handsful

We went to the mall tonight, to finish our shopping (and we did) and while there, thought we’d attempt a sitting-on-Santa’s-lap picture with Lainey.  She was fine all the way up the line, talking about how she’d sit on Santa’s lap and practicing her “cheese” smile.  She was fine when we walked up to Santa.  Then, I made the dreaded mistake of putting her on Santa’s lap.  She quickly (and loudly) voiced her opinion on the matter, going stick straight and sliding right down off his lap.  She clung to me, no matter how many lollipops we promised her :)  So, we settled for a picture on mom’s lap BESIDE Santa.  The funny thing is, later on we asked her if she wanted to go sit on Santa’s lap and she signed “please”.  Go figure. 

Earlier in the day, us girls made the pretzle candies that we make each year, and Lainey was gung-ho on helping out. 

She had the job of taking the papers off the candies.  And, surprisingly, she always handed the candies to us rather than plopping them in her mouth (like we expected!)

(she had just had a bath, in case you’re wondering about her wet hair!)

Abbey has her serious candy-making face on.

Of course, we did let her try one…her first Hershey kiss.  A monumental moment in any girl’s life. 

Hugging our little Lainey-size tree on our front porch.

And, last night, we snapped a picture as she had her LAST DOSE of meds!  9 months gone!  Tonight, as we sat eating at the mall, the thought occured to me that I forgot her medicine to mix in with her food.  Then, I remembered we were done!  lol…

It feels good to be done with shopping, but now there is the wrapping to finish, the baking to finish, packing for our trip, etc. etc.  Thankfully, we’ve got lots of hands to help. 

the tiniest elf around here :)

It’s fun to watch Lainey as she fits into our existing Christmas traditions.  The decorations that our other children have grown up with are all new to her, and she definitely has shown some preferences.  Above, she’s holding Mary and baby Jesus…from two different nativity sets.  She’s convinced that these two go together, and brings them to me at least once a day.  I love how she looks at them so sweetly, holding the mama with her baby.  She’s really shown an interest in baby dolls lately, which I love.  My other daughters have never cared for them!

A squeeze and a kiss for mama Mary. 

The other Christmas decoration she wants to see each day is our porcelain figure of Santa kneeling beside baby Jesus’ manger.  It’s out of her reach (I’m no dummy), so when I pick her up she points to it.  We talk about Santa and how he’s acknowledging the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus. 

I know she’s only 2, and this Christmas is all new to her.  But, I’m so glad that even she knows…somehow… that all these lights, presents, and the strange tree in the house are nice but it’s really all about the baby in the manger. 

Lainey gets a better view, as she chooses her first Christmas tree.

Seems like the end of Thanksgiving and the beginning of Christmas happens as quickly as flipping a light switch.  Must have something to do with the day-after-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping that begins in the wee morning hours.  I did pretty well this year! 

She found it…this is THE one. 

Our home is about 90% decorated, with the rest of it to be finished this coming weekend.  We enjoyed this year even more than previous ones, given we’re blessed to share Lainey’s first Christmas with her. 

Doesn’t everyone wear flip flops when they buy a Christmas tree?  It was around 75 degrees last Saturday. 

We started the assembly line to get all of the decorations out of the closet under the stairs…Lainey got the hang of it quickly. 

EJ decides Lainey needs some decorating, too. 

We have a tradition with the kids, of letting them hang their own 1st Christmas ornaments.  I ordered Lainey’s, and it had not arrived in time for tree decorating.  So, she hung her ornament from last year, with one of her referral pictures in it.

She understood that the baby in the picture was her, and now asks (signing “Lainey”) to see her ornament on the tree. 

The other kids LOVE seeing their ornaments each year, and we inevitably talk about what cute babies they were. 

So begins the Christmas season…we have lots of fun things coming up, and I might just blog about some of them.  Who am I kidding, I’ll be boring you with every last detail.  Buckle up, there’s only 3 weeks to go! 

 

‘

Pumpkin hats were made on Wednesday by the girls…mini fudge stripe cookies, mini marshmallows, melted chocolate, yellow icing. 

Final product…

Tiny bites of goodness…and, what do you do with leftover marshmallows and chocolate?

