Tea Party Time!

Yesterday Grandma treated us to a very special day! First she gave each of the girls a cute princess dress complete with a crown that lights up, princess shoes, purse, and a sparkly wand that lights up! Sofia's set was purple, Jillian's outfit was light blue and Olivia's pink. They were each SO adorable! Unfortunately Sofia had been sick to her stomach in the night and still had a fever and felt pretty bad. She was such a trooper though and was excited for our "tea party" that Grandma was taking us to that morning! We got the girls dressed and Chandler was ready in his Ironman outfit. Chandler was originally going to stay with the guys and cut wood, but decided at the last minute to join the girls on our fun day out.

Connie said she originally wanted to take us all out to a tea party, however, the tea house in town was closed over the holidays. So, she decided instead to take us to the Ivy House for brunch. The Ivy House is set in a great old victorian house in downtown Ocala and was actually the location of Connie and CK's surprise 40th wedding anniversary, however, it was called Felix's then and was completely different. The Ivy House was fantastic! It's so beautiful inside with French country motif and a very interesting menu. The kids were great throughout and Sofia even managed to eat a few crackers while we waited for our food. Of course, each time Olivia saw me bring out crackers for Sofia she made it clear that she wanted some too. The food was fantastic but the dessert was incredible! I ordered their signature dish which is called a Pecan Tulipe which is scoops of praline ice cream set atop a praline shell with strawberries and chocolate sauce. It was divine! It was also huge and I walked away with a bellyache! We took tons of pictures of our princesses and prince Ironman before heading home. We all had such a fun day!

Our sick little girl and her two cousins trying to cheer her up.

Sofia opens her dress and goodies

Our purple princess!

Our little pink princess

Such a cutie...but hard to get a picture of her.

The three princesses

At the restaurant

Sofia and Chandler

Olivia, her Grandma and me

Yum! What's this?!?

Olivia and I (and the fabulous dessert!)

Chandler and the ladies

My two princesses and me

Grandma and her grandkids

Cynthia, me and the kids

Sofia reading to Chandler and Jillian that afternoon

Olivia and her Grandpa on the Gator

Grandpa and his grandkids before a Gator ride

Olivia at 16 Months!

Our little one is getting bigger and is now 31 1/2 inches tall and weighs in at a hefty 25.6 lbs. She's still wearing 12-18 month clothes since she's not very tall for her age. She's also still wearing size 3 diapers, although at night we recently switched to size 4 and think she should move up to a size 4 during the day soon too. She's still talking up a storm but not saying much that can be understood other than "Mommy" "Papa" "Sissy" and "Ball" (although "Ball" isn't as easy to understand). She knows a lot more of her animal sounds but instead of trying to say "cow" or "dog" she just goes straight to making the noise when she sees a cow or dog.

A couple of days ago, CK and I realized that we don't generally call her "Olivia" but have a number of nicknames for her that we use, including: Pooh Bear, Pooh, Boo Boo, Termite, Baby, and Sofia's favorite which is Livy or Livy Beans. She still loves to play "Peek a Boo" on the changing table or after a meal and thinks it's super funny. She adores Sofia and is so excited when I say "Let's go pick up Sissy from school!" She's such a cutie!

Hiding her rocking horse - one of her very favorite things.

This is the silly smile I get almost every time she gees me with a camera pointed at her!

Playing with her airplane - another favorite

Ok, ready to get down....she doesn't sit still for her monthly photos like before

Our pretty, yet serious, little girl.

The airplane and rocking horse - what a life!

A Very Merry Christmas!

For Christmas dinner Connie made an amazing meal! Not only was the food incredible but the entire presentation was so special. We hung snowflakes in the living room and along the kitchen counter and then she and CK decorated the table which included place settings for each of us in a cute snowflake holder, red chargers and beautiful napkins. The entire table looked magical! She also gave each of the grandkids a box that included a wind-up toy, goodies and chocolate coins, which the kids absolutely loved. Connie's mom came for dinner and it was so great to spend some time with her and have the kids be with her.

