A little bit of Christmas Eve Eve??

Ready for a pre-Christmas Eve post?  Aka…the photo dump :-)  

Alina, Kamal, and Ella watching some videos on the iPhone

Caught my Grandpa smiling unprompted
 *makes my heart happy*

This little beauty :-)

And then the kids decided to dog pile each other after their fort fell apart.

Ahhhh…so much fun :-)

Merry Christmas!!!

It was a hectic but lovely Christmas for our family.  

We unfortunately managed to get the world's worst sinus cold the week before Christmas and right when 18 guests arrived in our home, so I've been a tad out of it for 2 weeks. 

Of course one of the bonuses of having 17 adults in the house is that someone is always ready to hang out with kids and to pick up the slack where I was/am (seriously) lacking.  

Big props to my Aunt Brenda…she is awesome sauce.  :-)

I get sick maybe once every two years, but when I'm down I'm DOWN.  

Oy…here's to a new year and to kicking illnesses butt!  

We did manage to do a couple of holiday things before the kids got sick too, including Maddie's preschool holiday party!  

I rallied and went with her since Daddy was working, and I'm so glad I did because it was the only time she was able to see Santa.  Ella missed out on that this year…such a bummer.   :-(  

She was super excited to go to her party and dressed up in her Christmas outfit.  

I was curious to see how she would react to Santa.  

She was such a shy baby and very cautious, but has really bloomed in the last year or so. 

She is much braver than I ever was at her age! 

 She sat right on his lap, answered his questions, and smiled so I could take a picture.  

This year she asked for a pink unicorn that she could ride on that was stuffed, 

(Why so.many.details!?!?!  I spent a whole day trying to track this thing down…

I sort of succeeded…I wish Santa was real…)

and a My Little Pony book.    

We made reindeer food…fyi, reindeer apparently eat oatmeal and birdseed…learn something new everyday ;-)

Then we went to all the craft stations and made fun little Christmas crafts.  Which of course Maddie thought was the most! fun! ever! :-)  Girlfriend loves her some crafts.  

She takes it very seriously, and I let her do her thing.  

Occasionally assisting with the random stuck sticker, but staying out of the way for the most part. 

 It's very important to take the OCD out of crafting with kids….for your own sanity.

Afterwards she told me that it was "The bestest Christmas party ever!"

Seeing her smile was worth the 10 million ibuprofen I had to take pre-party to conquer 

the evil snot monster living in my brain…

Plus it's always good to eavesdrop on Santa present requests just incase they change something…and they always do…

ALWAYS.

P.S.  I am working on an actual Christmas post in which I bombard you with family photos…

because I have super attractive family members and I like to show them off :-)  Happy Holidays!!!!

Someone is Getting Coal in her Stocking

This one….

She definitely keeps me on my toes.

  Maddie was such a mellow baby and toddler that it's been a bit of a shock to Mike and I to have such a little ball of energy enter our lives.  But oh my goodness, she is 

SO. MUCH. FUN.

I'm never ever bored that's for sure, and I can never ever turn my back on her for a second.  For instance, today at lunch I left her with a container of yogurt and a spoon (mistake number one) thinking

"Oh she knows how to feed herself, she'll be fine".

I literally turned my back on her for 5 minutes (mistake number two).

Meaning I was sitting at the island right next to the table.  Crafting.  With my back to hers.  

I heard the splat before I felt it.

Nothing good could come from that sound, but it was SO much worse that I thought.  

In the span of 5 minutes of "eating" she had dumped 3/4th of her yogurt on the table, 

spread it all around on about half of the table, and then 

(this was the part I heard) 

she flung the remaining yogurt ALL over the floor with her spoon 

(also the part I felt).  

I put her in timeout, cleaned up the mess, and then went to get her, 

and this is the face I got….

Ummmm…it's really hard to discipline a goof ball, at least with a straight face.  

Oh Ella Bea…you complete me.  

I mean seriously...

The Time We Got a Real Tree

It was magical Ya'll…

Mike and I have had a fake tree for as long as we have been together, but last year the $50 (maybe $20…it was a cheapo) fake tree fell apart and I was promised a new one.  

After some discussion we made the decision to go with a real tree this year.  

We wanted that experience for the girls, and honestly I think we were both as, if not more, excited than they were. (although if we are being totally honest, I don't think Ella cared one way or the other)  

Mike *says* he bought it for me, but I think we both know he wanted a real one more than I did. :-)

Because we recently moved I have accumulated a TON of those coupons you get sent every time you change your address.  So I sorted through them and found a few for local Christmas tree farms.

We picked one in Fort Collins that seemed nice, and headed over.

Ella decided to take a nap on the drive over,

 but she quickly perked up once the picking of "The Tree" started.

So I learned something new about myself.

 (or maybe I knew it all along but have been in denial?)

APPARENTLY, I am very picky about my Christmas trees. 

Okay, yeah, I knew….

After about an hour wandering around debating the fine points of: 

"This one is too fat and short"

"This one is waaaay too skinny"

"This one is nice, but the bottom is kind of bare"

"Oooo….this one smells nice, but Ouch! it's pokey"

We were finally intercepted by an employee who 

(I can only assume) 

noticed us wandering around in circles, took pity on us, and came to the rescue.  

(Thanks tree dude!  Mike tipped you!)  

After a few key questions on height and what we wanted he directed us to this beauty.  

Then I took pictures of my beauties in front of it. :-)

And then I made Mike buy us (me) a wreath, 

(because I'm spoiled, and he was being nice)

  a tree stand, and tree food (scam?  probably).

Waaaayyy too many dollars later we headed home.

We freed the tree from it's prison…

Ella helped... 

(no worries, I took a picture and then snagged the scissors away)

Then we decorated the tree,

 and Maddie had the honor of putting the star on the top.

(Please don't look at what Mike is standing on…it's not safe at all)

((we weren't on a very good safety roll that day))

And….

Voila!!!!!!!!

The prettiest, best smelling, 

not too fat, not too skinny, 

just the right height and pokiness…

TREE!!!!

FYI:  Almost all of the decorations on the lower half of the tree have slowly migrated to the top half thanks to one little girl (ELLA) and her inability to leave them alone….

Procrastination at its Best

I should be unpacking, setting up my guest rooms, or even showering and getting ready for the day, 

but instead I'm editing photos because procrastination is what I do best. :-)  

Yesterday the girls and I decided to do some neighborhood exploring.  

We went for a walk/bike ride down the street and decided to explore the neighborhood park. 

 Maddie and I had been to it previously when we came for the house inspection 

and it was so much fun that we decided to go back…this time with Ella Bea!

It's definitely one of my favorite parts of the new house

…for now…I keep finding new things I like!