Three Days 'till Three Years!

Excitement is building as we count down to Elizabeth's birthday! Here, our little fashionita is styling in her pink Cookie Monster shirt with pink wind pants, topped in her pink leotard, wearing her "glass slippers" (which are actually silver with pink jewel flowers). To accessorize the ensemble - pink beads, assorted pink bracelets, and one of her pink wands. And that gives you a taste of what Elizabeth is all about.

We're Doing a New Countdown!

Six days 'till someone turns 3!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I said something referring to Rebekah as my butterfly.
Elizabeth: She not a butterfly. She's Rebekah.
Mom: She's my Butterfly, like you're my Ladybug.
David: And I'll be your moth!

David got some Castle Legos from his cousin for Christmas. Finding the catapult, he said: Look at this rock launcher!
Mom: That's called a catapult.
David: Catapult?
Mom: Yes, catapult.
Later, referring to the catapult: Look what I'm doing with the casserole!

Christmas, Part II

We're still celebrating Christmas around here! Today we'll be going to my parents' for my side. Pictures of all will come later. Have a wonderful last week of 2009!

Merry Christmas!

Baby's First Christmas

Look what I found in our Christmas decorations! Perfect! I just realized today that I haven't bought anything that says, "Baby's First Christmas" this year, except an ornament with the year on it.

Looking beautiful in her first bow!

She
really wants
the tree and has
been crawling across the
room to get to it! Yes, that
Christmas tree was her motivation
to start crawling...
her SS teacher said last Sunday,
"I bet she's crawling by Christmas!"

David thought her bib was cool.
She was making eyes at Dad in this picture.

Rebekah has, by far, been my most active "baby's first Christmas" but it has been fun to see her mesmerized by the lights,
full of laughter at her siblings,
bouncing her body to the carols,
shoveling cookie crumbs into her mouth,
and making tracks for the tree.

Just wait 'till you see her.

Two More Days!

Oops... I forgot yesterday was Tuesday! It was after lunch before anyone noticed that I had wrapped some presents & put them under the tree last night. Elizabeth suddenly gasped, then screamed, "PRESENTS!!!" David came running across the room to see and started yelling, "I see a present with my name on it!!!" Elizabeth, "Me, too!! Me, too!!!"

Tonight he picked up his present and shook it. Must be instinct. Then he said reflectively, "Huh... it doesn't make any noise. I hope it's Legos." I said, "You don't want Legos for your Christmas Eve present, you wouldn't have time to play with them before going to bed." (trying...) As he walked away he asked, "Is my present pajamas?" Little stinker.

His bedtime prayer? "Help me to have no bad dreams, only good dreams. Help me to get Legos for my Christmas Eve present. Amen."

There he is diligently working on one of his presents that he's giving. : )

Elizabeth had to work on something, too. She asks, "Mom, can I do my school work, too?"

I made these Peppermint Meltaway Cookies this weekend, except we went all natural and left out the red food coloring and red stripped candy topping. Still they are really, really yummy! I love them, but they are a little too "melty" (aka crumbly) for the little folk. They're all gone now.

I used the extra peppermint icing on the last of Aunt Wee's chocolate pound cake... oh. my. The combination of chocolate and peppermint is heavenly. It's all gone now, too.

I was on a peppermint kick that day, so I added peppermint to the hot chocolate at lunch time. Elizabeth enjoyed it with her peanut butter sandwich.

Day before yesterday, Dad asked me when I was going to make *his* cookies. Here ya go. Made them last night.

Earlier I also made a loaf of bread, a triple batch of hot chocolate mix, a batch of chocolate milk powder, and a batch of Swiss Mocha mix. Washed a load of clothes, set a load of diapers to soak overnight, ran a full dishwasher twice. AND I cooked lunch AND dinner AND went grocery shopping! Now that was productive day!

Dad brought me the little Christmas tree that I wanted when he came home from work today. Isn't it cute?!?!? Thank you, Babe!

The Nativity

I collect nativity scenes. Unfortunately, most are not displayed these years... Maybe when the kids are bigger & I'm not worried about balls that aren't supposed to be thrown or twirling blankets bumping my pretties.

When David was a baby, I got the most practical nativity ever - Fisher Price Little People! It been fun the last few years to see who else comes to visit baby Jesus.

The first princess sighting in Bethlehem.

How did the diaper duck end up in the sheep pasture?

Apparently the Wise Men traveled by
camel and monster truck.

Last year pirates were spotted in Bethlehem,
and the year before that Elmo & 4 other guests dropped in.

Welcome to Christmas Week!

For the first time ever, I have dressed 2 little girls in matching dresses with matching bows. They were sooooo adorable!

We've been getting ready since Thanksgiving! The tree is decorated,


the wreath and lights are up outside,


the porch is decorated and ready to welcome guests,


the bathrooms are decorated,

(my toothbrush tree)

presents are almost done.

Tiny Talk Tuesday Welcomes the Newcomer

Tiny Talk Tuesday welcomes newcomer,
Rebekah!

Rebekah: Mama! Mama! Mama! and repeat...
Sweet, sweet sound to my ears! : ) She says it so much now and it's very obvious that she knows what it means, too! She also says Ba Ba, which I think is what she's calling herself.

Mom: Guess who's on your shirt.

Elizabeth: Guess?

Mom: Yeah, guess who's on the front of your shirt.

I turn shirt around and she replies: OH! That's not Guess! That's Cookie Monster!

Elizabeth, while playing with a little Mary doll: This Mary is wearing a blue dress of God.

Elizabeth: Mom, what's this?

Mom: That's a piece of coral.

Elizabeth: Can we eat it?

Mom: No, it's like a rock.

Elizabeth: Oh. Did you get this when you were swimming under the sea?

Mom: Yep.

Elizabeth: Were you scared swimming under the sea?

Mom: No, it was beautiful under the sea.

Elizabeth: Ariel swims under the sea. Mom, I want to watch a princess movie.

David has really enjoyed singing Christmas carols this year:
Frosty, the snowman,

in a one-horse open sleigh

with a corn cob pipe

and a button nose

and two eyes made out of coal.