Christmas Morning

My parents came down the day before Christmas because we were supposed to be getting snow, sleet and rain the next day so they got to be here that night and morning to help us open presents. The girls got their matching pajamas on and off to bed they went. 

Then we headed down stairs to set up Santa's presents. Trey also had to help Dad put together their present for Ella.

They woke up the next morning, so I sent Trey upstairs so I could take pictures. Ella woke up, but we had to wake Layla up. One thing you need to know about my girls, they DO NOT enjoy being woken up!

Ella headed straight for the toys. 

She is current;y obsessed with Barbies and mermaid, so when I found this I knew she would love it.

Layla could care less. She headed straight for Granny's lap for some snuggling.

 While Ella continued to open her stocking.

 Layla finally got into it when she saw what her sister was doing. Then she discovered her love for tearing paper.

She also loves candy, so when she spotted that she was happy!

I loved that both girls were excited and tore through their presents. Then we had to clean up and prepare for the rest of the Jones crew heading over for lunch. 

Trip Home

The girls and I made the trip to my parent's house so my Mom and I could take the girls the the light display there. IT WAS COLD! I bundled the girls up, put them in the car and headed out. Ella fell asleep in the car and was exhausted. We had to wake her up and boy was she cranky! We stood in line for them to visit Santa. This was their third time to see Santa, and Ella had done great two times, but she was not having it now!

 Ella would not even walk in the building where Santa was and Layla just cried! Oh well, it will be a great picture when she is older! (Side note: I don't really blame Layla because this Santa was a young skinny version, so not at all what she had seen before!)

They did enjoy walking around and looking at the lights though.

This is Ella's new pose, it's impressive, right?!

Our Elf On The Shelf

I did Elf on the Shelf last year with Ella, but honestly with Layla being 7 months old and being tired having two little ones I really only moved him around to different places. We read the book every night and she would get excited to find him, but I didn't do all the extra activities. 

This year we moved on December 2nd, but I was determined to do some fun activities, especially since we had spent the last four months in a tiny apartment. I got out the book and we read it and talked about him coming the next morning. I told her she didn't name him last year so we really needed to name him, she decided on Sparkles. Sometimes we call him a he and sometimes a she, I am pretty sure sparkles is a girls name, so we will say she is a she. 

She made her appearance the first morning with a trail of glitter. I thought that only seemed appropriate. 

The next day she bought two ornaments for Ella to pain and hang on the tree. Ella LOVED it!

She painted all of it and then I went back and did a little fine tuning. She wrote her name on the back and we put them on the tree. 

 

Pretty cute! I got these at Hobby Lobby, they were 0.90 and were 50% off and provided us with about two hours of fun! Of course we had to do it while Layla was napping or both of the ornaments would have been broken and there would have been pain every where! 

A few morning I just moved him to new places. One morning she bought us all the ingredients for cookies and we made sugar cookies with sprinkles.

The morning after we made the cookies Sparkles got into the cookies and ate some of them.

Of course he had to wrap the tree in paper one morning. Neither of the girls knew what to think.

One night she almost caught me moving him. I had to get the broom to get a strand of red beads up high hanging off the fan and had him swinging from the beads. She came out of her room because I was making too much noise.

We had a lot of fun with our elf. I forgot to take some of the pictures, but these were some of my favorite ones anyways. Ella was so into the Christmas spirit this year and I enjoyed teaching her Christmas songs and we read the story of Jesus every night. She even sat in Santa's lap this year!

Happy 4th Birthday Ella!

I have not been a regular blogger lately. Life has just gotten a little busy around here! We are finally in our new house and somewhat settled. Ella is the reason I started this blog. I wanted to document everything so that I would have a way to go back and remember things. The other day she and I sat and read some of my old posts about her and she loved it! 

So, for her 4th birthday I am back so that one day we will be able to read this one and I will be able to remember just how she was at 4 years old!

Ella, you are four years old today! This morning when you woke up you found princess birthday balloons, one present to open (because your party isn't until this weekend, but I wanted this day to be special for you!) and a dozen cupcakes! You ate two cupcakes for breakfast, that was a first! I sang Happy Birthday to you and then throughout the day you requested that I sing it at least 20 more times! 

Where do I even begin? You are beautiful, inside and out! You are very caring, nurturing, loving, cuddly, and sensitive. You get your feelings hurt pretty easily. You are also very dramatic! If I turn off a cartoon that you are watching you break out into a hysterical cry as if the world is over, but as easy as you turn it of you turn it off as soon as I ask you to race me up the stairs. You love to race. You do NOT like it when you don't win (soooo like your Momma!) 

You are a Momma's girl! You love doing everything with me, helping me in any way you can. You love everything princess, barbie, sparkly and girly! You prefer to wear skirts and dresses and get upset when you have to wear pants. You get dressed every morning and spin for me and say "How do I look?" of course my answer is always BEAUTIFUL!

You are very smart! You can write all of your letters, you can write your whole name, you know your address, and your birthday. You are constantly asking questions (sometimes I would like a little peace and quiet!). You love to read, color, draw and paint.

You are a tall girl! You wear a size 6 or 6X and a size 12 shoe. We are gong to the doctor tomorrow so I will get your official height and weight. You are as tall as a lot of 6 year olds though. When I tell people you just turned 4 today they are shocked at how much older they thought you were. 

You are a true joy to have in our lives. You brighten my day in so many ways! I look forward to what this year holds and can't wait to spend every day with you watching you learn and grow. I thank God for you everyday for you and that I am able to spend all my time with you. 

January 2012

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December 2012