Merry Christmas, Grace

 decided to open our family Christmas presents on Christmas Eve this year so Grace would have time to play with her toys before driving to my family's house on Christmas day.

Here's our tree with all Grace's presents.  Grace woke up around 7 am and I could hear her calling me.  She kept saying "Momma, Momma!  Dare's pres-unts!"  (Momma, Momma!  There's presents!)  We waited to put the presents under the tree after she went to bed so she was really excited when she saw them.

I came downstairs with the camera and videoed her.  She was so excited, but waited somewhat patiently for Daddy to come downstairs before opening any presents.

She sat on some of the presents while waiting.

And so sweetly kept saying "Peas!"  (Please) and making the sign for please.

The first present she wanted to open was her puzzles.

She really liked them.

Then she got a bubble set from Mammee and Pappy.  She kept saying "bubbahs!  bubbahs! I won bubbahs!"  (bubbles!  bubbles!  I want bubbles!) and then she wanted to go outside immediately to play with them even though she had more presents to open!

We finally convinced her to open more presents and she loved her baby doll!  She was very mothering to it.

And Grace adored these paint pens from Mammee and Pappy. 

She didn't want to put them down once we let her start painting with them.  In fact, she used up almost all the paint in her first painting.

Then she opened her t-ball set.  She seemed to really like it, too.

We had fun playing with it.

Hey batter, batter!

"Aye-yah!"  And she hit it!

After playing t-ball for a while, we started bowling.  That was a lot of fun.

One of the funniest things to watch was Grace cleanup.  She sings her "Cleanup Song" the entire time.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and hope that you all have a very merry Christmas, as well!

Grace cut her hair

Grace was downstairs watching a cartoon when I decided to run upstairs and sneak a quick shower in.  I was piling the shampoo in my hair when I heard Grace say "Yook, Momma!  I tut my hair!  See?" (Look, Momma!  I cut my hair!  See?)  Of course, I jumped out of the shower as fast as I could and ran over to her, but it was too late.  She had climbed up on a chair, stood on her tippy toes and reached the scissors I used to wrap all our Christmas presents.

And she cut one of her beautiful curls off.  One that would have been bangs if they didn't curl up so much.

As I grabbed the scissors from her, she smiled so sweetly and asked "Eye boo-ful, Momma?"  (Am I beautiful, Momma?)

Yes, baby, even when missing a big chunk of hair in the front, you're still beautiful to me.  sigh.

Christmas train ride, again

On our way home from Foley, we decided to stop back by the Christmas trains.

It was getting a little chilly so we bundled up.  We were very excited about seeing all the Christmas lights.

While waiting for the sun to set, we passed the time by playing in a tent with toy trains.

Then we bought our tickets.

And got some free hot chocolate.

Which we drank while waiting for the next train.

Cheers!

Soon the train arrived.

And we hopped on.  

And got to see some beautiful displays and lights.  To my dismay, this is the only picture that turned out from the ride.

Soon we arrived at the North Pole!

There we got to see Santa Claus.  Unfortunately, Grace was terrified of him and wouldn't even look at him.

Santa was still nice to Grace and gave her a wooden "too too tane" which Grace decorated in Santa's workshop.

Daddy helped some.

Mommy helped, too.

Here's her train all decorated.

We convinced Grace to watch the other kids sit on Santa's lap hoping she would overcome her fear.  

After a while, we got back in line.  Grace was fascinated by this snowman.

She kept asking if his nose was a real "tare ut" (carrot).

Boop!  She poked his nose!

Then it was our turn again.  And again, Grace was terrified.  sigh.

Then it was time to board the train again.

Grace enjoyed playing with her train while riding back to the station.

Before we knew it, we were pulling back into the station.

There we were greeted with fresh molasses cookies

And more hot chocolate.  Yum!

Then we watched the train go by once again.  I love this picture!

And got one last picture of the lights wishing "Goodwill to Y'all." 

Lunch in Foley

After riding the trains and playing at the playground, we decided to drive another 15 or so miles to Foley, Alabama.

There we ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Lambert's Cafe.

We LOVE their apple butter and rolls.

Grace caught a roll all by herself!

After eating Grace rode the "too too tane" outside.

Then we went to the outlet mall where we found this shirt for her at Children's Place.  

All Grace wanted to do was ride the toys.

She found a new friend, too.  His name is "ping-one."  That's how Grace says "penguin."

Ping-one and Grace went everywhere together.

They rode several rides together.

And explored

And explored.  They were inseparable for the remainder of the day.