Santa!! Again!!

Jocelyn just can't get enough of Santa this year.  Friday night he showed up in our neighborhood on the fire truck again, but this time he stayed for a visit with the neighborhood children.


Waiting patiently, but FREEZING!!



With Santa and Mrs. Claus



With Daddy in front of Santa's Transportation

We are always thankful for our volunteer fire department.  We're lucky to have such dedicated fire fighters in our small town, especially this year when friends of ours were given a second chance because of them.  They go above and beyond at Christmas and every day.  Thank you to them for their service and dedication.

Thanks Memere and Pepere!

Memere and Pepere sent us a gingerbread train to make for Christmas.  We invited Aunty over and let the kids loose with the frosting and candy!

Jocelyn has developed a new love for candy canes so our train was one candy cane short!

Of course, half the fun was putting decorations into the caboose, and fishing them out with a spoon!

The finished project and the artists!!

Ta Da!!  Merry Christmas

 Memere and Pepere!!

Birthday Preview

Playdough cake and playdough candle. 

What might she be practicing for???

My thoughts on Christmas this year

Jocelyn is SO into Santa and his reindeer this year, and it made today's events so much fun!  We started the day meeting some friends for a visit with Santa at the mall.  We had some lunch with our friends and then came home and watched "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on TV before nap (I recorded it on the DVR and we've watched it every day since).  Tonight, as our little town does every year, the fire engines roared through the streets, sirens blaring, bringing Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Every night before Jocelyn goes to sleep, we talk about our day.  Here's my sampling of tonight's bedtime conversation:
Me - "So what did we do today?"
J - "Santa was on the fire truck!"  "Where Santa go?"  "Santa go to see other kids?"
Me - "Yes, and what did we do this morning?"
J - "Play with friends" and "Santa in the chair!" 
Me - "What did you ask Santa for, for Christmas?
J - "A green present and a red present"
I'm not sure where this came from, but every conversation we've had about what Jocelyn wants for Christmas from Santa, she always asks for the same thing.  Of course, Santa will oblige.  

After we visited with Santa, at the mall, and then had lunch as I said, we had to go back one last time and say "goodbye" to Santa.  He was heading off, as he told us, to "feed the reindeer".
Jocelyn's next point in our bedtime conversation was "Reindeer go eat muffins!"  (If you have read the book "If you give a moose a muffin", you will know where this is coming from.  I think we'll be leaving muffins for the reindeer on Christmas Eve!)

So as you can see, Jocelyn had a very fun day, and she is getting very excited about Christmas.  But one quick side note.  Just in case you think Jocelyn might outgrow her inherited (from me of course) obsessive compulsiveness, don't count on it.  While we waited for some of our friends this morning, the "workshop" display around Santa began to "make" snow.  It was really only a fine mist of soapy foam bubbles.  Jocelyn was very disturbed about the mess and kept asking "who was going to clean up the big mess?".  Leave it to my Jocelyn to miss the bubbles and see only the mess!!

I have my suspicions our Christmas activities are not over, so stay tuned for more fun.  At the very least, I know Santa is coming back into the neighborhood, on the fire truck, Friday night.  In the meantime, I'd better check to make sure we have muffin mix!!

Messages to Santa through the years



Christmas 2008

"Who the heck are you???"



Christmas 2009
"Oh NO you're not!!!"



Christmas 2010
"I want a green present
 and a red present"

Insane Gymnast!!

My daughter lost her mind today in gymnastics.  There is no other way to describe it. 
Last week, Mr. Dave introduced the big trampoline, and this week we set Jocelyn free.  She went from the big trampoline to the long trampoline and jumped her heart out.
Here's the last romp on the big trampoline...

Then we switched to the long trampoline as some of the other kids moved over to the big one.  Jocelyn ended up having the long trampoline to herself, running back and forth. 
I think that was breaking the rules a bit...

Finally we noticed that everyone had moved on, so we joined them at the slides.

If messy hair is any indicator of a fun morning then, she must have had a ball!!  Note the pigtails!!

But my favorite part of the class is when Mr. Dave has the kids run across the big mat to hug the moms.  This is the face that heads towards me every time.  How can you not just love that right up?!

Letter from Santa!

Jocelyn got a letter from Santa last night!
It came in a special blue foil envelope from the North Pole!

Along with the letter, Santa sent Jocelyn a picture of him in his workshop, one of Rudolph's special bells, and most importantly, a magic key that we need to leave for him so he can get in the front door on  Christmas Eve.  Santa really must know everything!  How did he know we didn't have a chimney??



Opening the envelope



Reading Santa's letter



We can't wait for Christmas this year, and Jocelyn is watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer non-stop on the DVR!  Good thing Santa reminded us to leave out the cookies and milk and the special reindeer food!  We'll have a lot things to do before bedtime on Christmas Eve, but I think it's going to be worth it because our girl has been so good this year!!!

Joys of home ownership

So two days before Thanksgiving, yes Thanksgiving, our over-the-stove microwave died.  Great timing huh?  Pat researched and researched, as his analytical, engineering brain is known to do, on what we should do....  repair, view ratings on new microwaves, replace??? 
Finally he made a decision, and we ordered the new microwave, but then came the fun part.  How the heck do you install one of these things?
Well, first you move the stove out of the way (and begin the scrubdown of a lifetime!  Just think what crud can collect between the side of the stove and the counter! And we are clean people!!), then you remove the old, broken microwave and marvel at how your kitchen can fit all these appliances!

