The Last Few Weeks

The month of December has almost passed us by and I've not been good about adding new pictures. So, here's a quick recap of the month...

Olivia had a choir concert on the first Saturday of the month. Here's Olivia and her best friend right after their sweet performance.

Erin loved playing after the concert at Merry Main Street...

We put lights out this year. Did y'all see them?? We were the one house that didn't have lights, so we decided to do something about it. Definitely don't wanna be the Grinches!

Then we picked out the best tree Lowes had. A 9-foot Noble Fir. Tony wanted to go bigger, and they were 25% off, but why do we need anything bigger?? Just because they have 12 foot trees doesn't mean we need one.

Tony strung the lights and hung the ornaments...

I hung the stockings and put the gifts under the tree (sorta)...

Olivia made her annual gingerbread house.



We took our Christmas card pictures across the street...

And then it was Christmas morning and we opened presents.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Tonight was {almost} the perfect Santa experience. We went to the brand new shopping center just a few miles away because I heard they had Santa and his reindeer. We decided to brave the weather to get a picture of the girls sitting on Santa's lap. Erin has been saying "Santa" for about a week and if you ask her if she wants to sit on Santa's lap she enthusiastically says "Yeah!" Everytime she sees a Santa she yells out "Santa!". We jumped in line and were warmed the entire time with those tall, free-standing heaters. Way cool! We waited maybe 15 minutes and it was our turn. Perfect, I thought. As we watched all of the other kids sit on his lap, Erin got to see that it's fun to talk with Santa. Or so I thought...As you can see Erin's enthusiasm wore off about .1 seconds before I handed her over to the jolly old man. She made me feel {and look} like a horrible mom. She stopped crying as soon as I took her off his lap. I told her I was sorry and she snuggled up in my arms while we waited to see our picture. And, here it is....one more year of tears with Santa. Better luck next year.

And just for good measure, here's the picture we got last year. My beautiful bald baby!! Erin pointed to herself in the picture above and said "kye-ing". (crying) Fortunately, though, on the way home tonight she must have realized Santa wasn't so bad afterall because when we asked her if she wanted to go see Santa again she gave us a quiet little nod.

Worker Bee

I set the computer on the couch next to Erin and about 10 seconds later I came back to find this...

She's hard at work. I love her little feet sticking out from under the computer! She picked it right up, put it on her lap and started using the touch pad like we do.

This is her I-know-you're-gonna-take-this-away-from-me face. I did let her keep it long enough to take a few pictures (of course) and I took it before dad saw her with his laptop.

Boring...but cute.

Check in again soon and we'll hopefully have a video of Erin saying "I like it". It's so incredibly cute that I just want to pinch her little cheeks everytime she says it.

Pictures

We took pictures today for our Christmas cards. You'll have to wait to get yours in the mail, but here's the teaser.

I never get tired of seeing that cute little bum in those jeans.

Erin's First Art Project

At church today, Erin made her very first real art project!! By the looks of it, she probably only painted the turkey's feathers and her teachers did the rest. But it's the most adorable little art project I have ever seen. Ever. She came running down the hall with it in her hand and I honestly couldn't wait to see what she had made. Nerd. I know. I'll have to save this one to show Erin when she gets older. I know she'll get a kick out of it several years from now. I just have to say we have three of the coolest nursery teachers--ever. It being the season of giving thanks, I have to say I am so thankful for them and their ways of making Erin love going to nursery. She absolutely loves going. In fact, this morning when I asked her if she wanted to go to nursery she said "bubbles?" At the end of nursery the teachers use a bubble-maker and thousands of tiny bubbles float through the air...so Erin equates nursery with bubbles.

So, to all three of our readers, this is for you:

Happy Thanksgiving.

Time for a Haircut

Mullet Baby is no more. As you can see, she had a serious baby mullet going on. I just couldn't bring myself to cut it because I knew cutting it would mean that much longer until she actually had enough hair to do something with. Well, about a month ago I put her hair in little pigtails down low close to her neck. I thought they were cute, but Erin cried for me to take them out. We tried it again recently and had the same result. So, I figured we might as well cut it since she won't keep her piggy tails in. And the fact that she had a full on mullet. Here's Erin's "before" picture: Business in front. Party in back. That's my girl!

Here's the "during" shot. She sat on my lap for the haircut. We didn't even try the cool cars she could have sat in. Maybe next time. I did, however, come prepared. With lots of candy. Erin loves candy. Loves. Candy. A little bit goes a long way, so don't worry. She only got one piece of Halloween candy. And she was more than happy to let the lady cut her hair.

And here's the "after" shot. No more mullet!!! Isn't she adorable?! Now I won't be embarrassed to take her out in public.

