REWIND: Christmas Part 2

The next part of our Christmas Break took us to Huntsville. 

With Katie Lane - they both loved getting in the toybox!

How cute is this!?!  Both girls love to read!

Playing with Grandad and Dede

Enjoying one of Everett's Christmas gifts while sporting her boots.

It seems like we never have enough time to see everyone to see everyone we want to see!  Plus, I don't even have pictures from half of the trip!  This has made realize while we are getting to enjoy the moment in the moment, we better take some pictures so we can remember the moment later on!

REWIND: Christmas Part 1

Where do I even begin?!?

We had an amazing Christmas holiday, filled with family and friends and most importantly filled with Jesus.

Brad and I were both lucky enough to be off for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of the year.  This was a great time for us to spend time at home, visit in Huntsville and then on to DC. 

Before our "break" Paige was able to enjoy her Christmas party at school.  They dressed up in their PJs for the event.  It was awfully warm for December that day and we put her in the coolest thing she had that was Christmasy.  As you can tell, some of the kids didn't even dress up because it was so warm.  Below she is sporting the Santa hat one of the Grandmas monogrammed for the class.  This is the same grandma that made, yes handmade with monogramming, bags at Halloween.

The next day we went to the Breakfast with Santa at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear. 

Since we had been down here I had wanted to go and see it all decorated for Christmas.  I also thought it would be fun to take some pictures of Paige looking cute too.  Then we heard about the Breakfast with Santa and thought that would be a perfect way to do it all.

We arrived bright and early for our 7:45 am reservation (yay us for being early!) and were able to get a few pictures before breakfast.

For breakfast they have a huge buffet.  It had everything imaginable and was fantastic!  The inside of the Dining Room was finely decorated and just screamed Christmas.  If you weren't in the Christmas spirit before walking in, you should have been by the time you left.  Around the buffet they had a working train that circle round and round - pretty cool!

This is as close as she would get to Santa.  Oh well - at least we didn't have to wait in a terribly long line!

The rest of our time before we left for our 12 night journey was spent baking and relaxing.  We threw in our small group Christmas party and our Christmas Eve service at church (although it wasn't on Christmas Eve) and there you have Christmas Break Part 1.

Christmas Time is Here

I really do like the Paige's school.  Each Christmas they put together a little Christmas program for the parents.  Last year we missed it because we were in NYC so I didn't really know what to expect.  I also didn't know what to expect because Paige has changed so much since their last performance at the end of school year.

Let me tell you, this girl likes to have fun.  I laughed and laughed at how sweet this girl is.  She loves to dance, sing, and doesn't mind performing on stage. 

Side note: This was my first time use the video camera and I am by no means an expert.  I will not be quitting my day job to become a camera girl!  This will become obvious when you watch and see the camera shake or move (can we say Blair Witch Project!) and when you hear my comments and laughter.  I was also definitely focused on Paige and not the group as a whole.  Other kids could have been doing what she was doing, but I didn't really see them.  Also, it may be hard to find her at times, but I kept the camera going so I would be ready whenever she popped out.

And now for the show...

Jingle Bells

Up on the Housetop

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

There was a Little Baby

We Wish you a Merry Christmas

Momma Out

The week before Thanksgiving I went out of town for work.  I am participating in this year long program that will require me to travel more than I used to but not too much.  Overall, I think it is going to be a great year and a great program.  Anyway, this week was our first meeting.  Leaving Paige this go around was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  It ranks right up there with leaving her on her first day.  I don't know what my deal was because it was not the longest I had left her, but man it was HARD!!!!!  I knew she was good hands (I think I just wanted them to be my hands :).

I had one rule while I was gone - take LOTS of pictures!!!  They did pretty good so I will share a few.

I thought this was funny because this is one of Brad's least favorite games and he let her do it!  Funny how little girls know how to work their daddies!

Loving the wind blown hair!

Where are my sisters? (you can kind of see one on the far left - ha!)

Picnic time!

Lunch with Daddy

On Veterans' Day the Pharmacy School had a school-wide Thanksgiving lunch.  Paige and I joined Daddy and we all loved it!

Such a ham!

What a big girl!

