Going out with a bang

Grandma had a lot of snow at her house and we didn’t get any at our house.  Her snow was lots of fun for sledding and making snow angels. The snow wasn’t so good for making snowballs or snowmen.  Mommy and Aunt Kiki helped Aubrie and I shovel the snow into a big pile to form into a snowman.  He has a bucket hat, carrot nose, and skis. The four of us also made a tunnel.  It was really fun when Aunt Kiki pulled me and Aubrie through it on the sled! Aubrie shared her Rudolph blanket with me when we watched movies.  I also liked playing dominoes with Grandma, Mommy, and Aunt Kiki. It was super cold outside even with the fire, so we make s’mores inside.  I love marshmallows!Everyone got s’mores and super sticky.

Happy New Year!

Love, Elena

Merry Christmas!

Winter break means staying in your pajamas all day!  And having popcorn for lunch :-)The Band Hero box was a great bed for story time.  Reading Christmas stories of course! Elena carefully laid out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.  Up early on Christmas morning.  Elena’s stocking was full of stuffed animals Santa said she could have back (including Pinkie), candy, and Littlest Pet Shop animals.Dressed in holiday clothes and ready to open presents!  Let’s get the party started!  The present from Santa is always the most exciting…  Did he bring what I asked for? Not quite…  It is a Disney Prince, but not Aladdin.  It is Prince Naveen from the Princess and the Frog.  Elena already has two Tiana dolls, so she’s very happy to have Tiana’s prince.  Great movie by the way, Elena can’t wait to own it! This will forever be known as the Christmas of Barbie and Barbie clothes.  Not only did Elena get numerous new Barbies and Barbie clothes, but all the Barbie items that were in time-out were returned back to her per Santa’s instructions.  Time to reorganize the bedroom to make room for Barbie!Elena’s Barbies fully dressed and lined up to party. Merry Christmas everyone!

Winter Party at the Children’s Museum

Since the museum had such and awesome Halloween party, we had to attend their winter party too!  There were wooden ornaments to decorate, hot cocoa kits to make, cinnamon ornaments to make, and disco carpet skating!  We did all the usual activities too.  Elena loved making money and charging everyone to ride the bus, float a boat, or have their pet examined in the vet clinic. Maddie and her mom joined us too.  No one wanted to visit Santa, but everything else was loads of fun! Daddy used his holiday gift card from work to buy Band Hero for the Wii!  They have Elena’s favorite song, You Belong with Me by Taylor Swift!  She loves playing the drums, and is learning to enjoy the guitar and singing.  Daddy likes it all!!!

Ssh, somebody is sleeping…

Daddy went out of town on business and Mommy let me and Zachy share her bed!  It was super cozy! I like sleeping with kitty Warrick now.  He can stay in my room all night!Kitty Warrick purrs in my bed and we fall asleep cuddling.  I think we share dreams too. Love, elena

Christmas deliciousness

Again Auntie baked too many cookies, and again it took 5 people forever to get them all decorated…  But those 5 people had a lot of fun doing it! Anyone want to lick the frosting off Elena’s forehead? Zachy got his own cookie.  No one else would touch it after he did…

Getting in the holiday mood

We were really festive for Halloween (having the party at our house encouraged us to go all out) and felt Christmas deserved equal attention.  Elena captured the tree in a new perspective for us.  This is the area she decorated.This year Elena got to attend the Nutcracker for the first time!  We got dressed up for the occasion (even though it was just a school performance) and had a picture taken in front of the fully decorated Christmas tree.  Seeing the Nutcracker was also Auntie’s birthday present.  Elena’s favorite part of the show was the costumes and when Clara visited the foreign countries.  She thought those dances were more lively. With Grandma’s help, Elena fit all the presents around the tree.  Now there is no where for the kitties to nap!Elena did not help make any of the Christmas chains, but she did hang up the artwork. Auntie and Grandpa created this tree with lights.  The ornaments are by Elena.  They are from a scratch kit and she enjoyed using the little stick to create various designs. Our Christmas card display.  Zachy and Elena both loved the animated snowmen this year.  Zachy had too much fun with them in Elena’s opinion, she kept turning them off so they wouldn’t make noises!  Zachy caught on quick and learned where the on/off switch was so he could turn them back on.

Christmas in Kennewick

Of course the first thing on the minds of small children is, “When can we open presents?!?”Ok, did anyone see what anyone else got? Elena got Sea World Barbie, Jasmine Barbie, and Sleeping Beauty Barbie from Nana and PopPop.  The beginning of a very Barbie Christmas. Sharing the Nintendo DSi.  The girls took some cute pictures with the DSi camera. Matching pjs and blinking red noses!  What kind of reindeer roars?Each kiddo got to do their own gingerbread house.  Zachy was lucky his cousins Ruby and Nattie were there to help him, otherwise he would have had a bare house and an upset tummy.  I think he only put one candy on the actual house.

Thanks for hosting a wonderful Christmas Nana and PopPop!

Time for a show

Elena had a ballet recital.  All of Miss Hannah’s dance classes participated and performed to songs from the Nutcracker. Elena’s class danced to Spanish Chocolate. Elena loves putting on dance shows! She did an amazing job following the routine and was a super cute dancer.After the dances, there was a dessert reception.  Elena go a big bouquet of roses from her daddy.  So pretty and smelled so good! Amelia got flowers from her daddy too!  Great performance girls!

Goin’ to the Lodge

We finally made it to Great Wolf Lodge!    Elena loved all the waterslides.  There were waterslides in the shallow area, medium sized waterslides that Elena went down all by herself, and large waterslides that went through tunnels and you had to ride an inner tube or raft on.  She was so brave! These jetskis were fun to ride, but they were stationary. Trying to squirt Zachy! Elena also enjoyed sitting in the inner tube in the wave pool, splashing Daddy, listening to story time, and watching the indoor snow storm. We went to the lodge with Aubrie and her family.  These stick bugs were a Christmas present from Aubrie.  There are six of them, they are sticky, and they eat blackberry bushes.

We are already excited about going to Great Wolf again.  Who wants to join us?