Her Love Letter

Shortly before Christmas, Em got to have a sleepover at Aunt Shell and Aunt Laura's house.  She was surprised with a few early Christmas presents while there and got to work right away on them. 

Aunt Shell presented us with this picture at Christmas.  Em was unprompted and had written this on her own without copying it from anything. 

I think I'll keep this one around as a reminder for those tough days. 

She's an Absolute Angel

Yesterday was Emily's Preschool Christmas Program.  She was an angel...  no, really.

The program was really cute... wish I could include some video of the program, but I want to respect the privacy of the others kids and their parents.  I'll hold onto them for the archives!

I have to say, my favorite part of the program (aside from Emily) was the beautiful little angel that delivered the news to Joseph that his soon to be wife was going to have a baby... she scratched her Holy Hiney all the way across the stage and back!  Too cute.

What more could a girl want?

There's nothing like a giant wad of bubble wrap to make a girl's day!

Looks like we can cancel Christmas this year.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

"I'm not, tired.  But I'm not tired!  Mo-ommmmm, I'm REALLY not tired."

....time lapse 5 minutes...

ZZZZZzzzzzz.....

The Tree is Down

I didn't realize a 3-year old would act like her leg was getting cut off when the Christmas tree was put away... not that I REALLY know what it sounds like when she gets her leg cut off...

Christmas Time Part 5 of 5

For Christmas Eve this year, we mixed things up. We usually venture to Tom's side of the family and this year we decided to split up for Christmas Eve so he could visit with his family and Emily and I could visit with my side of the family that we don't get to see very often.

We all had a lot of fun with our respective families this year. Emily got to meet a few new canine friends (the highlight of her night!) as well as some cousins she hasn't seen before. Pictured below are Emily with my cousins Branya and Michele.

Here's Emily sharing the love with Zippy.

Tom came home from his family Christmas Eve party shortly after we came home from ours and he brought present with him! Emily was excited to open her gift from her cousins and can be seen sporting her tu-tu and dancing shoes below.

We hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Christmas Time Part 4 of 5

In preparation for Christmas parties, Emily helped me make our Pretzel Rings, Rolo Treats, Rolo Turtles, or whatever you want to call them. They are so easy to make that Emily did most of them herself!

STEP 1: Find an adorable 3-year old to help unwrap 2 bags of rolos.

STEP 2: Put parchment paper on microwaveable plate or tray and set a rolo inside a pretzel ring. (I've had good luck finding round pretzels at Wal-Mart each year.)

STEP 3: Take an ice cream and hot chocolate break while Mommy microwaves the treats just long enough for the rolos to soften (less than 1 minute).

STEP 4: As soon as treats come out of the microwave, press a pecan, walnut half, m&m or other tasty morsel into the rolo top to smoosh it into the pretzel. When treats have cooled, move them to an air tight container and share with friends!

Christmas Time Part 3 of 5

December 18 was the first snow at our house this year. I learned from last year that we shouldn't hesitate when it snows because we could potentially lose it in an hour!

We made footprints on the way to the post office, knocked snow off the trees, made snow balls to throw in the creek, made snow angels, went sledding, slid down the snow covered slide and ate CLEAN snow for a snack.

After playing in the snow, Em came in and took a nice, warm bath and then later in the afternoon we visited with Tom's extended family at their Christmas dinner. Here's Em with her cousin, Rachel!

Christmas Time Part 2 of 5

Papa's lodge had a Christmas party a few weeks ago and the guest of honor made an appearance. In true fashion, Em ran across the room to give him a big hug before he could even make it to the Santa chair.

A little later that week, we were scheduled to have some new carpet delivered for our living room. The previous carpet was a lovely shade of 1970's gold. To save a little money, we (Tom) tore up the old carpet ourselves. We discovered that our prediction was correction... hard wood covers the dining room and living room floors. We decided to refinish the dining room while I'm off for Christmas break and we ordered new living room carpet.

Merry Christmas!

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