christmas time is here!!

wednesday afternoon at naptime, malloy was yelling down "hey, mama!! is santa here yet?!" little did she know that he was coming early because we were leaving for the grandparents' on thursday!! that night we sprinkled reindeer food on our front lawn and steps so that the reindeer could find our house. malloy was so excited about it! she'd put a little on the ground and then look up in the sky to see if she could see the reindeer and ask "do you see them? are they coming yet?" then we went inside and made a plate of cookies for santa and carrots for his reindeer. malloy did her bedtime routine super fast, explaining "i have to go to sleep fast because santa won't come until i'm asleep!"

looking for reindeer in the sky

santa came and left presents!!! thursday morning was so much fun!! malloy was very excited to go downstairs and see what was under the tree! santa brought a Lady stuffed animal for mally and a Tramp for rex. malloy LOVES Lady and clutched her the rest of the morning, saying "she's just what i wanted!!" nice work, santa! :) the kids got some puzzles and dominoes. rex got a little sesame street phone. he loved talking to "ahka" (oscar) and ernie.
malloy had her christmas concert and party at school today. her class went on stage first and sang 2 songs. as soon as malloy got on stage, she announces "i'm on stage!" she was hilarious from start to finish!! and what a finish it was!! she sang very loudly and at the end of jingle bells, well, there was no end for malloy! the class finished and the audience clapped but malloy kept right on singing at the top of her lungs. neal and i were in tears, as were her teachers and a lot of people around us. she really had everyone laughing. our little ham!!! i'm so proud of her! we had a nice party in her classroom - everyone had lots of snacks and then passed out little treats to each other. we said our good-byes and it was off to grandma and grandpa's!



shortly after we got to grandma val and grandpa don's, santa came for a visit!!! malloy was a bit nervous around him and clung to me tightly. but she did tell him merry christmas and took a picture with him. rex wasn't too sure what to think, but clung to kassie. we had a nice visit with aunt amy, kassie, roro, and papa hank and showed them the video of the christmas concert!!! it's too good not to share! malloy loved watching it and was laughing right along with all of us. bedtime was a little rough - the kids were keeping each other up, but eventually they both went to bed (after separating them so rex could fall asleep!!)
we spent the whole day with grandma val and grandpa don today!! malloy went for a walk with grandpa this morning and then came back and helped make peanut butter blossoms with grandma! she was a great help! rex loves is at his grandma and grandpa's! he wanders all around the house and loves running up and down the hallway. he played while malloy made cookies. after nap, malloy made butter cookies with grandma. rex was a bit miserable because of his teeth, but was happy to have hot dogs and mac and cheese for dinner!! bedtime was a little better - we let rex go to sleep first and then i bribed malloy by telling her i'd give her a present in the morning if she didn't yell for us once we put her down. it worked - she was quiet!!!  time for me to go get some sleep now - need to rest up for christmas eve!!!