Santa's Little Helpers

The Saturday after Thanksgiving has become "tree decorating day" in our household. This year, our very eager head elf Morgan could hardly wait. As soon as we got downstairs at 7am, Morgan started asking "Daddy, you go downstairs to get the tree?". So, by 9am, the decorating had begun.

Morgan carefully examined each ornament, and even wanted to taste-test one that looked like a gingerbread cookie, but finally decided to hang it on the tree instead.

Meanwhile, Gwen offered decorating tips from her comfy seat inside her exer-saucer.

If the family grows any more, we're going to need a bigger staircase to hang all the stockings.

The decorating didn't end when all the ornaments were hung, though. Morgan and Lindsay also added some holiday flare to our patio in the back yard.

Dear Santa

Every year, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we venture over to Haddonfield to see their tree lighting ceremony. As we've learned over the years, though, the tree lighting is just opening act. The main attraction is Santa Claus, who rides behind a marching band toward the town gazebo right after the tree gets lit.

We've also learned over the years, that kids are supposed to come to the tree lighting armed with their letter for Santa. This year, for the first time, Morgan and Dad sat down and wrote a letter for ol' Saint Nick. (You can read the whole letter above.)

Lately, Morgan has been asking for a dinosaur for Christmas. So before heading over the the Christmas tree lighting, we stopped to see the statue of the Hadrosaurus foulkii.

While we waited for the Christmas tree and Santa's arrival, Morgan had fun playing with her light-up "ice cream cone". Gwen, meanwhile, just took in the whole experience, and wondered why we were outside in the dark.

Finally, they fired-up the Christmas tree and we were off to see Santa!

As we got closer to the front of the line, Morgan got more and more excited. Unfortunately, as soon as it was her turn to meet Santa, Morgan had a "Ralphie" moment and froze up. Luckily, Gwen was able to charm Mr. Kringle until Morgan pulled herself together.

After it was all done, Morgan was very excited to have delivered her letter to Santa. But she was even more excited about the candy cane Santa's helpers handed to her.

Turkey Day 2010

Thanksgiving is always the start of a fun holiday season for us. And this year we have twice as many kids, therefore twice as much to be thankful for.

The fun started on Wednesday night when Morgan (with a little encouragement from Ariella) decided everyone should trace their hands and make turkeys. Even Gwen opened up her little mitts long enough to make one.

Thanksgiving Day itself kicked off with our annual viewing of the Macy's Parade. Morgan was really into the balloons this year -- not to mention a certain gentleman in a red suit who shows up at the end of parade. By the end of the weekend, Morgan had watched the parade several times and memorized most of it. When Ariella pointed out Santa on a balloon, Morgan corrected her, saying "No, that's a balloon! Santa is real!"

While Ariella, Lindsay and Jenny worked in the kitchen, Andy was responsible for "nap duty" with Gwen -- a job he took very, very seriously.

Finally, it was time for dinner. This year's feast featured salt-rubbed turkey stuffed with clementines and herbs, potatoes gratin with mushrooms, sourdough herb stuffing, sweet potato biscuits, cranberry sauce with Fuji apples, and fresh green beans topped with bacon and chestnuts.

For dessert, Jenny made an Amaretto pumpkin pie -- while Ariella cooked up an apple and blackberry pie.

Morgan happily tried everything on the table, but the cranberry/apple sauce was her favorite by far (she called it "raisins"). When we asked Morgan what she was thankful for, she quickly replied "Christmas." But after thinking a bit, she added that she is also thankful that "we're all eating togethers."

Meanwhile, Gwen dined on a 6-oz bottle of formula served with a #2 nipple. For dessert, she chewed on her toy monkey.

Gwen at 4 Months

It's hard to believe Gwen is four months old already. But, then again, it's hard to believe Gwen is only four months old. She's kept us so busy, it's already tough to remember a time when we were only a family of three.

This month, Gwen finally gave us her first big laugh (see it again here -- and, just for kicks, compare it to Morgan's first laugh here).

Gwen has also discovered her feet this month, although she hasn't tried to eat them yet. She's very close to rolling over, but prefers to wiggle herself around in a circle so she can see the TV.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Gwen started school this month and has adapted just as we expected. In fact, just like when Morgan started school, Gwen wasted no time catching her first cold, and developing double ear infections. And, just like her big sister, Gwen didn't show any symptoms (no fever, not cranky; just as happy as can be). Good thing Mom and Dad knew to take her to be checked out any way.

Speaking of which, at her most recent doctor's appointment, Gwen weighed 15 lbs. even -- which puts her well on-pace to triple her weight in her first year.

Here are a few more pictures from Gwen's 4th month...

Laughing Gwendolyn

Gwen showed-off her big baby laugh for the first time a couple of weeks ago (October 21, to be exact). But tonight we finally caught it on tape. Enjoy.

Back to work, back to school

After successfully surviving Ariella's first week back at work, and the girls' first week back at school, we decided to celebrate with dinner at the Pop Shop on Saturday night.

This was Gwen's first time out at a restaurant. She slept through dinner, but woke up in time to model a soda jerk hat. Morgan, on the other hand, is an old pro at the Pop Shop routine. But she was still pretty awestruck at the Cookie Crumble Sundae we shared for dessert.

Getting back to the week's big events: Gwen did a great job in her first week in daycare. She smiled when she met her teachers. She is getting the hang of sleeping in her crib. And she even made a new friend -- a little girl named Annabelle.

Morgan, meanwhile, has been moved up from the "Twaddler" room to the "Prepper" room upon her return to school. Several of her classmates (and two of her teachers) also moved up, so Morgan fit right back in as if she had never left.

When Andy arrived to pick the girls up a little early on Tuesday, Morgan cried hysterically and refused to leave. Apparently, the Preppers were about to go outside to play, and this would have been Morgan's first day in the "big kid playground" that her previous class wasn't allowed to play on. (And that's a really, really big deal when you're 2.)