We love this picture! This was our SECOND attempt to meet Santa on Sunday. First we ambitiously set out following church that morning. I had seen pictures of a really beautiful winter Santa scene at the Shops at Willow Bend mall (near our church) so we thought we may as well give it a try. I had the girls all dressed up, snacks-a-plenty on-hand, and I was feeling optimistic. We arrived and the line didn't look too bad... but then we waited. and we waited. and we waited. And the line had hardly moved. This spectacular winter scene was neat, but also meant that each visitor took FOREVER to move through it. Oliver suggested we quit while we were ahead and the girls were still reasonably rational about the long wait to see Santa. He was right, because at the rate we were going, it would've been more than an hour more, I'm sure, and things may have gotten ugly! So, we bailed. I underestimated my 3 year old, because I really didn't think she'd care whether we saw him or not. But oh no...she remembered that we talked about going to see Santa Claus and telling him she wants a dollhouse for Christmas! She didn't want to leave! So, we promised to take her later after her nap. When I woke her up early from her nap so we could go before they closed, the first thing she said was "go see Santa Claus!" We went to Stonebriar Centre just before they were scheduled to close, and it was much faster. We still had to wait about 4o minutes, but that's nothing when it comes to Santa lines! We coached Lydia about saying hi to Santa and asking him if she can have a dollhouse for Christmas. (She plays with a dollhouse at school and is always talking about it.) She did so well! She wasn't timid to go see him. She said "Hi Santa!" and then told him she would like a dollhouse. He said that he has lots of dollhouses. I asked her in advance if she would please smile for the camera and she agreed. But...once that camera was on her and a lot of strangers were staring at her, she sort of froze up. As for Molly....well, the picture speaks for itself! (and she was in SUCH a great mood while we waited in line! See below.)

In other news, tomorrow Molly will be 11 months old! And Oliver and I will celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!
Did you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade this morning? It was a tradition in the Kreutz household, and I want my own family to enjoy it every year too! Lydia saw some of her favorite characters in the parade: Charlie Brown and friends, the Sesame Street gang, and the Berenstein Bears!

Since Lydia did such a great job of making cornbread muffins at school the other day, today we made some at home for Thanksgiving!


Videos, below.







And yesterday she also made pumpkin muffins! Which she seems to really like eating, so that's another item for our list of "foods Lydia will actually eat" list. (Molly really likes them, too!)



Our Thanksgiving was hosted by Oliver's parents (aka Omi and Opa). My parents came also, and Mike, Katie, Warner, and Miles, and a friend of Oliver's, Srijay. It was a noisy, busy, yummy, fattening, happy and wonderful time! Now...on to Christmas! It's hard to believe that this time last year I was super pregnant with Molly and doing the countdown...hoping to have her before Christmas and thinking every day was going to be "the day". She waited until New Year's Day instead! I really can't believe she's almost 11 months old. How can a year fly by so quickly??

Here's my little pumpkin baby today... I love her so much!

Today I had the privilege of attending Lydia's "Family Feast" at school. (Thanksgiving party) She was so cute in her Indian ensemble made out of a brown paper sack! And her super cute feather headdress. Her teachers do such a great job of pulling things like this together. And I was especially proud to learn that she was the only kiddo who was cooperative about wearing the ensemble... no one else wanted to wear their stuff at party time! Lydia helped her teachers make cornbread muffins for the party. She also made several pieces of Thanksgiving-related art that were totally awesome. Yay Lydia! Thanks for inviting me to your party! And thank you Opa for baby-sitting Molly while I went to the party!

