Happy Christmas!

 We had our first Christmas as a family at home this year! It was really nice. Some snaphots of the happy day are below. First, the quietly pleased expression on Ella's face as she first laid eyes on the presents, "Ha. It actually happened." : )

Nora wanted to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas pretty much exclusively at first. I had a very hard time getting her to come downstairs, she only wanted to read the little yellow Bible she is holding here. I finally convinced her to come if she could bring it. She kept returning to read it even in the midst of opening all the presents. She has her priorities in place people.

One of the biggest hits of the day, light-up fancy pens.

Opening these adorable ladybug and turtle riding toys sent by Aunt Donna. They do 360s!

Later that day, Grandma and Granddaddy arrived to hugs, kisses and much adoration. They brought more presents too! We had a ball, reading,

dancing,

wrestling,

and making music!

What a happy, festive day! Happy birthday Jesus! Thank you for coming to our world and giving us a reason to be so joyful!

Remember December

 It's going by in a flash, but here are a few shots to remember it by!

Fire truck

We have been getting a lot of boxes around here lately. They are chock full of toys for the cafe and that is so fun! But even after the new toys have been spirited off to the guest room to await their new life at Stay & Play, we have a great time with the boxes. Normally we just climb in them and on them and use them for houses and boats. But yesterday was special.

Yesterday was dear Daddy's birthday! When I asked Ella what we should give Daddy, she said she wanted him to have a fire truck to go inside. And I realized, we actually had the materials on hand to make that happen. First I (in an oh-so-Martha-Stewart fashion . . . or not) cut and taped some of our boxes together into a fire truck shape. Ella got to use one of her latest favorite phrases for that part, "It's hard to wait." She keeps telling us that "____ takes a wong time" and then, "it's hard to wait." Anyway, then we colored it. and THEN, we climbed in it to test it out. It worked great.

(Oh to have had a better angle for this picture! I took it blind reaching my hand in and almost caught such a cute moment. Sigh.)

 Here is Ella showing our masterpiece to Daddy! He loved it and got right inside.

In the next photo, take a long meaningful look at that green vase to Daddy's right. It will be your last.

Unfortunately, Daddy doesn't have a lot of experience driving fire trucks.

Oh well. We had a fun memory to replace that vase with, which I call a win. : )

Thanksgiving in Galveston

Snuggle sisters

One of Ella's favorite ways to play these days is to make a "nest" out of animals pillows and blankets, and basically bury herself underneath them. The other day she was doing this on the couch, and allowed Nora to climb in with her. Nora was so honored, she responded by giving Ella a totally unprompted kiss.

Assortment

A slightly random daily assortment of photos . . .

Let's start with practicing our "cheese" faces at breakfast.

Hey, I'll even participate because of this article.  Have you read it yet mamas? It's good.

Now, onto hat wearing. First up, the bowl from the play kitchen sink. It looks great on.

Next, in honor of Thanksgiving's rapid approach, pilgrim bonnets (thanks Gramma!)

Finally, tweedle beetle battle with pilgrim bonnets . . .

Hee, hee. : ) Actually I think things were pretty peaceful when this photo was taken, but I just love how chaotic it looks. Trust me, it's just an illusion. It's never chaotic around here. Never. ; )