84 months

I can't believe this girl is seven! And what better of a way to start out being seven than with a visit to see Santa. Our school took a stab at a breakfast with Santa this year, I hate to say my expectations weren't high and really just went to please the girls. I got there a little earlier to do some volunteer work and was amazed when I walked into the cafeteria, the dads group prevailed and came through with a great event! Families were happy, the food was good, they had some crafts for the kids to do and Santa was the real deal! When daddy and the girls showed up they made their Santa list, we ate some breakfast and chatted with our friends. Then Santa came out and the kids screamed in excitement! The three girls raced up to the stage to get in line, when we asked if they wanted us to come we were told "NO" in unison, growing up too fast! When it was their turn (the wait was no where near what it would have been at the mall and I didn't pay the price tag I have the last few years for the Mom's Group event that we really weren't into) we went up to the stage to watch and snap some pics. Santa spent his time with each family, he wasn't rushing anyone and the photographer (a mom who donated her time) got some great pictures! It was a great event and I hope the school does it again next year, an easy and stress-free way to see Santa!

Birthdays in our house have to be celebrated more than once so we spent a weekend in Disney celebrating J's birthday (again) with the littlest cousins. The girls played hookey from school that Friday, we got to Animal Kingdom bright and early and were on the safari as soon as it opened. J loves going on the safari and seeing the animals, especially the baby animals. She was super happy because we got to see the baby hippo out of the water and lounging up on the bank with its mommy sun bathing. We saw the new bird show and the girls got to see a bald eagle up close, I don't think they realized how big the bird is as we usually see it way high up in the trees. When the cousins got there we went and saw Minnie and Mickey, they played in the bone yard in Dinoland and J finally was tall enough to ride the Primal Whirl coaster, it's like a roller coaster meets the tea cups and was a fun ride. We had some of the good BBQ for lunch before hitting the safari again, this time with our FP. The animals weren't as active as they were in the morning and the baby hippo was back under water. We left early afternoon, went to check into the hotel and to change before we headed to Epcot for the evening and to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. All the kids got to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and give them their Christmas wishes, there was not one tear just happy smiley kids! Between seeing Santa at school and again at Epcot, we were Santaed out! We had dinner at the pizza place in Italy and rode the ride in Mexico before calling it a night so we could be up bright and early the next day.

Saturday was spent at the Magic Kingdom, it was super crowded but we made the best of it, I really hate they caught onto the FP trick! J's new favorite ride is Thunder Mountain so we had to race there before the lines got to long, we even got C to ride with us this time! We rode it twice and got J to put her hands up in the air (but I had to hold onto her for dear life) and then took a spin on Buzz before meeting up with the cousins for Winnie the Pooh. We spent the morning driving cars, flying elephants, shooting aliens, eating cat tails and riding more coasters, well the little Goofy one so that B could ride too, he is fearless at three! We saw some of the parade while we waited for lunch at Tony's and took A to see Tinkerbell and Mickey (well at the Magic kingdom) for the first time. The girls have always loved Tink, she is so sweet with the kids and they think she is hilarious! After lunch we sang to Small World, rode over Neverland, saw the tikki birds, acted with Belle, shot some more aliens and of course had to ride Thunder Mountain and the Mine Train at night (and J got to see the fireworks from the Mine Train, how cool is that)! It was a magical but exhausting day and by the time we got to the car only the baby was still awake! We woke up Sunday morning and it was raining so we killed some time getting Breakfast at Cracker Barrel to see if the rain would let up, which it did enough for us to hit the Studios for a quick visit before we headed home. We rode Toy Story a couple of times (daddy won every time) and took a ride on the new Alien Saucers, we really wanted to ride Slinky Dog but the lines were too long, maybe next time! It was a fun filled weekend, till next time Mickey!

J helped me shop this month, she even got to pick out her first pair of boots, they must be the thing at school! Of course she had to try on every pink shoe she could find in DSW, I see a future shoe queen in our future! She tried and liked chicken soup on a cold day, maybe this is how I get them to eat (well disguise) more veggies! She got a couple of new puzzles for her birthday and has enjoyed working on them, she is our puzzle queen and got a 500 piece puzzle done (with a little help) in an afternoon!

