Let it Snow!

It is snowing....

Merry Christmas!

Three crazy days of Christmas parties. Good thing we have some time off to recover! We're still hoping to be snowed in tomorrow.... we shall see. This is South Carolina afterall, so I'm not going to believe it until I see it!

Here are some pictures from our party nights!


Night #1 - Cookie Night. Except this year with Spaghetti, no cookies and a surprise baby shower.

Ryan and Sara are expecting a boy soon!


Guys and their girls.


Kate keeping a close eye on her ice cube baby.


Night #2 - Christmas Eve. Started with presents at Nan's and Pop's.

Zhu Zhu pet = huge hit.


Play Dough.


Basketball!


Opening presents with Nan and Pop!


Then we headed to GiGi's house for the Fraylick party!


The cousins - including Elizabeth who Skyped in from Okinawa for the entire party!


Socks?


Present swap was great fun this year. Here is Courtney "not pressuring" David to pick the right gift.


Me and Court.


Then we headed home so Don could put his newest toy together.


And, more importantly, so we could make sure Santa left all the right stuff! We might have also watched South Carolina High School Cheerleading on Demand. At 1 am. That's perfectly normal... right?


Day #3 - Merry Christmas!

Kate must have been a good girl.

I hear he only brought pillow pets to the really good kids.


And princess books and sleeping bags.


Don got a tool box from moi.


And then played with Kate.


Foster was a little sad....


Until he found out there was a present for him - thanks Nanna!


We packed up our things and were off to Grandma and Grandaddy's house for more Christmas fun and more PRESENTS! (she was really starting to get the hang of that part)


Rivers learned that the fastest way to make friends is to open your box of sour gummi candy.


There was present exchanging.


And a little bit of artistic freedom with the camera. I totally meant to cut her head out of the picture....


And here we all are!


Last, but certainly not least, was this little gift that Santa left at our house. Kate wasn't quite sure what to make of it.


And now, we are all officially pooped. Is that ice I hear on the window? Maybe....

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Nutcracker Suite

Don and I went to the ballet Saturday. I told Kate we were going to see ballerinas. She said: "I want to go too!" Needless to say, she had to stay home. I can't wait until she's old enough to go with us, like many other cute little girls we saw there. Until then, we'll just have to play ballerina like we did this morning.

Birthday Girl

It was a great day for a party! Here are a few pictures from Sunday!

Dora Cake.

Blowing out candles.

Baby bed Grandaddy made for Kate.


Lots of fun toys.. like this apron.


Cheese!


Loved this Santa.


A playhouse from Nanna and Pop. (Or Doghouse.. depending on who you talk to)


All of us in the Playhouse.


Not sure what's going on in this picture. Way too much dye in the frosting, for sure.



So So sorry this isn't in focus. You can still see what a happy gal she was!

Happy Birthday Baby!

We couldn't have picked a better girl if we'd tried.

Christmas Playlist

Here are two of Kate's favorites. The child is not a performer. I may have had to bribe her to sing Jingle Bells for me.

And really, I don't know why she pronounces words like pout with multiple syllables. Seriously, we're from the South, but we do NOT talk like this.

Away in a Manger

Kate's new favorite toy? A manger that she got for Christmas last year.

She even knows who belongs in a manger - Baby Jesus, Mary and Jovus (or Joseph). Earlier today she called Baby Jesus God. To which I could only say, well, yes.

It's a.....

Sheep!!

THE BIKE we've all been waiting for arrived today. Don might be a tad bit excited (see here). You thought for a second that I might have some life-changing announcement to make, now didn't you? Well, believe me, this is a life-chaning bike!

Grinch Update

We were in the grocery store last night and there was a very large Christmas tree. The following conversation went something like this:

Kate: Christmas Tree!!
Don: I sure hope the Grinch doesn't come and steal that nice Christmas Tree.
Pause......

Kate: Grinch only on TV, Daddy.

Don leans over to me and says: Should we ask her about Santa?
Me: Sure, why not.

Don: Kate, is Santa Claus real?
Kate says no. As if it might have been one of the sillier questions we've ever asked her.

So there you have it. Certainly no one has ever told her Santa isn't real. As of right now? Our two-year-old may like Santa, but she doesn't believe in him.

You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch

You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.

Ah the Grinch. He's a charmer isn't he? Kate is a huge fan of all things Suess and so she was super excited to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Tuesday night. As much as I have tried to play up that the Grinch is mean and grouchy and hates Christmas, it really hasn't sunken in. Yesterday we watched the Grinch twice. After the first time she went around the house trying to steal Christmas decorations "just like the Grinch." She knows that the Big Bad Wolf is bad. She knows that Swiper the Fox is up to no good in Dora cartoons. But not so much the Grinch. Let's just hope that she doesn't try to shove the Christmas tree up the chimney.

She also thinks Cindy Lou Hoo is a mermaid. Yeah, I kind of get that.


And tonight, friends, is the Charlie Brown Christmas special on ABC. If there is something Kate loves more than Seuss or Dora or Mickey or Winnie the Pooh, its Snoopy. So, you know that at 8pm we will be fed and bathed and all in our PJs (probably with the fireplace on), drinking chocolate milk and watching Snoopy!

Challenging

Feeding Kate vegetables can be... challenging. See for yourself.

Fall Leaves

What little kid doesn't like to kick around in the leaves? Unlike our friends in Colorado and South Dakota, we are just now losing all of our leaves. We have lots of them in the backyard, so Saturday we bundled up, made a leaf pile, and jumped right in.

Fun Times!

Kate is enjoying being a tiger this morning. Pretty cute!





We had a dance party yesterday morning while mommy was out getting bagels for breakfast. Fun times!