She did really good and was sweet to the students and faculty.  The funniest part to me was when she realized there were cookies and reached her hand right on up to the plate and made sure she got one.  This girl loves her sweets!

Survey Says

Paige has never been the best napper at home.  Sleeping at night we got down, napping at school we got down, but naps on the weekend are never predicable (meaning we don't know how she will do, not that we won't try, sometimes she gets her paci while other days she doesn't.  Speaking of paci - this is the only instance where she gets it - she knows how to work us!).

So, yesterday was nothing new when she didn't want to go down.

What was knew was being greeted in the den by a crying child who scaled her crib and got out.  Yes, she climbed out of her crib, opened the door and came on down the hallway.  This was pre-paci yesterday so after we got over the initial shock of what happened we gave in and let her have the paci. 

Fast forward - nap time is over and what does she do?  She climbs out again!!! 

Needless to say, the mattress is on the floor now (still in the crib frame).  Poor thing tried to climb out again at bedtime but ended up bonking her head because she couldn't get out.

Has anyone ever experienced this with their child?  Do you have any advice?

We have ordered a crib rail (this was done while we were in the initial shock phase) and it should be here by early this week.  Her crib converts to a full bed so that is another option (with bed rails).

After climbing out she proceeded to bring her pillow and blanket that she had thrown over the crib into the den.  Nice, huh?

Look a Likes

Does she look more like Pebbles or a Who?

Lessons and Learning

It’s a typical Wednesday. I find my way to Paige’s cubby at school and see a note on the cubby. A note typically means something is either going to happen or has already happened. Did Paige fall? Did she bite someone? Is she getting a new teacher? What could it be?



REPORT CARD! Well, really I guess you could call it a progress report. My little 20 month old got her first report card/progress report!


Was I expecting this? Um, no. Did I have a clue what she would actually be quizzed on? Um, no. But, this gave a good indication of what to expect for the future.


What is a “young two” supposed to know?


Nursery rhymes
Retell story from book read
Self Control
First name
Age
Gender
Recognize colors
Point to body parts
Make animal sounds
Recognize shapes
3 block tower
Recognize self in mirror
Assemble puzzle
Potty trained

How do you get graded as a “young two”? You have either mastered the skill or you are emerging (pass or fail in others – ha!).

Paige did great! She was emerging on Nursery rhymes, retelling the story, colors, shapes and potty training and mastered everything else.

None of it really surprised me and for that I am grateful. I already knew everything is yellow and every girl knows that a diamond is a girl’s best friend (she knows diamond but doesn’t know triangle, go figure!).

Way to go Paige! We are so proud of you! We can’t wait to see and hear about all the great things you are learning!

Off Weekend

What do you do with your Saturday when your football team isn't playing?

1) Find a babysitter!

2) Make a list of everything you can't do when you have a toddler.

3) Go do those things!

#1 was easy.  Ms. Margie had been asking us since August if she could watch Paige for us and that was easy to coordinate.

#2 a little harder than we thought.  The list included eating a meal together, shopping, and a movie.  That was it, that is all we could think of.  So, we chose shopping and dinner.  It was great to spend the time together and have an uninterupted dinner.  In fact, we went to the Melting Pot where there were no TVs so that meant no football!  It was a compromise because we did an eariler dinner so Brad could watch at least part of the AL/LSU game.  We didn't get any pictures of us at the Melting Pot, but Ms. Margie and her daughter got some cute pics of Paige.

Bumble Bee

One of Paige's favorite songs is the Bumble Bee song.  The way we do it is I sing most of it and she chimes in at the very end.  It cracks me up because I can only sing the first verse and then she is saying "again".  I think the other night I sang it about 15 or more times on our way home from small group.

Here Kitty Kitty

After Sunday when Paige wanted nothing to do with dressing up and going around to the different tailgates to get candy I didn't really know what to expect for Halloween night.  Boy was I surprised!  The girl absolutely loved it!  She kept telling us "treat", "candy", or "more" (meaning let's go to more houses). 

Ready to go

Paige didn't want to leave our house at first because she wanted the treats.  What she didn't realize at the time was that we were about to go ge a lot of treats!

