Thankfully I have all my Christmas shopping done. I did most of it online again this year, but I tried to buy stuff in stores. It just seems like so much work. Plus I went to Wal-Mart this year. It just amazes me how such a big and popular retailer can have the worst stores. Even the new ones are dirty and I feel like I’m going to catch something just walking down the aisles. The downside to online however is that my packages haven’t all arrived yet. Soon though.

I am excited for Christmas though. It’s Lily’s third Christmas and this year she’s two and has a good idea of who Santa is and what’s going on. She’ll be so excited, if not overwhelmed, by all the gifts. We’ll do one weekend at home and then another at the grandparents. So she’ll have two overly exciting weekends. Plus I’m sure she’ll get tons of stuff. Hopefully things Dad like to play with too.

Lily with Santa & Mrs Claus

One thing that I would like, but isn’t happening this year, is a white Christmas. Call me old fashion, but I like snow in December. They keep saying there’s going to be a lot of snow this year, but would have liked a little before Christmas. Heck, I’d be fine if it snowed November, December and January and then all melted in February. I just think it makes Christmas a little bit more festive. Plus we’d like to go sledding.

If I don’t get another post in before Christmas, I hope everyone has a great holiday and enjoys spending time with those they love.

Here comes the holidays, ready or not. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

It was fun seeing how much Lily likes daycare. She was running all around, wasn’t the least bit shy and just enjoyed herself the whole evening. Plus she gets to sing and dance so that’s always a win in her book.

FYI: Lily is the one in the lower right corner with the black dress with pink arms and legs.

Lily’s Christmas Performance originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Happy Thanksgiving from Lily! originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

We’re all having more fun for Halloween this year as Lily is 2. She has a better understating of what’s going on and has been practicing her Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat.

Costume Sneak Peek

This year she’ll be going as a pink cat. It’s a warmer costume which is nice but also has quite the big belly. Trying to get her into the car seat in it sure was a lot of work.

Cleaning Out Pumpkins

Lily also helped clean out some of the pumpkins this year. She wasn’t so sure about it, but eventually stuck her hand right in.

Tonight we’re going to the grocery store for indoor trick or treating and then around the neighborhood. After that we’ll be handing out candy at the door and having some Halloween fun.

Then, after she goes to bed, Dad is taking most of the candy and hiding it away. Halloween is a lot of fun, but Lily doesn’t need a whole pumpkin full of candy.

Happy Halloween originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

For Halloween we created spiders and pumpkins out of paper plates, painted mini pumpkins, colored ghosts, created egg carton spiders, and even made banners. We’ve painted with cotton balls, our fingers and apples and then decorate with googlie eyes, stickers and construction paper.

The best part in all this is that the paint is washable so we don’t have to worry about what she gets it on; and she gets it on everything. Everything cleans up nicely and that gives us less to worry about.

It’s not just Lily having fun either. We all join in and create something fun. Then we post them around the house. Lily loves seeing the creations up on the wall and will have a blast creating new ones for each upcoming holiday.

Halloween Arts & Crafts originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Lily Counting Her Easter Eggs

Indoor Easter egg hunts are just as good as the ones outdoors. However we did both.

Happy Easter! originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

We’ve since been practicing our Easter egg hunting skills. We hide them and she tracks them down.

She doesn’t just look for the obvious ones either. She’s getting down on the floor and looking under chairs and toss pillows. If they’re out there, she wants to find them.

To make it more interesting, not all eggs have treats in them either. We’ll put a teddy gram in a few and leave the rest empty. That way it’s even more exciting as some have treats in them!

Not sure if we’ll do an Easter egg hunt outside this year or not. Maybe we’ll just keep it inside. Either way, she’ll have a blast!

Finding Easter Eggs and Happiness originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

To all our family and friends, Merry Christmas!

I hope this holiday is special for you and your family and that you take a moment to be thankful for everyone in your life that makes it so great.

Merry Christmas! originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

• A Cardboard Box – Lily loves the boxes that bring gifts in them more for the boxes than what’s inside.
• A Plastic Tub – You know, one of those storage tubs. Much like a cardboard box, it’s just fun to get in and out of. And this one won’t break as easy.
• Paper – Paper is great. You can use it to make noise, rip it into pieces and throw it all around.
• Shredded Paper – Why not kill two birds with one stone and shred some of those confidential documents you’ve been meaning to and then give the shreds to the kids? Making a mess has never been so fun!
• Old Cell Phone – Toy phones are fun, but having a real phone like Mom and Dad is even better. It doesn’t have to work either, but bonus points if it lights up and beeps.
• Music – iTunes is full of good music that is fun to dance to and little kids love to dance.
• You – Just spending time with your little ones is all they need or want. Who’s cooler than Mom and Dad?!

