Serenade

John got a harmonica from Mimi for Christmas this year (it was in his stocking).  He loves the harmonica.  He immediately started playing it on Christmas morning.  He decided the best place to play it was on Mimi's loft that overlooks the great room.  This way everyone could enjoy his music.  After seeing and hearing how much John loved the harmonica, Mommy and Daddy nicely asked Mimi if we could leave the harmonica at Mimi's house for save keeping.  Mimi told John that she would hold on to it for him.   

Last night, we went to Mimi & Poppy's house for dinner.  John was barely out of his jacket before he asked Mimi for his harmonica.  Once he got it, he ran upstairs to serenade us from the loft.  He did take a break for a little bit and told Mimi "Gillian can help you and Poppy with the food.  I'll distract everyone with my music!"  Gillian decided to join John upstairs and join in the fun.  She accompanied him by singing the Alphabet Song. 

 

Early mornings

The past two mornings Gillian has woken up early. On Saturday she woke up crying. She told Daddy "I scared!" Since it was only 6, Daddy brought her into our bed. She snuggled up next to me. But she tossed and turned and never found a comfortable spot. So Gillian and I got up and went downstairs to play.

This morning Daddy got up with the dog and went downstairs to play his video game. He heard some footsteps on the stairs. He thought it was just John ( he is my early riser), but then he heard someone fall and start crying. Daddy found Gillian on the living room floor holding her blanket (manket). Daddy brought her upstairs to me and again Gillian snuggled up next to me. Before I knew it we were both asleep. John came in around 7:30 and tapped me on the forehead. I sent him downstairs to find Daddy. Gillian and I slept a little longer. By 8:30, Gillian was now horizontal on our bed and still sound asleep. She did not wake up until Duncan decided to join us.

I am loving all of this special time with my little girl, but I hope this has no become part of our daily routine. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Making Cookies

On Christmas Eve, I decided to make cookies with the kids.  I made them each their own batch of sugar cookies.  They got to pick their cookie cutters.  John chose two different dinosaurs, a big circle, a baseball bat and the swamp fox.  Gillian chose a flower, a big Mickey Mouse head, a small Mickey Mouse head, a Mickey Mouse glove and a rabbit in an Easter egg.  I let them roll the dough all by themselves and cut their own cookies.  Gillian loved cutting her cookies.  If I didn't immediately pull them off the table, she would actually re-cut new cookies on top of the old cookies.  John had fun too.  He was much better with the rolling pin and actually did a really good job cutting out his cookies.

 

Today, Aunt Betty came to visit.  The kids ran around the house showing Aunt Betty all their new toys they got from Santa.  After they showed her all the toys, they were unsure of what to do next.  So we decided to decorate their cookies.  There wasn't many cookies leftover.  The kids have been eating them plain as snacks over the past couple of days.  I pulled all kinds of sprinkles out for the kids to decorate with.  John and Gillian started decorating.  Gillian kept calling the icing "glue."  "I need the glue first!"  She would ice the cookies and then cover them in sprinkles.  She grabbed sprinkles by the handful and covered her cookies.  She had three cookies done before John finished his first cookie.  John was a little more methodical.  He tried to cover every inch of his cookie with icing before putting any sprinkles on the cookie. 

The finished cookies:

The kids had so much fun today.  Aunt Betty and I got a ton of laughs too.  It was totally worth the mess!

Barber Shop

John got a barber kit from Aunt Betty for Christmas.  John loves to watch Daddy shave in the morning.  So Aunt Betty thought it would be a great gift for John.  Tonight, I announced that the kids needed a bath tonight (after Gillian combed her hair with her fork).  Daddy said, I think someone will want to take a bath.  John said "Actually, I want to try something new! I want to try my barbecue shop!" It took us a little while to realize that he wanted to try out his new barber shop kit.  Here is John trying out his kit tonight:

Gillian loved watching John shave and as you can hear at the end of the video, she asked John to shave her too!

The Adventures of Buddy the Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf arrives the day after Thanksgiving.  His name is Buddy.  Buddy is one of Santa's messengers.  He comes to visit the kids during the day and then goes back to the north pole at night and reports back to Santa.  The next day, Buddy will be found in a different spot.  Buddy was a little adventurous and silly this year.  Here are all the places the kids found him this year:

November 23 - Buddy ate one of Mommy's cookies:

November 24 - Buddy needed to brush his teeth:

 

November 25 - Buddy had a tea party with Rapunzel:

November 26 - Buddy SMASH!

November 27 - Buddy went fishing:



November 28 - Buddy read some of the kids "friends" his book:

November 29 - Buddy tried all of Gillian's bows

 

November 30 - Buddy made snowflakes

December 1 - Buddy trapped the kids in their rooms

December 2 - Buddy made "snow angels" in some of Mommy's flour

December 3 - Buddy got tangled in some Christmas lights

December 4 - Buddy checked out the Christmas tree

 

December 5 - Buddy went bungee jumping with a slinky





December 6 - Buddy needed to relax after bungee jumping.  He took a bubble bath.

 

December 7 - Buddy went cruising with Barbie



 

December 8 - Buddy was just hanging out in Gillian's room

December 9 - Buddy borrowed John's favorite friend, Travis! John said "I was holding him so tight!  I don't know how Buddy got him out of my arms!"

December 10 - Buddy got stuck in a jar

December 11 - Buddy roasted marshmallows.  According to John "He's marshing marshmallows!"

December 12 - Buddy found a marker and made John & Gillian's pictures look silly.  Gillian did not like it all.  She kept saying "He make me scary!"

 

December 13 - Buddy helped decorate the Christmas tree

December 14 - Buddy was hanging out in Mommy & Daddy's room. 

 

December 15 - Buddy found the kids at Mimi & Poppy's house.  And then he disappeared and ended up back at our house.

 

December 16 - Buddy left the kids craft project.  John loved it so much.  In the middle of building it he got up, ran over to Buddy and said "Thank you!"

 

December 17 - Buddy went mountain climbing up Mommy's hutch



 

December 18 - Buddy left John a note.  "Listen Better."

December 19 - Buddy made a hot air balloon out of a birthday balloon for Daddy.

December 20 - Buddy left the kids a snack.  Cookies that look like Buddy!

December 21 - Buddy colored a picture

December 22 - It's a pirate's life for Buddy

December 23 - Buddy tricked John!  During dinner last night, John said "wouldn't it be funny if Buddy made a fake Buddy?"  Buddy must have heard John, because this morning there was a fake Buddy in John's room and the real Buddy was hiding in the living room.

 

December 24 - Buddy played a game of Candyland with Rex, Wolverine and Cinderella

We had so much fun looking for Buddy this year. Can't wait to see him again next year!