Decorating the Tree

We got a gorgeous tree at the farm; although I didn't realize how enormous it was until we got it home, and the top was scraping the ceiling. The girls were so excited about decorating it that we had to start immediately after we arrived home from church. Lila kept taking ornaments off the tree, but that was okay. Bronwen tried to show her the "right" way to do it.

There were a couple of pictures of me too, but TJ had the camera on the tripod kind of low, and right now the worst angle of me is from the bottom up. Therefore, he gets to have all the picture glory.

Lila did find her niche at the end, discovering that cleaning up the pine needles was super fun too.

Lila

I think it is pretty well known that Lila is not as verbally advanced as Bronwen was at the same age. In fact, any time I get a new word out of her I am ecstatic. Usually she grunts in the "gung gung" manner of Law and Order. Still, despite her not articulating well, she reminds me daily that she is still extremely smart.

Aunt Jana gave Bronwen an alphabet puzzle board ages ago, and Lila has recently really taken an interest in letters. I was shocked to discover she can recognize the letters E and O, and today she also showed me B and made a hissing sound while pointing to S.

She also had all the letters in her shopping cart at one point and was trying to find the E to put back into the puzzle. She came running in carrying a letter and saying, "E!" It was actually the lower case M...but I found it incredibly smart of her because it does look like an E when you turn it sideways.

She also understands the concept of big girl underwear and wants desperately to wear them. As a result, T.J. and I are tentatively trying to potty train her. She has gone on the potty twice already, but I am not pushing the matter since I don't and won't have the energy with the new baby coming. Still, I pulled out Bronwen's old training panties, and we'll just see how it goes. Still waters run deep, right?

Day in the Life

Christmas Tree Farm

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided to go in search of the perfect Christmas tree. I found a Christmas tree farm (only one) in Gastonia, and after a few false starts and turn-arounds to retrieve some things from the house (Lila's shoes, for one) we were finally on our way. We met up with Mom and Dad who had already met the farm's owners.

The people who owned and worked the farm were wonderful from the start, letting us borrow a wagon. We picked out our Christmas tree first, and then we were off to explore the rest of the farm.

Dad and Lila meet Boots, the fainting goat. Luckily Boots was used to people and didn't actually faint in our presence. In the background, you can see the haystacks that the girls would later climb on.
Lila loved looking at all the animals, but I was the only one brave enough to feed Buttons the cow. Considering the stuff I got all over my hands, I'd say the others were smarter than I.

There was a little store where they sold beef and knick-knacks, and the girls found this face-to-face glider. They also got to make some Christmas ornaments, eat marshmallows (there was a fire pit outside for roasting, but the marshmallows never made it that far), and pick out a cookie to go with hot chocolate.

After that healthy and nutritious snack, it was hayride time!

The sun was bright, so I let Bronwen borrow my shades.


It was a great day at Stowe Dairy farm--we managed to get a gorgeous Frasier Fir Christmas tree and play around the farm!

A Hero Among Us

T.J. came home the other night, late, and I was scrambling to get something ready for dinner. He decided to take the edge off their hunger by distracting them with a game of cars. The game is simple--we have these cars that you can pull back and release, and they roll across the floor on their own. T.J. was on the mat at the front door, rolling these cars all the way across the floor to the back door when Bronwen took the game to the next level.

All of the sudden we hear, "Don't worry, Daddy, SUPER BRONWEN to the rescue!!" She would then gather all the cars and race them back to T.J.

This game lasted for the whole 30 minutes before dinner.

Thanksgiving Day

We journeyed to Shelby for Thanksgiving dinner, despite my aversion to long car rides at this point. The girls were excited to go to Mimi's house, and Mimi was excited to give her fancy new kitchen and appliances a whirl. Everything we ate was delicious--from the turkey to the Brussels sprouts to the potatoes and stuffing. After our THanksgiving lunch, the girls went to take naps, and we just relaxed. Before we ate, however, we managed to snap one fairly decent family picture.

After naps, the girls enjoyed watching T.J. with Dja Dja.

Almost There...

This is the last day of November and at this point I am just waiting for this new baby to arrive. Looks like s/he will be a December arrival! Of course, it is only 10:25 am, and the day is still young. I have managed to navigate fairly easily through this pregnancy, but it is exhausting trying to keep up with Bronwen and Lila. I feel bad that I don't have the energy to chase them around the house or run races up and down the hallway before bath time. Thankfully, T.J. is Super-Dad and seems to contain boundless energy and enthusiasm.

Currently I am working on stocking up the freezer and getting gifts ready for Christmas. I am just so pleased that we managed to move, unpack, organize, decorate, and all before the next St. Romain arrived! I will post some pictures of our Christmas tree farm adventures and decorations to be published later this week, just in case I am in the hospital. :-)

Here is a picture of Sneak and me on Saturday: