Monkey Joe's with Hannah!

It's always a great day when we get to go to Monkey Joe's AND see our friend Hannah! The girls had a blast, as usual!

Post Christmas fun!

Here are a picture and a video clip of the day after all the Christmas fun!

In addition to her Cabbage Patch, Jazmyn, Jordan also got a bath friend named Sarah!

We don't have any pictures of the installation, but Jordan's vey first present was a swingset from Mita and Papa! They came down this weekend to put it up and it's been a big hit...at least when it's not raining!

Merry Christmas!!

Some Christmas highlights!!

Pop, those socks are sort of funny looking...and they jingle!













Here, Pop, put your shoes on! You shouldn't wear those jingle things, anyway!













Puuulll hard--Pop needs all the help he can get!













How can you see those nesting dolls with all that hair in the way?













Thanks, Nana, for the ponytail help! At least there will be one picture of my face!













Au natural--who needs bows in your hair with a smile like this?!?













Check the bling! A bracelet with your name, a ring, a headband and even pearls!













I...will...not...nap! But if I sit here much longer, I might just fall out!













Jazmyn--the name of Jordan's Cabbage Patch Kid
Wise man--how Jordan says the name of the CPK, at first
Jazz man--the current name of the CPK--one of Jordan's favorite presents













A Build-a-Bear, too?!? I have lots of new friends...and so stylish!













How long does it take to get a present out of its box, anyway, Mommy?

the legend of the Wonder Horse

I got a call from my Mom that she and Carroll wanted to stop by for few minutes before their annual Christmas Eve celebration with longtime friends. I had no idea that the Wonder Horse was making it's debut at our house when they arrived! The Wonder Horse is about 31. He was given to me by Mom's parents for Christmas when I was 2. Since then, my brother, my cousin, 2 more cousins and even Carroll's great-grandkids have had the joyful experience of the Wonder Horse!
You wouldn't know it from these pictures, but Jordan's first experience with him was pretty tearful. Eventually, she warmed up to him and by the end of the night could get on all by herself!

Roper Mountain lights

After Kenneth and Jordan picked me up from work this evening, we met Mom and Carroll at McAlister's for dinner. Then we picked up Trey and Heather and squeezed them in the back of the Explorer. It was off to Roper Mountain lights!!

I was so excited to listen and see Jordan's reaction to the lights. She has really been soaking in all the lights and Santas as we are out and about. I had also read about a new addition to the lights this year. For some reason when I read about snow in the planetarium, I envisioned some version of powdery stuff on the floor of an enclosed (also known as warm!) building. In case you didn't know, the planetarium is just an amphitheatre! The snow was projections of snowflakes on the wall. Don't get me wrong, it was nice and all, but maybe because I didn't wear my coat, I wasn't too upset to get back in the car! :)

We drove around and I, for one, was so glad that we could all be together and listen to Jordan's random musings. We saw some neat lights...a cowboy (or was it an elf?!?)...and even did it twice!

There's a dog in my bed!

Today marks the first day of Jordan's Christmas break--school's out! I don't have any vacation time yet and Kenneth has some to use, so Daddy's on duty!

Apparently, there was some confusion when she was going down for her nap this afternoon. Kenneth heard her on the monitor saying, "Ash is in here!". Since Ash was right beside him, Kenneth let it go and figured she was just talking about one of (the many!) animals in her bed. Then the dog talk continued. More adamantly, she began saying, "DADDY, there's a dog in my bed!". So, then he decided he would go and check on things. When he opened the door, out came Mackenzie! Jordan continued to confirm what she had seen--there is a dog in my bed!

Reece's birthday!

My godson, Reece, celebrated his birthday a little early today. He will be 4 on the 19th and his family invited us to join them at Jump Zone for a little pizza and cake! As usual, it took Jordan a few minutes to get warmed up, but once she did, she had a blast jumping around from inflatable to inflatable. She even worked up the confidence to climb some of the ladders all by herself--a huge accomplishment for our girl!

deck the halls!

While Jordan napped today, Kenneth and I got the tree and some decorations up. We left a few ornaments for her to be able to put on the tree, too. I think she really enjoyed it and it was easy to tell where she had been--one spot on the tree had ALL of her ornaments on it!