Christmas Time and Santa!!!

The day after Thanksgiving Lizzy woke up and said "It's Christmas!!! Where are my presents?" So I had to explain the difference between Christmas Day and the Christmas Season. Well then Kevy showed them it was snowing and Lizzy said "I told you it was Christmas, Mom." I guess she still doesn't quite understand the whole concept. We put up our decorations and the girls thought it was the coolest thing ever, Kevy had to keep finding things light enough for the girls to being upstairs because they just had to help him bring up the decorations. It was so fun because they are so excited about it. Last year was nothing compared to this year. I just love it. As a kid I never believed my parents when they said they didn't need gifts, that they got more enjoyment out of seeing our excitement, but now as a parent I understand. The girls loved the village so much and just couldn't seem to keep their hands off it.I was trying to get the girls from touching the breakable things so I gave them some paper mache deer to play with because they are pretty sturdy. Well Lizzy decided that the deer was her pet and she was talking to it and carried it with her everywhere that day. Of course she also managed to break off one of the antlers too, so much for being sturdy.

We told Lizzy we could either go get a tree or go see Santa because we didn't have the time to do both, so she decided that we could do our tree another day and go and see Santa that night when he came into town. All day long she kept asking us how much longer and we had to keep telling her not yet. When we told them it was time to get ready to go see Santa, Lizzy started running around the house saying "Holy cow, holy cow" over and over, she was just a little excited. We got there just in time to see Santa pull up on the fire engine. Lizzy was SO excited, she was waving to him like crazy and when he got off and came and shook Lizzy's hand Lizzy said "Hi! my name is Lizzy!" It was really cute. Nellie was really excited too, but she doesn't show it quite as much as Lizzy does. We got there early enough that we were close to the front of the line and only had to wait about 10 minutes. Lizzy went right up there and sat on Santa's lap and was chit chatting with him. I sure get a kick out of her. Nellie didn't mind going up either, but she wouldn't talk to him. When he asked what she wanted for Christmas she just pointed to the candy he had given her. Man is she easy to please. It was so fun to go and do this. I am glad that our little town did this so we don't have to drive down to Salina and wait in line at the mall. The Santa was really good too, he was so sweet with the kids and really friendly. And he really looked like Santa. On the way home Lizzy asked where Santa's deer and his sleigh were, so we said they only come out on Christmas, because that is when the magic works. Oh the excitement of childhood, I just love it. I loved Chrsitmas as a kid, but it really is better as a parent.

Thanksgiving

This year will be the first year that we aren't going anywhere for one of the holidays. We are a bit sad because we have so much family and it is hard to be on our own during a time that is about being with family but that is okay. Since I love to cook and I am a total nerd about having all the good stuff for Thanksgiving I decided to do the Thanksgiving dinner for the girls at the school. I know, sometimes I overdo things, just ask Kevin. I can't imagine where I get that from. The day before Thanksgiving I made 7 pies so that the girls could have all their favorites, and so I could have mine too! Kevy was working so I had to do it with two monkeys that feel like they need to be right up in the action. Once they got sick of sitting on the counter they decided to make beds on the kitchen floor. I try to not get too upset about them being in the kitchen with me because I do want them to learn to cook and enjoy being in there with me, but man it can really get old quick.

Yes this is pretty much all the floor space in the kitchen.

Thanksgiving day I got up a t 6:00 a.m. to finish the pies and get the girls ready so we could get down to the school and start the dinner. I just had a feeling that if we didn't get down there as quick as we could that things would not get done, and of course when we got there, the turkey hadn't been started and the ham ( which didn't need to go in for a few more hours) was cooking. Anyway Kevy and I spent the entire day in the kitchen making all the food, while the girls ran around the school and had fun. The turkey took forever to cook and we didn't end up eating until 3:00. Nellie was throwing fits because she was so hungry. Some of the girls at the school were not happy that it took so long, but everyone was happy when the food came, because there was a ton of it and just about everything you could imagine. Everyone told us how much they enjoyed it so that made it all worth it. We got home that night around 5:30 and put the girls down and pretty much fell asleep ourselves, I don't know if I have ever been that tired before. But I am glad that we gave the girls at the school a nice Thanksgiving. Of course we were in such a hurry that morning to leave that we forgot our camera and didn't get any pictures.

All About Lizzy

I am a little late on this since I was going to do it around her birthday, but better late than never. What can I say about my Lizzy, I don't even know where to start. Lizzy is Lizzy, she is the sweetest little girl that you could possible imagine. She is just such a bright spot in this world.

From the day she was born Lizzy was a the happiest kid there ever was. She came out smiling, and she was really smiling. I was looking back at pictures of her as a baby and there really isn't one where she doesn't have a giant grin on her face. She has always been an incredibly social person, always wanting to be involved in what was going on. She is so easy to have around because she wants to be good and kind and loving to everyone. Sometimes Nellie gets annoyed with Lizzy because Lizzy is always trying to hug her and squeeze her and Nellie sometimes doesn't want that. She also always hugs my belly and tells baby Jane how much she loves her. She is going to be so sweet with Jane. She is so cute at school, everyone LOVES Lizzy, her teacher told me that everyone fights over sitting next to Lizzy because they all love her so much. Her teacher could not tell me enough how sweet and kind and obedient Lizzy is. I wish I could say it is because of what a great mother I am that Lizzy is this way, but really it is just the way Lizzy came.

Lizzy LOVES to sing, she has been singing since she was tiny. She is constantly singing around the house, and not just songs, she just sings whatever, she makes stuff up or just practices scales and stuff, it is hilarious. I just hope she takes after Kevy's side of the family and gets their good singing voice because if she takes after mine she is in trouble. She is loving having Christmas coming up because we play Christmas songs and she loves to sing along with them. But she doesn't especially like slow ones, she tells me "This isn't a happy song Mom, lets change it to a happy one."

