Christmas Morning 2011 (& making Cookies for Santa!)

Christmas was alot of fun this year! Sydney is still a little too young to get too excited, but Rylynne has been asking when Santa is coming and wanting to open presents for a couple of weeks! We made random calls to Santa (aka Uncle Brian), made cookies for him, and had a count down to Christmas Eve night.

If you have read previous posts you know she wanted a pony and a phone like Mommy's. Thank goodness she changed that a couple of weeks ago to just paint! Everytime she talked to Santa she reminded him to bring her paint!

Making cookies for Santa!

Rylynne was very serious about her cookie making!

Sydney ended up in the high chair to do her decorating after dumping a whole bottle of sprinkles onto one cookie! haha

This year Rylynne got a baby doll bed and Sydney got a baby doll cradle. I can't take any credit for either one! They both have very special meaning that the girls don't understand yet.

The Bed: My Great-Granddaddy Scott (my Mom's, Mom, Dad) made this bed for my Mom when she was a little girl (I won't tell how old that make's it!), and was then passed to me when I was little. With a little fresh paint thanks to Pawpaw...a new blanket and sheet thanks to Grandma...it's as good as new!

The Cradle: My Great-Granddaddy Scott also made this. This cradle was actually made for my Grandmother when she was little making it almost 80 years old! Grandma and Pawpaw helped make it look like new too. This cradle was Grandmother's, my mom's, mine, and now Sydney's!

Rylynne thought this was her new bed!

Sydney didn't have any requests this year, but she loves dolls and stuffed animals! The first thing she went for Christmas morning was a stuffed cow!

Rylynne could not wait to paint!!! She painted every chance she got on Christmas day! The next morning Shawna heard her up in the kitchen. When he got in there she had already painted a drawing! We don't know how long she had been up!

Yes Suzie has a stocking too!

Sydney loves her baby dolls!

Rylynne's second favorite gift from Santa...an Umbrella!

A Connel Christmas - 2011

The Connell Christmas was today, hosted once again by Uncle Bobby & Aunt Susan! It was a house full as usual and lots of fun! The weather was perfect, so all the kids LOVED getting to run around outside. They only see each a few times a year, but they always seem to pick up right where they left off. Every time we leave Holloville, I always wish we lived closer!

The Connell tradition has been the same for years....BBQ, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and the newest tradition...Santa comes to visit! The guys always fight over who gets to be Santa! Well, that's not true, it more like the fight about who has to be Santa. Shawna lost the bet this year! I must say, he may have been the best Santa so far. He really got into it!

The family seems to be growing more and more each year! We had 35 (?) this year, and that's not counting the 6 that couldn't join us! PLUS there are 2 new babies on the way for 2012! I'm sure Grandmother and Pa never imagined 16 Great-Grandkids (well that will be 18 next year!)

 Sydney and Jones

 Happy Birthday Jesus!

 Santa (aka Shawna) This was Shawna's first year as the man in red, I think he enjoyed it more than he would like to admit.

 Sydney with one of Jesus' Birthday cupcakes!

 Maggie, Jada, & Rylynne

 Grandmother and Sydney

 Maggie, Rylynne, & TJ

 Uncle Bobby, Daddy, & Uncle Donnie

 Grandmother and Brian

 Grandma's little girl

 Uncle Brian trying to help us from making a trip to the ER! Rylynne thought she was ok to do this alone.

 Aunt Susan & Sydney

Proof these 2 little girls had a blast with all their cousins!

Update on Sydney!...Now 15 Months Old!

Our little Sydney has been a handful that started off with a rough delivery into this world! She has had me at the doctors alot in her 15 months here! Regular pediatrician, GI specialist, ENT, & now a cardiologist! It never turns into anything serious, just enough to keep me on my toes!

I have had many people asking about how she is since her latest scare! She had a Febrile seizure a few weeks ago that scared us all the death! Over the past couple of weeks Shawna and I have noticed her lips turning a blue/purplish color a few times. Not enough to make me panic, but enough to notice. She went this past week to a cardiologist as a precaution and her heart is fine! We are going for an EEG the first of the year also just to make sure nothing else is going on. The doctors believe it's just a combination of her being sick with colds/croup/bronchitis and an immature nervous system. We really haven’t noticed it much at all other the past few days so it looks like it is coming to an end! They said it may just be her body still "re-booting" after the seizure.

She is doing great now, actually the best she has been in awhile! No runny nose, ears are good (she just got tubes too!), not coughing...I am knocking on wood as a wrtie this! She went for her 15 month check-up last week and weighed in at 24lbs and 32 inches long! That puts her in the 68% for weight and 96% for height! We keep saying she seems like a runt compared to Rylynne. Well at 15 Months Rylynne was 27lbs 8oz and 33 inches! She was 24lbs at 9 months old!!! No wonder Sydney seems like a runt to us!

Thanks for all the prayers for our little girl! We appreciate is more than you know!

The Girls' Gingerbread Train!

In the past we have made Gingerbread houses. This is the first year though that the girls (well mainly Rylynne) have been excited and able to really help! My mom found this train this year and Rylynne was SO excited to build it! We let her do all the decorating! I got it put together and she handled the rest. Sydney was more intested in trying to eat everything so we kept having to get her side-tracked with cookies & icing! haha

Not too bad for her first one!