I knew she went down for a nap too easily...

The other day, I looked at the clock and realized Lexi was overdue for her nap. She was playing with some old stickers of mine, and so I just laid her down and let her keep the stickers, you know, to occupy her until she finally fell asleep. And she got in bed and didn't make a peep. Later that evening when she awoke, I noticed her shirt covered in stickers, but left it at that. Then it was bedtime and I pulled back the covers to this:

Oh well, it got me 4 hours of quiet time, so it was worth the cleanup :-)

Which girl is it?

Can you tell which one is Lexi and which one is Carissa*? Lexi is our little contortionist...it's amazing the things she fits into.

* I'm sure you can... I know you aren't that dumb. It's just a funny post.

Look Mom! A Dinosaur!

Yesterday, I was trying to get my hair done quickly for church with Eddie on speakerphone, while Carissa slept, and Lexi was occupied with her crayons and paper. Then Lexi calls my attention to her drawing with "Look Mom! A Dinosaur!" Still trying to get my hair done, I'm like "Oh, a dinosaur??" and went on about my business. Then I looked down and saw this:

My jaw dropped! I don't think she did it on purpose...but maybe she did? Do you see it? How about now?

So if she was some older kid, I'd be asking about where his arms or legs are, but considering she's 2 1/2 and was probably just scribbling, you gotta admit, that's impressive.

There's my bragging moment for the day.

And it's allowed.

It's my blog.

(Those darn Leavitt art genes... can't escape them!)

How to Decorate a Christmas tree with a Toddler

1. Separate the breakable ornaments from the non-breakable ornaments.

2. Give the non-breakable ornaments to the toddler to keep them occupied/distracted while you put up the breakable ones.

3. Intermittently, coerce the toddler to put up some of the non-breakable ornaments. Partially succeed.

4. Ask the toddler to "stand pretty" in front of the tree for a picture...with the intent to see how tall they are in comparison to avoid accidental knocking off of ornaments.

5. Then ask them to stand tall and reach the sky. Unsuccessfully. Chase them around the room and hold their arms up tall next to the tree.

6. Indicate "reaching height" with a ribbon.

7. Finish decorating tree's upper portion, making sure anything you don't want to be touched is above the ribbon.

8. Watch the toddler have a cow when she sees a pretty ornament that she cannot touch go out of reach.

9. Decorate below the ribbon with non-breakable items a.k.a. things the toddler can take off at will without being hugely reprimanded, or that her baby sister can pull off and stick in mouth without horrible side effects.

10. Admire the "split level" Christmas tree, and hope Grandma approves when she gets home.

Making Sugar Cookies!

Lexi had her friend, Ivy, come over and play at our place on Tuesday. One activity we did was make Christmas sugar cookies. Lexi loves to help me bake, so the girls were very willing to put the ingredients in for me and help with the cutting out, decorating, and of course, eating! :-)

I don't know what Lexi is doing here...

This is what happens when we attempt to cut out a shape multiple times in the same spot, and then finally succeeding :-)

Lexi enjoyed the frosting and sprinkles...

and Ivy enjoyed all of her cookies...and Lexi's ;-)

Meanwhile, Carissa sat and watch from below...

and reaping the benefits of two messy toddlers.

(She actually waited until I was cleaning them up later and I found she had pulled down the tablecloth and was trying to eat all the crumbs of cookies and icing... too bad I didn't get a photo of when she was caught red-handed)