Christmas Vacation

This Christmas Vacation has been SO much fun! For starters, Daddy has been off for two weeks (he does this every year at Christmas), so we have all gotten to spend a lot of time together doing lots of fun things. And, this year both of the kids are big enough to really understand the holiday and get super excited about all of the festivities. And believe me, there have been a LOT of festivities!!

There has been gingerbread house making. . .

 Cookie baking. . .

 Cookie dough eating. . . .

 lots of treating. . . 

 snuggling. . .

 serious concentrating. . .

 creating. . .

 lots of good messes!

 tons of smiles. . .

 spending fun times with Daddy. . . 

 amazing creations. . .

 cookie icing. . .

 slumber parties with our best friends. . .

 Christmas at PapaGigi's

 drawing on new easels. . .(can a girl ever really have too many?)

 lots and LOTS of story telling!

 visits to the REAL Santa. . .

 adorableness overloads. . .

 moments of wonder when Santa knew our name. . .

 disbelief when Santa even knew Beau and Lily's names!

 "just in case" decisions. . .

 "I'm really too cool for this" smiles. . . 

 beautiful lights. . .

 houses that went crazy. . .

 painting our own Nutcrackers (someone has a slight Nutcracker obsession this year). . . . .

Christmas at Nana's. . . 

 awesome family gifts. . .

 never-ending Texas love.

 new babies to love. . . 

moments together. . .

and playing with cousins. 

And that's just the short list!! Hope your holidays were as action packed and wonderful as ours!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

My surprise this morning.

I love that face :)
It's really not THAT cold in our house!
This picture makes me so happy. Let me tell you why. In 2007, Rob and I took a trip to Italy with Nana. While we were there, I spotted this doll in a store window and HAD TO HAVE IT. Everything about her is handmade/hand sewn, and even though you can't see it, she has the most adorable face!!!

When we went back to the place to get her (which we almost couldn't find), she wasn't in the window anymore! So, I made everyone search high and low through the mounds of dolls and animals until we found her. No other one would do.

When we got home, I excitedly gave "Lucy" to Bella who could not have been less interested in her. Nor has she been one bit interested in her in the three years since we brought her home.

Until recently. Lately, she loves playing with her and snuggling up with her on the couch. Ahhh, so happy!

Ok, maybe I am being too crazy about keeping the heating bill down. . . .
My little grown up girl! Talking to her very bestest friend M.

Punks.

I'm so disappointed. So. Disappointed.

Yesterday, we decided to get Bella all gussied up and head on over to the local Bass Pro Shop to have her pics taken with Santa. I love going there for a few reasons.

1. The Santa looks completely legit. He's super sweet. Has a great suit. AND a real beard.

2. The Santa area is decorated wonderfully.

3. The crafts. Love. It can turn the single event of seeing Santa into a fun little morning/afternoon outing. Yesterday we wrote a letter to Santa that we then "mailed" in the Bass Pro mailbox (they said she will get a personalized letter back from the big guy before Christmas too :), we made an ornament, and did a color sheet.

(I am so in love with the fact that she refers to an Easy Bake Oven as an Easy Bake Off. Love it.)

4. the games-lots of good ol' redneck games to play either while you wait or after you're done. Nothing like a visit to Santa followed by a little nerf crossbow action!

(notice the little girl in the background? After listening to Rob give Bella crossbow lessons, she decided she better pay attention. The man clearly knew what he was talking about, and was obviously a crossbow commando.)

5. This one was my favorite. THE FREE PICTURES AND THE ABILITY TO TAKE AS MANY PICS AS YOU WANT WITH YOUR OWN CAMERA!!!

Except this year, Bass Pro Shop decided to be punks and NOT let Mommies and Daddies take ANY pictures of the kiddos with their own cameras. Call me cheap, but honestly that is why I go there! To get my one free picture and to take my own!

I got some of the most adorable pictures last year of the munchkin timidly walking up to Santa, then shaking his hand, and finally, shyly climbing up into his lap. Seriously, adorable.

Well not this year! The picture police quickly put an end to my efforts to snap some equally adorable pictures of my baby this year. She told me, without any hesitation or kindness, "Excuse me mam! No pictures here with Santa. You will have to go elsewhere in he store to do that!"

I'm sorry, what did you just say? ELSEWHERE in the store?! As if I dressed my daughter in a long,shimmery dress just to come to Bass Pro Shop to take random pictures of her with say, a mounted elk head?! Oh no! It must have been for posing by the massive display of "deer scent". WHO DID SHE THINK WE WERE THERE TO SEE?!

I know, I really should be thankful for the one free picture I received, and I am. Really, I am. HOWEVER, last year, Bass Pro was super braggy about their generosity in offering parents the gift of taking their own pictures, and this year they totally let me down. It was a hard blow.

I have purchased things there just because I liked supporting a store that did something like that for the community. For being a store that, at least once a year, wasn't only about making $$, but about doing something kind.

Sellouts.

I'm sure next year, they will be charging a small fee to do the crafts or making you buy tickets to play the games.

So, Bass Pro Shop, for turning greedy this year and forcing parents to PURCHASE a stupid, expensive package if they wanted to capture more than one magical moment of their children seeing Santa: BOOOOOOO!!!! ON YOU!!

Little Picasso

Recently, I remembered that I had a few canvases just sitting up in the attic, so I decided to bring them down and let my little artist have a go at painting them.

Lesson learned: ALWAYS have canvases available for her to paint. Her art is going to decorate my walls forever!

This is one she painted for her own room.

