Christmas Eve

We decided it might be less rushed on Christmas day if we let the girls open up their gifts on Christmas Eve. They woke up not knowing they were going to get to open their presents, so they were super excited.

I was taking their picture and suddenly a commercial came on TV with the song Silent Night playing, and both girls heads immediately turned to the TV. I thought it was pretty neat that they both tuned into Silent Night at the same time.

Gracie with her candy jewelry making kit. (We have already used it and she thought it was great!)

This was probably Ella's favorite gift. She wanted it opened immediately so she could have a tea party and then didn't want to open anything else.

About 10 minutes later after Gracie had opened all of her gifts, we finally convinced Ella to open a few more gifts.

Gracie is the reigning Connect 4 champion in our house. She was very excited to get this game.

Both girls got an oversized doll to play with. They are perfect for pretend tea parties because it looks like you have 4 people at your tea party. Obviously, we have already done this.

Gracie loved her new Barbie and the Three Musketeers mask!

Woohoo! Ella loved her basketball goal and it's great because Gracie can use it also. They got lots of gifts to share this year since that is an issue in our house.

Here is Ella's doll. It's almost bigger than she is! Now tomorrow we have to see if Santa comes before we head to Christmas in Moberly.

It Has to Get Worse Before it Gets Better

Wowzers! Gracie's eye looks really bad today, but she claims it doesn't hurt anymore. Poor little girl! She has gotten a lot of attention from her "shiner."

The night she hurt herself a friend of ours told her to tell people, "You think I look bad, you should see the other guy." Well, she tried to say that once, but it came out all jumbled up. It was super cute and made the person she was talking to laugh.

Ella in Something Borrowed

Ella is wearing a dress that we borrowed from a co-worker of mine. She has twins and bought them both this dress for pictures this year. She thought we should borrow it so someone could get some good out of it since her kids only wore them once. I quickly agreed since Ella didn't have a new Christmas dress. She usually just wears Gracie's hand me downs when it comes to dress clothes. Everyday clothes are a little different since they get worn more and stained more often. Anyway, we were glad to borrow this sweet little dress. Ella kept saying, "Ella's pretty dress."

Gracie's Christmas Owie

As you can see, Gracie has a Christmastime owie. It has been a pretty nasty one so far. This is day two and it is still quite puffy. Gracie is only smiling in this picture because I told her I think the scab looks like a Christmas tree. She liked that idea.

It's funny how it doesn't look that bad in the pictures. Well, here's what happened. I was in our church sanctuary having our final practice for our choir's Christmas program. It was over and we were exiting the stage when I saw a group of kids ushering Gracie to me. She was crying and I could see a bump growing rapidly under her eye. She got a dandy of a goose egg in a game of dodge ball. She was trying to dodge the ball and threw her face into a rolling metal chair rack. They kids said she was really tough because she hit it very hard. Several of the older kids said they would still be on the floor crying, and that made her feel better.

The swelling has gone down a lot. This morning her eye was barely open at all. It was bad enough that Ella wouldn't even look at her. I think she was scared of her sister for a while, but she has gotten used to it.

She is fortunate nothing was broken. What a trooper our little Gracie is. Oh, and don't try to turn us in for child abuse. We have lots of witnesses this time! :-)

Nerd Day

This is Homecoming week at school, so each day the kids are supposed to wear something special. Today was Nerd Day. Gracie wore mismatched clothes, two different shoes, her hair was fixed crooked, she wore a headband and had on huge glasses. She felt very "nerdy."

Santa and Mrs. Claus

We had a Parents As Teachers group meeting tonight and it was a Christmas themed meeting. The most wonderful part of the night was that Santa and Mrs. Claus were there. Santa was looking his best tonight and it made me believe in him all over again! Surely you will agree?!

I thought it was cute that Ella kept staring at Santa with such curiosity. Gracie told Santa she wanted a Barbie and the Three Musketeers doll and Ella asked for a baby doll.

After visiting with Santa we made gingerbread men. Gracie was also enjoying a gingerbread man sucker at the time.

Ella worked pretty hard on her gingerbread man, too.

Another fun activity they had was a snowball fight with cotton balls. I couldn't believe how long the kids stood there just throwing cotton balls at each other.

Whoa, the little traitor turned on me and started pelting me with cotton balls.

Ella and Dora

Anyone who knew Gracie when she was Ella's age will attest to the fact that Gracie loved Dora. She wasn't just intrigued with Dora, she was obsessed with Dora. Well, Ella may not be quite that bad yet, but the minute Dora comes on the TV, she is in her own little world. Recently Ella has begun laying down on the floor and watching Dora. She is much too close to the TV, but I thought it was cute so I took her picture before I backed her up.