Our Christmas cactus - who thinks he’s a Thanksgiving cactus, and blooms this time of year like clockwork. 

I cooked most of the morning on Thursday, while watching the Macy’s parade and dog show.  It was “only” the 7 of us, but we had to go all out so it feels like Thanksgiving.  We had a turkey, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, and corn bread.  I own a wheat grinder, and make my own flour, but I’d never tried corn before.  It worked really well! 

The kids look less than impressed in this shot, but I promise they were!  Maybe they were just hungry. 

The girls shared the wishbone with Lainey…she won, but seemed quite confused by the whole process. 

Being the mean parents we are, we made them pose in front of the annual Thankful Tree.  Lainey even added some leaves this year (with help from her sibs).  She was thankful for Jack, coats, food, Tiger, mommy and daddy, feet, her siblings, and her babydoll. 

Okay, now it’s downright abuse.  We made them pose AT the table before feeding them.  Cruel. 

After L’s nap and a walk around the neighborhood, Abbey, Marley, and Payton put on a play they’d been working on for days.  “A Pilgrim Play”, directed by Abbey Clark.  (EJ opted out of this production)  The pilgrims and indians were played by various Webkinz animals.  Costumes were designed and produced by Abbey and Marley.  The play was narrated by yours truly. 

A success!  The actors take a bow! 

Two stars of the show :)

After the play, EJ played a little piano.  He’s doing so well, and just tonight told me how much he’s loving it – especially now that he is playing songs. 

Lastly, I attempted to make my very first chocolate pie this year.  My grandmom in NC makes THE best chocolate pie…it’s the only thing I ever ask her for at Christmas time.  This one looks good, right?  Well, it didn’t set up like it should have, and is very soft.  It’s good, just not grandmom-good.  I’ll ask her for some pointers when we’re home after Christmas. 

I’m sleeeeeepy from being up since 4:30am.  I think I’ll go have a piece of mushy pie and relax! 

 

 

More pictures tomorrow…the alarm clock is set to go off EARLY, so I need to hit the hay.  Happy Thanksgiving :)

Sweet because the kids got lots of candy…soggy because it misted, then sprinkled, and then rained on us!  Thankfully, we were still able to stay out for a long time and enjoy the the night.  This neighborhood has TONS of kids, and the streets were filled, bad weather and all. 

No pictures of us out and about (didn’t want to risk the camera getting soaked), but here are the ones we took before heading out.  The pictures aren’t great quality, not sure what was going on with the lighting tonight. 

Here they are, in all their splendor.  Who/what are they?  I’ll go into detail…

No brainer…Abbey is a ladybug! 

I’m betting you can’t guess this one, though.  Marley wanted to be dressed all in black and put a big reflective question mark on her shirt.  She’s a “What”.  She liked when people asked her WHAT she was…she answered… “exactly”.

Payton loves masks.  He added his afro wig that he got for his birthday (yes, he asked for it) and voila…he’s a mad scientist hippie.  heh heh…

The musician of the family, EJ, is Slash from Guitar Hero.  Rock on, dude. 

And, we round out the ladybug category with a smaller version…Lainey.  She had no trouble getting into the swing of the night, loved being strolled up to the door and spent much time perusing the offerings, taking her time to choose JUST the right piece.  She even waved off one lady handing her candy, motioning instead to see what else was in the basket she was holding.  She’s a 2 year old with opinions…yikes!  She tried a bite of Kit Kat, Reese’s Cup, and a few Smarties.   

Nice pumpkin on the right.  We called it the Florida pumpkin…sunglasses, baseball cap, and flip flops (hard to see, it’s sitting on them).  Not so fortunate pumpkin on the left…called “Shop accident”.  Ouch. 

Our crew, plus our kids’ friends Emily and Julianna and their friend Carrie.  Pirate, Jags football player, and rapper (I think that’s what she was!?)

Critical time of the night…making trades.  Think Wall Street on a slightly smaller scale. 

Now that tonight has come and gone, I know that the Christmas rush is going to be ramped up big time.  I’m preparing to see all those orange and black aisles replaced with red and green…probably tomorrow.  Why do I already feel like I’m behind??