The Holidays

Christmas was a BLAST! My sister and bro-in-law hosted us at their house in North Carolina, and we had a great time. We had quite a few activities planned (including a girls' day at the spa at The Umstead - WOW!), so time went very quickly.
Lauren really GOT the concept of "time to open presents" this year. She was beside herself. For 2 days, she didn't want to eat or nap ... she just wanted to play with her toys. Above is a picture of Lauren with three of her favorite presents: The mermaid dress (she insisted the tail needs to be in the front), the Minnie Mouse gloves and Daisy Duck. This expression is her dreaming about who she is... she got a bit schitzophrenic, but her imagination sure got some exercise!
I'd like to say that Kyla loved Christmas as much as Lauren, but the fact of the matter is that that kid just loves EVERYTHING. She grins from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to sleep ... ear to ear. She's so adorable. (I'd say "she's the easiest baby" but I know my sister will read this, and when you're a mother of two kids under the age of 3, NOTHING is actually easy!!)

Merry Christmas!

All right! In reverse chronological order, we have the following events on which I have NOT updated you!

Below is a picture from our Project Runway tea yesterday. I went a little crazy with the decor since it was either decorate or write my Christmas cards. Tablecloths and candles won out. Left to right are my friends Kristen, Leslie, Susan and Aunt Crazy.

Last Tuesday I took Anger Lual (and her sisters Achan and Awut) to Anger's choir concert. this is her grade singing ... I have circled her little head in red.

We had fun, but let's be honest, it was also a little boring. Why do choral directors always pick the most BORING CHRISTMAS SONGS EVER???

Below is Anger, Achan, Awut, their cousin Nyibol, and their two friends from Tuckahoe.

The weekend of December 8th I went home to Virginia Beach to see my Mom and go to a party at the Geyers', good family friends. On Sunday I met Jenni, my best friend from High School, for lunch.

We weren't happy with this picture. In real life we are MUCH hotter than this ... you gotta believe me.

Sorry I haven't written in a while! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We had a nice one, which was followed-up by a trip to my cousin's house for desert. Above is a picture of Mema, Chuck, Bill (AKA Uncle Bull) and a very squirmy McKenna! (McKenna LOVED Thanksgiving - she had cranberry sauce all over her head!)

I have heard a lot of stories lately about the perils of preparing for Christmas. There are Christmas trees on fire, overspending to the brink of bankruptcy, and certainly over-imbibing (you know who you are!!)

Until this morning, however, I'd never heard of our good friend Rudolph the Reindeer wreaking havoc on innocent families across the US ... again, until this morning.

Meet my friends - let's just call them The Griswolds. You may know them from the link to Dad’s page on the right over there ... SuburbanDaddy.com. SD, if you'd planned to post this, I'm sorry for stealing your thunder! I also borrowed your vernacular for the boys ... remember; imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! :)

Meredith e-mailed me this morning with some updates on the Griswold clan. Meredith and Suburban Daddy have 3 sons now, so I expect the occasional insanity, but this quote made me laugh out loud!

From Mere:

“The boys are all good and very excited for Christmas. Thing 1 and Thing 2 watch "Rudolph-the Red-Nose-Reindeer" just about every night. It's probably getting a bit out of hand since they got into a fight this morning about whether or not Thing 2 had a shiny nose. “

In other Christmas news, Scott sent me a link to a web site that makes "you and yours" dance like elves. It's hilarious - check it out! Here I am with my friends Amy and Scott....


Have a lovely Tuesday!