Sunny December Disney Days

Are you ready for the great blog catch-up? I'm a tad behind...

Fordy is really getting old enough now to have some real fun. When sis was still in school before Christmas break, he and I would get some shopping done, grab a coffee (and for him, a scone) and have a sweet little time. I really, really love this age. No talking back. Slight complaining and lots and lots of hugs. Oh how I love this age. Truly. No doors slamming, name calling or attitude throwing. And also, less of an ability to see any spiritual (i can only hope) growth in them. So, there you go.

Here he is, surrounded by ladies who want to see the dimples in the local coffee place...

And him cruising in Old Town Pasadena just a week before the big parade came through...

And as soon as sis was out of school, we headed to Disneyland with Uncle Kev, Aunt Christi and Katy. It's become a tradition and I actually heard my anti-Disney husband say that he had a great time. Ha! Ba-schmumbug!

The kids were just a wee bit anxious for us to leave...

And this is how we tooled around the park...

As soon as we got inside and hooked up with the fam, Ford got a massive smile on his face when Aunt Christi grabbed him.

A Nieporte sandwiched between two Heatherlys...and just like last year, Katy bent over backwards to make sure our kids had a wonderful day. There was no Haunted House, Pirates of the Carribean or Space Mountain for our group (except one California Screamin' for Daddy and Uncle Kev!).

When Ford saw "Pooooooh!" during the parade. He's fascinated with Pooh. Absolutely obsessed.

When Abby saw Cinderella....

And later, up close and personal...

And now Belle is her favorite...

"This way, Fordy, to Bugs Land..." (wouldn't let go of Tigger all day)

The cutest cousins in the west....

Katy putting up with Abby's princess fascination. Tiana! Who told them not to "kiss any frogs, ya hear?"

Our crazy group (minus Grant)...

And as the evening wore on, the kids were glad I brought those new blankets from Grandmama...

And we stayed and stayed until Fordy and his new Tigger were wiped out. What a day!

805. warmer weather
806. layers to perfection
807. a very generous aunt who spoils the kids
808. a very generous cousin who did what we wanted
809. a very generous uncle who knew where to find the good drinks & churros!

Fear of the Great Mouse King Overcome

Grandmama came to visit in December in order to see Abby's ballet recital (all three minutes of it). She decided to bring Santa a little early....and it was a massive hit with the kids. Little Disney backpacks with blankets inside.

They both would not take off their "bookbags" as Grandmama called them...and Ford literally started crying until we realized he wanted his blanket on him.

And the next morning was the recital, with three of her best buds.

Fordy even wore red for the occasion.

And the daddies conspired behind their daughters flowers.

Proud mamas...

The actual performance (don't blink!) right before it was over.

And it was Abby's choice for lunch afterwards. Of course, it was sushi. Brother got a drawing lesson from Grandmama.

And the very next day Grandmama and Abby and I got dressed up (furs!) and headed to the Nutcracker. The Nutcracker! I thought she'd never make it past the first 10 minutes. She was afraid of the Mouse King before we even arrived. The large bag of gummies in purse was hopefully going to send her in the right direction.

Here she is with her "glass slippers", a top knot and a fake fur. Grandmama and I loved it.

Her nerves started kicking in, just as we saw Clara when we walked in. (Since then, she has wanted to sit in a chair, with her ballet shoes on, holding a Nutcracker "just like Clara.")

Did I mention the pearls?

We left for 5 minutes to give the Mouse King his stage time and then we were back, eating all the gummies and floating on that sugar high, dancing to the music in her seat. It was a grand success.

We think we've started a family tradition.

801. December traditions
802. anticipation
803. looking forward to advent readings
804. ballet success

Gingerbread House Girlie Afternoon

Before Christmas, one of Abby's little friends came over for an afternoon. Her mom and I figured that a gingerbread house would keep them busy for a bit.

After monitoring Fordy and trying to "help" them, after awhile I noticed that when I came back to them, they would both freeze and just look at me. Then after a second, they'd both chew once. Freeze again. Those sneaky little candy thieves were shoving in as much as they could and when I'd turn around they thought they were caught. Sugar high ensued!

Which lead to an afternoon of Nightgown Happiness. Two three year olds in Princess nightgowns. The best.

796. friends that come over
797. getting along
798. learning lessons
799. laughing til it hurts
800. living 5 minutes away

Prep and More Prep

In the mid-winter excitement, there was a series of days when we tried on her ballet recital costume again and again. This was risky.... if she freaked out and decided she just would not wear it "because it hurts!!!!" that was that. Horrible day-of, melt-down was likely to ensue. Not fun for any of us.

But.

If I was able to get her used to it, she'd be thrilled and even more excited for the recital. And, praise the Lord, that's what happened.

