Merry Christmas, Jillian!

What a Merry Christmas Jillian had!  We started off our Christmas celebration by going to the Christmas Eve mass at our church.  It was a blessed way to remember that we were celebrating Jesus' birthday.

We were very fortunate to have Julian's parents and sister come here to spend Christmas with Jilly Bear Baby.  They made the Christmas festivities even better.

After a delicious Christmas Eve dinner, it was time to put on our Christmas PJs...

...and set out some milk and cookies for Santa!

While Jillian slept cozy in her bed, Santa came and left lots of presents for Jilly!

And he filled our stockings too!

The next morning, Jillian woke the whole house up with excitement as she was jumping in her bed.  We told her that Santa had come and that he ate the cookies she left out.

But he left a few crumbs and Jillian was quick to eat the rest of the "tookies."

She was so excited to see all her presents, especially her brand new kitchen!

And her new Power Wheels car!

And her new Radio Flyer wagon filled with groceries for her new kitchen! 

She loved opening up her new baby doll.

And she quickly put her baby doll and Bubble Puppy in her shopping cart to take them to the "supermarket."

Jillian wanted to see all the goodies that were in her stocking.

And then it was time to feed her baby doll.

Next she wanted to go for a ride in her new wagon!

Everyone else got some great presents too, and Jillian handed them all out.  But the best present of all was getting to spend quality time as a family, especially with Jillian who had the best Christmas of all!

Merry Christmas, Jillian!  

Have a Jolly Jilly Christmas

Do you want to feel the true joy of Christmas?

Do you want to REALLY feel like this is the most wonderful time of the year?

Can you even begin to fathom the amazement of seeing Christmas through her eyes?

I can honestly say that never before have I come to enjoy this time of the year more than I have this year in making the season merry and bright for Jolly Jilly.  I was admittedly not a fan of Christmas.  It wasn't until I started dating Julian that I even really liked Christmas (but Christmas with him made me fall in love with the season).

Still, I don't think anything could have prepared me for this holiday season.  As soon as Thanksgiving happened, I wondered how much of the "Christmas spirit" Jillian would really understand or how much she would get into the season.  But I quickly discovered that she definitely knew something special was in the air.

From the second we put up our Christmas decorations, Jillian was so amazed by them.  She loves coming home to plug in our outside lights and our 3 Christmas trees.  She is so delicate with all our decor and doesn't touch anything she is not supposed to.  And she loves saying good morning or goodbye to the Snowman by our garage door.

We sing and dance to Christmas carols off her Christmas "ABCD" (that's what she calls it...instead of just CD, hehe).  We read Christmas stories and wear Christmas PJs and eat Reindeer pancakes.  We talk about Santa as we buy presents and talk about what Jilly wants for Christmas (her latest response..."Teeth medicine"...Silly Jilly, Santa's got something better for you than teeth medicine)! 

And most importantly, she knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. "First Jesus birthday...then Jilly Bear's birthday." We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on the regular and Jillian is in love with Jesus' mommy and daddy.

We have spent a lot of times with friends this holiday season.  Everyday, Jillian asks me if we are going to see Jack-Jack or Emmy or Miss Christen ("with a baby in her belly").  It has been amazing to spend this time with our friends who are like family here in College Station.  And I really cannot wait to spend time with our real family, too.

I wish I could keep her this little forever.  I wish I could bottle up this holiday wonderment to carry me through the weeks and years to come.  I know that with Jillian, Julian and I will always have a blessed holiday season filled with love, excitement, and amazement that only a child can bring.  I am more in love with Christmas than ever before and I have Julian and Jillian to thank for that.  And I hope you and yours Have a Jolly Jilly Christmas too!

"Merry Kiss-mas everybody!"

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Pancake

Oh my goodness!  What does that say?!  Only 9 days left till Christmas...

I'm so happy that there are only 9 days left!

This is as good as it gets...Jillian does not like to look at the camera and say Cheese. She'll say cheese or she'll look at the camera, but NEVER both at the same time...sigh...

With only 9 days left, Jillian and I made Rudolph pancakes for breakfast.  Jillian was eager to help, so she sat on the counter to stir the batter and taste test the banana and strawberries.  These were important jobs and someone had to do them and she gladly obliged!

What resulted was a family of reindeer, one for Daddy, one for Mommy, and one for Jilly Bear!  Daddy's the only one who eats bacon and so he got bacon antlers...Jillian and I had icing antlers instead!

Jillian loved her Rudolph pancakes, especially the raisin eyes.  It was a great way to start off our lazy Sunday filled with Christmas shopping, afternoon naps, and watching the Cowboys win (in December, I know, it's crazy!).  

