Baby Michael

Michael Jordan Gillespie

born December 27, 2007

3:48 PM

20 inches

8 lbs, 11 oz.

Santa's Village

Last night, the girls, Charie, and I went to Santa's village downtown and got to see Santa, Mrs. Claus, real reindeer, elves, and pretend snow. They got to make jingle bell bracelets and frost gingerbread cookies. Ashley was feeling too shy to tell Santa what she wanted, but Paige told him she wanted a new teddy bear (to go along with the 25 she already has...) and that Daddy wanted a new game to play.


Mrs Claus read the girls a cute story about a southern snowman (he had to be kept in a snowglobe, of course!)

Here's the fake cinnamon-sented bubble snow (we're pretty sure that's as good as it's going to get this year, but the girls are both absolutlely convinced that it will snow on Christmas.)

Here's the cutest Christmas tree I've seen!

Ashley loved the nutcracker bear!

No, those are not actually real candy canes, but the girls wanted to taste just to make sure. Delicious!

Christmas Program

Yesterday, the girls had their Christmas program at preschool. It was really cute and the girls did a great job. Paige's class started the program out by walking down the aisle, shaking some jingle bells and standing in front singing Jingle Bells, then she got to come sit with us and watch the rest. Ashley's class and the other 4 year old class sang and then acted out the nativity story. Ashley carried the gold down the aisle and delivered it to a wise man. We've been trying to figure out what she was for a few weeks--she said she gave the gold to a shepherd--and I asked, "you mean to the baby Jesus?" "Nope...to one of those guys," "Oh, so you're a wise man?" "No" "A wise girl?" "No, I carry the gold" Hmmm. We just figured she was a wise man, but I guess she was the gold. It was a fun way to get ready for Christmas! (The pictures didn't turn out very well because of the lighting, but here are pics so you get the idea)



Paige's class--she's second from right on the back row.



Paige was supposed to come sit with us, but apparently there was something more interesting up front. James had to run up and get her.



Ashley's class--she's in the back row, center, waving :)


The gold, frankinsence, and myrrh girls.

Ashley waving again

In her classroom after the program

Christmas Presents

When we were picking out our Christmas tree, Paige found a box that was just her size and hid in it. James found her and said, "I think we should wrap you up and put you under the tree!" Ever since then, the girls have been begging to be wrapped up. Here they are:

We are having a really fun tree this year. While I think that white lights and fancy decorations are beautiful, the girls were SO EXCITED in the store when we let them pick out the colored ones. Then, when we put them on the tree and lit it, they burst into singing the first line of "Oh, Christmas Tree" over and over and twirling around and around. Since all of our decorations are in storage, we now have the most colorful candy canes Target sells, sparkly tinsel, and some ornaments the girls made today on the tree. We are planning on making our own angel/star to go on top--I'm not exactly sure how, but I know it's going to involve a lot of glitter.

Circus!

The Barnum and Bailey circus came to town last weekend and we had a great time! We really liked the pre-show, where the girls got to talk to the performers and see everything up close. Ashley was really excited to see the trapeeze artists and all the different animals. Paige fell asleep halfway through (and it was LOUD!), but James tried to wake her up for the really funny performing dogs. She saw some of that and then managed to stay awake the rest of the show.

Talk about front row seats!!

Carousel and Fountains

There's a brand new outdoor mall in town that has fancy shops and a great carousel and play fountains. We went to check it out yesterday and the girls had a fabulous time! All the other moms steered clear of us playing in the fountains and we got lots of chuckles and a few funny looks. I guess that's because it's the middle of November, but don't worry--it was 75 degrees outside and sunny! At first, I kept trying to get them to not get their clothes wet and to go to the car, but they were just having too much fun. I let them play until they told me they were too soaking wet and ready to go.

Paige's Third Birthday

Yesterday was Paige's third birthday! She's getting to be such a big girl!

Ashley got a little present, too.

Preschool Thanksgiving Feasts

Today, the girls had their Thanksgiving feasts at preschool and they both got to dress up like Indians. Ashley took her role very seriously--when she saw me, she just said "how!" When their teachers asked what they were thankful for, Paige said, "the baby in Mommy's belly" and Ashley said, "soft kitties, presents from Santa, books, and balloons from parties." Here are our little Indians:

Paige's Haircut!