That and she raided my shoe closet (do I have a shoe closet? No... the area of my closet where my shoes are crammed) :





Things were looking up in terms of recital prep.

And after every ballet class, in order to prepare for Christmas, our dear friends would bring some books along and the girls would sit in a little circle, eat some snacks and while Ford ran circles around them, they were read a story.

We read The Sparkle Box this year. The main theme is that when we do good deeds, we write them down and put them in a special, sparkly box -- and on Christmas morning, that was Jesus' birthday gift. Cute idea. Although I often forgot to implement it!

Here are the girls after they made their sparkle boxes :

And we got a super duper fun gift this year -- an early visit from Grandma so we could make Christmas cookies! Remember last year? We're loving this tradition.



791. easy, peasy costume
792. borrowing every bit of it
793. ice cream love
794. on time flights
795. getting up with Grandma

Advent Reading Plan

Merry Advent!

This year, I actually prepared a bit for December (hence the lack of blog attention) and when I wasn't pressing Christmas cards for clients, I was scouring Pinterest among other things for ways to make advent relatable to the kids. I came across reading The Jesus Storybook Bible every night instead of the "normal" Christmas passages and it's been a breath of fresh air.

Before we were hardly back from Thanksgiving, we went to an annual awesome party where Santa (the most amazing Santa I've ever seen, I might add -- who is the same Santa every single year) shows up with a massive bag of toys.

Awaiting his arrival...

He sits down, talks to the kids, and then, slowly, gives out a wrapped gift (that the parents bring he brings, of course) to each child and they sit on his lap and they actually have a little chat.

Fordy did awesome...

I always thought this was great, but now that Abby is older, it's really, really special. She got to tell him all about her princess-love and exactly what she wants for Christmas. He told her that he and Mrs. Claus had something special in mind for her this year. The girl lit up.

And once everyone has their gift, he counts to three and they all open them up -- good thing I purchased one extra, on-sale princess this year, eh? "Oh Mom! How did he know just what I wanted?" Ahem. He didn't. See Ariel below.

785. just what she wanted
786. anticipation
787. learning lessons from older ladies
789. not creating a monster
790. silence in the car

Thanksgiving 2012 (a bit late).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Errr...we're a little behind. :)

Bunny, snoopy and in her bathing suit. This pretty much sums up Thanksgiving at Grandmama and Pop Pop's house. That and lots and lots and lots of cousin love.




Abby spent as many moments with cousin AJ as possible. Closely. Time after time, I'd look over and she would be inviting herself to share a chair with him. I love that she feels so close to him even though  we don't live close. He also taught her to scream "Jake!" from Jake And The Neverland Pirates and then, "Never! Never ever!" Now Ford, too, runs around the house screaming "Jake". He can't say Abby... but Jake is somehow easy.



And Fordy fell in love with new cousin Sloan. Kisses and adoration day after day. I mean, what's not to love?

There's something about that girl. We all love to stare at her.

And an all-hands on deck cousin bath was in order after a day of playing...

And the 2-man Bob became a 3-cousin stroller for a nice, warm walk...

And once at Grandmama's there was a party time golf cart ride...

A naked boy who loved running on the golf course...

And Thanksgiving dinner! We all made it in time!

And there is nothing like a holiday without some pouting. This was over her shoes, (not a new thing, I'm sorry to say) and it went on and on until she saw the dessert bar and Grandmama gave her some m&ms. Ah, candy. The sweet solace that solves all of our hurts. :)



For the first year, Abby really thought about being thankful every day. I'm sure our "thankful tree" had something to do with it - and I've left it up as a reminder that we need to be thankful all year long.

778. long, swim-filled days
779. a boy who loves the water
780. good sleepers
781. loving cousins
782. Jake!
783. vacation at Grandmama and Pop Pops
784. no one else getting sick

Blog Neglect

Oh, people. What a sad state of affairs. Some serious neglect of the blog has occurred during the most thankful time of the year. I blame it all on Santa. Those darn Christmas cards have me working almost every night till the wee hours (and yet, we're all healthy!). It's a wonderful, crazy time of year. Always is... but somehow I forget and each year I'm surprised at the interest in letterpress cards celebrating Christ's birth. Go figure! I wouldn't have it any other way.

In the past few weeks I've seen super heroes in capes jumping on my bed...

Freezing cold late afternoon walks after a certain three year old refuses to nap (thankful for "rest" time!)

The stomach flu hit 50% of our house and yet Cinderella continued to play croquet...

We've eaten ice cream like it was mid-summer....

Picked flowers like it was spring...

Abby attended her first Trojan slaughtering...

And we've all been very, very thankful. More Thanksgiving news and advent fun coming soon...

774. rain on a new, strong roof
775. no tears at getting dressed time
776. finding Christmas music I didn't know I had
777. everything in the pantry for that recipe