Christmas Christmas Everywhere!

I asked and asked and asked how many days until Christmas. Christmas came, then I kept asking when will Christmas will come again - only after I asked when we were going to take the Christmas tree and decorations down (one day after Christmas). The reason for all the questions is simply because I love Christmas so much!

The holiday started baking cookies with Daddy. We made a delicious batch of peanut blossom cookies! Then, on Christmas Eve as Mommy was about to make the frosting for our gingerbread house, I started dancing to some Christmas music that was playing in the background. Somehow I managed to slip and hurt my arm. There was a nasty bruise on it that worried Mommy and Daddy. So instead of decorating, I went off to the doctor with Daddy where they took a picture of my arm to  make sure I didn't hurt it badly. Luckily, it was nothing more than a bruise. So, after a short stop to the festivities, before we knew it the day was back on track and we were decorating the gingerbread house and gingerbread cookies. This year, Mommy decided to let Adam and me do all the work and I think that the house turned out well - albeit, there were pretzels strewn all over the roof and front yard...

We made it to church and got seats this year, although it was extremely crowded. After praying and being thankful for our lord Jesus we came home and enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of soup. This year we had homemade bread too!! After dinner we sang and danced to Christmas carols which was followed by opening gifts that our family had given to each other. Adam liked the fire truck that I picked out for him! Before bed, I chose some cookies to put out for Santa and wrote him a short letter in hopes that he would enjoy it when he visited us during the evening.

Visit us Santa did!!! Christmas morning was great! I got lots of wonderful gifts: a barn, horse, Anna and Elsa dolls, clothes, the game Sorry (I called it Safari) and some new blocks. I was a tad bit disappointed that Santa didn't bring what I asked for, but it's possible that he didn't have one that would be perfect for me. Maybe next year. This year I could read all of the tags too so I could crawl under the tree and inspect the gifts first before distributing them to their recipient! I got a pet bird from my Uncle Matt and Aunt Nicole that is my new best friend! She sings and repeats what I say!
We got to see lots of family during the day; a chat with Grammie and Gramps, and letting Mimi, Papa, Uncle Marcus, Aunt Tracie and Saige see us open our gifts from them. I love opening presents! I got a sparkly outfit from a place called India and an apron that I can wear when I help Mommy and Daddy in the kitchen! In addition to seeing family on the computer, Uncle Mike, Aunty Sandy, Kaitlyn and Lauren came to visit us a few days after Christmas! I loved having them here to visit - I wanted to go home with them! They brought me a tea set for a Christmas present. Now, Adam and I can have tea parties anytime we want!!!

Christmas Pageantry

Today was the PreSchool Christmas Pageant! I was so proud of myself this year! Mommy, Daddy and Adam could hear me sing, and I knew all of the hand motions! I was so proud in fact, I waved at my family every opportunity I had! All of the practice at home must have paid off this year! The best part about having our Christmas pageant was being able to wear my prettiest pretty dress and sparkle shoes to school! Additionally, I think I make a beautiful angel!
I am just so excited for Christmas - the magic of the holiday season permeates everything I do. For example, I had a blast helping Mommy make cranberry sauce today. Or yesterday, I was very enthusiastic about helping make my teacher gifts! Presents have been appearing under the tree. Adam and I like to look at them and move them around. I love seeing them so much that I made Mommy take my picture in front of the tree!

Weekend of Christmas Festivities!

From start to finish, our weekend was all about Christmas! I feel like Christmas should be tomorrow after all the fun we had this weekend. It all started Friday night when we got to visit Santa and take a sleigh ride! I had to keep practicing with Mommy beforehand to make sure I told Santa exactly what I wanted for Christmas, and I did it! Hopefully he will bring me the tablet I asked for! After our sleigh ride, I got to pet one of the horses that pulled our sleigh - his name was Ike! He was HUGE!
On Saturday we saw lots more horses at the Wake Forest Christmas Parade! The weather was perfect to watch the floats, bands, people, weird tall ladies with stick legs, fire trucks and Santa! We had a great time! Then, on Sunday we got to go to the neighbor's house to decorate cookies! I enjoyed that activity, as well as running around and playing with all the kids afterwards! Soon after I got home, we sat down to a full turkey dinner, just like Thanksgiving all over again! I really liked the cranberry sauce, but the pumpkin pie that I helped Mommy bake was most delicious! If it was up to me, Christmas should be tomorrow so we could keep all of these fun activities going, but I have another week of school left before Christmas. In the meantime, Adam and I will continue to decorate the Christmas tree in the playroom with any toy that will fit on it!

