Christmas is in the Air!

December is in full swing. And, these once-a-week entries have somehow become the norm for me. I actually enjoy doing "smaller" blogs more often so I can capture more detail, but here is yet another summary blog with the latest pictures from our house....

New Hairdos: Carlie has been wanting pigtails (dog-ears, ponytails, whatever you might call them) for a while now, and I just haven't felt like taking the time to do it. Getting her to sit still while parting her crazy hair is more than I have time or energy for on most mornings (although I did this with Kendyll all the time when she was this age!) But, we had one day last week when both of the girls needed their hair washed and we didn't have time. So, up went the hair. And, now that I've seen her with pigtails, I'm as addicted as she is. She's worn her hair twice that way since last week, and I can't get enough of how cute she is in them! (Both of the other girls in her preschool class wear their hair up EVERY DAY, so she felt very cute wearing them to school with her buddies. She kept saying "I'm just like Flobby!" Her friend's name is actually "Flavie" and she is French. Carlie prefers the name "Flobby" though....)

Kendyll also had to join in on the "updo fun" and wear her pigtails too.
Our First Christmas celebration: We had our first Christmas this weekend with Mark's family from California. They flew in for the weekend, and we had such a fun time. It was planned kind of last-minute, which made it a surprise to the girls to have Christmas so early! We had tons of yummy food, great time talking and laughing and a pretty good Chinese gift exchange too! The girls got to open their first gifts of the season, and were very sweet and thankful for them, which I was happy about. We also got playtime with Sophie, who is about to have her very first Christmas....

And, yes, I'm making her into a "psycho matching-clothes cousin" just like my own girls. I bought the three of them these sweaters last Christmas before Sophie was even born. :)

We got lots of Pops, Grandma, and Uncle Chris time too, which is always fun. Pops doesn't get to be here as often as Grandma, so we were happy to have him around to play with. Of course, he did beat Kendyll at Candyland, which caused my almost FIVE year old to have a complete whiny tantrum...uggh. I'm really trying hard to make her into a good sport, but man does she resist that idea! Anyway, other than that, it was great playtime! And, Pops, we finally got a cute picture of you and Carlie alone! :)

It's a Wonderful Life: A good friend of Kendyll's moved away earlier this year, and we have missed her alot. So, when we found out that Mary Alice was making her Christmas debut in the play "It's a Wonderful Life", we decided to take a short trip to watch her perform yesterday. Kendyll and her friend Emma, along with the mommies, had a great time at her play, and visiting with Amber and Mary Alice. The girls were so excited to see their friend up on stage and I even shed a tear as I listened to her precious voice say the famous quote at the end of the play. She did SUCH a good job! The girls brought her roses and then got an "insiders tour" of the stage and the backstage from Mary Alice herself! It was a great afternoon---and very entertaining as I listened to Nicole try to explain some of the "harder" scenes to our four year olds on the drive back to Dallas. :) Nicole, you did an awesome job answering questions about poison, angels, child abuse, and other such things as that.

Now, for this week, we have Christmas coming out our ears! And, I love every minute of it. We have chocolate-making to do, Christmas gifts to buy (still!), Christmas school parties to have, Santa Claus to visit, and Kendyll's first annual Cookie Exchange party to host! It should be a week long of fun...hopefully I can keep up with it all!