If all the acorns were candy canes and popcorn...

Oh, what a fall that would be! We spent several hours last Saturday outside enjoying the too-warm-for-mid-December weather (if there is such a thing in the South!) before the predicted rainstorm arrived. "Enjoying" may be a term T would question, since he was raking the thousands of leaves covering our front yard and all the while the wind was bringing more of the millions still on the two huge trees in our front yard right back down onto the newly visible grass. I was wrapping the columns on our front porch with red ribbon, a plan I've had since last Christmas, but quite in keeping with the candy cane theme we've seemed to get stuck on around here over the last few weeks. And here's what AG and LL were doing: working side by side gathering acorns at the base of the trees...literally a drop in the bucket if you could see how many they are sitting on, not to mention the others all over the yard, driveway, sidewalk, etc. You get the idea. Our trees are probably some of the tallest oaks on our street, so we supply all our surrounding neighbors with plenty of fall foliage, which I know they must appreciate since none of them have their own huge trees to drop such things in their front yards.
The girls had lots of fun foraging amongst the acorns and jumping in the piles of leaves, and little SJ just kept us company in her bouncy seat.
Then our neighbor across the street came over with her son, C, who's less than a month younger than AG. They all had fun helping T get the leaves bagged and playing around. Here AG is showing C our Christmas tree through the front window.
LL is especially fascinated with all the Christmas lights and decorations as we ride around town. She points out almost all of them and when none are visible she is asking for more. The most interesting of all is conveniently right across the street, and I did take a picture of it yesterday but don't think I want to take time to upload it tonight, and really I think it's probably pretty easy to imagine: one of those giant inflatable snowmen, except this one apparently didn't come with the cords to attach him securely to the ground because 75% of the time he is lying on his back or side, yet still fully inflated. LL always greets him when we get home, running to the edge of the carport to wave and say, "Hi, Snowma'am!" (not that we think it's a girl...that's just how she says snowman) and then, "See you later, Snowma'am!" as I coax her inside. She says he is taking a nap when he is lying down, and all I can say is that is one tired snowma'am. Kind of like me, right now... so goodnight, and hope y'all have a restful weekend and a wonderful Christmas, in case I don't post again before then!

Celebrating the Season

We are enjoying preparations for Christmas...the decorating, the singing, the candy canes, the stories, the lights, the candy canes, the shopping, the wrapping, and did I mention the candy canes? At least half a dozen times a day I field the requests: "Want some candy cane, Mommy!" Sometimes LL has only been out of bed a few minutes when she makes her wishes known! We found a neat book called "J is for Jesus" about the symbolism of the candy cane, so at least all the talk about them provides opportunities to talk about the real reason for the special things we are up to these days.

AG is getting ready for her Christmas program at preschool this Tuesday night. She has been singing some songs around the house and even made up her own a few nights ago:
"Christmastime is here..... HoHoHoHoHo!" sung in the cutest little monotone voice you ever heard.

LL has also been singing alot, no surprise. Today at lunch she sang her version of Jingle Bells:
"Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh,
o'r the hills we go, laughing all the way (ha ha ha)
Bells and boppies ring, making spirits bright, what fun it is to ride in a sling!"
(Sung like a new big sister!)
Here the "big girls" are with our first real tree since they've been born. It's so pretty, and the needles are handling all their rearrangement of ornaments pretty well so far!

We went to our church Christmas party last Sunday night. Of course the girls were very interested in the big table of sweets, but in this next picture they were getting to enjoy something I thought wasn't even available this time of year...watermelon! I don't know where it came from, but they loved it.

A room full of friends and lots of yummy food... they had a fabulous time!

Enjoying their cookies in an out of the way spot... notice the watermelon juice on LL's top.

AG and I went Christmas caroling with a small group to a few neighbors of the party's hosts. It was a fun night for us all!

Hope you all are enjoying your preparations and celebrations of this most special season!

Santa at the Office

We went to our second "Breakfast with Santa" at T's work at the beginning of December. Between breakfast and the girls' visit with Santa himself, we went to T's new office. He's never had this kind of company there, and I'm sure it made checking his email much sweeter!
But not much work would get done with office mates this cute!

Finally it was our turn to visit with Santa. LL wasn't sure about him at all, even with T standing by. AG, however, was a pro this year.