You can't see it clearly here, but she is grinning from ear to ear.

Dancing with excitement

CHEESE!

I can't wait for next year as the excitement will only be greater!

Tailgate Time

This weekend was filled with tailgating!

Saturday we got to tailgate with great friends and family!  I always love it when we get to tailgate with the Eckley's and Smith's and the Wright's there made it even better!

Before tailgating we got to visit with Aunt Mary!! 

It was so windy!  I thought we were all going to blow away. 

 Can you see Paige's wind-blown look?

These 3 girls were just too cute!  Last year we were able to get them to sit together and get some great pictures.  This year there was very little sitting. 

Instead there was hugging - too cute! 

Sunday was our annual tailgate at church.

This year we had a Hawaiian/Luau theme.  One of our group members owns a snowcone business so they pulled their truck up and we were good to go.  The decorating was so easy!  We all joked that we needed to do this every year!

I was able to use some of the decorations from Paige's birthday - yay!

Workin' hard!

We all had so much fun and can't wait for next year!

Cotton Pickin' Good Time

So, we are pulling out of the church parking lot and then come to an immediate stand still at the green light. Brad and I look at each other in disgust and both wonder what the problem is. Turns out there is a car pulled over taking pictures of cotton. Taking pictures of cotton? Yes, taking pictures of cotton.



In a matter of minutes we decide to be “that” car and pull ourselves over to pictures of Paige with the cotton.

Gotta love the impromtu photo ops!

Animal Flash Cards

While we were gone to Las Vegas Paige started to learn the different animals on her animal flash cards.  Before we left she knew peacock and duck.  When we got back she knew over half of the animals.  It is too cute to watch her bring us the different animals.  We will ask, "can you bring us the xxx" and next thing you know she is bringing it to us.  I was able to setup the cards last night (throw them all over the floor) and let her bring me each one.  And, since my newest thing is uploading videos here you go!

**This is an old video but I wanted to share anyway!

A Day at the Zoo

3 conferences in 3 weeks – that was the story for Brad. Nashville, Pittsburgh and Birmingham.



Birmingham – a trip we could tag along on and not get in the way too much. And that is just what we did!


While Brad attended and spoke at the conference Paige and I headed off to the zoo. We had an absolute blast! She loved looking at the animals and taking in everything the zoo had to offer (play area and train included). We both were having such a great time we totally lost track of time and missed lunch and nap time – those are the best kinds of days!

Checking out the zebras.

There was a neat play area with bongo drums for the kids to play.  She loved it!

Such a big girl on the train!  She wouldn't sit in my lap and wanted to do everything herself!

Girl Time

I am going to do a little back tracking – mainly because I want to remember our happenings chronologically.



I feel like you hear about these great mother-daughter weekends, getting to do all these fun things, in fact, this was one of the things I dreamed of when I found out we were having a girl. In my mind I had all these great things planned for Paige and me when Brad went to Nashville. Well, poor baby got sick and we were stuck inside all weekend.


Lucky us, we had an opportunity to make up our girls’ weekend. Brad headed to Pittsburgh and we got our girl time! Our weekend was full and fun. We spent most of our time just hanging out and enjoying our time together. Some of the highlights included a little shopping, playing – inside and out, and indulging in yummy cupcake snacks (one for each day of course!).

And now for some pictures to help me remember the good weekend!

My little helper wanting to feed the dogs.  She is now tall enough to get their food out of the pantry and really wants to help.  Little does she know, Ellie and Madi are fed before she gets up.  I guess it is a win/win when the doggies get a little extra on mornings like this.

 

Talking to Nanny.

This cracks me up - anytime I am on the phone, doesn't matter who I am really talking with, Paige thinks it is Nanny.  I don't really understand this because I don't talk to Nanny that often when I am around Paige (it is normally in the car on the way to and from work).  Well, at this particular moment, Paige found my phone and she was "talking" to Nanny.  I love it!

Sunday morning cuteness!

I don't know who was more proud at this point.  I got her dressed, hair and bow included, had time for pictures and was only 2 minutes late for church.

Our last adventure for the weekend was spending some time at the playground.  I got some cute pictures but blogger is not letting me upload.  Until next time...