Oh Christmas Tree

I wanted to get a post up before I head to Philly for the week for work. We finally went out on Friday and cut down our Christmas tree, a family tradition. We were trying to wait around for nice weather, but when we saw that wasn't going to happen I figured that it's all about snow and winter, so let's venture out in the elements and enjoy ourselves! It was actually raining off and on, but the conditions weren't bad. Once again we ended up with a huge tree--bigger than we planned for. I think it was over 8 feet tall, but since we have high ceilings in our living room it fits. Alex fell asleep on the way to the tree farm (with a lollipop in her mouth) since she'd missed her nap.

Here's Alex and daddy venturing off to find our tree!

Our massive tree laying in the snow after Marlon cut it down...

Now this farm we go to does NOT have a bailer/shaker (we learned this last year) so we had to drive home on the interstate with this tree tied on top of our car, not wrapped up at all. If only we had a video camera for the ride home--I drove and Marlon held on to some of the twine through the sunroof to keep it from sliding around. We had to pull over a few times to re-adjust, and we finally made it on the 25 minute drive home. It was pretty amusing but it's so worth it when we pull into the driveway and realize we made it!

Our smiling kid helping hang the lights.

Alex and mommy (and baby brother) putting up the ornaments.

I was also able to make my first batch of christmas cookies yesterday--snickerdoodles, which we were able to enjoy while decorating the tree and listening to christmas music. Now it feels like the holiday season is here! I was even able to wrap a few presents last night and put them under the tree.

On a different subject, Alex has been doing great with potty training--only 1 or 2 accidents in the past week. Yesterday she was down for a nap (but not sleeping) and Marlon checked in on her only to find out she decided to go into her bathroom (which is off of her room) and use her little potty to go poop. Very independent of her, however she made a little bit (ok-a lot) of a mess because she then tried to dump it into the big toilet, and when it didn't come clean she went through half a box of wipes trying to clean it, then clogging the big toilet, then trying to change her dirty clothes (since she didn't wipe so well)--so Marlon immediately called for assistance and he got her right into the tub while I got the task of cleaning up the mess. It was pretty amusing (I debated taking pictures but thought I could probably do without), but despite the mess it's nice to see she's trying to do it on her own. "All By Myself" is the theme for this week. She wants to do everything all by herself, from getting dressed, to going to the bathroom, to getting stuff to eat. They sure do grow up fast!