Babies love Ellie

This is Ellie with her friend Micah. Micah lives down the streen from us and loves to play with Ellie out in the cul-de-sac. She got a tricycle for Christmas, and her mom said that as soon as she opened it, she started saying "Ellie - bike - Ellie - bike - Ellie"

And here's Ellie with her 2 year old cousin, Christopher. Even though she was in bed, she waited up until he arrived at 10 pm on Tuesday night. She introduced him to Bunny (the stuffed animal in her lap) and sat him down for some story time.

Christmas Highlights

Sammy placed the baby Jesus in our Playmobil nativity this year.


Our Christmas tree, with lots of handmade ornaments. The little kids call it "the Maddie tree", because she had made stuff for me every year, in preschool and elementary school. In our new school district, the kids never make ornaments, so Ben, Ellie and Sam are sadly missing from the tree. I attempted to remedy this, by making these:

The little colored bits in the bottom of the box are letters and numbers. I wrote each kids name and 2006 on the backs of the ornaments using glitter glue. Once it was dry, the glitter glue writing fell off at the slightest touch. I need to try a paint pen, I guess.

And lastly:

Ellie, Ben and Sam, patiently waiting to open their gifts on Christmas morning. We have a tradition of eating breakfast around 8:30 am, then we do the presents at 9 am. Sammy starts by getting a present from the tree, not one that's for him. After that gift is opened by the recipient, that person choses a gift. My kids wish we could just have a frenzy of torn wrapping paper and excited squealing, but I like to take it slow.

Jack Sparrow

Sammy got this Pirates of the Carribean set for Christmas. He's been Jack Sparrow all day now. The little dread locks crack me up.

Ellie the Elf

Check out Ellie as a happy Christmas elf:
Ellie the Elf

Also for your viewing pleasure:
Ben the Elf
Heather the Singing Elf
Dave, the Grumpy Elf
Maddie the Greedy Elf. (For the record, Maddie is not greedy, she's sweet and generous. Hopefully, she can take a joke.)

Sammy declined to be an elf - he cried when I made him one, so I didn't save it.

12 Days of Christmas

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This song has been #1 on the Billboard list at our house for a least a week now. We have a story book with the song. My children have been singing it until they are hoarse. I'm beginning to hate this song. I'm going to pack the book away with the Christmas stuff, so the incessant repetition of this song might stop. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure they have the song memorized now.

Do blonde's have more fun?

I decided not. 

Shootin' hoops

Ben and Jordan playing basketball in Jordan's driveway. 

The indoor crowd

Sammy & Jamie spent more time inside - eating, coloring and asking each other math questions. 

Sandbox

My kids and a friend's kids all went to gymnastics camp together this morning. Then we carted them over to a local restaurant for lunch. They spent most of the time rolling around in the sandbox, but did stop to eat all their food, and ask for more. All that tumbling worked up a good appetite. 

Ellie's Pastoral Landscape

 
Ellie created this after our visit to the art museum. 

Mom! That's a Monet!

Thursday afternoon, we visited the Houston Museum of Fine Art, mostly to see the Best in Show exhibition - pictures of dogs through the ages. Afterward, we walked around the museum for a little while. Ellie recognized this picture from across the room. They've been studying Monet in their art classes at school, and she was chuffed to see an actual Monet painting in person. 

Corn Poppy

We saw this picture yesterday at the Houston Museum of Fine Art. It reminded me of Maddie. The name of the painting is Corn Poppy, so that's her new nickname around our house. 

Stand still for a minute!

This is one of the discards from our Christmas picture session. I had high aspirations, of matching outfits and perfect smiles. As time began to run out, I settled for a picture of everyone after school and just wanted four decent smiles. 

Nutcracker

Ellie's ballet class performed in the mini-Nutcracker. She was a candy cane. Her buddy Jennifer was spending the night with us, so she got to attend the performance. 

14 years ago

In honor of Maddie's 14th birthday, here she is at only a few days old. 

14

Can you believe Maddie's been around for 14 years now? I sure can't. 

Pre-concert

The band director asked them to wear Santa hats to the Christmas Concert. Maddie wasn't crazy about her hat. 

Keeper

Sammy's last soccer game was today. Now we will only have Ben's basketball games on Saturdays. Sammy's going to start up karate, probably after Christmas, and all the other kid activities are weekday sort of things.