A Delightful Chrismas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We had all decided to make it not so big and I'm so thankful we did. Even the girls didn't get a ton of stuff, which made for not having to find places to put all the new things! I am certainly enjoying the week after to clean and just relax, though! Ellie's favorites have been a paper doll set from Abuela, a Haystacks memory game from Gramma D and Grampa T and Chutes and Ladders from Granpa John and Granma Geri. Of course, she's been playing on the swingset a ton - what a blessing! Aubrey was quite happy that Santa remembered to bring her some bows for all that hair! Julie and Brian finally got some red wine glasses, thanks to Julie's sister, Amy, among many other thoughful gifts. Ellie and Mommy enjoyed quite a bit of baking on Christmas Eve and Daddy made a delicious Lowcountry Boil that we all agreed should become tradition! Most of all, we were overjoyed to spend great quality time with family since that's what it's all about! Here's Aubrey with a bow!

A Frugal Christmas Game

When I got to Pensacola yesterday, my mom pulled out a Christmas memory game that she had made to play with Ellie. I had forgotten; but she did these a lot with us when we were little. Just take a piece or two of heavier paper and draw a grid on it with 2" x 2" squares. Then, (this is the only thing you may have to buy) get some Christmas stickers that have enough variety to make at least ten different pairs. For the younger kids, stickers with characters are probably easier. For older kids, you could probably use snowflakes with different variations or something to make it a little harder. Place one sticker in each square, cut the squares and - voila! - you've got a Christmas memory game. Ellie is three and she and I played a couple times today. She loved it!

Christmas for the Kids - and the Firemen!

Last Friday, we had a Christmas party for the kids at Autumn's house (thanks again for letting our kids trash your kitchen floor!) The kids decorated cookies while the moms did a kids craft - it involved too much hot glue and attention for the kids! Then we took the cookies to our local fire station where the kids sang 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' and 'Jingle Bells' to the firemen on duty. They (the kids and the firemen) were delighted and we were treated to tours of the fire truck as an added bonus. What a blast!

So this is Christmas...

I'm beginning to learn what it's like to 'put on' Christmas for your family or children even when you may be too tired to feel like it. I love Christmas; but it's always been stressful for me to try to make it all happen. To get the gift that each person wants, to decorate just right, make the best food ever, pick out the perfect card, etc. It's easy to get wrapped up in all of that and forget about the true meaning of Christmas - Christ's birth - which has absolutely nothing to do with all of the glitz we've grown accustomed to. It's also easy to emphasize the other, more commercialized part of Christmas - you know...Santa - when you've got small children who see it everywhere and you want them to be excited about Santa; but not at Christ's expense. I have found it especially difficult this year to find little moments to teach Ellie the Christmas story (probably because of her new little sister). I think I've taken for granted that she learns it in school and church. HELLO...I'm already letting them do the teaching for me - how awful! Some years are exceptions, so I'm giving us grace (something I'm not good at but am learning to be better about). I really want to establish traditions of doing the advent candles and reading a different part of the Christmas story every night and maybe even acting it out and listening to all the spiritual Christmas songs instead of the mainstream ones on the radio. I really do want to enjoy it all and not be so stressed out that I can't wait until it's over. Is this what it feels like to be a mom and want to make sure everyone's happy and taken care of and has a perfect Christmas? I think a perfect Christmas is probably not fathomable, so I'll just find joy in imperfection and in seeing my sweet little three-year old's face light up - and my husband's too - just because Mommy is happy and having fun. It's not here yet - I've still got a few days left. I'll reflect on the joy and miracle of Christmas this year like never before.

Merry Christmas!

I Heart WAGS

I don't usually do this; but WAGS (otherwise known as Walgreens) had great sales this week. I went twice and yesterday was one of my best trips ever. What you see pictured cost me a whopping $9. It actually should have only cost $4; but one of my register rewards didn't print from my first transaction that I would have redeemed in my second. Still, this is really good! The value of all of these items is $61.

Catching Up...