A Special Stop

On the way home from our Florida Thanksgiving trip, we stopped in Savannah. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs a bit and explore the parks, cobblestone streets, river and visit a very special place. We visited the exact spot where Daddy proposed to Mommy! We enjoyed a fun dinner at a restaurant by the river and then drove to South Carolina where we stayed in another hotel. We woke up in the morning and drove a few hours home to complete our Thanksgiving trip.
It took a few days to acclimate back to our regular schedule, and by the time we did, things changed again when we started decorating for Christmas! We had a fun Friday evening picking out our Christmas tree. Daddy picked out a really nice one while Adam and I ran around the trees. It took Daddy no time to get the tree up in its stand when we got home. Then, on Saturday, the ornament hanging commenced. In addition to our tree downstairs, Mommy put up the tree in the playroom, complete with you know who.....dancing Santa! He's been singing and dancing a lot since he's come out of the box! Only 17 days until Christmas!

Thanksgiving - Florida Style

Although we had a long trip in the car to get there, we had a fun trip to Florida for Thanksgiving! Adam and I did a great job behaving during our long trip in the car, and for good reason. Daddy surprised us on the trip to Florida with the movie Frozen! My favorite! Plus, we got to stay in a hotel (complete with a ride in the elevator) which made the trip even more exciting!

When we finally got to the house where we were staying (not Arne and Judy's house, which was very confusing) everybody was there: Mimi, Papa, Uncle Marcus, Aunt Tracie and Saige! Saige was much bigger than I remember from our last meeting. She was fun to play with this time too! To stretch our legs out a bit from our long car ride, we went and ran around a park. It was fun playing on the playground and running around the field playing tag and ring around the rosie with Uncle Marcus. He is crazy! Daddy went hog hunting while we were playing, and he says he got a hog which we ate a few days later! Anyways, I got to meet everybody else that evening, including Arne, Judy, Helene, Simen and Anette. I had to wait a day later to meet Philip, who I originally thought was the baby in Anette's belly.
On Thanksgiving we went to the beach! As a special surprise, Mimi made all of us kids capes! I was Supergirl with Saige and Adam was Batman! It was fun playing on the beach with our capes. When we were at our house lounging around during the day, I enjoyed the fact that there was a swimming pool - we could see it from the room where we slept. It was too cold to actually swim, but it didn't stop us from putting in our legs and splashing in the water with Papa! After a relaxing afternoon, we prepared for dinner. Before dinner we (FINALLY) went to Arne and Judy's house. There, Judy helped us pop popcorn for a snack and I helped Arne capture a fish that Adam caught in a net! That was really exciting! Adam and I fish all the time in the pond by our house, but we have never actually caught a fish. I touched the fish and everything!

Thanksgiving dinner was nice. I sat next to Helene and I liked talking to her and Anette during dinner. The turkey was delicious (Daddy carved it) and I also liked the cranberry sauce. As we all sat down for dinner I sang (all by myself) the songs I learned at school. There was lots of goofing around before and after dinner, including the big sunken tub in the bathroom at the house. This house was cool because there was lot of water in the backyard, a pool and a canal! The day after Thanksgiving we were throwing shells from the backyard into the canal! Sometimes there would be birds or fish to see in the canal. Later on in the day before dinner, we got to see big fish in the canal behind Arne and Judy's house. Even though it was dark outside there was a green light in the canal that the fish would swim around! For dinner that evening we had moose burgers! I greatly enjoyed mine, and in addition to the burgers I had corn on the cob!
My first time ever! It was delicious! After dinner, it was time to say goodbye to everybody because we had to go home the next day. Even though we weren't in Florida very long, there was definitely a lot to do!

