Day 1: Old-Fashioned Christmas in the Square

Rockwall's "Old-Fashioned Christmas in the Square" sounded idyllic: "sleigh" rides, boutiques open for shopping, pictures with Santa, hot chocolate and treats. Unfortunately, winter decided to arrive tonight. (For the non-locals, winter in Texas means cold temps and rain). We braved the downpour anyway and headed to the old courthouse. It is a charming old building, and we climbed the stairs to see Santa. Last year, Emma absolutely refused to sit on Santa's lap and cried if we got too close. Our progress this year:

She still refused to sit on Santa's lap, but stood next to him without a fuss. I think she might have tried it if the kid in front of us hadn't been crying. Maddie seemed to be a fan.

25 Days of Christmas

When I was growing up, my grandmother would always get us a chocolate advent calendar to count down to Christmas. While I still love chocolate, I went with this advent calendar instead from Garnet Hill:


Instead of chocolate or tiny gifts, I decided to have 25 days of doing Christmas-y things together as a family to celebrate all month long. I brainstormed holiday activities, added events from the community, and stole some ideas from here. This morning I explained the advent calendar to Emma and she chose our first activity:


Stay tuned to follow our adventures.
PS. to our local friends: feel free to join us!

Maddie Sits

I think Madeline is a little late to this milestone--probably because every time I'd try to prop her up she flopped herself down on her tummy so she could crawl. :) But she has the hang of it now.

Maddie Crawls

She's not up on all fours, but she definitely gets where she needs to go.

Maddie Speaks

German, apparently.

Maddie Eats

As the second child, poor Madeline sometimes gets the shaft on the blog. I record her milestones, I take pictures and videos, but sometimes it takes a while for said pictures and videos to get uploaded to the computer and then published. So.... Welcome to Maddie Week! Wherein we will catch up on all of the things our busy little girl has been doing lately. Way back during the first weekend in October, we started Madeline on solids. Getting ready for the big moment: > She immediately took to the rice cereal and gobbled it up like a champ:

Emma's Birthday: The Details

I started researching birthday party ideas about 2 months before the actual event. I chose ladybugs because it was cute, classic, non-commercial, and there was a clear color scheme to tie everything together. I had a lot of fun putting together the details and decorative touches.








Things to remember:
*I gave prizes (to everyone) after each game, which each child put into a bag that became the "goody" bag. I thought it was a great idea, and it might be for older children, but three-year-olds can't keep track of their own bags. Plus they had so much fun playing the games that it didn't really matter about prizes. Next time I would keep all prizes for the end.
*Loved these tissue paper pom-poms from Martha. They could work at almost any kind of party.
*Party games! We played classics that I remembered from the backyard birthday parties my mom used to throw for us. Frankly, I could probably play a version of the same games for the next 6 or 7 years.
*I kept a party notebook for ideas and kept internet links on xerpi. I am going to keep that notebook to replicate ideas for future parties.
*I made a schedule for the party and posted it in the kitchen to help myself remember everything in the midst of the controlled chaos. You need to keep toddlers moving!