we had ourselves a merry little Christmas

This year Christmas flew by in a flash!  Even though I've had two very excited kids waiting out the Christmas countdown, it just snuck up on me.  So much so, that when it came to decorating cookies for Santa last night, I had forgotten to make cookies for Santa!  Luckily, I did some baking for work folks earlier in the week, so I handed Britton two ginger cookies and some royal icing.  She made it work!

Britton read "The Night Before Christmas" this year, and did a great job!  

After our story time, Britton set out cookies and Sprite for Santa.

Once the kids were in bed, with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads, us adults got busy.  Sitting on the couch watching "A Christmas Story"!  Once we were sufficiently relaxed and stuffed on Christmas Eve dinner leftovers, we - I mean Santa! - moved some gifts into the living room to be discovered in the morning.

Santa hooked them up!  Barrett loves all things truck, and this cement truck was an instant hit!  Memaw and PawPaw got Barrett a tool bench, and we found a new bigger pony to replace his small one.

Britton asked Santa for the Caroline doll and a doll wheelchair and crutches.  Seriously!  She also got Shopkins Shopkins Shopkins - season 4 and undies!

Hi ho Silver!

I found a sweater with Sadie dog on it for Britton!

This is the first year that Barrett got excited about opening gifts.  He spent time between opening gifts playing with everything he received, so by the end of the morning Britton was helping him open!

Family group photo - we do this every year, and it is a necessity for me.  

Give this boy flashing lights and honking horns, but his favorite toy of Christmas was this wooden Mickey Mouse train.

And the Caroline doll was Britton's favorite.  Poor Caroline seems to be recuperating from a nasty broken leg.

The kids spent the day playing with Memaw and PawPaw while I put away our new gifts.  Clothes got washed and folded, beauty products and hairbrushes were hauled upstairs, and I made room for all the new toys.  Britton organized her Shopkins in her new carry case, while Barrett filled the cement mixer with every small item he could find.

The hubs got me a beautiful Pandora bracelet, and I got him some Tottenham Hotspurs gear and a Chemex.  We got Memaw and PawPaw a vacuum, which seems like such a practical gift, which it is, but we like to get functional gifts.  And we always get Memaw a new charm for her charm bracelet to reflect something from that year - this year, it was a tractor to commemorate her and PawPaw buying a farm.  

We had a wonderful Christmas, and it went by way too quickly.  I'll start putting away the decorations and taking down trees tomorrow, if only because I don't want the reminder that Christmas is over.  Luckily, I've got ten more days of vacation and a quick trip to Jessica's in the near future!

Christmas fun at school

Britton has had "themed" Christmas days all last week into this week, including "Pajama Day" for the Polar Express movie, "Crazy Hat Day," and the like.  On Monday they had "Gingerbread House Day," when the parents went into the school to help our first graders make, you guessed it, gingerbread houses.  The kids were so excited to come into the cafeteria and claim their parent!  I must remember these times, when years from now Britton pretends to not see me when I show up at her school.  

The kids frosted milk cartons, then covered them in graham crackers.  Then it was a sugar bonanza, with everyone covering their houses in candy, cereal, candy canes, and marshmallows.

Then today was "Grinch Day," where the kids were encouraged to dress up as "Whos from Whoville."  Britton's teacher referenced the Jim Carrey version of the movie, but we had never seen it, so we watched last weekend.  Ugh - two hours of my life I'll never get back!  But at least it gave us some fun ideas for Britton's get-up. 

 I bought the tree headband, and Britton got to use the hot glue gun (first of many times, I'm sure!) to add to it.  The kids were encouraged to get crazy with their hair and hats!  

little bit of snow

We got our first taste of snow last night!  The kids were excited to play in it, even though there wasn't much to play with.  They piled on the snow gear and headed straight for the trampoline.  

It was ridiculously cold all day, not getting over 34 degrees.  By Christmas it's supposed to be close to 60 degrees.  We are having the most odd weather ever.  And while I would have preferred to have snow on Christmas Eve, I'll take it now.  By tomorrow it'll be gone!

we adopted [a cat]!

Our neighbor's orange cat came over last week to make friends and get a belly rub.  And Britton was in love.  The hubs and I decided that we didn't hate the idea of getting a cat, but we'd leave it alone for a couple of days to see if the kids' interest waned.  Nope.  Britton brought home a book on cats from the library, and talked about it all the time, and even Barrett got in on the action by saying "Cat.  Meow!"  So the hubs, Barrett, and I spent my Friday off work at the Humane Society checking out their cats, and we found her....

The tag said "Nella," not afraid of dogs, good with kids.  We figured this could work.  She played and jumped and in general seemed like a sweet cat.  We put in the application and got approved (it can't be hard to get approved, seriously), and picked her up today.  Meet Calamity Jane Brownster, our 6 month stray who reminds me of my old cat Ziggy.  

She was fine in the carrier on the way home, sandwiched between the kids, but really wanted out of there when we got home.  We didn't know how Sadie would take her, but Sadie pretty much ignored her!