Almost Turkey Time!

I've recently learned that we will be traveling to Florida for Thanksgiving. Mommy showed me on a map by first explaining which way we drive when we go to Grammie and Gramps' house. We've also been talking about who I will be meeting on our trip. I learned a song at school that will be perfect to sing before we eat Thanksgiving Dinner. It goes like this, sung to the tune of "Where is Thumpkin":

Turkey Dinner, Turkey Dinner
Gather 'round, Gather 'round,
Who will get the drumsticks?
Yummy yummy drumsticks,
All sit down, All sit down.

Hopefully I won't get shy when I sing it in front of everyone next week! Although it is starting to get really cold outside, it doesn't stop me from enjoying the outdoors. We still take New Baby for a walk everyday and play on our bikes. Usually when we are outside, Mommy will do outdoor chores such as watering and raking. I always help her out when I can - I especially love raking!

New Members of the Family

Praying Mantis!!

The front yard has undergone a transformation in the past month! At the beginning of October some men came and cut down the three pine trees in our front yard. Then we waited for what seemed like forever, but some different men finally came and planted a new tree! They also built a wall that I love to jump off when I'm bored! The day before the men came to plant the tree we had a visitor in our front yard that I kept as a pet for about an hour. It was a praying mantis. He was huge, measuring at 4 inches long. I had fun watching him and looking at his big front arms and the thing I loved about him most is every time I sang to him he would turn his head and watch me!

The new Silver Bullet!

Although the praying mantis didn't become a permanent member of our family, someone else did! On Saturday we said goodbye to the Silver Bullet and said hello to a new Silver Bullet! I love it so much! So much that every time we have taken a ride in it I fall asleep!
The day after we bought the new car, we got to have a picnic lunch and take a hike through the woods. We had a really fun time although I will never forget how scary the toilets were...neither will anybody else who heard me screaming in the bathroom.

A Proud Princess!

I can't believe Halloween is already over! There was so much excitement leading up to the big day! We carved our pumpkins the night before Halloween. Daddy helped me with my big pumpkin. First he cut the top off and I helped clean the pumpkin junk out of it. Then, Daddy drew some circles on some paper so I could come up with the perfect pumpkin face. Daddy executed my drawing perfectly - I love my pumpkin! I call my pumpkin the happy pumpkin. Adam and Mommy made a scary pumpkin with sweet potato horns!

On Halloween I went to school; before we left for the day we had a party! I rested in the afternoon to prepare for trick-or-treating! When I woke up Mommy did my hair and makeup so I could be the perfect Princess Elsa! I think I looked gorgeous for the occasion. With my hair and makeup done, I loved dancing around and looking in the mirror. I think it scared Daddy a little bit actually...
After scarfing down dinner, we got to go!! As Adam the werewolf and I set out, we ran into the other Cora who was dressed like Elsa too! We ran to every house together and had so much fun. I was a brave princess too. I walked right up to people dressed up and scary houses without any problem. However, I didn't even make it to 8 o'clock and I was pooped! But I certainly have plenty of candy to prove that I had a successful evening!

Thinking About Spring

Digging a hole for our bulbs

Putting the bulbs in the hole with Daddy

Spring seems to be a common theme these days, even though we haven't even yet made it through fall. I keep asking when I can wear my Elsa pj's: Spring. When will I get to see the bulbs that we planted at Daffodil Days: Spring. What else will I have to wait for?? Luckily the wait was over at school for the fire truck to visit. Not once or twice but three times we were supposed to get a visit and they never came. This time when the fire truck came it was a surprise, but a great surprise none the less. I have taught everybody at home the words and motions to the song. "Stop, Drop and Roll."

Fire Truck visit with my class at school!

Cuddle time with Daddy!

Opening mail from Grammie and Gramps