christmas carnival

The Christmas get together at school this year was a little different. They went with a carnival theme and the kids had a blast. Of course it was one of those Florida days when it decides to pretend it's December so it was a little cool, but it didn't seem to affect the fun.

They had 3 of the inflatable bounce house things set up, one with a massive slide. I think I had just as much fun as Addison did. But I'm sure that she wasn't feeling it afterwards like I was. I was so worn out.

(At the top of the slide.)
I promise my feet are only a size 6, but they look HUGE in this picture. Thanks Michael for the lovely angle.
This is Addison's face right after Santa arrived on the fire truck. I missed the initial reaction because I was trying to get my shoes on, but he said that she freaked. I was a little worried that she would even get close to him.
She did, but only if I went with her. This was better than last year. She told Santa that she wanted Reindeer cookies for Christmas. He did not deliver because I couldn't find them in the store, but she was okay with that.

I always love going to school and spending time with her during the day. This was a fun day.

More Christmas posts to come.

from us to you

Wishing our friends and family a very Merry Christmas.

zarkle

Meet Zarkle.

Every night he goes to report to Santa and ends up in a different place each morning. Addison goes on the hunt as soon as she gets out of bed. This morning he was in the Christmas tree. Addison decided to check him out.
The story specifically states that you can not touch your elf or he will lose his elf magic. Addison gets this close to him, looks over at me and says "can I touch him with my chin". Of course I tell her no and she's okay with that.
So instead she shared her boo boo bunny with him.
We're going to miss Zarkle.
(And yes, we do wear Halloween pajamas at Christmastime. Don't you?)

jingle bells

I've been a bad blogger lately. Work is busy, home is busy, shopping, packing, wrapping, etc. (blah, blah, blah). But more importantly I've been taking some time to do this...

...enjoy the holidays with my sweet girls and hubby. They make me so happy.

Things to note:
Morgan to the left of the screen watching and wondering "what are they on"?
The jingle bell dog that gets played over and over.
My new weight loss moves.
That thing Addison calls dancing.
Dancing in your underwear makes it much more fun.

I'm a lucky girl.

morgan's baptism

This past weekend we gathered with a bunch of family for Morgan's baptism. Michael's sister Angela and her husband Scott agreed to be Morgan's godparents and made the trip from Tennessee. Michael's parents were able to make it as well. It was so fun to have them here, actually in the Gainesville area. I was able to show them where I grew up and a lot of other things that I talk about all the time.

Morgan was in such a great mood on Sunday. She was smiley, giggly and chatty the entire service. She wasn't bothered by the mass of people and took everything in stride.
I thought it would be really neat to lay her on the floor and get a picture of her in her pretty dress, just like I did Addison. Simple, right? So wrong. This girl is obsessed with her feet. Really obsessed. Obsessed with her feet like Addison was with her belly button (and still is). Underneath all of that fabric are her feet curled up near her head.
See what I mean? I spent most of the weekend putting her socks back on her feet, but only if they were dry. I often find them soaking wet because they spend so much time in her mouth.
I swear that I did not see Addison all weekend. She is attached to Hannah's hip when she is around. They went swimming at the hotel, sat together at church, and hung out in the backyard most of the day. I caught her once sitting with Michael. It was way past her nap time at this point.
We're so blessed to have both of our girls in our lives.

investigating

Morgan is all over the place. She's not army crawling like Addison was at this age, but she has her own unique way of getting around. We find her all over the living room only minutes after we put her down. Like Sunday night. We found her here.

yummy

Morgan had her first taste of foods about a week after she turned 6 months old. On the menu that night was rice cereal with a hint of green beans. I think she liked it. She is now a champion eater. I will be starting her on two meals a day next week.

She's a big fan of the spoon and really wanted to feed herself. Check it out.

the dentist

A couple of weeks ago we took Addison to the dentist for the first time. She's on the insurance so we figured why not. She was so excited. We had read Dora's Show Me Your Smile a million times and she couldn't wait for the pictures, the floss and of course the sticker and toothbrush at the end. She was even excited in the waiting room. That went out the window very quickly. Notice the scowl on her face.
After I got her in the chair with me we tried to lean her back just so the hygienist could look in her mouth. Her hand quickly went over her mouth and we couldn't get her to do anything. It was probably the quickest dentist visit I've ever been to.
We still ended with a sticker and a toothbrush and she talked about it for days. The hygienist actually said that getting her to sit in the chair and the fact that she didn't cry was a good thing. She's probably a little too young, but it left a good impression for next time. We'll try again in 6 months.