Choo-Choo

I'm sure most people have heard of the Elf on the Shelf by now. We have an elf and his name is Choo-Choo (chosen by Harper last year). Anyways, Choo-Choo is having a really hard time this year finding new and creative spots in our new place. He really wants to remain downstairs so the girls have the wonderful thrill and surprise at finding him each morning. It a little bit of a competition on who can find him first each morning.

This is a picture of Harper finding Choo-Choo on the morning she woke up with a stomach bug...she said "mommy, take my picture with Choo-Choo, it will make me feel better!"

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We decorated the Christmas tree early this year. I wanted it done before we went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving. There are only a few weeks between the two holidays and I didn't want to have to deal with/mess with/worry with all of that after Thanksgiving. So we planned to decorate the Saturday night before Thanksgiving. I spent the entire Saturday, taking down fall decorations, putting up all of the Christmas stuff around the house. I had planned for us to eat a wonderful meal, listen to Christmas music and decorate the tree, together, as a family. Um, not going to lie...there were many meltdowns...and I was so annoyed that I didn't take the time to enjoy the memories of them helping unwrap the ornaments and putting them on them tree...where ever they wanted...it became rushed and we didn't take the time to appreciate our time together.

the girls decorating



Adeline trying to put the angel on the top of the tree, while also hurting Peter at the same time

Harper got the angel on top of the tree

Homesick

We all get homesick around here from time to time but lately it's been Adeline. She has really been missing family members. I think she is finally realizing that we live far away from them. It started a few weeks ago, when she woke up one morning and she asked for Peter's mom "gramma". There were tears because she wasn't there.

Since then, every time she gets up from a nap and most mornings, she asks for Poppy (my dad), Grammy (my mom), Gramma (Peter's mom) or Granddaddy (Peter's dad). Last night, she had gone to bed but woke up asking for Poppy. So we called my dad. Here is the conversation:

Poppy: "hello"

Adeline: "I want you Poppy"

*Insert heart break on both ends of the phone*

They talked for a few minutes and Adeline was close to tears and I am pretty sure my dad was too. Adeline kept saying over and over again "I want you Poppy!" It was probably one of the sweetest conversations that I have ever listened to.

Adeline has also become more verbal lately and I love to hear what comes out of her mouth. I'm not going to lie-there is some sass but also some of the sweetest words in the world. For example, last night, we were talking about Christmas and who was going to be at my parents house.

Me "Grammy, Poppy, Uncle Bucka, Aunt Amy, Paps."

Adeline: "Where's Grams?"

Me: "in heaven"

Adeline: "No, she is in o-do-homo with Paps"

Me: "No, she is in heaven with Jesus"

Adeline: "Heaven, with Jesus?? I love Jesus!"

Santa Take 2 2011

About a week in a half ago (on a Saturday), the girls school, had a Santa activity at a local country club. We got the girls all ready and we hoped Adeline would have a change of heart towards the jolly old guy.

Harper LOVES Santa. She was so happy to see him again. At this point, Adeline is hiding between my legs

But wait....
She had a slight change of heart and decided to go stand by him and later she did give him a high five-so we are making progress!

Love these two girls more than words!

SantaLand @ Macy's 2011

Last Friday, Peter took the day off and took us to SantaLand. SantaLand is located at the BIG Macy's in downtown Minneapolis on the 8th floor. We went to this exhibit last year with some friends and Peter wasn't able to go with us. So this year, he made sure he went with us.

Excited to enter SantaLand

Happy!

Holding hands at they walked through SantaLand

Adeline was way too busy looking around to take a picture

Waiting in line to see Santa

"Oh, Santa!" She was so excited until she saw him and then she hid...

Harper was elated to see Santa. She asked for Squinkies...I think Santa can cover that:)

Scared to death of Santa...she wouldn't even look at him.

Lamb Dinner 2011

Like I said in a previous post, we always go to Peter's parents house with his dad's side of the family for a lamb dinner on Friday after Thanksgiving. It was so fun to watch all of the kids run around and play together.