She ran off to behind the chair, then found a nice snuggle spot in the toy organizer.  She perked up long enough to jump out and rub on a stunned Sadie, then promptly scoped out the house while meowing. I forgot about the work of a new baby (ha!), so hopefully she finds the litter box quickly!  It will take a couple of weeks for her to get used to us, and us to get used to her, but I'm sure we'll find our way.  A few cat treats will help too!

the nutcracker

Memaw, Britton, and I went to the Pittsburgh Ballet's Nutcracker this afternoon, at the Benedum Center in downtown Pittsburgh.  We had seen the same production two years ago, and it was incredible.  However, Britton had been a little young, and terrified of the Rat King, so we waited a couple more years to return.  It did not disappoint!  We even managed to snag the same seats we had before, in the director's circle.

We walked around the Benedum Center, got some water and snacks, then went to our seats.  The auditorium was packed, and Britton was excited for the ballet to begin.  So were Memaw and me!  I do like the Sugar Plum Fairy (the real star of the show), but my favorite are the Arabian dancers.  And the Russian dancers.  And the bumblebees.  Too many to count!

They were selling merchandise, and Memaw treated Britton to a ballet slipper ornament.  We also picked up some pointe shoes worn and autographed by the ballet dancer who played Marie (the lead, who I remember always being called Clara, not Marie).  Britton wanted to try them on, and got on pointe!

barrett: 31 months old

I'll be honest - I meant to take Barrett's picture yesterday.  I did.  The hubs even attempted to get a picture earlier in the day, but Barrett would have none of it.  Then I was going to try after bath, but I forgot.  Seriously, if it's not written down somewhere, I'll forget in a heartbeat.  So our pictures are a day late, but in the grand scheme, that's good enough for me!

Barrett's language has just exploded recently!  He is saying so many new words, identifying new pictures in his book (when did he figure out the word "rooster"?  And learn to say "cock-a-doodle-do"?).  He loves his picture books, pointing to every picture and saying the animal and sound.  If the book has a tractor, Barrett is all over it.  

This sweet boy is in his hitting phase, which usually comes with the development of language.  It goes the same as it did for Britton - Barrett gets frustrated, and he hits due to that frustration.  We call him out on it, and help him find ways to communicate even if he doesn't have the words.  I'm apt to say, "Just point to it Barrett!  Just show me!"  At least he feels badly about the hitting - I'm banking on this being a short-lived phase, so help me!

Likes:  art (on the LeapPad, painting, crayons, anything), Play-Doh and Play Sand, building blocks, swinging

Dislikes:  being woken up, getting pajamas on

dear Santa, I've been good (I promise)

We spent Saturday getting into the Christmas spirit!  First up was a trip to the Municipal Center for cookies and milk with Santa.  We attend this event every year because it's never crowded, I don't have to go to the mall to see Santa, and I can take my own pictures of the kids with Santa - score!  First up was making ornaments.

There were only a few kids in line for Santa, and Britton really wanted to get in her face time, so we headed to the big man himself.  Barrett would have none of it.  Barrett is slowly but surely coming out of his "stranger danger" phase, but even having the bug guy come in will send him over the edge, so we didn't push him with Santa.  He instead hung out with the hubs, Memaw, and PawPaw, and iced his cookie.

Memaw sweet-talked Barrett into giving Santa a try, and let him bring his cookie, which was a deal-breaker for him.  Santa hooked him up with a candy cane, but as you can see below, he's still very unsure of this whole Santa business.

I waved Britton over to hop into the picture, and snapped our Christmas picture before Barrett could change his mind!

That night, we picked up some hot chocolate and made our way to Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland.  To say this light show is popular is an understatement - we were there when they opened and still waited half an hour to get in!  We drove through the Butler Fairgrounds, where the lights are synchronized to music.  The kids were mesmerized and loved it!

full bellies o'turkey

We had a full house for Thanksgiving!  Jessica, Tim, and the cousins, plus my mom and Memaw and PawPaw came on over.  Jessica and her brood came on Thursday morning, and Memaw and I were owning the kitchen.  Due to having so many people for dinner, we cooked two 19 pound turkeys, one in the oven and one deep-fried by the hubs.  

One of the few chances we ever get to break out the wedding china!  We didn't have enough room at the big table for everyone, so I set up an extra table in the foyer for the kids...

Except for Jessica, who got "encouraged" to sit there by Jason and Emily!

Caroline came up with a fashion show for the little dolls, and Britton and Emily were excited to join in. They played this game for hours, and never got tired of it!  

All the activity was just too much for Jason and the hubs.  It felt like we were on the go all the time.  All of us ladies went out Black Friday shopping (after breakfast - I don't wake up at 5:00 am for that!), and we made sure to get plenty of time outside in the 60 degree weather.

On Saturday, Britton and I were in the Christmas parade, representing the Girl Scouts!  It was rainy and dreary weather, but we lucked out in that the parade was only 20 minutes long.  Later that afternoon Tim and Garrett helped us put up our outdoor Christmas decorations and lights.

Barrett wasn't excited to have all these new people in his house the first day of their visit.  But little by little, Barrett warmed up, and when Cammy read him books, well - that was the way straight to his heart!

And Sadie was constantly being snuggled and fed treats.  Don't let that dog tell you otherwise!  We balanced fun activities with just hanging out at the house, and it made Thanksgiving feel more relaxing.  The kids all got along great, the hubs put together some incredible meals, and we even got in a spirited (read: fueled by beer) game of Scattergories.  Good times!