The sock bun! I just cut up a sock so I could do this to my hair! It's supposed to offer great curls if you sleep in it...so since we have a formal tomorrow...we will see if I wake up with luxurious curly hair as the girl on "you tube" says!

This started from a conversation at the eye doctor's office the other day.  The technician had really nice curls in her hair and I had complimented her curls.  We got to talking about hair, and she asked me if I had heard of the sock bun.  She explained it to me and it was a little hard to follow.  But she said it was a great way to curl your hair without heat.  So I found a you tube video online explaining it and I decided to give it a try. I am fascinated by the sock bun!   And since learning about this...I noticed that on the X Factor, Brittney Spears and Carly Rose were sporting the sock bun last night!  Pretty funny!

Amelia admiring our Christmas tree...

Bonnie visit's Connor's first grade classroom...she was a very good bird and did lots of talking and most of her tricks!

Connor was my helper...Bonnie didn't want to sit on her cage or on the back of the chair which is usually what we use as a temporary perch...so Connor helped out. 

We talked about habitat...since the kids are learning about habitat's right now for science...so tried to tie it together as the teacher requested!

Bonnie chewing on a stick...this was really unusual for her to do with me holding her...but she was going to town tearing up the stick.  I tried to take the stick away from her and she held on tight...it was funny and made all of the kids laugh!

Bonnie going upside down and then doing her sit-ups!  This is by far the kids favorite trick!

Award from school...

Connor came  home with this award from school...apparently he recieved it during the Student of the Month ceremony and it's the "runner-up" to the actual Student of the Month!  He was funny when he told me the story that he just told his friend, "I'm never gonna win..." and then they called his name for the Terrific Kids award!  So he was pretty happy!   And I told him that it's good news for Santa to know that at least he's terrific at school...now we just need to work on the positive attitude, good character and responsible citizenship at home too : )

Storytime at the library

Dance class! It is bring your friend day...so Amelia's friend Emma asked her to come....She did good but is still a free spirit when it comes to dance!

Amelia's turn...she wasn't bad but she wasn't completely cooperative...the dentist had to pry open her mouth to get a look and count teeth! He confirmed that her teeth are coming in different than most kids but said it happens like this sometimes!

She didn't cry or anything so that was good.  I gave her my phone to play the ABC game...and that distracted her enough just holding my phone to sit still at least!

Connor in the dentist chair with some cool shades on!

Connor was funny. He's very good at the dentist but today he was apprehensive because he has a sore spot on his gum plus some new molars coming in.   But once he got settled in the chair, he kept talking to the hygenist and telling her what to do or not to do and where to look for his new teeth.  She told him to hold that thought so she could get the cleaning done!

And still no cavities...woo hoo!  Very exciting.  He had his first flouride treatment today...he wasn't a fan of that!   

Pediatric Dentist office in Newport...a good play area is always helpful before going to see the dentist!

Connor is on the second level...you can kind of see him through the window : )

Being a good birdy today!

Santa...

While we were sitting at lunch after visiting with Santa Claus yesterday, Amelia was looking at the picture of her and Connor with Santa.  She said, "I love him.  I love Santa!  He's so cute!"   It was the cutest thing ever!  Needed to share that before I forgot!

A few more Santa pictures...

Amelia was very content sitting with Santa but she absolutely refused to smile for a picture.  As Connor put it afterwards, he said, "Amelia just wanted to visit with Santa and was like forget the pictures already!"

Thank goodness I happen to have a matching red hair bow in the car too! 

I caught a glimpse of Amelia's little smile...she was still hanging out with Santa while Connor was describing him the toy that he wants for Christmas...see Connor's glove in the corner...he was giving Santa a visual of what he wants : )

Santa liked to do fist bumps too!  Really great, quality visit with Santa Claus this year!  And we didn't even plan it!   I was out shopping on my own at the outlet mall and Scott had the kids.  Once I saw that Santa was there, I called Scott immediately!  The funny thing was that I had just bought these Christmas outfits for the kids...so I met Scott at the car, did a quick wardrobe change...and off we went to see Santa! 

Family picture...

Finally a family picture from our Thanksgiving trip!  And a huge thank you to the stranger who offered to take it and managed to get everyone looking and smiling all at the same time!  I was not successful all weekend so it was so funny that the random stranger captured our Thanksgiving weekend family moment together!

Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire...what a fun place!

Rudolph greets the kids at the door...and he talks!  I have a video that I will have to post later but it's pretty funny!

All of Santa's reindeer were here!  And I didn't get a good pic but all of their names are displayed above their stalls in this massive barn...it was really exciting for the kids!

Daddy and Mimi on the ferris wheel!

She loved it and kept telling Scott, "go higher!"

On the back of each of the ferris wheel cars was Merry Christmas in various languages...Scott and Amelia were in the Hawaiian car...how funny is that?!

I really don't know what this thing is supposed to be...a puffin dinosaur?

It was getting chilly...it was a sunny day so that was good but definitely cold.  We put Amelia's mittens on...realizing that this was the first time in her life that she has had to wear mittens!  She's was wondering what these fuzzy things on her hands were!

Rides make her smile!

And then this one made Amelia sad...she wasn't allowed on this one and when she saw Scott and Connor up there...she was mad and yelling, "go up and down, go up and down Daddy Connor!"

I loved this display of the tape measure...so we will remember how tall they were when we visited Santa's Village!

Amelia loved this Elf and wouldn't let me get a picture of Connor by himself!

There's Connor at 4 feet tall...and Amelia's head at the bottom of the picture!  The closest I came to getting his picture alone!

Connor was driving the old timey car!

Amelia's first official roller coaster!  And guess what?  She loved it.  Scott said she smiled and laughed the entire time.  And when it ended, she cried! 

Connor was happy on the roller coaster too, of course!

I left for a minute and came back...and they had won prizes!  This is a big deal because Connor sure hates to lose!  

The only downside to Santa's Village was that we didn't get to see Santa.  It was Black Friday and apparently their busiest day of the year at Santa's Village.  The line to see Santa was crazy and probably more than 2 hours long...so we kept on having fun enjoying the rides and so glad we did!  The kids had so much fun!

Last swim at the hotel on Friday morning...

Basketball in the pool...

Mimi's turn!

Connor consoling Amelia because it was time to go and she was sad.   Her language is just amazing.  Her sentences amaze us everyday.  As we were leaving, she said, "That was fun.  Why are you so sad?  Why are you crying?"  As she's trying not to cry because she had so much fun that she does not want to leave!

Thanksgiving day...

Getting dressed for dinner...and she was admiring her new shoes in the mirror!

Waiting in the lobby of the hotel for dinner to begin...

No one was cooperating for family pictures...so I finally gave up and we went upstairs to the restaurant to enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner!  We really were impressed with this resort from the food to the activities...it was great!

She found another tree!  Amelia could not focus on smiling for a picture because she was too busy looking at the ornaments (we are working on not touching the ornaments!)  She says, "don't touch" as she's touching the ornament!

Connor was fascinated by the turkey ice sculpture!