Last Class Until Next Year! (354/365)

Today was Alice last day of school until 2011 and they celebrated with a Christmas party - of course! I'm pretty blessed that I get to stay at home with my girls anyway, and being able to participate on days like today make me even more thankful that Matt works so hard so I am able. The kids had so much fun making crafts, devouring cookies, and playing silly Christmas themed games. Even Izzy got in on the fun - and I'm pretty sure that she's already ready to go to preschool herself!

Izzy having high tea with our school director - Mrs. Dillon.

One of Alice's best buddies, Tricia, fawning over Izzy.
She and Emily both think Izzy is the bees knees.

Oh, and this has always been Izzy's favorite toy at Alice's school.
Maybe she'll grow up to be just like her Uncle Fred!

It didn't take them long to finish their cookies.
Izzy was happier than a pig in, you know what.
She was trying to cram the tree cookie in her mouth
when it was still full with half of Oreo.

See the influence you have on me, Cindy?

It dawned on me after the kids went to bed that we forgot to make a birthday video for Uncle Mike who celebrated his 35th today. We'll make up for that tomorrow, so long as you don't mind that it's a day late. Love you!

Nice Way to End the Weekend (353/365)

Alice and I attended a birthday party of one of her classmates at the local children's museum today. By the time it was over I was ready for a nap!

Typical Alice, thoroughly enjoying being at the table full of boys.
I think she was a little bummed that her buddy Chaseton wasn't there.

It was stuff like this that made me think that Alice would fall asleep
once we got home. Those kids ran all over the place, yet she didn't express
any interest in a nap this afternoon.

Also, watching 4 and 5 year olds play tag is hilarious!

The non-violent version of the pinata. All of the kids pulled a string
and out flew $10 in candy. They LOVED it, in case you had any doubt.

Almost her whole class was present, it made me truly appreciate what
her teachers do three days a week. Wrangling 11 kids is madness,
I can't imagine throwing a few more into the mix.

Mike and Rae, Avert Your Eyes (352/365)

if you don't want to see Kaylee's gift before she gets it. I spent a few hours finishing this up today, and I was so excited with how well it turned out I decided I had to share.

Over Thanksgiving I discovered that Kaylee has a real love for painting. Rach expressed that she's been meaning to get Kay a holder for her brushes because she has so many of them. With that I knew what I was going to do for her for Christmas, and I asked Rae if I could make one for Kaylee. I have mom's paintbrush holder that she used for many, many years and once upon a time (with the help of Jessica) I used it as a template to make my own brush holder using some vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric we came across in mom's cedar chest after she died. I thought that since I had done it before that it would be a sinch to do again - boy was I wrong!

I ended up buying fabric twice because I messed up the first time around. I didn't cut pieces to the proper length, and I just plain didn't put it together right. SO, the second time around I actually thought it out properly, measured several times, and wrote step by step directions so I wouldn't mess up. It certainly helped!

The finished product isn't perfect, the piece on the inside that covers the brushes wasn't evenly sewn for one, but it's done and it will serve it's purpose well, I think. And who knows, maybe it will even last her for many, many years to come.

Thank Goodness For Playdates (351/365)

God I HATE that word.

Anyway, Alice's very favorite friend since school began is a little girl in her class by the name of Zoe. Alice, especially at the start of the school year, would come home and talk of nothing but Zoe and how the two of them did this, that, and the other that day. Needless to say she was at the top of Alice's guest list when she had her birthday party! Anyway, today Alice went over to Zoe's house for the first time for a much needed afternoon of play with someone her own age. Izzy and I stayed this time to make sure that Alice would be ok (of course she was) and I think we all ended up having a good time! Zoe has a little brother who is about a year older than Izzy, so the two of them got along well while the two big girls went off and did their own thing (this is Alice's most favorite thing about having friends over or going to their house - playing in their rooms. Probably because we don't do much of that at all here at home).

The afternoon was filled with lots of chatter from everyone, all of the children participated in dress up, and Zoe and her Mom even made special butterfly cupcakes for the occasion. Need I tell you that Alice was in heaven and REALLY didn't want to leave when it came time? I think she'll be doing a lot more of that after the holidays. I know both Alice and Zoe really enjoyed their special friend time!

And I enjoyed doing something different for a change, and Zoe's mom is just as sweet as she can be. I also really enjoyed how well both of them napped when we got home!

Tomorrow I plan on finishing Kay's present so it can be shipped off to her (now that her Daddy's present FINALLY arrived in the mail I've got a fire under my butt to get it done)! There is absolutely NO WAY I'm going out tomorrow to get my last Christmas gift. That will just have to wait until Monday.

Love This Tradition (350/365)

The girls currently have three Advent Calendars/count downs till
Christmas (chocolate, create Santa's beard, nightly stories about
Christmas), but I think I like this one the best.

Last year I found a set of ornaments that you read on a night leading
up to Christmas. It's all about the biblical story of Christmas, and
the girls love reading it each night, and then finding a spot on the
tree for the book.

I'm betting they also like the Daddy cuddle time as well!

Paging Dr. Who! (349/365)

Alice got to pick up a new doctor kit today.

I promised her that if she could help me go through her old toys and give some away

that I would get her a new doctor kit when we were finished

(her old one was down to three unbroken items).

