Tis' the Season

Yay Clay!

She liked to pinch off tiny pieces and lay them out

So much Fun with Grandma!

Hey All,

I hope that you are having a joyous and festive holiday season. We have been VERY busy with house guests, Holiday parties, and our new home construction.

My parents came the first weekend in December. We had a really busy weekend! We hadn't seen my mom in about 2 months and were really happy to have her back in Virginia. They spent LOTS of time with Kendri, we enjoyed a dinner out with John's parents, they babysat so we could go out for my birthday dinner (the Melting Pot mmmmmm), and they even got to see John's Fredricksburg office. We had a fantastic time. Mom and I even got an evening at Starbucks to ourselves . . absolutely indulgent! Mom made some homemade clay and Kendri has become obsessed. She had never played with anything like it (including Playdoh) so she thought she had hit jackpot. She demanded that Grandma make things (Snowmen, Santa's face, Christmas trees, I think you can see the theme here) and then destroyed them. She had a blast. We are working on colors now as everything is either red or purple and thought that the clay may help the cause =) She is now able to sing her ABCs without assistance and count to 14 .. but only when she is in the mood. There is no amount of coaxing if she doesn't feel like it . . just like mommy =)

We also got to go see Santa while my parents were here. I was a little worried about how Kendri would react but she thought that he was great. We talked him up and told her that Santa was going to want to hold her. She was a little tentative at first but warmed up quickly and even smiled for a picture!

Last week we had a crazy amount of Christmas events. John's holiday party for his firm was at one of the partner's home on Thursday, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association party was on Friday, Jess and Kris's housewarming was Saturday afternoon and I had a cookie exchange party on Saturday night. It was a very hectic weekend but thanks to John's parents we were able to make it to all the events and know that Kendri was a happy girl with her mamaw and papaw at home.

Kendri has come down with a cold this week. She is very congested and MISERABLE. The only saving grace is that she is still sleeping and eating well and has no fever so I don't think that it is anything more then a cold. But I feel badly for her!

The builders broke ground on the house this week and have been clearing the building pad. We have our first official meeting at the site on Friday and then they are supposed to lay the concrete for the foundation and basement this weekend or the beginning of next. I am not sure that they heeded our tree suggestions as much as I would have liked, but I knew that we didn't have a whole lot of control over it. I haven't seen it yet but am going today on the way to another Holiday party. We have our first appointment with the vendors this weekend and will be picking appliances. I don't know if I am more excited or stressed! I think it will be pretty overwhelming.

Hope that you all are planning a relaxing Christmas and a super fun New Year!