December

What we did in December:

• Decorated the tree. This was substantially easier than the previous Christmas since she could clearly comprehend when I told her 'No, dear, we don't climb the Christmas tree.' Bill was worried to death about her choking on the little plastic red holly berries, but again, a few simple instructions and she got the message. I thought for sure she would try to open the presents under the tree, but I don't think she has fully grasped the idea that there are toys and fun things underneath the wrapping. So I let her believe it was just a bunch of boring boxes piled under the tree. WIN.

She rearranged a few ornament placements, but otherwise
the tree remained entirely intact!

• Visited Santa. Seeking the most convenient/least crowded option, we paid a visit to Santa at the gym. Yes that is the racquetball court in the left of the photo. Don't judge. I was thrilled to be knocking out 2 errands with one stop. We utilized the ladies changing room and slipped her into a cute outfit for a quick photo op. She didn't know quite what to make of the big guy, but decided he was ok once he handed her a sucker. Much to my dismay though Bill vetoed the idea of Gym Santa on our Christmas cards.

I'm sure Santa enjoyed the change of scenery...
who wouldn't prefer moms in spandex pants over the frenzied mall crowd?

• Celebrated cousin Riley's 3rd birthday. The Little Gym was once again a bit hit and she had a blast with Riley and Carter. She was pretty good about listening to directions and joining in the group activities, but what she enjoyed most was the balance beam. My sister insists that Caroline is a born gymnast, and after seeing how much she enjoyed the party I am considering signing her up for some classes. Lord knows I am always looking for ways to burn off some of her abundant energy. 

• Attempted to get a decent, non-Gym photo for the christmas card. Easier said than done. The Pug still detests Caroline with every bone in his canine body, as depicted in the photo below. Asking him to stand in close proximity to her was absolute torture, lest she be able to reach out and touch him. Caroline was quite cooperative for the photo shoot....Winnie, not so much. It's a sad sad day when your 2-year-old is better at following directions than your obedience-school-trained dog is.

Would it kill you to sit next to her, pug?

Caroline: "Merry Christmas!"
Winnie: "Bah humbug."

•  Decorated christmas cookies with the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Since Bill and his siblings would all be in separate places for Christmas, we decided to do a gift exchange and christmas cookie decorating session the weekend prior. Aunt Kristen made a delicious assortment of sugar cookie and gingerbread goodies which were creatively decorated by the kids (under extremely close adult supervision, of course. Anyone who lets a 2 toddler loose with a squeeze tube of icing is asking for disaster...)

Decorated or not, the cookies found a nice home
in mom's belly.

• Celebrated Christmas in Louisiana, one last time. With Caroline getting older and the logistics of transporting gifts and arranging Santa to visit out-of-state getting harder, I knew this would probably be the last time we made the long haul home for the holidays. So we did the frantic Baton Rouge/New Orleans/ Mandeville dash on Christmas day one last time. And yet somehow all I have to show for Christmas day is this one pic of Caroline opening one of her favorite presents, a sleeping bag from Nana. I have no idea where the rest of our Christmas pics are....perhaps still on the camera card of our good camera, which is currently sitting in a box somewhere in the basement.

The sole photo survivor of Christmas 2013. 

• Attempted to convince Winnie we were not, in fact, planning on leaving him in Louisiana. He does this every year....he never believes me....

• Visited the Global Wildlife Center, which was a big hit with Caroline. She loved being so close to all the animals and being able to feed them. While it's touted as a 'safari adventure', somehow I doubt the animals in Africa come stampeding over to the trucks in hot pursuit of readily-available food. No worries, though, we'll gladly take the faux safari tour if it means you can feed animals without worrying about losing a limb (or being the meal..)