For the past two nights, Erin has had to walk around our house in her towel after her bath. I love how she holds the towel so that it stays wrapped around her. As soon as it falls she grabs it and tries to fix it. After a few minutes she gives up and we have a nakey baby running through the house. She loves to be chased, especially when she's nakey. Silly girl!!

Whoa~! Is my belly really that big?!?

Yep!

Buckee

So our little one likes to get into the "buckee" as she calls it. Maybe she thinks it's finger paint. Maybe she's putting on makeup like mommy. Maybe she just likes butt cream.

I had one of those mother moments a couple of days ago. Things were way too quiet. It turns out that Erin was smearing her favorite white cream all over her sweet little face. We never put it on her face. She knows we put it on her hiney. In fact, when we change her dipey she always hollers buckee. When I came around the corner and saw her, she immediately handed me the tube. She knows she's not supposed to have it. I took the tube and grabbed the camera. I didn't make a big deal, so hopefully she won't think her antics are camera worthy the next time she finds the tube. At least this time she didn't have any in her mouth.

Happy, Happy Birthday to YOU!

We celebrated Tony's birthday on Saturday at Benihana's. Erin even stayed with a babysitter!! Thankfully, Tony's mom made it past Halloween to have him on the first of November.

I have discovered a few little birthday facts: This year, Daylight Saving Time began on Erin's birthday and ended on Tony's birthday. If his birthday is on a Saturday, Erin's will be, too, but they weren't born on the same day of the week- Erin was born on a Thursday and he was born on a Monday. And, a couple of famous people that were also born on the first include Lyle Lovett, Anthony Kiedis, and Jenny McCarthy.

Your girls love you more than words can tell. I am so grateful for you and all that you do. You're the best!!

Halloween Night

After Olivia's Halloween party at a neighbor's house, us three girls went to Gaby and Michael's house for a little more trick-or-treating. This is the crew: Michael, Madison, Gaby, Emma, Ian, Olivia, Erin and Jonathan is on the ground.

Olivia and Ian. He has to be one of most charming little boys ever!! Just look at that face. I think Olivia is eyeballing that tattoo on his neck!

Erin has a crush on Nick. She wouldn't even come to me when I asked. She was all about holding Nick's hand and eating the candy. She just walked quietly at his side, hand in hand, for about 15 minutes. Nick has his own little girl, Emma, and fortunately she didn't mind sharing her dad's attention. Emma is almost 2 and she has totally got the Halloween routine down. We all laughed as she hollered "come ON".
Olivia was too scared to enter this "haunted house". As I was saying to her "just go in, there's nothing to be afraid of" Eric was telling Gaby "it's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of. Just DON'T look the monster in the eyes". I think that scared Olivia even more.
Below is part of our Halloween decor in the front flowerbed. Erin kept pointing to it saying "yucky". Yep, it's pretty gross. This is where Tony was while we were out begging for candy. I don't think there's anything that could pull him away from handing out the candy. Not even seeing our little Erin trick-or-treat. Maybe next year. Then again, maybe not.

This is one of the pumpkins that Tony carved. He loves to do it and we like to watch-- for about 5 minutes. Then we let him be. He likes to work in the garage with the music on. I think this is the coolest pumpkin, ever.

I only wish we had found these stencils before Halloween...Surprisingly, I didn't see a single election related pumpkin on a doorstep.

Trunk-or-Treat

We had our Trunk-or-Treat on Thursday night. We ate lots of chocolate! Erin nursed that lollipop for about an hour and was pleased as punch. She has a newfound love for candy. Just like in the cookoos video, you can say 'Erin, you want some candy' and she'll say 'yeah!!!' This kid knows what she wants.

Speaking of lollipops, Olivia went as A Girl From The Fifties and sang lollipop, lollipop, oh lollie lollie lollie lollipop for all of us! She looked adorable with her hair in a ponytail with a black ribbon tied around her neck. It had been taken off by the time I got this picture.

Our little witch still enjoying her lollipop.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
We love you and miss you!

You Want Cookoos??

First Day of Nursery

Today marks a milestone in Erin's life...being away from Mom and Dad for TWO hours during church! She didn't seem too excited to go in, but she didn't cry either. I stayed for a few minutes so that she wouldn't feel like I just dumped her off. I gave her a little Play Doh and she promptly put it in her mouth. YUK! I don't know if she actually ate any after I left, but I do know she had fun.

I peeked in on her a couple of times. All of the classroom doors in the building now have small glass windows at the top instead of the little peek holes. They were installed within the past week or so. Love it! I watched her play with a little boy and later when I went to get her she was laughing while watching one of her teachers act super silly.

