Polar Express Christmas Slumber Party

Dear Abigail,

Oh man, what a fabulous, fabulous evening we had this past Saturday!  We had a Polar Express Christmas Slumber party and what a treat!  What a treat!!  The gang came over around 4 and we immediately got to work on art projects.  We began with "painting" your own plate.  Using markers, you drew all over, whatever you wanted, on your own personal plate.  Then Mommy stuck them in the oven and wa-lah, you have a beautiful plate to eat off now!  

You kiddos worked really hard on those plates, making sure they were perfect.  

 After plates, you worked on ornaments for the Christmas tree!

 Again, all three of you hard at work!  Next up came a clever little idea by yours truly (mommy!).  We glued together several rolls of the cardboard from paper towels and toilet paper that were cut in different sizes and made a Christmas tree.  Then you painted them with green paint.  (I only got a picture of Ryan doing this for some reason...)

 While the paint was drying, we moved onto our next activity.  Instead of exchanging toys this year (since all of you have WAY too much) we decided to do a book exchange.  Each of you brought 2 books and you passed the books around and when the music stopped, you got to open the book that was in your hands!

 You scored with Where the Wild Things Are and Little Lamb (or something like that)!  Both great new reads!  After we read a little, we sent you kiddos upstairs to play while the mammas made some pizza.  Originally you were supposed to help us make it, but you three (Ryan, Ellie and you, that is) were SOOO hyper and wound up that we decided to send you upstairs instead!!  And, if I do say so myself, the mommas rocked on the pizza!  Look at that, a perfect little snowman pizza for the Polar Express slumber party!!

 While the pizza was cooking, we rallied up the troops (i.e. the kiddos) and finished our last project.  The paint was dried on the trees, so now you had to decorate them with ornaments and garland and even a stump for the tree.  Afterwards, Mommy put a little ribbon on top and wa-lah, another beautiful Christmas decoration!
As soon as that was done, we cleared the table and devoured some delicious snowman pizza.  And then, for the grand finale (okay, not necessarily the grand finale, but for the mommas, the most exciting part of all), you kiddos got in your matching Christmas pajamas!!!  Seriously, how ridiculously cute are you 6 in this picture?!!!

 It was kind of funny the way it all worked out.  I thought, hey, let's bring this bench over here, everyone was in a decent mood, and bam, the very first picture was our best!!  And pretty good considering there are 6 kiddos, including 3 babies!  We, of course, had some pretty funny out takes!

 But seriously, that first one was the very first picture I took.  Ryan was VERY excited to go to our last activity of the evening and would jump out at every picture, typically right before the picture actually took and then we'd have to say "ONE MORE RYAN!!!" But, he did sit still for the Three Amigos pictures!

 And we even got one with a little love going on!

Finally we were through with the pictures and, I guess you would call this the grand finale to the kiddos at least.  We headed up to the media room and turned on Polar Express.  Whew, were you three wound up!!  But, the movie was on by 7:15, the little kids were in bed by 7:15, and the mommies were enjoying a nice glass of water, or probably something similar by 7:15!  We didn't hear another peep from you three until that movie was over.  What's funny is, you all three walked down, somberly, and said "We're ready to go to bed now".  Clearly, the Polar Express Christmas Slumber party had worn you out!  So, nothing left to do but head to bed.  Of course, you all insisted on sleeping together.  We knew it wasn't going to work out, but we humored you and played music beds for about 10 minutes.  In all honesty, we thought for a half of a nano of a millisecond that it MIGHT work.  We had Ryan in a sleeping bag between your two beds in your room, Ellie in one, you in the other, although it started off with you AND Ellie in the sleeping bag, Ryan in the bed, then you in the bed, Ellie in the sleeping bag, Ryan in the other bed, then Ellie in the twin bed with you, then Ryan in the other bed.  But at last, it was you in one bed, Ellie in the other, Ryan in the sleeping bag.  I read a book to you three, we kissed everyone good night and turned the night light on and the other lights off and walked out and even down stairs.  There's where that little bit of hope cracked through.  But within a minute we were back up there, the lights were on, Ryan was ready to go down to sleep with his Mom and you and Ellie wanted to be in the same bed.  SO, Ryan went downstairs and we TRIED letting you and Ellie both lay in the bed together but eventually Aunt Steph separated you and within minutes, you were both asleep. Whew!!  Good news is it's getting better and better with the two of you (Ellie and you) sleeping in the same room.  By beach trip next year, you will be pros! Bad news is when Ellie sleeps with you, you wake up SUPER early.  It was 5:45 when you flipped on my lights.  5:45!!!! You (nor I) haven't seen that time in a LONG time, nor should we be, and I tried my best to get you both to go back to sleep, but alas, we were all up and at them (except your sister who decided to just sleep on in, the morning i was up at 5:45.  always works out like that, huh).  Anyway, so everyone was up and nothing says an early morning wake up call like a good Mickey Mouse Christmas Show!  We also figured out how we're going to take pictures next time - stick a TV in front of you all!!!!

