Ring Around the Mommy and Other Things

Pictures of the girls at open gym in Chicago and a nice picture of Alyssia and Ben at Thanksgiving.

This is one of Alyssia's favorite games. This video was taken a while ago. She made this game up one day when playing with her friend, Kelsey. When we were in Chicago for Thanksgiving, she learned to play Ring Around the Rosie with her cousins. She loves to play that game. She runs around saying "ashes ashes" when she wants to play.

The next video is Alyssia practicing walking around with a monkey on her back. It's a little gizmo that I put on her when we're at the airport--although, she hasn't quite figured out how to walk in it and not pull too much, resulting in a fall and a lot of screaming! Usually, if I'm by myself in the airport with her, she's strapped into the stroller. The last two videos are Alyssia enjoying her new squeaky shoes from Roma. They're too big for her, but she LOVES to walk around in them and hear the squeak. So cute.

Alyssia has really been enjoying the Christmas Season. She has a bright green Christmas tree in her room, covered in mostly pink ornaments and we have a big tree in the living room, this year decorated with mostly red and green. I decided to go all non-breakable ornaments this year in view of the fact that those little greedy hands can be awfully quick to grab and pull. So far, she has managed to pull off a few ornaments ("ball, Mommy!") but the tree is stable and has not budged! Good Job, Daddy! Last night, Ben took us around to see some Christmas lights. She loved that. "Pretty! Pretty!" That's also what she says most mornings when she sees the tree all lit up. We also spend a fair amount of time dancing to Christmas tunes. Her favorite is Jingle Bells by Manhattan Transfer. I think it's a good version too. Daddy has to put together the big present before Tuesday (the Kitchen from Nana and Popo) and the other big present (the Table and Chairs from Mommy and Daddy) and Mommy has a few more Christmas cards to mail out (ran out of photo cards so sorry to those of you getting the old-fashioned kind!) but other than that, we're almost ready. Oh! What am I thinking. I still have to make the entire Christmas feast and I'm attempting to make a Chocolate Coconut Cake from scratch this year, so that should be interesting. (Especially interesting because I think I am one of the world's WORST bakers). I hope none of my dinner guests read this before they try the cake. HAHA. We're having 7 guests for dinner Tuesday. It's sure to be a busy, joyful day. I hope everyone reading this has a great Christmas with family and friends around you and the everlasting love of the Savior in your heart. God Bless Us Every One!