Big Girl Now

Well, it is happening before my very eyes -- my baby, my little girl is growing up! She's been using the potty fairly successfully and wearing underwear (except at bedtime) for a few weeks now. Today, we took her crib down and put up her first bed. It was really hard not to cry as I saw her crib leaving her room, and even harder seeing Caitlin getting ready for bed in her big girl bed. She told me "mommy I a big girl now!"

Of course, Caitlin loves her bed! What little girl wouldn't? It is a Tinkerbell canopy bed with an iridescent canopy and girly ribbons. It really is pretty. Thank you to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bill for the beautiful Tinkerbell toddler canopy bed and bedding!

Caitlin didn't want to read stories tonight -- she just wanted to go to bed. I was even told "mommy get out of here!"

Merry Christmas From Little Harry Potter!

Christmas 2009

Gingerbread Cookies With Na Na

Earlier this month, Conall made a gingerbread house with Na Na. This weekend, Caitlin made gingerbread cookies with Na Na. She hasn't stopped talking about it since.

She was one determined little girl!

I think her favorite part, other than the special time with Na Na, was using the rolling pin that was just her size -- don't take that rolling pin away from her!

That's MY rolling pin!

She decided to let Conall help -- but he couldn't have her rolling pin.

Daddy's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STUART!

Razorback Caitlinism

Caitlin's latest funny name for something is "Piggyback" or "Piggyback Ride" for a Razorback. Today she told her daddy that he has a "Piggyback" on his shirt. She has two Razorback stuffed animals that she's been carrying around calling "Piggyback" and "Piggyback Ride." She is so funny!

Christmas Pyramid

Conall has been wanting to put up "that thing with the candles and helicopter blades" ever since December began. That "thing" is our Christmas pyramid, which Na Na bought for us while visiting Germany a few years ago and has become a family tradition -- in part due to our German heritage and in part due to how much Conall likes it. Conall loves anything with moving parts and has always studied even the simplest machine with great interest.

Last night, as we lit the candles and watched the pyramid spin, Conall began asking questions about it. His class is studying holiday traditions from all over the world, so he is very interested in holiday traditions, but doesn't quite have it figured out yet. I guess since it has candles, he kept asking me if it was a "Hanukkah thing."

To try to help Conall remember the pyramid's name, I started going over memories of our Christmas pyramid and Na Na's. I asked him if he remembered the year that he jumped toward it and singed his eyebrows. He looked at me funny, grabbed his hair at the front where his cowlick is and said "Is that what happened to my hair right here?". Stu and I roared with laughter.

Gingerbread House

Conall and Na Na have a tradition of making a Gingerbread House every Christmas season. They made their house this past weekend and Conall got to use the bag of frosting, or "glue" as he calls it, for the first time. He also made a Whomping Willow from the Harry Potter books.
Here are some photos.

Conall using the "glue" icing.

Pink Christmas Tree Lights

For some reason, only part of our pre-lit Christmas tree lights are lighting up this year. There are patches where the lights work and the rest just don't light up. The kids were really concerned about this, so Stu and I decided to buy a string of lights to make do until we figure out what the problem is.

Caitlin and I went shopping for lights today. We went to Wal-mart first, but I knew that Target has this set of little round lights that I really like. Wal-mart didn't have them, so we headed to Target. Apparently the set I like in white, also comes in pink and purple. Caitlin kept trying to get me to buy the pink set. When that didn't work she said "How about purple?". She is such a girly girl! Of course, she also tried to get me to buy the peppermint candy set and the snowflake set!

First Year for Rudolph

Conall watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time this week. In the past, he's not been very interested. It came on one of the networks Wednesday night. Even though Conall had been extremely hyper all that afternoon and evening, due to his crush on Gwen, he sat down in front of the tv and did not move away, even through the commercials. He was enthralled! So cool!

Here's a photo of him watching it. Thanks again to Aunt Amy for reminding me that it was on.

Conall's First Crush

Conall appears to have his first crush on a little girl. I picked him up from school yesterday and all he could talk about was "Gwen stamped my hand with her Strawberry Shortcake stamp. She said it is just for girls, but I could have one." The boy was higher than a kite -- I kept asking him if he'd had candy at school or if he didn't eat his lunch. He acted like he'd eaten a whole bag of candy with red food coloring!

Then, later, he was playing his favorite computer game on Starfall in which you create a boy or girl, give it facial features, hair color, clothes, etc. He kept making a Gwen character. As he was making it, he said "This is Gwen. I love her. I'm going to take care of her."

He also told us that he'd teased Gwen about her Strawberry Shortcake stamp and told her that it was "Strawberry Chicken Shortcake". So it begins ... ah, puppy love!