On her way to Grammy and Poppy's house the other day:

Dear Lydia,
You make my heart so happy! The best words to describe you are fun, spunky, affectionate and theatrical! You are such a HAPPY kid, and in recent months you have become very expressive and creative. I love watching you pretend with your dolls and "Little People" toys (fisher price). Listening to you pretend to talk on the telephone is hysterical, because you insert a lot of voice fluctuations, random laughs, words about our recent activities, and then finally say "Bye!" You have SO much energy all the time, and you're full of God's joy! In general, you're very funny and sometimes quite dramatic about things. I love the super cute intonations in your speech, which by the way, has skyrocketed since May. You are very verbal now, which is a total answer to our prayers. You love to talk!! Lately you come home from school and share new songs that you've learned, entirely from start to finish. I'm so impressed! You know your ABCs, you can count to 20, you can spell your name, you know your colors and shapes, and now...we are having conversations!!! When I pick you up from school, you tell me a little bit about your day. Often it's the same details each day...your responses are a bit routine. But I so enjoy them! (videos at the end, below)

I have to say, Lydia...you're not the best eater. I don't know what we're gonna do with you in this area. Here's the short list of what you willingly eat, no questions asked: cereal bars, Kix cereal, Cheddar bunnies (or cheddar goldfish), yogurt (not just any yogurt, but a very specific kind, of course), crackers (any kind - you love all things crackers!), graham crackers....and.....that's about it. Every once in awhile I can get you to eat applesauce. You LOVE milk and carrot/fruit juice. Here and there I've tried being tough with you about trying new foods, but what can I say...you're tougher. Thank goodness we sneak a multi-vitamin in your milk every day.

You love to take care of your baby dolls. You put them to bed, and feed them in the high chair. You like to put your "Little People" in a line and pretend like they're having "circle time", just like you do at school! (see pictures below) Lately one of your favorite movies is A Charlie Brown Christmas, so you also like to place all of your little "friends" as you call them, around the Christmas tree like in the last scene of the movie. (see below)

(Notice we have a farmer playing with the 3 wise men, a bride, Ernie and Bert, Mary and Joseph, and a policeman! Diverse group of friends, huh?)

One of your favorite things to do is to go outside at night with Daddy and look for the moon. You get so excited about it, and so does Daddy! If the moon is behind the clouds where you can't see it, then you say "the moon is sleeping!" You love the moon. Especially the crescent moon. I think you're starting to really love Molly. You don't like to share your toys with her, but you will spontaneously initiate hugs and kisses with her once in a while, and I love that. You like to talk about Molly, and I know you enjoy having her around. Molly definitely loves you, Lydia. You make her smile and laugh all the time. She is so happy you are her big sister. You love to play outside, and never want to come inside when we say it's time to do so. You love to watch videos, and your recent favorite has been Disney's The Princess and the Frog. This fall I introduced you to The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the Charlie Brown Christmas and you LOVE them so much!! It warms my heart, because I loved them as a kid, too!
You're doing so well at school, Lydia!! Last spring we enrolled you in a new school to help you overcome your speech delay and help you catch up on your social skills. You are impressing everyone in that building, Lydia!! With God's amazing love for you, you will continue to overcome these obstacles and you will totally catch up to your peers. And beyond! You're super smart, and you've become the leader in your class. We're so proud of you, Lydia! Daddy and I know that God has big plans for your life, Lydia! And you will fulfill them! He loves you so much, and will continue to take perfect care of you! We are SO BLESSED to be your parents, and thank God for that privilege, every day! It's impossible to have a bad day with you around! You bless people everywhere you go with your joyful, spunky self and I believe you are a light in this otherwise dark world. Thank you for being YOU!
Love, Mommy

2 videos below of our conversation after school the other day:




Video of Lydia pretending to talk on the phone. Some of it is total jibber-jabber to fill the gaps between actual words and phrases about things in her life. At one point she randomly says "Watch Princess and the Frog and sit on the potty".

Good Morning! I'm working on a new post about Lydia, but until then...I just have to share these pictures of our backyard view. It's always a nice view, but I have to say, Oliver did a great job of achieving some GREEN grass with no help from a lawn service and very little rain this year. So pretty. (It's even prettier from upstairs, because you can see all of the green behind our neighborhood.) It's nice not having rear neighbors.



And the front...

Out and about in our wagon. (Lydia was mad that I stopped to take a picture, and would not smile for me!)

