Fa-la-la-la-la

We visited cousins David and Allison...


...and Aunt Betty.



Delia got this pretty apron on Christmas Eve.


She wore it while decorating cookies with Grandma.



We called this one "emergency room cookie."




We had a nice dinner on Christmas Eve. Great Grandpappy and Uncle Billy came over.



On Christmas morning, Delia was overwhelmed by her gifts. She wanted to play with everything all at once.














Great Grandpappy made Delia a Santa and reindeer, and Grandpa painted them all for her.

I fear...

...there will be a large therapy bill stemming from this event.

A cooler mom than I

I met a brave woman yesterday. She has twin 20-month-old sons, and she invited a bunch of other toddlers over to decorate Christmas cookies. These pictures didn't turn out well, but I was so impressed by her playgroup activities, I had to share.



Cool mom had baked and iced the cookies before we arrived, and she had these food-coloring markers for the kids to use in decorating their own cookies.




I had this hopeful idea that we would come home with lots of Delia-decorated cookies, but this is what happened to the few she made.





When the kids tired of cookie decorating, cool mom set up the Christmas present she had been hiding from her boys. It is an inflatable castle. Delia called it a "jump, jump," and she tried to hold her own inside as the only girl. (She's the one in green.)




When it was time for a break, the kids came down the slide.




We had a great time, but I came home feeling like a very boring mommy.

Project runway

When the weather is bad and we can't play outside in the afternoon, we head to the library. They have great toys there, like the magnetic dress-up dolls Delia found the other day.



First, we sorted through the clothes to find the perfect outfit for our dolls.




Then we pieced together our "looks."



I sent this stunner down the runway.



Delia showed her creativity with this unexpected ensemble.

Clean up on aisle 3

We got a membership to the McWane Center this weekend. This is a science/kid's museum here. We visited on Sunday, and Delia investigated some future careers.



Check-out girl: Hopefully things won't go in this direction.




Archaeologist: Indiana Jones never looked this cute!

Herding cats

We went to a great Christmas party at Audrey and Caroline's house this week. We decided beforehand that we would try to get a picture of all the kids together. What fools we were...


Our attempt at this made me cry, I was laughing so hard. Starting from the left, this is Nathan, Delia, Mary Catherine, Reese, Lauren, Caroline, and Chase.



Delia and Nathan had fun cooking.



We had a gift swap, and Sharon and Lauren found a great present for Delia.



She got this dress-up set with a bunch of different outfits, a tiara, and Cinderella-like shoes.




Miss fancy pants




By the end of the party, everybody was exhausted. Delia crawled into Michelle's lap for a story.




We cracked open the goodie bag in the car. Delia got these great jingle bell antlers and a Chipmunks Christmas CD.

Share!

I guess I shouldn't be proud of this story, but Delia has let us know that she sort of understands what it means to share. Early Sunday morning, David and Delia were playing with her new fruits and veggies set. David was trying to put the orange back together when Delia decided she wanted it. "Share!" she yelled, as she grabbed it out of his hands.

In other "that's mine" news, Delia has decided she would rather read to her babies than have me read to her. And when she wants to read to them, I better get out of the rocking chair.

The holiday that would not end

The upside of an eight-day holiday: lots of pictures for the blog

The downside of an eight-day holiday: it's eight days

We have Hanukkah fatigue. Here are some more pictures.

Top 10 things we like about Birmingham:

10. During football season, it's easy to get restaurant reservations on a Saturday night (but impossible to get a babysitter).

9. People say hello on the street, even if they don't know us.

8. The nickname for our new home is "the 'ham."

7. There is more country radio than you can shake a stick at.

6. Neighborhood children call us "Miss Rebecca and Mr. David."

5. Cheaper housing, cheaper gas, cheaper car insurance

4. No long lines at the airport

3. Vegetable plates

2. The melodic accent (I had to call Hayes Pest recently about a mole problem in the yard. When the guy answered the phone, I was sure he said, "He's pissed," and I almost hung up.)

1. Warm winters are wonderful wagon weather.



David spent an hour assembling this wagon for Delia,...




...but by the time we gave it to her for Hanukkah, it was too dark to ride around outside. David pulled her around the house, instead. (Those of you who have been here know how ridiculous that was!)



The next morning, Delia read the Sunday paper in her wagon.



We have taken her around the neighborhood in it, too, but these pictures are definitely funnier.

Warning: This post contains a rant

Months ago when we got Delia a shopping cart, I wanted to buy food to go in it. Toys 'R Us sold McDonald's, Taco Bell, and other nasty pretend food. I couldn't find any healthy play food sets. How does this happen? Does my toddler really need to know what french fries are at this point in her life?

Well, somewhere in the frozen north Aunt Maureen and Uncle Steve found a great fruit and veggie set. It even came with an eco-friendly canvas bag. Delia can use her play knife to "peel" the banana, cauliflower, pineapple and other foods. She loves it.



Uncle Steve and Aunt Maureen also got Delia a phone that records messages she can play whenever she wants.




David recorded the first message (Imagine the Death Star and and a dark helmet): "Deeelia, I... am... your... father."

And on the second night of Hanukkah my Bubbe gave to me...

...an awesome table and chairs!



Bubbe also sent Delia a Hanukkah book and a toy menorah with candles.



David says the caption here should be, "This menorah rocks!"



I set Delia up with a "work space" next to our computer. She played quite happily there today for an hour and a half while I attended a virtual faculty meeting online. Thanks, Bubbe!