Eliza has talked about visiting with Santa nonstop and she apparently was not shy about letting him (and everyone else at her school) know what she wanted for Christmas.
What a difference a year makes. . . .here is her picture from 2009.
As you may remember from last year, Eddie is one of Santa's special elves, who keeps a watchful eye over Miss Eliza. He flies home to the North Pole each night to give Santa an update and then finds a new hiding place each morning.
Eliza and I had so much fun decorating this tree and the best part was that I spent only $5 for everything. I picked up the tree, the beads, the jingle bells and two packages of the little stars for just a dollar each! Now that's a deal! We used left over orange and pick ribbon to tie into the colors in her room and the orange butterfly from the top of the tree is normally part of the flower arrangement that sits on her dresser. I really like the way it turned out.
Eliza was very excited to see her Aunt Jeanne and even more excited to eat Aunt Jeanne's fabulous sweet potato casserole. She told me many times that "the orange mashed potatoes were her favorite!"
Daddy and his "mini me". I definitely think that Eliza looks like her Daddy.
Our sweet friend Ellen came in to spend the weekend with us and Eliza was so excited to see her. She was even more excited when she realized that Miss Ellen had brought her a new game that included jewelry (Pretty Pretty Princess). 
We don't see Steve's cousins that often but everybody always seems to have a great time when they are together. We had a great day spending time with family and celebrating all that we have to be thankful for.
After her first birthday, we began to limit her MoMo time. She was no longer allowed to have it when ever or where ever. . . . there were MoMo rules. She was allowed to have MoMo when she was sleeping (that included naps and nighttime). We also let her have it when she was sick or if we were in the car for over an hour. (That was really more for our sainity than anything else!)
Now that Eliza is approaching three, I knew the time had come to say so long, farewell to MoMo for good,but Eliza was not necessarily a willing participant in this endeavor. She told us multiple times that she really needed her MoMo.
On Saturday morning I found a copy of this book at my favorite resale store and I quickly added it to my basket.
After reading this book multiple times on Saturday and changing the word "pacifier" to "MoMo", we faced our first MoMo free bedtime. We all survived and can now proudly say that we are officially a MoMo free home.
Even though I am super proud of what a big girl she has become, I have to admit that getting rid of her MoMo's made me slightly sad. It is just another reminder that she is no longer a baby . . . it is this type of realization that makes me wish that I could slow time down. . . . just a little bit.
Paint and paint brushes . . . . . Free - luckily we already had plenty of paint to select from in the craft box
Snow White was excited and ready for the parade to begin.
Each class had the opportunity to walk around the school and show off their costumes to the other classes. I was amazed at how well all of the kids in Eliza's class behaved. The lined up with ease and followed all directions to perfection. I have always liked Eliza's teacher, Miss Dina, but I now realize that this woman really does have the patience of a saint. Eliza's class has 17 kids in it, only 4 of which are girls . . . She is my new hero!
Apparently Disney characters are big with the two year old crowd. . . two of Eliza's buddies were Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell.
