Visiting Santa

I've been watching mommy....

 I wanted to do something special to get ready for Santa.  I told mommy that I looked prettier than her!  I also told mama that Santa is going to say I look pretty in my dress.  Mommy said, well...I'm sure he will think that, but there might be alot of kids and he might forget to tell you.  

Here I am asking Santa this very thing.  He said I looked like a princess . . .

She went right up and sat on his lap.  I love how enthralled she is here of him and kept holding onto his fingers.  He really is a friendly Santa.  She has had all of her pictures with him. 

Liliah has drawn pictures for her list to Santa.  She made a page for each of us, including our dog.  She is enjoying Christmas and is still at the age where she isn't begging me for presents, or how many do I have? It really is very sweet! Next was to head for the water fountain.  Her favorite thing to do at this nursery is to dig for and toss the coins!

 

We had ourselves a ball . . .

See you next year, Santa . . .

Then we went home & made cookies . . . the end!

Gingerbread House

Making gingerbread houses is an annual event in our home!  It's not something I did growing up, but started before we had Liliah to give some moms in our church the opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done.  Hubby & I use to do it the old fashioned way of baking and assembling the houses the night before.  Now it's a kit for us. 

You were so patient all week asking if it was time to make the house. I love your jammies, they say "Wake Up and Smell the Cookies!

Look at your face....I think you are pretending the strategy of your design, while your other hand is sneaking more candy!

Your favorite candy is the little colored balls.  You also like the hearts because you say they mean love!

You enjoyed the whole process and stayed until the end!  You and daddy have already started demolishing the backside of the house! I love this tradition that you and I have.

O'Christmas Tree

Liliah's 3rd Christmas since coming home in January 2009. There's nothing better than an excited and giggly 4 year old to  decorate the tree.  She did a great job and didn't break anything.....unlike her mother who broke one!  A branch wasn't done until she had 3-4 ornaments hanging on them. 

Love her sweet hands!

A little reindeer showed up to help

Maddy is always trying to sneak kisses to mommy. Don't EVEN THINK about it!

She's wondering which list she made, the naughty or nice list?

Then a little ballerina showed up to dance

May all your Christmas dreams come true!

Malts Are The Best! (Thanksgiving Weekend)

 

We went to a local diner over the holiday weekend and had some comfort food with a chocolate peanut butter malt.  You can't go to this place without indulging yourself in one of these. 

Looks like we have a new fan of this malt!  Thanksgiving weekend was lovely.  It meant spending time with Liliah the night before Thanksgiving and having her help me cut up green beans with her scissors. Getting 4 days in a row with hubby.  Spending Thanksgiving Day with friends.  We spent the day after Thanksgiving sleeping in, taking a long walk on a sunny day (which is RARE this time of year) on a local trail with our dog Maddy and Liliah riding all bundled up in her stroller.  A visit to the toy store so we could spy out ideas for Christmas.  We even had a couple of evenings that we bundled up, went outside so Liliah could ride her bike in the backyard while I gazed up at the stars and gave Maddy her cardio workout.  It was so nice to "just be" without all the running around and busyness that one can get pulled into this time of year. We are thankful to be on another journey to our second daughter in China.  We have 1 more document to collect before completing our dossier.  God has surely blessed our lives and we are humbled and grateful.

 

Our Tiny Ballerina

This Fall, you began your first lessons in ballet with Mrs. Sara.  It is an hour class of structured ballet, very different than the mommy and me classes.  At 4 years old (36" & 27.4 lbs; size 2T) you are the tiniest ballerina.  The first class you started paying attention about 1/2 way through the class.  You had no idea what those crazy french words like pleau or tondu meant!

You are learning to participate with others

Cooperation . . .

When it is your turn

Remember instruction

Graceful movements

To work in coordination with a group of girls, and to have fun.  You are loving your class and daddy & I giggle and get so much joy out of watching you!

Happy Halloween - Happy Birthday Papa!

Hey, my pumpkin lost his eyeball!

I need to fix him . . .

He looks much better now and ready for his big evening!

I'm a ballerina butterfly

Happy Birthday, Papa~

We are ready to go trick-o-treating.  Liliah said, Mommy, you can go as a butterfly too.  She also found a pair of butterfly wings for me to wear.  Her, Maddy the dog and I ventured out.  She was tickled as can be and walked pretty far through the neighborhood.  Towards the end, she went to a front door and I didn't see the scary automated tombstone.  As soon as the thing activated, she screamed,cried and took off running right past me in a blaze of trail.  I gave her a big hug and dried her tears and she happily returned to having fun.  She was much more selective about what houses to go up to after that.  I think we knocked on 3 more doors and then she said, I have enough candy now and my bucket is getting heavy and I'm a little bit cold.  She told me later that she had fun, but next year she wasn't going to go to that house, but only the happy Halloween houses.

Ready for pumpkin duty!

Hunting for pumpkin seeds...

Liliah stayed through the whole process.  She cleaned out two pumpkins and didn't leave the table until I was finished with the carving.  We are going to toast the pumpkin seeds later this week.