Christmas Snowmen...

Just to keep in chronological order, here we go:

I saw this in a cute kid-crafty magazine and it made for a fun activity in that pre-Christmas week off school. I don't remember where Mitchell was during this event... because he definitely would've wreaked havoc on our 'work'.... maybe it was afternoon and he was still napping. Regardless, we had some friends over in "Santa's Workshop" in the basement working on their own family Christmas items from the woodshop, so we set up our craft 'table' in the kitchen and had fun. It will be fun to pull them out next year and remember our sweet little afternoon together. =)

So simple:

Take some plastic bottles and cut the bottom off so they'll sit upright more stable.

Grab a couple kids that like to make messes and growl at the camera:

Rip up a piece of white tissue paper, make a mix of Elmer's glue and water to use as 'paste'.... use craft brushes to attach a layer or two of tissue paper to the bottle, and let it dry.

Use a black marker to color the lid or cover with a piece of fabric or construction paper. Then attach some beads to make the face, a piece of ribbon to go around the middle, and...voila! A cute little craft.

And, remember, I am NOT crafty. But I had ALL of this around the house and it only took about 20 minutes to make and then 20 minutes to dry before adding the beads and ribbon. SO CUTE!!

Add back in the two sweet girls who were SO proud of their creations!

Ainsley's awesome new 'thing'

Geh...I'm so far behind again...but I refuse to get out of chronological order...so before (ha!) I get to Christmas, I'll do the next blog that I've had in the wings for about 6 weeks now.

And it revolves around Ainsley. no big surprise there. She's been the most entertaining one in the house lately. ESPECIALLY relating to naptime/bedtime/sleeping.

This was last month during afternoon rest-time. Ainsley has pretty much given up all sleeping, but still needs to rest quietly for 2 hours in her bed. and mommy needs a break for a couple hours, so we're going to keep this pattern going as long as we can!

I kept watching on the video monitor and didn't see or hear anything for about an hour, so I assumed she was at the foot of the bed, which was out of the frame of the video. I took my camera upstairs JUST IN CASE. I figured that she'd fallen asleep near the end of the bed and I'd go in to cuddle a little to wake her up and get a sweet shot of sleeping Ainsley.

When I opened the door, I heard a little giggle. A "ohh...she's finally here and I'll stay totally quiet" kind of giggle. I put the camera up to my eye and STILL couldn't find her...
and then I did:

look closely. See her? don't cheat and look down at the next picture....








Oh yeah. There she is. Almost-four-year-old Ainsley smooshed up inside her pillowcase and had been quiet and still for AN HOUR...


and she was giggling like crazy that I had found her.
This picture included because you get an idea of how big she really is as she UNFOLDED herself from the confined space. it was like a clown car...
I had to re-hydrate her a bit after that, too. She'd sweated out a couple pounds while in there.
and, ps-Paul... check out the size of her feet in this. sweet baby Sarah comes by it naturally... =)


The next few are also Ainsley in relation to her newest (but not even remotely her only) obsession. Her sheets and comforter. HAVE TO STAY NEAT and TIDY. They have to. She refuses to go to sleep under the covers b/c then the 'system' would be messed up. At first, I was a little frustrated and forced her under the covers...but after a few days, I quit. It doesn't really matter, does it? If she gets cold enough, she'll get under the covers. maybe.
This was last night. She was curled up (once again) in a tiny ball just so she could avoid wrinkling up the top quilt. Also, our furnace is broken. So there's no heat upstairs. And it was 22 degrees overnight last night. But we wouldn't want to mess up the covers...

This was last week. Her new sleeping bag (Xmas gift from Super Uncle Kelly) couldn't be messed up either.
I know I took a couple more pictures, but I can't find them. The kid is awesome and quirky and a total riot.

DISNEY

After a year (or maybe 5) of saying, "we're so NOT Disney-people" to anyone who would listen... we became Disney people and had a GREAT two days there in November. TOOO TOOO TOOO much joy to explain. I would do it again with the girls (Adam... he would probably not do it again). Or at least wait a couple years until Mitchell could enjoy it and kids could actually survive w/o naps or rest-time... although going back to the hotel mid-day was awesome for the adults to rest, too!
We did one full day at Magic Kingdom and it was fun and total chaos. The 'girl-ness' of it all was a little overwhelming. So much pink/princess/sparkle/etc... wow. But, for an almost 6 year old and an almost 4 year old with very low expectations, it was perfect. We didn't tell them where we were goin until we were about 20 minutes away, and Elise's response was, "YAAAAAY DISNEY!" count to four...."Um, what IS Disney?". seriously.

Mimi, Nana and three really happy (and hot and sweaty) kids
Watching the show in front of Cinderella's castle. really cool.


Mitchell actually LOVED the carousel!


She'd just finished an ice cream cone and was even MORE joyful than normal!

Mitchell was a little skeptical of the huge duck, but still wanted to 'meet' Daisy.
Girls were enamored.
We stayed the night at the Military's Shades of Green hotel and it was gorgeous. SOOOO well-kept (I was picturing a Navy Lodge...dirty, smelly, outdated...usually pretty horrible) and I was absolutely pleased with the accommodations. (especially since the grandmas were paying!) We crammed 4 adults and 3 kids (fairly comfortably, actually) in a one bedroom 'suite'... it was actually way fun.

A few quick shots of when we went back to Magic Kingdom later that evening. It was kind of nice being in the winter b/c it was only 5pm when we returned, but fully dark already! WIN/WIN! The Castle was all lit up, but kids were still awake and happy since it wasn't past bedtimes yet.

It really was kind of breathtaking!
An (almost complete!) family picture.

OF COURSE the highlight of the trip for the girls was the 1-on-1 meeting with several princesses. Elise really was speechless. She couldn't stop smiling. it was precious.
Ainsley, on the other hand, was a total chatterbox with the Princesses. She kept telling Cinderella how much they looked like "twins"...blue dresses matched, I guess? =)
The whole Fam Damily with the Worlds most famous Mice. =) Can't you see the joy on our faces at "The Happiest Place on Earth"?

Day 2 was Animal Kingdom and we LOVED IT. Side note: when planning on a trip like this, ask lots of questions, read lots of reviews, but then do what you think is BEST for your family. Many people had said that our kids were too young for Animal Kingdom and they just wouldn't have fun. However, we KNOW our kids and knew that they would LOVE all the animals and the lower-key atmosphere. And they did. We had so much fun on the safari, Elise rode a REAL roller-coaster (loved it, but said she may never do that again!), the food was better there, the overall 'feel' of the park was way more Moseley... =)



Really cool huge huge huge play area! It was set up like a archaeological dig site and was sooo fun.
We went to Finding Nemo show (read:sitting down, indoor, air conditioned!) that was sweet too.

It was a great trip, really. Totally exhausting, but fun and a great 2 days. =)