Sally the Elf

I'm sure by now you have all heard of Elf on the Shelf. If not, you really are living under a rock, and you better find your way out!

We have had our Elf for two years, but this was the first year that we gave our Elf a name. She made her appearance when we got home from our Branson trip, and we read the book, and G picked out the name, "Sally". So, our Elf is a girl, and I know I need to get her a skirt, and maybe a little bow. It's on my ever growing to-do list, that might get accomplished by next Christmas.

If you are on Pinterest, you know that there are blogs dedicated to Elves everywhere, and how they are getting into mischief. Ours is fairly tame, although we do enjoy a little bit of fun every once in a while- mostly on the weekends, when we're not trying to rush out the door, or when I feel like I might have some time to clean up after the Elf (as well as my husband and two girls).

Here are a few things that Sally has enjoyed thus far:
Reading "The Christmas Story"..... i'm glad she picked out this book, that tells the reason why our family celebrates Christmas.
But, here she is hanging out with Santa and helping him check his list..... I love this figurine of Santa, because both of the girls names just so happen to be on his list! We got this before we even had kids, and G's name isn't so common, so it pleases me greatly that her name is on the list!
Sally enjoyed a 'snowball' fight with a little princess.
And, she got into G's stickers and put them all over our fireplace! She even added herself a crown, and is holding a present!
And, misspelled her name with stickers!And, she decided to climb one of our candlesticks!

Do you have an Elf at your house? Are you having fun creating some mischief for Santa's little helper?

Sick Days

Both of the girls have ran a fever over the last three days! It started Tuesday afternoon, when MC's sitter called and reported MC had a temperature around 99.8 degrees. So, I dropped my afternoon patients and picked her up. MC took naps and I got some things done around the house before we picked up G from preschool.

DJ and I decided to eat at G's favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, and then we took the girls home. And we thought all was well.

G climbed in our bed around 6:15 Wednesday morning, and I could tell she was burning up. Her temperature was about 101, and I told DJ that we'd be staying home that day. G and I lied in bed until MC got up around 7:45, and thankfully, MC was fever free.

Despite G's temperature, she was in very good spirits. She decided that jumping on our bed would be a fun morning activity, so to get her to calm down, I broke out some arts & crafts.
She made a Christmas collage out of old gift tags that I had.
And we played on the floor for a while. I tried to tell her that she couldn't get too close to MC and G would just say, "I promise not to get her sick."
I really did enjoy being home with both of the girls yesterday and we managed to get a lot accomplished.
G watched a movie in the afternoon, because her temperature had spiked back up to 102. But, she did act okay, because she again decided to jump on the furniture.
DJ and I had worked out a plan for today, that he would stay home in the morning with G, and that I would take MC to her sitters. Then, he would take G to football with him around noon and I would pick her up an hour later after my meeting.

It turns out that I was able to see three kids this morning, and then I came home to pump, because I forgot some of my equipment here. (I'm so glad that I my job allows me flexibility like this.) I left home once again, to go see my last kiddo of the day and just happened to check my phone. MCs sitter had texted, and said her temperature was around 100! So, I ran by Walgreens to stock up on some more tylenol and motrin, cancelled my afternoon and picked up MC and headed home.
I know, she doesn't look sick!

I'm really hoping to be able to get in a few work hours tomorrow, or at least have them fever free enough that we can go to the grocery store! I just ordered pizza for dinner because we have zero food and MC was getting fussy again. DJ's making it a late night at work to make up for his missed morning.

It sure is tough having 2 kiddos to look after and right now, I'm just thankful that we aren't having yuckies coming out either end of them!

Deck the Halls

Christmas is my most favorite holiday, but it never feels like Christmas until our tree is finally up and decorated.

I was proud of myself because I managed to put the entire tree together by myself this year! (DJ was at football practice, and I was determined to not wait on him.) I added red deco mesh going in a downward direction (which I usually wrap it around) and also added gold tulle.

