Christmas @ Patty's

I know I have a few other posts with this same title from the last few years.  And in every one of the posts, I know that I've mentioned how great Patty is.  She really outdoes herself each year.  We can't simply just say "thanks" for everything she does for us because it certainly wouldn't be enough.  Patty is a blessing to our family.

This year, just like every year, they had fun singing songs and making crafts for Christmas.  Here are a few pictures that Patty sent.  I love that she shares these because they will make great memories for us in years to come. 

Just like at home, Patty says that Vera wears a dress-up skirt every single day.  (Sometimes she even convinces the boys to dress up with her!)

Snowmen in the making.



Their snowman family.

L to R:  Max, Reece, Landon, Vera and Ryan

Singing Rudolph

Singing 5 Little Snowmen with their adorable hats from Patty.

Best Buddies

Vera and Vince are already best buddies.  Vera loves talking to him, encouraging him and entertaining him.  Here are a few photos I've snapped of them within the last month.  I must say that they're pretty adorable and their interaction melts my heart.

Vera loves to play the iPad.  Vince rolled and scooted his way over so he could be in on the action too. 

Every now and then, Vera asks to hold Vince.  Here she decided to read him a book too.  It was pretty funny to listen to her version of "The Book of Hugs."

More buddy action shots...

And here she is entertaining him with her magic wand.  He thinks she's the funniest person ever.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

In keeping with tradition, we went to see Santa at the Winery at the beginning of December.  Vera was excited, but slightly nervous about talking to Santa this year.  She told Santa she would like Palace Pets, My Little Pony, a scooter, and lots of surprises.

Vince, on the other hand, just gave Santa the hard stare.  He didn't cry, but had his neck cranked to get a good look at Santa.  It was so cute to watch him check Santa out.

Since the kids were dressed in their Christmas outfits, I snapped a few pictures of them in front of the tree.  We managed to get one good one, but I love the outtakes too.

Vera has a bad habit of holding him in a head-lock.  Poor Vince.  Someday he'll get her back.

Here's the one that made the cut for Christmas cards.  I love Vince's happy baby smile.

Chippy the Elf brought Vera, Vince, Mom and Dad tickets to have Breakfast with Santa.  Vera was pretty thrilled to go, and she willingly, yet nervously talked to Santa and Mrs.  Vince mostly played with his hands and was content that someone was holding him.

After Breakfast with Santa, we took off to Coldwater for the extended Otte family Christmas at Briarwood.  Vera and Blake were excited to see each other; they've started to play so well together.  They also enjoyed a few surprises from grandma Otte and big grandma.

Isn't this a great picture?  Papaw better make room for two more babies!

Another great picture.

Vera and I made salt dough Christmas ornaments for the Spanish club at school.  I brought some extras home and she had fun painting them one cold evening.

Though it's busy and hectic, getting ready for Christmas is one of my favorite times of year!  Vera will be a lot of fun this year, and I'm excited for the memories of Vince's first Christmas.

Here We Go Brownies!

Vera, Vince and dad cheer for the Browns on Sundays.  

Here they are at the beginning of the game:

And here they are about 15 minutes later...

3.5 Years Old

A little update on Vera Lou, who is 3.5 going on 13....

I love listening to her talk, think and pretend.  She has said some really funny things lately.  I wish I could remember all of them.  Here are some highlights:

*In a very ashamed voice, "Dad, Melody's hair is stained."  Because she got mustard in her mermaid Melody's hair, and we have preached over and over again that mustard stains.

*"Mom, can I get a bike with stabilizers?"  She means a bike with training wheels.

*"Carter has a baby sister.  Her name is Willwee."  No, not Willy.  Lily.  

*"We need to pray for the baby in Naggie's mommy's belly."  She means Maggie.

*"We pray that Aunt Mindy, Aunt Lindsey and Aunt Karen's babies get baf-tized."  She means baptized. But really she means that they're born safely when it's time.

*"Ahh-may-wouu-yah"  singing along in church to the Alleluia.   

*"There's a mud puddle in my bed."  Because she wet the bed.

*When taking a bite of food that is still too hot, she quickly took a drink.  After she swallowed she said, "Schew!  I had to put out the fire."

*When holding Vince on the couch, "Mom, you can have him back now."  
Me:"Is he getting heavy for you?"  
Vera: "Yeah, he has a lot of mass."  
Me: "What is mass?
Vera:  "Mass is what makes you heavy."  

*When putting on a puppet show for Vince she announces, "I need a volunteer.  Anyone want to be my volunteer?"  
Me:  "What is a volunteer?"  
Vera:  "Oh, a volunteer is just a helper."

*"Mom, do you know what a vulture is?"  "No, Vera, what is it?"  "Well...it's kind of like a flamingo."  Yeah, kinda.  

*"Mom, I yove you.  Even if you do stink."  Good to know.  

