Christmas 2015!

We finally put the last ornament on our Advent Tree! Christmas came! This Christmas is just "what I'm talking about!" (The phrase of the day for every gift I opened Christmas morning). It was only that way because everything leading up to it was wonderfully fun!

On Christmas Eve, we continued some of my very favorite family traditions! Daddy assembled our gingerbread house in the morning in preparation for us to decorate it! I liked putting shingles on the roof and adding Hershey Kiss bushes all around the house. It was really hot outside so as soon as we finished the house, it had to live in the refrigerator where it felt a little more like winter. We relaxed a bit before we were allowed to open one of our family exchange gifts from Mommy and Daddy. 

The present opening started early and I got a new pair of comfy socks! 

Then it was time to get dressed for Christmas Eve Mass, no warm comfy socks needed because it was WARM! I was very quiet and well behaved at Mass, trying to take everything in and understand why we celebrate Christmas. After church we came home and ate our traditional dinner of speatzel soup, followed by a ride to see Christmas lights in our neighborhood. At last we were home and it was time to sing Christmas carols and open more exchange gifts! I was so excited to see that Cora got me Spiderman walkie talkies - it was just what I was talking about! I liked to tell her that I loved her using my walkie talkie. We were allowed to play with our new gifts a little past our bedtime until it was time to set out milk and cookies for Santa! Cora wrote a note to him and I signed it. Hopefully Santa would enjoy him when he came to visit us that night!

Visit us Santa did! Upon walking down the steps Christmas morning, after sleeping in til 7:45, we were greeted by so many things from Santa! I got a ride-on digger, Mater guitar, airplanes, a sleeping bag, puzzle, flashlight and Batman winter hat! The coolest thing was a train that he set up around the Christmas tree! I learned how to turn it on and use the remote to drive it around the tree. You could also turn on the sound to hear the whistle and chugging noise of the train! Oh what fun!! When I wasn't driving the train or riding my digger we were talking on the computer to all our family.

We talked to Grammie and Gramps followed by Uncle Mike, Aunt Sandy, Kaitlyn and Lauren. We opened our presents with Grammie and Gramps and one of my gifts was my very own blanket that Grammie made for me! After lunch we saw Mimi, Papa, Uncle Marcus, and Aunt Tracie. We proceeded to open more presents, the ones from them. It was fun how we got to open a little bit at a time. I got a cool crane truck from Mimi and Papa and was running around in a sponge pirate hat that Uncle Marcus got me! When dinner came, it was so hard to sit down and eat because all I wanted to do was play. I didn't realize though, how exhausted I really was and luckily we had cookies and watched our new movie Paddington to relax and finish a wonderful Christmas day!

Christmas Pageant

I'm not the most enthusiastic when it comes to getting excited for school. I am typically more excited on mornings that I don't have to go do school. Either way, I managed to make it through the last days of school leading up until Christmas break. On the last day (Friday), we got done early with school after our Christmas program. For our program I sang Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star with my class. Well, I actually didn't sing. But, I can proudly say that I didn't cry like I did at the practice concert. When all of the preschool classes came together at the end of the program to sing Joy to the World, I did smile a bit and sing some words. I was really happy that Mommy, Daddy and Cora came to see my program. That was the best part! After my program, I hugged my teachers, wished everyone a Merry Christmas, then I got to go home! That night, Mommy and Daddy went to a party and we got to spend the night with Hannah! She said that Cora and I are the best kids she has ever babysat!

On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy had a special day planned for us! We drove to downtown Raleigh in the evening and went to a restaurant for an early dinner. After a delicious dinner (there was a really huge fish in a tank at the restaurant) we strolled down the street enjoying the Christmas lights and ended up at a theater! We were there to watch a play - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer The Musical! When Mommy and Daddy first told us what we were going to go do, I kept calling it a movie maker, but now that I have experienced it, I know that what I saw was a play. I enjoyed it so much! The monster was my favorite character, I kept asking when the monster was going to come. I had such a wonderful time at the theater, and the play really got me into the Christmas spirit! To add to our Christmas fun, on Sunday we baked cookies with Daddy, then decorated them while watching the Polar Express!

When will it be Christmas!

