Christmas with Grandpa

Saturday we celebrated Christmas with Grandpa (Daddy Jer's dad). We went to dinner at a restaurant, then came back to our house for presents and dessert. I had a great time opening my presents from Grandpa!

Ms. Loren held Madeline while Mommy helped me open my gifts.

Daddy Jer was taking pictures.

I got one in a very big box!

It was my very own chair! I enjoy sitting in it.

Dear Santa...

Last week, Mrs. Claus was visiting the library and was accepting letters to Santa from all the kids. So I had to write a letter! Mommy helped me write it, but I decorated it special for Santa!

I worked really hard to make it look nice!

I even included Madeline's wishes! I've been saying for a long time that she wants a pink chair, but Santa is supposed to bring that to Grangie's and Paw-Paw's house with my Lincoln Logs that come with a train. At my house, he's bringing me a new green choo-choo train! I'm not sure what he's bringing for Madeline to my house. She hasn't told me what she wants yet. She better hurry and decide, though!

I told Mommy what to write, and she made the words for me.

I'm was very excited to take my letter to the Library
the next day for Mrs. Claus to give to Santa Claus for me!

Christmas Card Pictures

So.... Mommy decided she wanted a picture of me and Madeline. Together. Ha! She was pretty clever, though. She covered two big boxes with pretty paper, and decided she'd put us each in one. After about a half hour, two meltdowns by Madeline (definitely NOT because I kept taking her hair bow off!), and at the cost of opening a present and a handful of quarters, she got her pictures. Since many of you got Christmas cards from us, you've seen these versions:

But the out-takes are pretty funny, too!

Please, just get me out of this box!!!

Really, I'm getting bored. Are we done yet?

Yes! One hairbow for me!

Okay, I'm outta here!

[When he's grown, he'll kill me for sharing this picture. But for now, it's amusing.]

And the bribes... Oh, the bribes!

I won.

Fun with Aiden

After Play-n-Pray, Mommy and Mrs. Erin took Aiden and me to Chuck E. Cheese! (Grangie kept Madeline so we could have fun - Thanks, Grangie!) We ate our lunch really well, got to exchange our Christmas presents (Thanks for the fun puzzles and games, Aiden!)

Chuck E. Cheese has a lot of new games, and I'm pretty sure we were some of the first kids to get to play on them! It was a Friday, late morning, so it was surprisingly calm. We had a great time together! The kiddie air hockey game was great! I think we played it at least three or four times!

But the ultimate hit was the monster truck! I'm certain we used half of our token stash on that ride! We never even got off... just kept adding tokens!



(Listen to Aiden in this video. He's hilarious! He keeps saying "I'm flying!!!" Adorable!)

Gingerbread House

Mommy and I did a very special project one night. We made a gingerbread house! She bought me a kit a while back, but told me I had to wait 'til closer to Christmas to make it. I was sooo excited when she pulled the box out! First, we assembled the structure, then let it sit a while for the icing 'glue' to harden. Then it was time to decorate!

At first, Mommy was putting down little dots of icing and telling me which candy to stick to it. She quickly realized I wasn't going to follow her directions, so she gave in and just spread icing all over and let me go to town! I had a blast, and I'm very proud of my gingerbread house!

Lights! Lights! Lights!

After many tireless nights spent outside, Daddy created this masterpiece on our house! He won our neighborhood lighting competition, and had our house featured on WAFB, our local CBS afiliate. We'll find out Thursday night if our house won this week's competition. It was shown last Thursday night on the news as a daily winner!

Every evening, when it gets dark and all the photosensors turn the lights on, I love to run outside to give Santa Claus a high-five and see all the pretty lights!

Choo-Choo!

Daddy and I spent the last three Saturdays working hard at Lowes. Each day, we constructed a part of a wooden train. I now have my very own three-piece train that I built! It's a Christmas train, and I'm very proud of it!

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Shh.... It might be a surprise!

Hmmm.... If you get a Christmas present from us, you just might see the results of this special project Mommy and I did attached to your present...

Madeline was such a good baby while we worked on our project!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....

... how much fun we had decorating you!

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

We spent Thanksgiving weekend with Daddy's extended family in the Atlanta area. We drove, and it was our first road trip as a family of four! I was excellent and did great in the van. Madeline slept really well, too, which helped out a lot. We drove about two-thirds of the way there, stopped for the night, and finished the next morning. We arrived at my great-grandpa's house just in time for lunch with the family. After lunch, I got to play outside with my cousins for a while. It was a beautiful day! Then everyone gathered for a big family picture. We hung out for another day just visiting with family. On our last day there, before leaving Atlanta, Mommy and Daddy took us to the Atlanta Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola. We had fun seeing all the different fish. We got to watch how Coke is made, then I got to drink some "fresh" coke. It was a great day! Then we headed back home, stopping again mid-way for the night. It was a long weekend, but we had a great time! And Mommy and Daddy are very thankful for the van they bought - we were all really comfy the entire trip!

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Snowman Picture Frame

Daddy and I are still continuing our adventures with the Lowes Build-n-Grow workshops. The girls who host the workshops have come to know us and expect us to be there. It's been lots of fun, and I'm so proud of all my creations. One Saturday right before Thanksgiving, I got to make a snowman picture frame. I had lots of fun making it, and also am very proud of my patches. See, I have an apron that I wear each time. And each time I successfully complete a project, I get a patch. Grangie's been sewing these patches onto the pockets of my apron. I've amassed quite the collection over the past several months!

Family Photos

In October, when Madeline was about six weeks old, we went to Ruston. (See earlier posts) While we were there, we took photographs with Mommy and Daddy's friends Matt and Chelsea Lange. As usual, they turned out great. Unfortunately we didn't get any good ones of Madeline and me together. She was still a little too small for me to hold her very well. Enjoy!

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