Santa Baby

This year we were invited to a Santa Party at our neighbor's house down the street!

Yes, Santa came to us and it was perfect (except Lane was not interested in sitting on his lap)!

The kids played, the parents enjoyed hot cider and wine and Santa was great!

Reese asked for a Fairy Dora.

Santa brought his elf named Seth to help take notes of what the kids wanted this year. He must have a very good memory because I didn't see him write anything down on paper.

He did hand out candy canes though!

I tried very hard to get a cute smiling picture, but instead got the real thing!

Earlier in the day Reese, GiGi and I were out shopping for these nice black shoes and a shirt for Lane. I found two red Polos. One was the classic small horse button up (which Lane is wearing) and the other was a pull over zip up with a bigger horse. I asked Reese which one we should get because I considered changing it up and getting the zip up, big horse. Reese replied, "Small horse!' Of course she did because she is classic just like her Daddy. Ha - that is a good thing Reesie. ;)

A drawing for Lane

Reese colored this for Lane at school today. Then she wrote his name on it.

When I arrived her teacher told me how well Reese was doing with her letter recognition and writing. Reese told her teacher she wanted to write Lane's name on it. She knew it started with L and she wrote that. Then she asked, "What letter is next?" Her teacher told her A and Reese looked at the letter board (each letter is shown in upper and lower case with a picture beside it - like an apple for A) and wrote an a. She did the same for N. The said what comes next. The teacher told Reese E and she said, "I know how to write E!"

And wallah! Reese spelled and wrote Lane's name. She was upset that she did not have time to finish coloring Rudolph at school, but it was the end of the day and they had to pack up. I am so proud.

Also this week, Reese's teacher told me that Reese has been very sweet at school and participating in more activities. Back in September during the parent teacher conference they told me that Reese liked to play alone most of the time and they had a hard time getting her to participate in group activities. We know Reese can be reserved and we witnessed it at other gatherings with neighbors etc. We learned that some children (usually labeled as shy) are more reserved and they sit back and observe. Then they decide who they want to play with and what they want to do. To make a long story short....it's not a bad thing.

Reese loves to help make pasta and broccoli - her dinner tonight with chicken and Alfredo sauce.

Lane gets around ... and is into everything! He is liking the soothing sensation of this baby toothbrush, but it's really too small to be chewing on so I have to watch him like a hawk.

Trying to get to the tree without any luck.

Tonight Reese asked what a pear tasted like (we have some fresh pears from MaMa Pat). I told her it tasted like an apple and she said, "Mommy, I am going to take your word for it because you know." I know for a fact I have said to her, "Ok I'll take your word for it," so I know exactly where she learned that phrase. Ha!

Each day when we come home Lane comes rushing to the door to greet us. He is sooo excited to see Reese and Mommy. Yesterday we came in the front door, but today we came in the back. He heard us and rushed to the front door. Grandma told him "other door" and he turned and headed for the kitchen. He is so happy when he gets to crawl all over Reese and touch her. She says, "Lane!" and they just giggle.

Mommy, next time we go to Buccee's...

Can I get ice cream?

On a recent trip to Dallas to hang out with Meghan, Maggie and Maylee Reese and I enjoyed a stop at Buccee's to go potty and get ice cream. Tonight Reese asked me, "Mommy, next time we go to Buccee's can I get ice cream? When I go potty two times (she means on the way to Dallas and on the way home)." And yes, we got ice cream both times!!!

She was so cute eating her tiny blue bell and it was perfect for the car.

Reese loooooved Maggies doll house. Maggie was torn between hanging with Reese and chatting with us. She was so sweet to Reese and they watched Cars 2 in Maggie's room on the floor in sleeping bags.

We had some much needed girl time! Maggie took this picture by the way!

Aunt Meghan is so sweet to Reese giving her everything she wants or needs. Before we headed home Meghan packed Reese a full lunch in a tin Hello Kitty lunch box.

Reese got to eat sugary cereal with non-Organic milk! ;)

And play on the counter (only a really good Aunt will let you do that!)

 And there's Maggs - we didn't get too may photos of the girls but it was a super fun night!

We all headed back to 'real life' on Saturday as Maylee had to work and Reese and I had to get home to Laney Brainy and Daddy.

Gotta love girls weekends in Dallas with stops at Buccee's!

Busy Weekend

Matt and I had a busy weekend!  On Friday evening we attended his company Christmas party at the Hilton Hotel downtown. Then after changing clothes and packing a few things, we drove to San Antonio for his weekend job. We didn't get on the road until 10:00 p.m. and arrived around 1:30 a.m. Thank goodness for the McDonald's coffee along the way.

I was able to meet some neat people and get to know Matt's friends. We had a ceremony at the Alamo and then drinks at the bar in the historic Menger Hotel across the street. Later we had a 3 hour dinner at Bohanan's.

I few home Sunday morning as Matt had to work all day and I wanted to see my babies (after being gone Friday and Saturday).

What we're saying and doing now

Lane can say DaDa & MaMa (but hardly ever does), he says tree as he points to the Christmas tree, and I am certain he said thank you, but his most favorite word to say is CAR! Oh yes, he loves that word and loves cars just like Reese. He gets very excited looking out the window at Cars and says it over and over. And when we turn on the movie Cars 2 he says it. He also loves to say vroom vroom and pushes the car back and forth. Sometimes he'll say K K K Car!

Lane is almost walking (he can walk towards me holding my hands or legs, can walk around the couch, along the wall but he still prefers to crawl). He pulls up on everything and can climb into short chairs like their rocking chairs and the low chair in our game room. He can almost climb onto the couch. We are still working on teaching him to crawl down on his tummy feet first. He would much rather go face first but Mommy doesn't prefer that. He loves to be held by Mommy but then wiggles out of my arms - we go back and forth like this all night. He can also give Mommy big open mouth kisses when I ask for a 'kiss' and he knows how to wave bye bye. If we leave the gate open at the bottom of the stairs or if he hears it open to zooms over to climb up. When we walk upstairs he has to climb - there's usually no carrying him. He'll just wiggle out of our arms so he can make his own way up.

Reese prefers to be called McQueen or Lightning (it used to be Purple Horse). When I tell Lane to say Reese, she says, "No, I am McQueen!" She loves to make up names and stories for the characters in Cars 2. For example the blue and green car named Carla is known as silly brace or celo bray by Reese. She is also sleeping in the guest McQueen bed (her old twin bed) rather than her cute queen bed. The good thing is she is sleeping in that bed all night an not in our bed.

My favorite thing to hear Reese say (besides her prayer) is "I love you too" when I tell her I love her. The way she emphasizes the "too" is sooo cute!

Reese is very patient with Lane when he pulls her hair which he still loves to do. She doesn't hug and love on him a lot, but she does like to tickle him. She will kiss him good night on the head. We love to hug and fall down and laugh and tickle each other! We call it "fall down laugh hug". If I start with Reese, Lane will come rushing over for his turn. It's so cute to see him want equal attention. He knows it's fun and wants to do it too.

With all the great fun we are having we are also having some minor meltdowns, tantrums or llama drama as we like to call it with Reese. I know it's just another phase of those terrible twos. All I can think is that Lane will start the same soon! Jeez Louise.