25 Days of Christmas Fun

Mami Mari bought Jillian a super cute Advent calendar.  She loves it so much!  Everyday since we got it, she goes up to it and we count (ok, Jillian can only count to 12, but that's pretty good considering she is not yet 2).

Since Jillian is too little for candy or little trinkets in the Advent pockets, Mami Mari sent goldfish for her to eat instead.  The other thing we are doing with our Advent calendar is putting a slip of paper in each day that lists a Christmas activity to help get us in the Christmas spirit!

Here is a listing of the first week of Advent activities:
Day 1 - Wear your new Christmas PJs
Day 2 - Go to the Christmas Parade
Day 3 - Have a Christmas party at our house
Day 4 - Go to Santa's Wonderland
Day 5 - Read a Christmas book
Day 6 - Sing Jingle Bells all day long
Day 7 - Do some Christmas shopping

Some of these activities are really simple, while others take some time and coordination.  But I know Jillian has been getting into the Christmas spirit a lot more this year.  She does not quite understand what all the hoopla is about.  All she knows is that she is loving all the holiday fun!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

After the outside of our house was all done being decked out, it was time to put up our Christmas tree.  We were really excited to see Jillian's reaction to the tree, but also knew that she would want to help a little too much.  So I distracted her in her room while Julian put up the base of the tree.  

But once that part was done, we brought Jilly out to see our tree lit up...and her face lit up just as bright!  The first things she said, "Tree, so pretty...so high!"

So Julian put her on his shoulders so she could see just how high our tree is!

"I like it Christmas tree!"

After putting Jillian to bed, Julian and I finished trimming the tree.  Our tree has a snowman theme and instead of topping the tree with an angel or star, we put a snowman on top!

Our Christmas tree and mantle, all ready for Santa!

Here is our tree, completely decorated and ready for Jilly Bear's reaction.  We know she loves this tree just as much as we do!

From Jillian's point of view

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go!

There is no better way to start the Christmas season than cranking up the Christmas carols and eating a yummy breakfast in your Christmas PJs!  While Jillian ate, Julian worked on getting all our Christmas decorations out of the attic.  All those decorations filled our front room.

While Julian worked on the outside lights (photos of those to come later), Jillian and I worked on the inside.  It was very important that we put Jillian's tree up in her room first!  She was very eager to help by fluffing out the branches. 

And then we put her lights on, and put on her animal ornaments one by one by one.  Every time we put one up, she would name the animal, name all the colors on the ornament, and then tell you what sound the animal makes.  It was especially humorous when we got to the penguins because no one has taught her (and no one has ever taught me) what sound they make...so Jillian just made one up!  We topped her tree with a STAR! 

More important than anything else this holiday season, it is important to remind ourselves and teach our children that Jesus is the reason for the season!

 

Julian worked tirelessly to get the grass cut (since the weather won't get cold and stay cold...grrrr) and get the outside of our house decorated.  And as everyone know, "the happiest sight to see is the holley that will be on your own front door!'

Julian saw some wreathes hanging in windows on a Pottery Barn catalog.  Of course, it would have cost an arm and a leg to get those wreathes.  But he is so amazing at seeing things in magazines and finding something so similar at a fraction of the cost.  The result...beautiful wreathes on the windows of our home!

Combine the wreathes with lights and our home is looking festive and beautiful!

We still need to finish the inside by putting up the rest of our trees, but it is certainly starting to look a lot more like our favorite time of year! 

Thanksgiving Fun

It was a happy Thanksgiving, indeed!  We started the Thanksgiving festivities a day early by going to the Thanksgiving lunch at Jillian's school.  Julian met us there on his lunch break and we were so glad!

The next day, when it was time to get some serious cooking done, we sent Jillian to the park with my brother and sister so that we could get stuff done!

Jillian had so much fun with Joseph and Michelle, swinging and sliding all afternoon.  They have the energy to keep up with Jilly, and so they played for a long time.  Which gave us all the time we needed to get the turkey and all the sides done.  

When they came back, it was time to watch the Cowboys game.  In my family, it is a tradition to watch the game and eat at halftime.  And though the game did not go as planned, we just enjoyed each other's company.  

Our little turkey girl was starting to get sick and so she was being a little bit of a toot all day. It's ok though, because she looks so cute in her turkey shirt. 

