It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

Man, have we been busy! Having sick kids is no fun. That's right, kids. Jordan developed whatever virus it was Allison had. She's been battling it for about a week now. Her fever never got as high (only 102 instead of 103) but it seemed to go away and then came back. I took her in to the doctor today and sure enough, she's got an ear infection too. So just as we finish the antibiotics for one kid, we start them for the second. :( She has really been a trooper for this whole thing. She's only been a little fussy and mainly at night. It's affected her eating/drinking a little but she's still managed to gain almost 1.5 lbs since she was last at the doctor's!! She's 21 lbs, 8 oz. On top of it all, we think she's trying to get in her top teeth.

SO in the midst of dealing with all of that, we're still trying to live normal lives. Jordan and I made some Christmas cookies on Friday while Allison was at school. We made Giada's Peppermint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies. They are really good! I think next time I will use smaller cookie cutters and make them oreo sized and make more filling (I kind of ran out).

Allison is still doing well in school. She did something the other day that I have no idea where she learned it (I'm guessing school....it's hard to ask a 2 year old though). She took a bunch of her Beanie Baby cats and little stuffed dogs and made a pattern - cat, dog, cat, dog, cat, dog for probably 14 animals (yes, she has that many). She was so proud of herself! She amazes us everyday with how many letters she recognizes. I found these really cool Sesame Street placemats that are colors, numbers, letters and shapes so I bought 1 of each. She's learning letters now but I think we're going to numbers next. She is becoming even more motherly with Jordan. She tried to pick her up this week. (That ended badly for all involved). She loves making her laugh and will spontaneously give her hugs and kisses (sometimes a little too much!)

This past weekend, we went to church where Allison attends MDO. They had all the MDO kids come up and sing 2 songs during the service. Allison went up there, but with monkey and with her thumb firmly planted in her mouth! The exciting part was that since I didn't want her to get her Christmas dress dirty, she wore a jumper that my Aunt Pat made.....for me when I was about 4. She looked SOOOO cute but was being ornery about pictures. Here are the best ones we got:

Jordan is days away from crawling. She is so close to getting up on all fours. And her favorite toy is the one Allison is playing with! (Guess that starts early, huh?!) She is such a happy baby, even though she's feeling obviously awful right now.

I'm very excited for this weekend. The girls and I are going to see my mom for a Christmas filled weekend. We're going to Santa's Ranch, a drive-through light thing on Friday night and then Saturday morning is Breakfast With Santa at my mom's church. My Meemaw is coming with us too (she came last year also). Mom asked her if she had anything going on that date and she said, "I think I have a sorority thing but I don't care. I'm going to Breakfast with Santa!" So cute! I am very happy that my girlies get to see their MeeMaw so much and that she loves them so much!! We're coming back Saturday night though to go to Brandon's boss's house for a Christmas party. His company didn't authorize any departments to have company sponsored parties, so his boss is having a small, family friendly shin-dig at her house. I'm making Love Letters and Gooey Butter Cake. :)

Okay, I better get to doing my chores while the girls are still sleeping (I have to figure out Christmas cards/addresses and make the girls hairbows to go with their Christmas dresses). Here are some pictures to tide you over!

Playing

I tried to get a good one of Allison's "outfit." She insisted on wearing her bib that day.

Not sure why she does this, but Jordan likes to pretend she's a cat.

Oh, I finally got around to hanging the curtains in the playroom. I found them on Ebay and bought 3. My mother-in-law pieced them together so I'd have 2. She also had to fix one of them because instead of having the red/green on bottom, it had the red/green on top. I'm so lucky to have people in my life who sew!!

Sitting up on her own!

This was at a FUN playdate! The mom who sponsored it made a bunch of cookie ornaments. The kids got to paint them and then play while they dried. The mom then sprayed them so they would keep. Allison had a BLAST (painting and swinging). I enjoyed the hot chocolate!

I am SHOCKED this picture came out so well. I barely was looking at the camera when I took it. This is something that Brandon can do that I definitely cannot! It's hard to tell but the girls have on "matching" Big Sis/Lil Sis shirts. Jordan really looks like Daddy, doesn't she?!?