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.