Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

Now that we're back home from our Christmas travels, I can download the pictures from the old camera that Grandpa L's computer didn't like (Do you think Grandpa L just wanted to make sure we segued quickly to our new camera???).


On Christmas Eve we opened our family gifts and spent the afternoon playing with them. Here is Jr. Princess with her Santa hat, which she wanted really bad to match the Santa outfit from Grandpa L, using her new window markers from Starshine. (Parts of me think these will only lead to trouble, but Crayola claims they are washable.) We then made our Christmas dinner - and the girls love that it the only time I let them drink out of fancy glasses.





We then did our traditional drive to look at Christmas lights with cookies and hot cocoa in the car. A house a few miles away always has a fantastic light/art object. While it isn't usually Christmasy, it is usually spectacular...



Santa came the next morning, and the girls were very excited because he brought exactly what they asked for (shiny rocks and presents with things in them, if you'll recall from the Santa letters).

It was wonderful family time before we drove back to Wisconsin to visit all of our extended family.

Mom was right we got what we wanted.

Ooh - I love to be right :).

A Sad Day

Today's post will have no pictures or comments from Starshine, because there is no joy.

Saturday was one of the saddest days of my life. I drove my sister and brother-in-law back to the adoption agency to give back Baby Dude because the birth mother changed her mind. It was so hard to be strong when I saw my sister in so much pain. I love her so much, and I wish her dream of a family could come true like mine has. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they find the strength to continue on their journey again.

We love you Auntie and Uncle.

Christmas Day and Grandma and Grandpa L's

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Day we woke up at our house. I scratched my head, because I woke up on my own around 7:30 , with no sounds of shrieking children. When I went downstairs to make sure they were still breathing, and found Jr. Princess asleep (???) and Starshine reading in bed with her new desk lamp. When I asked her if she remembered what day it was, she streaked past me up the stairs, which woke up her sister. How funny! After opening presents, we then headed out for the long drive to Wisconsin to visit all the relatives..

Anyway, I have no pictures to post yet of christmas Eve and Christmas morning because Granpa L's computer doesn't like my old camera. But not to worry - Grandpa L got us a new one (yeah) and here are Uncle and me taking dueling photos with our fabulous new cameras! Needless to say I will have to spend some time figuring out how to use all of it's cool features. You can be the judge if the quality of the blog photos improves!

More importantly, here is my new little nephew "baby dude" that Auntie and Uncle are adopting. We are so excited that he is joining our family. He's a super cutie who barely opened his eyes the whole time he was over. I added a link to Uncle's blog so you can follow along with their story.

And here is the quilt I made for my little nephew. The news of his arrival was quite sudden, so I had to go into sewing overdrive to make sure it was done on time!

It was a wonderful Christmas Day with my family and we're looking forward to seeing M&M Dad's family on Saturday.

So, we'll update with our photos of Christmas Eve (on the old camera) when we get back to Minnesota next week. Happy Holidays everyone!

Merry Christmas to all.

Today was Princess Day

OK - this first part actually happened Sunday, but anyway..

Ahh, grasshopper... Here is a photo of how Jr. Princess schooled M&M Dad in Memory Sunday night (that's her stack of matched cards on the left). No joke - he says he was totally trying.
She then picked out her own pajamas for the night (please note that she has the long sleeve fleece pajama top underneath a sweatshirt and t-shirt). Is this her subtle commentary on the house temperature? It reminds me of my youth!

Ok - now I am finally getting to today - Princess Day. Not that we were excluding M&M Dad, but since he was busy working (boooo), we had a girls day without him. The only problem was, I am starting to get sick and my energy level is quite low, so I had to get creative :).

First up - the indoor playground where the kids could run off all their "we've been cooped up in the house for way too many days" energy while I read my book (hee hee). Here's a picture of Starshine showing how much fun she had. I'm not sure where the "surfer dude" hand signal is coming from.

Then, there was a Christmas miracle - everybody took a nap! Next came the library so Starshine could stock up on books for the break (because she is a reading machine) followed by painting toenails with sparkly polish. And finally, we completed our cooking project - baking bread for dinner. It turned out awesome. Make sure you ask Starshine what she learned about yeast when you see her.

And now M&M is taking his turn running them ragged outside in the new snow we got last night while I kick my feet up. I don't know how stay-at-home Moms do it.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve tomorrow, and we can't wait to see you for Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Jingle Bells

The girls each wanted to sing a Christmas song for you...

Today we made Chrismas ornaments, wrapped some presents, and in general, tried not to go stir crazy trapped inside on a frigid day. I certainly hope it warms up a little so we get more chances to try out Starshine's new ice skates.

I wanted to sing jingelebells because I like it.

Holiday Sing-a-long

Yesterday Jr. Princess, M&M Dad, and I went to Starshine's school for the annual Holiday Sing-a-long. Jr. Princess loves getting to go to Starshine's school, and Starshine was a perfect host, even holding her hand as we paraded through the hallway.

We then went out for Indian food. Jr. Princess started with the prerequisite "I don't like that," but to our surprise, the girls both ate a TON! Here they are giving thumbs up to Naan, yogurt sauce, chicken, and even the lamb.

Today we are in the middle of a winter snow storm - thank goodness it's not a workday. I took the girls outside for a little sledding fun and some shoveling. (Though, by the time I finished the driveway, it already looked like it needed to be shoveled again. Good thing it's light and fluffy this time.) When we came in, superstar Dad had made the girls the awesomest snowman lunch. Isn't he the cutest?