We let the girls stay up a little late one evening so we could decorate the tree as a family.
I put the girls in their Christmas pi's (why only wear them Christmas morning?) and G did the honor of placing the very first ornament on the tree.
She really enjoyed seeing all of the ornaments, hearing the story of where we got each one or who gave us each one and hanging them on the tree.
DJ got in the spirit and helped hang a few ornaments too.
And, then we were done!

I love digging through our ornaments and remember the story behind each one. I was taught by my aunt to always purchase an ornament on vacation, rather than a cheesy t-shirt. We have ornaments from our engagement trip to Chicago and the Sears tower, a football trip to Army and Navy, a trip DJ made to Pearl Harbor, and ornaments from each pregnancy and babies' 1st. We even have mine and DJ's first Christmas ornaments on our tree!
Afterwards, we tried taking some pictures of the girls. I think MC is getting to heavy for G to hold her!
And then we took a few pictures of each of them by themselves.
G really needs to learn to look at the camera, rather than something else in the room. Here she was checking out the t.v.!
MC was mesmerized by this huge thing with twinkling lights. She still rolls over to it and the other day was about to pull on it before I caught her!

Now we just need presents!

MC is 1/2 year

The last six months have absolutely flown by! MC is already 6 months old, and I'm having a hard time admitting it! There are many moments a day where I think that she's still an itty bitty baby, and I try to cherish the cuddling, holding, and loving.She is the happiest little girl. I don't really remember Gretchen being so happy, she was always so serious. MC on the other hand, loves to smile and play. She has the best giggles. She still enjoys her swing and she really likes her exersaucer, but she'll roll all over the floor. It's very interesting when you put her down in one spot and she winds up across the room or under a chair. Once you find her, she just smiles up at you.
She also loves chewing on her toes!

MC weighs a 16 lbs 14 oz and is 25 inches long. She finally started sleeping through the night right after she turned 5 months. She drinks 6 oz every 3 hours, and has also started solid foods. So far she's had rice cereal, oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes, and mums.

Her first tooth came in over this past weekend. I was so excited to feel it, but also sad that she's reached another milestone!

She's almost sitting up on her own. She can stay sitting for about 10-15 seconds, maybe a little longer. (I haven't really counted.)
MC has added such joy to our family. I love watching G as a big sister, and I really am trying to cherish all of the little things that she does, and yes, i'm trying to keep her a baby as long as I can!

MC your mommy and daddy love you so very much!

Christmas Cards

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I'm super excited about our Christmas cards this year! They'll be featuring a few of our family photos that were taken in October by Madison Vining Photography.

Shutterfly has amazing deals on all of their photo cards, and if you're a new member, you can get 50 free prints! I also love that they safely store all of my uploaded images and projects!

Ladies!

Our last day in Branson, we took the girls to see Santa and finished up some shopping. Gee made all of the girls matching outfits, which were pretty super cute!It takes a very talented photographer to get 6 women to all look camera ready at the same time, and we obviously didn't have one!
All the grand girls with their gee and great-grandma!

More Than Just the Girls....

It wasn't just the girls in Branson this year. DJ's aunt and uncle just so happened to have spent all of Thanksgiving week with their family and DJ's dad & step mom had decided to drive up on Saturday (they're only about 3 hours away) to spend the day with them on Saturday. So, it was a great opportunity for the girls & I to see more of DJ's family. We met for lunch on Saturday. They were so sweet to choose a restaurant close to the outlet mall I was at with the girls, so I would not have to get out in all that traffic! I promise, traffic at the mall was horrific enough!

MC enjoyed hanging out with her grandma Dee and with her pops.
And, G, decided to entertain us all with her super model poses.
I was so happy to meet another new member of the family- Mr. L. He was born late last February, or was it March? But, oh, he is just to precious and he's just proof that babies grow up entirely too fast!
We were able to get a quick picture of the cousins together, but next time, we won't be taking it in front of a window!
After lunch, we said good-bye, and the girls and I headed back shopping. And, later that afternoon, we were able to meet up with one of my college friends, who lives only an hour away from Branson, and her fiancé! They just got engaged a few weeks ago, and I'm so, so happy for her! It was so great to see her smiling face and to meet her future husband!

