Wednesday: No school today for the kids. They were all home with me during the day and we had a nice day. I even ran errands with all three of them! Very proud of myself. We didn't do much. I needed to make some returns and pick up some diapers, so that is all we did, but it felt like a victory. The kids had a good time. The babies love to ride in the stroller and Arlington is old enough to walk so I thought - we can do this! And everyone behaved. Especially with the stores being decorated for Christmas, they had a chance to look at all the decorations. Then I spent some time trying to get a picture of all three kids for our Christmas cards this year. We wanted to do several different shots for a collage, but I knew attempting it by myself might prove to be challenging. I was right! After taking 48 pictures, only two came out half decent, and they will have to do! I was SWEATING! Mostly it was our little rascal, Finley, who was causing the trouble. She wasn't interested in sitting still. Cainan is happy sitting in one place (but I couldn't get him to smile) and Arlington is a big girl, but Finley - too much to do! Pull the grass, look at the sky, explore the yard. Sit still - no fun!!
Thursday - Thanksgiving! We had a nice day together as a family. We don't have any family that lives near us, so our Thanksgivings are always very quiet. In the 10 years Mat and I have been married, we haven't lived close enough to family to have Thanksgiving with them, so our tradition has become.......to go OUT to eat! HA! Why not? Neither of us like turkey, and to make a big meal for just us (and now Arlington which doesn't eat much), never made much sense. When the kids are older, and eat more, we will eat HAM at home. But for now, we have always looked for a place that serves pie, and go out for dinner. It is fun, and we are NEVER alone! You wouldn't believe the people that go out to eat on Thanksgiving. As we were leaving the restaurant this year, a party of 18 was coming in to eat. But we had a nice meal, and all the kids behaved, and we didn't eat turkey. Actually, our waitress commented that we were the only ones she had all day that hadn't ordered turkey. But remember, the pilgrims didn't eat turkey either! Actually, they were thinking about making it the national bird. So we are sticking with that story. :)
But before dinner, we started the day by watching the parade, which Arlington loves. Then after lunch Arlington and I went to the movies to see "Enchanted" while the babies slept. It is nice to have a kid to go to these movies with! We had a good time eating popcorn.
Friday - today is usually one of my FAVORITE days of the year! I love to go shopping on Black Friday! AND, I am one of the early birds. I get up to be at the stores at 6am and get all of my shopping done and am home by 9am. Now, I am not hard core. I do skim the ads the night before, and cut the coupons, and have a plan, BUT I don't go to toy stores or electronic stores. I have never done a toy store, but I did go to an electronic store one year, and I thought I was going to be murdered by the hurd of people, so NEVER AGAIN. :)
Anyway, I just usually do some shopping for the grandparents and the kids on this day, clothes wise, and maybe hit like Michaels and Joann Fabrics. But this year, I didn't go. I had a terrible headache and didn't feel well Thursday night so I went to bed late, so the 6am thing didn't sound so good, and really, I couldn't justify going this year. We brought gifts back from China for the grandparents for Christmas, and I wasn't successful last year with clothes shopping for the kids. So I decided to pass. Sigh. But it IS fun. :)
So Arlington and I decorated for Christmas today. Mat went to work for a few hours, so we got all of the Christmas stuff out, and put on some Christmas movies and had a great time. Cainan had no idea what was happening except the house exploded with santas and snowmen. He was having a blast! We have some singing items, and he really liked those. Finley was into it as well. She kept diving into the boxes and pulling this out to look at. I showed her a santa and I said, look Finley! And she said, "Elmo!". She was close. He WAS in red. I am teaching her to say Santa and Snowman. We will see if she picks it up. Cainan likes the jingle bells the best, and was dancing all around with all the stuff. It was great! That was our big event for the day.
Saturday - Today was our busiest morning yet. This morning we got everyone up and dressed in their Christmas clothes so that we could take the kids Christmas picture. With Mat's help, I knew it would be easier! Well, it was more INTERESTING! It went pretty well, but again, I think that it is just very hard to get two little ones under two to cooperate when taking pictures. We took many, many, many, and we have a few that will work. The looked so cute in their Christmas clothes, but it didn't make them better behaved! Mat and I were tired after that work out! After that, we got everyone dressed in their Chinese outfits and headed for the beach. Now, for all of you that live up north, this is going to make you jealous. Yes, we were at the beach, in our bathing suits, on November 24th. It was in the 80's today. We have lived in warm weather for about 6 years, and I STILL can't get used to listening to Christmas music and wearing shorts.
Anyway, we headed for the beach. We wanted a picture at the beach and in their Chinese outfits, so to save sanity, we combined the two. On the walk from the parking lot to the actual sand, Cainan got fearful. The sound of the ocean scared him pretty badly. He fussed quite a bit. He didn't like the loud roar of the waves. AND, even thought we have a sand box, he didn't like the sand at first, either. He was very scared and cried until he realized that all was going to be okay. But it took awhile. So the look on his face in some of the pictures - well - explains it all. BUT, once he got his bearings, and realized that the sand here was the same as the sand at home, and he got used to the ocean noise, he calmed down. I took him down and put his feet in the water. He didn't like that one bit, but he did it anyway. That is as close that any of us got to the water today. There was a warning for dangerous marine life - a little girl got stung while we were there, so no ocean time today. Bummer.
Finley and Arlington loved the beach. Finley is a little dare devil, so she kept trying to run into the water. She rolled in the sand, which you will see from several of the pictures, and had a great time. And Arlington has always been a lover of the ocean and sand. She hasn't ever known any different. We have lived next to the ocean since she was born, so it is part of her. We were there for about 2 hours, and the kids all took REALLY good naps today!
AFter nap, we all headed outside and put up our Christmas lights. That went pretty well. We need a few more extension cords, then we can light up our palm trees! HA!
A few new things:
Finley - new things: roars like a bear, says "moo", "cup", "book"
Cainan - talking more - finally! Since Thursday he has felt so much better, and many of his words are back. AND he learned to say "more" - or is VERY close. He says it and does the sign at the same time - we were so happy! He isn't drooling as much, almost doesn't need the bib any more. He learned to come down the stairs by himself. He learned where his eyes and nose were. So progress for our little man!
Here are some pictures to enjoy! Sorry - there are a good bit, but I just couldn't chose! And family, the rest will be on shutterfly within the next couple of days. Except the Christmas pictures! :)
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