Christmas Morn

We spent Christmas Morning with my parents. Elly was up at 4am but had no idea that it was Christmas, she was just up! Eden joined us at 6am and they tore into the handmade stockings to find what Santa had waiting for them! Eden and Elly's big gift, a dollhouse, was waiting at home for them, a note from Santa explained, but they had plenty to play with until they got home!

Eden had asked Santa for a Pinkie Pie Pony, but since his elves had already started working on the dollhouse, she was able to purchase the Pinkie Pie later (see this post).

I am not sure Elly knew what was going on. She just kept opening gift, hers or not hers. :)

Brynn, Will and Marcus were there, but Tiel, Claude, and Nia stayed in S'ville to host his parents this year.

A Very Grimey Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at Doug (Dan's oldest bro) and Heidi's house. After totaling gorging on a beautiful spread of appetizers and treats, we descended on the presents! Then the adults had a fun "gift exchange" (ask me later why this was hilarious) and the kids made a gingerbread house with the help of the older ones. A little Guitar Hero followed.

We were excited that Dave (Dan's dad up from FL) and Lee (Dan's stepdad) were able to be there--this is a truly amazing family--everyone coming together in love and support of each other and to praise God for what He has done! I am blessed to be in this family. Of course we ached for Dian, but having both the dads there and almost all of the sibs (Angie and her fam from TX were unable to come) made it a great night. Darin made it back from the Bahamas just in time (literally). The kids were fantastic and I was only a tiny bit scared of the ginormous dog Magnum.

An Important Phone Call...

"Papa! Papa! We went to a different Target and we found Pinkie Pie Pony...ON CLEARANCE!!!"

"Elly makes the most ignoring noises when she eats!"

-Eden

Away in a Manger

Here is Eden's sweet little drawing of the Nativity Story. Look closely, I love the baby in the manger and the angel!

We're Turning Our Kids Nerdy

We have often been accused of turning our kids nerdy...so when I overheard this, it made me chuckle a bit:

Elly was playing with her dolls and wrapped one in a blanket (which might have been a towel or a sock, or anything that she can find) and said sweetly to no one in particular, "I puttin' baby in sleep mode."

It could be a product of our computer nerdiness, or it could possibly come from this ad, which we like to view together as a family huddled around Dan's laptop. We check for new Mac ads regularly as a fun family activity!

The Sweetest Prayer

This is the sweetest prayer my ears have ever heard:

"Dear God, thank you for our passports so that we can get our adopt Baby. Thank you that you are giving Momma another baby to care for, a boy or a girl. The Baby is a blessing to make our family bigger...And Jesus, Christmas isn't about money or toys...it's about YOU, JESUS, and the DAY YOU WERE BORN! The one true King, the thankful Son, the true King of Israel!"

-Eden Lily, tonight at bedtime

Egg on Her Face

Who can resist this face--even covered in breakfast casserole?

Visit with Santa

We got to see Santa! As you can see, Elly was not shy in the least. She asked for a reindeer. Eden was a little more uptight but she did manage to ask for the My Little Pony Pinkie Pie doll.

Preschool Concert

Eden's Preschool Concert was so cute. They did several Christmas songs and then recited their Bible verses to us. She was a little nervous but did a good job going with the flow.

Bleah

Yesterday was a big day for everyone: Eden had her first ever Preschool Christmas Concert, Daddy was taking time off to come watch it and then take his girls (and Marcus) out for lunch, then after naps we were all to join Daddy at work for its Holiday Who-be Whaty. I mean Holiday Open House. Eden's concert went great (I will post about that later) and we went back to the classroom to view her art projects and have milk and cookies. Elly was not intimidated by the room full of people and proceeded to walk away and get lost, only to be rescued by my sweet friend Codi in the hallway. We decided it was time to leave, so we make our way to the van where Elly begins choking on a piece of cookie and then loses it all over Dan. Again. So I am frantically trying to get Marcus in the van while finding Dan something to wipe her/him/his coat with, but Dan can't grab the wipes/diapers/coffee cup I am handing him because his hands are full of well, you know...(you might wonder what Eden is doing--she is trying hard to get out of the van and covering her ears). So finally Dan rids his hands of the stuff (I won't tell you how, but if you go to PV this weekend, you might just find out) and we begin cleaning up. At least we are experienced with this by now. Though the frozen wipes container in the van is not helping matters. But we eventually tie everything up and in a bag and get on our merry way. Dan and I decided it was a good thing since now we could be pretty certain Elly wouldn't throw up at the Open House...though we did forgo our lunch plans!

Otitis Media Schmoschmitis Schmedia

What blog of mine would be complete without a rant about all the disease/germs/infections my kids fall subject to? Seriously, we must live in the petri dish of some fairy tale giant.

Elly has had a sore throat for a couple of days but not too serious and she is still eating, etc. normally; no fever. Today she was playing dress-up and I see a giant red rash on her back. On further inspection, I see it is crawling down her legs and on her bottom. By the time she awoke from her nap, it was on her face and arms. Weird. So I rally the troops and take all three kids to the doctor with me (!) to find out that she does not have Strep, which is what I thought...but she DOES serendipitously have a double ear infection. The doctor thinks the rash is actually hives. So, at least we know about the ears, and now I am to give her Amox. and Benadryl. Poor Elly Belly. I think our family is single-handedly paying for our doctor's malpractice insurance. :)

Welcome

Thanks to those of you who are putting up with my new "secured" blog...I know it is a pain to have to log in to read about my hilarious children, but I appreciate knowing who is looking at my precious babes.

There are a few people who I don't have email addresses for, so if you are someone who knows someone who is someone who wants to read this...someone someone...you can tell them to email me and I will send them an invitation.

Christmas Pictures 2007

Last night, right at bedtime mind you, Dan and I attempted to get the girls to cooperate for some pictures in front of the Christmas tree. They were pretty squirrely, but we got a few good, somewhat blurry pictures of the kids. Anybody else love the gunshot shell ornament in the background? :)

Mom/Grandma- let me know if you want me to print some for you.

New Blog!