It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Elaine, my little sweetie, is sitting up!
In Christmas PJs. Elaine is wearing Miles' from his first Christmas

ho ho ho! I bet you can tell where I'm standing!

Once we returned from Florida I found myself as busy as ever trying to get ready for Christmas. We bought our tree right before we left so it was nice to come home to a pretty, decorated (and watered) Christmas tree. We usually order our tree from a Vermont tree farm, but opted for a Home Depot tree this year. We thought that Miles, being 3 1/2, would like to pick it out. He loved it, and fortunately it was the 2nd noble fur that we looked at. It's perfect. 8 feet tall and still very fresh. Miles is having so much fun playing with his ornaments this year. He still asks me before he takes one off and pretty much knows which ones are his (all the cars, trains, rockets, etc...) so that's been fun. Elaine is in the stage where she loves to just stare at the lights - really cute!

We took the children to the Meyerson (the Dallas Symphony Center) for Breakfast with Santa. It was so much fun! We met some friends there and both children did great sitting on Santa's lap. Miles got a football painted on his arm and made a very cool photo flip book. They took a little video of him dancing and then printed it out into lots of little photos to make a flip book. We also visited a musical petting zoo. To top it off, we ended with a concert of Christmas songs and Lisa Loeb was featured. She was so much fun! She has a new CD, Camp Lisa, that is sing along songs from her days at Camp Champions. I might have to order it. She sang "Home on the Range" and "Peanut Butter and Jelly" which Miles loves both!



We've taken the children out 3 times now to look at Christmas lights. Miles loves when he can spot Rudolph and Santa, so I'm glad people still have fun and put them out there!

Florida!

Elaine's first swim
I love this picture of Miles soooo much!
Elaine, in her cute summer clothes, watching the older children swim.
We had another wonderful trip to Florida with our St. Louis friends. This was Miles' 4th trip there (we counted today) and Elaine's first. Our friends have two girls, ages 4 1/2 and 6 1/2, so the kids had lots of fun. Most of our time was spent swimming in the backyard. It was so much fun to be swimming in December! Other highlights include visiting the sea turtle rescue center, the lion country drive-thru safari, eating at our favorite places on the inter coastal, and playing on the beach.

November fun

Miles giving Elaine a goodbye hug before Cowboy Night

November was quite the busy month! Miles loves his preschool and really enjoyed Dad's Night. Patrick and Papa John were both able to take Miles and he loved it, especially since he was the only one with a grandfather there. He also LOVED wearing his cowboy clothes! Elaine and I had a girls night that consisted of a bubble bath, warm milk and lotion.

We also had Elaine Baptized on November 16th. She was able to wear Papa's Christening Gown that my great-grandmother made. It is absolutely beautiful and I'm so lucky that both of my children have been able to wear it. We laugh though because we plan the Baptism around when the gown will fit our little ones! It's quite small so it's a nice reminder to get that done! Miles sat with us during the service and walked to the front to watch his "sissy" get Baptized. He was very interested in the water and wanted Patrick to hold him so he could see everything. Elaine was perfect - alert, happy and looking all around. Our Pastor of Young Adults, Jay Lee, Baptized Elaine as well as Miles 3 years ago. Pretty neat! He said afterwards that Elaine was the best baby he's ever Baptized. Afterwards we had Brunch at our home. I made an egg casserole with ham that was fantastic! We also made a cheese danish, rolls and fresh fruit. Our cake lady made precious petit fours with Elaine's initials on 1/2 and crosses on the other 1/2. Everything went well.

The last November event was Thanksgiving! We celebrated with the Lodewicks in Dallas for an early dinner and then hit the road for Austin. We are pretty sure this was our last year to do this for many reasons, but mainly adding another family member involves much more packing, planning and energy while traveling. The children were great and took long naps on the way down. Miles was very cute and surprised everyone by saying The Lord's Prayer. He said it perfectly at both homes. This is something he learned at preschool - we didn't practice at all at home. In fact, I had no idea he knew it. He was so proud and confident saying it! I never would have thought that a 3 year-old could memorize that. I'd love to know what he thinks it means!

they call me the fireman....

our fireman and dalmatian

We had a fun Halloween this year! Miles really wanted to be a fireman. He also wanted Elaine to be a "fireman dog". She kept her costume on for a few pictures. Miles loved his costume very much and has been able to wear it a few times. His favorite is to put it on, ride his tractor around the street, and fill up his extinguisher at the hydrant. Every year we go to Patrick's sister's house to trick or treat with the girls. We had fun going around with the children, but I couldn't believe how dark it became sooo quickly! Patrick thinks next year we need to put those fluorescent lights around the little ones necks (he really said a blinking strobe light...).

Thanks for helping me with my uploading questions! I think our firewall is very sensitive and annoying, and it works better if I do one at a time for now. Hopefully I'll be posting away again!