Toys, Toys, Toys....and Empty Milk Jugs

The night we returned home after traveling for Christmas was a lot of fun. We unpacked all of our gifts and settled down in the comfort of our own home. Harper was an extremely lucky little girl and received tons and tons of presents - she should never be bored again! However, instead of playing with all of her new toys, Harper found an empty milk gallon that was ready for the recycling bin. She played with the empty gallon for over an hour...she'd take the lid off and then put it back on. Harper would pretend to drink from the gallon. She would pretend to fill her sippy cup and then pretend to pour her sippy cup into the gallon of milk. And, of course, she would bang it on the floor and make as much noise as possible. It was really cute to see her get enjoyment out of such a simple thing....but also a little disturbing to see how much she enjoyed it while her pile of presents was stacked behind her....

Christmas 2012 - Part II

After we celebrated Christmas at home, we left home to spend a few days with our extended families! The first stop was Iowa Falls for the Connell/Harper Christmas. Grandma Judy & Buppa had made tons of Christmas treats and we spent the evening happily mowing down on ham and homemade cookies. It was a lot of fun to watch all of the cousins open presents - and each of them had a decent stack of gifts to open! Harper received many wonderful presents. Brody was impressed by some of her gifts and had to try them out....sometimes he'd even sit on her lap because he was so excited to see the toy up close! 

The next day we headed up to Humboldt to celebrate with Ross's family. We spent Christmas Eve at Grandpa Kirk & Grandma Linda's house. Most of the day was spent lounging, talking and watching Harper play. That evening we went to church before coming home to a feast prepared by Linda. She has a knack of being able to serve Christmas dinner within minutes of walking in the door - that in itself is practically a Christmas miracle! After dinner, we opened presents. Linda likes to do a scavenger hunt that keeps us on our toes - literally, we are on our feet and all over the house and frequently on our tip toys to reach our next present and clue! She does a great job of keeping things exciting. 

We spent Christmas Day in our PJs at Grandma Ruths & Grandpa Denny's house. Any day that you have champagne before noon and wear comfy clothes is awesome in my opinion! We opened presents in the morning. Harper was finally starting to get the hang of ripping the paper off her presents by this time. But, her favorite thing to do was still sit ON  the packages. Boxes are a lot like little chairs to her, I guess. After all the presents were unwrapped (Ruthanne outdid herself again this year!), we relaxed until Ruthanne served us a Christmas feast - prime rib and lobster tails. We all ate until we nearly burst and then settled down to watch movies.

We are so blessed to have wonderful families. We wish we could spend more time with everyone, but the week goes so fast. We do enjoy every minute we spend with our loved ones - and that's what is really important!

Christmas 2012

Santa made a special trip to the Whittlesey house a few days before Christmas this year. He came while Harper was taking an afternoon nap. When she woke up, there was a stack of presents from Santa and Mom & Dad! The Giraffe (yet to be officially named) was by far her favorite toy. When she saw him, her jaw dropped. She quickly recovered and pointed and said "OHHHH." She likes to give the giraffe kisses and needs to stop and say "Hi" to him every time she enters the room. In addition to her giraffe, Harper also got a shopping cart, some movies and puzzles. The Elf on the Shelf must have provided a glowing review on Harper to Santa to get so many great toys!

Miss Independent

Kelly Clarkson may have written the song "Miss Independent," but Harper has claimed title has her own. Harper is determined to do some things without help. It started last week with apple sauce. Normally we feed her and she happily gobbles it up. However, that all changed - Harper demanded on having the spoon and didn't want help holding the container, getting sauce onto her spoon, or feeding herself. In fact, it was a battle to get the spoon away from her AFTER the apple sauce was all gone. In addition, she likes to have bigger pieces of food - she doesn't want her string cheese torn up; she wants the full stick. Slowly our little princess is becoming her own woman - I just hope she slows down and enjoys letting us take care of her (and let's use enjoy it for a while longer, too!)

Winter Storm Draco

We've been lucky with mild weather for the past year. Well, reality came back and slapped is in the face with Winter Storm Draco. We got around 12" of snow overnight - wet and heavy snow. We were really lucky to keep our power and spent the time bundled up inside watching movies and cuddling. We will have some cleanup to do later this winter - Draco split one of our trees in half and took down some large limbs on another three. The storm was full of firsts for Harper - it was her first big winter storm and first snow day home from school! Riley also enjoyed the snowfall and spent time racing around the yard and bounding through the piles. 2012 is definitely going to have a white Christmas!

Stairs

Harper accomplished something pretty big this week - she learned to crawl up stairs! Julie, from Heartland AEA, taught Harper to pull herself up onto the bottom stair around a month ago. Harper would often pull herself up to a standing position on the bottom stair, but wasn't interested in going up any higher. That changed this week and our little climber went all the way to the top on the first try. And then she did it again. And again. In total, I think she climbed the stairs six times that night. The look of pride on her face when she reached the top was priceless.

Out Like a Light

Every child falls asleep in their highchair. Harper finally did it for the first time - and we thought it was absolutely adorable. She zonked after devouring a plate of spaghetti. I can't blame her....who doesn't want a nap after eating pasta?