Lighting of the Lake

One of our friends told us about this FREE event at the local college. Santa, cookies, train ride were all promised and we were game! I got the girls dressed in their Christmas outfits. (They will be wearing these at any and all Christmas events because they are cute and we won't get to wear them for very long)



When we arrived we got right on the train with our sweet friends. Everyone was excited!





We saw a nice looking Santa in a sleigh with a REAL reindeer. Reese was very excited but as soon as Saige saw him she said "I want to go home! I'm not sitting on his lap!" I get that. I mean, strange man in strange clothes. But I thought we'd try. I told her I'd hold her and as soon as I got closer to him she lost it. We took one anyway! :) Her little screaming face reminds me of her newborn days.





We then found our way to the cookies, hot chocolate and a gingerbread man and yes he does have a mutstach :) The snow (foam machine) was so fun too!





We were able to watch some dancing and then the kids were invited to dance with the dance team. Reese and Claire thought that was very fun!! When we got home Reese put on black tights and requested a ponytail to be one of "Santa's Womens" LOL!





When the actual lighting happened there was a countdown 3,2,1...and they seriously lit like one stand in some bushes. It was very funny! The event itself was fun but they should call it something else. There really weren't any lights!!

They got to pick...

We went to Hobby Lobby today and I get the girls pick their own ornament. There were fancy pink dancers, Santa's, snowmen, cute reindeer and many more to choose from. Reese looked up and down the ornaments carefully. She saw one that caught her eye and grabbed it with such excitement. Her eyes even lit up when she held it. Did she choose the snowmen? Nope! Maybe the baby Jesus in the little manger? Wrong! She chose a cat. Yep, A cat ornament.




Saige saw what her big sister chose and the decided she would follow with a seal!!!




Out of all the beautiful ornaments we came home with two animals. If you know my girls at all its very fitting. I wrote their initial on the back with the year. I know one day, many years from now I'll be putting up my tree and see the cat and seal and I will smile. I'll remember their days of barking like dogs, licking me, growling at each other and being whatever animal they can think of ALL DAY LONG!



Merry Christmas!

Making Ornaments

I am very excited about Christmas this year. The girls are a little older and can help with many tasks. But the thing I am MOST excited about is making our Jesse Tree. I was talking with a neighbor about something and she mentioned that her church was making a Jesse Tree. I had no clue what it was. She fwd me the email and I knew it was something I wanted to do with my family. I sent the email to Aimee and she was equally excited. I love having such a passionate, fun friend who loves discussing crafts to God with equal enthusiasm. LOL! I googled and found many sites that explained what it was. To my delight there are so many ways to do this year. You really get to make it your own.

This explains what it is some...
The Story of the Jesse Tree
The Jesse Tree is named from Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots." It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history. The Branch is a biblical sign of newness out of discouragement, which became a way to talk about the expected messiah (for example, Jer 23:5). It is therefore an appropriate symbol of Jesus the Christ, who is the revelation of the grace and faithfulness of God.


Some churches combine the idea of a Jesse Tree with Christian symbol ornaments, making and using the ornaments to correspond to the story of the Jesse Tree. However, the Jesse Tree is really an Advent Tree anticipating the coming of Christmas. So, it may be more instructive, especially for children, to allow the Jesse Tree to represent anticipation during Advent while letting a tree with the symbol ornaments be the celebration of Christmas itself.

I found after talking to a few people and looking at my craft blogs that several people are bringing these back! How fun!! I love Santa and the "magic" of Christmas but the real magic, the real story, the REALLY REALLY exciting part is that God loved us-the horrible, selfish-so much that He sent His Son to Earth to redeem us from our sins. I want that to be our focus. I want that to be what is important to our family. I'm hoping that this tree will help the girls see that. I hope it isn't over their heads. I think it might be some but it should be a fun tradition that we will do year after year and with each year I'm sure the girls will understand the story of God better.

Here are some websites that I'm using to help me make the tree and ornaments
http://www.crivoice.org/jesse
https://www.rca.org/sslpage.aspx?=&pid=1628&srcid=1602.html

Here are the ornaments I've made so far. Its taking a while to make them. I'm making about 5 a day so I can hurry and have them ready for Sunday. Oh the stress.




I still have a zillion ornaments to make (sigh...) and then a pot to buy, paint and the branch that will serve as our tree.

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We also made some apple sauce cinnamon ornaments today. SUCH fun! We got messy and it smells like heaven. Seriously! I want to leave the house and go somewhere just so I can come back in and smell my house. We made about 40 today! The girls had a blast making these with me. Reese's favorite part was making the holes with the straw. Saige loved picking her cookie cutter out each time. She was saying all the shapes in a high pitch voice with such excitement! I can't wait to string them with ribbon and put them on the tree with the girls!!

