Just Cute

Some random cuteness just for fun...

This little outfit I put on her cause I thought it was a bit much...a little too floral to be actually cute. So we wore it on a day that we didn't have any where to go, only to discover that Papillon is small and adorable enough to make the otherwise slightly-gaudy floral print, amazingly cute! 

She also was really into posing for pictures this day. I told her I was taking her picture and she backed up to stand against the wall, and then smiled.  Unfortunately she would hold still for like half a second and then dance and flail and stuff.  See:

Another day, she was in a super fun mood and having a blast sitting on the steps with Marge. 

Note the fantastic ponytail!

I love this picture! I wish Marge was not blurry, cause if she hadn't twitched, it would be an incredibly fun picture.

If we didn't have a dog, I fear Papillon would be terribly bored most of the time. Marge doesn't even have to do anything,  and Papillon is hugely entertained.

As always, I missed the prime moments of fun, but captured a little cuteness nonetheless. (and I do manage to rotate the camera to face the right way before I get too far into the video)

Love to Eat

Excepting the nursing fiasco at the beginning of her life, Papillon has always been a great eater. Recently she has discovered a few new favorite foods. I love it when I give her something to eat just for the sake of trying it, thinking to myself that there is no way she will actually eat more than a bite, then she devours it like it may be her last meal. 

Spaghetti is one of those new found loves.

She ate literally a whole heaping plateful...and loved it!

Squishing it with both hands was also part of the enjoyment.

I missed the prime moments of squishing and stuffing the face, but you kind of get the picture here.

Other new found favorite food....oranges!

She is pretty much an expert at eating all the good stuff out of the rind, though occasionally she gets carried away and takes a nibble of the rind as well. She just loves them that much.

Christmas Cookies

This year I decided it was time to start some Christmas Cookie traditions.  Growing up, we made Christmas cookies; but not in the way that many people make Christmas cookies - namely, batches upon batches of cookies that you mix together on trays, tins, etc for all the holiday sensitivities.  I decided this is an awesome tradition and it was time to get it started. 

First cookie of choice, Gingerbread Cookies, of course. 

Papillon was a great helper with pushing the cookie cutters down.

She also discovered that the dough was delicious (yay for egg-less cookie dough!)

Yum!

Voila! Cookies cut out and ready for baking.

Next step, frosting and decorating! I frosted, Papillon added the sprinkles...one at a time. Talk about fine-motor-skill development!

Eventually she discovered that the frosting is also delicious, so, no more sprinkles, just fingers in the frosting then into the mouth! At that point she got her own cookie to devour and I frosted the rest so we wouldn't have baby slobber on all the cookies...

The next day's cookie of choice was Peanut Butter Blossoms (the technical name for cookies we affectionately call Hershey's Kiss Cookies...you know them, little peanut butter cookies with a hershey's kiss sitting in the middle). 

Papillon was excellent at helping me stir.

And at licking the beaters!

She also helped me unwrap all the Hershey's Kisses.  I would get them started and she would pull the little tail out. Then I told her we needed to squish up all the wrapper trash so we could throw it away. This became a fun filled game that was messier than it was productive.  But, the main goal of cookie making is to have fun, not to keep the house clean, so it was all good.

The next day we made rice krispie treats with M&Ms in them. Sadly we took no pictures. But, I am pleased to report Papillon is just as much of a fan of marshmallow-goodness as I am, and good times were had in the name of gooey-ness.

Merry Christmas!

 A few outtakes from this year's Christmas card photo shoot. I won't include all the ones we took before we found good lighting...talk about bad shadows! 

Note: It was quite cold during this photo shoot.

And Papillon just wanted to go back to playing with Grandpa...

Clearly desperate for Grandpa...

Ok, fine, you can have grandpa. 

It's a good thing that on-the-verge-of-a-mini-tantrum looks kinda similar to adorably-smiley, cause she is definitely seconds away from her break down in what ended up being the photo of choice for our Christmas cards...

Now you know. That cute toothy smile is actually a whine of dissatisfaction...such is life. 

Merry Christmas!

Pre-Christmas Shindig

Since many of us were going our separate ways for actual Christmas, my mom decided to invite us all to a little Pre-Christmas Shindig earlier this week.  Mostly it was an excuse to get together and eat tasty food. It went something like this.

Yummy eating and chatting.

Papillon as always, enjoyed the sweet potatoes.

After dinner, while the rest of us were digesting, Papillon still managed to have energy to climb up and play the piano.

Super fun!

The event ended with a little Skyping with the family that couldn't actually make it to the party.

All in all a very fun warm up for the Christmas festivities!

Snack Time

These are just some fun pictures from a recent post-nap snack-time. Which is always a very fun time of the day. 

Note the enthusiasm.

This chair has been one of Papillon's favorite toys, but recently the batteries died. So it doesn't play music any more, making it less fun, but still a wonderfully practical snack chair.

Mmm, milk!

Dazed and confused...with bed head.

Just hanging out, eating some snack in the snack chair.

Post snack time, Papillon wanted to play with the tree for a bit. 

She knows she is not supposed to touch the ornaments, but she likes to test the boundaries.  She holds her hand out to the tree and says "touch" (which is generally an indicator that she knows that she is not supposed to touch something) and looks at me to see if I will stop her.

Sometimes she touches the tree, and not an ornament to see if that is within the rules. And sometimes she pokes and ornament and walks away: again, testing the boundaries. She is a good kid, but does like to know what the rules actually are.

Waiting Patiently

 These are from a while back, but I had to share them. 

This was after Mon Amour's most recent and very long trip.  We were waiting in the cell-phone lot for the call to come pick him up! 

Waiting patiently.

 

Examining the keys. 

Pleased as punch to be allowed to use the keys as a necklace!

The Hike

Our only other real scheduled event was a bit of a "hike" to Swallow Falls (hope I am remembering the name right).  It was the perfect length of a hike - not too long or strenuous, but lots of pretty sights to see and rocks to climb. 

Here are a few pictures from the adventure. 

Papillon even walked some of the ways - which made her so very proud of herself. If you can zoom in on this picture, you can see her smiley little busting-with-pride face!

Remarkably, I think he was able to get a tiny bit of reception on his iphone on certain parts of this hike!

Oh, and in case I forgot to mention, we did have one other event for which we ventured away from our cozy cabins. We saw the new Muppet Movie!!  Papillon hung out with Grandpa while the rest of us saw the movie. I think it was a win win for everyone! 

And that's the story of our Thanksgiving vacation. It was definitely a good one.