Then you set the hubby loose with the biggest A** power drill bit I have ever seen!!

You install the new microwave and note hubby's excellent work!

And then you let the kiddo have the box!!

Ta Da!!  New microwave!!

Inflatables

Last year Jocelyn really liked the inflatable outdoor decorations and kept an eye out for when they were blown up or "sleeping".  Well, this year, she is OBSESSED with them!!  Our neighbors put theirs out first, and as soon as Jocelyn saw it flat on the ground, she was in a total panic.  "Momma tell Mrs. C--- to blow it up!!"  "Momma Santa sleeping!  Tell Mrs C--- to wake him up!!"  "Momma!  Momma!  Momma!"  She hounded me for 1/2 hour about it!  Of course, Mrs. C--- said theirs is on a timer.  How NOT helpful!! 
So out came our inflatable penguins! 

Jocelyn's "watching" the penguins to make sure they don't go to "sleep"

Then she jumped at the chance to get her picture taken with them!!

Now if I could just get my neighbors to understand how tramatized my child is that she can't make Santa "wake up" when she wants him too!

Festival of Trees

Every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving, we head to the Festival of Trees at the Timonium Fairgrounds.  The event is a benefit for Kennedy Kreiger Institute in Baltimore, and we certainly don't mind supporting them, but we go because it is just SO MUCH FUN!!  This year Aunty joined us for the festivities.

There is a carousel ride...

The Pony Ride...

The Fun Games...

The Model Trains...

Don't Forget the Mini Golf!  (And yes this is evidence that my child cheats!!)

And YEAH!  The Santa photo!!

It's Official!

It's official... as of yesterday, Jocelyn is potty training.  I started this adventure with much hesitation and apprehension.  Potty training is not a one or two day, one or two week hurdle.  It's a long term, from here on out, "where's the nearest potty?"..., I hate public restrooms!..., "Do you have to go potty Sweetie?"..., did I bring a change of clothes?..., "Please, please use the potty before we go"..., no turning back, excursion, not for the faint of heart! 

I finally found some time in our busy social calendar to just stay home, next to the potty and extra clothes, with no where to go, and (bonus!) hubby is taking time off for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend!  Lucky him!   Yeah!  I don't have to do it alone.

So far, Jocelyn has been happy to sit on the potty, with a bit of success with the end "result", as long as the stickers keep coming.  We have stickers on the bathroom cabinet, stickers on paper, stickers on her!  Stickers everywhere!  But she's willing to sit because of them, so I can't complain. 

This really is an odd process I must say.  I have Jocelyn in pullups for right now.  I think she needs to see / feel some progress before I bring out the training pants, and frankly, so do I!  So every 1/2 hour to an hour, I bribe her to come to the bathroom and sit on the potty hoping for some magical bodily function to produce something I can cheer about.  I get to sit on the floor in the doorway of our 1/2 bath, (which I must mention is about the size of a milk crate!) and wait for said miracle, all while we play with stickers and read books. 

All kidding aside though, I admit, while I sit in the bathroom doorway, and watch my sweet little one play with her stickers, and smile at me from her plastic throne, I have realized the milestone we are crossing, and I see my baby growing up in front of me, and I'm so proud of her!  And when she's all done sitting, with or without success, I have to hug her and tell her I love her... 
and just hope that in a couple weeks when she goes into training pants, I remember that while I'm cleaning the sofa!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Thanksgiving artwork...  A Turkey Headband and A Handprint turkey!  These are keepers for sure!

Yum! Sundae!

                                                                  

 Today was a yummy day!  We met some of our MOMS Club friends for a Friendly's Ice Cream Tour and Sundae making!  We brought some of Jocelyn's soy ice cream with us so she could join in the fun.  Jocelyn's sundae of course had her favorite, those M&M guys, as she calls them!



Love the apron!



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Jocelyn was very happy to see her friend Ayaka!

More Fun With Leaves!

I can't say that I am the most creative minded person when it comes to art activities, but once in a while I have a strike of genius and come up with something good.  Since there is a wealth of leaves in our yard, (as previously mentioned) I decided to let Jocelyn paint with them.  We used regular paint to coat the leaves and pressed them onto colored construction paper.  What messy fun!

The Arteest!



The painting materials



The end result

And while we were having so much fun inside the house, Pat had a fun painting project of his own going on...  refinishing the swing on our deck!

Leaves!

The leaves are falling!  I mean...  THE LEAVES ARE FALLING!!! 

One of the greatest things about our back yard is the wonderful large trees that bring lots of shade during the summer.  However, we are cussing those same trees about this time of year when all those leaves come down.  My sister found a group of high schoolers that were raking leaves this past weekend to earn money for their investment club.  We took advantage of young, energetic people for the first round, but there will be an even deeper second round of leaves coming any minute now that us old tired people will have to deal with.

In the meantime, the group left a couple leaf piles for Jocelyn to enjoy.  This is the first year she really appreciated leaf pile jumping and she did it with finesse!!



At least when it was time to clean up the pile, she was happy to help rake!

Hanging out with Auntie is SO MUCH FUN!!

Pat and I were joking that since we had help with raking the first round of leaves on Saturday, the rest of the leaves were sure to drop on Sunday after all the helpers were all gone.  Sure enough, look what I came out to this morning!!!