 Oh cutie patooties!! Who cares how early it was when you look this cute!
Up next on the Christmas slumber party list was breakfast, and what better breakfast is there than reindeer pancakes with a candy cane on the side! Again, the Mommies were pretty thrilled with their talent!  I will say, we MAY have gotten a couple of these ideas from Pinterest, but half the battle of Pinterest is remembering to do the things you save.  The other half is doing them correctly.  We succeeded on all levels, again, if I do say so myself :)

And everyone seemed to think they were tasty! No question what you went to first...

After breakfast there was a little more playing time and a couple marriage proposals from Ryan, but eventually everyone gathered their things and headed out the door, well, except Ellie who hung around and played with you for a bit longer.  Everyone, including the mommies, had a blast at the Polar Express Christmas Slumber party and there is NO doubt that this will become an annual event!  I may start making it a weekend event because at noon, I took you to one room and Ellie to the other and told you both that you had to lay down and take a nap and BAM, you both did without a bit of fussing AND both slept for over an hour and half!!!  Please note you DO NOT take naps, ever, like never, much less go to your room and close your eyes and sleep without hesitating!!  I was super proud (of you, that is, not me, well, a little of me because seriously, I headed up the stairs with all three of you girls at 12 and by 12:15 all three of you were asleep.  I mean, come on, I totally should get a little credit for that.  Again, proud of you, too, though. Totally proud!).
So, as you can see, a GREAT 8th day of Christmas with an awesome Polar Express Christmas Slumber party!!!  Love you!

Basketball!!!

Dear Abigail,
You had your first basketball practice on Saturday morning.  Mommy was SUPER excited because basketball is for sure my sport.  I LOVED playing basketball and was pretty decent, if I do say so myself and I know you are going to have the same athletic ability as me, probably more!  We do need to practice a little, and actually get you a basketball, but I see the potential.  You have the defense down pat, but dribbling is a different story.  No worries, I assumed you play down low anyway and not point guard BUT we will still work on it.  Here's a few videos I got of you and your first practice, you know, to show the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 15-20 years :)

See, defense is solid.  And Coach Layton always told me defense wins games.  Shooting and dribbling, well, we're working on those...

I can't wait to see your first game (in January).  And I can't wait to practice with you!  Maybe Santa can bring you a basketball???
Love you Glove (Daddy has already nicknamed you The Glove based on your defense skills!)

