Christmas a bit early

We love this season and all the fun things to do. Phoebe attended her 2nd Angel Tree Breakfast at church. The Christmas Angel comes out and tells the story of Jesus' birth and then all the kids get to have their picture taken on the angel's lap. Long, long ago, I was the Christmas Angel so I had hopes that Phoebe wouldn't be fearful when it came time for pictures. You'll see there are none... There was a live nativity outside - a bit chilly but Phoebes still enjoyed seeing the camels and lambs.




I think her favorite part was playing on the stage afterwards. Here she is with Baby Jesus.




Check out her cute little halo!



Here's a rare picture of her with a ponytail. She's too much of a wiggle worm for me to get them in. Her hair is getting so long - Auntie Kate says she has a mullet but we love her little curls.

Nana, Papa and Cousin Lucas drove up from Georgia for the weekend. While Nana and Papa were visiting Chris, Corrie and Bailey in Kokomo on Saturday, we took Lucas and Phoebe to the Children's Museum. I think Ryan had as much fun as the kiddos!

They had a special Santa's Village section - Phoebe got to groom a reindeer. Do some ice fishing.

And race Lucas down the snowy slide!

In the basement, you can look up inside this huge glass sculpture. It's hard to say who was fascinated more!

We did a little Christmas shopping afterwards and THIS is how my child likes to spend her time in Target. Where are her parents!?

It was fun to have Christmas a little early. Although we'll miss our bi-annual trip to Tennessee to see our Georgia family, it was nice to skip the drive!

Phoebe got ALL kinds of fun stuff. Food to go in her shopping cart, a dog in a purse, a tent, megablocks, books, the list goes on and on. Needless to say, I'm thinking we should postpone round two till February...

Phoebe didn't fall asleep till 10:30 - just too much excitement. She managed to enjoy her gifts even more the next day and took a pretty decent nap, too!

We think Phoebe may be having a growth spurt. She woke up one night this week at 1:30 and didn't go back to sleep till 4:45 - wide awake and c-r-a-z-y. And she's had SUCH a good appetite lately - which is rare for her. Yesterday she had a snack of goldfish on her way home, consumed an entire banana and then still managed to polish off her mac and cheese and peaches at dinner and then ate two fruit sticks afterwards. Yumm-o!

And the holidays wouldn't be complete without a Christmas program at daycare. Phoebe's class is a bit young, but we made sure to capture the moment on film. She's in the far cart, back row - staring at everyone, not jingling her bells. Gotta love toddlers!

Thanksgiving, Finally!

We had a fabulous time in Georgia for Thanksgiving. Phoebe was a model toddler on the flight to and from so we were thrilled! She especially loved riding the airport transit that required neither car seat nor seat belt. Such a big little girl! By the way, isn't my husband hot!?




It was nice to get there Monday because it gave us a few days to unwind before the big day. One of our stops we try to make when in Georgia is Bass Pro. Conveniently, they have a Christmas Village for the kiddos (large and small) so there was something for everyone.

Phoebe was spoiled by the front-facing car seat Nana had in her van AND the dvd player that showed Elmo's World anytime Phoebe said "Elmo!" We did turn her seat around to face front just tonight in my car - she was just getting too scrunched and now that we've added winter coats to the mix, it was just too much!

We also got to spend time with Aunt Debi, cousin Alecia and her three-year old, Ella. Phoebe and Ella became fast friends and it was so fun to watch them play and run together. They headed up to Princeton for the holiday so we missed them most of the time we were there.

Phoebe certainly got her fill of dogs while there. Abby and Annie both got plenty of loving from Miss P - I have a feeling it's only a matter of time before another little dog enters the Wallis family...

We even got to go look at some Christmas lights since it gets dark so early. Granted, Phoebe didn't get to sleep before 9:00 once while in Georgia and only took naps if we drove her around town. It was a small price to pay to see her enjoying everyone in Georgia!

Here she is Thanksgiving Day, soaking up the Georgia sun in the back yard.

Phoebe and Nana out exploring while the turkey was cooking.

She loved being outside.

Her new thing is to walk around with her mouth open when she wants a grown-up drink. She certainly got her fill of tea while down south!

Phoebe had SUCH a good time - we just didn't take enough pictures...

We flew back Saturday and even got to visit with Auntie Kate for a few hours before she flew back to Pennsylvania the next morning. We took advantage of having her in town and she distracted Phoebe long enough for us to lug up all our Christmas decorations and get the tree up. Phoebe is quite fascinated by "Ho Ho" - but only wants to say "hi" from a distance. She loves turning the lights on the tree on and off with the remote.

We're excited to have cousin Lucas, Nana and Papa up this coming weekend to celebrate Christmas a little early. If only Georgia was closer to Indiana...

Lots to be thankful for!

Not too much going on in our world but wanted to update before the holidays arrive. We had an early Thanksgiving lunch at Phoebe's daycare and Ryan came downtown to join us. Her teachers suggested we just come, eat and leave but Ryan said he wasn't coming downtown to see just me (Thanks, honey!) so we got Phoebe OUT of her routine to have a delightful lunch. She wasn't too interested in the food, not even dessert!



She preferred this.