She has so much enthusiasm for life, it is amazing. Almost every day she says to me, "It sure is a beautiful day today." She always is telling me how beautiful and wonderful everything is, it is so cute. She always says to me too "That is a great idea!" when I suggest something.

Lizzy is definitely a Daddy's girl, she sure loves her Dad, but there isn't much hope for Lizzy to be Kevy's sports buddy, because she is such a girlie girl. She is into anything barbie, princess, dress up, makeup, whatever as long as it is very girlie. She asks me all the time if she can wear some of my makeup, and I have to keep telling her not until she gets bigger.

Lizzy is also a great eater, she will eat everything, she is not the slight bit picky. She loves vegetables and sometimes I have to tell her she needs to eat the rest of her food before she can have more veggies. Her favorite food is pancakes, She asks me very morning if I will make pancakes. Her favorite colors are pink and purple (big surprise) She loves to go places, as long as it is close by. If we have to go down to Salina she gets all nervous and says, "But that is bery far away." She wants to be filled in on what we are going to do everyday, play by play, from waking to bedtime she wants to know all the events in between.

One thing she really doesn't like is going to sleep. Maybe that is why she stopped taking naps at such a young age. The other day I told her she had to take a nap because she woke up really early and was grumpy. She had the biggest meltdown over that. It was crazy because she doesn't have meltdowns at all. It has been years really. Besides that time, I can't think of the last time that she had to be sent to timeout, because she is always trying to be so obedient and do what is right. Although one thing she does like to do is blame Nellie for things. If I find a big mess and start to get upset, it never fails that Lizzy tells me that it was Nellie and she was trying to get Nellie not to do it. Sure. She really is a first child though because she always is bossing Nellie around, She thinks she needs to be in charge of Nellie and I have to constantly be telling her that is not her job, it is mine. She will make a great bossy oldest sister.

I am so grateful that Lizzy is mine and I hope each day that I can be a good enough Mom to such a special girl. I love you my Lizzy Lou!

My Big Girl

Well I am potty training Nellie. It was something I have been planning on for months now but things got a little crazy in September and October. So last week, I realized that now was really the time to do it and you know what, I really didn't want to. Potty training is hard and so emotionally trying, especially when you are seven months pregnant and your hormones are out of control. But I knew I really had to do it now, it's not that I was dreading having two in diapers, I did that before for six months and it really isn't that big of a deal, but Nellie really was ready and I don't have a newborn to take care of at the current moment so I had to do it.


Day #1 was not good, I never was able to get her to actually go on the potty, she would sit there forever but she wouldn't go. That night I just wanted to give up and put her back in diapers the next day, but I knew she was perfectly capable of doing it she was just expressing her stubbornness and if I waited to do it until another time that stubbornness would still be there, maybe worse. Sooooo the next day we tried again. I got her to go in the morning and I thought "Hey maybe this will work," and then it was all downhill from there. By the end of the day, and after multiple breakdowns on my part I didn't think I could do it. Well thank heaven for my wonderful patient Kevin. He came home that night and pretty much took over for me. We discovered that taking away her Diego doll when she has an accident, or her blanket, and then her getting it back when she goes on her own really helped, also Nellie likes her privacy, so we have to leave the bathroom for her to go.


It has been five days since then and she has gotten progressively better. Thank Heaven! Yesterday she didn't have any accidents, and she even came into the bathroom in the morning when I was getting ready and got out her seat, put it on the potty and went poop all by herself! Plus we spent most of the day away from home, and she still didn't have an accident. I am sure that we will have plenty more accidents, but she is doing really well and I am so proud of her. She really loves it when I talk about all the people who are proud of her for going potty, She likes to name them all and of course her Grandmas are on the top of the list after Daddy and she has to mention Diego as well. Diego is very proud of her! That girl's obsession with Diego really cracks me up.

I had to throw in a cute picture of her in her big girl panties

Lizzy's Birthday Party

Last week I had a birthday party for Lizzy's fourth birthday. I can't believe I have a four year old! It was the first party I have done that wasn't a family party so that was quite interesting. She wanted to invite a lot more kids, but with our tiny house and a bunch of four year olds, I decided that six was enough. I will just have to say I am glad it is over and that Lizzy had so much fun, and that I don't have to do it again for a while. I think maybe every other year or so I will do a friend party. The funny thing was she wanted a Hello Kitty party, but besides her cousin Brinlee all she wanted to invite were boys, so we had to alter it a bit.

The Birthday Princess, there was so much going on that I never could get a good picture of her with her crown on, she was way too distracted.

I thought the kids would love to play bingo, I did it for a primary activity and the kids just loved it, but not so much this time, after playing a couple of times through the kids said, "I don't like this can we be done." Great this was about the only thing I had planned. I did get a bunch of balloons filled with helium and that was a huge hit. I had no idea that kids this age still liked balloons so much.

They actually had a lot more fun playing duck duck goose.

Lizzy enjoyed giving hugs for all of her presents, and man did she LOVE her presents, She got lots of barbies and princess stuff and dress ups, everything she loves.





Here is the purse cake that she had been asking for, for about the last nine months. There was one of the shaped pans that was a purse, but I was being cheap and didn't want to spend the money to buy it, so I found this one on bettycrocker.com and it looked pretty easy to make, but it was a lot harder then I anticipated. It kept falling over when I was trying to frost it and because it was standing up it was really hard to frost, but it turned out okay. Lizzy loved it so that is all that matters.

I just can't believe that my little Lizzy is four! Oh how fast time does fly. Sometimes I get a little sad to think that her being a baby is over and done, but she is such a fun little girl that I guess that is okay, besides she is the sweetest big sister to Nellie and I can't wait to see her with Jane.