Trip to MD

This was our year to celebrate Christmas day in Maryland so we jumped on a plane on December 23rd and spent the next few days in my home state!  It's so fun for me to see Kate with my Mom.  Kate loves her Gramma, PopPop, and Marley so it's always a special trip when we get to visit with them.  Plus, seeing Aunt Amy, Uncle James, Uncle T and Aunt Nelly, and GG and Grampy are always pluses in Kate's book too!

As usual, it was too short.  I suppose time flies when you're having fun!!

Waiting to board our flight!

Getting ready to fly!

But safety first!

We were greeted with yet another wonderful
chalkboard masterpiece by my Mom!

I heart this.

Kate loves her Gramma.

She also loves this little display wheel barrow basket
that my Mom puts decor in.  It's not at all a functioning
basket but Kate insisted on sitting in it.

Now that's a nice looking Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas from us!

Aunt Amy and Uncle James!

It is most definitely Christmas!

Waiting patiently to open presents!

A new Belle dress?!  We just had to put it on
immediately.  After all, Belle is Kate's
FAVORITE princess!

A little movie time and snuggles with my baby.

Kate loved Marl too.

She would just plop right on top of him and give
him a big hug!

She even insisted on sharing her blanket with him!  So cute.

He was such a good sport!

And no trip to MD is complete without a walk
to the park!

Uncle T found a walking stick!

So Kate did too!

Here's to hoping you all had a wonderful holiday as well!  Merry, merry Christmas!

Christmas Kick-Off

I've mentioned this in the past but with four families to celebrate Christmas with, two being out of state and not including our own nuclear family Christmas, the holiday gets a bit chaotic.  It's wonderful to see all of our family.  And I am extremely thankful that Kate has so much love in her life, but towards the end of the holidays it's nice to be able to wrap them up.

Nonetheless, we kicked off our holiday celebrations this year with an Eckenrode Christmas at Brian's Mom's and Stepdad's house.  It was nothing short of Christmas success!  Everyone enjoyed each other, the kids ran around like wild banshees, Santa visited, there were presents and wrapping paper EVERYWHERE, and the night even ended with Frozen on the TV.  We didn't stay for the entire movie because we were headed to MD the very next day, but we made sure to put it on when we got back to our house for a little settle down time before bed.

Christmas has officially started!

This is what Christmas looks like when you have eight grandkids!

Hello, Santa.

Ooohhh!  He even brought gifts!

Kate wasn't very excited to sit on his lap though.

But then she realized she was getting a Frozen
dress and bag and was content to oblige.

For just a second!

Hendricks fam with Santy Clause.

Mimi & Papaw and their grands: Kate, Quinn, Miles, Ben, John,
Leah, Audrey, and Carter.

Blueberry Pancakes

We made one of our favorites this morning: blueberry pancakes!  It was 7:00 am and we were hungry.  My little helper was more than happy to help and I was more than happy to get messy!

These are the moments that I love.

It was a multi-sensory experience!

And I can't guarantee that we didn't drop a cheerio
or two in.

Feels slimy when you add the water!

Oh what fun it is to get messy!

Getting the mess under control and back on track
with our pancake making.

Add in a bit of quality control...

...and you've got perfect blueberry pancakes!

Yum!  We even ate them on the counter.

Get Jolly By Golly

It's December 19th.  As of this morning we had not decorated our Christmas tree.  Brian is out of town and I am not in the Christmas spirit.  The very thought of dragging boxes and bins up from the basement to decorate does not excite me.  We have stuff everywhere.  And we'll just be taking it all down in a couple weeks at this point...Plus, I'm tired...more on that later!

But I want the holidays to be special for Kate.  And so I did it anyway.

I brought up our Christmas ornaments and she and I decorated the tree tonight after we got home from work and school.  If we were going to do, it needed to be done, and since Brian has been traveling a lot the last couple of months, we did it by our lonesome.  Next year we will get on the ball with this and decorate together, as a family, a lot sooner than a week before Christmas.  But this year this is how it went.

I need to get jolly by golly.  And that is an understatement.

Our little decorator!

Such a sweetie!

She's got this down!

The final product!

A holiday note: I feel like when this time of year rolls around, it's always really stressful.  Brian and I both come from divorced families so there are a lot of Christmases, coordinating, get togethers, etc. in a short amount of time.  In addition, one half of our families are here in Ohio, while another half are in Maryland and Germany.  It's a real balancing act I tell ya.  We really enjoy seeing our families, so we try to accommodate everyone's schedules.  But it's still stressful.  Add normal day to day things, like, cleaning, cooking, etc, and working and Christmas shopping and this time of year gets really overwhelming.  I think that is why it's harder to get in the Christmas spirit sometimes.

Next year I'm going to try to make a goal to get holiday shopping done by November.  None of this last minute stress.  Perhaps that will help me get in the holiday spirit much sooner and stay in it.  After all, I really want this to be a fun time for Kate.  I know she will enjoy what we can give her, even if it's just a decorated tree, but if we can enjoy it too that would be even better!

School Photos - Part Deux

This past April, Kate's school brought a photography company in to do school photos.  They came back this November and once again won us over.  How can any parent say no to extra cute photos of their darlings?  Please, enlighten me.

We couldn't, so we now have new school photos of our sweetest girl!

Kate's 2nd class photo - age 2 years old!

Look at her!

Just darling!  I need to find this picture of me
around this age.  They are nearly identical.
Will follow up on that.

Collage I

Collage II

I'm pretty sure they will get us each time they do photos.  We're suckers.

The Magic of Christmas

We struggled coming up with a Christmas card this year.  We like to get creative and we have set the bar pretty high with our cards from the past.  We looked for ideas, we brainstormed, we hemmed and hawed and finally we decided on a throwback card with Santa pictures from Brian and I and our newest Santa picture with Kate.

Our cards this year are going to be later than normal, but they are out.  Finally!

(Note to self: we must start our cards earlier next year...)

The front!

The back!
(You may have seen this photo before!)

To see our previous cards click on the season below:

Christmas 2013
Christmas 2012
Christmas 2011
Christmas 2010, 2009, and 2008

Enjoy and Happy Christmas!

Zoo Lights

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium does a zoo light display around the holidays every year and it is INSANE how many lights they have.  There are thousands, millions, gazillions everywhere and it looks incredible!  They even have a synchronized area around the pond where they put on a little show to music.

It's typically pretty cold around this time of year, so walking around the zoo requires lots of bundling and lots of hot cocoa.  It wasn't by any means warm this year, but we chose to visit on a "warmer" night, at least warmer than what we've experienced thus far, and we had a blast.  Here is yet another fun holiday activity that we must make a tradition out of!

Inside the petting zoo area, Kate insisted on taking
her winter gear off.  I guess it was hot.

She loves to be held while she pushes the stroller
these days!

Going on a chilly train ride!

There's a smile!

A sample of the lights!

The Hendricks party at the zoo lights!

Taking photos in the dark with the Christmas lights is not the easiest thing.  These images just don't do the lights justice.  You must go for yourself and check them out!