When it was time to say grace and give thanks, one of the biggest things we were thankful for was the fact that these 3 people travelled long and far to be with us this Thanksgiving.  I don't know what we would do if we did not have family willing to come spend the holiday with us!  Thanks Granny, Auntie Shell, and Uncle Doofus (ok, she tries really hard to say Joseph, but half the time, it sounds like she says doofus, hehe)!  We love you and are so glad you came!

All in all, it was a happy and relaxed Thanksgiving.  We were so glad to get to spend the day together as a family!  And we are certainly thankful today and always for all the blessings in our lives...especially our turkey baby, Jillian!

Casual Thanksgiving

Silly Jilly: Where are you from?

In my last Silly Jilly post, I talked about how Jillian answers the question of "Where are you from?"  To be honest, I did not even know that she would know the answer to that question when I first asked her, but then I remembered that they do a great job at Jillian's school of teaching them lots of things.  Their most recent lessons have been all about Texas.

Mommy: Where are you from?
Jilly: I'm from Tet-sas
Mommy: And where is Mommy from?
Jilly: Tet-sas
Mommy: And where is Daddy from?
Jilly: Tet-sas

Now, if anyone knows Julian, you would know that he is NOT a big fan of Texas.  So I was sure that he would not necessarily think it was so cute if his own daughter proclaimed that he was from this great state, Tet-sas!

Mommy: Jilly Bear, Daddy is not from Tet-sas.  He is from Puerto Rico.
Jilly: with a confused look on her face Poor-toe Ri-toe?!
Mommy: Yes, baby, Puerto Rico.
Jilly: Poor-toe Ri-toe!!!

So now when you ask her where she is from, or where Daddy is from, or where Mommy is from, or where anyone in our family is from, she just goes back and forth between Poor-toe Ri-toe and Tet-sas.  And though this may have confused her more, hopefully the older she gets, the more we can teach her to know where she is from, where her heritage comes from, and what it means to be a Puerto Rican Mexican-American Texan!

Jillian on Texans Day at school (yes, she was wearing her Yankees shirt that day, so not very Texan, but cute nonetheless)

Jillian's First Trip to the Library

One of my absolute favorite things to do as a child was visit the local library!  I just loved going and reading books to try them on for size.  

Jillian's teachers have been sending home feedback on her daily school reports that say that she often spends her days sitting and reading books.  Could it be that Jillian would share a love of books like me?!?!  

Couple her love of books with my love of libraries and I knew what our Saturday morning plans would be...

Jillian's first trip to the library!

As soon as we got there, it did not take her long to pull a bunch of books and sit down at a little table to dig right in.

She wanted to read to her monkey so she sat him down on the table and attempted to read him a story!

Then she decided that her monkey and her Lady needed to sit in chairs and have books of their own so she went and grabbed them books too.

After about an hour of pulling books, reading them, putting them back, and getting more, it was finally time for lunch and so I was able to lure her away by telling her to pick a few books that we could take home.  She was excited to go check the books out from the librarian with her library card.

It was time to say bye-bye to the library!  We had a fun, quiet morning together and can't wait to go to the library again soon!  Cross another thing off our CS bucket list :)

Silly Jilly: BTHO Bama

After a lot of time away from Jillian, I was looking forward to some quality time with my girl. What could be more fun than a Saturday afternoon at home watching some Aggie football!
It has been an amazing season so far, but nothing could prepare us for the awesome game today where the Aggies rolled the tide and beat the #1 team in the nation. Jillian and I spent the afternoon playing in the living room and cheering on the Aggies.

Mommy: Go Aggies! Beat Alabama!
Jillian: Go Aggies! Beat Ab-a-lama!
Mommy: Alabama...
Jillian: Ab-a-la-mama!
Mommy: Alabama...
Jillian: Bama-llama!

This went on for about 3 minutes, and I could not stop giggling as she tried to figure out how to say Alabama! Eventually, I could see in her face that she was ok with not getting it quite right and instead was just having fun because I could not stop laughing!

We cheered! We clapped! We jumped on the couch! And after the Aggies pulled out a W, we stood in front of the tv and danced and sawed 'em off together.

Silly Jilly! I'm so glad that we are not from A-ma-bama!

Mommy: Jillian, where are you from?
Jillian: I'm from Tet-sas!

God Bless Tet-sas! Gig 'em Aggies! Way to BTHO Bama!