December -- 'Tis the season to be crazy

December was crazy and chaotic, but all in a good way.

Hannah's pre-school celebrations

Hannah's preschool makes it a point to celebrate all the kids birthdays.  She was very excited to wear a crown for the day, get a treat, and a small toy as a present.

Her school also had a big Christmas celebration and did lots to prepare for it.  She loved coloring this "orgament" that was meant to be taped to the office doors.

Ward Christmas party

Our church had a Christmas party which was fun.  I helped set up for the festivities with a few other people.  

Hannah got to play an angel in the Nativity story and it was really funny to watch.  At first, she cried while on stage because she was separated from Daddy.  But then Hannah started to realize she was getting attention on stage and enjoyed it.  After some time she started waving, jumping, and smiling.

Hair cut

Hannah decided to cut her hair.  First time ever.  I guess it had to happen sooner or later.  I'm surprised it took her 4 years to do it.  The damage wasn't too bad, but now she has a some bangs.

Trying new foods

Hannah got more adventurous this month with food.  She started eating an apple, but only if she cut it by herself (no worries -- she used a plastic knife).

She tried a brownie and a cake ball.

And she downed a gingerbread house while we visited family.  This one was entertaining to watch.

White Elephant Party

This year we hosted a white elephant party.  Our neighbors (who moved in the summer) did one every year so we decided to continue the tradition.  This was one of my decorations for the party.

We gave away a Satellite dish (the previous residents of the home had one installed in the yard and since we don't use Direct TV we took it down as it was such an eyesore).  The dish was too big to wrap so we came up with this poem and wrapped it in a tiny box.

The party was a lot of fun and we are very excited to make this a continuing tradition.

After the party, I had to go on a scavenger hunt and find a few gifts some guests intentionally left behind.  They wanted to play some tricks on us (stinkers).  Let's just say it definitely kept things interesting, but I found them all and I've already re-hidden one of the gifts in someone else's car! Hey, if they are going to play that game, we'll play it right back with them.


Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve I showed Hannah a Nativity video produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She loved it so much that she watched it over, and over, and over again.

After a few viewings of the video, Hannah dashed out of the room and came back with her baby doll. It was a tender moment.

As we were getting ready for bed, we showed Hannah where Santa was online with Google's Santa Tracker.  She kept saying that "Santa and the shepherds are going to come tonight for dinner." Apparently shepherds assist Santa, and the eat dinner while delivering gifts.


Christmas
Christmas was a whole new experience this year.  Hannah fully understands presents, and she started to grasp the concept of Santa.  It was a magical year for everyone.

She enjoyed opening her Santa gifts: underwear, socks, bubbles, toy high heels (that perfectly match her Rapunzel dress), Pringles, and of course -- candy!

She also enjoyed opening all of her other presents too: Doc McStuffins toys, pompoms, legos, Rapunzel dress, a new Sunday dress, books, Daniel Tiger toys, a teddy bear with a matching blanket, etc.

We also enjoyed chatting with our families via Skype and phone.

As for Kronk, he had fun with his presents: the leftover, empty boxes.  It never gets old for us, or for him.

Visiting family
A few days after Christmas we headed down and visited the Pikes.  It was fun, relaxing, non stressful, and playful (we played LOTS of games).  Unfortunately, I was feeling under the weather and didn't take many pictures.

We had Tetris marathons, played plenty of Nertz, and some other card games too.

Nathan and I also played the Just Dance of Let it Go.  Hannah wanted to do it, but we had to do it with her.  In fact, we had to play it twice, and Nathan beat me both times!  We didn't take any pictures or videos, but during the shorty replay back from the game I managed to take this snapshot.  If you look right in the middle, Hannah is just standing there looking at the screen.

On our last day (January 1st), we ate lunch at Five Guys before driving back up.  In the building there was a Hokie (the mascot for Virginia Tech).  Hannah was excited to take a picture with the beloved Hokie which, by the way, IS NOT a turkey.

Thus concludes the Culmer Chronicles of 2014.

Hannah's birthday

Birthdays do change every year when you have children.  They start off not understanding anything, and then slowly they start to figure it out.  Well Hannah is fully educated on presents now and how they all work.  She has been asking for days to open her presents -- usually multiple times a day.

Hannah was excited when she woke up and wasted no time in opening her birthday presents.

Kronk wanted to join in on the fun, of course.

Hannah got a pretty dress.

She got some play jewelry (and has been wearing it ALL the time).

She got some new crayons, coloring book, and stickers which she used during church.

Hannah opened her star for her little Christmas tree and loved putting it on.

She also enjoyed opening all her cards too.

It's hard to believe our little girl is growing up.  She was so little when she first came into our life. Time sure does go by fast.

November: Proxy, preschools, Thanksgiving, Christmas decor, and Kronk

November was filled with all kinds of activities.


Proxy

I played "proxy mom" for a friend one night and attended a band banquet with her children (she was out of town taking care of a new grand-baby).  I love J's face she made for the camera.

Preschool

Hannah had some Thanksgiving day preparations at her preschool.  She loved wearing her "crown."

Another one of Hannah's preschools (her co-op) had fun with their Thanksgiving party too.  They made "boats" and ran around the gym.  It was adorable.

Hannah is still getting tuckered out with no naps.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year with a few members of Nathan's family.  It's been a VERY long time since either of us has been with family during Thanksgiving so it was really nice and fun.  It was my first time doing a turkey and it turned out amazing.  Thanks mom for the advice.

It snowed ALL day before Thanksgiving which caused some travel delays for our visitors.

Despite the many inches of snow that came it meant that we had a white Thanksgiving this year, which was beautiful.

Hannah was very excited about family coming to visit because it meant she got to play with Uncle Dale again.

We got to Skype with the rest of Nathan's family.  Technology is so great!

We took the Pikes on a tour of Penn State and took some pictures at the Nittany Shrine.

We also went out to lunch and at the restaurant we noticed this funny picture of a little kitty on the Nittany Shrine.  We thought it was funny.

Christmas Decor

We gave Hannah one of her birthday presents early so that she could enjoy it earlier.  She fell in love with her tree.  She's been asking for a star so we're getting one for her birthday (shh).

Hannah also had fun decorating our big Christmas tree.  Can you tell which parts of the tree she decorated?

Hannah found my childhood Santa doll and started snuggling up to it already.

Kronk

Nathan's family brought Kronk a present -- catnip -- and he enjoyed it for a a while.

He also enjoyed playing in the boxes from getting the Christmas stuff out.

He was also very intrigued about Hannah's new tree.

Since winter is approaching and the temperatures are dropping, Kronk has started to find/take advantage of the space heaters in the house to get nice and cozy despite how uncomfortable it may be for others.