We went ahead and cut Paige's hair! She has been thrilled that she doesn't have to get piggytails in the mornings before school and I have been thrilled that she hasn't been crying and fussing about her hair. Here she is:

Before:

After:

Halloween

Since we had to move on Halloween, it was pretty stressful for James and me, but I don't think the girls noticed. I was very happy with their costumes--Old Navy, 50% off, the weekend before Halloween, especially since Ashley has been saying all year that she wanted to be a werewolf. Last year, she watched the Backyardigans Halloween special that featured Uniqua dressed up like a sweet werewolf with pink spots and ever since then, that's what she's wanted to be. She had almost convinced Paige that she needed to be a vampire (also featured in the special) when I took them to the Halloween store to check out other costumes. They then decided Ashley would be a pink kitty and Paige a puppy (phew!), but we wanted to make sure to get the best costumes. When we saw these costumes, they decided to be matching pink poodles. I'm so glad. I'm not sure how I would have explained to their preschool teachers why my 2 and 4 year olds even know about vampires and werewolves.

Halloween night, we went over to one of James' friend's houses and went trick-or-treating around their neighborhood and had a really fun time. The girls were funny-every time they'd go up to a house, they'd say, "I like your Halloween decorations" or "are those real spiders" or any number of other questions/compliments. They wanted to have conversations with everyone instead of just getting their candy and running.

Here they are:

We liked the little tails on the costumes :)

First Day of Preschool!

The girls both started preschool this week and are loving it (and so am I!) The first day happened to be their class Halloween parties, so they got to go in costume. The school does tote bags instead of book bags, so the girls and I puffy painted all over them so they'd be unique. As you can see, Paige is not big on having her hair done at 8:30 in the morning--I'm dying to give her a bob with bangs, but James is against it. We'll see what happens.
It's a church-run preschool so they celebrate the holidays and Ashley is so excited about that. Her class gets to dress up like Indians for the Thanksgiving feast and they have started practicing for the Christmas program. She came home Friday singing the "gloria" part of Angels we Have Heard on High and then another song that apparently goes, "Jesus, Jesus, was a lovely child." I think she might be making that one up--we'll see. Paige's teacher said she happily played by herself during free play time (not surprising--she's just like James was, I'm told) and she was very excited that there was a matching baby doll to her special baby in the classroom that she played with. We're all very happy with preschool!

Cotton-pickin' pumpkins

Here are a few more pics from the pumpkin patch (which is in the middle of about 100 cotton fields, so it's called cotton-pickin' pumpkins!):


The girls were big enough to ride the corn train this year, which was about 10 of these little trains, pulled by one of the farmers on a tractor. Couldn't get much more fun!



Just checkin' to see if James has grown any.

Paige going on an adventure in the hay. The brown field in the background is one of the many cotton fields.

A lot changes in a year!

Yesterday, we went to the same pumpkin patch we went to when we first moved here last year, and when we got home, I noticed that I had taken some very similar pictures as the ones I took last year. They've both changed more than I realized this year. Paige has gotten a lot taller and Ashley's face is much more like a little girl than the baby face she still had last year. Here are the comparisons:



LAST YEAR: Paige was just over 2 and a half feet.





THIS YEAR: She's right at 3 feet!

LAST YEAR: Ashley wouldn't stand still for the picture, but it looks like she might a been a bit over 3 feet.

THIS YEAR: She stood nice and still and straight and is 3 and a half feet.

LAST YEAR: Paige liked lying in the corn.

THIS YEAR: She loved it!






LAST YEAR: Paige got buried up to her belly in the "corn crib."

THIS YEAR: James buried her all the way up to her neck and she thought it was great!

LAST YEAR: Ashley had a fun time in the corn.

THIS YEAR: She had a great time, but was a little concerned about the corn getting in her clothing.

LAST YEAR: Ashley liked riding the tractor-trikes, but it was pretty tough to pedal and steer with big kids in the ring.

THIS YEAR: She was one of the big kids and raced around and around!

LAST YEAR: Paige's feet just wouldn't touch the pedals.

THIS YEAR: She could reach the pedals and make it go (slowly)!

LAST YEAR: The girls liked getting buried together in the sand.

THIS YEAR: They liked it, again!

LAST YEAR: Ashley's favorite animal was the little pony.


THIS YEAR: We nearly had to drag her away from the puppies!