It's titled "2 Fairies"

As the title suggests, it is a painting of two fairies who are running and flying around a pond. There are flowers around the bottom (the flowers on the right are solid yellow because she "got tired of painting all those flowers, so those are just yellow sunflowers" HA!), and all the little dots everywhere are the fairies' magic sprinkles (love it!) The fairy on the left has her face painted (like a butterfly I'm told)
This is a painting of a sunrise she did for the baby's room. I adore it. When the baby outgrows it, it will be moved to a place of prominence elsewhere in my house to live for eternity.

I have to admit that although I LOVE the paintings, the art itself is not my favorite part. My most cherished parts of these masterpieces are the adorable signatures that adorn the paintings. As she grows, that tiny signature will always remind me of the little girl she once was, and the beginnings of her love of art. I hope she continues to do this because after all, a true artist always signs their work!

Random Cuteness

One of the things we do in school each day is creative writing. This is where Bella can write about any topic she likes, trying to do her best to spell and punctuate correctly, and then she can draw a picture to go along with the sentences. This is her MOST favorite subject, probably because she gets to draw. I don't care why-I have noticed big improvements in her writing, spelling, punctuation, and creative thought process since we began doing it, so I am happy! Plus, I love hearing her ask every day, "Mommy can we please do creative writing first today?!" As a mommy who loves literature, imagination, creativity, and any sort of individuality promoting activities, this makes my heart super happy!

Here are a couple of her latest letters. . . .

>Dear Santa,

I wold [would] like. . .

1. a Baby alive

2. a easy bake oven

3. another Baby alive

Dear Santa,

I Love you and I Love yor [your] little Elf because he is so kyut [cute] and funny!

And now just some random cuteness!!
Even Lily likes to snuggle with Lovie

Daddy snuggle time.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

100 day countdown has begun!

Sad.

A sad, sad thing happened over the weekend.
Since Bella was 3, we have taken her to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra every year at Christmas (thanks Gigi! You are the best!)
(her first show)

She LOVES it. LOVES. IT. We all do. It is such a fun thing to do each year as a family. Other than the show and having a great night out together, our favorite part about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra coming to town is the number of times we get to hear Bella say "the Strawberrian Orchestra." It's almost as if it is a personal mission of her's to say it as often as possible. We love it.
She has never, ever been able to say it right, and we loved it so much that we all started referring to it as that. After all, Strawberrian Orchestra sounds way more fun than Trans-Siberian anyway! It's always been one of our favorite things she mispronounces, and we had no plans on ever correcting it.
But now she can read.
Over the weekend a commercial for the performance came on (the tv was on mute or something bc no sound was coming out) and in a burst of excitement she yells out, "The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is coming!"
WHAT?!?!?
No it's not! The STRAWBERRIAN Orchestra might be, but that's the only one! There is no such thing as Trans-Siberian! Never will be!
Rob and I were so sad! Darn those reading skills! Darn children and their unstoppable ability to grow up way too fast! I'm just not ready for her to really be a big girl yet. I'm not ready for her to stop saying things in her own funny way! Yet, it's happening. Against my will, she is growing up faster and faster right before my very eyes!
If anyone has any tips on how to stop this, they would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
(if you have never been to a performance, you really should go. It's an amazing music and lights show!)

Finding Duke

The Pink Door

Is it insane that a door brings me so much happiness??

Probably.

Do I care??

Not at all!

I love and adore my fun and funky entry!

BFF

Yesterday Bella and I were out doing some Christmas shopping when suddenly she explodes out with, "MAMA LOOK!" She was so excited about whatever she was looking at that I was sure it HAD to be a person with 2 heads. It wasn't. It was even better. She had found one of those heart necklaces that is broken into 2 piece and says "Best Friends" on it when you put the 2 pieces together. The best part was, she wanted it, NEEDED it even. . .for us to wear. How could I tell her no when she looked up at me and asked so sweetly, "Please can we get these mommy? We need them because me and you are best friends, and when we wear these necklaces, we will be best friends forever. Even when we aren't together, we will have our necklaces to remind us."

My heart melted.

Needless to say, we are now the proud owners/wearers of a beautiful, new, $8.95 Best Friends necklace. It is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry, and I will wear it proudly every day. . .until it turns my neck green. Then we might graduate to real white gold.

Christmas CRRRAAAZZZZZYYYY!!!

Well it's officially December, and the Christmas insanity inside my home is reaching dangerous levels. I'm not sure we are going to make it till the 25th. Bella's head is either going to explode with excitement or she is going to keel over from exhaustion. The kid is not sleeping. At all. I feel bad for getting frustrated at her. She really can't help it. But she is so overwhelmed with Christmas spirit right now she is quite literally OUT OF HER MIND. Which is even more literally, driving me out of mine!

If I wasn't currently knocked up, I might seriously be contemplating drinking myself into an alcohol induced oblivion (much like the one I plan on being in when Bella reaches her glorious teenage years.). Since I am with child, I am simply doing my very best to get through these magical days without some sort of mental/emotional breakdown. . .for me or Bella.

Rob is being amazing about taking her off my hands for a bit when he gets home (I think he knows it's for his own safety as well as mine and Bella's). It's during those quiet moments that I remember just how much I love my family, and really how happy I am to have a little girl who feels things so very passionately. When it's not driving me crazy, her excitement really is quite contagious!

Here she is making Lily do the "it's so exciting! We are putting up Christmas lights" dance. Lily is thrilled about it. The lights and the dancing. Poor dog.

Helping daddy. I do love that.

skipping around in the lights. Pretending it's a "colorful, yellow brick road."

She can't even see, but she doesn't care. There are lights in our yard!