It's the most wonderful time of the year!

For those of you just joining our blog, please keep in mind that type in black is the voice of Mom &/or Dad, pink is Caroline and blue is James. We try to post about once a month so this post is particularly long with all the fun we had in December.

Classic Christmas photos with Santa... poor Caroline remains true to her original Santa greeting- the blank stare.
2008 2009

Well, many of you know that I've had more bad hair days than good ones. Mom was getting pretty tired of brushing out my softball-shaped, tangled mass of hair twice a day. So we decided it was time to have my first hair cut. Not every kid makes it to two and half without passing this milestone, so I consider myself very lucky.

I was so embarrassed of my tangles, I decided to go to the salon incognito.

This guy was so much help. I hugged him over and over... he didn't mind my untamed coif.

Miss Mallory was up to the challenge of taming the beast that is my mane.

Of course I kept my patented mortified expression the entire time.

Here it is... my new do! Sadly, the haircut did nothing for the giant mass of hair that appears after each nap and every morning. We're now trying several natural detanglers, if they don't work we're on to plan C... WD-40.

We went to Durham for Thanksgiving... Aunt Jenny was happy to give Laurel and me a ride on her scooter.

I was a big help decorating the tree. The tree had over 2,500 lights and took mom several hours just to get those in place. This year we decided to forgo ornaments since the lights looked so pretty on their own and because James is pretty interested in eating round, shiny and breakable things.

Christmas Card Photo Outtakes
It wouldn't be a December blog post without our annual Christmas card photo outtakes. This year mom and dad found it even more challenging because they had the task of making sure we both looked adorable at exactly the same time. I know what you're thinking... how could it be that those two children look anything but adorable? Read further if that question crossed your mind.

So... one of us would smile and the other would frown. Or eat the props.

One of us would cough.

... or sneeze.

James continued to eat the props.

At least he looked adorable doing it.

We did pause for a hug.

A very aggressive hug.

The Caroline scowl in full force.

Hey, this isn't so bad...

Gimme that!

Right now!

I mean it!

This is when mom decided that it might be better to go for individual shots.

Afterward Dad let us take a little ride... it was great!

This picture reminded me of one from my past.

Getting a little silly.
Not really sure what happened here...

We went to go see those dancing and singing bears again. Remember them from last year?

Do you see what I go through trying to take these pictures? Seriously!

I decided that the indoor pictures may not be "card material" so I tried to do some outdoor shots. What you didn't know is that I drove around the neighborhood looking for a home that had adorable decorations so I could stick the kids in front of them to get a picture. This was my only choice given that our decorations were still sitting in 10 gallon plastic boxes in our garage in the middle of December.

I had to include this one to prove that Caroline does smile for pictures (just not at the same time as her brother).

After finishing our Christmas photo shoot, we decided to get casual.
Look who else is Darling in Denim.

We also attended our friend Elena's second birthday. This is where I learned that I'm almost strong enough to pick up James. I'll be practicing until I get it right.

Why is it that every little girl makes this exact facial expression when she's trying to pick someone off the ground, particularly one she isn't supposed to be lifting?

One of the seven dresses Nama sent me for Christmas.

Christmas Day

All those presents and the favorite "toy" was a wrapping paper roll someone accidentally left by the tree. Sheesh!

At least someone understands the true meaning of Christmas!

For the first time since 1947 our town had a White Christmas! Look closely and you'll see two beautiful cardinals in the tree.

Poor Caroline was wearing classic "Leggat snow gear": undershirt, shirt, sweatshirt, coat, three pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, sandwich baggies, the final pair of socks over the pants, and regular ol' shoes... no snowbibs or boots for this girl.

After playing in the snow, we came in for a nice cup of cocoa.

Look mom, I can dress myself... I'm ready to play outside!

Poor Caroline and James have been sick for the last two weeks. The first week they had colds and the second week they had the flu bug. The picture above was taken near the end of our two-week quarantine. Caroline was so tired of staying indoors, she put on her coat, hat and slippers (all over her pajamas) and was ready to go. I caught her hanging on the door handle saying, "Please Mama, I need it!"



Lastly, here are some videos we've taken in the past month. Some of them are a little long, but the endings are usually worth your time. Sit back and enjoy!