Quote of the Day

Victoria: "Man, Santa sure has a lot of elves from China."

Holy Cow- She's NINE!

Victoria just celebrated her ninth birthday. She is such a joyous part of our lives that I truly can't remember life without her. (Cliche, I know!) It is hard not to think how much things will change over the next nine years. One thing is for sure- I am NOT ready for any of it.

Christmas!!!

What a wonderfully, Merry Christmas. We spent the morning playing with Santa gifts and exchanging gifts with each other. We headed to Granny's for more presents and some yummy food. Then it was off to my mom's (where we passed on lunch) but stayed for even more gifts. The girls had a blast and Colton was a hit at both events. Today is "spread every toy all over the house day." We are observing it with great enthusiasm. I would post a picture, but the thought of sharing the mess with anyone stresses me out. Below is a Smilebox with a few pictures from our Christmas.

Free scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

Santa!

As of last weekend, the girls were on the fourth and fifth generations of their Christmas lists.  Needless to say, it was past time to finalize their requests.  After a morning of frantic re-writing, they agreed that it was time to deliver their lists in person to Santa.  As much as I wanted a picture of all the kids dressed up on Santa's lap, it was better to just pile in the car and head to Pier Park in Christmas shirts while we were all in the mood. (Hair brushing was optional with a hat or antlers.)

Seeing Santa at Pier Park is always a treat because there is never any line.  We found him standing outside the "village" entrance greeting passerbys. He ushered the girls inside. Before Joe and I could even get inside with the stroller, the girls were seated in his lap reading their lists.  I barely got a picture. Colton was very cooperative (if not indifferent) about the whole thing.  We were able to take as long as we wanted with pictures and small-talk with Santa since there was no one waiting behind us. It was great!  The lesson for me was not to feel like everything had to be planned out down to hair bows and tights.  These pictures are a real reflection of our family at this moment in time- perfect!

Five Months

December 18th: Colton turned five months old AND he rolled over!  That is BIG news since he is not a big fan of tummy time.  He doesn't yet roll over on command and his skills are limited to rolling from tummy to back only, but hey- we are making progress.  In other baby news, Colton loves to sit in his Bumbo and will sit for very brief period unassisted.  Like all babies, when his head leans, his body is quick to follow.  At the advice of the pediatrician, I have started feeding Colton veggies and fruit.  It was slow going with the rice cereal at first, but now he is really enthusiastic about the whole process.  He loves carrots and sweet potatoes. 

My intention is to post a picture of him on the 18th of each month.  This month, I was a couple of days late taking the picture and even later posting it. Notice the wet shirt.... if I had waited until he was clean and blemish-free, I probably never would have taken the picture at all. This is the first of many symptoms that point to the obvious: Colton has third-child syndrome.  If I can actually take a picture once a month for the first 12 months and throw a birthday party within a month of his first birthday next July, I will declare him on the road to managing his condition.

Christmas Parade

It's almost cookie time, the 2nd most wonderful time of the year.  Here is a pic of two little cookies in the PCB Christmas parade for Girl Scouts.

Reindeer Race

It's that time of year- when we have so much to do and the list just keeps growing. Last weekend, we spent the entire weekend running (literally, at times) from event to event.

Victoria ran in her first ever 5K and did great!  We both joined other girls who were in the school's Girls on the Run club at St. Andrew's State Park for the Reindeer Race.

Those colorful charms on her necklace are little feet- one for each mile she ran this semester in training.  Way to go Victoria!