Merry Christmas from the Brights

Thanksgiving- Matt, Taylor, Elissa and Xander

Xander and Taylor

Thanksgiving- Taylor, Baleigh, Landon and Xander

Merry Christmas!  We enjoyed an early Christmas gathering with Matt's family and Taylor had a great time opening presents and playing with her cousins, Baleigh and Landon.  Here's a good one of the kids from Thanksgiving (which pretty much sums up the activity level of all the kiddos).  

Christmas- Xander, Taylor, Baleigh and Landon

Taylor in her Christmas "costume"

We went to my Grandma and Grandpa's in Nebraska for Christmas Eve and day.  Taylor came to Christmas Eve service while Matt stayed home watching over sleeping Xander.  Taylor loved all the singing (and added her own clapping) and even sat up front for the children's story.  She was very excited for the end of service when we got to hold a lighted candle...potential disaster, but after a moment of not listening to mommy's rule about she MUST allow me to also hold the candle, she did great!

Xander

Elissa, Xander, Taylor, Matt, Kelly, Paul, Lily (dog), Granddad and Mimi

After service, it was off to the Christmas party!  Surprise, Xander was awake when we got back to the house and I was so nervous that this was the start to yet another 4-waking night (Xander has been getting over a virus, then strep of the nose since Thanksgiving so little sleep has been had).  But apparently he had a conference with his cousins Luke and Sam (just 1 month older) who have been sleeping through the night for a couple of months now, and they told him of the joy of a good night's sleep because Xander slept through the night for the first time!  He went to bed at 8:30, had a brief waking at 5:30 and then woke up at 7! Just wish I had gone to bed earlier to truly enjoy his first full night of sleep :)  

Taylor, Sam, Xander (time for bed!) and Luke

Matt, Sam, Niki, Luke

Matt, Sam, Niki, Luke, Suki, Steve, Cassi

Cassi, Kelly, Gigi, Shaylee and Taylor with her new ladybug pillow

Granddad and Taylor shoveling snow at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's

Family, games, presents and conversation was had and Taylor and Xander enjoyed all the activity and loved seeing people we don't get to see often.  Taylor was especially excited to see her favorite Aunt Kelly and so thrilled once baby Sam and Luke arrived!  Merry Christmas to all!
Love,
Matt, Elissa, Taylor and Xander

Mmm, squash

We had a very productive weekend of baking and cooking in our house. Matt was in charge of the grown-ups with a fantastic Saturday dinner and a house full of Christmas cookies. I was in charge of the food for the boys.

Thanks to Mary Jo's book, I'm getting quite good at making baby food. I'm working my way through the beginning chapter while hosting my own cooking show each Sunday. This week's menu included squash, bananas, and pears (in honor of Aunt Janice's pear cobbler.)

I talk through everything I do to keep the boys entertained. The pears got steamed, and the squash got roasted.

After rotating to a new audience (we do a lot of rotating around here), I scrapped out the insides and processed it up.

I'll save the bananas for the day I use them, but the squash and pears made all this frozen in ice cube trays. Even using organic food, it's still cheaper than store-bought. Plus, it's fun!
The true test came later that day. Drumroll....

Success #1!

Success #2!

Another mess, another success!

Here's wishing everyone a very merry holiday season. Can't wait to read about every one's Christmas!

Niki and Matt

Just a comment from Mary Jo

Loved the story about Sam and Luke and the Sweet Potato Dinner. I knew I picked the right person to give the "Make Your Own Organic Baby Food" book to. I'm glad the boys liked the sweet potato...actually a very nutrient dense choice. I made pureed fruits and vegetables for my kids, too. Of course, that is no guarantee that they will be great vegetable eaters as they get older, but we do our best. In a related funny story, the other night the phone rang about 11:30. When I answered, Andrew said, "I know it's late, but I have an important question." You can imagine what thoughts went through my head at that time. He continued, "Did you feed me rutabagas when I was a baby?" I told him I did. "But why do you want to know?", I asked. He explained he was with a group playing Scattegories and the category was baby food and the letter was "R". Oh my...