Christmas

Then we came home and Victor's boss had given Vivian this cute little VW bus tent!

Christmas #1

We celebrated Kansas City Christmas today! It's just a lot to bring home all the presents to Carthage. So Santa's elves came and filled out stockings and I told them what a good girl Vivian has been this year - they report back to Santa to prepare for Christmas. 

She didn't want the elves to come in her room so I promised to make a sign to hang on her door.

Vivian's face when she saw the candy in her stocking. 

Matching Wonder Woman jammies. Victor received Batman footies. It was a funny coincidence. 

Wonder Woman always wears a crown.

Indiana Jones - all four movies!! Woo hoo!

Victor received a croquet set… indoor croquet causes lots of anxiety (we have more breakable things than I ever realized!), in case you were considering it. 

Vivian received a big box of Legos and a puppy (and several books). She named it Ya. Like Ma with a Y.

Snow!

We had around 3-4 inches of snow yesterday. Vivian woke up a little before 5:45 and checked out the window immediately. We then had to go out in the snow to play for 20 minutes. It was cold!

I hadn't even thought about buying her waterproof winter gear so she went out in her bear jacket and sweatpants like a trooper. She didn't even complain once. 

But she did request hot chocolate and waffles for breakfast. I thought the hot chocolate would be a fun snow morning treat. She didn't drink any of it so we both got what we wanted!

Then I got her snow boots, pants, jacket, mittens and hat. She wouldn't wear the pants I got so she squeezed into my old 2T pants. Three years in a row guys! Now that's a bargain. They actually still fit around the waist, they are just a little short but the boots are tall enough it isn't a problem.

Making snow angels.

Santa Visit

Last weekend Vivian decided she actually did want to see Santa. So today after work Victor and I took her to see Santa. This was a much better time to go than after work! No line at all and Santa was nice and fresh after his break.

They have a fun igloo for the kids to play in while waiting to see Santa.

Santa gave her a candy cane and jingle bell headband.

 Vivian was really excited to see Santa… until he came out and sat in his chair. Then she was like uh, no, this isn't happening. She didn't cry but she did not want to sit on his lap (I can't blame her, I wouldn't want to sit on a stranger's lap either. It's kind of a mean tradition in that way.)

Santa offered us his chair and stood next to her. She did thank him for the swag. Happily this year I was wearing make up and had fixed my hair for work so I don't have to blur out my face!

The photo company lets you have free digital downloads of all your photos. It's pretty nice!

Ballet

On Saturday we took Vivian to see a shortened-version of The Nutcracker to see if she was still interested in ballet classes. She is! She was excited to meet all the ballerinas. 

Then she gave several performances in her leotard and skirt-turned-tutu

Vivian the Brave

One of Vivian's favorite phrases is I can do it, I'm brave." Anytime she wants to do something I'm not sure about, that's what I hear. I love that she is able to get herself excited about doing things by calling herself brave! I think it's great.

She is definitely brave. She does lots of things I wouldn't. For example, voluntarily going into the snake exhibits at the zoo and looking at all the snakes for several minutes. Yuck!! I can't wait until she is old enough to go in there by herself.

Here is exhibit #2: Vivian age 3, Maura age 23