I've wanted to post on a lot of activities over the past couple of weeks; but just have not been able to find the time that I wanted to set aside for doing it. So, I finally found some time and it's all going to be in one post!

Two weeks ago today, we traveled to my sister's in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. They are in their beautiful new house and we had a great time! (after the 8 hour trip that should have taken 5!) The first day we were there, we got the news that they are having a BOY! Yeah!! We can't wait to meet the little booger. The pregnancy is going very well so far, which is a huge answer to prayer!

On the second day, Thanksgiving, we walked down the road to visit the five donkeys and two horses:
Oh, I almost forgot about the pillowcase indian costume I made for Ellie that didn't make it on the trip - oops! I dubbed her Princess Talking Flower! Wonder why...!
On the day that we (the home-team Seminoles) got beat by them (the Tebow-worshipping Gators), Aubrey turned two months old! We can't believe it's already been two months since she entered our world. She is so precious and I'll do a whole other post on her later. I snapped this picture (that I mean to do each month and really wish I had at one month because she's grown so much). What a cutie patootie!
Last week, Ellie and I got to spend some time together while Gramma D watched little Aubrey. It was fun; but not at all quite as appreciated as I expected. More on that later - I've got a lot to learn! I kept reminding myself that it was our time to do what SHE wanted, not want I wanted (accomplish a ton of errands)! With that in mind, we had ice cream, went to Zoinks, aka "The Bouncy Place" and bought a gingerbread house to make. Now, as an adult, it makes complete sense to me that you make gingerbread houses NOT to be eaten and they make take a while to make - well, almost complete sense. But not to a three year old! And why should it? Why can't we eat it? In their little instant, self-gratification world (we are talking about a three-year old here, not me! - some lessons take a long time to learn, huh?) they don't understand the concept and I don't blame her. I ignorantly set myself up for this one! We put the sides together and then it had to sit to harden for a while. Then we put the roof on and it had to sit again. Poor Ellie was quite annoyed with this process. Finally, on day three, we finished it! Can you tell where mommy got to control where the candy went and where I decided to let Ellie have 'artistic freedom'? I think she just dumped the candy at the end!
So, we attempted to make gingerbread cookies that you CAN eat; but the recipe I used produced the gooeist dough that falls apart that I've ever seen. Oh well!

This past Saturday, Ellie got her hair cut for the first time! Her friend got hers cut a couple of weeks ago and it's still curly so I thought we could go for it. She was really excited and did really good - and it's a little more curly since it's not so heavy anymore!
After that, we went to see The Nutcracker Ballet and had the best seats ever! Ellie got to sit with some friends in the second row! She really enjoyed it. Thanks Amy V.!

In Aubrey news, she's successfully sleeping in her crib at night, although not all the way through yet, which is fine. And, she is taking a nap in her crib during the day! This has been much easier than it was with Ellie thanks to it being the second time around and God giving us another good sleeper.

My Friend Maddie...and the other Maddie and Tyler and the other Tyler!

A few months back, I wrote about Ellie's imaginary friend, Maddie. Well, Maddie now has a sister also named Maddie and two brothers or friends ( I still can't figure out which) named Tyler and the other Tyler. Now, when you talk about the Maddie's and the Tyler's, you have to say 'Maddie and the other Maddie and Tyler and the other Tyler'. And they're always together, never separated! I've tried saying 'the Maddies and the Tylers' and I've been corrected! Maddie and the other Maddie and Tyler and the other Tyler always are doing exactly what Ellie is doing or have done that day what Ellie did! It's pretty cute. We're able to use them for teachable moments too. Ellie is definitely three and that means arguing, questioning and figuring out her boundaries. So, we ask her if Maddie and the other Maddie and Tyler and the other Tyler talk to their parents that way and what happens when they do. She's also told us that they've told her to do things that are contrary to what we want her to do so we're able to use that to teach about following obeying our friends or our parents. Thanks Maddie and the other Maddie and Tyler and the other Tyler for all of these teachable moments! She's also got a friend named JJ; but he doesn't come around very often!