With toddlers it’s so easy. Their imagination will do all the work, all they need is something to play with. And that something doesn’t have to be expensive, or even come from a store.

Easy Last Minute Christmas Gifts for Toddlers originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Lily Helping

We’re doing some Christmas baking today and Lily is helping out.

That’s actually powdered sugar in the photo, not flower. And more than a little made it into her mouth; among all the other places that it ended up!

Doing some Christmas baking. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

That’s why we put a gate around our Christmas tree. We purchased a North States Superyard XT Gate Play Yard and wrapped it around the tree. It fits nicely and helps keep little ones from running into it.

However, it doesn’t stop little hands from reaching out and grabbing ornaments that are at her height. So each time she grabs something, I put it back on the tree, further up.

The gate also helps deter the cats. Not as much as Lily, but any little bit helps as we don’t need any more cats sleeping in the Christmas tree or knocking it over.

This is actually our second Superyard Gate. We have another one that use to be a play pen but now spans the front of my desk and across the bottom of the stairs so someone can’t get into trouble.

If you’re looking to keep your little one out of the Christmas tree, check out the Superyard Gate. Maybe it’ll work as good for you as it does us.

Protecting the Christmas tree from Lily & the cats originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

This year Thanksgiving should be a lot of fun. Lily is walking and talking and ready to help out.

We’ll have both sets of grandparents up she’ll be the center of attention.

Plus there will be all the food that I’m sure she’ll just gobble right down. See eats pretty much everything these days.

I’m thankful this Thanksgiving, and every day, for my family. My awesome wife Christi and my sweet little daughter Lily mean the world to me and I don’t know what I’d do without them.

I’m thankful for Thanksgiving with the family. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Lily & Dad - Halloween 2010

The first place we went was the grocery store. Each department hands out some sort of goodie and we got string cheese, an apple, banana, teddy grams, pop and even a VHS video. No candy though at that stop.

Then, once it got a little darker, we went to the daycare lady’s house and got our first candy. We were letting Lily carry it around in her pumpkin bucket and she was all excited. So excited, she at half a Butterfinger before we knew what was going on. She ate the wrapper and all! We then realized that we had to keep her candy a bit farther away from her.

After that, we went around the block to see the neighbors. We only hit a few houses but got enough candy. Lily wanted to walk most of the time, but she also wanted to pick up all the leaves.

By the time we got nearly around the block, she was starting to get crabby. I think her Butterfinger sugar high was kicking in.

She ate some candy on Halloween and probably had more sugar than she needed. As we went through the night, she seemed to be up quite often jumping in her crib. It seems that she realized that sugar is good for keeping her up all night.

I think we’ve had plenty of sugar for a while. Mom and Dad will work on finishing off the candy and are more than happy to do so.

Our first Halloween out trick or treating was a success and everyone had a good time.

Surviving Halloween and the sugar overload. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Pumpkin Guts

Over the weekend we decided to carve pumpkins. We thought it’d be a fun family activity and it turns out, Lily is still to young.

We opened up and cleaned out the pumpkins while she was napping and once she got up, we started carving.

Turns out, she only liked the pumpkin guts and really didn’t care much about the rest of the process.

I guess she’s still a little young to enjoy somethings. Maybe next year.

One may be to young to carve pumpkins. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

If you haven’t decided on a Halloween costume for your baby yet, check out some of these unique and fun ideas!

A pea pod for your little sweet pea.

If you’re little one is a little bit more sassy, than punch it up a notch with a chili pepper costume!

Don’t want to go healthy? Then how about pizza!

What about a super hero? Like Batman! Or Batwoman.

And don’t forget Robin. Everyone needs a side kick. Ohh maybe that could be Dad.

You can never go wrong on Halloween being a cute cow.

Or a dinosaur. Raawwwrrr

Anyone fancy a mermaid?

Have your baby rock out this halloween as Elvis!

Most babies aren’t that slow after a few months, so this could be a speedy snail.

Mmmm a Hershey’s Kiss

Be different. Be Yoda!

