December 2009 (Part 1)

December! I had to break up the month because Christmas alone is worth a separate posting. That will be coming soon.

For now, here are some other tid-bits from our winter wonderland month.

This was/is a common sight at our house. Both the dogs and Taylor love to check out the action in our front yard. Taylor was also very helpful in putting up all of the window stickies for Christmas. Every time I would give her one to put up, she would say "thank you mommy!". EVERY single time. It was very sweet.

It has been fun to get Taylor to help out with what she can. She loves to watch/help us cook and bake. This was us preparing for our annual Christmas cookie baking session that we have at my godparent's house (Joan and Bryan). I make a quadruple batch and so does my mom and then we have a little factory going at Joan and Bryan's. They have a great kitchen with two convection ovens so it works out perfectly!

Fun miscellaneous shot of Taylor hanging out with Lobo. He and Chewy are so good and patient with her. Taylor loves to help herself to Lobo's bed and he is very tolerant of her. I think right now he is pleading with us to help him out though.

Waiting for Santa! We weren't sure how Tay would do this year because she tends to be wary of anyone dressed up...especially mascots. We did some prep work for this outting though. We were at a different mall the night before and I let her watch the process with other kids. We then asked her if she wanted to do it and she replied, "maybe later". So we told her we would go the next morning. That following morning we talked about it the whole time and had about 30 minutes to wait in line before it got started. All in all, it went pretty well! We didn't get a smile out of her, but she sat on Santa's lap and didn't cry, success! I think she even told him what she wanted for Christmas, a dinasour puzzle. It's so great at this age when the "big" present is a $7 puzzle from Target. ;)

Christmas Cookies!

Here are some pictures from this year's christmas cookie baking session.

Grandpa helping Taylor decorate with sprinkes. It went pretty well!

Taylor testing out some of the goods:

My mom and I were the ones rolling and cutting and getting the cookies ready for the sprinling crew!

Uncle/Godfather Bryan showing off some of his work:

Mommy taking a break with Tay and trying out some decorating:

Tree Decorating!

We took some fun pictures of Taylor taking part in decorating our two trees. We have a small, artificial one in the family room that we put little ornaments on. She really liked helping with that one.

Our little tree:

Now we started decorating the bigger, real tree in the living room. She was such a great helper!

Taylor really engrossed in her work. She loved helping decorate this year!

Birthday Parties!

During the month we also had Taylor's friend, Rowan's, 3rd birthday party. We went to a fun place called Pump It Up with giant inflatable toys. This first slide was a bit intimidating and it took Taylor quite awhile to work up the courage to go down. Of course she needed one of us to go with her. I think I was more scared than she was!

Fun with daddy trying to stick velcro strips on the colored squares. It looked tough!

Not really sure what this face was about, she probably just didn't want to be interrupted to take a picture!

Another fun game, a big inflatable house with balls to toss around. I think the parents got more into it than the kids. We were definitely over-capacity!

An attempt at getting all the kids together for a photo. Somehow Taylor managed to get front and center with her other daycare buddies while Rowan, the birthday girl, barely made it in the picture. I think we have one pink leg of hers at the top of the picture.

Last but not least, cake time! Look at all of them practically trembling with anticipation!

Coming up next, Christmas in Kansas!