesses on it and they talk to her, so she loves it!

Jamison week 23

This week, Jamison continued to practice sitting. She's not yet sitting on her own, but she's getting closer. She spent quite a bit of time sitting in her boppy and playing with toys.





She's also still playing in her activity center.



And, she spends quite a bit of time rolling around on the floor. We actually have to watch her more closely now as she moves around a lot more than she used to.

Decorating the house for Christmas

This past weekend, we got around to decorating the house. This year, getting the tree, decorating the tree, and hanging the lights was a very big deal for Jessica. As soon as we started on hanging the lights outside, she wanted to help.



Unfortunately, when a 3 year old is your assistant, hanging lights takes a lot longer. Luckily, she got bored with the whole thing and went inside until we were done. She loved the final product, which includes snowflakes, candy canes, and even flamingos. This year, our whole picket fence is lit up too. We're still on the hunt for a lit up Santa, but that may have to wait until next year since all the stores are sold out.



Once we were done with the outside, we moved on to decorating the tree. Jessica wanted lots of lights, tinsel, and even beads. Our tree is quite the Fancy Nancy tree. I think I've been reading Splendiferous Christmas a few too many times. Anyways, Jessica loves the ornaments on the tree and points out her ornaments to everyone. So far, she has collected Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Rapunzel and is working on us for more (princesses that is). She's also acquired a princess stocking this year. It looks slightly out of place on the mantel, but she just had to have it!



And, now that the Christmas tree is up, we can ask the girls to pose for lots of pictures for us.