Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year's tonight!

Santa's Last Delivery

Anytime Lizzy was asked what she asked Santa for she would say a pig and a football. I have no idea why she wanted these two things....for Christmas she got a small foam football in her stocking and lots of other toys but no pig. I could not find a pig for her that was not a stuffed toy. Lizzy has way too many stuffed toys and I refuse to buy her any at this point. Now it's after Christmas and I still hear Lizzy asking if Santa will bring a pig. So today Santa made a late delivery of a toy pig!


I finally found a pig for Lizzy. It's one of those teacup piggies that talks and had motion sensors so it responds to touch, speech, and its bottle. I also found it some cute clothes. I wanted to wait to give this to her on Three Kings Day but I just couldn't. Lizzy has a terrible cold and it sure cheered her up.




On another note, this year I took all the Christmas decor and tree down the day after Christmas. I put all of Lizzy's Christmas clothes, toys, and books away for next year that day. Later Lizzy asked for her Christmas books and happy elf. I explained Christmas was over until next year. I felt a sort od sadness from Lizzy that all the Christmas stuff was gone. Later I felt that too. I think next year I will stick with tradition and take everything down the day after epiphany (what I call kings day Jan. 6). There is many other holidays throughout the year but Christmas seems to go by so fast.

The Nativity Story for Toddlers

This year I was sad to find that there is not much to explain the birth of Jesus to toddlers. I went to the only two Christan bookstores in my area none of which had any book that were age appropriate they were either way to detailed or way to brief not explaning anything. They had one wooden nativity set by Melissa and Doug but the figures are flat 2D and did not look very appealing in my opinion so I passed on it. I finally found a set online that was more what I was looking for but it was out of stock (of course). I hope it comes back in stock sometime for next year. Sadly I did not find anything for Lizzy to learn about Jesus in time for Christmas. After Christmas I found a felt nativity set online and a beautiful Nativity story that is age appropriate. It is told from the perspective of the animals in the stable. I will give these to Lizzy on Epiphany read her the book and explain Jesus to her in a simple way she can understand.

Christmas Morning

Lizzy went straight to bed the night before Christmas...I have never seen her just go to bed that fast without her usual nighttime routines but she did. Christmas morning she slept in...so much so that we woke her up and she immediately asked if Santa had come. She ran out and saw everything Santa has brought then checked to see if Santa had eaten his cookies and milk. Lizzy asked about where her happy elf was and we explained he had gone back to the north pole. Lizzy started with her stocking then slowing opened all her gifts. Later that morning Lizzy grandparents come by with more gifts from them. Lizzy received a lot more gifts from everyone than we has anticipated. Lizzy will be busy playing with new toys for a while.








Merry Christmas to everyone! I will be taking a break from the blog. See ya in the New Year!

Christmas Eve and the Night before Christmas!

We had a Mexican Christmas Eve dinner at Tita and Tito's house then everyone exchanged family gifts. Lizzy was sure busy and excited throughout the evening opening gifts and playing Santa. Later Tito read the night before Christmas and we headed home.









Once we were home we got into our matching pajamas and set out cookies and milk for Santa. Then, Lizzy went straight to bed without any fuss at all...she sure couldn't wait for Christmas morning. What a magical time.

Gingerbread House and Cookies for Santa

Lizzy helped make gingerbread cookies to leave out for Santa the night before Christmas. She helped roll the dough and cut the cookies out. Later, with her grandparents she decorated the gingerbread cookies and decorated a gingerbread house with her grandmother. Lizzy loves helping in the kitchen so she had lots of fun doing this with her grandparents. Lizzy left her cookies for Santa tonight. Santa will be a busy guy tonight! Merry Christmas!

Festival of Lights

Lizzy's grandparents have come to visit for Christmas this year. Lizzy was excited to see them and she did real well with them. We were worried about how she would react because she seemed scared or shocked by them coming to visit on her birthday last May. The night they arrived we went to the Festival of Lights in town. There were a lot of people there but Lizzy had fun looking at lights and spending time with her grandparents.

Kemah Boardwalk for the Holidays

I have taken the whole week off before Christmas to spend at home with Lizzy and Mike. I am happy to be home more but each day we have a nice breakfast together, get dressed, watch some pbs kids, and after that Lizzy is restless and so am I. By this time we scramble to find something fun to do together. Today we went to Kemah's boardwalk....there was practically no one there so that was nice. We rode the train together and Lizzy rode the carousel once with me and another time with Mike. Afterwards we walked to the center of the Kemah Boardwalk area and had some warm beignets and some hot cafe au lait. This was nice since the sun went down earlier and it got more chilly out. Lizzy sure is ready for Christmas to get here!

Salt Dough Ornaments

This is the first year Lizzy and I have made salt dough ornaments. Hopefully we will have these for years to come because they were certainly a lot of work. If you aren't working with a toddler then they are an easy, inexpensive activity to do with your children. The problem we ran into is paint everywhere....that means on the carpet and lots of clean up and an extra bath for the day. In any case the final product was successful. We used ornament shaped cookie cutters given to us by Lizzy's grandparents which were perfect for this and acrylic paint. The snowmen are actually Lizzy's fingers made into snowmen. I love pinterest...I am getting so many ideas from that site. I hope to gift some of these to the grandparents. I know I will treasure this ornament years to come.




1 C Flour
1/2 C Salt
1/2 C Warm Water

Bake at 250 for 2 hours. Cool completely then paint.

Gingerbread House

Took Lizzy to the library for story time and to build a gingerbread house. Lizzy had lots of fun with story time, songs, dance, and finally building her gingerbread house. Lizzy ate most of the candies for her gingerbread home but she had fun. We still have a gingerbread house kit at home and lots of icing and candies to use up before Christmas is over....we'll have to do this while Lizzy's grandparents are in town.

Day at the Children's Museum

Lizzy had a great time. We went through the whole Children's Museum and Lizzy had fun throughout.