Madeline's Christmas *UPDATED

These are just snippets from Dave's phone.  This year Dave's firm had a really fun Christmas event where we went to the Dallas Children's Theatre, had lunch, watched the play Madeline's Christmas, had dessert during intermission, and then after the play received a copy of the book and had the entire cast sign it.  Our girls had such a ball.  They dressed in their Sunday best and felt very special.  

*UPDATED -- Here are some pictures that were taken at the event.  Jane was the only one brave enough to visit that very real looking Santa.

Christmas Decor

So, my tree was having issues this year.  But I fixed it.  It is no longer "pre-lit."  Problem solved.  

When I took this picture it was in the low 70s outside.  Today (Dec 5th) is actually our first freeze, but only at night.  During the day it was chilly, but still in the 40s.  I was going to get a wreath that had that snow-covered look, but then I thought that would look ridiculous and out of place.  The evergreens look a little out of place too, but I still like it.  Nothing cutsy and homemade for me this year.  I thought about adding something to it, just to make it more "original," but really?  I think it's lovely the way it is.  (Besides, it was 50% off.)

I know it looks a little silly up there on that table, but it's just high enough that Claire can't take the ornaments off.  Speaking of ornaments, I don't really have any . . . any fun ornament traditions you want to share?  I thought about getting one for each child every year, and then one that represents something big that happened that year (like this year we bought our first house, so maybe a little house one would be nice).

(Eeeh, now that I look at this picture, the lights are a little bunched up there in the middle.  I could pretend I'm   going to fix that, but I'm not.)

Thanksgiving 2011

Stephen (Dave's oldest brother) and his family came to hang out with us over Thanksgiving, and we were SO glad they did!  The kids had a ball playing with each other and there were lots of people to enjoy all the food I made!  :)

The turkey was a HUGE success (and carved so perfectly by Dave).  

After seeing these pictures I'm craving that entire meal over again.

A lot of Guitar Hero was played.  So much so that the girls kept a "Rock Star" theme going in all of their play that weekend.  They drew designs for their own guitars and rock star outfits.  It was adorable and a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving Tree 2011

This is the first try = total fail.  It kept falling down and looked ugly (then again, all of the others before it were pretty ugly also).

We tried again and it looks MUCH better.  I bought a huge wardrobe box and did a proper tree, reinforced it and nailed it up.  We'll use it again next year.  

As for the things we're thankful for, which are written on each leaf, it's all the usual stuff, taken down by the usual method.  Each girl hands me a leaf and tells me what she's thankful for.  I write it down and stick it up.  Audrey says some good things for about 10 leafs, but then she starts repeating those 10 things, and every time it's Jane's turn, she just says what Audrey said.  So, I came up with most of them as the girls handed me leaves.  Mermaids, fairies, and itching showed up on there this year.  There are always some really good ones.  

Just Stuff

Jane showing Claire how to make "crafts."  She colored a picture, then put tape on the front.  Really anything in which scissors and adhesive (glue OR tape) is involved is a craft. 

On Halloween night, Jane ran her face into the sidewalk.  Well, recently she did it again on the way home from getting Audrey from school.  Same forehead bruise, same nose and lip scrape.  Poor thing.  It's brutal to witness, too!  It just looks so painful!  If I had done something like that, I'm sure I would be out of commission for a week.  She was fine by the time we got home.

"No dogs ulaood."  

My new haircut . . . after I had a ponytail in and need to shower.  It looks the same except now I have bangs.  I like it!

This was taken the day Jane said all those fun things while pretending with the nativity.  She plays with it for long stretches every day, and it's impossible to write down all the funny things she says while playing with it. 

This is my baby.  I think she was either just crying before I took this, or she was having allergies or a cold.  Possibly both.