Her teachers could tell that I was a little apprehensive about leaving my baby, so when I came back the one teacher told me how Erin had a great time and that some of the kids thought she was their little pet. I knew exactly what he was talking about because I noticed it when I took Erin to check out nursery about a month ago. The little girls in the bunch (they couldn't be more than 18 months older than Erin) all love giving Erin her blankie and passie, then taking her passie out and then giving it back again. Erin lets them do it and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. So long as they don't try to take her blankie.

I didn't take my camera to church to document this momentous event, but I did take these pictures a few minutes before we left for church this morning. There are more big events to come...don't tell Erin. She won't be thrilled. I'm planning to take the passie away sometime soon. Well, at least during the days. I think we'll still give it to her at night for a little longer. I can't stand the thought of taking it away, but it needs to be done.

Duck Sighting!!

My new favorite picture: Erin feeding the ducks at the park tonight. She was beyond thrilled that they came right up to her. Then she chased them. And chased them some more. These little guys are so used to being fed that they immediately come out of the water when humans walk up. And...they promptly get back in the water when the food is gone.

Erin loves going "side" and this is the perfect outside activity. We'll for sure be going back this weekend. I take a zillion pictures because I can't wait to show her how cute she was as a baby. I know she'll get a kick out of these pictures a few years from now.

Fudgees

If you're an Oreo fan and you like chocolate creme filling, you're gonna love Fudgees. I had one and Erin talked me into giving her one-- and this is her eating it. I had already wiped her face once. Thankfully, it was right before bath time and mom was feeling overly patient. She kept sticking it in her mouth without taking a bite-- the same way she eats french fries with ketchup. But after about 15 minutes I started telling her "take a bite" and she'd bite off a tiny little piece almost as if she was savoring the flavor as well as saving the cookie to last longer.

For those of you that thought maybe her thighs were shrinking...they're not. It might have something to do with her genetics and the Fudgee cookies. Hmmm

Color Test

I found this quick test online yesterday. It's from CareerPath.com and it's pretty interesting. All you do is choose which colors are most and least pleasing to you. Not which colors you'd wear or decorate with, but colors that are simply pleasing to your eyes. Check it out. It'll tell you a lot of different careers that you'd probably like or do well in. Tony and I both took it and tend to agree with most everything is said.

http://www.careerpath.com/career-tests/colorcareercounselor.aspx

Daddy Daycare

Olivia got these new shoes for school and Erin can't get enough of them. Oh, and yes, that's a massive stain (okay stains) down her shirt. I still don't know what happened there. Sometimes I don't even ask. Makes me wonder how much got on Tony...

Shoes? Check. Cack-ee? Check.

Food Funnies

Since there is always some sort of food going on in our house, I thought I'd show some recent highlights. I remember my mom saying to me when I was a kid that it looked like a little mouse got into the...whatever it was she was looking at. I suppose I've always been that way. I didn't want the whole thing, I just wanted a little taste. Well, maybe that's something Erin got from her mom because this kid is the queen of taking a bite and moving on to something else. Don't get me wrong, the kid eats and eats, but sometimes I have to laugh... Where were her parents when this happened??

Erin ate her first corn dog tonight. With very little help, she got to my favorite part...the crunchies on the stick. I'm almost positive that she has never seen me eat a corn dog, so I'm not quite sure how she knew what to do, but my little foodie turned that stick to the side and bit right into the crunchie thing. Like she knew what she was doing. Then she did it again. Then I ran for the camera and she did it one more time!! Gotta get every last bite of goodness.

Ike

We don't have any new pictures to put up...it's been a busy week and I didn't take a single picture. I picked up the camera to get something on video and the batteries were dead. So, I just thought I'd let all two of my readers know that we're still alive...just waiting on a hurricane to come our way.

Olivia and Erin

After Olivia learned to ride her bike last night, the girls came in and ate some dinner. Erin ate first. She had a huge bowl of oatmeal with bananas and then a YoBaby yogurt. But apparently that wasn't enough. She climbed into Olivia's chair and mussled her way into Olivia's chicken nugget dinner. She hollers "biiite, biiiite" every 5 seconds when there's food around, which is pretty much all day long.

I met my friend Kristyn for lunch at Chilis today. Erin got her first balloon from a restaurant today. Until now, she hadn't even acted interested in them. I'm sure she will want one from now on.

Erin loves watching the Sprout channel. Today she was especially excited to see Chica, the little chicken that sings Happy Birthday. I love seeing her get so excited!!

Tony tied the balloon to a pitcher lid so that it wouldn't float to the ceiling. Good idea! She wasn't quite sure why this thing was on her balloon.