Christmas pictures

all I want for Christmas are my two front teeth...

It is offcial, Virginia now has 4 teeth. Her second top tooth broke through today. I tried getting a picture of it but V wasn't very cooperative.
She has really shown she has her own voice. She has been talking all the time(sometimes even talking back!).
She is still trying to open the presents under the tree. She is obsessed with one of John's. I don't know why.

Mystery has purchased a building. We are going to be moving into the old Dioko building. We are pretty excited. Our first service there will be Christmas Eve but we won't be having Sunday service there until the second week in January. I have had so many great memories in that building and am excited to have even more there now!!

I am kind of sad that my mom's group won't be meeting again until January. V and I missed the last two so by the time we meet again it will have been a month and a half. Too long!!! I love hanging out with my fellow moms and look forward to it every week.

V has been laughing more and more. It is hilarious!!! She will crack herself up. It dosen't matter whether she is in bed, her car seat or sitting on someones lap, she will cackle nonstop and loud!!! It is such a cute little chuckle!

V had her first "big girl bath" this past week and her first icecream sandwich.

standing alone

Virginia is starting to stand without holding on to anything. She stood the longest this afternoon, a whole 5 seconds. I was so proud of her. I think she knows that she is doing something great because she gets the biggest smile on her face. She refuses to take steps though, I will walk with her holding on to her arms and she just stands there. Oh, well. She isn't even 11 months old and I am in no big hurry for her to walk.

We purchased out tree and I had it all decorated when she was napping. I was so excited for her to see and to see the look on her face when she woke up. What did she do...look at and look away. She could not have cared less. In fact she dosen't even go over to the tree when she is on the floor. I know that is a good thing but it is just weird. I thought babies liked to pull the ornaments off the tree. She just likes to grab the presents.

I have hers and my stockins completed. I decided to hold off on finishing Johns, it is going to take a long time.

I just found out that Courtney is pregnant now. It is going to be crazy when all of the family gets together after this summer. There will be three new babies and Virginia, Marlee and Naiyah. It is going to be loud! Everyone bring your earplugs!

apparently pigs can fly!

I went and picked up The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I had no idea what the book was about but knew I just had to have it! I get home and show John, excited about my new purchase, to have him know more about the book than I do. I told him I didn't know it would be such a small book (no wonder it was only $7.50!). John then tells me what the book is about and that it relates to the Harry Potter series. WHAT!!! He hates Harry Potter and he knows more about this than I do??? Something is wrong here! I finished the book in about 30 minutes and was so sad when it was over. I am ready for a new ever exciting series from the Ms. Rowling.
I am a person who gets excited when I get a good deal. I have to brag about it to someone. I caught myself coming home from running errands today and bragging to John about the good deals I received. I caught myself in the middle of my rant to realize what a dork I have become. I was jabbering on about how I searched through all of the Enfamil formula to find the last two that had 20% more free. I just don't get out much.

meeting santa

Virginia and I went to Christmas party #1 today. Parents as teachers held their party today. V and I only stayed for about 10 minutes, it was pretty much all for toddlers. V did get to have her picture taken with Santa, color a picture and get a free book (which is really the only reason we went). I should probably say in here that we are not making Santa a big deal for V. In fact she will probably never hear the whole story about Santa until she hits Kindergarten when other kids will tell her.

Her top tooth has broken through. It is just a little speck, but it is there. It dosen't seem to be bothering her anymore but she is chewing on things a lot.

Last Wednesday I ordered a car seat for Virginia off Amazon and saved $90. I was so excited and then was even more excited when I got free shipping. Then I was even more and more excited when the car seat arrived Saturday! I couldn't believe it. I ordered the seat at 9:30pm the day before Thanksgiving so I wasn't even expecting it for another two weeks! If anyone is in need of a car seat check out Amazon's Safety 1st Alpha Omega. It is only $70!!!! It is a pretty great seat. I have been researching them for the past two weeks.

I get to start my baking and chocolate making tomorrow. I am pretty excited. I am making truffles for our home group people. I am making truffles and chocolate dipped pretzels for my mom's group mom's.

John, V and I were so excited to watch it snow Sunday. It was so pretty. It is so sad that it didn't stick around though.

the third is the hardest

I think Virginia is cutting her third tooth. She has some white spots on the top and it seems to be pretty sensitive. She didn't have any problems on the bottom two, in fact I didn't even know she was cutting them. She hasn't been terribly fussy but she does squirm and whine more than usual.
I started quilting V's stocking for Christmas. I gave myself a schedule of quilting so many flowers per day and was actually ahead of schedule until I ran out of thread this morning. I was so frustrated so I started on John's again. His is more intricate so it is pretty tedious but it will look good when I am done.
I received my Baby Sign book in the mail this morning and started implementing some of it. I hope it works!
I added some pics of Thor and Fallon on here. They are starting to take naps together which is amazing since Fallon is the cat from hell!

...and the shopping begins!

I skipped out on Morning 4 Mom's today. My mom had the day off and was going to start her Christmas shopping so I thought V and I would tag along. I hadn't spent an entire day with my mom in quite awhile. It was a lot of fun. My mom was looking for a riding/pushing toy for V for Christmas and we found a Baby Einstein one at Target that was only 10 bucks (normally $40). We were pretty excited about the bargin. Virginia already loves it. My mom was pushing buttons all over it to see what it did and V couldn't keep her eyes off of it. She kept wanting to play with it.
For lunch we went to stand alone Chick-Fil-A and ran into Kent and Anna. That was exciting. I hadn't seen them in probably a month. Afterwards we went to Best Buy and saw Eli Chambers whom I haven't seen in probably a year! It is so crazy how you can live in close proximity to so many people and yet you run into them maybe only once a year or more.
I keep telling my mom that I don't need anything for Christmas. I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear and shoes that fit, but she said that she was going to get me presents anyway. I think my mom bought me the Kathy VanZeeland bag I liked at Macy's, as well as the flat wallet I saw there too. She was hinting around about the Vera Wang shoes that were on sale at Kohls.
I think I have finally decided on what to get V for Christmas. Target carries Parent Magazine toys and they make a band set that has a drum, cymballs and other kiddie items. Erin Karnes said that Libby has it and enjoys it and it is not as annoying or loud as someone would think. I have purchased one thing for John and have one other left to get. It is going to be a small Christmas but I am actually happy about that. I don't want to raise V in a house that showers her with phyiscal gifts. I want her to understand what Christmas is about.
Our sink is completely broken now. John had to take it apart to snake it and hasn't de-clogged it yet. That means I am doing dishes in the bathroom...YUCK! Plus our washer is still broken. Virginia is running out of clothes and that is saying something considering how many clothes she has. I try not to think about it too much or complain about it. I just keep reminding myself that it really is not that big of a deal.