Harper and cousin Charlie

Cousin time-Adeline, Charlie, Harper and John

Eating a yummy dinner of chicken, cheese and apple sauce

Great-Grandad and Adeline...she had done a outfit change into her princess dress.

Thanksgiving 2011-Karen and Rod's

Another tradition we have on Thanksgiving is to go to Rod and Karen's house (Peter's uncle and aunt). We usually spend most of the day at my parents and then head to his aunt and uncle's house late afternoon (where we get to see his parents, grandma {GG}, brother, aunt and uncle and cousins)

The girls with Grandaddy and Gramma

YAY for cousins-hugging Kaylee as soon as she got out of the car.

I have to laugh because Sarah (Peter's cousins wife) and I usually buy our girls the same line from the Gap. When we found out they all had this leopard line, we knew we had to put them in it for Thanksgiving. Wait until Christmas, they also have the same Christmas dress, which was not planned.

We all immediately grabbed our cameras as we saw them walking like this together (unprompted)

I love this picture and I adore Adeline's expression-it's like she is watching the other 2 to make sure she is doing it right. She may be smaller but she is older than Kaylee.

Another fun treat was that Sarah's sister, Amy, was also in town for Thanksgiving. She also went to Karen and Rod's and also had the same line from the Gap. This is the best picture I got with all 5 girls.

Kaylee, Adeline and Harper with their GG

Thanksgiving 2011-Grammy and Poppy's

As I mentioned in a previous post, we went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving. We started off at my parents house on Thursday morning. We all helped in some way, shape or form. The girls loved playing with their family and I enjoyed time in the kitchen with my mom.

Some of the men working on the turkey

The girls playing ball with Paps and Grandpa

helping mommy make the homemade whip cream

Harper's turn

Tasting what they made

Hesitant to taste it...

Mashed potato hands after she ate her meal

Girls

Grandpa/Great-grandpa with the girls

Paps with the girls

Paps, girls and Grandpa

Grammy and Poppy with the girls

Thanksgiving Family pic...not sure what's going on with Adeline's tights....

Only my daughter can make urgent care FUN!

Yep, only my daughter can make urgent care FUN. Harper had a horrible cough for several weeks and the night before Thanksgiving (right after we got to Tulsa), she started crying while she was eating dinner saying her throat hurt so I took her to urgent care and in fact, she had another nasty ear infection. It was late and we were both bonkers tired from traveling all day. So, she started singing and dancing in the room...I have some of her silliness on video on my phone-she was singing A Tooty Ta-with all of the motions. After that "fun" wore off, she got a strep test and since she has a strong gag reflux they gave her the "throw up" cup. She found even more entertainment with this.

Her smily face

Her 'sad' face

*While we were in the waiting room, a little boy came with a nasty cut on his forehead. He was bleeding pretty bad and was freaking out. I couldn't watch b/c it was making me sick but Harper was staring and then she said "mommy, can we go pray for him? Someone needs to pray for him, he is hurt really bad!" Moments like those are PRICELESS!

Coasters

A few weeks ago, I dabbled in a new project. My friend, Jill, showed me some cute coasters she had made for family members for Christmas so I decided to make some too. I made them for our family for Thanksgiving to let them we know we are thankful for them. I wish I had taken more and better pictures of the finished products. If I do say so myself, they turned out GREAT! Basically, it was ceramic tiles, scrapbook paper and mod-podge. Now, I am wishing I would have made some for us. Everyday patterns

Christmas ones

We Are Thankful For You!

For thanksgiving this year, the girls and I made some pumpkin bread for their teachers. Their notes read "We are thankful for you!" Their teachers loved it and I thought it was a nice gesture to let them know how much we appreciate what they do each and every day.

Primrose Dance Show-off (Dancercise Kids)

Peter is definitely the daddy of the year. On Thursday, Harper had a dance "show-off" for parents and/or grandparents. I couldn't cancel 2 clients so Peter went to the performance. He video taped it and took pictures. I wish I knew how to attach a video to this blog-any tips?

Waiting patiently for the next dance

Signing the alphabet with a dance

Each week, Harper earns a sticker-here, she is showing off her sticker chart.