Tea Party

One of Lizzie's classmates hosted an American Girl Doll Christmas tea party.  So cute.  Liz loved it and I loved that she got to have such a fun experience with almost zero effort on my part--Andrew and another mom did the driving while I chilled at Longwood Gardens with a friend. 

Tantrum under the tree (and recovery)

Holiday Traditions

LAST WEEKEND instead of unwrapping our usual holiday book, the girls unwrapped their very own ELF ON THE SHELF.  I think it's a cute tradition, Andrew thinks it's creepy, and we both agree that the elf could look better.  Still, Lizzie was so excited.  She'd heard about the elf from friends last year and was so excited to have one of her very own.  She named it Noonie (probably inspired by her cousin's toy, Mooney).  As far as the creep factor goes, Liz refused to use the toilet in her bathroom when the elf was stationed there.  When I asked her what the big deal was she was like, "Mom, he's a boy."

Andrew seemed a little surprised when he realized that we had to move that darn thing every night for a whole month.  I thought he was being silly, but we've only had it one week and I've forgotten to move it three times already.  Twice I was able to correct my mistake before Liz realized it, but the other time I remembered when she came in our room and sadly announced that Noonie was in the same spot as yesterday.  Argh!  I told her it was probably because mommy and daddy stayed up too late so he wasn't able to sneak out.  Thankfully, it seemed entirely plausible to her.

We've pulled out HOLIDAY GARB from years past (yes, Lizzie's clothes from last year still fit her tiny frame).  For this shot poor Ellie was a little tired (and Lainey was too ornery to cooperate).  I should have taken the pix right before church instead of right before nap time.

We have a couple HOLIDAY CRAFTS on the agenda.  Liz made these mini trees out of spray painted pinecones. On a neighbor's tip I baked them in the oven for a bit before painting so we could kill any lurking bugs.  Still to come: a nativity made with printed coloring pages and toilet paper rolls.

We FINISHED WITH THE DECOR,finally. This year I decided to start phasing out breakables.  I've already broken one of the glass balls (because I was fussily rearranging things) and today Alaina decapitated an angel from one of our nativity sets (a clay one I thought I had put safely out of reach).

This year I added framed photos to the tree (of past Christmases).  I plan to add one each year which will work perfectly because, while I want my tree to look nice, I also want it to mean something to the family.

THIS WEEKEND we've knocked out a few holiday favorites: the free nutcracker (well, scenes of it anyway) at the National Theater, the ward party (where we saw Santa and a nativity play), and the Christmas on the Potomac fireside (Drew took the older girls, I volunteered for Ellie duty).

I thought for sure one of our kids would cry when they met Santa, but everything went smoothly.  Alaina was happily serene (not screaming and crying like last year). 

 Ellie didn't seem to mind Santa at all.  It may have helped that she saw Lainey go first (and if Lainey is getting attention then Gabrielle usually wants a piece of the action too).

Liz didn't want to visit Santa (I suppose since she knows he isn't the real one), but I made her pose for a pic with her sisters anyway.

 Of course Santa handed out candy canes.  I don't like 'em.  Too messy.

 

 The rest of the party was nice.  Good food.  It was a taco bar and even more surprisingly for us, it was really, really tasty.  We went for seconds even though we had already had similar food at Cafe Rio earlier in the day.

 For some reason whenever Ellie realized I was about to take a picture of her, she would crouch down.  Her version of posing perhaps?

 Lizzie enjoyed the craft table and running around with a gang of girls.  Lainey was a little clingy and wanted to be held a lot.  Ellie spent her time running and crawling around and under the tables (but at least she didn't crawl on top of them).

 When Gabrielle was on Drew's shoulders she seemed to be chanting, "mine, mine, mine" while she patted and hugged his face.

 I was so, so glad that our ward did a nativity play/skit.   Just as we hoped it was completely adorable and a little hilarious too.  One of my favorite moments was during practice when the director told the lambs they could each baa once, and only once, for the entire play.  I also thought it was pretty funny when the primary prez had to sneak on stage and break up a little lamb fight.

Lizzie chose to be an angel (the kids got to choose, so nice).

 Whenever Ellie saw Liz lingering off stage or performing on stage she would get excited and point. 

 

STILL ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS SEASON: national tree, temple lights, botanical gardens, letters to Santa, paint holiday nails, campout under the Christmas tree  .  .  .  