*She's still learning how to speak correct English.  It's pretty interesting to listen to what she comes up with.  (goed, sleepted, falled, climbded")

Vera has really changed her eating habits within the last six months.  Usually she eats really well, often asking for more.  Her favorite foods are cheesy potatoes, blue jello, hard boiled eggs, mac and cheese, pickles, and lunchables.  She will eat any meat as long as she has ranch to dip it.  Nearly every morning she eats pancakes for breakfast, although lately she's thrown in blueberry and chocolate muffins.  When we go out to eat, Vera orders her own drink every single time.  One food Vera will not eat is tomato sauce and any food that has tomato sauce in it.  She's not big on pizza, spaghetti, sloppy joes, etc.  

Vera's ultimate favorite thing to do right now is play dress-up.  As soon as she gets home from Patty's house, she's putting on a dress, skirt, shoes or jewelry.  There are plenty of nights when she eats her supper with fairy wings on.  Most nights she cries when she has to take them off to take a bath.  Even after her bath, she sometimes puts the skirts back on.

She has an incredible imagination.  She's always imagining something, pretending something, or creating something.  Every morning when I go in to wake her up, she pretends to be a different animal.  We've had everything from elephants to sharks to owls and ducks.  I have to play along with the animal. One morning she was a puppy and I had to pet her, let her out of the cage, and get the puppy's food (breakfast) ready.  It makes the morning a little more fun, and keeps Vera on her toes.

The kids continue to do school work at Patty's house.  Vera has learned to rhyme, and she loves doing it.  She's always making up nonsense words that rhyme.  But, she does know how to rhyme legitimate words too.  She can write her name and can read a few simple books.  Just last night I had her reading the words in our book at bedtime.  Amazing!

We're always working on making good choices and listening.  Some days are better than others.  Here's a picture from the first hour of our first snow day.  Vera got all of this out of system and we had a good day after this episode.

Never a dull moment around our house.  Vera Lou keeps life interesting.  We love her much!

St. Nicholas Day

St. Nick paid us a visit one day late this year.  He must've been busy with all the other families, that he forgot to stop by our house.  ;)

We had to use a "stand-in" stocking for Mr. Vin.  Hopefully he gets one like the rest of us soon!

 Vera was pretty excited to see our elf, Chippy, sitting on the fireplace as well.  She noticed him first, and then realized her stocking and the other surprises.  We had to read the story immediately, and it had Vera's attention on making good choices and being a big girl.

When she went to take down her stocking, she nearly gave her dad a heart attack.  Instead of taking it off the hook of the holder, she just pulled.  The heavy holder nearly fell directly on her head.  That would've put quite the damper on the St. Nicholas fun.

She must be on the nice list so far because she received some Goldfish and fruit snacks.  She also unwrapped a few new books read on CDs.  The second surprise was a Christmas Sing-Along CD for the car.  Vera loves listening to music in the car.  Sometimes the car isn't even out of the garage when she asks for her music.  When she's with her dad in the car, the music usually blares really loud--sometimes the highlight of Vera's day.

Vera helped Vince check his stocking.  We were excited to see that St. Nick knew just what to bring--some much needed socks for the little guy!

4 Months

Vin is 4 months old already!  Time is flying by.  It makes me sad that he's so big already.  In a few short months, he'll be rolling everywhere, sitting up and crawling!  I'm trying to soak in as much snuggly baby time as I can.  They sure don't stay little for long.

Vince is such a happy little boy now, and will always give you a smile when you talk to him.  When you walk in the room, he lights up with excitement, and he can definitely follow us as we walk around the room.  He loves to vigorously kick and kick and kick when he's playing or excited.

Vin really loves Vera and the attention she gives him.  And, she really loves him back.  She always greets him with, "Vin!  Hi Bud!"

He's become awfully rolly polly.  I don't know how much he weighs exactly, but based on his chubber thighs and round belly, I'd say he's at a healthy baby weight.  His 3 month clothes are almost too small and plenty tight.

He started rice cereal around the beginning of November.  He had no trouble in mastering the ability to swallow.  Usually he's fairly patient between spoon fulls, but occasionally he does fuss in impatience.  He also likes to chew on his fingers while eating cereal, which makes for a real mess.

The poor little baby had a case of Hand Foot Mouth Virus last week.  It's been passed around at our babysitter.  He ran a fever first and then started waking through the night.  At first it was frustrating because I had no idea why he was waking up.  I thought maybe he was teething, which would explain the fever and irritability.  Toward the end of the week, we noticed some raised spots throughout his body.  By the weekend, he had it all around his face.  Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done because it is a virus.  We did lots of rocking and snuggling.  In fact, most of our Saturday we rocked while he slept for a few hours because he would wake in discomfort every time we laid him down in his bed.  Fortunately, he was a trooper and bounced back to his happy self within a few days.

Probably his most favorite thing to do right now is play with his hands.  He's always twisting, turning and folding his hands.  Sometimes it looks like he's praying.  And then usually, they end up in his mouth.

He's started to coo and squeal a lot more, and his coos are definitely getting louder!  :)  When he sits in his bouncy seat, he's started to reach for the toys and play with them.  He really likes his playmat and firmly grips those toys as well.  The seat in the kitchen is also still a favorite.

We might be biased, but we sure do think he's cute, and we love him to pieces.