Even though I'm getting tired of asking every day when it will be Christmas, I ask anyway. I figure it's got to come eventually. We have been adding ornaments to the Advent calendar tree, but it just seems to be taking forever. Thankfully, Cora is home from school to entertain me and we've had lots of things going on to help keep us busy in the meantime. Last week Mimi and Papa visited! On Monday, I was surprised to see both Mimi and and Mommy waiting for me after school! Mimi and Papa took us to one of my favorite parks where we performed a concert and walked on the greenways. I had fun using blocks to build all sorts of things with Papa. I also practiced my Christmas Star in front of them while Cora played the tune for me on the piano. Hopefully it will help me to not be nervous for my Christmas pageant at school. I'm glad that the weather cooperated while Mimi and Papa visited so we could have fun playing at parks. I'm finally getting more comfortable on the swing. I don't mind if I go a little higher these days. I'm so glad that Mimi and Papa came to visit us. I had fun!

Although Mimi and Papa left, the fun continued into the weekend with the Wake Forest Christmas Parade and a rodeo! The best part of the parade were the fire trucks of course, and thankfully the weather was perfect for our front row seat to the parade! After dinner, we drove to the rodeo. I just loved watching the bulls. I must have asked Mommy 50 times, when is the bull coming out? Those bulls were rough on the cowboys, barely any of them could stay on for 8 seconds! There was a crazy bull that spun in so many circles he fell over, and one of the bulls wouldn't go in after he bucked off the cowboy so he got roped and pulled into the fence by a gigantic horse! I was up way past my bedtime, but it was definitely worth it for the rodeo! I can't wait to see what else is in store as we wait for Christmas!

Christmas Star!

The Christmas season has been wonderful so far and it's starting to get better. We had an exciting weekend decorating the Christmas tree and house. It all began Friday night after we went out to eat. After dinner, we went to Town Hall to see the Christmas tree lighting at Town Hall. There, we were able to see Santa drive in on a fire truck! We walked around downtown after seeing Santa and stopped in the hardware store to see the train. Once we saw enough there, it was time to go get our Christmas tree! I had fun running through all the mud and trees All the trees looked fine to me, but after some searching Mommy and Daddy finally found the perfect tree and brought it home.
On Saturday we did lots of decorating. Cora and I put ornaments on the tree after Daddy and I put up the star. It was my year to hang the star! Mommy and Daddy spent time decorating the house while Cora and I played outside during the day. They set up the village, including the church, house and my favorite, the Breakfast Nook. I was very excited when the lights came on that night. When Cora and I were done playing outside in the sandbox, we cleaned up and upon coming in the door, I saw a statue of the Nativity and exclaimed, "Oh, Jesus!" Daddy chucked, but I have no idea why?? I was just saying what I saw! Now, we just have to wait, adding ornaments to our Advent calendar until Jesus' birthday just a few days away!

Gobble Gobble 2015

Every year the Thanksgiving dinner gets better and better. I don't know if Daddy is perfecting his turkey roasting or if I just like more foods these days. Either way, our Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, the turkey was my favorite!

The Monday before Thanksgiving was the only day I had school for the week so I spent time with Mommy helping her make some of the foods for our Thanksgiving feast. We made the cranberry sauce together. Mommy cooked the cranberries and I ground them into sauce all by myself using the Foley's mill. We had a taste of the cranberry sauce and it was delicious!

The day before Thanksgiving we helped make the pumpkin pie! I was in charge of mixing together the sugar and spices. It smelled good- and it even tasted better when we had it for dessert on Thanksgiving! Cora and I also enjoyed watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving together in the new family room. I say that because the tables in the room were delivered and now all the new furniture is in the room and it looks great! I am thankful for the new couch, it is much easier for cuddling!
On Friday, we watched Mommy and Daddy decorate the outside of the house and played outside most of the day. Before I knew it, dark time (night) had fallen and it was time for a camp fire in the backyard! I had fun spotting and counting airplanes in the sky and we stayed up so late, we watched the full moon rise high into the sky!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving it was Daddy's birthday! I helped Mommy bake Daddy's cake. I wanted to make it into a fun shape for him, but he didn't want any shapes. Either way, I enjoyed watching Daddy open his presents and eat birthday cake with him to celebrate his 35th birthday! 

To cap off a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we went to visit someone special!! We went to Santa's workshop! Just like last year, I was very nervous and upset when we got there and I saw the big guy. I was anxious about what I would tell him and sitting up on his lap. With a little coaching from Cora, I was able to pull myself together when it was my turn and I was able to sit with him and tell him that I wanted a 'Mater guitar for Christmas. Then, Santa started telling me about his favorite part of the Cars movie with 'Mater! We had so much fun chatting together! Now that the Christmas season has begun - the Christmas carols are on the radio, decorations are on the house - it's only fitting that I sing Christmas carols in my bed before I go to sleep at night! Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star and Jingle Bells are my favorite song to sing in bed!