The Griswold's we ain't, but the lights are up!

The picture doesn't do it justice at all!

Christopher Robin put the outside lights and Christmas decorations up yesterday. Yay! Roo, Winnie and Tigger were so impressed and awed when they came back from their overnight trip to Grandma's house. Now when we come home from Thanksgiving they will already be up and we will get to enjoy them that much longer.

We typically are lucky if we get a string of lights up over the garage. This year we have candy cane lights and an inflatable snowman! Oh yeah, we're movin' up.

We also FILLED our yardwaste can with leaves again yesterday. You can't even tell now because our trees are still losing leaves! However, it still felt good to make a dent in the leaf pile. Even if it was only for a day.

Have a wonderful day!

All it takes is a special bear...

Lately, Winnie has been pretty spazzy. She'll be four years old in January and she has been practicing being four over the past few weeks. Bossy, hyper, loud, stubborn, opinionated...oh and...super fun, giggly, dancing, singing, helping mommy, and doing all things "By myself!"

I'm leading with this because today was preschool day and it has been pouring rain outside all day. The way things have been going lately, that would be a recipe for an afternoon meltdown followed by repetitive begging to watch Elmo, Clifford, or Curious George and mooching for snacks every 5 minutes. However, something unusual and exciting happened after preschool today: Winnie brought Bailey Bear home for a weekend visit!

At Winnie's preschool each child in her class has an opportunity to bring Bailey Bear home for a weekend visit. Along with Bailey Bear comes a large blue backpack filled with dress up clothes for Bailey and a journal in which Bailey writes about her visit for the next lucky child to read. As Winnie came walking out to the car today, escorted by her teacher, she carried this enormous backpack and was grinning from ear to ear. "Mom, I get to bring Bailey Bear home!!!!!" Winnie squealed.

Well, I could never have imagined the effect Bailey Bear would have on Winnie. She spent 2 HOURS playing with Bailey quietly in the living room. She ate lunch very quickly and insisted that Bailey join her for lunch and then went right back to changing Bailey's clothes and reading Bailey all of her favorite stories.

It's amazing how one small, worn out old bear and some worn dress up doll clothes can completely transform, mesmerize and activate a preschooler's imagination far beyond that of any video game or television show.

I can't wait to see what Winnie and Bailey get to do together tomorrow. Totally cool!

Kim (Kanga-Mom)