Christmas in Cleveland

Every two years we spend Christmas in Cleveland with my family. It is so hard to believe that last time we celebrated there, Rebecca was only 3 months old. This year, however, she was in full force. She loved every minute of being at Nannie and Pop Pop's house. She LOVED playing with her cousins. It was a wonderful Christmas.

The girls (Carrie, Rebecca, and Mae) cheering on the bed. Blue and White!

Mae, Rebecca, Carrie, and John

We had a hot chocolate party. Rebecca wasn't so sure about the hot chocolate,

but she liked the candy cane.

Being silly on Christmas Eve night. Mae, Rebecca, Carrie, John, and Ambrose

Santa came

Rebecca woke up bright and early (5:30ish). We played

and played

and played.

Then Rebecca took a lollipop break.

And she took time out to wish Kato a Merry Christmas.

Then we opened presents.

Carrie read books to Rebecca.

And we opened more presents.

We took our annual cousin picture under the tree.

Rebecca played some more. The curly head cutie is our cousin Kate from Memphis.

It was a great time. I'm sad that it will be another 2 years before our next Christmas in Cleveland. Rebecca will be 4, and Baby Sister will be almost 2. How fun!

Joy to the World

Merry Christmas to all!

Dear Santa

Let me preface this entry by saying that when Rebecca is sitting on Santa's lap we are able to take pictures with our own camera, but we are not able to use a flash. So the pictures come out blurry. Not to worry though. There is a professional there to take the pictures and take your money.

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Ever since last year's disastrous visit with Santa we have been dreading this years visit.

December 2008

We tried our best to prepare Rebecca for this year's visit. We read books about Santa and talked about how he was going to bring her presents on Christmas Eve night. We even went as far as to go and walk by Santa when we were at the mall and point him out to her. We let her know that she was going to sit on his lap and take a picture. Then, she would get a candy cane. By the time our appointment rolled around, I think she was pretty excited to finally get to visit him.

When we got to Phipps Plaza, Rebecca worked very, very hard on her wish list.

She filled up the front

and the back of her paper.

I sure hope Santa has an extra big sleigh this year.

Finally, it was Rebecca's turn to sit on Santa's lap. She walked right up there and sat without any hesitation. She never looked him in the face. She never cracked a smile. She just sat. We tried our best to get her to smile, but she was not having it. After what seemed like an eternity of doing tricks to get her to smile, I told the photographer to just take the picture. It was an improvement of last year's picture, so it was a success.

Like promised, Rebecca got her candy cane from Santa. She wanted to eat it right away. She took one lick, and gave it back. I guess that means she is not a fan of peppermint.

We then went to the food court to eat lunch. For lunch Rebecca had ketchup with french fries and a side of fruit.

She ate more ketchup than anything else. Can you say gross? It ended up everywhere. Luckily John was there to clean her up when it was all over.

After lunch we did a little window shopping.

John better watch out because this girl has some expensive taste. She LOVED the Louis Vuitton display.

All About Me

I have not been very good about updating on my pregnancy. Then I think that I did not start blogging until Rebecca was born, so I do feel that bad. I am now 32 weeks. It is crazy to think that I am only 8 weeks away. My body is so ready, but I am not sure if the rest of me is. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited about meeting Baby Sister, but I am not sure if I am ready for sleepless nights and everything that goes along with having a newborn and a 2 year old. But ready or not, here she comes.

Baby Sister does have a name, but we are not sharing. When we ask Rebecca what we should name her, she replies, "O." This has been going on for some time. I hate to inform her, but she is going to be disappointed if she is sold on the name O.

Rebecca is super sweet when it comes to my belly. She loves to lift my shirt up (sometimes in public) and give it kisses. For some reason, she thinks that my belly button (or where my belly button once was) is the portal to speak to and kiss Baby Sister.

Here I am at 32 weeks and 1 day.

John felt that some of you would want to see a close up picture of my belly, so here you go.

Jingle Bell Rock

We have had a crazy busy week getting ready for Christmas. We have also had a lot of fun going to parties and play dates and school functions. On Wednesday we went to a neighborhood Cookie Swap party. Rebecca brought chocolate chip cookies to exchange with her friends, Caroline and Alexis. On Thursday Rebecca's class had their Christmas party. Here are the children running into the classroom to find lots of food and their parents. I LOVE this picture of Rebecca. It captures the face that I see everyday when I pick her up from school. She is just as excited to see me as I am to see her.

