Another successful Christmas!

As a fabulous Christmas weekend comes to a close,  I am finally making the time to blog!!  We finished our Christmas shopping at exactly 4:19 pm on Christmas Eve.  Disgraceful, I know!!  But it all worked out and a great Christmas was had by all the Earleys.  Top gifts received include:

 Lindsay:
Pillow pet
Baby Alive
Elephant & Piggie books


Paige:
Sticker maker
My Little Pony ferris wheel
TAG Reader (Leapfrog)

Natalie:
Diapers
Formula
Binkies!!

Mommy:
Coffee Maker!!
Scentsy warmer
Eagles stuff

Daddy
Eagles stuff
Basketball shorts

Christmas Traditions

I love all the fun Christmas traditions this time of year!  Here's what we have planned for the holiday season!

• Advent calendar with chocolate pieces - We've gotten this from Trader Joe's the past few years.  The girls love finding the box that has the day's number on it (they are not in order) and then seeing what Christmas picture is on the chocolate.  (and they love eating it, of course!)
• Elf on the Shelf - our elf has been back for a few days now.  So far he's hidden on the bookcase, on the ceiling fan, and in the Barbie car on top of the fridge, among other places.
• Reading Christmas stories every night - we have enough winter/Christmas books to read that we can do one every night in December!
• Drive around to see Christmas lights
• Hayride at Linvilla to cut down our own tree - we did this last year and it was a blast!  Thank you Mom-Mom for allowing us to do it again this year!  :)
• Pictures with Santa
• Christmas specials on TV - we have watched Rudolph and Frosty so far.  I still want to watch the Grinch and Charlie Brown.
• Christmas Eve at Aunt Theresa's - returning this year - yay!
• Making cookies/gingerbread houses?  - I'd like to do this but not promising anything!
• Paige really wants to make some ornaments so I'm doing some research on this one.  

And of course, put up the Christmas decorations!  We put up the big blow-up Santa in the yard last night.  

Seven Weeks

Natalie is seven weeks old! She has started smiling in the past week or so. About a week ago I thought I caught one but we weren't entirely sure if it was a real smile or not. I saw one or two more over the course of the week, but today she probably smiled about 5 times! The next task is to get one on camera!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

We had both girls' parent/teacher conferences last week. Just have to brag on them a little bit. :)

Paige: Her teacher said she is doing great and is very smart. She's one of the kids considered more 'ahead'. She is one of the older ones in the class, so this is not a surprise. On her little progress report she did get one area for development - paying attention/not talking during circle time. I thought this was pretty funny. And it explains why she asked me a few weeks ago "Mommy, why did Miss Karen say she was going to separate Mary and me? What does that mean?" Hehe.

Lindsay: Could not have gotten a more glowing report from her teacher, who claims Lindsay is one of her favorites. :) Her teacher said she always has a positive, enthusiastic attitude and is a good role model for the other kids. Wow! She was also assessed as being ahead in Math with 3 others in her class and will be getting 'math enrichment' activities. A child who likes math!!! Yeahhhh!!!!

I am super proud of my girls and hope they continue to love school and learning!

One Month

Natalie had her one month visit on Monday!  She weighed in at 9 lbs. 3oz.  - she is definitely losing that brand new baby look.  I am sooo happy that she is healthy and that we have managed to avoid any illnesses for these first 5.5 weeks!

Paige-isms

Just wanted to record some funny things that Paige said today. 

I was in the kitchen and heard the sounds of the two of them fighting in the living room(as usual).  Before I had a chance to intervene, I hear Paige say " fine then I'm just going to punch you in the head" to Lindsay.  LOL!  I tried to help clear the air but she was really grumpy and mad.  So I said to her, "I think you should go lay on the couch until you cool off", and she replied, "Mommy, I'm not sweaty!"

I couldn't stay mad after that.  :)

Milestone

Two days ago Lindsay started tying shoelaces!  She is just over the moon with excitement and pride.  Yesterday as soon as she got home from school she changed her clothes and put on a pair of pajama shorts just because they had a drawstring she could tie.  It was so cute.  I had just been thinking that I really needed to work on this with her.  Unfortunately, all her shoes are velcro - so she is DYING now for a pair of shoes that have laces.  I told her maybe for Christmas.....any takers??  :)