1 Merry Christmas

0 Dear Santa

Leighton picked up this little gem at the bookstore earlier. Santa, if you are listening, we have an advanced reader on our hands!

0 Gourmet

"What do you want from Chick-fil-A, Leighton?"

"Ketchup!"

Sent from my iPhone
Mary W. Ferguson

0 Look at me!!

Leighton was so trying to get this kid's attention at the Christmas party the other night. The girl was not giving her the time of day. So Leighton resorted to shock tactics.

0 School Christmas party

Leighton had her Christmas party at school today. Being one of the room moms, I helped plan the party, and it was a lot of fun. Especially after seeing how easy it was to entertain these kids at the Thanksgiving party! No pressure this time around. The kids enjoyed working on felt Christmas ornaments...

And were way excited to get some fun snacks, including some Christmas cookies Leighton and I made yesterday.

I loved looking at this board with all of the kids' Christmas requests from Santa. So simple! Wouldn't it be nice if it was always this easy and generic?!

This is Montgomery, Leighton's friend (at least, I think she's a friend--Leighton talks about her enough). Montgomery broke her leg when she was jumping on her bed, so Leighton has been singing "Montgomery jumping on the bed, she fell off and broke her leg, momma called the doctor and the doctor said, no more Montgomery jumping on the bed!"

The class raised a ton of money for the teachers...each one got a Visa gift card with over $500! Pretty cool, huh? I should rethink my line of work! I was in charge of getting the gifts together, and I wrote a little poem for the teachers in their cards. Here's what it said (anyone want to borrow this for your teachers, you are gonna have to pay me for it!):

You care for our children
Each day of the week.
You wipe noses and bottoms
And teach how to eat.
You show right from wrong
And sing lots of songs.
You read books and make art
You give all of your heart.
You are patient and kind
And give so much joy
You treat all of our children
Like your own girls and boys.

Merry Christmas, to you
From your Yellow Ducks crew.
We can't thank you enough
For being strong when it's rough
For wiping the tears
And for shooing the fears.

You simply are
The best of the best
Enjoy your holidays...
And get some rest!

I think it was a hit with the teachers:

 

The kids made US presents too. They actually helped decorate the wrapping paper, which I thought was pretty cool.

Look! Adorable pic of Leighton in Santa hat in super cute picture frame! She's so proud of it...it's on prominent display in our playroom.

Here's Leighton with Miss Shana. Adorable picture, right? We were trying to get Leighton to give us a smile...

when Kara joined the picture! Shana was so tickled and I was saying "Ok, Leighton and her teacher AND Kara! This is a keeper!"

Leighton thought it was fun having Kara in her picture, but I did manage to crop her out  a bit. And then she busted me! She asked to see the picture after I took it. Gulp!

My sweet Leighton...she doesn't poop often at school. In fact, she's only done it one time and it was when we were leaving after school. But today she decided to leave the teachers a final holiday gift...a pooper! Thankfully the party was over and we were on our way out the door. Elizabeth graciously offered to change it for me, and of course I took her up on it.

0 Santa baby

Guess we know how Georgia is going to do with Santa...Chad dressed up as Santa for our friend Lara's office Christmas party (she's a pediatrician and invited all her patients). Leighton was completely freaked out by Chad (she recognized him and was confused that he was Santa, I could tell). Georgia was horrified...even when he pulled down his beard and said "It's daddy!"

Yeah, I'm the jerky mom who takes pictures of her crying children. So adorable! There was actually a professional photographer there so when we see THOSE pictures, I'll post them. Leighton finally sat on Chad's lap toward the end of the party. But it took a lot of coaxing.

Well, I tried to get these two to look at me, but no such luck. It really IS hard getting a good picture of two kids at the same time. Wow.

This is Leighton actually turning away her frosted cookie. Of course, I ate it for her because I hated it to go to waste.

Georgia had so much fun at the party she passed out on the way home. Fun, you say? Yes, she did cry with Santa. But Lara has a great waiting room with fun toys and a big-screen TV that had Polar Express playing, so Georgia had a ball playing with all the toys and watching all the other kids run over her run around.

