The Dickens

Dear Kate,

We've had another great week/weekend of Christmas activities, and a few others along the way. We met Miss EP and "Baby" Grant (you clearly are more of the baby, but he'll always be our baby Grant!) and Aunt Steph and Ellie at the library for story time. You clearly felt the story was way below your level and was boring you to death because you slept through the whole thing! We grabbed some pizza afterwards and headed over to Aunt Steph's to let your crazy sister be destructive with her crazy cousin. Please be the calm one of the bunch - please :)

You and I ran a few errands on Wednesday (and 'few' is used loosely here - all we do lately is run one errand after the other!), and Thursday we went to Sister's gymnastics and cooked candy the rest of the day!

Well, some of us cooked it. And some of us ATE it!!! That would be me and your sister. You had enough self control to just sit back and relax while we cooked and ate.

On Friday, Mimi arrived!! We did A LOT of shopping with her all day on Friday and went to Mexican Friday night. On Saturday we headed out to Dickens Christmas in downtown Franklin. We bundled you up in one of those snowsuit things because it was SUPER cold. You slept the entire time we walked around and even missed Santa. Don't worry, we went to Cece's (yes, even though it was freezing!) and guess who was there???

You sister didn't even get close, but Mommy woke you up to eat and to get a great picture!! I'm pretty sure you told him you wanted a soccer ball for Christmas. We continued to do a few more errands/shopping after Dickens and then headed home, exhausted. You, of course, were fully rested. Sunday came and you and Daddy headed over to Uncle Jaybee's to watch the game while Mommy and Abs went to a birthday party. We eventually wound up over there, which was it's own adventure in itself and I'm not sure Abs will be invited back anytime soon :)

This week has been pretty active as well. We made more candy/sweets...

Yes, she's pulling your ear, and yes she got in trouble. Abs got her haircut and insisted on cutting yours...

She gets really into it and makes you "Look at your Mommy" and "Now look down" but gets pretty frustrated when you don't do what she says. I can't seem to make her understand that you can't follow her every command just yet. She does love playing with you though. And always needs you to sit by her.

You are sweet enough to cooperate most of the time. And you continue to be such a sweet baby in general.

This weekend we have a lot of Christmas activities going on with the Clark Family Christmas and then our own little family Christmas party all before we head to Munford for a whole week of Christmas!!! I love celebrating your first Christmas little bit!!! Love you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Dear Kate,

It's Christmas time!!! Hooray!!! Hooray for Christmas music, and Christmas trees, and Christmas pajamas, and Christmas parades, and, well, you get the picture - hooray for Christmas time!

Last Wednesday (after a VERY stressful move on Monday and Tuesday), we got all the decorations out that we had and got to work on our tree. Now, I know I haven't mentioned the move too much, or well, the details of it, and there is a reason (it's stresses Mommy out!), but you know we moved, and with that move came hardly any decorations (it's all in storage until we move in the new house). So, we were a little limited on our decorations this year - BUT, good news is we made the best of it. I got you and your sister in your matching Christmas pajamas, turned on some Christmas music, and we got to work!

And about 10 minutes later, we were done!

I know it's not much, but all the ornaments on that tree had a special meaning. Three of them were from trips you took in my belly!!! Two beach trips and a trip to Austin! So see, it may not be much, but it has meaning behind it! And doesn't your stocking look just perfect beside your sisters!!! I can't believe it's your first Christmas!! You girls are going to be so much fun!

We've been super busy with the short term move but managed to fit a play date with Jacob and Anna Porter. Thursday after Sister's gymnastics we headed over there to get a little play time in. Anna is getting to be such a big girl now and loves her some baby Kate! We had to keep an extra eye on her, which was rather hard cause when Miss Kristin and Mommy get together its' nonstop talking 'till we walk out the door - and even then we chat it up a little on the front porch! So after lots of fun (and even a little cookie decorating!) we headed to Memphis - yes,I know I said we were busy, but we had to get your 3 month pictures (I know, right - 3 month pictures already!!!), but Saturday morning we headed back to town because our little town of Franklin had it's Christmas parade! We met Ellie and Aunt Steph and Miss Leigh and Ryan (Mr. Lee and Jake were somewhere further down because they had trouble parking and the parade started before they could get to us!!!). We got our typical spot beside CeCe's and got there in plenty of time to get our starbucks, like we do every year. Of course, you didn't get any, but Mommy has a new favorite and cannot wait for you to indulge in it - White Hot Chocolate! Oh my... You girlies looked so cute in your matching Christmas tree outfits and I came so close to getting a picture of the 2 of you smiling at the same time...

But that cute shirt got in the way!!!!! Here's you and Daddy at the parade. You had a wonderful time looking at all the horses and bands and floats.

You and Mommy also had to make a second trip to Starbucks because someone decided to let loose on something they'd been holding onto for about 3 days. That's all I'm going to say about that.

After the parade, we headed over to Ryan's house to hang out for the rest of the afternoon/evening. You actually stayed awake a majority of the time and got to play with your bo, Jake. He's such a cutey and Abby loves to make him smile, which he always does!

Once we got home, we got you and your sister to bed - and may I add that you are indeed sleeping from about 8:30 to 7:30 every night. I thought maybe it was just because of the shots, but nope, you are pretty darn consistent. I can't believe it. I always thought those people that said their babies slept so much were, well, liars, but I stand corrected - those babies do exist. And man alive I am grateful you are one of them and all mine!!!

So, Sunday morning we got up and started getting VERY spifted up because we were going to see Santa Claus! You were super excited about this, I have no doubt, but I was nervous for your sister, as she has been a little, well, scared, in the past. She decided that it would be best if YOU sat in his lap and she stand beside him. I thought that was a good idea, so we went with it.

Now, I would have loved to get a closer picture of the 2 of you with Santa, but your sister had all she could take of that man and that was as close as she was getting. She told him what she wanted and off she went! So Santa got to spend a little alone time with you :)
I heard you whisper something about a little blue box. Maybe Santa and Daddy can go shopping together...

After Santa, we headed over to Opryland Hotel where we walked all around and looked at the beautiful lights and decorations everywhere. You lasted a total of about 3 minutes and then were out like a light! But your sister was all over the place!!!

Isn't it (and she) just beautiful?! I wish you could have been awake because it was so pretty and there were tons of picture opportunities, but we decided to let you sleep. But we also decided to make sure to come back every year, and on a Sunday - it was so NOT crowded and so nice to be able to push the stroller at our own leisurely pace. After a little lunch, we walked around a little more and then headed back to the house. It was a wonderful day with just the four of us, a nice family tradition we've started! And just the beginning of our wonderful holiday season!!! Stay sweet and Santa will visit, no doubt! Love you baby girl!