On Friday Rebecca's school had their Christmas Program. Rebecca's class "sang" Jingle Bells. At first I wasn't sure if Rebecca would go up on the stairs to sing. She kept saying, "I not sing Jingle Bell." Once she saw the other kids sitting up on the stairs, she decided she wanted to be a part of it, too. Not a single child sang the song. They were all too busy ringing their bells, looking around, crying, or sucking their thumbs. It was really too cute.

My memory card filled up right before Rebecca decided to stick her finger up her nose. What am I going to do with her?

It is only Friday and a full week before Christmas. The fun has only begun. It has been so much fun this year celebrating Christmas with Rebecca. Stay tuned to see how she reacts to her visit with Santa.

UH-OH!

Pink Pig

If you live in Atlanta then you have probably heard about the Pink Pig. If you haven't, you can read more about it here. It is one of those things that you have to take your children to do every Christmas. With all the hype about the Pink Pig, you would think it is the greatest thing EVER! Well, to Rebecca, it is.

All it is is a train in the shape of a pig that is painted pink. It goes around a track inside a tent on top of the parking deck outside of Macy's at Lenox Square. Like I said, there is lots of hype, kids love it, so we did it. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Stylin'

Today I asked John to get Rebecca dressed. In his defense, he did ask what I wanted her to wear. I did say that I didn't care. BUT...

Not only is she wearing pattern on pattern, but the top is about 2 sizes too small. It is so tight under her underarms that it is probably cutting off circulation to her arms. If she lifts her arms up even an inch, you will see my favorite belly. Her hair has not been brushed and is so full of static that is is sticking up on all sides.

When I asked John if I thought this outfit was okay, he said, "Yes, she stylin'."

Luckily, we have no plans to go out today; nor do we have plans for visitors. So no one will see Rebecca stylin', except you, of course.

Bebop

We got the book Elf on the Shelf for Rebecca. On Nov. 30 we read the book and learned that Santa would send an elf to our house to keep watch over Rebecca. He would then return to the North Pole every night to report to Santa. He would tell Santa if Rebecca needed to be on the naughty or nice list. We would get to name the elf. The only rule was that we could not touch the elf.

After reading the book we asked Rebecca if she would like an elf to come to her house. She said yes. Then we asked what we should name him. She responded, "Bee." John then said, "Bee bop she bop!" All of a sudden Rebecca started chanting, "Bee bop, bee bop, bee bop!" Then she started dancing. So we all got up and did the Bee bop dance. It was quite a sight, and luckily no one saw us acting silly.

The next morning John and I got up and noticed that Santa had indeed sent an elf. I told John not to say anything about Bee or Bee Bop. I wanted to see what Rebecca would say when she saw the elf. I was personally hoping she would change her mind and want to name him something more like Clyde.

Once Rebecca woke up, it took her a while to spot the elf. As soon as she did though, she said, "Look there's Bebop!" Then she started doing the Bee Bop dance. And so we are stuck with an elf named Bebop.

Every night he leaves to report to the North Pole. Every morning the first thing we have to do is find where Bebop is hiding. We have found him in the Christmas tree, hanging from the lights, sitting in the nativity scene, in Rebecca's stocking, sitting in a plant, and hiding behind the blinds. He is always somewhere different. He is going to start running out of hiding places soon.

Thanksgiving on Balsam

For the Thanksgiving holiday we traveled up to Balsam, North Carolina to John's aunt and uncle's mountain house. We had a fantastic time spending time with John's family. Rebecca loved playing with her cousins, especially Greer who is not quite a year older than her. Here are some of the highlights of Rebecca's trip:

playing with cousin Ann's old toys,

watching the big girls draw (Gardnier, Lucy, and Caroline),

drawing by herself,

hula hooping with Caroline,

hula hooping with Greer,

playing games with her Aunt Amy and the cousins,

(Actually, Rebecca was more interested in sticking her finger up her nose during the game and of course John had to get a picture of it.)

and celebrating Aunt Karen's birthday.

Then Rebecca realized that the birthday cake was not for her and we were not singing Happy Birthday to her, so she started to cry and poke out her bottom lip like only she can. So, we relit the candle and sang Happy Birthday to Rebecca.

This is what Greer thought of that, until we lit the candle for her, too.

The kids then exchanged presents.

Rebecca got a baby doll that she loves.

It was a great trip and a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family.