Videos, Van Gogh, and Xmas Performances

Christmas is upon us, and we are enjoying every moment.
Elle is reciting a poem she learned in preschool last week in this video "Three Little Christmas Trees":  

We watched it together, and then my cousin Ravi posted the following video to his facebook page, saying it encompasses 95% of what women say regardless of race, education or socioeconomic status...so Elle and I watched it too.

Afterwards, she asked me if that was a video of me when I was a little girl, she had me rolling!

Van Gogh has been up to a lot of mischief this season.  Here he dressed up in an apron getting busy in the play kitchen.


He rode Comet side-saddle.








I found this video this morning, and it left me in tears.  It is of Elle on Xmas morning 2 years ago.

B: Go get Khera and tell her Santa came with presents...he ate all his cookies and drank his milk.
E: Yes, she did it.
B: Yeah.
E: Uh huh, HE DID IT! YEAH!
S: No more cookies!
E: No more cookies, we better get some more.
S: Do you want to wake up Khera so you can open your presents from Santa Claus?
E: Khera is taking a quick nap. Yep. I need to get a Thomas toy. She want a blue one. I better give some to her. I be right back. Dad, is it a beautiful night? I better give this to Khera.

Khera had her Christmas performance at school this week.

I was so impressed with the musical talent at her school.  Khera is in the front row on the far right.

Here she is with her her buddy Gaby on the left and Alistair behind her.  She is dressed as an angel and the others are shepherds.


Meanwhile, Grandma and Tommy stayed at home and fed their horses on their iPads.


The next morning Elle and Tommy had their performance.  Elle wore her Xmas outfit from last year and made mama SO happy.


She is a very serious performer, just as she placed every petal down the aisle at the wedding, she was very deliberate in her dance moves for the program.


Tommy was so adorable.  Of course I knew going into it that he would not wear his sheep mask...


But he did do "the moves" and sang with some of his classmates.


He knows how to melt his mama...





Elle is up top behind her BFFs Sophia and Noelle.

 Phew! All of this performing has left us thankful that we have a couple weeks off school for R&R.
We'll be back soon with more Christmas updates and the "making" of our 2011 holiday card.

Christmases Past

I thought it would be nice to record what our Christmas cards looked like over the past several years.

As you can see, I set the bar REALLY high when Khera was a baby and taking 2 naps per day.
In 2006 we had a handmade Christmas card:


The next year it took us over 250 shots like these to get the kids to smile.


Somehow I missed this one when I was sorting through the photos, it would have made a great card.


And here's our card in 2007, Khera was almost 2 and Elle 6 months:


The next year we took the kids downtown to explore the Christmas lights.


Khera finally outgrew her mullet and passed it down to Elle.


And, our 2008 card:


The next year Tommy joined the family and we tried a shot by the tree, but forgot to put pants on Elle.  Oops!


You can see Tommy developing an affinity for trains way back then...


And here's our 2009 card:


The next year I made coordinating Christmas outfits for the kids and wanted to get a picture of them to send out in a card.  But they were too busy to pose for me...


I snagged a couple shots, but not one all together as I had hoped.  And in case you'e wondering why Elle isn't wearing hers, I think she only wore it for about a 1/2 hour and then the jig was up.



And last year's card, 2010:


What do you do with your family Christmas cards each year?  We keep ours in an airtight baggie inside my stocking.  It's so fun to check out how the kids have changed with each card.

So, if I haven't bored you to sleep during this post yet, are you wondering what our card is going to look like this year?

Maybe it will be this one with Tommy sporting his gold chains?


Or one from the wedding?


Well, you'll just have to wait and see!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Happy December folks!
We are finally catching up on life and Christmas around here.


After we set up all the decorations, we had a Christmas movie night.

Note: If you have small children, I highly suggest choosing a movie other than Jim Carrey's version of A Christmas Carol.  It was creepy and downright scary in some parts.  Thankfully Daddy was there to watch and protect us.

Khera has been very busy setting up train tracks for Tom-inator.


I love it when he gets down and dirty to play trains.


He's been polishing up his wish list by perusing through the Sunday advertisements.


Elle brought this adorable advent calendar home from preschool last week.

And a certain someone came down with a severe case of Advent Calendar Envy...
So she made her own.


Only hers involves trimming a beard every day instead of adding to it.


We also welcomed a new addition to our family--Van Gogh the elf.
I love the girls' sweet little sleepy faces in the morning searching for where Van Gogh is up to next.


Don't let his name fool you, we have a sneaking suspicion that Van Gogh is from somewhere near the Himalayas.  So far, here's what we've learned:

He's an expert snowman maker.


And he loves elf cookies.


We are looking forward to seeing all of the silly places and predicaments he ends up in this month.



Until then we are enjoying our tree, Christmas specials, music stations on Pandora, and spreading Christmas cheer everywhere.

Well, I've got to run and get back to these three.  Jingle, Jingle!

November Randomness, Thanksgiving and Glamping

Hello friends!
Did you know it's December already?  The end of November literally flew by without allowing me to post about all the fun the kids have been having.  I'm baffled at the number of holiday cards we've already received and how many people have their Christmas shopping completed!  Not us!

We have been cupcaking...


I purchased a TON of cake decorating tools before Khera was born, because I thought that's what moms with small children do, right?  WRONG.  My little elves keep me so busy, it's taken me six years to actually open the package and start using them.


The kids have been Thanksgiving Feasting...



The above photo is courtesy of Walter Fuller (father of Elle's BFF), I, as usual, brought my camera but left the memory card at home.

Our good friends Ed and Missy were in Orlando for the holidays, so we drove up to visit.  The kids had loads of fun playing together and getting filthy of course.


Here's Elle, Khera and Katie.


Olivia and Missy

Another shot of sweet baby Olivia.


Edward (#1) and our godson William (#3).

It was a quick trip, but we were so happy to see the family once again.  Missy and I spent so much time together when the kids were babies, I think we miss each other more than the kids do.

Tommy slept the whole way home, with one eye open.  Tommy may or may not have eaten Oreos that day.


Thanksgiving sneaked up on us too.  The girls pitched in with the preparations.  Elle is polishing the wine bucket with toothpaste.  She did a great job.

Khera recited a poem she learned at school.  To hear it, click on the video below.

It looks like she has a mouthful of food, but she's just getting used to having 2 less teeth on the bottom.

The meal was catered by Bob Evans Kathy and Bumpa.


It was delicious, especially since I didn't have to make it!


The girls sat at their little table.


Mom entertained the 3 little Indians.

The next night Bumpa, Brandon and the girls decided to go camping in the backyard.  We had trouble securing an outdoor tent in time, so they settled for "glamping" (glamour camping) on the back porch. Earlier in the week, Khera made a master list of the things they'd need for the adventure.

It reads: "Camping, tent, fire, wood, sticks, snacks, 4 sticks, drinks, pillows, airbeds two of them, marshmallows, smores, stones, songs, list, Bumpa's ideas"

They had trouble getting the fire started, probably because the logs were large and wet.


But then it caught and she was a beauty.


Our neighbors brought over head lamps for the girls, they were on cloud 9.


Here they are on the porch.


Once Elle's head hit the pillow, she was out.


They watched "Home Alone" until they fell asleep, and had the time of their lives.  In fact, they were ready to do it all over again the next night, sillies.


We will try to be back sooner next time with what we've been up to for our Christmas preparations!
Adios Amigos.