Twinkling Lights

Getting Ready for Christmas

Let the Christmas preparations begin! This weekend, Grandma came for a visit and we did some fun Christmas activities, starting with a gingerbread house. Try encouraging an almost three year old and her eager Grandma to wait patiently for the frosting to dry before starting the next step. About halfway through we decided to just go with it and have fun as the walls came tumbling down. We made a big mess and had lots of fun!

 

DANGER!  :)

And the walls came tumbling down...

On Saturday morning, we woke up to our first snowfall. Perfect morning to bundle up and go get our Christmas tree.

Daddy and Abby encouraged all of us to go inside the farm store and look around while they finished looking for the perfect tree...which explains how we ended up with the tallest tree EVER! It's so big we had to cut down the top to even think about putting our star on and it's so wide that it almost touches our couch and dining room table at the same time! :) I love their optimistic, carefree Christmas tree picking spirit, especially because sometimes Mommy is just too practical. So, when you come to house for dinner during the holiday season and you are being poked in the head by our GINORMOUS Christmas tree as you enjoy your meal at the end of the table...remember that big dreamy tree picked by our sweet dreamer girl is just making Christmas in our house even more fun this year! 

Oh, we'll see you in a few minutes Mommy!! ;)

 

Our tree trip wouldn't be complete without a special treat.

Ella hung out in the front pack for the morning festivities, but when we got home even our littlest girl got excited about the decorating...

Sleep while traveling

Since Abby was a little baby, I learned to have very low expectations for sleep while traveling. In our personal experience, a new bed, new room, new roommates and new sounds usually means some broken sleep, shared beds and lots of comforting for our girl. It has gotten so much better since Abby has grown and moved from the pack and play to a bed. Ella is still young enough that her surroundings didn't effect her very much this trip, but (like at home) she was up to eat at about three each morning. On our Thanksgiving trip, Abby ended up in our bed at some point the first two nights and on night three she stayed in her own bed all night. As I was taking care of Ella in the middle of the night, I couldn't help but snap a photo of Abby at three am each night. I wanted to remember years from now how equally challenging and sweet these sleep deprived travel nights can be during this season of our lives.


Night 1:

We were all snuggled in nice and close.

Night 2:

Someone loves her Daddy!

 Night 3:

Whoever says we didn't make any progress?

I love her!

Thanksgiving 2012

We started off the holiday season with our annual staff conference in the Adirondacks. It's always a refreshing time with good friends and one we look forward to every year. We have so much fun catching up with friends and relaxing that I never manage to take many pictures, but here are a couple from our weekend. 

sisters watching a video before we head to breakfast

love.

Remember these two? Abby and Emma. Little friends from the beginning (their parents made sure of it). They met at their very first staff conference two years ago. This year, they were running around and talking to each other in childcare. Now, they both have new baby sisters (Ella and Clara). Look at how much they have grown!

Ella meeting her new friend Clara.

exploring and "driving" the caboose

 

 Our friend volunteered to take some pictures for us in hopes of getting a nice family shot/Christmas card photo. It was a great idea, but turned out to be a lot harder than expected since our photo session was scheduled for 20 minutes after Abby woke up from her nap. Some days she wakes up just fine. This day was not one of them. Though we didn't end up with a Christmas card photo, I think we ended up with a priceless memory of just how serious Abby's angry face is and how determined she is when she sets her mind to something. In this case...not smiling! I will remind her of this someday.

Look at those eyes. I love my family!

After the conference, we headed to Papa's house for a night to visit. We relaxed all day with Uncle Cory while Papa cooked for us, enjoyed round one of Thanksgiving dinner and met up with friends for dessert afterward. On Thanksgiving morning, we headed to Grammy and G-Diddy's for the weekend. Thanksgiving dinner round 2, lots of fun activities and quality time with everyone. We even gave our photo session another shot. This time we were more successful! Perfect? No. Successful? Yes! :) 

little beauty

love. love. love.

dancing with Uncle Tommy

First foods

First taste: cereal

not sure what's going to happen next!

oooo

Much more prepared this time around. Bring on the veggies. First: peas

so excited and loving her high chair

 Ella's biggest cheerleader was close by for encouragement and assistance.

Now, Ella is onto her second veggie, sweet potatoes. Dinnertime has gotten a lot more interesting in our family with our fourth member up at the table eating with us!

Lily Monica

Last month, I wrote about the wish list Abby came up with after looking through the Toys R' Us toys catalog for the first time. Her sweet preferences made me smile.

You can imagine the smile on Abby's face (and the surprise on mine) when we came home after a morning of running errands to find a big box addressed to her sitting at our doorstep. I wasn't expecting anything and at first glance couldn't figure out where or who it came from. But, there is only one person in the world who addresses my mail Jen Ping Cassel! My dear friend, Kenzie, surprised Abby with a generous gift that made her day. Abby opened the box to find her number one pick from the toy catalog, an African American Cabbage Patch Doll!

As Abby shrieked around the house from total excitement and joy, I carefully opened the box reminiscing about my CPD days. The specific baby powder smell and the anticipation of opening the baby's birth certificate to learn her name brought me right back to 1990!

Her name is Lily Monica. Her birthday is December 15. Abby is already planning Lily Monica's birthday party. Lily Monica has already been to the grocery store multiple times, a college basketball game, Papa's house, church, Grammy and G-Diddy's for Thanksgiving and the library. Abby loves her!

Thank you Kenz! You are such a sweet and thoughtful friend. I miss you so much and am looking forward to the day when Abby and Ella meet you and  I get to see you again!  108 love. xoxo