The First Week of Christmas

Dear Abigail,

It's that time of year again - Christmas time!!!  I heart Christmas time and this year it started extra early for us thanks to Thanksgiving being early and all the activities we have had going on, BUT, I like to think that we officially started the Christmas countdown on Saturday, December 1st.  We have an advent calendar and in the past I would put little presents or candy or even a clue to something bigger, but this year (and going forward) I decided we would fill the advent calendar with Christmas activities. So far, it's been so much fun and you get excited about seeing what the day's activity is.  So, as timing would have it, Mommy was out of town on December 1st (on a girls trip with Aunt Steph and Miss Leigh!!! woo-hoo!!) and Mimi came up to watch you and Katie bug on that Friday (we left Thursday afternoon and Daddy had to work on Friday) and requested to bring you back to her house to go to her Christmas parade in Munford.  I said yes, even though it meant you missed YOUR Christmas parade, but potato potAto, a Christmas parade is a Christmas parade to you.  SO, on Friday (Nov. 30) Mimi loaded you and Kate up, but first she let you pull the "1" card from the calendar and guess what it said??? "Start the Christmas countdown with a Christmas Parade!"  Hooray!  On Saturday, you and all your cousins got together at Mimi's and took a few pictures and then walked to the parade.  Mimi said you were SUPER excited to see Santa and kept yelling "Hey Santa!!!"  You told me you also saw "the ranch", which took me a bit to understand that you meant "the Grinch" and you said he was scary.  You got lots of candy, so much that Pic-pic had to hold the bag for you!!  After the parade you went with Clara Lee to a cook out birthday party but came back to Mimi's house to spend the night.  OH!!! And guess who made an appearance at Mimi's house???  Pinky, our house elf!  She and Dolly had a platter full of white donuts for you to munch on (and apparently they had eaten a couple themselves!).  You were thrilled to see Pinky and you got a lovely little letter from Santa delivered via Pinky about how good you are doing with sleeping in your bed all night long!  Mimi brought you home on Sunday and you got to pull another event.  Sunday's event was to make a gingerbread house.  This event will probably not be on the calendar for next year, because, well, it just is not all it's cracked up to be...

Here's you and Daddy and Kate working hard on that house (a pink Barbie gingerbread house, at that)...

And here's about 10 minutes later...

 Like I said, not as awesome as it seemed.  Lesson learned my friend.  Lesson learned.  I think you had fun though, and you loved eating the candy, so there's that... Pinky got stuck in traffic traveling from Mimi's to the North Pole and then back to Mommy's so she didn't show up again until Monday, but she did it with style.  She flew in on your pink Little People plane and was waiting on you in the playroom. You were super thrilled to see she found your house.  Our '3' day activity was to make a care package for a soldier and take it to the post office.  You learned about the special people overseas 'protecting us and our country' at school recently, so I thought it might be a good idea to keep that fresh in your mind, because we are ever so grateful for those people and we know they are sacrificing a lot being away from friends and family over the holiday season.  You drew several pictures and wrote a thank you letter to 2 different soldiers and then we boxed up some candy (you picked a bag of M&Ms) and a box of Power Bars (because Mommy read somewhere that they are always wanting those - who knows) and we went to the post office to mail.  You were very involved in the whole process and even asked to pick out the stamp.  I was proud of you especially when you told the postman what we were doing.  That was a special activity that will become an annual tradition! Also on Monday, you had your first ballet recital! Man alive were you beautiful all dressed up in your sparkly leotard.  You were super excited because it had 'tiny cds' on it!

 You sure do love your sister...

 Your recital was at a Christmas luncheon and you did fantastic!!!  You performed to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Hark the Herald Angels Sing and it was so perfect.  Daddy and Mimi and Kate loved it too and we thought you were the best ballerina ever.

 Miss Missy is such a great ballet teacher.  She makes you say the words perfectly, which I like because Mommy still has trouble saying "arabess" much less spelling it!

 And, I don't know if you can see or not, but yes, that is a big rip in your costume.  It wouldn't be you if something wasn't ripped or torn or, whatever.  I know this, and feel your pain, because Mommy was the EXACT same way, but we perform so well, whatever it is, that no one really notices that torn leotard :) Just a beautiful ballerina!
So on Tuesday, December 4th, you went to school but when you got home you were super eager to find out your activity of the day which turned out to be "Write Santa a letter".  What's so ironic is Pinky was sitting write beside the paper and pen and told me she would take the letter to Santa herself, to ensure it made it to his hands in a timely manner.  You were VERY excited about that and wrote a nice letter.