J got to leave school early the day of C's holiday performance so that she could see one last AGC Christmas show before we move on from the preschool days. C got to play Mary and was so happy to carry Baby Jesus. J used my phone to take pictures and videos of her, most of them didn't come out. After the show we had a potluck lunch, saw the old teachers and talked to some other former AGC friends from when J was there. The biggest treat was it was the day Mary Poppins Returns was releasing and I took the girls to see the movie when J should have still been in school! We saw the first showing at our theater, it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be and was more adults than kids. Our friends met us for a Holly Jolly afternoon and the girls (and us moms) watched in amazement at the new rendition. Mary Poppins was one of my favorites growing up and the girls have watched it many times, I wasn't sure what to expect or how it would live up to the original. We tried listening to the sound track before seeing the movie but until you see it you don't fully appreciate it (since the movie the soundtrack is on repeat in the car and house). Everyone enjoyed the movie (well C only sat still because she ate her way through the movie), I didn't want it to be over and said to my friend that I wanted to see it again. I'm glad the girls and I shared this special afternoon together, sometimes you just need to skip school and make those lasting memories.

J continues to excel in school (do we expect any less) and enjoys her class and friends. They did a project on holiday traditions from around the world, Grandma helped her to complete her sheet on Brasil and we had to decorate a person to resemble the country, she wanted to make hers a Samba Girl, I thought a soccer player was more appropriate for school, we gave one of the dolls a small haircut to give the soccer dude some hair! Her reading is getting better and much faster and she is working on her spelling, I love seeing how she thinks words are spelled and hate it when I have to correct her. We went to literacy night at her school again this year, they had crafts, holiday stories being read by teachers and at the end of the night everyone gathered for cookies and to hear The Night Before Christmas read by Mrs. Claus. I really love our school and the "extras" they put on for the families, the events always have a good turn out! I missed J's holiday party because I was sick but they had fun making ornaments, ice cream cone trees, and playing some games. Her teacher is fun and I love that about her!

J's yearly check-up this year was easy peasy, no shots, no blood and a quick in and out visit. We've had some concern over her reading to close to her face, her eyes were checked at school and again this visit and they checked out just fine. She must think the closer she holds a book or paper the easier the words will come to her, maybe they will jump from the paper, that is my rationale for why she does it. She still isn't 50 pounds, just 47 and checks herself every night on the scale to see if she has gotten to that milestone. She is just over four feet at 49" and her legs continue to grow longer making it harder to find clothes to fit our tall, skinny girls! She can afford to eat all of the food she does, I just have no clue where it all goes too! She is enjoying making s'mores at G&G's house and her donut treats on the weekend.

We had some fun the days leading up to Christmas. I took the girls shopping (they had wallets and their own money) to choose their own gifts for Nana and G&G and they helped pick out some gifts for others too. They had fun attempting to wrap the gifts themselves, J did pretty well, I might just need to hire her to do all of the wrapping for me next year! Each morning they woke up in search of Bert, but would never go and find him without the other, on the weekends they would wait in their rooms until the other woke up so that they could hunt for him together (I think they were afraid of where he might be). He had some clever spots this year and they loved that he put himself in one of their Lego containers so that they could carry him around and take him on outings that day. Speaking of Legos, mommy got frustrated when building a set that pieces were missing so we spent a weekend (everyone including daddy) building all of their sets, finding the missing pieces and organizing the extras! It was amazing to see it all built and my OCD calmed down knowing everything was there and that no piece was lost!

Christmas came fast and before we knew it was the 24th and the girls were waiting for Santa's arrival. We enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve lunch at one of the restaurants on Main Street and then headed home to bake up some cookies for the big guy for later that night and some to take over to G&G's house for Christmas Eve celebrations. Uncle G and Auntie V came up to spend a couple of days with us, it was nice for them to be here and a nice visit was had. As soon as we got to G&G's house the girls were ready to dive into the presents, they don't know what the word wait means! They had to take turns and wait as we went in an order opening presents, they were good little helpers passing gifts out. After looking at their gifts like "this is all we got" they went crazy when the door bell rang and they discovered a GIANT gift on the front door step waiting for them, they screamed when they saw it was the Barbie Dreamhouse! They played with it all night, somewhere in there we had a nice dinner and the girls had video dance-offs with their Georgia cousins. It was a nice night for all and they were asleep pretty fast when their heads it the pillow, they didn't even hear Santa come in!

Here are the pictures from the month, from Disney and Christmas.