0 Naked jaybird

We used to have naked time with Leighton so she could be out of her diaper for a little while. She always ended up peeing everywhere. Georgia is a little better with her naked time. Mainly because I think we are timing it better.

0 Yo baby

Georgia tried her first Yo baby yogurt this week. And she likes it! She also has been eating Puffs and Baby Mum Mums. I was really really slow moving along the food chain with Leighton. I imagine I'll move Georgia along a little faster, but not much. My doctor says there's no rush...all kids get to the same place eventually. It sure is fun watching Georgia explore new foods though. She really has to try to keep those puffs in her mouth. They often end up on her chin. And then in my mouth!

0 One hat, two girls

LEIGHTON:

GEORGIA:

Talk amongst yourselves.

1 Swinging

We took the girls to a park over the weekend, and while Leighton still refuses to swing, Georgia was LOVING it! She just giggled the whole time. As I recall, Leighton also liked the swing at Georgia's age. Wish she still did. It's so fun!

Sweet Georgia rarely falls asleep before we put her in her crib anymore, but the other night she did and Chad could have stayed there all night with her all snuggled up.

Is Leighton thinking what to ask Santa for Christmas here? She has repeatedly asked for dolls. I have a feeling Santa has got her covered in that department. Also, note her adorable nightgown. I got this for her a couple of months ago with her monogram and I was SO excited about it because I just knew she was going to LOVE it. But she didn't! She refused to wear it and turned it down every time I offered it to her. But finally two nights ago, she pulled it out of her drawer and wanted to wear it. Woo hoo! It's so sweet:)

1 Happy 40th, Uncle Matt!

Uncle Matt turns 40 today! We love you so much. In honor of your big birthday, I thought this an appropriate picture to post! Ha ha...Leighton sat on her potty for the first time over the weekend. Never did pee, but she sure had fun sitting on it.

Happy birthday from Georgia too! I made her put on this adorable little hat even though she didn't want me to. But I thought it was festive for your big 4-0!!

0 First boo boo

Poor Georgia got her first real boo boo two nights ago. She was crawling in the playroom and just went down head first into Leighton's princess ride-on toy. I guess one of the hands of a princess pierced her little eyebrow. Of course I was home alone with the girls, and of course it bled. I tried to remain an adult and not freak out in front of Leighton. But I was a little freaked. Georgia recovered pretty quickly and went right back to playing. Whew. Here's a picture I took with my phone right after.

The next morning, there was just a little scab...no more swelling. I tried to get a good picture of her boo boo but Georgia is really hard to keep still. I would sit down in the playroom to get a picture and she would crawl at me so fast that I couldn't get a picture!

Sweet Georgia is keeping us on our toes...EVERYTHING goes in her mouth. Everything. Even Leighton has gotten in on watching everything Georgia picks up and taking it away if necessary.

My mom has a picture of my brother running his little toy car on my head when I was a baby. This picture reminds me of that. Leighton had this little mini back massager and was tickling Georgia with it. Once she put it on her head, though, that was the end of the tickles.

We had the Elf on the Shelf last year but I didn't even attempt to explain it to Leighton then. This year, we got the book out and read it together, and I'm still thinking Leighton doesn't totally get what the Elf is about. However, we ARE having fun finding where the Elf has hidden each morning, so that has been fun.

We decorated our tree last night. I busted out a bottle of my favorite Pennsylvania Dutch eggnog and Spode Christmas mugs, and up went the tree. And I realized we have WAY too many breakable ornaments. Watching Leighton run around with Christopher Radkos was frightening. But we haven't broken one ornament yet. Our tree this year is in the dining room (normally it's in our tv room) so Georgia doesn't have too much access to it. I have a feeling she is going to be very interested in the tree.

Leighton ooh-ed and aah-ed over each ornament we unwrapped to put on the tree. And Georgia tried to put them all in her mouth!

I'm RACING to try to finish Georgia's Christmas stocking before Christmas. It is so hard. I work every night on it, for hours, but it just takes so long. Hopefully she'll forgive me if she doesn't have it ready in time.