Ladies Tea

This afternoon our church had a ladies tea. It seemed like a good chance for Gracie and me to do something together, without Ella tagging along. The beautiful place settings would have been too tempting to Ella, so it was just as well that she stayed home and napped.

A mom in the church thought to make up a kids table with unbreakable tea sets. Gracie chose to sit there instead of at a table with adults. She had a really good time.

Darrin crashed the girls tea for a while, but I think the girls actually enjoyed having him there.

What a goof! Everyone loves Darrin...especially the other kids.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie

We drove to Callao tonight to see the Christmas lights. There is a family in Callao that is well known for their decorations every year at Christmas, and they didn't let us down. Mickey and Minnie Mouse were standing outside waving at people. Gracie was so excited that Minnie wanted to hug her. Ella was thrilled to see them and would talk to Mickey and Minnie, but she didn't want to leave my arms to get her picture taken with them.

The family that has this display in Callao has a lot of pieces that you are supposed to crank to make them move. Gracie was turning the crank to make the elves work in the workshop. The pieces are very elaborate and it must take them a month to get it all set up. It was so neat. The kids loved walking through the trail of lights and yard ornaments and ooh'd and aah'd over a lot of things.

Gracie's School Christmas Program

Tonight was Gracie's first Kindergarten Christmas program. After the music teacher lined them up he started the concert by giving the kids a second to find their parents and wave at them so they could get their wiggles out. This picture shows some of the kids taking advantage of his permission.

This picture shows Gracie standing by the Christmas tree in her classroom.

This is the group of Kindergarten and First grade students who performed together. Ella enjoyed their songs very much. She tapped her fingers to the beat of every song during the concert.

Brent had to welcome everyone to the concert, so I thought he deserved to have his picture taken.

Grandpa and Nana came up from Moberly and Mama, Granny and our family friend Bonnie all came from Unionville, so Gracie had a large cheering section.

Ella's Telephone Skills

Recently Ella has decided to talk on the phone. She loves to chat with just about anyone. She is hard to understand, but really does try to carry on a conversation. Gracie didn't like talking on the phone until she was probably almost 5 years old, so Ella is starting young. She really likes to get my cell phone and dial a contact. The cell phone is just easier to carry around, so if you ever get a call that says it's me and all you hear is jabbering, it's probably Ella calling to catch up with you!

Little Lambs Christmas Program

This morning the kids at church had their Christmas program. Gracie and Ella are both Little Lambs. It consists of kids ages 2-5 years old. Ella isn't 2 yet, but they let her and our minister's daughter go ahead and start. They sang a few songs with the big kids in their musical and then also sang a couple songs alone. Ella was very brave and went on stage, even singing a little bit until she saw us sitting down front watching her, and then she wanted her Mommy.

They looked very pretty in their Christmas clothes. Gracie reused this dress from last year. It was so pretty, so I'm glad she could wear it a second year.

Moberly's Christmas Parade

After the girls Christmas program we headed out to lunch and then went to Moberly for the Christmas parade. This year my parents were asked to be the Grand Marshalls and they wanted Gracie and Ella to ride along and wave with them. It was a nice honor and it was super cute to see my girls waving at the crowds.

A Little Monkey In My Bed

I was attempting to make our bed this morning when Ella decided to climb under the blankets and snuggle. She looked pretty precious, so I took some pictures.

I told her to pretend that she was asleep, so she did this...

Pretty realistic huh?! Ha! She was making snoring sounds and everything. Ella is quite the firecracker at 22 months old.