Elsie's 3rd Birthday

On December 29th Elsie turned 3!!!



After all the birthdays and holidays I didn't have my act together enough to get cards for her, so we made them after she went to bed the night before. I liked them much better than the store bought ones and we had a lot of fun making them together. This may become a new tradition too.



(Charlotte's card for donuts)
I thought she might feel left out if she didn't get donuts too, but I was so burnt out on them. Next year we are doing something different.





She was way too impatient to wait to open her presents until her party later that day.









This game from Auntie Charity was a big hit, the little boy is Jonathan, my cousin's son, who I have started watching everyday.

Aaron made her a card for going to the park, but it was overcast, cold and wet from rain the night before, so we went to see "Where The Wild Things Are" instead. It was a cute movie, but 5 kids in a movie theater = not so much fun for adults.







Next we had to get ready for her party and make a cake! Pink with pink sprinkles of course!







I'm three!!!!



Darn trick candles...........





Elsie loved her birthday and all the special treatment. Especially after watching everyone else enjoy their day and having to be the last one to celebrate her birthday.

The next morning I was awoken to "Mommy! Charlotte said it's not my birfday anymore!!" said through tears. Poor baby.

Christmas Day 2009

Santa did not disappoint this year!

Aaron asked for a Star Wars video game, but Santa must have known that Mom and Dad would not be allowing him to play video games very often............. he brought a leapster with 2 Star Wars games (math and reading) instead. Aaron was just as happy, if not more so.

Charlotte wanted art supplies, and Santa delivered!!



Elsie wanted a crawling baby, but that baby kept crawling away and was lost for part of the day. Grandpa Don finally found her in the pantry............a couple of shelves up........(Chucky?)

Lila didn't know what she wanted, so Santa brought her the purple toy that is behind Elsie. She loves it.











Later in the day more family came over for turkey.





Desi and Ali gave my dad a chocolate fountain for Christmas, which we just HAD to try out. (They are both wearing scarves I made for them)













I waited too long to try to get a picture of my kids by the tree. Can you see the older three posing behind Lila?







Someone got bathtub crayons and they all begged to take a bath with them together. (and yes, the tile on our bathroom is still pink)



After the bath, we got nice and cozy in our new robes and watched Daddy act out the story of Christmas with a nativity scene while I read from the Bible. It was fun (funny), and it definitely kept the kids attention. It just may become a new tradition!

Christmas Eve

I'm going to fast forward to Christmas and attempt to get caught up this weekend.
The day before Christmas Eve Nick's family came to town. We had a great time with them, but I don't know where my camera was. When I went looking for pictures to post there weren't any.

We spent Christmas Eve at my Dad's.











About every 3 minutes Charlotte would come up to me and ask "When will it be time to open presents?" Everytime I would start to get irritated, I would have flashbacks of Christmas eve's past, running around Grandma Jackie's house with all my cousins asking the same exact question.





I finally gave in and promised that if they would pose in front of the tree I would let them open the one present that I had brought for each of them.

Can you see the eagerness in their eyes?


(here is Charlotte's "i'm disappointed that this isn't a toy, but I know that I need to be polite" face)

After they all changed into their new handmade pajamas they were lucky enough to have some more to open!!

My dad gave us a family gift, a chiminea along with marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, and handmade marshmallow roasting sticks! Each item was individually wrapped and Elsie was the lucky one to open these! Her absolute favorite!! She loves them so much that before I realized the theme of the gift, I thought they had just picked them out as her present and thought it was a great idea.

I love how their pajamas turned out. Originally I planned on making them look more old fashioned, all white, with red ric-rac for trim. But when I went to buy the fabric all of their printed flannel was 50% off, so I changed my plan. My brother said they looked like they needed maracas. (I did not make Aaron's pajamas)

Then it was time to hurry home before Santa came.

My thoughtful little Charlotte wrote this letter to Santa all by herself.

(Santa, bring one (piece of candy) for Mrs. Clause. from Charlotte)