Little Chomper

Only a week after we discovered Molly's first tooth, a second one sprouted (first spotted by Clara!), and her appetite for solid food is ratcheting up every day. Her favorite seat in the house is her new highchair -- a new-fangled little number that cozies right up to the dining room table, allowing her to really be a member of the family for three meals a day. It swivels so that she can face her tray, her feeder (Mommy), or her entertainment (Joey and Clara).

So far, she loves apples, carrots, bananas, pears, blueberries, sweet potato, broccoli, green beans, beets, pumpkin, and chicken, and she's also happily scarfing down Puffs and teething biscuits.

In related news, our resident vacuum cleaner, Davis, has suddenly taken notice of the newest member of the family, now that she's either covered with crumbs, or dropping them.

The Many Days of Christmas

Our Christmas season began with this concise and to-the-point letter to Santa Claus...

...and ended with a Bumper Cars Christmas morning, that is still going strong two days -- and many packs of batteries -- later.

Along the way, Jingle the Elf was full of pranks and antics, adding to the suspense and anticipation in the month of December, and improving the overall behavior in our house. He toilet-papered our bathroom, played with the kids' art supplies, engaged in friendly board games with fellow toys, and raided our pantry at night, ending his stay with us on a high note of catching a ride on the sun in Joey's hanging solar system.

In addition to getting very well acquainted with our little elf friend, we also got a meet-and-greet with Santa at St. Ignatius' annual party for faculty kids and grandkids. While Clara was much too intimidated to tell Santa what she really wanted for Christmas (a frog and a pogo stick), both kids were happy to accept a small present from him, and Molly proved unflappable for her first time on his lap.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Cecchin. While the rain was pouring down outside, Clara was snug and warm inside in her new adorable rain attire from Grandma and Aunt Meredith, and Joey was already hard at work with Grandpa collecting and cataloguing all of the state quarters.

The kids must have been very good this year (or must have really hoodwinked Jingle, our in-house Santa spy), because on Christmas morning, they were lucky enough to receive many goodies, including hooded towels, a dollhouse, a barn, and, most thrilling of all, a pitching machine that has yet to be photographed because of our rainy weather!

The fun continued later that day, with a delicious Italian feast with our extended family in Gilroy, at Tim's aunt Mary's home.

The Cecchin cousins were a little wild and unruly, but we managed to catch them at some calmer moments... here's Joey, Tommy, Marco and Clara coloring after dinner, and Molly and Lucy relaxing nearby.

By the end of the night, and after the marathon that is the month of December, we were all ready for a nap!

But we'll be all recharged and ready to celebrate Christmas again in two weeks, when the Raley family can all be together! Here's to Christmases that don't end!

Away in a Manger...

The Christmas story took on a whole new meaning this year, when early in December, Joey's preschool class began to rehearse for the school's annual Christmas pageant. As the oldest kids in the school, they were the stars of the show, reenacting Jesus' birth in the stable in Bethlehem, while all of the other classes -- Clara's included -- provided musical accompaniment.

The little Pre-K stars were assigned roles right after Thanksgiving, and Joey was thrilled to be a shepherd, and visibly relieved that he wasn't playing Joseph.

"My name IS Joseph, but I didn't really want to play him," he told me, happy with his part, which involved clutching a giant stuffed sheep, and admiring the baby Jesus in his manger.

We weren't sure what to expect of a cast of 4 and 5 year-olds, but the finished product could not have been more darling! Yes, Clara may have been picking her nose for at least two minutes of the pageant, and Joey may have practically trampled baby Jesus as he was adjusting his robe and finding a spot to kneel next to the manger, but it was sweet, perfectly choreographed, and a wonderful way to celebrate the season.

We left the house bright and early, but not without first posing in front of the Christmas tree for a picture taken by Grandma Cecchin!

Gallant Joey helped protect Clara from the rain on the way into the church.

Each class filed in before the show began, and took their place on risers on each side of the altar. Here's Clara, behind her little friend Henry.

Clara's in the back row, second from the right... directly in front of her are her two favorite girlfriends, Ella and Brookie.

Joey's the middle shepherd to the left of the manger.

How cute are they? All that practice paid off, because all of the kids did a wonderful job!

When Joey's job as shepherd was done, he returned to his seat and assumed his new Jock Pose.

The reward for all that hard work? Cookies and punch! Joey -- with Clara at his side -- let loose with his best friend Drew.

Molly loved the show, and is already angling for an angel role in the 2013 production!