It's supposed to be winter, but...

It's gorgeous outside!

 So the girls and I headed to the beach.

 First things first, Grace got her big shovel and started digging in the sand.

 Some of the sand flew off the end of her shovel.

 But she managed to get most in her bucket.

 The rest landed on Faith, but she didn't seem to mind.

 So I pulled her out, dusted her off, and put her on a blanket to play.

 And she loved it!

 Then I helped Grace build a sand castle.  She packed her bucket full of sand and I dumped it out.

 Then she found sticks and made bridges.

 Grace even found a leaf and made a flag.  She's so creative!

 Here's our "tassel" (castle) in all its glory.

 Meanwhile, Faith really enjoyed the breeze blowing through what little hair she has.

And Grace went exploring and came marching back with a stick. 

 A big stick.

 A really big stick!

 And she found all kinds of uses for that stick.  Like drawing in the sand.

 And dancing around like the natives.  She just needed a bonfire to shimmy around...

 Spearhunting.  Or in her case, stick hunting I suppose.  She didn't manage to catch and keep her shadow in spite of the many, many attempts she made.  I think she's starting to realize she's no Peter Pan...

 Grace really had a grand time today at the beach.

And so did Faith. 

Only here in the South can we enjoy such a beautiful day of sunshine in the middle of December...

Cinnamon Christmas ornaments

I found a recipe online to make homemade Christmas ornaments.  These particular ornaments also claimed to double as wonderful air fresheners.  So Grace and I decided to try them out.  The recipe was simple and straightforward.  You take 1 cup of cinnamon, 1 cup of applesauce, and 2 tablespoons of Elmer's glue and mix it all together to form a dough.  Then you make or cut out your shapes and either set them out to dry overnight or bake at a low temperture in the oven until they harden.  If you're going to hang them as ornaments, be sure to make a hole at the top using a toothpick or pencil before they dry...

Grace and I had a delightful conversation while we made them.

"Yook, Momma!  I'm a took-ee man!"  (Look, Momma!  I'm a cookie man!)

Grace informed me that "Fayff yikes Trissmush trees." (Faith likes Christmas trees.) 

Indeed she does.

 "Tween-ee wants a straw."  (Queenie wants a straw.) 

I never realized how much candy canes resemble straws...

 "Momma, you want a bell!  Dran-da-ee yikes a bell, too!" 

(Momma, you want a bell!  Granddaddy likes a bell, too!)

"Dray-cee wants a star!"

(Gracie wants a star!)

"Dray-cee wants a Teen-cur-Bell, too!"

(Gracie wants a Tinkerbell, too!)

"And Mee-mee can have a Teen-cur-Bell yike me!"

(And Mammee can have a Tinkerbell like me!)

What should we give Chloe?

"Kuh-Low-ee needs a bell." 

(Chloe needs a bell.)

What does Stephen want?

"Stee-bin wans a spa-choo-lah!" 

(Stephen wants a spatula!)

You're probably right.  What about Luke?

"Yuke wans a spa-choo-lah, too!" 

(Luke wants a spatula, too!)

Okay.  What about Aunt Bethany?

"Bett-ann-ee wans a Stee-bin!" 

(Bethany wants a Stephen!)

What about Nanna?

"Mann-uh needs a straw!  Dran needs a straw, too!" 

(Nanna needs a straw!  Gran needs a straw, too!)

What does Pappy want?

"Pappy doesn't get eeny-fing!  He was on the naw-ee list!" 

(Pappy doesn't get anything!  He was on the naughty list!)

Well then.  What about Daddy?  Does Daddy get anything?

"Da-ee gets to pay wiff me!" 

(Daddy gets to play with me!)

As a side note, the ornaments really were very easy to make although I found them to be a little "goopy."  And our hands were slightly brown and sticky from cinnamon until we washed up.  This recipe was super simple and convenient since I had everything we needed in my pantry.  It also made two cookies sheets full of ornaments - more than enough for us.  And I must admit that they do smell rather enticing.  Our tree is hung close to our front door and I've had more than one person ask if I had recently baked a pie or something...  Our house smells like Christmas and there's no better smell that that.  And we couldn't have had a better time than baking them up together.

A glimpse at the wonder of Christmas

Faith is fascinated with our Christmas tree.

 Every chance she gets, she rolls over to the tree.

 Then she looks to see if I'm going to move her out from under it.

 This time I decided to let her get a closer look.

 And she went right for the lights.

 Followed by the low-hanging ornaments.

 Actually, the majority of our ornaments are hung at her height.

 Faith is in enthralled by all that is hanging around her.

 The lights certainly seem to spark her interest.

 And at only 4 1/2 months old, she's already filled with the magic and excitement of Christmas.

I hope she never loses her sense of wonder and joy.

Christmas stockings

Like I did for Grace's first Christmas, I put Faith in her stocking.

 Faith barely fit in it.

 And she tolerated it surprisingly well.

 She's a wonderful baby.

 And puts up with a lot from her Momma.

 But then again, what choice does she have?

 Not to be outdone, Grace decided to try her Christmas stocking on, too.

 Only she called them her "boots."

 They do look a little like boots now that I think about it.

 She's a bit too big to fit into her stocking this year.

So we improvised.

The best dresses. Ever.

A good friend of ours made Grace and Faith the cutest holiday dresses ever.

 AND she whipped them up in just one day.  Amazing!

 They are soooo cute and they are reversible!

 The girls love their dresses.

 I just had to get a picture of my girls wearing them before food and spitup covered the dresses.

So here I am hair curlers and all. 

Seriously, Angela is one of the most talented women I know.  She could easily make a small fortune with her sewing but she does it because she enjoys it.  And her creations are amazing.  I can't imagine creating not one but TWO dresses with buttons, ric-rac, using different material, for two different sizes, and making them both reversible.  Oh, and she hid the thread.  How does she do that?  All that in one day.  Like I said, she's incredible.  She is a Sewing Superwoman. Seriously, thank you Angela for Grace and Faith's dresses.  I simply adore them and Grace wants to wear her "Sssssno-man" (snowman) everyday.