Christmas Fun

As you can see we have had a lot of fun things happening recently. As much as I love the holidays and staying busy I am so excited to just have our "normal" schedule for awhile.

Here are some of our Christmas highlights.... We tried Santa twice with Mimi. Didn't work either time. :). Haha. The first was at MOPS while Bumpkin was at school. The second was at a grocery store.

Next was Santa's helper, Jewel. She was very helpful for about two minutes. But she was super cute with her stocking hat.

On Christmas Eve we went to visit Aunt Marilyn and take her the present we picked out. She was surprised. Then we came home and started our Santa watching. Wow did the kids think that was cool. They asked for updates every five seconds.

Later that night Santa showed up and spent a lot of time organizing and cleaning. It must have been a lot of hard work and I wish I had a before picture but at least I got a picture before the kids tore into it! Santa got them a gymnastics mat. He also organized the kids dress up clothes and the American girl doll clothes!

Finally, Christmas morning. Here are some pictures of the fun. There are lots of videos, and I will post them when I can, but they are on the big camera and that requires assistance because it is out if my jurisdiction. Ha. So pictures for now.

K state cake

I forgot this one. I made it in Dec too.

Tobias

This year was the first year we had an elf visit us. We named him Tobias, Toby for short. I did really well at catching Toby's antics on camera at first but then I kept forgetting.

The girls loved to find him in the morning. I have to admit he was the only way I got them out of bed a few times. My favorite antic of his was when he painted the girls noses like Rudolph. I didn't get a picture because it was one of the rare mornings that daddy came straight home from work so he was up and the girls didn't even bother waking me up. And daddy, not knowing why both their noses were red, made them wash up. So no pictures. But it was funny when they found Toby with the paint and paintbrush and figured out what happened.

Here are some other pictures of Toby.

Nutcracker 2012

Bumpkin was in her second Nutcracker this year. Last year she was a Cherub, this year she was a mouse. She LOVED it! She lives to be on stage and she was on it a lot longer this year! Here are videos from her dress rehearsal night. If I would have known we could record I would have brought the camera and choose a better seat, but at least I had my phone and got something!

Ohh, and is on the opposite corner of the stage from where I am sitting. She starts in the back at first during the solo dancing part then moves to front and stays there.

I also have pictures from the dressing room. Here she is close up and with her mouse friends.

First Snow of the Season

Our first snow of the season was very exciting, it came with a snow day! The girls started right in begging to go outside but I had to hold them back until the wind died down; the real reason for the snow day. Once it did they were outside forever! I was amazed because in previous years they haven't wanted to stay out that long. But I had to con them back in at the two hour mark with a promise of hot chocolate and cookies.

Here Troublemaker is going down the little hill in between houses.

And the next day Mimi joined them. She thought it was great fun. We just need more snow now.

Gymnastics Moves

Here is Troublmaker figuring out her latest gymnastics moves. She gets stuck on one thing and just keeps doing it until she gets it right. I can't wait to see what she is doing next.

 

 

 

 

Ohh, and at the end is Mimi trying to be like her big sister. :)

Christmas Programs

Bumpkin and Troublemaker both had Christmas programs this year. Bumpkin sang one song as a class and then two as a school which I didn't get on camera because they were moving, etc. Bumpkin is in white

Troublemaker Had five songs as a large group. There are two classes but they sang together. The younger kids in chairs in front and the older class standing behind them. I am told that Troublemaker was crying before they went up there but the teacher couldn't find me to help calm her down. Looks like she did alright though. She seemed unsure and nervous at first but loosened up. I am guessing it might have had something to do with her clothing selection.  I asked her if she should dress up and she told me no and she didn't want to.  Then when we got there everyone was dressed up. 

 

 

 

 

Cakes

Here are some of the cakes I made in December.

Fall Festivals

During the month of October we had a couple different fall festivals we attended.  The first one was at Troublemaker's preschool.  It was a little chilly so Mimi and I hung out inside the school for a majority of the time while daddy and the big girls played outside. 

Then a couple of days later my MOPS group had a fall festival at one of our member's parents house.  It was a very cool old house built in 1874 I believe.  I wish I would have gotten pictures of the whole setup.  It was very cool to see the old blended with the new; she had Christmas lights, etc hanging in the really old bar.  Maybe someone got pictures that I can get my hands on.  I was too busy chasing the kids around.  : )  We ate some food, then had a hayrack ride for the kids, then cooked some smores.  It was a good time. 

Bumpkin's "Effects"

So this post is coming mostly third party from one of Bumpkin's friends' moms, but it had me both in hysterics and terrified at the same time.  I thought it was worth documenting for blackmail use in the years to come.

So Jenn called me this morning and told me about the conversation she and Ellie had the night before about Bumpkin's "effects" on a certain little boy named Simon.  Jenn asked Ellie what she meant by effects and Ellie said, "you know, getting him to pay attention to you".  Ugh!  That starts in 1st grade?  So then Jenn asked how Bumpkin gets him to pay attention to her.  She demonstrated things such as twirling her hair around her finger, wiggling her hips as she walked, and some type of arm/hand thing Bumpkin apparently does while writing on the board.  Jenn said she was having trouble keeping it together, which I was not doing at all while on the phone.  Really, to think of my daughter purposely twirling her hair to get a boys attention, not to mention the way she was wording it, made me laugh.  But the next part really got me going.  Jenn asked Ellie how she knew the "effects" were working on Simon.  Ellie flat out said, "mom, everyone notices her effects".  Ugh!  I just had a vision of my daughter standing on her desk wiggling her hips and twirling her hair for the whole class to see!  What does she mean, everyone notices?  And who explained this concept to them and gave them the wording Ellie was using?  Has this, and therefore my daughter, been a classroom topic?  And lastly, was she avoiding the question about how she knows that Simon is noticing Bumpkin?  They haven't learned that yet too have they?

Oh brother, if this is 1st grade I don't think I will make it through middle school!

Misc October Pictures

I know I recently did a "catching up" post so excuse me if I accidently put some of the same pictures in this post as well.  But here are the misc pictures from October that don't warrent a whole post. 

 

We had a couple extra minutes before church one Sunday so we posted for some pictures.  Aren't they just adorable! 

 



Here is the healthy snack I made for Bumpkin's birthday at school.  I made something similar last year (it was a ladybug) and she requested it again.  

Mimi has recently started loving babies.  

 

Mimi enjoying cake (from someone else's plate) at a Halloween themed birthday party. 

 



 Craft time as a family

 



 

Parents week at Barbara's Dance

 

Grocery shopping - Mimi's first time in the car.  She loved it and sat there the whole trip

 

 

 

Mimi discovered the fun of goggles

 



 

Troublemaker made this space helmet at preschool

 

Troublemakers school treat.  She thought it was hilarious

 

Mimi eating yogurt all by herself.  We have discovered she eats better if she does it.  Ugh.  There was yogurt on the door, back of the chairs, floor, dogs fur, and her sisters hair, but she slept all through the night.  

 

 

 

Bumpkin's 6th Birthday Celebration

Bumpkin's birthday celebration was tons of work but tons of fun too.  We have about 25 kids and a lot of their parents so the house was packed but everyone seemed to have a good time.  We started with games; throwing the pumpkin ball into the pumpkin mouth and searching for eyeballs in the livingroom.  Then we moved on to presents followed by food and cake.  And finally, we went downstairs for the "Haunted Ship". I think the pictures are pretty self-explanatory. 

 

 

That's all folk!  haha