Toohig Tidbits

We hear, “Oh, man!,” at least once every thirty minutes. Not sure where she picked up that saying, but it’s hilarious.

She and I were laying in bed one morning, and she said, “Come over here and hug me, then cuddle with me!” When I rolled over and squeezed her, she then complained with a squeal, “Too tight!”

One day she was crying about something and came to find me saying, “Mommy always feel me better.” I’m going to be really sad when she gets all her verb tense and word order correct one day.

I walked into the den recently to find her jumping wildly on the couch. I asked her, “Why are you jumping on the couch?!” She smartly responded, “Because I’m so happy that you’re my mama!” The girl can think quickly on her feet.

She often tells me, “Mama, I love you, even when you’re grumpy.” Humph.

She asked me once, “Do you think God gets tired from doing everything?” Good question, baby girl; good question.

After a long nap at Spiffer’s, she woke up and said, “Oh good, now I won’t be foul!” Spiffer busted me for her picking that phrase up at home. :)

She loved our Elf on the Shelf this year, and she either called it ‘Elf on the Shelf’ or ‘Happy Joy.’

Grandma recently told us some sayings that her mother, Helen Grace Waldron, used to say to her and her sisters when she and Grandpa Waldron were in a heated discussion. I think they are pretty relevant and worth remembering…

• “If both of us thought the same thing, one of us would be entirely unnecessary.”
• “Don’t worry; we have a strange and wonderful relationship- he’s strange, and I’m wonderful.” (I’ve already pulled this one out!!)

Bathing beauty

”Frosty the Snowman” has been a holiday favorite this year. One night, when Spiffer and GD were babysitting, they brought over a Frosty book that sang the tune- but it was VERY fast. HG and Spiffer got the giggles trying to keep up the pace.

Play date with the Coats girls

My lap is pretty full most nights before bedtime. “Say ‘cheese,’ Momo!” I can’t get enough of these naptime snuggles……or these to-die-for eyelashes. 

Ice Skating Date with Courtlyn

For our holiday date with Rachel and Courtlyn, we met the girls for an ice skating adventure on Thursday. Helen Grace has been begging to go skating again, so she was pumped to get to skate AND see Courtlyn. Again, peer pressure won out, and when HG saw Courtlyn jetting around without her mama helping her with the walker, she decided she’d give it a try…and did so well on her own! She’s still asking to go to ice skating classes, so we might have a little ice princess on our hands.

  Dec 2012- Daddy’s skates and HG’s skates{Flash back to their skates in Nov 2011 at the zoo} 

Lunch at Tropical Smoothie

Day-After-Christmas Snow 2012

We woke up on December 26th to a light blanket of S-N-O-W! This is the first snow that Helen Grace can remember, so we obviously only made it an hour or so before we had to bundle up to go outside and play. She was super excited to perfect her snowball making skills, but it turned out that more than half of the time, I was asked to make the very snowball that she would then throw at me! Now that’s true love! We ran and played and laughed for a good while until we were wet, cold, and muddy and HG started coughing- always our sign to take a break. We had a fabulous time and hope that we are lucky enough to be able to play in snow again this year!

All bundled up and ready to play 

Gotcha, Mama!Mama getting slammed with her own snowball Showing her how to make it snow down on us Now it’s her turn. Lots of squeals! It’s a wonder her tongue didn’t get frostbitten. ;)

Here Comes Santa!

Well, Helen Grace *must* have been on Santa’s nice list this year, because as she says, “He heard me! He heard I wanted a pink dollhouse!” Santa has earned a hard core believer after this year’s holiday season.

She slept in our bed that night and woke up around 7:15 a.m. with the first words out of her mouth being, “Has Santa come yet? I’m really tired of waiting.” She was very excited with her loot, and she played ALL DAY with her dollhouse and princess Barbies. She has also really enjoyed the Hello Kitty CD player with the Disney Princess CD. She’ll turn on the CD and get to playing house. Too cute.

We had a pretty low key day around the house, and we spent most of it in our pjs. Spiffer and Granddaddy brought over breakfast and checked out all of HG’s loot, and later Grandma and Peggy came over to help me get the turkey ready. For the record, all I did was put it in my oven so I don’t deserve any of the credit, but after Grandma’s tutorial, I am realizing that baking the turkey might be do-able for me in years to come.

At one point in the afternoon, HG asked for Ramen noodles, and John and I found her sitting at her spot in the dining room in her pajamas eating Ramen noodles with her little Reed & Barton flatware. We busted out laughing when we saw her, and she looked at us like, “What in the world is so funny?”

Then our family came over for dinner around 5:00 p.m. in the pouring rain. We spent a lot of time chatting around the dinner table, and since William was here, we had a lively time at the kids’ table to make up for his absence at Thanksgiving. We had a great night celebrating Christmas with our family…and then Grandma’s car got stuck in our yard, and Granddaddy hit a deer in Spiffer’s car on the way home. Everyone was safe and fine, but by the end of it, we all needed a stiff drink! Here’s to car safety in 2013!

Christmas Eve

We started off Christmas Eve with lunch and gifts at Spiffer and Granddaddy’s house with Bubba. Helen Grace was super excited to hand out presents, and of course, OPEN presents. The big hits were a beautiful doll with a bajillion outfits and accessories from Bubba and also a carriage (that can change into a pumpkin), complete with Cinderella and Prince Charming dolls, from Spiffer and Granddaddy. On this video, I missed her jumping up and down, but the girl was going crazy over the carriage. (And forgive me for the color- I did something to my camera settings at the last minute!)

After a delicious lunch at Spiffer’s, we headed back home for naps, and then it was time for one of my favorite holiday traditions- the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my Bubba’s church in Byhalia. This year, Helen Grace was really taken by the candlelight part of the service, and she was very quiet and calm and watched all the details. She wanted to hold her own candle, of course, but soon handed it over when the wax got too close to her little fingers. She also had a cow when a family with a baby dressed up as Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus walked in the sanctuary. “Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus!”

After the service, we headed to Grandma’s for another one of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions- opening presents in front of the fire. This was definitely the year of princesses and fairies, as some of HG’s favorite gifts were a princess nightgown, Rapunzel Barbie, slippers, and a handmade fairy quilt. We headed over to the Browns too to finish our rounds of all of HG’s “people” and finally got her to bed around 10 p.m.