Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Recent Countdown Activities
Monday/Day 6 - For FHE we picked out a toy Jake and left it in the Toys for Tots bin. It was a transformer. I thought it would be hard for me and was surprised when it wasn't. What was hard was when the conversation at book club the following night turned to people we knew who had lost their baby or almost did.
Tuesday/Day 7 - The girls wrote letters to Santa and did some holiday crafts.
Alaina and I made hand print Santas to finally replace our hand print ghosts and bats from a couple months ago.
Lizzie made glitter snowflake window clings.
Alaina tried to copy Lizzie's pose.
We stuck them on our mirrors instead of our windows. It wasn't easy to get a picture though thanks to the poor lighting, flash on the mirror, and the baby grabbing at my camera strap.
Wednesday/Day 8 - Lizzie helped me pick out a holiday sweater vest for an upcoming ugly sweater vest party, the girls picked out grandparent gifts, and we did our usual evening unwrapping of seasonal story books. Yes, that is what Lainey slept in.
After the girls went to bed I replaced all of our holiday activity ideas with mint Hershey kisses in this advent calendar:
Instead of advent activities we'll have a holiday "to do" list--that's more my style anyway and it'll be easy to add other ideas (if I have any). It just seemed like every time Lizzie read an activity idea I had to say, oh that won't work today, let's do this instead.
I just used a dry erase marker on a large picture frame. I plan to use the thing to make a summer to do list in a few months.
Thursday/Day 9 - This morning I hung Lizzie's snowflakes from the light to make a sort of holiday chandelier. 
While I worked Laina and I shared a bowl of popcorn until I saw her doing this:
Smearing her snot and drool throughout our shared snack. Yuck.
Needless to say I threw out whatever was left as soon as Laines went down for her nap. And yes, she is still in her pajamas. We all are. My excuse is my sick baby.
Tuesday/Day 7 - The girls wrote letters to Santa and did some holiday crafts.
Alaina and I made hand print Santas to finally replace our hand print ghosts and bats from a couple months ago.
Lizzie made glitter snowflake window clings.
Alaina tried to copy Lizzie's pose.
We stuck them on our mirrors instead of our windows. It wasn't easy to get a picture though thanks to the poor lighting, flash on the mirror, and the baby grabbing at my camera strap.
Wednesday/Day 8 - Lizzie helped me pick out a holiday sweater vest for an upcoming ugly sweater vest party, the girls picked out grandparent gifts, and we did our usual evening unwrapping of seasonal story books. Yes, that is what Lainey slept in.
After the girls went to bed I replaced all of our holiday activity ideas with mint Hershey kisses in this advent calendar:
Instead of advent activities we'll have a holiday "to do" list--that's more my style anyway and it'll be easy to add other ideas (if I have any). It just seemed like every time Lizzie read an activity idea I had to say, oh that won't work today, let's do this instead.
I just used a dry erase marker on a large picture frame. I plan to use the thing to make a summer to do list in a few months.
Thursday/Day 9 - This morning I hung Lizzie's snowflakes from the light to make a sort of holiday chandelier. 
While I worked Laina and I shared a bowl of popcorn until I saw her doing this:
Smearing her snot and drool throughout our shared snack. Yuck.
Needless to say I threw out whatever was left as soon as Laines went down for her nap. And yes, she is still in her pajamas. We all are. My excuse is my sick baby.
Check up
Ellie had her 6 month check-up yesterday (a week or so late). She couldn't get her scheduled immunizations because she's sick. No RSV, but her cold is bad/bothering her enough that the doctor sent us home with a nebulizer and an albuterol Rx so we can do periodic breathing treatments. No fun. Otherwise she is doing just fine.
Her percentiles: head 47%, height 41%, weight 64% (17 lbs). She's rolling both ways, sitting for at least a few seconds, and rocking on all fours. 
I haven't started her on solids yet (because I hate them/nursing is easier). I thought the doc would give me a hard time about it, but she didn't seem to mind and even suggested I wait to start until Elle feels better. Love it!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Nicknames
I love nicknames. Love, love, love them. I have purposely picked long/multi-optioned names for my kids:Elizabeth - Lizzie, Lizzie-Lu, Little Lizzie Lulu, Liz Bit, Liz, Lizard (that last one didn't last long, but there was a time when we thought it was really cute)
Jacob - Jake, Jay
Alaina - Lainey, Lainey Lou, Laina, Lainers, Laines
Gabrielle - Gabby, Gabbs, Gabby Goo, Ellie, Elle
At the beginning we mostly called Gabrielle, Gabby. Now most of the family is calling her Ellie. I'm still a little undecided so I'm making an effort to call her both.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Countdown Continues
DAY 3 - We didn't end up doing seasonal things because we had other stuff going on. I took Laina to a birthday party while Drew and Liz went on a daddy-daughter date. Lizzie had earned a pet fish about year ago by successfully finishing a behavior chart. On Friday we finally got around to buying her one. The whole set up cost a little more than we expected, but the girls were sure excited about it and they all had fun setting everything up at home. In the midst of it Liz exclaimed, "Daddy! Lainey's eating the rocks!" Drew said, "No Alaina! Spit it out." And she spit out the colorful rocks, lots of them.
DAY 4 - We spent Saturday at the Maryland Science Center thanks to the annual dollar days. The girls LOVED the museum (& I loved the price). We'll definitely go next year (hopefully with Drew). Christmas activities? Well, I'm pretty sure I let them watch another holiday movie.
DAY 5 - Today our holiday activity was the First Presidency's holiday message--very nice. Also very nice was our visit from Drew's brother, Dan. The girls had so much fun with him and of course Andrew and I enjoyed his company.
DAY 4 - We spent Saturday at the Maryland Science Center thanks to the annual dollar days. The girls LOVED the museum (& I loved the price). We'll definitely go next year (hopefully with Drew). Christmas activities? Well, I'm pretty sure I let them watch another holiday movie.
DAY 5 - Today our holiday activity was the First Presidency's holiday message--very nice. Also very nice was our visit from Drew's brother, Dan. The girls had so much fun with him and of course Andrew and I enjoyed his company. 
Friday, December 3, 2010
Counting Down to Christmas
So we started our official activity & scripture advent calendar on Wednesday and as usual I over planned.
Day 1 - we danced to holiday music (the free Veggie Tales download from Amazon). I made a paper Christmas tree and the girls started on paper ornaments. We didn't get around to the train display at the Botanic Gardens like I had planned.
Day 2 - The plan was to make paper snowflakes. Instead, we lingered in the toy section of Walmart so the girls could do research for their Christmas wish lists. It started out well, but Lizzie asked if she could just "please, pretty please with a cherry on top" take just one toy home with her one too many times and, in the end, I had to drag Alaina away from the toys. Back at home I was too beat to craft with the girls so we cuddled up in our jammies and watched a Christmas movie.
Day 1 - we danced to holiday music (the free Veggie Tales download from Amazon). I made a paper Christmas tree and the girls started on paper ornaments. We didn't get around to the train display at the Botanic Gardens like I had planned.
Day 2 - The plan was to make paper snowflakes. Instead, we lingered in the toy section of Walmart so the girls could do research for their Christmas wish lists. It started out well, but Lizzie asked if she could just "please, pretty please with a cherry on top" take just one toy home with her one too many times and, in the end, I had to drag Alaina away from the toys. Back at home I was too beat to craft with the girls so we cuddled up in our jammies and watched a Christmas movie.
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