This was my plate I had pretzels and raisins and a candycane and sandwiches and apples.

FF Sunday Showdown

We were so busy today that I am not even sure who is leading in the Pink Mom vs. M&M Dad semifinal fantasy football matchup.

First - there was victory. I got the tree lights back on. Though, I will mention I have not yet moved the tree back against the wall which is where this whole thing started last week. I'm thinking a foot away from the wall looks just fine. The cutest part is that M&M Dad had just bought lights at Target this morning (unknown to me), and he and Starshine were going to relight the tree while I was out this afternoon as a surprise. I will definitely say the thought DOES count, because a tree without lights was really starting to bug me.

Jr. Princess and I had fun at "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." She was finally old enough, and I finally volunteered for a play that was child appropriate enough, for her to get to go. She was very excited that it was finally her turn, and, just like her older sister, she was the most well behaved kid there. I love getting to take just one girl at a time places for some special time.

The girls and Dad are ending the evening with a fun game of Volleyball, and then it's off to get ready for the busy week ahead. Though, I will say, M&M Dad is busy with a week of crazy actual work, and I think I am busy with a weeks worth of holiday parties followed by a vacation day on Friday. :)

We'll spend the rest of the week crossing our fingers for Auntie and Uncle. We love you and we're thinking happy thoughts for you every day.

I'm a good volleyball player.

A Perfect Winter Day

It was going to be over 30 degrees today, and M&M Dad and I really wanted to enjoy the "nice" weather, so we decided Starshine got to open a Christmas present early this year- a bigger pair of ice skates. This, of course, meant Jr. Princess got to have the old pair...


She wasn't overly interested in learning how to actually skate, but she did like that she got to have her own skates this year. They loved playing hockey with no sticks (which actually turned into a combo of shuffleboard and soccer).



Then, after a brief rest, we started our annual cookie baking. We got through cream cheese cookies, macaroons, and butterscotch today, and are hoping to get to peppermint pinwheels and peanut brittle later this weekend. The girls love baking (especially adding the sprinkles), and Starshine loves that she can read the recipes for me this year. I think Santa will be very excited when he comes to our house this year.

The cookies were good. I got to eat two cookies and so did Jr. Princess.

Breakfast with Santa

Yesterday it was fun to wake up to stockings filled by St. Nick. There were lots of treats and ornaments to hang on the tree. We then went to my work for "Breakfast with Santa," a fun morning arranged by the retirees.

I am lucky to have a stocking!

This year, there were no tears or fears. Both girls bounded on to his lap and smiled perfectly.

Jr. Princess was sporting her Santa outfit from Grandpa L, which she LOVES!

We then had a nice breakfast, followed by some fun learning about the celebrations of other cultures. The girls are huge fans of henna tattoos.

And, not to be outdone by her sister, Starshine now, too, has her very own bottle of hot sauce. (insert eye rolling here). Luckily Dad let me share his for last night's quesadillas, because I fear if I have to get my own we will no longer have room in the refrigerator.

Sunday was filled with Christmas shopping, playing in the snow and our annual tradition of making Christmas wrapping paper. The girls love crafts!

Coming soon to a present near you!

Prepping for St. Nick and Santa Claus

Tonight we were very busy preparing for St. Nick and Santa Claus. While we waited for M&M Dad to make it home from another long day of compensation year-end blah-blah-blah (whatever that means), I helped the girls write their letter to Santa because we are going to have breakfast with him tomorrow.

Jr. Princess dictated:

"Dear Santa,

Please bring me for Christmas presents with things in it, and that's all."

Starshine crafted her own:

"Dear Santa,

I want different colored shiny rocks. Sign here if you understand. And you can pick whatever else."

Starshine did not appreciate how much I giggled at these letters!

When Dad made it home we had fun decorating the tree, though there was a lot of swearing at the lights. First we got all the lights on, and a middle light strand wouldn't work. So, we took it off, redistributed the rest, and unplugged while we added ornaments. When we were finished, we plugged it back in, and you guessed it, now none of the lights work! Instead of throwing the entire tree out the window, I decided to just walk away...

FYI - new Christmas tree lights are now officially on my Christmas list.

Hot Sauce and Reading to Dogs

M&M Dad has officially brainwashed Jr. Princess. Yesterday at the store he let her pick out her own little bottle of hot sauce, which tonight she carefully kept at her place. (Notice in the picture that M&M Dad has his own bottle). And in the most bizarre of circumstances, she dipped everything in it and loved it. She even asked for more broccoli (usually one piece is a battle) so she could dip it. I could barely control my disbelief...

Then, Starshine went to the library to read to a service dog. It is supposed to encourage reading in kids (the dogs don't judge), while training the dogs to be around people. Starshine loved it, though Otis slept though most of it. Jr. Princess is going to pick out a book that she has memorized to bring next week so she can "read" to Otis, too.

A fun night...

Closed Circuit to Auntie - good luck tomorrow!!!

1st Annual Thanksgiving Talent Show

Thanks to the wonderful idea of Auntie, we had the fist-ever family talent show at Thanksgiving. Let me say, I was very impressed with everybody's positive attitude and participation!


Here is a video compilation of all of the fun for everyone to reminisce...

(I would like it duely noted that I had to spend over an hour updating our computer to finally be able to get Microsoft's video editing software, so I did not spend oodles of time fine tuning this compilation! Needless to say, it is now way past Starshine's bedtime, so she will have to comment tommorrow.)

I know our family is already brainstorming for next year's show. I think I am going to try and out-geek Uncle R!