Christmas Eve Morning

Happy Birthday my sweet little Elise Mae. I love you to the mountaintops. More birthday and one year old stuff coming. Have to finish Christmas updates.

Okay so the big Christmas Eve party didn't go how I had planned because Elise had a bad belly ache and was quite uncomfortable all day. I shed a few tears because she just was not her normal happy self and the fact that she was trying not to be whiny just broke my heart even more. She was constipated and ended up having to have a mild laxative to help her go to the bathroom. We made the switch to whole milk and it her little tummy had a hard time adjusting. Boo. But, she made the best of it and her sister had a magical day.

We started off with a delicious breakfast and a beautiful table setting at G and Pa's. Amelia ate almost this entire thing of strawberries, ha.



It was a nice day and everyone headed outside with the dogs for a walk to the creek.

Someone got too sleepy on the walk and fell asleep on her Pa.



Fun times. I was hoping after Elise's nap that she would feel better and get that mess out of her tummy, but not the case. However, it was on to present session number two :) Amelia was tickledddd.

Gimme Some Sugar

I love making sugar cookies. And, my little sugars had so much fun too! It is one of my favorite traditions to pass on and it didn't disappoint. Last year I tried to replicate Meme's famous dough (fail), but luckily this year she made it and it was perfect as usual. But first, there was some cousin playing and dancing.

Even Elise made a few cookies! She sat there like a big girl.

I just love seeing these pictures of Elise with Mom. She is crazy about her Gammy and it brings me so much joy to watch their relationship develop. And something else that brought me joy on this Christmas Eve eve was when Stephanie brought out this adorable apron for Ingrid. Precious.

She is the piglet of the group and tried to eat all the sprinkles and dough and flour. Haha. She wasn't a fan of the taste.
Amelia was VERY into it this year and definitely was into making cookies the longest, as the oldest decorator. Everyone took turns helping her and she even got to don Ingrid's apron, which she was dying to do. I remember everyone helping me just like it was yesterday. Now me's a big girl. Haha.


Then everyone got to open an early present or two. Amelia loved her "purse" books from Aunt Steph and DD. And Elise was excited about her new silky blanket like sissy's.


Something that was hilarious was the Steph and I both had each other the same thing: new fancy schmancy foot duvets and we both picked to give them for the early gift.
It was the perfect day. I would love to just relive all the laughs and good food and fun over and over. Next up, Christmas Eve.

Amelia's Big Debut

We had a fabulous Christmas :) I love so much family time and can't wait to share. But first..

Amelia had her Christmas program at school last week and she was so very excited. Here she is before we left.

I was worried about how she would do up on the big stage, and we talked about her standing very still up there and singing her songs. As soon as she walked out I teared up. That beautiful blonde hair just shone on the stage and my heart was full of pride before she ever did a single thing.

She asked her teacher where we were and she was searching frantically for us. I stood up and waved and called her name and she was grinning ear to ear when she saw us. Here she is showing Ms. Tonya where we are sitting.


And here she is doing her motions to Away in a Manger.



I was just so proud of her. She sang all the words and did all the motions and smiled perfectly. It was such a wonderful day and I'm so glad that Meme and Pop were able to come watch Amelia in her first performance. I'm tearing up just thinking about it all :) Here is Amelia with her sweet teacher.


With her Daddy and her candy cane treat.

And finally, with her special visitors, her Meme and Pop.

Sunday Funday

Amelia got a train whistle from her Sunday School teachers and she is beyond thrilled. Wouldn't even take it out of her mouth for a photo :). It is QUITE loud.



And this little lady had the cutest Sunday School party in her classroom. They had Happy Birthday Jesus balloons and an adorable present for the parents. A picture of Elise framed with her handprint and a verse. A lovely Sunday.
After a nap Amelia started practicing for her big debut. The next day was Amelia's precious Christmas program at school and her last day before Christmas break. Ahhh, a wonderful moment in motherhood. Stay tuned.

Full House

We went to Steph's on Friday to play and the girls had so much fun. We couldn't believe how well they shared and played. These two were interested in some cookies Amelia made for Ingrid and Steph.


This girl was of course more interested in playing than food.



That night I went to dinner and to get a manicure (a present from Ally) with two of my dearest friends. Love you BFF'S! Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching the girls and letting me do that. It is so nice to have time to visit and relax.

The next day it was time for more playing! I snuck over to Steph and D's house to hold Liv for a while. Hard to get any snuggle time with that sweet girl, so I had to sneak it in during Ingrid's nap, hehe. We had pizza at Mom and Dad's and played. Then, it was time for the Elf on the Shelf movie. How adorable!! I seriously loved that movie.

This and That

When you have strep throat, you just need some bubble gum medicine, a gingerbread house, hot chocolate, and some momma snuggles.



Amelia is much better and had a fun weekend with her cousins! And in other news..

Guess who is finally showing some interest in reading????

She has been wanting to read books more and more and even grunting and growling to get us to read them multiple times. Makes me happy. What does not make me happy is that Elise now has a drippy, wippy nose. Tis the season, eh?

These Boots are Made for Walking

Amelia has strepthroat. BOOO. I hope she doesn't get my inclination to have a million sore throats. One thing is for sure, she is not inclinde to whine about it as I do (can't stand a sore throat) and has been in remarkably high spirits. Thanks for the prayers and texts. Dr. Shelby is so good with Amelia and she left with a handful of Cars stickers and a new book. My dad came up yesterday to stay with us during the day (after he had worked the entire night) and help keep the two girls in separate rooms and it helped me out a ton. Love you Daddy.


I just love Christmas outfits for the girls and even though it's hard to get a good picture around here....




...I love them all the same!

Speaking of love. I had Jessalyn and Greg over for dinner last week when Ross was on nights. They came over straight after work and Amelia immediately wanted to change into a skirt and boots like Jessalyn. Hilarious.



And no one was really sure what Elise was doing :). At first her purse was involved and the next thing we knew...no shirt and a Mtn. Dew. We had a fun time.



And just because I LOVE this picture and these hat..

My Aunt Kathy made these--aren't they adorable?? And of course my Mom is the prettiest Gammy around.

See Ya Later!

Guess what is over? Ross's three weeks of nights. WHEW. I do not like him not being here at night, nor do I like doing the whole supper, bedtime routine alone; but, I will say that this week was much better. I mentioned that I thought Amelia's stomach troubles were continuing due to some anxiety of Ross being on nights (and my overtly apparent bad attitude about it), so we did tons of fun things and I kept an upbeat attitude and lo and behold I even tricked myself into thinking it was just fine and fun :).

SO, we did some Christmas pictures.Made some snowman cookies.

Got all beautified for school.
Decorated yet another window with stick-ons.

And snuggled after bath.





Random sidenote: I love, love, love putting new pictures in a picture frame and getting the old ones out for a blast from the past. I always keep them under there and it just makes me so happy to look back at them. Anyone else do that?