Kaiti Lewitt: Happy Holidays

I have been seriously behind in my blogging. The reason is that the website I use to host my images has been having some issues. I don't know if they were upgrading (which we all know when you try to improve something that doesn't seem to have problems you end up breaking something that didn't need fixing) or if their server is having problems or what, but I have not been able to upload images until recently. So, I guess I'll break this post into parts so that it makes a little bit of sense.

Setting up the tree

The weekend after Thanksgiving was quite busy. We brought out all of the Christmas decorations and the house transformed from normal everyday blah to wonderful Christmas splendor. This year I decided to set the tree up in the Dining Room in the front of the house because I know how curious Abby is and wanted to keep the tree out of her curiosities. This worked out wonderfully and actually we only broke a handful of ornaments this year.

Here Lexi helps Daddy string the lights on the tree

Abby decides to lend a "helping hand"

Polar Express Day

The last Friday of school before the break was Polar Express Day at Lexi's school. This meant that the kids should go to school in their pajamas and wear slippers and whatnot. A couple of nights before Lexi picked the pajamas she would wear but I was concerned because I didn't think she'd be warm enough. I suggested that we go shopping for a bathrobe to keep her warm and that's just what we did only she would call it a "bath rib" for awhile then it become a "bath rob" which is what she still calls it to this day.

She was so funny when she woke up that morning. She insisted that I put some curlers in her hair because her teacher had told her that they should come looking like they just got out of bed. This was funny to me because Lexi doesn't normally wear curlers at night but insisted that this was how she would look if she were awoken suddenly.

Here's our little sleepy head on her way to the bus stop.

That same morning Abby was a little sluggish and it seemed that she thought it should be Polar Express Day at home because she did not want to get out of her jammies and (totally out of character) she actually stopped running around the house and vegged out on the couch watching TV in her jammies cuddling with her favorite Care Bear blanket.

She came to her senses a little later in the day and went on with her regular antagonizing antics with the pups. She evicted Cassi from her crate so she herself could occupy the crate next to Lou.

A Visit with Santa

Since Lexi was teeny tiny I have not had a good picture of her with Santa. Her first Christmas in the hospital was probably the last decent picture I had and that is kind of morbid with an oxygen tube in her nose. I've tried--Lord knows I've tried--taking her to the mall and the local Micheal's that Santa visits every year but it's always the same. She'll be excited the whole time while standing in line telling us what she's going to tell Santa but when she gets to the front of the line she becomes unglued and we get a terrible picture of her crying or nothing at all. This year was no different in that regard. She did come unglued which freaked Abby out. We decided to let the family behind us go and we'd try again after them. This time Abby was not having it and Santa had a hard time keeping a good grip on her as she tried to lunge out of his arms. Lexi was distracted from the commotion and we got this picture.

We quickly rescued Abby from the struggling Santa and began to proceed to wait for the pictures to print when I noticed Lexi and Santa were deep in conversation. I thought this too cute and told Stefan who was close to the photographer to snap a shot. Apparently, the photog didn't understand that I wanted the impromptu conversation and not a cheesecake posed pic because she called Lexi's name and snapped Lexi back to reality in an instant. We were able to capture this picture though and it is the best we've ever had of her with Santa.

Celebrating Hanukkah late

Circumstances did not allow for us as an entire family together with Stefan's parents and brother to celebrate Hanukkah during the actual holiday. He finally got together the weekend before Christmas and exchanged gifts followed by going out to lunch. It was a great day. Stefan and I received a date night from his parents and the girls got plenty of wonderful gifts including clothes, books, and a small trampoline which Uncle Faron was gracious enough to assemble while Stefan was at work.

Here's a pic of Uncle Faron showing Abby one of her new books

Christmas Eve

I spent the morning of Christmas Eve preparing our traditional snacks. Lexi and I made reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter)to sprinkle on the front lawn so Rudolph would be able to see our home from the sky. We also made fudge, cookies, and coffee cake. It was fun. I enjoy baking with her and you can tell that the feeling is mutual.

Later, we went to my parents' house for dinner. Mom always serves a spread of filling finger food and this year was no exception. After dinner, we all migrated to the basement where my sister and her family, my parents, and our little family played lots of ping pong and pool. Watching the kids try to play was hysterical--especially Lexi who was burning up a year's worth of energy chasing ping pong balls all over the basement.

When we came home Lexi and I went outside to spread the reindeer food. While we were doing so, we hear a jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" and Lexi's attention snapped to the sky saying, "I hear him! I heard Santa!" Too cute. Here she is sprinkling the food.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day Lexi came in our room at 6 a.m. She came to my side of the bed saying, "Mommy, I want to see if Santa came." I told her to return to bed that we would a little bit later, but 15 minutes later Abby woke up. So, we decided it was going to continue like this until we gave in anyway. So we were up inspecting Santa's leavings before the sun could rise. Later, my parents and Faron joined us for dinner. It was overall a very nice day together.