It took a minute for me to get LL to face the camera for this next shot. I don't think she was sure she wanted to turn her back on the bearded guy.

LL did sit on his lap again, but still not for long and again, not happily. She talked all the way home about it: "I didn't don't like Santa, Mommy."

A Day at Mimi and PawPaw's

Once again, I have about 3 weeks worth of pictures to share!

On the last day of November, we went to visit Mimi and PawPaw. The girls had lots of fun playing and entertaining us.

Nanoo came by and had no shortage of cuties to surround her!

And of course, Mimi and PawPaw had some treats to share, too. Here's PawPaw breaking out some cookies after lunch. Do you think LL is excited?

AG and LL love to perform on the stage, aka the hearth.

SJ had some good cuddle time with Nanoo, the sweet great-aunt whose birthday she shares.

We are all looking forward to going back there to celebrate during the holidays!

Room for Two

Well, I've been meaning to post about the big changes that have taken place at our house recently for a while now, and now that we are 4 nights into our final phase, I think I can do so with some confidence that we have successfully accomplished (by God's grace!) the mission: the big bed swap. Yes, the one that involved LL giving up the crib and transitioning into not only the toddler bed, but into the toddler bed in the "big girl room" previously occupied only by AG. We made that step as soon as we got back from our Thanksgiving trip, and I was not sure what to expect because 1) who knows what LL might do without the confinement of her crib? and 2) who knows how LL and AG will react to sharing a room? The first night we listened for a while outside the door and heard LL chattering away (she was pretty hyped up in the new nighttime surroundings) and AG repeating, "OK, OK, stop talking, close your eyes, go to sleep..." Eventually they fell asleep, and every night since has been some variation of that, often with them both talking, singing, and giggling until we have to tell them to quiet down. It has worked beautifully, and they both seem to be having fun and sleeping well once they go to sleep.

So, with that settled, this week we moved SJ into the "nursery." She's been rooming with us for the last 3 months and I'd been feeding her about every three hours most nights...she'd not had a stretch longer than 4 more than once, for sure. I hoped the separation would help us all sleep at least a little better. Well, her first night in her own room she slept soundly for over 6 hours between feedings, and last night she went 8 hours! This is a record for our family to have baby sleeping through the night at just 3 months. Talk about "nursery magic"! Needless to say, I am thrilled that everyone's sleeping well, for their sakes, and for mine.

And now, to all a goodnight!

What has 8 wheels and 2 blue eyes?

AG, every Wednesday morning at preschool, because that is when she roller skates! That's right, the school she goes to has skating each week, and this week I went to help out for the first time and got to see for myself just what a room full of three year olds on wheels looks like.
This first picture really has nothing to do with the skating (it's my friend Jess G with AG at Thanksgiving) but I think it sort of fits in, with the sparkles and beads and obvious fun being had. OK, back to the skating... here she is! This is exactly how she and her little friends were moving across the floor. Arms out, baby steps! Nobody was moving too fast, but then nobody was wiping out really badly either.

This is AG with her teacher. Thanks to PopPop for helping out so much that morning, too!

Our Thanksgiving

We had a great time visiting family for Thanksgiving last week. First we went to see Nana, Grandpa, and Uncle Matthew (oh, and Gus... the girls wouldn't want me to leave out the cat!). The girls got to go to a neat park with Nana and Grandpa, helped feed the neighbor's bunny, and had lots of fun playing around the house. And, of course, we all enjoyed lots of good food!

Here's LL modeling the necklace and Indian headband that AG made to wear at her school's Thanksgiving feast. Here they are playing in the homemade tent with Nana. Do you think they are having fun?

Then on Friday morning we went to Gran and PopPop's house, arriving just in time to watch the "Egg Bowl" or MSU/Ole Miss game (which I am happy to say, again, that MSU won!). Later that evening we bundled up and roasted marshmallows, which was a fun first for the girls. Here they are all snuggled up with PopPop, staring at the fire.

Here's our family of 5...SJ is snug as a bug in a sling!

LL got into a game of peekaboo from under her hat with Gran.

After another family visit on Saturday with my uncles, aunt, and cousins, we came back to our house. It was a fun holiday and we loved getting to spend time with so many special people. We have so much to be thankful for!