How to make Christmas morning last longer

Me: Did you know that Santa is coming tonight?
Ella: He is?
Me: Yes, what do you think he'll bring you?
Ella: I don't know. But mom, I'm going to try something I've never tried before.
Me: What's that?
Ella: I'm going to open all my presents with my feet. I've always wanted to try it.

Making Breakfast with Dad

Ella & Lily both love helping in the kitchen. Especially when their dad is making muffins.

On a side note, if anyone hears of radio stations or any other ways to win tickets to see "Walking with the Dinosaurs" let me know! I'd love to take Ella to see this show. I've already entered one contest. I'm determined to win some tickets!

Snow Day

Today Ella threw her first snowball [at me].

At dinner, Lily dumped her soup out to see if she could find another carrot. When she found there were no more carrots, she put the soup back into her bowl (minus the broth).

Preschool Party

Today was the Christmas party for preschool. Everything was perfect (which is typical for anything Ella's teacher does.) There were lots of games, prizes, presents, and food. At the end, the girls sang some Christmas songs. Ella LOVES preschool!

Dinner by candle light

Monday night we had a pizza, popcorn, & slushy party in our family room. We watched the movie, Horton Hears a Who. Lily didn't watch the movie, but she had fun climbing on everyone.

Tuesday night, Ella didn't want to eat in the kitchen (We hardly ever do, because our business has taken over our dining area.) But it was all cleaned up, so I thought we should eat at our table. To entice Ella, I lit some candles that were left over from Lily's birthday party. Tyler turned all the Christmas lights on & the kitchen light off. Ella loved eating by candle light (although she didn't eat a whole lot.) Lily loved it even more! After dinner Ella entertained us by dancing to Christmas music in her favorite pony shirt, skirt, & St. Patricks day socks.

Lily performed by doing her famous gymnastic tricks.

Cookie Party

I do comb Lily's hair several times a day, You could never tell.

Growing up my grandma hosted the best party of each year. Our annual Christmas cookie party. My cousins and I would all get together to make & decorate Christmas cookies. It was so much fun. My kids are lucky to have a grandma who carries on this fun tradition. Friday night the girls were all invited to my mom’s Christmas Cookie party to make cookies, read books & to sleep over. Tyler and I were surprisingly caught up with orders. We usually end up working when our kids are gone, but since we didn't have much work, we enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster.
All the parents were invited to my mom's house for breakfast in the morning & our first annual "Nogger" party. My mom won the prize for the best outfit!

Don't you know what cute is?

Ella: Mom, draw something cute for me.

So I drew a cute angel for her.

Ella: No, something cuter.

So I drew an even cuter angel, then after seeing the look of disapproval on her face, I drew an ice cream cone. I thought it was cute.

Ella: No, something really cute, like a T-Rex.

a Winter "One"derland

The birthday girl was "SNOW" cute!

Eating Yummy Cake!

Great Grandma Atwood

Nana Jones

Ella checking out the favors.

The cake.

Yummy Chocolate.

Paper snowflakes for our Winter "One"derland.

Fun cousins everywhere.

We are so happy Lily is in our family. Happy Birthday Lily!
And happy 1/2 birthday Ella.

My favorite part of today

Ella: Mom, do you want to hear the song I just made up?
Me: Yes!
(to the tune of "Who let the dogs out" she sings:
Ella: Who let the Chocolate out? mmm yumm mmm mmm

Today we went with Ella's preschool class on a tour of the Candy Factory.

FHE in the mail

We didn’t have anything planned for Family Home Evening tonight. Luckily we got this cute, but very elaborate "Make your own Nativity Kit" in the mail today. It was an early Christmas gift to Ella from my dad, but it was a fun surprise for us all! We decided putting it together would make the perfect Family Home Evening activity.

Ella ate crackers & provided the music. She sang jingle bells until Tyler handed her Jesus’s mother and told her that her name was Mary. Ella picked up a sheep, then she sang "Mary had a little Lamb" the rest of the evening.

Lily desperately wanted to participate, but we knew the outcome would be disastrous. So, we fed her crackers and cheese until she got so wild that we finally had to put her to bed (almost an hour early.) We missed her crazy personality, but the rest of the night was quite peaceful.

B is for Ballet

Yesterday our family went to a theatre downtown with Ella’s preschool class to watch a children’s version of the Nutcracker. It was very cute! Ella and I especially enjoyed the well designed scenery. Lily had a hard time sitting still in the beginning, but was soon entranced by the music & dancing. I wish I had a cute picture of my girls all dressed up, but it was a crazy day. (I accidentally scheduled way too many things all at the same time.) Thank you to everyone who helped me out yesterday & the day before!