If You Could Choose Any Treat...

What would you like?

 That's my girl.

E had a doctor's appointment to remove a skin tag. She was very nervous. The worst part was the needle to numb the area before cutting off the skin. It took two of us to hold her down. It wasn't fun. I did my best to distract her (as if you can distract someone from getting a huge needle stuck into their body). I praised her with how well she was doing, and surprisingly, she calmed down rather fast and only shed a few tears. The doctor was extremely impressed with how well she reacted. Hooray!

So, for a fun reward to help her feel better and because she was so great with the doctor, I let her pick out a treat at the store. What did she pick without a single word from me?

Oreos.

Awesome.

Everyone loved her special treat.

Christmas Tree Hunting

It's tradition that we head up to the mountains the weekend after Thanksgiving to chop down our Christmas tree. We have lunch on the Blue Ridge and then spend the evening decorating as we listen to Christmas music and munch on goodies.

Because we were in Virginia this Thanksgiving, we couldn't head up the mountains for our tree, so we planned on the weekend after. Little did we know, snow was in the forecast.

As we started our trip, we saw the snowflakes begin to fall. Should we go? Yeah...no big deal. However, my tune changed when the snow really started coming down, coating the hills around us and we weren't even to the mountain yet. Should we keep going? Um...yeah? The men said it would be fine. I wasn't so sure.

The crazy characters in our winter adventure are... 

A and Pa

Grandma

W

O

E and Me

So what do you do to pass the time, wondering if you'll actually head up the snow covered mountain? E took pictures of herself...

and more pictures.

She wrote on the windows.

Documented her wardrobe.

She also updated everyone on the condition outside,

which was getting worse as we began our climb up the mountain.

E was worried.

O was worried.

A looked like this, 

but I'm sure he was nervous too. See, you can tell, right?
I was the worst one of all. I wanted to turn around before we even got to the mountain. The snow kept coming and there was a steady stream of cars heading down the mountain.

I don't even think we were half way up when the truck in front of us started fishtailing. Hmmm...thick snow, trucks fishtailing, slippery and windy roads that have a steep drop off and no shoulder...
we decided to turn around.

We HAD to get a tree that day. So we drove around searching for tree lots. We stopped here and hoped to find our tree.

The kids loved the snow, of course. Right away, there was a snowball fight.

The trees were really pretty covered in snow.

Unfortunately,  we didn't find a tree we liked at the price we were willing to pay. We search some more, but after awhile, we were cold and hungry. E was the worst. Turns out, her boots had holes in them and so her feet were soaked and the zipper on her coat broke off. As she sat in the warm van with her feet wrapped in a fleece scarf, we decided to stop at Lowes. The only place around.

Me, Grandma, and Pa faced the cold and shook the snow from the trees to find the best ones. We were so ready to go home. Strap that tree on the van and call it a day!

So, another adventure under our belt...another Christmas memory to laugh over. The snow was so beautiful and exciting, and yes, it ruined our plans, but I think something goes wrong just about every year...doesn't it? Part of the fun, I guess.
Holidays are crazy anyway.

Creativity

E came down one morning and announced that she was going to work. She had her phone, her paperwork for Scouts, and her lunch packed (granola bar, banana, and a yogurt). 

I'm really busy. I've got a lot of work to do. I have to fill these papers out for Scouts, so I'm going to the office. I'll be back tonight!

 Showing off her phone.

 The office, which was complete with a computer, a cup for pens and scissors, a trashcan, a free weight as her drink, and the gray bin lid as the office door off to the left side.

 Later, a full performance with a stage, singing, dancing and costume changes. Very entertaining.

 She has such a musical talent. She can keep tempo, hear a rhythm, and create her own music on the spot. Since she was a baby, she has always clicked with her tongue and made silly sounds. Now she loves to beat box, constant vocal percussion, while tapping her chest or leg.

 She loves to sing!  Cinderella does too.

 Very emotional song. 

I just asked E what she wanted to say about this picture.

It's beautiful. It makes me want to sing. La! La!

The Building Show!

The girls wanted to perform The Building Show for us to watch. No doubt, it was Miss E's idea. She loves building shows like This Old House or The Woodwright's Shop.

Miss L thought it was a song and dance show about building. It was very humorous.

No, no, no. It's a building show. We need to show them how to build the house.

We're going to go ahead and get the drill...

And we drill the screws right here. We're putting in this window, you see...

Ok. Now that we have the window in, we'll take the screwdriver and work over here...

Ok everybody, we have to hammer the nails in to support  the wall...

She's a riot.

Thanksgiving Fun

The kids loved to ride bikes, trikes, and plasma cars outside in the driveway.

 We went shopping for the great deals. We didn't find much, but we did get in line to visit Santa Clause. The polar display was an advertisement for the Narnia movie coming out. They had a huge "snow globe" before reaching Santa where the kids could play. Our kids quickly became the entertainment.

 Throwing, tossing, sliding, rolling, and making snow angels were seen by all. The giggling was the best. I don't know if it was because of us, but shortly afterward, we passed Santa again and the snow was vacuumed up. Hmmm....

 They were all shy to see Santa. There was no way I could get O near him. He was very adamant about not seeing Santa.

What would you like for Christmas? Um...I don't know. I haven't made my Christmas list yet.

 Playing in the kid zone. Performing for the crowd.

 Kid Zone. Driving the fire truck together.

 The boys did yard work for Aunt S. All the boys wanted to help.

 We even celebrated cousin L's birthday. Hitting a pinata is always fun. The kids had a blast swinging a wooden golf club towards the rainbow and the adults were entertained by them. Two year olds aren't patient and thank goodness they were never clobbered by the swinging club as they tried to get in the action.

The girls worked together to open presents. E was really into it. If you just look at this picture, you might think E was mad and tried taking the gift from L. Haha! E's a good actress. Things to come, I'm sure.

And what would the holidays be without some drama? We don't have a picture, but A spent quite a few hours in the ER with W. It was really late Thanksgiving Eve when we all thought our children had been sound asleep for hours. Little did we know, sneaky W had been busy as could be in the guest room. He climbed up on the dresser and took down my purse and diaper bag. Inside, he found a gold mine full of snacks, lotions, hand sanitizer, wipes, crayons, toys, and two brand new chapsticks. He was in heaven. I'm amazed he could contain his excitement. He was so stealth as he tore into everything. When we finally heard a little sound, the damage was done. A bomb had exploded in the bedroom and W was covered head to toe with everything he could smear. All bottles and containers were empty....completely empty. Then on top of all that, we found a half eaten Tylenol on the floor. Of course, leave it up to W to find such a small thing in the deep crevices of my bag...in the dark...and in silence.

So, A took him in and spent some quality time with W while events unfolded in the ER. The man complaining of a bug moving in his ear and a woman in labor were interesting. Since we didn't know how much W ate, or if he ate anything at all, we had to take him in to be sure. After the ER copay, several hours waiting, and a simple blood test, we learned he was fine.

We're a little extra thankful this holiday season for our beautiful, healthy kids.