We bagged up 4 large garbage bags full and donated them!!

She totally earned that new kit and she's been playing with it all day!

I finally finished Alice's scarf last night.

I ended up doing a stockinette stitch so it really curled up on me width wise.

So to remedy that, I just made it super long so I could loop it around her neck several times.

The resulting scarf rivals that of Dr. Who.

Ok maybe it's not THAT long.

It actually doesn't look half bad once it's wrapped around her neck.

In fact, I have been wearing it all day long (it's chilly, even in the house)

and it's mighty toasty as well.

O Christmas Tree (348/365)

It's small and it's hard to view it from a good angle because our house is small, but we love it. Someday when we have a larger house we'll have a bigger tree, but for how this one suits us well.

I Think We May Finally Be Ready For Christmas (347/365)

Cookies are made, decorations are up, there's a chill in the air, and snow on the ground. Today Alice and I bagged up 4 full bags of toys to donate, and boy does it feel good to get all of that clutter and unused stuff out of my house! Too bad the good feeling won't last with Christmas coming, but at least the clutter won't be compounded once the presents are opened.

We Decorated Cookies Today (346/365)

They may not taste as good as homemade, but we sure did have fun making them!! Also, with all the mini M&Ms Izzy ate it's no wonder she hardly touched her dinner (for a while there it seemed like she was going "one for you, and one for me...").

Freaking Internet (345/365)

Be back later when it's working.

ADDENDUM:

The girls looking fabulous in Grandma Susie's aprons.
They both ate this up.

We cheated this year and bought sugar cookie dough in a tube instead of making it ourselves so we could skip to the fun part of decorating. The girls will enjoy them and that's what matters. With foldovers, puppy chow, cream cheese cake mix chocolate chip cookies, fudge, and peanut butter blossoms I think we're ok in the sweets department.

Besides, I prefer a drop sugar cookie recipe that can be found in
Grandpa Rice's nursing home cook book to roll out sugar cookies any day.

Even Izzy got in on the fun. She was most hysterical when I had the mixer running. Silly girl spun her head round and round trying to either keep her eye on the paddle, or she was imitating it.

No, we did not drop her on her head when she was younger.
She's a Bathje, she comes by it honestly.

Tomorrow will likely again be spent at home instead of at my in-laws. We're supposed to get a bad winter storm and we will not brave the storm if it's as bad as they say it's going to be. I planned on this actually so I didn't have to finish the foldovers tonight as my back was killing me and foldovers can be time consuming. If I get through with that and feel inspired I'll hopefully at least get the fabric for Kay's present cut. Cross your fingers that I don't mess it up this time and have to get even more fabric!

So I'm Going to Make Puppy CHOW Tomorrow (344/365)

and I really wish a special little girl was here so she could help me again. Vacation just didn't last long enough this year, or being sick for most of it made me not able to enjoy it as much.

Miss you, Kay.

Well I Was Right (343/365)

The cats got to the toy and shredded the string before the girls even
had a chance to play with it this morning. Oh well. They still had
fun chucking a foam brain around the house.

This evening I wasted about two hours attempting to make Kaylee's
Christmas present. It wasn't until I got a good chunk of it done that
I realized I totally miscalculated and would need to start over. Looks
like it's back to the craft store for me tomorrow!

Our plans for the weekend are as follows:

Make Trinity Church chicken salad
Finish up Christmas shopping
Sew Kay's gift
Bake Christmas cookies
Watch Inception

If it's all we do this weekend I'll be a happy camper.

Anyone Up For a Game of Paddle Brain? (342/365)

Oh the geeky things Daddy brings home from a long day at work for his
girls. Wouldn't you know it - they both fought over the damn thing
they loved it so much. If the cat doesn't get to it tonight (she is
notorious for attacking and chewing up anything string-like) I have a
feeling I may be breaking up a few fights over it tomorrow.

Oh well, if all else fails at least I can tie them up with it if I have to.

Getting Around to it (341/365)

I could probably write blog posts until the end of the year filling them with pictures that I have taken with the camera and not the phone and never got around to posting them. Yeah, I'm guilty of it. BIG TIME. Hell I still have pics that I took of cousin Jen's newborn from last year (he's slightly younger than Izzy) that I haven't gotten around to looking at to edit, let alone send her a CD of them (sorry, hon!). So I'm far behind, I know, but at least I'm getting around to it now. Here are some pics from when we were in J'ville.

I didn't break out the camera often enough since I didn't feel well most of the time I was there, so this is what you get.

Lil Miss Piano woman. She LOVES to tickle the ivories.

Oh, and Grandma's iPad too. The kid is OBSESSED with technology.

We wore her out!! And Auntie was frequently the person she preferred the most.
You've got competition, Grandpa!

Playing "doctor" to the girls involved tying each other up with Grandma's yarn.

Alice (poorly) trying to escape from the Uncle Mike Monster.

Auntie Racheal read many, many stories to the girls in our week together.

Most of the time they shared pretty well.

We miss you guys.
Every one of you.

Sneak Peek (340/365)

This is an outtake from the little photoshoot I did with the girls this past weekend. It's a taste of what's to come in your mailbox sometime soon. I was lazy and didn't create my own design this year and just let Shutterfly do all the work, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out - despite everyone being sick!