Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a great New Year!! We have big plans tonight:) Chris is making chili with all of the yummy fixings and sweet cornbread. We are going to put the girls down and enjoy a satisfying and fattening dessert by the TV with a glass of wine. We are going to snuggle and watch a few episodes of Criminal Minds and try to be in bed by 10ish. No work, no laptop, no worries. I know this might not sound very exciting but I sure am:) My idea of New Year's Eve fun sure has changed over the years and I wouldn't change it for anything. I have figured out that it is not what you do for New Years but who you are with!!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! Ellie was so excited and a little overwhelmed on Christmas morning. Last year she would open a gift and then we would play with it for awhile so it took hours to open gifts but this year she would open and shove it aside and move on to the next. The girls big present was a kitchen which we hid in the playroom with a blanket thrown over it. It was probably two hours after opening gifts that Ellie went in there and noticed it. She was very excited about it but not enough to play with it at the time. She was all about the beauty kit that Santa brought. Emily enjoyed playing with anything that would make noise and snacking on sausage balls.

Ellie finally did play with her kitchen. She likes cooking for Emily.

While she was cooking her pretend phone rang and she answered it....Beauty Parlor Hotline. That's my girl:) Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Emily

I can't believe our baby girl is 1!!!!!!!! We had a small birthday party for Emily and it was great!!!! I think the best part of the whole party was watching her devour her cake! She loved it and actually cried when I took it away. She got cake up her nose, in her ear and everywhere else you can think of!!!! To bad she didn't enjoy the clean up!

Ellie, being a great big sister, helped her open her presents and we got some really cool things for the time capsule!

This year has flown by! Emily has blossomed into such an amazing little person. She loves big furry stuffed animals and real animals too!! She is obsessed with markers and she is definitely a mama's girl:) She has a big temper for such a little body and has been known to throw herself on the floor when she doesn't get her way. Even though life is crazy busy I sure hope I can slow down a little more this year and savor my days with the girls because time is flying by!!!!!!

Christmas Activities

December has been such a fun month but it has flown by!!!!The advent calendar activities have been a big hit. Ellie's favorites were reading in our sleeping bags by the tree, making cookies and going to see the singing bears.

We made gingerbread cookies and I think Ellie ate more dough then cookie. Actually she might have eaten more flour then anything. Every time I turned around she was choking on flour. Gross, huh?

Saturday is when we went to see the bears. I thought Ellie would like seeing the bears and Emily would love it because Emily loves anything big and fussy but it was just the opposite. Ellie LOVED watching and listening to the bears and Emily was too grumpy to care. There is a fence around the bears and Ellie leaned on the rail for about 20 min. listening to them and then all of the sudden she started dancing in front of everybody and singing very loudly with the bears. It was hilarious!!! She was acting like she was on stage. Oh the innocence of being a child:)

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Felt Frenzy

I am getting addicted to making felt food, felt stories and felt activities!!! It is so fun and the best part it doesn't take very long and I am all about instant gratification. I am making the girls felt food to go with their kitchen they are getting for Christmas. So far I have made chocolate chip cookies, pea pods, fried eggs, pancakes and I am almost done with a few doughnuts if I can ever figure out how to do a slip stitch!!

Less Then A Week

Anyone else starting to feel rushed to get everything done before Christmas? I made my to do list yesterday and it was so long! I still have several home made gifts to finish, shopping to do, baking to be done not to mention I need to start getting all of my ducks in a row for Emily's 1st birthday. Did I mention I haven't wrapped the first gift? I do this every year though so I must enjoy the rush!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

We went to visit Santa at Aunt Katy and Uncle Joe's church Sunday. It was lots of fun! When we got there they had a craft for the kids and they made reindeer chow. Ellie enjoyed doing both but not as much as hanging out on the bleachers, which was a big hit with all of the children!

Then it was time for Santa and Mrs. Claus. He was such a good Santa!!! He read Twas the Night Before Christmas and then it was time to sit on Santa's lap. Ellie went by herself so she could tell Santa what she wanted. She asked for a beauty kit which is what she calls make-up. Then they both sat on his lap. I thought Emily would cry so I just backed her up so she couldn't see him and Katy snapped a picture but she turned around and saw him and she wasn't scared at all. She petted his beard and when I went to pick her up she was completely fine staying on Santa's lap.

After Santa we went to the children's recital which was very cute and then they served dinner. It was a fun night!! Here are a couple of other pictures from the night.

Our Little Ballerina

Ellie had her ballet recital on Saturday! She did wonderful!!!!! She loved being on the stage and had the biggest grin the whole time. We saw 5 groups perform and they each danced to one song. The onstage pictures didn't turn out great but the luckily the video did! After her performance Grandpa Cliff gave her a beautiful bouquet of flowers. It was precious! We did take a few pictures after the recital and all of the ones that I am in I had my eyes closed:(

This and That

Here is a picture Ellie drew for me last week. When she handed it to me she said "Mom, I drew this for you because you have been good this morning and respectful to me". I thought she did such a good job!!

Also wanted to show my Goodwill find! I love that place!!

I think these will look so cute in Ellie's room!

Ellie had an ice cream cone after dinner last night and she handed Emily an empty cone so she wouldn't be left out! How sweet was that!!!

Snowman Felt Activity

I saw a really cute snowman felt activity on this blog so I made it for Ellie. You cut out a felt snowman body, body parts and accessories. Then you decorate the snowman several different ways, take a picture of each one and print them. I let Ellie pick a card and she has to duplicate the picture by adding all of the parts to the snowman. It was fairly simple and fun to make. She has picked this activity twice during preschool and was able to duplicate all the pictures but it definitely took concentration.