Rivertown Christmas

The first weekend in Columbia is known as Rivertown Christmas. Its a weekend full of Christmas festivities. Friday night consists of a lighted boat parade and Santa comes to town by boat!



Saturday morning is breakfast with Santa. And although its very cramped, the kids seem to have a good time. They ate breakfast and then a magician was there to do lots of tricks.



Scott was out and about working, but stopped by for a quick second.



I stole the next photo from Brooke's blog! :) Grace wasn't too keen on the Grinch that showed up.



But she liked seeing Elmo and Curious George that came, she just didn't want to get close.





Then of course the man of the hour, Santa, showed up. Grace didn't freak out when she saw him, she even shook his hand, but she did not want to sit in his lap.

Disney on Ice

Last week Scott and I took Grace to see "Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream".

The ice show was about 3 of Disney's stories: The frog prince, Cinderella, and Tangled (Rapunzel). We hadn't ever seen the first movie but Grace had seen the last two and was in a trance during those performances.





Tangled: Rapunzel and Finn were swirling around in the air on Rapunzels hair. This was amazing. It didn't look like they had any harnesses on.


Cinderella's carriage to the ball:




At the very end of the show all of the Disney princesses and prince's came out on the ice with Mickey and Minnie!

Where's Lola?

Dec. 10:


Dec. 11:


Dec. 12:

More of Lola

Dec 4: Lola made a new friend (Buzz) and they were hanging out on top of the lamp.



Dec. 5: Lola and the reindeer


Dec. 6: Lola is good! She knew we were heading to Raleigh that day and didn't want to be left behind. We hunted the house all over for her and were so surprised to see her in the car before we left!

Dec 7: Since the weather had been unseasonably warm, Lola wasn't use to our weather. She decided she needed her own snow.


Dec. 8: Guess the weather was still getting to her because the next morning we found her in the refrigerator hanging on to Grace's "gape" juice. She must know that's the first thing Grace asks for in the morning.


Dec. 9: Grace asked to have her picture taken with Lola. This morning she was just hanging out on top of a frame!

Meet Lola

Lola first appeared at Bulls Bay the morning of December 3rd, or at least that's when we first noticed her. It seemed she had been playing with Grace's puzzle while we have all been sleeping. She also came with this book called "Elf on a Shelf". It helped explain who she was and why she was there.
Lola is a lot of fun to talk to. It's really fun to see where she ends up every morning, after she makes her quick trip to the North Pole to report to Santa and then comes back again.

Fall Wrap-Up

Lion King in 3D:


Grace's school photos...





(Don't worry, I had permission to these digital files, I didn't scan them in, I purchased the CD and rights to the images from the company)

Grace had her first Meredith College Cornhuskin' parade experience! :)







Unforunately it was in the rain. Because it was so yucky we didn't go to the alumni reception afterwards. Hopefully next year's weather will be much nicer.

Scott and I at the Brad Paisley concert...


He came out in the crowd to sing a few songs and was really close to our seats.


Carrie Underwood made an appearance... Not really, but the way they had the screen with her walking in from the side stage, it looked SO REAL. (Notice how she's small in the bottom of the photo, looking like she's really on stage).  "Remind me" is one of my favorite songs ever!


Watching the Scuppernong Riverfest parade at The Brickhouse Inn:

 

Grace went on her first tractor ride with her Daddy on Thanksgiving day.

Two and a Half

It's hard to believe that two and a half years have already passed since this beautiful ray of sunshine entered our life! I'm continued to be amazed at her everyday.

Two and a Half, 2.5, 30 months, however you call it- she's 2.5 going on 25! ;) We haven't been to the peds since she turned two but I did weigh her at the state fair just last month and she was up to a whopping 25.1 lbs. ;) She's wearing 24 month clothes although they're a little too big. 18-24 month seems to fit her perfect! And depending on the shoe, she's mainly wearing a size 7.

She loves to sing and dance. Her favorite tunes right now are:
5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Jesus Loves Me
ABC's
If You're Happy and You Know It

Lately she's been in a very inquisitive mode, and her two favorite questions right now are: Where? What's Next? You can understand pretty much everything she says.

She STILL attached to her passy! Her dentist says that as long as its gone by 3 we'll be ok. We have six months to figure out a plan of action!

We're still not potty trained or wearing big girl panties- but she's peed and pooped in the potty lots of times! And atleast goes in the toilet once or twice a day!

After three weeks of screams when I left, she's finally adjusted to preschool. She goes two days a week and I love all of the cute, crafty things she brings home. I'll have to take pictures and post some of her artwork. :) She really loves her teacher, Mrs. Ginger. At school she's also learned to say the blessing when its time to eat, which is the cutest thing ever.

She's still really into ballet!

She can say her ABC's and can recognize all of the upper-case letters.

She loves Puzzles. She has a Dora puzzle and a USA States puzzle that she's mastered and can put together in no time.

I got an iPad for my birthday but Grace calls it her computer. "Mommy, where's my 'puter?" or if I'm using it (which is rare) "Mommy its my turn now!" She probably uses it 95% of the time and me just 5%. I put lots of apps on it for her that she loves. Especially the apps where she can put together puzzles.

She's REALLY into Dora the Explorer! And Cars (again) now that #2 has come out.

I can tell Christmas is going to be extra fun this year because she's already gone through the Toy Magazines and picked out what she wants. If you see her ask her what she wants Santa to bring her for Christmas. She'll tell you! :)

Her favorite books right now are:

Dora's Birthday Surprise

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

Curious George goes to the Aquarium