Mack 4 Months & Which Kid Is This?

 Hard to believe that Mack is 4 months old today. He is growing like a weed and becoming much more interactive these days. He smiles and coos a lot, especially when his sisters are around.  He is still waking up to feed 1 time a night, but occasionally sleeping until about 5:30 am so there is hope that he will figure out this whole sleeping through the night thing soon.

  We were looking through some old pictures and ran across some of Ellie her first Christmas. She was only 3 months at the time, but the similarities between the two are undeniable.  We have said all along that Mack looks a lot like Ellie when she was a baby and here is the photo evidence.

Ellie 3 mo old Christmas 2008

Mack 4 mo old Christmas 2013

Visit with Santa

We had our annual visit with Santa at our neighborhood clubhouse this morning. The kids did great. I knew Ellie and Mack would be fine, but I was worried about Emma. The girls had a little practice run Friday because Santa came to their preschool. I had a talk with Emma about how Santa loves her, there is nothing to be afraid of, and she has to sit on his lap and tell him what she wants (which is a green choo choo train?!) When she was getting into the car Friday when I picked her up from school, she screamed "Mommy, I sat in Santa's lap and I didn't cry!" Well, Ellie asked her what she asked Santa for and Emma had a meltdown. I guess she had forgotten to ask for the choo choo train. So, I informed her we would be seeing Santa again the following morning and she could tell him then.

This morning, we entered the building and Santa was off to the right in a room. Emma cautiously entered the room and stopped right before she got to Santa and with fists clenched and arms at her side she said "I WANT A CHOO CHOO TRAIN!" It was hysterical. Then she actually sat on his lap (after her sister climbed up there.) Mack was mainly put in for the photo op, but he did great as well. I'm just glad he held his massive spit up until we walked out of the room.There was a small train ride for the kids, so Ellie and Emma had a blast with that.

Earlier in the week on Wednesday night, Ellie's church youth group sang. It was really cute and sweet. Once again, watching 4 and 5 year olds sing Christmas songs can make anyone smile. I've added a few pictures from the Christmas concert as well.

"This little light of mine"

The whole group of preschoolers

Hard to see Emma in this picture but this is around the moment she yelled at Santa about her choo choo train

Emma still not sure she wants to be in his lap

Sibling pic, Emma gladly jumped down to stand by Santa so Mack could get in the picture

The rush to get on the trolley. Ellie kept telling Emma she would sit with her, but when Ellie's friend Lorelai showed up, she left her little sister in the dust. (We had a talk with Ellie about that)

Emma sitting by her self and Ellie with Lorelai

Waiting for the train to come, sorry the pictures are out of order.

And it begins....

Well, it actually began last week when we got our Christmas tree, but, it seems the Christmas season always begins after we celebrate Worth's birthday. He turned 34 on Sunday the 8th. The girls and I made him a cookie cake and we ordered ribs (he loves ribs, I'm not a fan) for his birthday dinner. He was kind of pitiful on his birthday because he was on heart call all day (he didn't get called in, so I guess that was good.) I think he enjoyed dinner and his "made with love" cookie cake.

After his birthday, Monday kicked off in high gear with the preschool Christmas pageant. Ellie was Mary in the pageant this year, and Emma was a drummer girl. My heart was swollen with pride when I found out the part Ellie would play. I did have a talk with her about how special Mary was and how Mary didn't pick her nose, jump up and down, twirl, flip, etc. when she was with baby Jesus. She did awesome though! I couldn't have been more proud of Emma as well. She sang her heart out and played her drum like a professional. It was so much fun and there is nothing like hearing the Chirstmas story from preschoolers to get you in the Christmas spirit.

We've got tons more going on over the next few weeks so get ready for photo overloading!

The cookie cake the girls and I made. Ellie wanted me to draw "Daddy" at the top if you can't tell what it is:)

Worth got a little help blowing out the candles

Proof that Mack was there

Joseph and Mary  (AKA Tripp and Ellie) waiting to enter Bethlehem

They held hands. I thought it was adorable. Ellie ended up dragging Tripp down the aisle

Carefully placing baby Jesus in the manger

Emma and her drum

The  3 Wise Men:  Tate, Holden and Bo

Emma stared at her sister the whole time when she wasn't singing

Tree Hunt

Friday, after Thanksgiving, we went to the tree farm for the annual tree hunt. It happened to be pretty cold that day here in Valdosta. Our one December cold snap. (The high today will be 80) We had fun and Ellie and Emma picked out a great tree. Worth pulled a Clark Griswald and decorated the front of our house with lights. It turned out looking great, and it provides a little added lighting for our area of the neighborhood:)

At the tree farm. It was cool outside, but probably not cold enough for the outfits Ellie and Emma chose to wear

Mack observing in his snowman shoes

Ellie on a mission

Emma perusing

Emma kept this outfit on, sunglasses and all the entire time we were there.

We found it!

She is sleeping under the sunglasses. She NEVER falls asleep in a car, so I had to document this!

Running around in the front yard while we decorate. They dressed themselves in play clothing for the afternoon.

Emma's very interesting choice in an outfit

The finished tree! Not sure how I got the lights to blink in this picture, they don't even blink on our tree, but pretty cool effect?!

Clark, hard at work

Mack in his observation spot getting love from sister Emma