Fanciness.

The TootToot has discovered a new way to adorn herself...fanciness. "Fanciness" can be defined as any number of accessories piled upon her person.

In the past this has included:

Costume Jewelry from her Great Grandmother

Plastic High Heels

Flower glasses

Clip on earrings

Bracelets...lots and lots of bracelets

Ponchos

Big Ol' Fake Rings

Knee Socks with Skirts

Hello Kitty Watch

and the list goes on.

Some days she says "Mama, I need to wear my fanciness." So, off she goes to school looking like this:

Gardens.

On Friday, we went to the Botanical Gardens here in Charlotte. They were having the annual Lights in the Garden and it was beautiful. All the different gardens were lit up and Santa was there for pictures. Our favorite, however, was the band...Charlotte Waites. They are a Medieval/Renaissance group that was performing traditional Christmas tunes. They were wonderful and Nora was so enthralled, she sat there for a good thirty minutes without moving (except to clap at the end of each song). They asked her to come up and ring the jingle bells for a couple of songs...she LOVED it.
Here are a few pictures from the evening...

inside a big red Christmas tree made of lights

the arbor...with lights that look like grape vines

Looking at a toy soldier made of lights

that is a HURDY GURDY!!! I have heard about them for years and had no idea what it looked like

Jingle Bell ringing with the band

SkippyJon.

As embarrassing as it is, I am finally getting around to posting about the TootToot's birthday.
Which was over a month ago.

ahem.

Each year we select a theme based on her favorite book of the previous year. This year was SkippyJon Jones. He is a Siamese cat who thinks he is a Chihuahua. It is pretty funny.

We decorated the house like a Mexican Fiesta and, true to the story, had lots of beans. Black beans, refried, jelly, french...and the list goes on. We had a taco bar and for dessert, I made a cake to look like a sombrero. Ole!

Nora received some wonderful gifts, but the big hit was the pick Jeep from her grandparents. If this is any indication of her driving style later in life SHE WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO GET A LICENCE!

As a favor, everyone got to take home a homemade chocolate bandito mustache lolly. We had a ton of fun posing for pictures with those.