December 2011

We had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas this year! Maddie loved all our decorations and helped Mommy put some of them up. She also made several decorations of her own to put around the house. Maddie really loved looking at all the ornaments on the tree and asking Mommy who each ornament belonged to. She picked out her new ornaments for this year and helped Mommy chose William's 1st Christmas ornaments. Mommy really loves the tree and its ornaments as well and gets sentimental decorating it with her childhood ornaments, ornaments she shares with Daddy, ornaments from her former students, and now ornaments for her kids (and dog).

On December 1, we welcomed DJ the Elf into our home. DJ watched over us and reported back to Santa. Maddie had so much fun looking for DJ each morning and often wondered how he got to the places in the house he did. He even traveled with us to Pennsylvania.

Our family enjoyed many different holiday events and Maddie was at the perfect age for crafts and Christmas baking. For the first time, we went to the Winter Park tree lightening ceremony. Maddie liked dancing to the Christmas music while it "snowed". William looked in wonder at all the lights and decorations.

At Preschool, Mommy and William helped Maddie decorate gingerbread houses. Maddie was very excited about her Preschool Christmas Program. She had so much fun learning all the songs and their motions and was quite a little performer during the program. We were very proud of her! Maddie's preschool teacher, Mrs. Whitely, was also so proud of her and said she was her best singer. Maddie and Mrs. Whitely are together in the last picture.

William turned 5 months in December. He is just as much of a curious, active baby as his sister was. He has really discovered his toys this month and likes to grab, shake, and chew on everything in reach... including his toes. He really responds to music and loves to look at himself in mirrors. By the end of the month, he was a supported sitter and bouncing around in his exer-saucer. Unfortunately, he is still a pretty inconsistent napper so it's a good thing Mommy is used to no naps... for her or her kiddos. ;0) I guess there's just too much to explore to slow down and take a rest.

We had a really wonderful family Christmas in Florida before heading up to Pennsylvania for Christmas with our families.