Once it got too cold to shop, and we had literally shopped until we were about to drop, we went back to the condo. We ordered pizza and celebrated my great-aunt's birthday! She had turned 70 years young in October!

And, for all of you guys who wonder what on Earth us girls do while we aren't with you....
We hang around and play cards.
We gossip.
We play with cute babies.
And cute little boys. This is Mr. C. He is my mom's best friends grandson (did y'all get that?) I'm super jealous of his blonde curly locks!
And, sometimes, one of us, dresses a little scantily clad.
My grandma is in her 70s, and she almost always pulls out at least 1 trick like this while she's away! She would die if she knew this were on the internet! Thank goodness, she has no idea how to get on here, and we'll just pray my momma won't show or tell her!
And, my three year old, convinces the grandma's (yes, they're grandma's) to dance to Tooty-tah!

Branson & Santa

The girls and I went to Branson, last weekend with all the ladies in my family. It has been an annual trip for as long as I can remember. The day after Thanksgiving, and sometimes Thanksgiving evening, all of the guys would pack up for the duck cabin and the girls would head out for shopping. Thanks to college, getting married, and moving far away, I have not been in several years! Actually, I did take G when she was 1 1/2 years old- we drove all the way from Indiana to Branson just the two of us to meet them!

So, I was super excited that we're closer to home and that a trip like this would be so much more manageable.

We managed to leave my mom's house at 7:30, with little room to spare in the car! Three hours later, we were shopping!
We hit up The Landings first. This is probably my favorite mall just because of the atmosphere. It's right on the river, and there's music, street vendors, fountains, a play ground, fresh air and even Santa! I just bundled MC up, and she did very well hanging out in her stroller for the afternoon.
There was a family band playing outside and G decided they needed a dancer. She danced through at least three of their songs before we tore her away.
Another little girl joined in, and I was shocked when she pulled out this dance move. G learned it a few weeks ago from watching the cheerleaders at the TU game, so when she saw that the other little girl knew the move, she decided to show hers off too!

After The Landings, we went to The Grand Village. TGV isn't really on my favorite list, but they do have this amazing Christmas store year round!
I let G pick out her very own ornament for our tree, and we picked out one for MC and had both of their names written on them.
And sometimes, Santa himself is hanging out at the Christmas store! G was excited to see him for the second time that day. (I missed the first time she saw him because I was off feeding MC, but for the first time in 3 years she happily crawled in his lap!)

All of a sudden, G has decided that she wants a four wheeler for Christmas, and she told each Santa we saw that that was what she wanted. A week later, I'm still explaining to her that Santa will not be bringing her a four wheeler because 1) it won't fit in his sleigh and 2) four wheeler's are expensive.
Santa was polite enough for me to get their picture together, and afterwards, he asked G, "What do princess' have, that you don't have?" G thought for a minute and said, "a tiara!" I think Santa was surprised that she knew the word tiara rather than crown, but he pulled out a sparkling blue pipe cleaner crown just for G.
I'm kind of thrilled I was at just the right angle to catch him placing the crown on her head!
She was so excited that he gave this to her. I'm pretty sure she thinks it's the most magical crown in the world.

We were starving after shopping all day, so we headed over to the Hard Luck Cafe for some dinner.
This was MCs first time in a real high chair. She made it just a few minutes before she decided that it was not very comfortable!

I will add, that The Hard Luck is always a must-go to restaurant for me in Branson. Not because of the food, but because the waiters and waitresses are very good at embarrassing their customers while they sing songs. It's just a fun atmosphere. Although, the food is just ok.

My mom and I always joke that we don't go to Branson to eat. We go there to shop. So, we never seem to have outstanding food experiences while we're there.

That evening we met all the girls back at the condo. There were so many of us, we had to get two condo's! And MC's Aunt Jan spent lots of time snuggling up with her.
I think by 8 pm we were all exhausted and ready for bed!