Much to our eldest (and likely our youngest's as well, though he has no idea what it all means) Christmas time is drawing near.  And as is our tradition, we started to embrace the holiday season this weekend after Thanksgiving.  See while we may shop for Christmas before Thanksgiving, we do not believe in actually decorating prior.  Despite protests from our eldest since the stores have been decorated for quite some time and she loves Christmas decorations.

So Friday we went out and picked out a tree.  We then brought it in, but didn't put decorations on it until Saturday.  We had to remind our eldest that we always do that to help the branches completely fall into place first.  And well, besides it is better to do the decorating earlier on with little ones now.    So we held of on decorating until after naps on Sat.  And Saturday morning we took them to the mall where they got to see Santa.  And besides just seeing Santa, they both actually went and visited with Santa.  Last year, Jordan truly meant she wanted to see Santa.  As in see him from behind the fenced in area.  Which was ok with us.  This year though they both visited with him.  And like always she did all the talking.  Though without prompting she did tell him what she thought he would like for Christmas.  She did the same when she wrote her first letter to Santa. 

So as it was our turn they walked up to Santa hand in hand.  Very cute.  Then he got a little timid, but never cried or protested.  In fact it was like he was frozen.  Jordan, however, would likely have talked Santa up all day long is she had been allowed.  

We also went and picked a child off of the Salvation Army tree while we were there.  I figured Jordan would like to pick a little girl about her age.  Close.  She wanted a little boy about her age.  Hmm....   When we went to pick out a coat I think she started to reconsider her decision as I informed her that boys don't like sparkles or pink on their coats.  She agreed, but was not impressed at the boys selection.  Sigh.  She can't imagine life without pink or sparkles.

After nap we did decorate the tree.  She was excited as anticipated.  He was also excited, which almost surprised us.  He was so proud of himself as he put on an ornament exclaiming "I did it Momma!"  Funny thing was Daddy helped quite a bit, but he never said I did it Daddy.  He liked the ornaments with loops on them as he could do it himself.  He didn't quite understand the hooks, but even if you put one up for him he was just as excited as if he'd done it himself.  

About three-quarters of the way through he tired of it and sat down right beside us and started to play.  Here is our tree after it was finished.

And though we thought it was done - they disagreed and tried to rearrange the ornaments up until bedtime.

When I snuck out to get pictures of the lights on the house (courtesy of their daddy) look who wandered to the door.  Notice the shoes in his hand.  He was slower in getting to the door because he had to get them.  He wanted to make sure I knew he was ready to go (though I wasn't going anywhere).

 

I love the second picture where he discovered that I was now taking their picture and not pictures of the house.  I guess he thought since he was inside he was safe.  Not so little man. 

Our daughter has been rather busy with parties as of late.  Like she was invited to 3 parties in 9 days kind of busy.  She thought it was the best thing ever.  At the last one I remembered to bring a camera (though I should get pictures from other parties as well, but I can't promise they will end up being posted).  So to summerize her weekend she slid down a giant slide oh, I don't know a hundred times or so...

and I'm not really sure that I'm exaggerating.  She went up, then down, up, down, up, down...

You get the idea.  There was also a little bouncing mixed in there.

And then there was climbing a "spider's web" to reach a high slide.

She was not quite able to do this one on her own.  So the staff there helped her as well as Mommy a time or two.  Because she couldn't resist the slide.  Oh, the lure of a good slide.

I'll just say that it is harder than it looks.  Then there was cake.  Boy she takes after me in that regard.  She likes cake!

Oh, and this particular party had face painting too.  I will have to say that the girl was good.  I was impressed at how quickly she was able to make them into butterflies, doggies, knights, etc.

You can't tell, but she had sparkles on her butterfly.  She was totally won over with those - every girl, I mean butterfly, needs sparkles!

Aside from our little guy being sick recently (and he recovered so much quicker than I did), all has been well here.  You could say it has been just another day.  Another day of princesses. 

And of course the dancing princesses.

Or I guess that would be princess, not princesses.  But I can assure you that the same little girl made an appearance as more than one princess. 

And he has been enjoying life as well.  Especially books as of late.  This includes his sister's Tag and just about every book on their bookshelf.

He hasn't been happy that I have had to say that Mommy's voice needs a break.  But it did.  And so here he is with his daddy as happy as can be.  All the way down to his toes. 



It amazes me that children can literally "talk" with their toes.  Guess you kind of lose that as you grow up. 

Video I made of Jordan a few years ago for family.... just realized, that friends may want to see it too! Hope you enjoy!

Fixed now: Everyone can view! 

Our children love each other.  Or at least most of the time they do. 

So it is fun to watch them share that love with one another.  Here it started as a hug

And ended as a dance.  Yet somehow she kept me from seeing his face.  Oh, well they both enjoyed their hug.

And then it was off to more together time.  You see one can't do something without the other one (whether they like it or not).

And right now she is into coloring BIG time.  She is becoming quite the little artist.  So he is big into playing with the crayons or markers.  Sigh.  Thank goodness for Crayola washables is all I can say or she would never be allowed to use markers.  The last time he did markers (at the kitchen table) with her he turned his little hand into a stamp.  And stamped himself, the table, etc before he was caught and I was right there.  Granted I was trying to cook dinner, but still.  He's efficient.  And creative.  And unlike his sister he's stealthy.  She tends to give a play by play on her play, which can tell on herself.  If she's quiet you know you'd better pay attention.  Him, well, he's almost always quiet unless he's not happy like this.

Ok, so it is probably bad to share this.  I mean really kids are never unhappy right?  And they never do things that require reprimand either.  Yeah, right.  If so parenting would be easy!