Two in the bed

I heard somebody giggling this morning.

And it turns out that Benjamin had a visitor this morning.

Faith climbed into the crib and sang him our Good Morning song to wake him up.  Faith is one that firmly believes that everyone should be awake as soon as the sun comes up.

They couldn't be more different

Grace has an inherent sense of romanticism.

Grace loves to dress up and pretend to get married and live happily ever after.

A sweet neighbor gave Grace this dress a while back.  And Grace loves to wear it with her makeshift veil.

She dances and curtsies in it and pretends to go to grand balls with handsome princes.  She even speaks like a princess by using a high pitched falsetto tone.  Put a fancy dress on Grace and she transports herself to a wondrous imaginary and magical world.

Put that same dress on her sister and you get a slightly different reaction.  Faith is more of a realist.

It's here! It's finally here!

My new camera has finally arrived and I couldn't be more excited!  I opted for a nice little upgrade from my old D60.  It was on backorder for several weeks but I am certain it was well worth the wait.  I can hardly wait to start taking photos again.

One just isn't enough

But three apparently will do the job.  

I should probably mention that she also had another 5 in her hands... just in case.

Cotton candy

We've been making cotton candy around here.

Lots of cotton candy.  I had no idea it would be so easy.

And we've recently branched out by making different colors with food color in our sugar.

Even Benjamin likes it.

Purple hippo pajamas

Faith really loves purple.  It's her favorite color.

And she really likes hippopotamuses.

So these pajamas are perfect for her.  

Exhausted from all the excitement

I think the excitement wore Faith out because she fell asleep on the ottoman with her purple hippo.

Christmas

Late last night we wrapped all the presents.

And put them under the tree.

And we stuffed all the stockings, too.

Early this morning, I heard little feet running around and discovered Grace peeking under the tree.  She didn't see me and I guess she thought she wasn't supposed to be up because she ran back to her room and climbed into bed.

Not too much later we were all awake and ready to celebrate.  

We let the kids look at the presents for a while before eating breakfast and letting David read the Christmas story.

Then we tore into the presents!

I think everyone was pretty happy with what they got.

Grace got her cotton candy maker and light up snowman.  Faith got a "pur-hull hipp-pah-mus" (purple hippopatamus) and pink singing pig.  And Benjamin got a toddler triangle toy and singing reindeer.  The kids were delighted by their presents and I was delighted by their joy.

Christmas Eve

Today was such a gorgeous day outside, we decided to head to the pier.

And drop a line or two in the water.

My girls love to fish.

And Benjamin just loves to be outdoors.

Both girls insisted they caught fish only to find their bait fish on the lines.  

Then we came back home and put reindeer food out by the street.

So Rudolph can find our new house, of course.

She fell asleep on the floor

Today Faith was playing at full blast then told me she needed her diaper changed.

So I changed her diaper and went back outside only to realize she didn't follow me.

When I came back inside I realized she was sound asleep.

Apparently she just rolled over and went right to sleep after getting a dry diaper.  If only I could fall asleep that quickly and easily.

Shopping at Publix

All entire family went grocery shopping at Publix today.  Usually it's just me with Faith and Benjamin.  And we always stop for a complimentary cookie from the bakery.

Today, David gave Benjamin his first cookie.  And I'd say he loved it.

Santa's got a wagon

This week while Grace was in school, I let Faith help me wrap some Christmas presents - not her presents, of course.  Just a few for Benjamin and David.  And she was a great helper putting on tape, etc.  And she immediately put them under the tree.  But then she wanted to open those same presents - especially a particularly small present.  She keep calling it her present because "it li-ull like me! (it's little like me!)  So after Faith went down for a nap, I hid the presents.  Otherwise they wouldn't have made it until Christmas.

This evening Faith walked up to me very concerned and said, "Momma I doan know wair my tiss-uss doe."  (Momma I don't know where my Christmas presents went.) 

So I responded by saying, "Well it's not time to open our presents yet.  We'll open them on Christmas Day."

And Faith simply replied, "Oh.  Santa has my tiss-uss pez-ints in his wah-un!"  (Oh.  Santa has my Christmas presents in his wagon!)

Trying to get into trouble

Benjamin has become mobile.

It's so comical to watch him scoot around the house.  Typically in reverse.  But every now and again, he manages to get where he's trying to go.  And that usually involves getting into something new and interesting.  He especially likes opening this little drawer.

Benjamin could bear crawl around if he could just figure out how to coordinate all those limbs.  I love watching how he changes and grows just a little bit every day.

Two teeth for Christmas

Benjamin has two tiny teeth now.  And I should mention they are quite sharp!

Christmas caroling

Today, all the kindergarten classes at Grace's school went to the local retirement village and sang Christmas carols to the elderly.  And we went to watch.  They were fantastic.

Her class is adorable and I hope they brought some Christmas cheer to everyone there. 

I know we certainly enjoyed the caroling.

And the hand motions.

And we left feeling just a bit merrier.

Bubble blowing

Today the girls and I had fun blowing bubbles.

We made our own bubble solution with water (4 cups), dish washing liquid (1 cup), and corn syrup (1/4 cup).  Crazy, I know but the results were fantastic!  And the longer it sits, the bigger the bubbles!

And by using plastic coat hangers as our wands

We were able to make monstrously large bubbles.  Very sticky bubbles I might add...

December dance class

Today was visitor's day at Grace's dance class which meant I got to watch her dance jazz and ballet.

This is a quick little video of her warming up.  Grace dances a lot like her Momma....

Grace's school Christmas party

Today Grace had her school Christmas party.

All the kids wore pajamas to school.

And ate yummy snacks.

And drank reindeer water.

Then they gave Mrs. Gipson a gift card.

And swapped Christmas presents (everyone exchanged books).

Then it was time to load up all the Christmas crafts they have made in the last month and go home. 

Faith thinks her tree is boo-ful

"Look, Momma!  It's my boofull snowfake.  On my boofull tee!  I love my boofull tee!" 

(Look Momma.  It's my beautiful snowflake.  On my beautiful tree!  I love my beautiful tree!)

Pushing little brother around

Grace treats Benjamin just like her baby.  Baby doll, I should say.  But he doesn't mind a bit.  In fact, I think he enjoys his rides around the house.

Retaining wall garden is growing

Our little retaining wall is growing.

Salad greens that is!

We have arugula.

Spinach.

Cabbage.

And kale.  I can hardly wait to eat!