On Tuesday night we attempted making a little treat for our friends. Ella had a dance party on Thursday night and Friday was her last day at school. She loves giving gifts and we thought something sweet was in order. We got everything we needed... pretzels, nutter butters, peanut butter, candy melts, morsels, M&Ms, sprinkles, lollipop sticks and Scout. Elves make really good helpers! First we split the nutter butters, added a lollipop stick and some extra peanut butter. Then we put them back together again. I attempted dunking them in chocolate, but they kept falling apart. Making treats with four year olds is kind of stressful, don't you think? Instead, I began spooning the chocolate on and Ella made the reindeer faces. THIS is what they are supposed to look ...
Christmas
The Lemontree
Have you wondered why I haven't shared my Christmas decorations with you yet? Why there aren't any pretty pictures of our decorated tree? It's because I've been debating whether or not to drag it forcibly through the front door and toss it into the street. Against my better judgment, I decided this year was going to be more about the "experience" and less about the actual tree. We went to a beautiful, local tree farm and picked out a gorgeous Carolina Sapphire cedar tree. It stood tall and fat and was a beautiful sage-y green color. I figured at half the price and twice the adventure it was surely worth it. A tree I {meaning SD} cut down with my own hands has to last longer that the pricier one we usually pick up pre-cut at a local tent, right? Fast forward two hours. As SD is ...
North Pole Express
To the North Pole via the Polar Express! We've been excited since September, knowing that we would be headed to the Polar Express Railway this Christmas season. Ella & I even watched the movie last week to get ready for our little adventure. Ella got her ticket punched by the conductor. I wonder what letter he punched? The girls LOVED standing in the window of our train car watching the world go by. We finally arrived at Santa's Workshop in the North Pole! There were pretty elves to pass out the first gift of Christmas! Sophie & Bunny loved it best! < Santa & Mrs. Claus came on the train to visit the girls There were chefs who served chocolate milk and cookies YUMMY! ...
Evening Adventure
On Friday night, SD took us for a quick bite to eat at a cute local restaurant. Sophie slept through most of it, but Ella chowed down on her salad. Soph did manage to wake up just in time for a few bites of chicken and french fries and she was IN heaven. We attempted to rent Toy Story 3 on our way home, but the Red Box was on the fritz and refused to accept payment, so instead we decided to find a few sparkles on the way home. This is our favorite street to turn down during the holidays. There are only a few houses there, but they are always decked out for Christmas and have lights everywhere you look. We also decided to drive past our house a block to "downtown" and visit our town's tree. Did you know we had the largest decorated tree in the state? ...
Out and About
Guess who has been out and about this week? Scout, that's who! He made his first appearance on December 1st, but Ella wasn't here to find him. As always, she stays with my parents on Wednesday nights and goes to Mission Friends and prayer service at our church. I spied Scout in the tree in Ella's room and couldn't wait to tell her when I dropped Sophie off that Thursday morning. The look on her face and the squeal that left her mouth was worth any amount of money could muster. It was adorable. Since them, he's appeared on Sophie's changing table, the Christmas tree, daddy's money jar, the bookcase and he's currently hanging out in a wreath on our kitchen door. There are still some dramatics going on around here, but all in all Scout has managed to wrangle the hearts and minds of our ...
The Hunt is On
On Sunday afternoon, we thought we'd take Ella to a local tree farm to see what it's like to cut down your own tree. In years past, SD & I have always gotten our tree "in town" at a pre-cut lot full of beautiful fraser firs. Although those are my favorite, we thought Ella might enjoy the adventure of hometown tree farms. As we were getting in the car to bring our beauty home she said, "Can we go back to the tent next year?" So much for making lasting childhood memories! ...
Christmas Comes Early
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the holidays! Christmas music is already playing on the local radio station, we read Christmas stories before bed last night, we're going to get started on our decorating this weekend and last night we did one of our favorite pre-holiday activities. I helped Ella "finish" off her drawings - she can't quite draw glasses and pigtails just yet. Have you heard of Operation Christmas Child? Each year, people from all over the country pack shoe boxes full of Christmas goodies that are then transported to children all over the world. Can you imagine your children not getting any gifts on Christmas morning? What if their gift pile that morning could all fit into one plastic box? I have had the pleasure of packing boxes each Christmas since SD ...
Christmas, Finale
My whole life, my immediate family has celebrated on Christmas Eve with communion, a snack supper, Christmas movies and presents. It has always been our very favorite part of the holiday season. We knew once we "grew up", got married and made babies this tradition would likely change. This year was the first year we tried something different and I'll have to admit it was quite fun. My mom made a fabulous breakfast spread the evening after Christmas and we had a sit down dinner instead of the usual finger foods around the fire. Ella didn't quite make it to dinner, but since she doesn't eat eggs anyway, we fixed her bacon and biscuits earlier in the evening and she became the meal's entertainment. In addition to the seven of us (Garan, Poppy, SD, Me, Ella, K & Cory), my ...