Dear Molly,
I am SO IN LOVE WITH YOU! You are so PRECIOUS, and I am so blessed to be your Mommy. You're 10 months old now, and changing so much these days. I'm particularly proud of your hair! To most of the world, you are still lacking a real head of hair...but I see how much it has grown! There's a good 2 inches in the back, and a lot has come in on top (you're actually developing a little mohawk - don't worry--the sides will fill in soon!). You are an excellent cruiser, and enjoy walking around the coffee table, the ottoman and your exersaucer! You've really gotten quite speedy, and this week you even transitioned from the coffee table TO the ottoman all by yourself! I was so proud of you! Okay, so you still don't want to crawl...but that's alright. I know you'd really enjoy it, Molly, so we'll keep encoruaging you, but don't worry about it. You might decide you would just rather learn to walk, and that's great! You have a lot of new babble lately. I love your new sound that resembles a big fake laugh - it's so funny. Your favorite sound is most definitely "ducka-ducka-ducka-ducka..." (and on it goes... I need to get that one on video). Your second favorite sound is "dah-dah-dah". You have 4 teeth, and I can see some very swollen gums to the right of your top teeth, so it looks like a couple more are not far behind. You are most amused by your big sister. Sure, we can all make you giggle a little bit, but Lydia gets the best belly laughs out of you! All she has to do is be her usual energetic self, boppin' around all Lydia-like, and you just think she's the funniest thing ever! Of course, she can also make you cry sometimes. She likes to throw big tantrums once in a while, and you don't like that. I don't blame you for crying when she does that, Molly. Sometimes I want to cry about it, too! Lydia sometimes takes your toys from you while you're playing with them, Molly, and for that, I'm so sorry. We'll keep working on that with her. Thank you for being so sweet about it up to now. You've been a great sleeper at night for a couple of months now. You go right to sleep at night, and you sleep about 11-12 hours. Thank you! You take 2 naps a day usually -- a short mid-morning one, and a longer afternoon one. You are very social when we're out and about, and flash big smiles at everyone who gives you attention. You get a LOT of attention, Molly! And I really believe that those big, bright smiles are a blessing to people. I can see it on their faces -- they light up when they receive that joy from you! You're so snuggle-licious these days, Molly! I love your little body and cheeks and nose and lips and head and I just want to snuggle you and hug you and kiss you all day long! I love working from home now, and having you by my side. You're my little pal. I can't wait to see what you're like as a little girl, and have you bopping around here all cute like your big sister Lydia. On the other hand, I don't want you to change a bit -- you're so perfect exactly the way you are right now! Molly, I know God has a purpose and a plan for your life, and I believe you will fulfill it! He gave you talents and abilities and sensitivities and personality traits that are all for His perfect plans for your life, and I will continue to pray that those things are protected in you, and that you stay in His perfect arms. I pray that your heart will be sensitive to His presence in your life and that you will fall in love with Him. I pray that at an early age you will make your own decision to ask Jesus into your heart, and that you will follow Him always. I pray that you and your sister will have a deep, sweet bond and will take care of one another. I pray that your body will continue to line up with the Word of God and stay healthy. I pray for peace in your heart and security in God's love and your family's love. I love you, my precious little peanut!!
Love, Mommy

You like to play the "How big is Molly?" game. "So big!!"

You like to watch Daddy play flag football.


You cheered Daddy's St. Louis Cardinals on to a World Series victory. Way to go!


Sometimes your feet escape your crib!

You fell asleep in her high chair while I was preparing your lunch!

You put EVERYTHING into your mouth, Molly!

You like to pull down the bumper on your crib to look around your room. And you're generally very happy when you wake up from a good sleep! Video, below.

Random fall fun...
Lydia's cousin Liam hosted a "Pumpkin Party" one night for all of us! It was so cute. Fun pumpkin foods, sandwiches and pumpkin soup, candy and of course wine for the adults! We sat outside most of the evening and had such a great time. Thanks, Aunt Kelly!

I can still hear Liam exclaiming with MUCH joy "It's a pumpkin party!" So cute. He and Lydia had so much fun playing together outside! At one point, Lydia was showing Liam how she can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and in typical kid fashion, he decided to change the words to random silly sounds...and Lydia thought that was really funny. Video, below.



Last weekend, Lydia's Omi and Opa took her to a super fun fall party at their church. This is also where Lydia used to go to school, so it was fun for her to visit everyone. She had SUCH a great time! Here's one video her Opa took of her at the petting zoo. So cute.