Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa brought you everything that you wanted. I am finally starting to understand Christmas and being "nice and naughty". Mommy didn't think about the fact that naughty kids get "coal" when naming me, so at my house naughty kids get dirt! Santa brought me trains! My favorite gifts so far seem to be "Don't Break the Ice" game and a harmonica. Though I am running from one present to another to ensure they all get equal play.

It has been a rainy and cold December so we didn't get to as many Christmas activities as Mommy was hoping. But there will be other years so I'm sure we'll fit them all in. Aunt Lizzy arrived from Italy after a 2 day delay (but she got $1000 for taking a later flight) and I've been having fun hanging out with her. We've made lots of funny faces and pictures on her new computer.

Not sure what we have planned for the next week. Mommy and Daddy are off work so whatever we do it will be fun to just be home with them.

Enjoy the pics and your last week of 2009....

Christmas Eve dinner at Chop Chop (of course)

Christmas eve gift (bath toy and pjs)

Santa brought trains!

Santa filled my stocking and used Backyardigans wrapping paper!

A microphone set for the TV

Grandma knit me a nifty sweater and hat - now we just need it to snow!

Thanks Aunt Connie & Uncle Thom - I'm going to be a Limbo champ in no time

I convinced Grandma to sing with me

Grammy got me the hottest toy of 2009 - my Zhu Zhu pet can even drive a car! Glad Grammy has Walmart connections!

Annual Christmas crackers and funny Christmas hat

Making a gingerbread train with Aunt Lizzy

It turned out really good didn't it?! (Pablo & Tyrone made it to this year's gingerbread too)

A Live Nativity at the Billy Graham library

Picking up Aunt Lizzy at the airport.

Watching the Bernstein Bears uptown Charlotte

Uptown Charlotte with Grandma & Grampa

I don't think you can see me if I cover my eyes

Making Christmas shortbread is fun! (Mommy regrets the flannel pjs + icing sugar)

I decorated the cookies with LOTS of sprinkles!

Wagon ride at our neighborhood Christmas party

Making sure Santa knows I want trains for Christmas

Milestone - I ate my first hotdog in a bun - it was tasty!

Whoa - Nemo is in the white elephant gift Mommy won at work

Helping put up the tree - we bought it in about 2 minutes (I keep Mommy & Daddy on task)

"Decorating"

As you can see I like to put all the ornaments on one branch

Enjoying a bedtime snack before the fire

Thanksgiving 2009

We had such a good Thanksgiving break. We headed over to Myrtle Beach and enjoyed all of the amenities. Our good family friends joined us on the trip and it was a fast visit. I became good friends with their little girl, Julia. I even learned to tell her no when she tried to poke my eyes!

They all came back to my house for a couple days before going on their their long drive home. I was the perfect host and shared all of my toys (whether I wanted to or not!). I even convinced Julia's mom to let her swim in my bathtub and she had her first big people bath!

Right before we headed on vacation I had a huge milestone - I am DIAPER FREE during the day! I am over 9 days diaper free with only a couple small accidents! I love not needing to be changed anymore, but I do complain about having to use the potty when I'm happy doing other fun things like playing computer games.

I visited the doctor for my 3 year visit. I am 37" tall (10th percentile) and 31 lbs (50th percentile). I took my first vision test where I said the circles were oreos (this puzzles mommy as I don't eat oreos) and half moons were bananas.

Last night I had my Christmas Concert at school. Even Grampa's friend Larry came (he was in Charlotte on a layover). After spending the first 30 minutes scared to go on stage, I ended up really enjoying it but I made sure to tell Grampa he couldn't get too close to the stage.

Today we braved the cold and watched the Fort Mill Christmas Parade. There were some really fun floats and I was happy to see Santa showed up!

Enjoy the pics and video...

Foosball is fun!

My hotel is behind me

You would never know it was only in the 50's - I was one of the brave few who went into the ocean - my parents couldn't stop me!

There were a lot of seagulls to chase - I kept yelling "cockadoodaldoo" - I think I need to work on my seagull speak

One morning I had to get stripped in the tub to get all the sand off. I decided to play in my bathtub without any water - all these years my parents have been wasting water when I am clearly happy to play without it

Johnny Rocket's is fun - though I'm not sure I liked Grandma's selection of songs

Bass Pro Shop offers free photos! I spent the whole time in line saying I didn't want to see him and then they couldn't get me down. I spent the next half hour saying what a nice man Santa was. I have asked him for trains so I hope he is busy building them.

A mini golf near my hotel

My first game of ping pong

I took Julia to her first Chop Chop restaurant!

Riding the cars at Broadway at the Beach. These were MUCH better than the fireworks where I said "I go home now" and put my hands over my ears as soon as the first one went off

Enjoying the hotel pool basketball

We watched the sunrise every morning (I'm sure my parents would have been happy to skip this view if it meant sleeping in - will they never learn? I like to get a jump on the day!)

We found an ocean front park!

How did Julia get there and how do I get rid of her?

They had some really good mini golfs! I even got to play at the one Mommy used to work at.

The Grandpas and their grandkids "enjoying" an after dinner Dora

I was a little unsure of how I felt about Julia playing my guitar

"Helping" Julia play in the exersaucer

We were each able to enjoy a side of the house

Approximately 25 years ago Mommy, Aunt Lizzy & Andrea shared fun bathtimes

Who knew approx 25 years later their kids would be sharing a bath?!

Teaching Julia how much fun the big bath can be and all the ways to play with bubbles

It's Santa!

The dancing truck was funny

This Bilo float was my FAVORITE - dancing brocoli and bananas - how can you beat that?

Did I mention it was really cold at the parade?!

I'm third from the left

Mommy made a rookie mistake and didn't stake a place in the middle - but you can still see me (3rd or 4th from the left depending on where the kid on the end was) ....

http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o251/mom_in_fl/?action=view&current=DSCN5020.flv