Santa ALREADY Came to Town!

Big Thanks to the Richmond Fire Department for giving Santa a lift to our neighborhood for a merry wave and a jolly Ho! Ho! Ho!  See you again on Christmas Day Santa!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

We've been busy lately with playdates and Christmas shopping and especially Birthdays! We've celebrated 3 birthdays all in the last 2 weeks.  We had friends turning 1, 2, and 3 years old, and boy did we have fun.  Here's a few pictures from two of the parties.

Pinkalicious Cupcakes Please!

For Brenna's birthday, our neighbors gave Brenna the book Pinkalicious and it could not have been more well received.  From the first time Ms. Bridget read it to Brenna and girls sitting on the curb in front of the house, to the 100 times we've read it since, it will always bring on a laugh.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the book is about alittle girl who turns pink after eating too many pink cupcakes.  She can only turn back to normal by eating a steady diet of green vegetables.

So the questions I had been expecting finally came on Monday night after reading the book.  "Mama, can we make some pink cupcakes?"  And so, we made a special trip to the grocery store where Brenna picked her own icing and sprinkles (both pink, of course) and I picked up some food coloring.  We went to dance class where her excitment began to bubble over as she told her friends that she was going to bake cupcakes.  Jacob and I were rushed through dinner that night when we got home, because of Brenna's impatience to wait any longer to bake!

And that's when the mess began.  Brenna mixed the ingrediants, poured up the batter, and watched as the cupcakes began to rise in the oven.  "Look Mama!  Look how big their getting!"  Then it was on to frosting and sprinkles.  Brenna stood on her stool, frosting her cupcakes, and telling me "I'm the baker and I'm gonna share my cupcakes with everyone!" Some cupcakes were covered in 4 inch deep frosting and coated in sprinkles.  Two hours later, we had 20 cupcakes and pink sprinkles and icing everywhere!  I cleaned up immediately for fear Moose (one of our over weight cats) would discover the crumbs Brenna left behind and go into sugar shock.

But the fun wasn't over yet!  The next day, she made good on her promise and delivered her cupcakes to all her neighborhood friends.  I plan to get her Goldilicious and Purplilious for Christmas to complete the series.  I haven't read those books yet, so I can only imagine what our next adventure will be.

Christmas at the McAlister's

As a child, every Christmas my Mom decorated the house inside and out with lavish christmas trees, animated figures, and singing Santas!  I know thats not what Christmas is all about, but through the eyes of a child, all those decorations smeared from wall to wall made Christmas feel that much more special.

Now, as an adult, I want to give Brenna those same happy memories.  So, like every year before this, we pulled out all the decorations and got to work.  This year was even more enjoyable, since Brenna played a much bigger part.  She "helped" so much that what is normally a 2-day job, turned into 3.  But that's ok, she had so much fun this year putting up the Christmas tree, decorating it, and hanging the stockings.  She took a particular liking to my collection of Christmas bells (which she kept calling cow bells!).  Here's a few pictures of the start of our McAlister Christmas.

Brenna's First Game of Bowling

Brenna recently took notice of the game of bowling after a very interesting episode of Curious George.  After several requests, we decided it was time to hit the lanes.  Several things surprised me about our trip to the bowling alley.

#1  They had bowling shoes small enough to fit Brenna
#2  Even the bowling alley is on the hi-tech wagon with bowling bumpers that pop in and out of the gutters for the appropriate bowler.
#3  Niether Jacob or Marcus were as good as they had proclaimed (ok, maybe that one didn't surprise me)
#4  Up unitl the last 3 frames of the 1st game, Brenna actually beat Uncle Marcus, he just got lucky at the end.

Here's a few pictures from our game.

The Holidays Are Here!

Well, we've been busy!  With visitors and shopping and Christmas decorating!  So there's been little time for pictures.  But we did manage to sneak in one very important one!

Grand Parkway Baptist Church Fun on the Farm!

Every year our church hosts a "Fun on the Farm" day just for our preschoolers.  One of our members has a beautiful home and farm in Fulsher, where they let the kids run wild in the wide open, literally!  They have fishing, wagon rides, hay rides, swings, crafts, food, and fun!  As usually, Brenna had a great time and enjoyed the company of her Sunday School friends.  Here's a few pictures from the day.

The Things Kids Say.......

Today I broke down and made my twice annual visit to Merle Norman.  I only go after I'm wiping the last drop of my foundation out of the container lid and cautiously using the broken pieces of rouge in my compact.  It's always a last ditch effort.