Another Lainey update

Here's some more stuff I want to remember about Alaina, age 3:

She uses terms/phrases like "blah, blah, blah" and "thinger"--which greatly amuses her parents--as in, "you know that jumping thinger?" (trampoline).

Lainey needs naps, but she fights them so much that I gave up in the last few months.  Now she's so grumpy and naughty in the afternoon that we're trying to reinstate them.  We're hoping with more sleep, she'll tantrum less.

Speaking of tantrums and sleep, Laina fights bedtime like her older sister fights mealtime, hollering things like "It's wake up time! It's wake up time!" when she sees the sky darken or her jammies in mommy's hand.

Alaina loves to dance and sing, often performing both for us simultaneously.  She also leads her family in what I can only describe as cheers, instructing us to clap our hands or pump them in the air while we repeat chants with her.

She likes to color and to cut things with her scissors or my paper cutter.  Fortunately we haven't had any issues with her cutting clothes or hair (whew).

Lainey had her first hair cut a couple months ago on Lizzie's birthday (not counting the time I trimmed a bit of her hair with cooking shears while she was in the bath).  She was scared, but seeing Drew and Liz get trims seemed to help a little.  Sitting on her daddy's lap while the beautician worked helped the most.

She recognizes that certain words designate numbers and letters, but does not yet have the ability to recite them in proper order to to match the name with the actual number or letter. Laina also refers to the alphabet as the "l m n o p" (as opposed to the "a b c's").  Color-wise she's improved a lot and seems to know most of them.  Favorite color: pink, not too surprising.

She animates her food now. While we have to encourage Lizzie eat because she is so picky, we have to encourage Alaina to eat because she is so distracted by play.

Lainers is way into prince and princesses right now.  When we have dance time she only wants to dance to "princess music" (her definition of which is still a little vague to me) and she usually wants someone to be the prince for her.  Alaina doesn't have any boy dolls so she designated my old Cabbage Patch doll as the prince (and another one of my childhood dolls as the princess).

Laina loves nursery and Joy School (she fights going, but she also fights me when it's time to leave).  She answers back to the t.v. and jumps around when the cartoon characters tell her to (Liz didn't so this is new for me).  She loves t.v. and would watch it all day long if I let her.

Alternates between wanting to be a big kid and a little kid as it suite her needs.  She insists that sippy cups are for babies, yet she refuses to toilet train.  Argh.

Ellie Update!

Ellie hit her 18 month mark a couple days after Thanksgiving and started nursery yesterday.  She did just fine (yeah!). 

She's a sweetie.  She likes to cuddle, hold dolls, sit at the table (instead of her highchair), brush her teeth, copy her sisters, pull out her hair bows and rubber bands (that she actually needs now that her bangs hang in her eyes), dance,suck on her binki, and wear shoes (maybe she's obsessed with them because she only has one pair).  She can also be naughty.  She often hits, pushes, and even bites her sisters (mostly Lainey), climbs on top of the table, and she still regularly throws her food, sippy, and utensils on the ground/floor when she tires of/finishes with them.

Gabrielle's 18 month check up was last week.  Her stats: head 18.5 (64%), height 32" (62%), weight 25 lbs 8.6 oz ( 69%).  So, we're thinking that she'll probably catch up to teeny tiny Lainey pretty soon.  She's developing normal and picking up new words on a regular basis.  Frequently heard: good job, thank you, no, please, belly button, book, binki, shoes, dog, bye bye, teeth.  For yes, she says "nah" which we think is more likely her version of yeah than yes.  She growls lots.  She can quack and bark, but normally she just growls when we ask her what sounds different animals make.

Holiday Traditions

Today we started unwrapping our Christmas books.  My plan was to have the girls take turns and only open one each day, but it didn't quite go down that way.  Some of the books are ours, some come from the library.  In a couple weeks I'll have to re-wrap them all or grab another pile from the library.

So cute.  I love seeing Liz read to her little sisters. 

 She even had them act out parts of the story.

Before the story ended, Ellie brought Lizzie her recorder and pretty much requested a song.  Also cute.

  Again, more sensory boxes.  I think swapping out the play pieces will become another holiday tradition.

 It's been hard to keep Ellie away from her first Christmas tree ever.  In the shot below she's saying no, no, no because she knows she's not supposed to be touching them.  The ornament she's holding is the one Drew's sister, Cindy, gave us to remember Jacob.