After lunch, I attempted to bring Phoebe back to her room for naptime but she wanted nothing to do with them. I finally gave up and took her to Ryan and said since he wanted to see her, he could give her back. Ten minutes later, he walked out of the room saying he'd given up - he had to finally just leave her with one of the teachers screaming. Here's to hoping next year will be different!

Last weekend, since Uncle Steve finally rented his condo in Broad Ripple, we had to move him out. We spent last Saturday and part of Sunday packing him up. Well, I'll say one of us helped while the other entertained our 19-month old.

Here she is helping pack up the kitchen...

She CAN entertain herself for brief periods of time!

Finally, YiaYia, Phoebe and I headed to the Monon since it was literally out his back door. The walk started like this...anyone want to guess how it ended?

Phoebe got lots of laughs and a few dog kisses too!

And while we were busy strolling the trail, our strong boys were busy doing this...

We miss Uncle Steve (Phoebe can say "Unka Teve") and says it quite frequently. Can't wait to see him again at Christmas!

We got home Sunday night pretty tired so just had a frozen pizza for dinner and then I went out for Dairy Queen because who can resist a BOGO coupon when it comes to Blizzards? Well, I will for a long time because both Ryan and I came down with food poisoning after the game and ended up calling in the reserves (YiaYia, who took a personal day just for us). She also ended up taking Phoebe to our pediatrician because she'd not been sleeping well and was extremely fussy Sunday afternoon. Turns out she had ANOTHER double ear infection. They put her on a different antibiotic and we've had a good run of uninterrupted sleep since Monday. So here's hoping the flight to Georgia will be uneventful and pain-free!

We've continued to have lovely weather over the last few weekends here - although the forecast for the week after Thanksgiving sounds dreadfully cold...we're making the most of it outdoors.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and find yourselves with many blessings and much to be thankful for!

Lovin' Indiana in the fall

Friday morning started out at YiaYia and Papou's so I could go to my annual eye exam. Then, Phoebe, YiaYia and I headed out to get 18 month pictures taken. I should say an attempt was made because the poor guy had one heck of a challenge with Phoebe Rae. She didn't warm up too well and we had a rough go of it - instead of 100 shots, we got 42 and only a handful were truly frame-worthy, but rest easy, Auntie Kate, 18 months now will be preserved forever... Here's a sneak peak:

After pictures, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Anderson to visit with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Newell. Again, it took Phoebe awhile to warm up, but she quickly made herself at home.

She found great joy exploring their house and had loads of fun climbing around Great Grandma's organ!

See? She did warm up and gave great hugs and kisses when it was time to go.

We had an incredibly unseasonably warm weekend here in Indiana so we decided to head south on Saturday and visit Brown County. My family used to take numerous trips in the spring, summer and fall and I can imagine that as Phoebe grows, the Wallis family will do the same. Since she fell asleep on the way down, we skipped the state park (no sense paying to go in if you can't get out and hike!) and went straight to Nashville. The place is NOT stroller-friendly, but the weather was so darn nice, it was just great to be outside and not in jackets!

I think if we'd been down a few weeks earlier, we'd have seen gorgeous foliage - instead, we just got to trek through the fallen leaves - which Phoebe probably enjoyed more anyhow!

In honor of Veterans' Day...when Phoebe is a bit older, we'll try to explain how much we owe to those that have served...we're so grateful.

Phoebe is quite the little singer. When she's not singing, she likes to be sung to (and mommy and daddy's repetoire is only so big). Forgive the voice (turn the volume down) and just enjoy her endless energy!

I think the sunshine did us ALL a wonder of good this weekend!

A LOT of finger-munching this weekend - so it's no surprise that her last two eye teeth on bottom have poked through. Hopefully it'll be awhile before the next set of molars decide to show themselves!

Sunday after church, we headed over to YiaYia and Papou's again because Uncle Steve was in town to move some stuff out of his condo - AND praise the Lord, he thinks he's got it rented - woohoo! Phoebe doesn't get to see Uncle Steve too often now that he's back in Chicago, but she is quick to love on him and he gets giggles out of her that no one else can!

Phoebe had great fun outside throwing sticks for Kali to fetch. That is, until Kali decided to just jump up and knock Phoebe down and take matters into her own hands, er, paws... Phoebe handled it all in stride - one day, she'll weigh more than Kali and then things will be a bit different...

Phoebe also enjoys a good round of "Ring Around the Rosie" and boy, does she like to sing it over and over and over...we do it lazily - sitting down and swaying back and forth and then crashing to the ground. She gets a kick out of it just the same and it allows the grandparents and the tired parents to enjoy her playful tackles. Even Great Grandma Newell did a few rounds from the couch when we were in Anderson on Friday! And sorry for the picture being sideways, I'm stumped on why it's loading this way...just wanted y'all to get a glimpse of what grown adults will do to entertain 18-month olds when they're related to them...

Hope everyone has a great week and stays healthy. We miss our family in Georgia bunches and bunches and are already super excited about spending time out there during Thanksgiving! Just make sure all the dogs are prepared - Phoebe has developed some fierce loving she likes to give to little dogs and I think they're all going to be in for it when we arrive!