Saige Stories

I got out some of the Christmas stuff we have. One is a small Nativity set with a small baby Jesus. Reese was in heaven. She set it up and started playing. The next thing I hear is "Mommy Saige took baby Jesus" and I walked to the front to find Saige playing in the playroom-without baby Jesus. I asked her where he was and she said "ummm, I don't know!" I began to get frustrated because she only took it to make Reese mad. I asked again and again to get the same answer. I said "help me look right now or you will go to time out." She says (in a very annoyed and serious tone) "Mommy baby Jesus is in heaven"

Gee Thanks Saige! We did find it and she did sit in time out. :)



We went to play with our friends yesterday and Saige kept coming out of the play area to tell on people. "Mommy someone kicked me" Mommy someone pushed me" etc. The thing is no one was doing anything to her. We were sitting by the BIG glass window and there was only one other child in there besides our four. Later her little buddy walked out to tell his Mommy something and Saige follows and then says "Mommy Canaan hit me" Yeah, not possible since he wasn't IN the play area. We have a story teller on our hands folks!


The other night Saige was sitting in the tub and she pulled a baby to her chest and said "my baby is drinking booby milk like baby Annie" Shes going to be a great mommy!!


One day a long time ago we were nearly hit by a 18 wheeler truck! I said Sh-- without thinking. Nice! Well Saige picked up on it right away. She said it over and over. I tried the ignoring (doesn't work BTW) and I put her in time out (again nothing) so I started popping her when she said it. It wasn't often but she would say it in the car a lot. Well now, she will look at me and say SHIP-making the P sound. How on earth does a two year old get word play like that? I'm going to need help-a lot of help with this one! She is too smart for her own good!

Well...

I had one of my best friends come take pictures of my girls for Christmas cards. I told her to not put them on facebook because I didn't want everyone to see them before sending out cards. BUT THEY ARE SO CUTE!!! I just can't help myself. She took A LOT but I'm just going to show a few. (or a lot?) But I love them so much! I put some cute ones up. She took 78! So these aren't all of them and not the ones I'm using for cards. :)

AND my very talented mom made the girls outfits. I saw this design on etsy for 45.00 EACH-that is 100.00 for Christmas outfits that are worn maybe 10 times if you're lucky. No thanks! But my mom made them for me. I bought the material, shirts and she went to work. We made baby Annie one too! For 3 outfits we paid less than 10.00-thats a deal!! Aimee made the bows too! (I need to learn how to do something besides buying material LOL)


This is the arranged marriage in the works. Seriously these kids adore each other. It makes my heart happy to see such sweet friendships forming.

Reese likes to growl, roar, bark-you name it! This was a bear.

Not your business

We say this a lot right now. Reese will want to know why someone is getting something and she can't. I reply "that's not your business. That's their business" and she is satisfied with that answer. We went to target yesterday and I decided to let the girls pick out a purse. Reese picked out a gold flashy purse. Saige got a big pick purse. Reese held her purse tight and pranced around target so proud of her purse. She then looked up at me and said "Mommy today its my business!!"

One on One

Reese and I have had a lot of alone time lately. She doesn't nap anymore so that is an extra two hours every day there that Saige doesn't get. Then she has been invited to a lot of birthday parties lately that Saige hasn't been invited to since they are mostly Reese's classmates. But I have felt bad telling Saige that we're going to *another* birthday party while she sits at home with Momo. (She loves being with her though!)

Well the other night I took Saige to Target with me-alone. I never take Saige by herself. I don't know why really but I don't. I guess because I've always thought that Reese was "easier" so Saige is left at home more often. Well, she was SO excited to go with me all by herself. She talked in this very excited, happy voice all the way there. Then she hugged me several times and told me she loved me as we were talking in the parking lot (lump in throat right now!) When we got inside she said she wanted to ...walk! I never let her walk in stores because she runs away and touches (rips things off shelves) and doesn't listen. But this night I let her walk. I showed her how big girls hold the basket and to my surprise she did not let go. Honestly, she was a pure delight!

It really made me think! If she had been my first I wonder if she would been thought of as the "harder" child? She is no doubt strong willed but I wonder if we would see her differently if she was competing for time/toys? One thing I know I need to focus on is spending time with them separately so I can see that sweet spirit come out more often. I never realized how much Saige needed that from me.

