…and what a year it has been! Elyssa has blossomed into a beautiful, intelligent, loving little girl. My baby has somewhere and somehow disappeared, and this inquisitive, demanding, sweet little child has been put in her place. I do have to say I am a bit sad at the loss of my baby, but I am so excited about the future. She will be turning 3 in 3 months. Yes, 3 in three months. I almost had a small breakdown when I realized her 3rd b-day was so close. Of course this does bring on the excitement of planning her big 3rd b-day and we all know just how much fun I have doing that. I’m very confused about a theme this year, Elyssa and I will have to have a talk about this. Speaking of talking, she is doing quite a bit of it! Her vocabulary is just amazing and her ability to speak in full sentences is just amazing to me. I guess it is just normal for kids her age, but to me it is amazing that I am able to have a conversation with her and she is able to communicate to me exactly what she wants. She tells me when she is cold, hot, hungry, thirsty, sad, or having a bad day. Some of the things that she says just cracks me up. If she is upset, she will tell me “mommy, I have my feather’s in a bunch” or if she is happy about something she will say “mommy, that just cracks me out” (instead of cracks me up!!). She also tells me that Daddy is being grumpy when he tells her “no”, or that she wants to do things “by myself mommy, by my self”. Such independence and character, my little girl has!
The last few months have been very busy and exciting. There were so many holidays to celebrate. In October we went to the pumpkin patch with Elyssa’s friends Jack and Luke. She had such a wonderful time, feeding the goats, going on a hay ride and of course picking out the pumpkins to take home. We also went trick or treating for the first time. We went to Aunt Na-na’s house and went with her. This year Elyssa was a beautiful princess. It was so cute seeing our little princess go up to each house and say “trick or treat” and “thank you” for all the candy. By the end of the evening she had the whole idea of trick or treating down to an art. We also went to a Halloween party at Aunt Lisa’s house. It was so much fun getting dressed up; playing games and Aunt Lisa even had a haunted graveyard walk in her backyard. She did hay rides in her wheel barrel and had lots of pizza to eat. Aunt Lisa eve n took us to a Fall Festival at the Rec Center a week or so before Halloween where Elyssa go to play games, jump in bounce houses, walk through a petting zoo, and of course eat yummy snacks. Elyssa had so much fun!
November was not only a Thanksgiving celebration but also the kick off of the Christmas season! We spent Thanksgiving at Nana and Pops in Lufkin TX. Elyssa got to stay in a hotel while we were there and she loved it. Her cousin “Eban” (Ethan) even got to spend the night in the hotel with her and she thought that was just wonderful. The day after Thanksgiving Nana and pop took us all the Lufkin Zoo. We all had a really great time and Elyssa just loved running around looking at all the different animals. We even got to ride the “choo choo” train around the zoo. A week before Thanksgiving Elyssa asked to see Santa. Now everyone remembers that last year, Elyssa would not go near Santa. This year, she not only wanted to see Santa, she sat on his lap on multiple occasions. I was just so proud of her. Aunt Heidi also came to visit in November. We had a wonderful visit with her and wished she could have stayed longer. We went to the Gaylord Texan Resort with her and Aunt Lisa to kick off some Christmas spirit. They decorate the entire resort in a Christmas theme and it is amazing to see.
December was filled with Christmas fun! We even had a playdate with her friend Jamie where we made Sugar cookies and let the kids eat all the cookies and icing that they wanted to. Hey, kids are only kids once sooo I say let them eat cookies!! We went to the Bass Pro Shop’s Christmas celebration with her friend Jamie as well. We took her to the Wylie light up night to watch the parade, but it was soooo cold we did not stay very long. She even got to see Santa at Wal-Mart and got her picture taken there as well. There were so many wonderful things we go to do this year with her for Christmas. We went to Richardson’s Santa’s village and got to see all the holiday lights and walk through some really cute cottages as well. In school (MDO) Elyssa put on a Christmas program. It was so cute! The kids all got up on stage in the chapel and sang songs. I was such a proud mommy that day. She stood up there and sang and did all the motions for the songs. Of course I took hundreds of pictures and a video of it all. Afterwards she came to me and said “mommy, all I see was daddy taking pictures and more pictures and more pictures!” I almost died laughing, she knows her mommy and daddy well! For Christmas Eve we had a Mexican Fiesta at our house for all the family and Aunt Na-na & JT. Christmas morning was incredible and magical. Elyssa really understood that she was going to get toys for Christmas this year and was so excited when she came down Christmas morning. Santa had been very hard at work Christmas Eve putting together a new red tricycle and a new princess 3 wheel scooter. She got so many wonderful things that as of today there are still items still in plastic waiting to be opened and played with. I’m in no hurry, it can be a new Christmas next week! We spent Christmas day at Aunt Cheri’s house in Irving with all the family including Nana and Pop!
That brings me to today. New Years Eve 2009. Tonight we are spending it with some friends. A small gathering of people close to us to bring in the New Year and reflect on the past. I am hoping Elyssa is going to stay up for the New Year, in fact she is still napping right now in hopes that she will be able to stay in and ring in the New Year with mommy and daddy….
Happy New Year from our house to your!
