Last night the girls met . . .

Santa and Mrs. Claus (at the ward party)! Alaina was fascinated with old St. Nick.

And then she was scared.

It took some time (and cuddling) before she calmed down.

Thanksgiving

We had a lot of fun at the beach with just the usual ups and downs. As usual my family (including Drew) did not their pictures taken.

One of the downs: we had some sickness.

Liz woke up Wednesday at 5 a.m. complaining of an earache. She cried for an hour, begging to go home. Drew got medication at Walmart and she was fine. The most unfortunate thing about the whole situation was that Drew had arrived just that very morning at 2 a.m. and we also had to make breakfast for everyone.

Alaina also had a sick day, regular sleep issues (she awoke by 5:30 six out of seven days), and a brief rash on her face from hummus (pictured below).

We spent most of our time lounging around the house. The kids watched t.v. . . .

played in the spare bedroom . . .

and played computer games . . .

Aside from lounging, the grown ups played many rousing games of Killer Bunnies.

Like all the children, Alaina enjoyed the game cupboard.

She especially liked the Trouble pieces.

We did manage to leave the house occasionally. The guys had a golf day, the ladies had pedicures and lunch, we took the kids to see Planet 51 (I don't recommend seeing it), we walked along the beach, and one day Liz went with her friends to the local aquarium.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious (and completely homemade). The menu: cornbread stuffing, salad, sweet potato casserole, stuffed mushrooms, turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, green been casserole, veggie tray, gobs of rolls, apple crisp, and loads of pie (3 each of pumpkin and lemon).

Our last day in the Outer Banks was the nicest weather-wise.

We had a fabulous time flying kites. Later in the evening we went to see Christmas kite show at the local sand dunes.

As usual I was on the lookout for Lizzie's little dances:

Surprised

Anyone who has ever shared a meal with Liz knows how difficult she can be. Usually she experiences at least one time out.

Tonight she completely surprised me. She made a face when she bit into her potsticker and ate slowly, but that was it.

Later she came up to me and said, "I'm glad you gave me that, Mom. I didn't like it, but thanks for giving it to me."

That is certainly not something I ever thought I hear from her (until maybe she became a mother and came to her senses).

Timeline

Yesterday Liz had to turn in a timeline of her life including 5 events. She wanted to make a t.v. with a moving picture (like an example she had seen at school). I couldn't figure out how to do that so here's what we came up with instead: There's a wrapping paper tube running down the middle of the boxes so they all rotate. It satisfied Lizzie's desire for a timeline with moving parts and I was happy to use up scrapbook paper and some of the boxes we've been collecting for our "box city."

I thought all the kids would be building stuff (based on Lizzie's t.v. request), but she said she was the only one and that her teacher had to search for a place to store it in the classroom. Apparently the other children had posters and books. Oops.

The Cruise

So, I figured I should blog about my last vacation (Caribbean cruise) before I take my next one (Thanksgiving in the OBX).

It was fabulous. It was my fifth cruise, but the first time I had a room with a balcony which was SO nice. Some highlights: sleeping in, naps, lots of reading time, specialty drinks, and towels folded to resemble animals. I read the books Botany of Desire and Peace Like a River (I recommend them both).
As always, the food was fabulous (and plentiful). One night we were even surprised with a Happy Anniversary cake by the wait staff.

We had a lot of fun (though sometimes Andrew didn't want to capture all that fun on film).

We chose the Holland America line because I insisted on fresh water pools (some cruise ships have salty swimming pools). However, we never ended up in the main pools because we bought a pass to the Thermo Pool & Hydro Suite. Loved it. Especially the Hydro Suite which consisted of heated chairs and a wall of windows.We enjoyed all our ports of call:

The first one was the cruise line's private beach: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.We had another beach day at Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos.

At Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands we went snorkeling at Stingray City, something I have wanted to do since my parents went about 15 years ago. We were surprised by how big the rays were. Sometimes they almost knocked us over trying to get to the food and one accidentally sucked on my back. It was brief, but long enough to leave an ugly hicky. Oh, and it hurt. A lot. We each picked a shore excursion. I picked the stingrays. Drew picked the Kohunlich Mayan ruins in (near) Costa Maya, Mexico. It was sweltering but we still enjoyed the trip and thought the ruins were pretty impressive.

Random

So first of all, I can't believe how warm it has been these last few days. On Sunday I actually had to turn on our AC for a few hours. . . .

Yesterday we took Lizzie grocery shopping. Halfway down the treat aisle Lizzie excitedly exclaimed "Look! Giant Kitkats!" We turned to see what she was looking at and she was holding up a regular-sized candy bar. Apparently up until now the only Kitkats she had seen were the mini Halloween ones.

14 months

Alaina has been delightful. It's been really fun to watch her learn and grow. She has recently enjoyed sitting at her little kid table, though she needs help getting into the chair (she's still a shorty). She also loves this step stool. She carries it around with her and uses it as chair. Finally two days ago she managed to stand on it.

And unfortunately she was also able to open the cupboard (another recent development). Obviously I need to do a whole new level of baby proofing.

Also, she is now scared of the vacuum cleaner (just this last month). She doesn't cry and scream like Lizzie used to, she just quickly walks to the furthest possible corner of the apartment and quietly stands there until I finish vacuuming. It is such a change. I used to be able to vacuum around her and sometimes even nudge her out of the way with the machine. . . .