Girl Time!

Lately Lydia has been really into "girl time"- spending time with Mama doing grown-up things.  The other day we had an afternoon latte and popcorn party!

Lydia loved her peppermint steamed milk.

Preschool!

About three weeks ago the inevitable happened... Lydia stopped napping!  At almost 2 years on the dot, my little honey decided that she didn't need to nap anymore.  Instead of napping, she now jumps in her crib for 2 hours straight, singing and talking to herself.  Since that very sad and fateful day, Lydia has only been napping every other day, and not necessarily for the 2 blissful hours of peace that I used to enjoy.  I'm still dealing with the loss, but to ease our transition into nap-lessness I signed Lydia up for a one day a week preschool (technically they call it "Mother's Day Out") at a local church.  It's a very sweet program that Lydia's cousin also attends.  

Here is Lydia on her first day of preschool, last Wednesday.

She was so proud of her new lunch bag!  She wanted to carry it everywhere.

Preschool is from 9am to 2:30pm.  The kids all bring lunches and blankets/stuffed animals for nap time.  Apparently last week Lydia absolutely flipped out during nap time, but she did much better today.  She didn't sleep but rested quietly with her favorite sidekick Woof.  She LOVES going to preschool, and I'm enjoying a little bit of quiet to get a few things done around the house on Wednesdays.  That will all change, though, in about 9 days when Baby #2 is expected to make her debut!

Christmas at the Zoo

On Sunday afternoon we took Lydia to the zoo where there was a special Christmas event for children.  We met up beforehand with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, Lydia's two cousins, and Lydia's great aunt.  We are all really enjoying living near family.  It's special to see how much Lydia loves her extended family... particularly her uncles.  Every uncle is known simply as "Uncle," and whenever we see an uncle, Lydia can't stop talking about it for days afterwards...

We started off in a party room with lots of snacks and cookies.  Lydia was VERY into the cookies and hot chocolate.  I'm embarrassed to say that I let her eat 3 incredibly large cookies.  She also liked snuggling up with her Uncle Daniel.

Lydia and her cousins were not fans of Santa Claus...

The kids wouldn't go near him!

Lydia and her cousin engaged in a not-so-covert operation to steal presents from under the tree.

After the kids were sufficiently sugared-up, we bundled up to tour the zoo and look at the lights.

We saw a walrus, polar bear, penguins, flamingoes and even a real reindeer!

We ended at the shark tank... where John actually touched the sharks!

Special thanks to Aunt Myrta for the lovely photos!