Soup, Sandwiches, and Sleep

Avery and I have tried to have a few days that weren't too terribly full. Yesterday she slept until 8 am. That was a nice surprise! She seemed really quiet when she woke up. We snuggled in her rocker for a long time, and Ned and I both started to worry she was sick. Since she had slept late, I thought it would be a good day to continue without her morning nap. We kept ourselves busy and aimed for an early than normal naptime. My goal has been to stop using the pacifier when she transitioned to one nap, and when she didn't reach for it yesterday, I didn't give it to her. She took a fairly good nap after sleeping so late. When she got up, our friend Alison and her mom came for a visit. Avery enjoyed opening a present from Alison and David and then thought she should open all the presents under the tree. Ned hunted in Newsoms and brought home the paper with Avery's letter to Santa. When she went to bed I made cookies from Clover Lane and read all the letters to Santa.

Avery was up earlier today, so I had a longer time to occupy her without a morning nap. I made taco soup and pimento cheese sandwiches for Ned, his mom, and the lady who works with them. Avery went down easily again for her nap (pie pie free!) and I did nothing productive. She woke up as Mimi arrived to watch her. Ned and I received a rough draft of our house plans yesterday and met with our architect to go over everything. Most of the concerns I had were things that he hadn't included in this draft. I was fascinated by the amount of things he had found wrong or impossible with the plan we had given him. Apparently Donald Gardner, and other architects who contribute to house plan books, make beautiful houses that would fall down if built as drawn! Never buy plans from a house plan book.

When we got home Avery had her coat on, but she had not been outside. I took her coat off, and she opened my hand and put her shoe in it. I think she may have needed some time away from the house but dinner called. While Avery took her bath, I made watergate salad. Once she was in bed I made hot crab dip for tomorrow night. Still on the cooking list are corn pudding, dirt cake, and monkey bread. I hate to complain about my list when Lolli is cooking away and hosting. Ned and Felix are now assembling the Cozy Coupe, which came in many parts. Ned and I are both glad he started on that tonight. I hear it rolling around now and hope Ned is not in it. I'm not sure what we'll do when we have 2 or 3 children who each have several things that need assembling. I also don't know how we'll contain ourselves. Ned and I are both so excited this year, and Avery doesn't even understand what it means to have Santa come. I can't even imagine how fun it will be next year when she's eagerly awaiting the big day.

Home Alone 2 is on but I'm afraid if I get comfortable to watch it my eyes will be closed in seconds. Our next few days will be full, and I'm already sad at how quickly I know they will go by. We're still waiting to hear how much snow we'll get, but it doesn't look like it's going to interfere with our plans. Ned picked up some lovely boots for Avery today just in case.

Merry, merry Christmas to you and your family!