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.

Kenton gets into the holiday spirit by kicking back on the couch with a giant platic candy cane. He's very by all things Christmas and is thrilled when he sees a tree or other decorations out in a store or other public place. I'm afraid he's going to be a little sad come January when all the pretty decorations disappear.

We got out the Christmas decorations this morning and Kenton is very excited, to say the least. He started off his holiday decorating by covering Emery in ornaments. She's a pretty easy-going girl, so she didn't mind too much. I think she just enjoys the attention from her big brother.

Emery wasn't nearly as excited as Kenton about our trip to the mall.

We went to the mall today to check out their Christmas decorations and see Santa Claus. The decorations all had a train theme, and our little train-nut could not have been more excited. There were several trains in the huge Christmas tree in the food court, two trains that ran on tracks suspended from the ceiling into two wings of the mall, and even a train that you could ride! Kenton and Edward took a ride while Emery and I watched. Kenton wouldn't go see Santa, but he had a great time looking at all the trains and Christmas trees. It definitely was worth the trip.

I tried taking some pictures of the kiddos in their Christmas finery tonight, so could use them to have some photo cards made. It did not go well. This is one of the better shots from the evening. Despite Emery's cute expression, I probably won't be using it for our holiday greetings. Maybe we'll have another photo shoot tomorrow, when the kids are not so tired. And I am not loaded up on medicine for a sinus infection.

I went six days without taking any pictures of my children. I think that's a record. Kenton must have been going through withdrawal because he got the camera out of the desk drawer tonight, handed it to me and said, "I need to smile for you, mama." However, I couldn't actually get a picture of him smiling.

For the past few days Kenton and I have been a little under the weather with colds. He didn't feel like eating for a couple of days, which is highly unusual for our boy. In an effort to get him to eat something we bought several foods he doesn't normally get to enjoy. Popsicles were a hit.

Our sweet little turkey

Kenton and Edward baked cookies with Halloween sprinkles yesterday

Happy Halloween! It was a big exciting day here, and we took lots of pictures. I'll post more tomorrow when I am not so tired.

Kenton was excited to have his picture taken with Emily, who is one of his favorite engines. I think his favorites are any of the ones he owns. The day out with Thomas was so much fun. He's still talking about it today!

Today was the big Thomas the train event. It was fun but exhausting. Kenton was sound asleep about ten minutes into the drive home. We rode the train with Nana & Papaw, then there were lots of fun activities to check out like a bouncy house and a hay bale maze. Nana and Papaw did a little shopping, too, since the organizers of the event provided so many convenient opportunities for spending money.

The Boston Marathon was today--the Boston, Georgia mini-marathon, that is-- so we loaded up the kids and drove over to check things out. In addition to the race, they have other fun stuff like arts & crafts vendors, games for the kids, and a parade. We looked around town and then went in to Boston Bar-B-Que to have lunch just as the parade was starting. We had a table in front of the window and parade went down the street right in front of us, so we could see everything but got to be inside in comfy chairs and out of the wind. It was great! Kenton and Edward ran out and picked up a few pieces of candy tossed from the parade while we were waiting for our food. We finished our meal just as the parade ended and the restaurant started to get busy, then went over to let Kenton play in the bouncy house for a few minutes. It was $2 well spent. After ten minutes or so of intense running and bouncing, he was exhausted and ready to come home and nap. Tomorrow we're meeting up with Nana and Papaw in Cordele for the big Thomas the train event. I can't even imagine how excited he's going to be!

Kenton apparently got chilly during his nap today and decided to cover himself up with the curtains. Maybe the blanket was too heavy.

You may notice that Beary is not among the pile of stuffed animals in his bed. After nearly two weeks of constant togetherness, Kenton and Beary appear to have parted ways. They have not spent any time together for the last two days, and Puppy (who can be seen lying next to Kenton in the picture) is Kenton's new best buddy. We're not sure what came between Kenton and Beary, but we're still hoping they can work things out.

Kenton practices his candy-eating skills in preparation for Halloween

The Methodist Church downtown had a fall festival tonight and we walked up and checked it out after I got off work. Kenton had a great time. Emery didn't get much out of the festivities, but she sure looked cute in her pumpkin hat! She also had on her cute "Mommy's little pumpkin" shirt, but I didn't think to take her bib off before I snapped the picture.

The weather here was actually kinda cool today--temps didn't get out of the 60s! It felt like fall being out this evening. We don't get much fall here in south Georgia, so we enjoyed it.

This morning Kenton woke up around 6:30, and my wonderful husband got up with him and let me sleep. When he did sent Kenton in to wake me up a couple hours later, this is what I opened my eyes to. It's hard to wake up in a bad mood when you see this much cuteness first thing in the morning.

Kenton and Bear are still best buds, and Bear continues to go everywhere we do. He trekked to Tallahassee with us today for some lunch and shopping, then rode in the stroller with Kenton when they took Lucy out for a walk this evening. Bear also sits at the table during all meals, and stays safely cradled in Kenton's arms when we go anywhere in the car. It took a lot of talking for Edward to convince him that Bear did not have to have his own car seat, but I think he's accepted it now.

Our blue-eyed baby girl

Kenton has a baby. He picked up this bear on Saturday from the pile of stuffed animals in our living room and has been parenting it ever since. He takes it everywhere, feeds it bottles, burps it, and changes its diapers. While he demanded a real bottle to feed his baby, the diapers are imaginary...at least so far.

Emery can hold her head up pretty well these days, at least for short periods of time, so we decided to let her try out the Bumbo chair. She did pretty well in it, but got fussy after a few minutes. I don't think she minded sitting up so much as she's just spoiled and thinks someone should be holding her all the time! Kenton thinks that any time the camera's out he needs to be in front of it, so he was putting on a show as we were trying to get a few good pictures of Em.

Granny Cardin sent a Kenton a Halloween package that arrived yesterday. He was very excited to receive it. He loves stickers, so he immediately wanted to put those all over his arms, and he was really fascinated by the jack-o-lantern necklace with the flashing light.

Kenton got to pet several animals at the fall festival on Sunday. This particular goat was his favorite because it moved a little slower than most of the other animals. As you can tell from the look on his face, he was pretty excited by the whole experience.

I had to work today, but Edward took Kenton and Emery to the fall festival at Pebble Hill Plantation. There was a petting zoo, farm machinery, and lots of other things that a 2 year old boy finds very interesting. Emery wasn't as impressed--she slept through most of the festivities.

We also went to Lowe's tonight after I got home. Kenton usually goes in and checks out the riding lawnmowers, which he calls tractors. They've started putting Christmas decorations out in the store, though, so tonight he was torn over which he wanted to look at. Finally he realized he could stand by the lawnmowers and see the Christmas decorations. He leaned against a lawnmower and looked at me and said, "I touch the tractor and see Christmas, mama." I don't think he could have been any happier.

Kenton loves the bathtub. There are usually more toys than water, and I think he'd play in there for hours if we'd let him. Despite all the toys that are usually in the water, his favorite tub playthings are two small cups that he fills up with water and dumps from one to the other. Apparently that kind of thing is endlessly fascinating if you're two.

For the first few weeks of Emery's life, I was convinced she looked like me. I see now that I was wrong. Like Kenton, she's a little carbon copy of her daddy, but with my nose. I still think she's built more like me than Kenton is, but that may change as she gets older, too!

Happy October!