Emery adores Kenton. She turns toward his voice whenever he talks, smiles and laughs when he pays attention to her, and just generally gets more excited about being around him than she does about me or her daddy. Tonight we put her in the bumbo seat and Kenton sat down beside her and held her hand and talked with her for a while, then "read" her a book. He had been running wild all day long, so it was very sweet to see him be (at least somewhat) still and interact with her.

It was such a busy, wonderful Christmas. Except for the stomach virus. That wasn't so wonderful, but I'm just trying to forget about it. These are a few of my favorite pictures from the last week. At Granny Cardin's house, Kenton decided that he wanted the giant stuffed Santa to sleep in the bed with him, along with the half-dozen train cars and assorted stuffed animals he normally sleeps with. He also took a small lighted Christmas tree to bed with him every night we were there, but I moved it to the bedside table before taking this picture.

When we opened gifts with the Chambers side of the family, Emery had been very fussy and grumpy all day thanks to the cold she has been battling for almost two weeks now. We took her sleeper off to change her into some cute Christmas clothes and her mood immediately improved. Since we're easy-going parents, we decided there was nothing wrong with leaving her in her diaper if that made her feel better, so that's why she's sporting a diaper and a Santa hat.

I love the picture of Emery and Edward laying in the floor reading. She had really been paying attention, alternately staring at his face and the picture in the book but she turned her head to look at me when I started snapping pictures. Isn't she adorable?

Our Christmas was so fun-filled and action-packed, we had to wear safety goggles. Hope yours was just as great.

Rudolph made a trip from the North Pole all the way to our library this morning! Emery was a little fussy when we took her picture. Rudolph did his best to make her smile, but she wasn't her usual happy self. Kenton met Tyler at the library and they hit it off right away. It took them a few minutes to warm up to Rudolph, but we eventually got some good pictures. Then they headed off to play in the Mother Goose house.

Thomasville's Victorian Christmas celebration is going on tonight and tomorrow. Our friend Trish joined Edward and me and the kiddos and we all went downtown to enjoy the festivities tonight. It was still warm enough that I was breaking a sweat when I carried Kenton around, so some of the more wintery activities, like marshmallow roasting, were not too popular. Of course, Kenton's favorite thing was the train ride. Trish and I rode with him while Edward spent some time with Emery and snapped a few pictures of us.

My favorite Kenton quote of the day: As we were driving by a Christmas light display, he looked at the nativity and said, "Hi baby Jesus! We're here to see your Christmas."

It has been freakishly warm here lately, even for south Georgia. I like warm weather but temps in the mid 80s two weeks before Christmas just doesn't seem right. Emery doesn't mind the weather, though, since it gave her a chance to bust out a cute little spring romper for a trip to the park with daddy and brother this afternoon.

Kenton loves to vacuum and you can bet neither of his parents is going to stop him from doing it. Edward has tried to convince him that scrubbing the bathtub is lots of fun too, but so far he hasn't had any luck.

Em was decked out in some of her fancy Christmas clothes over the weekend--when the temps were only in the low 70s.

Pictures from the light display at Dorothy Oven park in Tallahassee. You get to walk through the lights, which is just great. Much like he did last year, Kenton squealed and ran from display to display all night. We could just understand more of what he was saying this year. :-) Emery seemed to enjoy looking at the lights too, especially the ones that twinkled or blinked. I really need to read my new camera manual to figure out how to take better pictures in this kind of lighting situation, though.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a trip to see Santa Cow at the Chick-Fil-A.

Despite what this picture would leave you to believe, Kenton gets very excited about Christmas decorations. We went to see the lights in the park in Tallahassee tonight and he was just crazy! I'll get the pictures uploaded tomorrow when I am not so tired.

Em got out her snazzy winter hat to go to the fesitval. Isn't she a cutie? She's such a good-natured little girl. She's really starting to smile and laugh now and we just can't get enough of that. As Kenton would say, we "lub her berry so much."

They had a couple of REALLY BIG trees at the Jingle Bell Festival. Kenton was impressed.

Edward and Thomas tried to convince Kenton to talk to Santa, but he wasn't having it. He didn't seem scared of Santa, just not interested.

I got my Christmas present early this year. My wonderful husband got up before the crack of dawn on the day after Thanksgiving and stood in line to get into the Office Depot and get me a digital camera they had on sale. I loved my old camera, but it didn't do very well with fast-moving subjects (like toddlers) or in mixed lighting. So far, the new one seems fabulous! I'm sure once I learn how to really use it, it will be even better.

On Saturday, we went to Valdosta to check out the Jingle Bell Festival. Kenton does love a good festival, and this one did not disappoint. There were bounce houses, fire trucks, horse-drawn carriage rides, funnel cakes, and lots and lots of Christmas decorations. Those are all high on Kenton's favorite things list. The weather was great and a good time was had by all.