Selah's first snow & a trip to see Santa

This past Saturday we woke up to a beautiful snow fall.  It was so picturesque; the house was dark from a cloudy early morning, the lights on the tree were the only lights on in the house, the snow was falling, and our little family of 3 played together.  Ahhh bliss.

Selah's grandparents found this really nice snowsuit at a garage sale that looked brand new and even though it said 0-3 months, it somehow still fit her. Our baby girl turned 7 months this weekend!  I've learned that baby clothes sizes are bizarre and do not make any sense.

She was ADORABLE.  We bundled up and took her out in the snow and funnily enough, she reacted the same way she did when we introduced her to the pool this summer: dazed and still.

We went with the Keiths and Hoekstras to visit Santa.  Seeing Santa took all of 4 minutes.  One, it was frigid out. And two, the babies either were confused or scared to death.  Surpsingly, Selah did quite well!  

Favorite Things Christmas Party and babyfood

My Bible study just had our first Christmas party together!  For the party, we decided to do a "Favorite Things" theme.  I found the idea here.

For our group of 10 women, we chose the magic number of 4 gifts at $5 or less a piece.  The idea is that everyone draws 4 names and the names you draw, you place your Favorite Thing gift into their bag.  So everyone leaves the party with 4 Favorite Things gifts from 4 different women in the group.  It's a unique way to learn a little bit about your new friends and things they enjoy, as well as a chance to try new products, etc.

Whenever we get together, it's non-stop talking so of course, barely any photos were taken.

I brought blank note cards as my Favorite Things gift (or blank-insides!).  It's nice to send and receive good ol' hand written cards every now and then.

So fun!  All my loot!

On another note, Selah is doing so much better with solids!  It took over a week for her to accept avocados and sweet potatoes.  To help her along, I began mixing banana with sweet potato.  That did the trick!

Today she ate all 3 foods like a pro.  I was so proud.  I am loving making my own baby food. Now I really feel domestic.  I haven't done all the math yet but I feel we've already saved quite a bit plus it's healthy and quick and easy to do.

Mmm avocado

Isn't she just too cute?  She's 6.5 months... yipes!

I need a tissue

Good grief.  I feel I have been so emotional lately!  Just about every video Caleb has sent me, has me crying 10 seconds into it.  I think it's because just about everything I view now, I view with my daughter in mind.  How I see things are different now because of her and her very existence and imprint on my heart.

I had heard about the movie We Bought A Zoo and that it was worth watching.  I didn't know much about it but I just watched it last night and LOVED it!  So heartwarming with very real elements of pain, grief, loneliness, happiness, joy, and love.  I highly recommend this film.  
It has some language and an intense shouting match between a father and son that might be too much for younger ones, but that particular scene is part of the "breaking point" where relationships and people begin to heal.  
Two thumbs up!  Plus, this ridiculously cute little girl is in it.  

Caleb sent me a video about one family's journey through the loss of their daughter in the Sandy Hook shooting last year.  Can you believe that this Saturday is the one year anniversary of this tragedy?  Wow.  How has 1 year gone by already?
I remember hearing the news while at work.  I came home, sat in the basement, glued to the TV hesitantly watching horrifying clip after horrifying clip that swarmed every channel.  I was almost 4 months pregnant at this time.  I sank into Caleb and just cried as we continued to watch the news for the rest of the evening.
So many questions.

How could someone do this?
How could someone maliciously, without a second thought, kill these innocent children?
It's Christmas.... these poor families.  How can they go on?  Every Christmas is a now an awful reminder of this nightmare.
Where was God in all of this?
Why did this have to happen?

This video is beautiful.  Evil did not win that day.  This video is proof of many things.
There is still good in mankind.
God knows exactly how we feel, afterall, His own Son died.
God is healing to the families that felt broken.  God is strength to the families when they didn't think they could go on without their child.  God is love to the families through other people showering them with love.
God loves the little children.  All the children of the world.
A child, no matter how small or how young, can have such an impact and through others, begin to change and help the world.

But viewer, do yourself a favor and grab a tissue.  Or two.

Good ol' toys

Stick with me as I explain how I came to the topic of toys, specifically 90's toys.  

I turned on Winnie the Pooh's Christmas movie in hopes it would distract Selah so I could clip her fingernails. This movie reminded me of a Looney Tunes Christmas, which is one of my favorites as it is full of nostalgia from my childhood.  However, an equal warm fuzzy feeling that came with the Looney Tunes Christmas video was the commercials that came with it.  
There was a 7up commercial, PJ Sparkles doll commercial that I wanted SO BADLY, and the infamous Nestle Toll House commercial with the time elapsed cookies rising that made you want to jump into the TV and devour the gooey morsels.

Anyway, all of that led to me thinking about the toy commercials and there were a lot during the Christmas season and Saturday morning cartoons.  I remember wanting so many of them; they seemed to be the "it-toy" that would continue to taunt me as they remained a distant dream.  

Have a glance back to the 90's toys that were hot hits for young girls.  Some I don't recall and were maybe too old for a 5 year old girl but many, many of them, I remember wanting and wanting badly.

55 Toys And Games That Will Make ’90s Girls Super Nostalgic

Ahhh the good ol' days.