The meal was wonderful! We started with a cold berry soup which was delicious and something I've never had before. After the soup, we served ourselves roast beef and various sides. Everything was so good. Although we all ate a great meal, we then had dessert which included CK's handmade red velvet cake and Cynthia's chocolate pecan pie. It was so hard to decide! Actually, both were delicious!

After dessert, we watched as the kid's Great Grandma opened her Christmas presents. Sofia and Jillian loved "helping" her unwrap her presents and I think they both expected the gifts to be toys. We had a nice visit before Great Grandma went home and it was great to be with her on Christmas. The kids played for awhile before going to bed after a fun day.

CK cutting the meat

Sofia and her Great Grandma

The beautiful Christmas table

Each place setting

A close-up of the table

Connie still decorating

The delicious cold berry soup

Olivia and her box of goodies

CK and his red velvet cake - YUM!

The four of us. Merry Christmas!

Olivia and her Great Grandma

Sofia and her Great Grandma

Sofia and Jillian "helping" their Great Grandma

Santa Visits!

On Friday, when I picked Sofia up from school, we decided to watch Polar Express since we've watched it every other year and we hadn't yet seen it yet. Once we got home, I was getting the movie ready when Sofia said "So, I know that you and Papa set out the gifts in the stocking and under the tree and that Santa isn't real." I was completely taken aback! Without trying to show any emotions I asked, "Who told you that?" and she said "Caroline, at school." Caroline is one of her friends in class who also happens to have an older brother. Still not really knowing what exactly to say, I responded with "Well, I certainly hope that isn't true because I know your Papa and I go to bed and we don't wake up in the night. In fact, we don't have anything to put in stockings for you and Olivia. Plus, he's come every other Christmas morning, why wouldn't he come this year?" She had a look on her face that made it clear she was really thinking this over and I realized her original statement to me was more of a test than anything. We watched Polar Express together and toward the end she leaned over and said "See, reindeer really do know how to fly." and I told her she'll need to tell Caroline to watch the movie.

I knew Sofia would stop believing in Santa at some point, but I certainly didn't expect it to be at 5 when she's still in Kindergarden! So, I was very interested to see how she responded to Christmas morning.

Chandler and Jillian woke up and headed out to see their stockings and presents and I kept waiting for Sofia to join them. Finally, around 9:30am, I decided to go get her. I leaned over her and said "Sofia, something happened last night. Santa came!" She immediately sat up and said "Did you see him?" She was very convinced that she was going to see Santa as he filled the stockings. In fact, shortly after we'd filled the stockings and gone to bed, Sofia (who is sleeping on the floor in our room), stood up, went into the hallway, peeked into the living room very briefly and then went into the bathroom. Both CK and I were nervous that she'd see all the stuff and also see that her Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay were still awake! She returned from the bathroom and it was clear that she was completely out of it and hadn't noticed anything! Whew! I must say I slept very lightly all night wondering if she'd wake up early, but she didn't.

She came out of the room and headed into the living room where everyone was opening their stocking and gifts from Santa and she immediately went through her stocking. CK then convinced her to open one of the gifts from Santa and she opened it to find the horse set she'd specifically asked Santa for from Bass Pro Shop. She was super excited! She also got a horse blanket and tack and horse calendar and was super super excited! After she kept talking about Santa and how great it was that he visited, so I think her faith is restored....until next year!

Olivia, also opened her stocking and was completely taken with a blue ball that Santa brought her. She also found that he'd brought her food pouches and Baby Mum-Mum's, so she was soon snacking away and very happy! Anything to do with food makes her happy! Santa made two little girls very happy this year!

Santa came! Chandler and Jillian's goodies are on the right and Sofia and Olivia's things from Santa on the left...

All ready for Sofia and Olivia to wake up!

Olivia is the first up and loves her new ball!

Going through her stocking....

The candy cane brings the biggest smile!

Sofia is up (I had to wake her up) and she's ready to look through what Santa brought her!

Happy girl!

Our happy reindeer!

Going through her stocking

A VERY happy girl - the exact horse set she asked Santa for!

Playing with her new wind up toy.....

My sweet little girl

Playing with Chandler's new race track

Enjoying hot chocolate with Papa! Yum!

Silly faces with Grandma