I hate going to Merle Norman for a couple of reasons:

Halloween

We'll this year was different than previous years!  It was alot more fun!  This was the first year Brenna picked what she wanted to be.  And the winner was Minnie Mouse!  Nobody was surprised given her recent Mickey Mouse Clubhouse devotion.  This year we did more of the traditional halloween activities, with a visit to the pumpkin patches and pumpkin painting.  Brenna understood all about Trick-or-Treating and was excited all day.  In her words she wanted to "Fill my treat bag all the way up to the top!"  So just before dark, we rounded up the troops and hit the street!  Our kids ran from house to house knocking on doors, ringing door bells, and happily letting themselves into all the neighbors house to help themselves to their Candy Buckets, sometimes more than once!

After we made our rounds, we retreated back to the house, where Brenna would run the door at every knock yelling "Trick-A-Treaters Mama!  Trick-A-Treaters!"  And then she would dump hand-fulls of candy treats in their bags!  All our "Big Kid" friends stopped by after dark for candy and to visit.

Brenna had a great night and thanks to a couple of carefully selected candy treats washed down with a juice box, it also turned into a late night.  She was too excited to sleep.  She wanted to talking about all the trick-a-treaters she see saw, Buzz Light Year, Woody, and Cody the neighbors dog that was dressed up like a cow!  Her eyes finally closed and I'm sure she dreamed of candy corn and painted pumpkins.

Pumpkin Painting

Instead of pumpkin carving, we decided to do something alittle less messy and more "little hands" friendly, pumpkin painting!  Brenna got together with her friends next door and they decorated pumpkins.

Dewberry Farms

We got together with a couple of friends and went with our church to Dewberry Farm.  Dewberry is a working farm that's created something like an amusement park country style!  Complete with pig races, rudder duck floats, petting zoo, jack-o-lantern forrest, hay rides, pumpkin picking, a tractor train, hay bail jumping, and much, much, more.  This was our first trip and I didn't really know what to expect.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Our kids had a great time!  There was plenty to do and even though we spent all day there, we still didn't get to everything.  The farm is open to the public only on the weekends, and then it opens to private groups and school field trips on the week day.  Our driver on the hay ride told us they move about 1,100 people though each weekday and 16,000 on the weekends!  Fortunately, we went during the weekday and had low crowds and great weather.  Here's the shots for the day!

Visit with Mawmaw and Pawpaw!

Once again, Jacob had another business trip that carried him away to Phoenix for a week.  Since the last trip was a bit of a strain for Brenna and I, we decided it best to fly home and spend some time with Mawmaw and Pawpaw.  Help for me, fun for her!  And Oooh Boy did she have fun.  Seven straight days for undivided attention, unlimited activities, and staying up late.  So, sit back and relax because this is gong to be a long one.  I don't know how many pictures you can put in one post, but we're about to test the limit.  The week in pictures, here's how it went:

"The Play House"

The playhouse was complete with patio and air conditioner (see photo below).  She practically lived in this thing the entire week.  But who could blame a her, it was stocked with books, toys, playdough, a play kitchen, markers, musical instruments, it even had its own Christmas tree, which was requested by Brenna.

The Neals Visit

We were very excited to have the Neals come for a visit.  I could say it was for the families to get together, or for the kids to get to play, but that would be a lie.  All that stuff is just a bonus, really it was all about a visit for the girls (meaning the big girls, Jodi and Kawanda, not the little ones).  Don't get me wrong, everyone had a great time, but I was very excited to see my best friend.

I thought it was funny as I looked back on our relationship.  We started off as college roomies brought together by a mutual need......shared rent!  We knew each other in passing as friends of friends, and as crazy as the circumstances were that brought us together (which is a story all unto itself, one of those college dramas involving ex-girlfriends and broken friendships) I count it a blessing that I walked away with a caring, goofy, neurotic, fun-loving best friend for life (I can only imagine her choice of words for me, she's a teacher, so she's alot more creative than I am.)  Between our two lives, marriages, and families, we've seen each other through alot over the past 10 years (its been a decade, really???).  Time and distance hasn't diminished our friendship, it has however limited our visitations.  Unfortunately, of recent years, visits were only prompted by child birth, funerals, baby showers, and milestone birthdays.  But that's ok, I like to think of it as we never forget the big stuff.  That's why this visit was so exciting!  This was the first visit in a very long time that it was for "Just Because!"  We all had a great time and the weekend flew by entirely to fast.  It was icing on the cake that Mississippi State beat the University of Houston!  Here's a few pictures from the visit.

Can I Lick the Spoon?

The Downtown Aquarium Houston!

Our family decided to take a much needed "mini" break.  Jacob took the day off last Friday and we made it a three-day weekend.   We went to the Downtown Aquarium Friday morning to enjoy the cooler weather and have some fun.  Here's a few shots from the day.