All you ask for Christmas is a drum set, a dog that barks and a doll that looks like you.  And, you have been doing so darn well with sleeping in your bed, I bet Santa brings you one of those for sure.  We helped Kate write her letter and sealed them tight in the envelope and sure enough, they were not there the next morning.  And guess where we found Pinky Wednesday morning???  Playing Chutes and Ladders with Buzz and Woody.  I think Buzz was winning and you really really wanted to play with them.  I even caught you poking a stick at the game (possibly Pinky) but you promised me you did not touch her.  Our activity for Wednesday (after ballet practice and a quick trip to the grocery store) was to Help Mommy Wrap Presents.  Now, I have to say, you were rather good with this.  I wasn't sure if it would hold your attention long enough but you loved cutting the paper for me and holding your finger on the ribbon so I could tie a bow.  Our cleaning lady came while we were wrapping and was so impressed, she asked if you could show her how we do it.  You had no problems showing her how to cut and hold that finger!  Then you got busy with wrapping your own presents.  You kept telling me they were surprises for me, but you just couldn't keep it a secret for very long and say "it's a vacation" or "it's a watch" because that's what Mommy tells you she wants for Christmas :)  We left so Miss Meeran could really do some good cleaning and got some dinner.  Unfortunately, you feel asleep in the car for the 3 minute drive to Mexican and were not too happy when I woke you up.  You weren't mean, but you were determined you were sick.  You even curled up in a ball in your chair at the restaurant and didn't eat ANYTHING.  You did ask for your cheese dip but you never touched a single bite of it!  I thought maybe you were sick, but I think you were just tired.  And your sister had no problems eating your share of food that night!  We came home and you got right in bed and were just fine and dandy the next morning.  Three minute naps don't cut it, huh!
Thursday morning we woke up and low and behold Pinky was reading a book (your Big Sister book!) to Unicorn, Puppy and Giraffe.  Now you thought that was hilarious and sat in the room and listened as Pinky read it to everyone.  What's ironic about THAT is that night Mommy was having her book club meeting at our house.  That Pinky knows everything huh!  You went to school, but after I picked you up, we got to see what the activity was - decorate for the Polar Express Christmas Slumber Party!!  That's right, we are having a slumber party on Saturday, but more on that later!  We had to do some decorating so we decided to make Rudolph reindeer out of water bottles.  I sure wish I would have made a picture of one because you did a mighty fine job putting the antlers on and the eyes, and of course, the red nose.  Because of the book club (and because Mommy wanted the house to stay clean for a few more short hours), Daddy took you and Bug to Chick-fil-a for dinner while I got things geared up for the meeting.  I was a little worried that you would have issues going to bed with Mommy and her friends downstairs, but low and behold, Daddy had ZERO trouble with you or Kate!  Can you believe it?  I should have, I totally should have.  I was so proud of you and even gave you an M&M for breakfast :)
You were excited about that, but also you were excited because Pinky was in Mommy's bathroom with fingernail clippers, a nail file and a bottle of red polish.  We couldn't figure out why she decided to paint her nails until we pulled out our activity of the day.  It said "Paint your toes and fingers with a pretty red polish so you will sparkle at your slumber party!"  Oh yeah, that's right, Mommy got to give you a pedicure and manicure, all for the Christmas party!!  We waited until after school to paint them and man alive they were so pretty.  You sat very still and only messed up two toes, which is record breaking for you, wiggle worm.  We fixed those toes, jumped in the bath and guess what, all the fingers came off!  "That's okay!" is what you told me and when we got out we tried again.  That night we went to your school's church "Walk through Bethlehem" program.  What part was your favorite you ask, why meeting Baby Jesus of course.  You were super excited about that and even had to go to see him twice.  You also got to make several crafts

 Afterwards, we went to Mexican (yes, again) and met Ellie and Aunt Steph (Christopher was sick and with Uncle Jaybee) and this time you had NO problems eating your cheese dip!  And Daddy even took all the girls outside to play for a bit.  Of course you tore a big hole in the tights you were supposed to wear for Christmas eve, but whatev.  Not important, not important at all.  You are so clumsy and get every bit of it from your momma!!!
So, our first week of Christmas and I'd say it was pretty awesome!!! Two plus more weeks to go until the big day and I can't wait to see what's in store, including that awesome Polar Express Slumber Party we decorated for!!!!
Love you sweet girl.

Cutest Girls Eva!

Dear Abigail,

Mommy got you and your sister in your Christmas jammies and took some photos for our Christmas card and man alive, are you two not the cutest kiddos in the world.  Like, seriously.  The cutest.  See for yourself...

Pretty pretty girl!  Love you!

 PS - You visited a few polar bears and insisted on getting your picture taken, so I thought I'd include it!