It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Last week, my mother, grandmother, and I decided to brave the idea of taking the girls to get their picture taken with Santa. Last year, it was not a good experience and, as you may recall, I had to sit in the picture, which was completely unplanned (hence my clashing outfit, no make-up, etc.). I was determined that there was no way I was going to be photographed this year!

I had prepped Katelyn to see Santa days before so that she would hopefully not be scared of him. She was excited to see "Santa's house" and she practiced her smile with Mimi (my mother) all morning long. What I didn't expect was that Ashley would be the one who would be completely freaked out!

As soon as we arrived at the mall, Katelyn was talking about Santa. She was excited to see the big tree and all of the decorations around Santa's chair. She needed no encouragement to come say hi to Santa and to give him a high-five. Ashley also came over fairly willingly to give Santa a high-five. However, it got interesting when I tried to put Ashley on his lap. That is when the wailing began! She was not having it!

And then poor Katelyn got a little freaked out (no tears, though, thank God) and stood back from Santa and said, "All done Santa." Santa then brought out two gift boxes for the girls to sit on instead of his lap. Katelyn sat on the gift box with no hesitation. Ashley, however, refused and tried to run away. I decided to sit on the box and have Ashley stand in front of me. This worked and Ashley stopped crying. I then told Santa (and the photographer) that I was NOT going to be in the picture. Santa disagreed. He told me that there was no way the kids were going to be okay with me leaving.

Recalling last year's photo, I reiterated that I was not going to be in the photo. I told the photographer to let me sneak out before snapping the picture. Somehow, I managed to "sneak" my 8-month-pregnant body out from behind Ashley without her noticing and I quickly ran to hide behind some props. Miraculously, Ashley didn't budge and the photographer was able to snap the photo. I couldn't believe it!

After we were done "torturing" Ashley and I was choosing the photo package, Katelyn stayed with Santa, talking up a storm about her beloved Giraffe. I wish we could have gotten a picture of this moment. It was so sweet seeing her have a conversation with Santa. She has come so far in just one year and we have so much to be grateful for this holiday season.

Katelyn Sings Her Favorite Songs...

Since Katelyn loves to sing, her teacher was kind enough to make us a CD of the music that they sing at preschool. On Thanksgiving, Katelyn entertained us by singing and dancing to her favorite songs: Baby Beluga and Moon, Moon, Moon. I captured this on video, as well as her singing some Christmas songs a few days later.

Completely Fried...

My computer, that is.

My hard drive completely fried today out of nowhere. I was in the middle of typing an email and everything froze, and the only way to reboot was to push the button on the tower. When it tried to restart, it said, "Missing Operating System" -- well, after hours and hours and hours on end of trying everything possible to fix it, we realized that we can't even reinstall the operating system...we have to buy a new hard drive.

Now, luckily I have an online backup program called Carbonite (highly recommend this...it has saved me twice now from losing everything) so almost everything is recoverable. However, I had uploaded a ton of video clips of Katelyn and was working on making the movie to bring to her evaluation on Monday. I was almost done and that is when the computer crashed. I hadn't even had a chance to back up the movies, and unfortunately, they are all deleted off the camera. I am SO upset that the videos are gone forever. I finally had captured some awesome evidence for her evaluation that she NEVER does outside the home and rarely does it when we are around (because we usually redirect her).

I guess it isn't the end of the world, but making that video was one of the things that I've been focusing on all week to relieve my anxiety that they won't diagnose her. I felt so confident being armed with the videos and now they are gone. Not to mention, I have to spend every waking moment now trying to reinstall everything on my desktop once Kevin buys the new hard drive tomorrow (gee, the malls shouldn't be too crowded the last weekend before Christmas, lol).

Merry Christmas to me! :)

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree...

This is the first year that Katelyn is old enough to really appreciate Christmas...well, maybe not the true meaning of Christmas, but at least the "ites" and the "green tee" (translation: lights and green tree). She was super excited when Dada came through the front door with a giant tree. She couldn't believe it was going to be in our house! She didn't leave Dada's side until it was completely finished, clapping and cheering him on. And she even helped decorate! Unfortunately, we had some icicle casualties, but that's okay. She had fun in the process :)

Katelyn hanging an icicle...

Katelyn spotting an ornament with a giraffe on it...

The finished product, complete with crooked angel and ornament-free bottom...

Ashley supervised and gave her smile of approval, dimple and all...

Let There Be Lights...

Last night, we took Katelyn and Ashley to see the amazing display of Christmas lights at a nearby shrine. It is a family tradition of ours. As soon as she saw the lights, Katelyn repeatedly exclaimed, "Wow, ites! Wow, ites!" And as we left, she kept saying, "Bye bye, ites!" She absolutely loves Christmas lights. I knew that she would really enjoy it this year.

Here are the girls all bundled up...

These pictures do not do it justice, but you get the idea...




Tonight, Kevin was testing out a string of Christmas lights and Katelyn spotted them. She and Ashley had a blast playing with the lights...

Oh, No. It's Santa.

Because I obviously have a need to be in a constant state of stress, I decided to take the kiddos to get their picture taken with Santa. For the last 2 years, Katelyn never had a problem with Santa. In fact, she was always intrigued by his soft beard, fuzzy outfit, etc. Well, given her reaction to getting her photos done recently, I expected that this year would be different.

Katelyn was very excited about all of the lights and the Christmas tree. She even enjoyed meeting Santa and checking out all of the presents near his oversized green chair. But when it came time to actually take the picture (i.e. Mama leaving the scene), that was when all Hell broke loose. Katelyn begged for me to stay with her while I tried to convince her to sit nicely for the picture (yes, I'm trying to reason with a 2-year-old). Not only did Katelyn get upset, but Ashley started crying as well. Great, now even the baby who never cries is crying!

With Ashley screaming and Katelyn running away from Santa, the photographer interjected some reality: "I don't think this picture is going to happen, Mom." However, I was not leaving without getting a picture of my girls with Santa. It is a tradition, afterall! Since it was clear that both girls were not going to sit pretty for Santa like I had hoped, I decided to go with plan B...Mama will have to be in the picture as well, sans make-up, sans shower, clashing outfit and all. I really wish the mall Santa photographers had access to Photoshop. Not to mention, Santa looks thrilled :)

Although it is definitely not what I had hoped for, at least I got my picture of the girls with Santa (and, unfortunately, me). I'm sure I will look back on this and laugh, and most of all, be grateful for the silly memory.