Jilly Bear, only a few more days till Rudolph brings Santa to our house, just for you!

Christmas Art Project

As an Advent activity, we had plans to do a Christmas art project.  I told Jillian about this right after school and she was so excited that she ate all her dinner as quickly as she could.

We got all set up in the dining room and Jillian could not wait to get started!  First, we painted a hand-print Christmas tree.  

Next we moved on to hand and feet reindeer.  

Daddy was way into the art project too.  He would go back through and fill in any spots and he helped Jillian do the Rudolph eyes and noses.

When it was time to display the art, Jillian insisted on having something to hold "by myself!"

Thanks, Daddy! I had a great time doing art with you!

Jilly Bear, you just made your Daddy's life with that big hug!  And we will always treasure our time working on the art project that we will keep forever!

Joy To The World

Silly Jilly: My Little Empathetic Girl

This girl...I swear!  She is just like her mama in so many ways...

Jillian may be a little very empathetic.  There are many a times when Jillian will tear up just because other kids are crying.  Take this time for example...there is a new show on Disney called "Sophia the First: Once Upon a Princess."  In the story, an ordinary girl becomes a princess when her mom falls in love with the king (Don't you just hate when that happens?!)

This ordinary girl, Sophia, sings a song about not being ready to be a princess.  And throughout the whole song and dance, she is not happy (it's Disney, trust me, she isn't that sad nor does she cry).

But Jillian gets so sad because she sees Sophia looking sad. 

Jillian: "Mommy, Sophia sad?"

::cue the tears and empathy face::

B.R.E.A.K. M.Y. H.E.A.R.T.

Seriously!  Her sad face is the cutest little face I have ever seen!  For as long as I live, I vow to always remember this little look on her face.

The first time we saw this, I had to turn Sophia off because Jillian was just beside herself.  She cried for a few minutes and I consoled her as best I could.  And we've seen Sophia once twice a million times since and she still gets a little weepy on this part.  

Jillian has proven time and time again to be a very empathetic little human being.  She is just amazing at reciprocating emotion as she is so unbelievably empathetic.  Her teachers tell me all the time that she is the "peacekeeper" at school.  If one of her classmates takes a toy from another classmate, Jillian will go give them her toy just to help them stop crying!

Truth be told, I have known since Jillian was in the womb that she would be an empathetic person.  I remember a time when I was 6 months pregnant that something scary happened on campus and I was freaking out.  I tried to be calm on the outside but I was scared on the inside, and Jillian knew it.  I felt her twirling and flipping and freaking out right along side me (or inside me).  It was at that moment that I knew I had to be strong for my little girl and I tried really hard to calm myself on the inside.  Soon thereafter, Jillian stopped moving around and seemed to calm down, too.

If I only knew then how many times I would comfort this child by wiping away her tears and helping her feel that everything is going to be ok.  Her empathy is endearing and I will forever LOVE this about my Silly Jilly!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

On December 4th, we took Jillian to Santa's Wonderland, A Texas Christmas Experience!  

We met up at with the Malnars and the Hayes for dinner.  Miss Christen and Baby Hayes were our dates for the night since daddy was at work.  As soon as we walked in, Jillian was so excited to see all the beautiful lights and hear all the Christmas music.  She immediately started dancing, twirling, and jumping with joy! 

We walked around and looked at one of Santa' reindeers, lots of Santa's elves, and even caught a glimpse of Santa through the window.

And then it started to snow.  Jillian has seen real snow before, but she was so very excited to see this fake snow.  

We also took the hayride through the lights, singing along to Christmas carols and ohhhhing and awwwwing all the beautiful light displays.  

  

These two cuties loved spending time together and all us adults did, too!  We had such a great time walkin' through this Winter Wonderland!

B/CS Christmas Parade

Last weekend, the Bryan/College Station parade went through town.  We first grabbed lunch at Newk's with the Malnars, and then headed to grab our spot on the parade route.  

The 2 cuties would hardly sit still as we were waiting for the parade to start.

As is the case all the time in Texas, it was still 80 degrees this day and so we watched the Christmas parade in shorts, skirts, and tank tops.  

The Aggie Band starts the parade off.  Jillian LOVES marching bands.  She tries to imitate all the band members with their instruments.  It is super cute!

One of her favorite floats was the one playing really loud mariachi music.  She got up and immediately started shaking her booty!

Even if the weather was hot, we had a great time with our friends at the 2012 B/CS Christmas parade!  We'll definitely go again next year...hopefully in Christmas sweaters! ;)