On December 6 we had our annual office party! I was the official party planner/hostess/emcee/everything that night, so I didn't get many pictures :( I did get REALLY lucky with Kaia because she was more sociable than usual and didn't mind getting passed around! This was essential for lowering my stress level!
On Dec. 8 I braved sub-zero cold to take Sophia, her friend Lily, and Kaia to Santa's Village while the men chopped wood.
Sophia and Lily were pretty hesitant about the whole Santa thing at first, which I also think is very awkward...
But they warmed right up to him when he started asking them what they wanted! I can't remember everything Sophia requested, but I know that "My Little Ponies" were mentioned. We are still really into those!
Decorating cookies with Mrs. Claus.
Making ornaments...
They had a Toddler play area that Kaia really enjoyed! It still seems weird to me that she's kind of like a kid and kind of not a baby anymore.
Coloring Christmas pictures!
Kaia often enjoys coloring, but not when there are cookies around!
TRYING to get a Christmas-y picture. It's not happening this year.
Sophia snapped a few photos of me and Kaia recently, and I decided to post them after I noticed that I have hardly any pics of me with my baby, since I am usually the one behind the lens!
We were all wearing pink that day ;)
Love my "little big kid!"
Cookie decorating at the 4-H Club meeting on Thursday the 12th.
On Sunday the 15th we went to our first "Ellen Hopkins" birthday party, at the zoo. It was pretty over the top! We all had a great time, and really enjoyed meeting more parents and seeing the kids outside of the classroom. I have some interaction with parents/kids through PTA and volunteering in the classroom, but there's nothing like a zoo environment to really cement new friendships!
Sophia went on the indoor carousel about 15 times. I was starting to feel sick just watching her.
The zoo staff brought in some animals to play with, which was great because it was about 0 degrees. Travis and Sophia DID run outside to see some of the animals, and I heard rave reviews about the wolves and the eagles. I was not going out there though!
Cute little African hedgehog!
Walking Stick
Sophia was really into the Walking Stick. She is super interested in bugs, and often most often says that she would like to be an entomologist or archeologist.
Delighted by the Skink!
We tried really hard to get Kaia to notice the Skink, but she never did. Too funny!
Worn out! (Which reminds me, I need to do a post about sleep sometime soon. Sleep is not something that happens in our house for any of us, and I really sympathize with my friends who have babies and are also experiencing this. I want to reassure you that we ARE starting to see more frequent nights of solid sleep, but I treat these as little gifts and try not to be too optimistic that it will start to happen with any regularity because so far it hasn't!).
In other news, we have been very busy getting ready for our trip to VT! We leave on Sunday! This might be the last one for a long time, and I don't know about future trips during the winter. We have hired a house-sitter AND a neighbor kid to take care of our own little zoo. It's going to be hard for them to fight the snow and haul buckets of water for 4 horses, etc. It's very expensive and stressful for us to sort out animal care during the winter, so I just don't see it happening again anytime soon! We are really looking forward to this trip, and will treasure every moment.
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