Coretta's Christmas Concert

Already Coretta's Christmas concert is coming upon us. I believe it is next week. This year is really flying by. I decided that I should take a few pictures of her in her Christmas dress so I could post them before the holidays and actually get some Christmas cards out. My hope of having a great photo of my children together doesn't seem to be a reality this year because Geno will not stand for it. If I do get cards made, they will each have their separate photo. We are going to the annual West Christmas party tomorrow. Santa will be there as well as many other child friendly events. I hope that Geno will sit on Santa's lap, but my guess is that he will be scared and cry. I believe Coretta has written her letter to Santa and I believe that she stated that she wanted a scooter or a skateboard. Well...Here is a picture of Coretta in her Christmas dress!

It's Winnie the Pooh!

As we all know, Geno is turning one years old on December 22nd. In the mail today came this fantastic package from Grandma Marilyn. When we opened it, it was a riding toy that was similar to the type of riding toy that Nick had as a kid. When talking to Marilyn, she stated that Nick absolutely loved this thing and called it his "EEE EEE." When asked about this memory, Nick remembered that it had this cool compartment that you could lift up and put things in.

We decided to give this to Geno a little early and see what he thought about it. He loved to ride on it going back and forth and back and forth and had this expression on his face that he was proud of himself. He was also amazed by all the noises and lights that would flash on it as well.

All I can say is great present Grandma!! Geno loves it!

Sam the Snowplow Patch

Coretta has completed her first session of figure skating lessons. She will start up again February 2nd. The following skills were tested: sit and stand up with skates both on and off the ice, sit and stand up on the ice, march in place, march forward eight steps, march and then glide on two feet, and dip in place. She has learned to do the snowplow stop. Once you pass these requirements, you receive a cool patch that you can attach to clothing.

I had the "cool" idea to try to iron it on Coretta's winter jacket. Needless to say, that was a mistake because it melted the nylon and left a huge burn in her jacket. Mind you this is at 6 a.m. and she needs to wear this jacket to school. After calming Coretta down, I attached some cheeetah girl buttons to cover the spot, and off to school she went.

When she was picked up at school, Nick took her to REI and she was able to pick out a new winter jacket and snowpants. I guess this was a blessing in disguise. Just look at Coretta's face. I think she forgives me.

The many faces of santa's little helper...

With just days before Geno's first birthday, it is clear that he is starting to get into the spirit.
He now loves to eat all table food, but some of his favorites are turkey, carrots, green beans, bananas, applesauce, waffles, pancakes, and of course ice cream. Although he still wants me to feed him, I am happy to report that he does not choke anymore on his food and has learned to chew his food.

He really loves the freedom of crawling all throughout the house and definitely will throw a tantrum if you fence him in. His favorite toys are his trucks, his rattles, his blocks, and his teddy bear blanket. He also loves to play with plastic water bottles, paper, and books.
His favorite past time hands down is the time he gets in the bath tub. He would stay in the water for hours if I let him. He loves to still hit his parents in the face or pull off his dad's glasses, but we like to play it off as his way of showing affection.

His worst time of the day is usually when he wakes up. He is very impatient and hungry and you need to tend to his needs fast before there is a huge meltdown, but other than that, he is an easy going, fun loving, active kid.

He loves to spend time with his sister Coretta and eats up any little bit of attention she gives him. They like to play tug-of-war, reading together, playing leggos, and even singing. Charlie always needs to be an active participant in these things and tries to find any squeaky toy in the room to squeak and fit in.

I keep waiting for the time when he will actually sleep in past six a.m. but I do not think that the day will ever come. He is starting to get used to the winter chill in the air and loves to see his breath and laugh.

We plan to celebrate the big first birthday in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota at Grandma and Grandpa Earnest's house. They gave him a Thomas the Train toy box that very craftily hides the mess of toys when needed. He is also going to have a snowman pull apart cupcake cake for his birthday. I do not even have to wonder if he'll like chocolate! I can here him already saying, MMMMMM.

Here are some fashion shots of him wearing his Santa hat.
As you can see from the pictures he is quite the fashion model. We are going to visit Santa next week. I wonder if Geno will be on the naughty or nice list? He definitely fits the cute list!!

Happy Holidays!

Prayer Tree

This year I feel that it is important to instill in Coretta the importance of giving to those that are less fortunate. Through our parish, they have a a giving tree during the advent season. Parishoners are asked to take a tag and purchase a gift for someone in need. Coretta chose a toy for a 9-12 year old. At Coretta's school, IHM-Saint Luke's, they are also sponsoring a family. For this we donated an array of books. We plan to also go carolling to raise money for the homeless.

Furthermore, this year we decided to start a new tradition at the Bieter household. We decided to incorporate what we refer to as the prayer tree. On this tree we have attached important things that we are praying for throughout the holiday season. So far we are praying for the homeless, the sick, the lonely, the soldiers, people who have died or lost their loved ones, peace, patience as well as for the well being of our family and friends. Each prayer gets it's own colorful tag and is then attached to the tree. It is a great reminder to remember what is important during the holiday season ans take a moment to be thankful for what we have. Here is a picture of our prayer tree!

Christmas Cookies!

Coretta's favorite thing to do during the Christmas season is to make Christmas cookies. So far we have made fudge, sugar cookies, and shortbread chocolate cookies.

My sisters and I finally decided to do a Christmas cookie exchange so that we would have different kinds of cookies. Bridgette made oatmeal chocolate cookies and her infamous peanut butter chocolate ones! Erin, being her first try at baking, made some scrumptious chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Here is a photo of Coretta enjoying one cookie before we froze the rest for our guests.

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday was our first snow fall of the season. I believe that we must have received somewhere between six and ten inches of snow. It looks beautiful! We just might have a white Christmas after all. Since Geno has never seen snow, we put him in his snowsuit and allowed him time to explore this new fluffy white stuff. Although he didn't know what to quite make of it at first, he seemed to enjoy it until he became too cold. Coretta, Geno, Mom, and Charlie had a great time playing in the snow. We can't wait to go sledding!! Nick and Coretta might even take snowboarding lessons together. Here are some pictures of the kids outside enjoying winter!!