Princess On Ice

My mom and I took the girls to see Princess On Ice today. We were all very excited. There were a million little girls there-many dressed up in full costume. Saige did not want her picture taken and gave us a little attitude when we tried to make her. Maybe the crowds were overwhelming? Maybe it was nap time? Maybe it was just Saige not wanting to do what we ask? Who knows? Reese sat as still as a statue through most of the show. Saige did ok. It was a long show and she became very wiggly. She asked to go potty twice and since shes two we didn't argue or ask her to wait. She must of kicked the poor woman's chair in front of us 20 times. I felt bad! My mom took her up to the very tip top and she was fine. She was able to watch the show while getting down and walking a little. Poor thing just needed some wiggle room!

The show itself was wonderful. I loved it as much as the girls did. They did a little part of each movie with lots of songs. It was awesome! Reese was in awe of everything that came out and I could hear Saige squeal with delight every once in a while. She started dancing when the seven dwarfs came out. I'm so glad we went! Reese said her favorite part was the VERY big, scary dragon from Sleeping Beauty. It was impressive indeed!
Princess Gingerbread Houses (made from kiddos)



Princess Pre-Show








Waiting for the show to begin... (very blurry pictures!!)


Belle and The Seven Dwarfs


The little mermaid

Glamour Girls

Could they be more precious? I don't think so!

They now change clothes about 10 times a day and want me to fix their hair ALL DAY LONG! Total girls!

Thanksgiving crafts

Doing the turkey craft the other day made me realize that didn't understand WHY we were doing "turkey" crafts and why we even eat turkey. So I went ahead and pulled out my Thanksgiving books and started googling Thanksgiving crafts. I found the best blog too in my process.

http://jennwa.blogspot.com/

I found several crafts to use this week. First we started with learning something about the Mayflower and did a craft to follow. The first day I tried to ask Reese what the ship was called and she answer "the manger" :) But she now knows what its called. I think :)


We made pilgrim faces out of paper plates and read several books. One is called Samuel Eaton's Day. Its about the life of a pilgrim child. Real pictures. We loved it.


Then today we did Indian crafts. Again looked at books with real pictures and the girls wanted to have braids and pretended to be Indians. We popped popcorn and put it in bags with a small amount of paint, shook it up and glued it down on the paper bag. It was colorful Indian corn. The girls were so quiet while gluing the corn down. Reese glued hers into a circle and filled the middle, carefully choosing each piece and picking the right spot. Saige did a few one a time, then grabbed a fist full and just slammed it on the table. She then tried eating the painted popcorn. Gross. Her mouth was orange. Gotta love 2 year olds.





Then we made tiny Indian headbands. We cut a toilet paper roll and painted it. The girls both wanted pink feathers. Go figure!




Happy Thanksgiving!!

Gobble Gobble

We did this foot/hand craft today. We've done the regular "hand turkey" but I wanted to try something a little different this year. As we were doing this turkey craft for Thanksgiving I tried to explain WHY we were doing a turkey. We read a book and talked about how we eat turkey's for Thanksgiving. Then we got really really messy!!

ANTS!!!!

Friday we went to play with Reese's little friend Emma. We took them a park and let them play. The weather was nice and cool and they had fun...until Reese decided to play (or sit? not sure) in ants. Emma came and let us know what was going on and we quickly brushed the ants off of her.

I figured the spot where they bit her would swell up some since that is what happens to her when she gets an insect bit. Today when she woke up she came into our room and said her hands hurt. Sure enough, they were red and a tad swollen. I put benadryl cream on them and we snuggled in bed. I noticed a red spot on her face, by her eye and thought maybe it was from sleeping. You know, how when you sleep on something it makes swollen red marks on the face. But it wouldn't go away.

Then I noticed another red mark by her mouth. The marks were more red than swollen but there was a tiny bit of swelling. We gave her benadryl assuming it was a reaction to the ants. I wasn't too worried thinking some kids were just like this. As the day went on her face didn't get any better and in fact the redness spread. Awesome.

I gave her more benadryl when we got home and called the after hours number at our pedi. I assumed she would say shes fine and not to worry. But she didn't. She asked a lot of questions that I thankfully said "no" to. She told me to watch her closely tonight. She didn't feel it was an anaphylactic reaction but still an allergic one. She told me to keep giving her benadryl and to possible call Monday for an epi-pen since most insect reactions get worse each time.

Poor Reese only had a few bits of "regular" ants. I can't imagine if it had been fire ants or a lot of ants.

And how on earth did I get the "ant allergic kid" in Texas?? I mean, there have to be a million ants here in cypress alone! UGH!

Heres a few (really bad quality) pictures of her face after her third dose of benadryl.




ETA: She slept in our bed on Saturday night so we could watch her and more for my peace of mind. I kept thinking we'd walk in and she would of stopped breathing (dramatic much?) and not know what to do. But Sunday she woke up and looked much much better. She just had a few blochy areas.

We are now seeing an allergist this week and will be getting an epi pen from our doctor. Hopefully we'll never need to use it.