Santa Visits Vinita Park!

In the last two days Laine has had two chances to see Santa, sit on his lap, and get a little gift from him.  At the beginning of this Christmas season she didn't know who Santa was, even if he walked past her in the mall!  But now she is well aware of who this festive man is, and she gets excited to see him around town. 

  

Saturday morning Laine and I went to Breakfast with Santa at city hall.  There was an animal balloon artist there, and he made this terrific Elmo balloon for Laine.  He also made me a pregnant poodle, complete with baby inside, though it's a little hard to tell here!

This afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Claus came around Gulf Drive in their horse-drawn carriage.  We whisked Laine outside for just a moment to quickly say hi and look at the horse up close.  It was a very brisk 13 degrees out today!

Imagination

We got this dollhouse for Laine on her first birthday, but just in the last month or so has she started playing with it at length.  It is so fun to see and hear her as she makes up stories about what the mommy, daddy, and baby are doing in the house.  Her imagination is taking off, and her creativity keeps her busy for large chunks of time now. 

 

It is especially cute when she mimics with her dollhouse what we regularly do around our real house - Mommy and Daddy sitting down to pray at a meal, Baby taking a bath but having to use the potty first, etc!

Fascination

Laine is very aware of Christmas this year and is especially enthralled with Christmas trees.  She constantly pushes the limits of how close she can get to our tree without actually touching it.  Actually... most of the time she still touches it!

36 weeks (almost)

For those who have been asking... here's a picture of Mead and me.  I'm almost 36 weeks along!  Time has gone quickly thus far, but it feels like it's moving slower every day now.  Mid January can't come soon enough!  Next week I start having weekly doctor's appointments, so I'll keep you updated on any progress.

Big Girl Bed

We're getting ready for the arrival of Mead, so we've started moving furniture in and out of Laine's room.  The girls won't be sharing a room until we move (unless Mead sleeps through the night really quickly), but we wanted to go ahead and set up her big girl bed so she could at least get used to the sight of it in her room. 

  
She's really excited about it, as you can tell, even without the sheets and pillows that will eventually go with it.

Drink of choice

Much to my husband's dismay, I am not a coffee drinker.  I would characterize Penny as a coffee connoisseur - he really enjoys a good cup of coffee.  He can tell you all about what makes it so good, and we have all kinds of special gadgets in the house to help him make it that way.  

I, on the other hand, prefer hot chocolate as my hot drink of choice.  In general I'm not too picky about the type, but given the opportunity I'll savor a rich cup of hot chocolate, whether it's out at a coffee shop or at home on the stove.  About once a year Penny manages to surprise me with a canister of real chocolate shavings from Williams-Sonoma, either the original or peppermint flavor.  The last few times it's been via other friends who have asked him for a gift suggestion.  At this point I pull out the milk to heat up on the stove, and once it's at the right temperature (bubbly around the edges of the pot) I insert my frother - my only hot chocolate gadget - to mix the shavings in and create a little foam on top.  Yum!  

Thanks, Janet and Emily, for this year's batch of delicious hot chocolate.  Come over and enjoy a mug any time!

New hairdo

Laine asked me to put some barrettes in her hair last night, but she didn't realize I was in a silly mood.  

 

The front turned out really cute, getting her ever present hair out of her face.

 But the back... well, like I said, it just looked silly!