We had a nice time celebrating. We had the family together for Thanksgiving (well, most of it), so we thought that it would be a nice time to celebrate Emily's birthday together with the family. (We are having a joint party for Ashley and Emily in a couple of weeks with their friends). Unfortunately Emily was under the weather. The night before, I came home from work to discover that Emily had a low grade fever that evening. The morning she still did, but after her afternoon nap it had spiked to 103. I felt so bad for her, however having her cousin here to play and her family, she still wanted to play and laugh despite it. We had a Spiderman themed celebration, which was only fitting since she was Spiderman for Halloween and has been wearing her costume every day since then, including to help with the leaf pile. Haha. Just a little obsessed with Spiderman ;)
Three was a very big deal for her. It now meant she was "officially" a big girl. She's been wanting and waiting to go over to the "big girl side" of the classroom at the YMCA, and she was sooo excited to be able to (in fact, she reported that it was the favorite part of her day when she was first allowed to).
At three, there is no evidence of any baby anymore...She is fully potty trained (including night time for sometime now), no high chairs, no cribs or even toddler beds (she's been in a big twin bed for a few months now), she's going to school part time. She does so much independently (in fact, sometimes she wants to do more than Ashley even wants to, haha). The only things left of babyhood is that she still asks me to hold her a lot, and she likes to be rocked at night time.
I have to say, she is growing into an amazing little girl. She's so sweet, kind, caring toward others, fun, mischievous, brave, resilient, etc etc....There are some days when I feel like I'm screwing everything up and doing everything wrong, but then I look at my little girls and the people they are becoming, and I know I must be doing some of it right at least. They are happy and healthy, my two biggest prayers and wishes.
Aside from birthday celebrations, we are also moving into Christmas season. I have to say, this year is probably my favorite so far. The girls ages (especially Ashley's) makes it so fun and magical. Ashley was sooooo thrilled when our Elf on the Shelf, Chippy, returned. She's been hugging him, carrying him everywhere (even to bring to show and tell at school), playing with him, etc. It's so fun to watch. She's also been having fun playing with all of the Christmas stuff--mom/grandma gave us her old Santa and Mrs. Claus dolls that I loved growing up. It's been fun watching the girls with them, having fun playing with them and their fascination with them. Ashley is particularly fond of Mrs. Claus. It's also been fun watching them play with ornaments and toys, just as I remember doing as kid. It was fun to decorate the tree, and share the story behind some of the special ornaments we have. And singing Christmas carols in the van. And hearing Ashley sing Christmas carols/made up songs quietly to herself as she stares at the tree. It's so special to me.
The only thing that makes me sad/worried is that at less than 5 years old, Ashley is ALREADY asking questions. For instance, our Elf on the Shelf has earrings. Ashley pointed out that Chippy doesn't have earrings in the movie, and also wondered how he walked with his skinny legs. I pointed out how NOTHING is ever like it is on TV or movies, elves, people, life, you name it. Haha. Then we saw Santa when we went to cut down our Christmas tree, and she says "I think that was someone dressed up as Santa. I don't think it's the real Santa". Sometimes this girls is too smart for her own good. I'd be so sad if she loses the magic of Christmas at a young age, especially since it's been so beautiful and fun to witness.
Another fun experience this year has been getting a real Christmas tree. When Matt and I were growing up, we both got real trees every year. His family went and cut down their own tree, and my family would go to a tree farm and pick out pre-cut trees. I had such fun memories of doing that and singing Christmas carols on the ride home. We had bought a fake tree several years ago, but I wanted our kids to experience that and have memories of that too. We had a great time going and picking out a tree, cutting it down, seeing Santa and also the animals they had. As Ashley put it, it was "awesome". However, behind the magical moments captured in our pictures of picking out our tree and decorating, you miss the "behind the scene" stuff like getting home and having to spend an hour recutting the trunk and getting it in the stand, and then having the tree fall over and spilling water everywhere, having to fix it yet again, vacuum and clean up from the mess. Stuff that's totally annoying in the moment (especially when it happens just as your sitting down to relax for the first time that day), but hysterical when you look back on it. It's funny how you forget "those memories" until it happens again. I have to say, it was quite a hassle, but there is something nice about the smell and look of a real tree. Matt also went ahead and researched and bought this amazing tree stand after we had difficulty fixing it, and it was in in 20 seconds with no issues. So who knows, maybe now that it's easy we'll consider a real tree sometime again in the future.
Well that's about it. Other than that we've been living life. School, pt work, playdates, cooking class (Ashley), swimming lessons (Emily), fun mini-vacations :Great Wolf Lodge/Poconos in Oct, Halloween Parades and Trick or Treating, visits from family, watching and participating in Cheryl's 26 mile marathon in NYC, ice skating, bowling, trip to visit Grandpa and watch a Clemson Game/Kids Museum/Ropes Course, Bronx Zoo, Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities, etc...fun few months. Life is crazy, chaotic, hairy, fun, wonderful all wrapped up in one. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