Scooby-Doo, where are you?

This would be perfect if you got Dad dressed up as Shaggy!

Put your little stinker in a skunk outfit and then you won’t have to worry about them filling their pants as it’ll be part of the costume!

Maybe your little peanut should be a peanut for Halloween.

Look! It’s Superman! Or Superbaby.

Ok, I think dressing up your baby in an air freshener costume would be hilarious!

What Halloween costume are you picking? Or what has your little one dressed up in the past? I’m sure we’ll need some good ideas for next Halloween.

17 Unique and Fun Baby Halloween Costumes originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

At the pumpkin patch.

This is Lily’s second Halloween, but her first where she’s actually aware of what’s going on. So we decided to make it special by going out and picking our own pumpkins.

It wasn’t only Lily’s first time picking pumpkins, but as a family, we’d never done it either.

We all had a lot of fun and Lily pointed out the pumpkin she wanted. In all, we got 6 big pumpkins and two little, baby sized, ones. It was a lot of fun and the price was less than any of those pay-by-the-pound places.

We’ve also been realizing that Lily is going to love all the holidays this year. She’ll get to dress up for Halloween and we’ll probably even take her trick or treating; depending on the weather. Then there is Thanksgiving and Christmas. She’s going to have a blast and so are we!

Picking Pumpkins originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Fireworks

Here it is 4th of July weekend and we’ve got no plans, which is a good thing, however fireworks are pretty much out for this year.

Now I love fireworks, and I’m not a fan of sitting inside on the 4th when they are going on, but I’m not taking Lily to see them this year.

She’s just a baby and between the loud noises & bugs, sitting outside at night just doesn’t seem like a good ideas. Plus it’ll be 2 hours after her bedtime.

Lily’s first 4th of July fireworks may have to wait another year or two. Instead, we’ll watch them on TV or Mom and I will watch them from our deck. The only downside there is we’ll only be able to see the ones high enough to make it over all the trees. We’re close, but not that close.

If you do choose to take your baby to 4th of July fireworks, here are a few things to think about.

• Spray bug spray on things around them, or get a candle. I’m not sure, but bug spray on a baby might not be a good idea.
• Park close enough that you can sit and watch them in your car. That’ll help keep bugs and noise out.
• Find a friend with a home close enough to the action so you can watch them from the inside.
• Put up a tent to help keep the bugs out.
• Realize that there will be plenty more 4ths in the future and missing one isn’t so bad.

How do you take a baby to 4th of July fireworks? originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Road Trip

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Bismarck, ND for a wedding and were extremely happy with how well Lily rode in the car.

Friday evening we drove to Bismarck, spend the day Saturday, and drove back Sunday morning. That’s about 900 miles in just three days.

Lily sat in her car seat and slept quite a bit of the time. I don’t think she sleeps really good in a car seat, but it helped her pass the time, and she even slept at night just like she usually does.

She had lots of toys and two people in the back to keep her company which helped. We even stopped on the way up to have a small picnic in a park so she could get out and play, and found a mall play area that she got to play in on the way back. That coupled with a few other stops where she got to at least get out of the car seat helped a lot.

Yes, she cried a few times, but not for that long. We were able to settle her down or she’d fall asleep. Bribing her with poofs helped too.

I’m thinking that she almost did better than me as I was far past ready to be out of the car on the way home.

If you do need to travel with kids, I think it’s adult interaction that matters the most. Sure, Lily liked her toys, but I think she enjoyed the personal attention even more.

3 days, 900 miles and one good baby. originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

Today is my wife’s first Mother’s Day. I went back and forth on a gift, as I wasn’t sure what to get.

Since the gift is supposed to come from Lily, and she’s not old enough to decide, what does a dad do?

I thought of all the typical gifts, like jewelry and what not, but wanted to get something that they could both enjoy. It actually was a hard decision and it really shouldn’t be.

Just wondering what gifts other dads get mom for her first Mother’s Day, or any Mother’s Day for that matter.

What gift do you get mom for her first Mother’s Day? originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com

It took quite a few tries, but we managed to get a few good Easter bunny ear shots!

As for our first Easter, things were good. We met both sets of grandparents for lunch and then when shopping.

No Easter egg hunting or baskets full of candy just yet. We did however get Lily an Easter dress which she looked great in.

Who knew that getting rabbit ears on a baby would be so hard? originally posted at http://www.twistermc.com