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.