'Tis the Season To Be Busy

Lots of holiday fun this past weekend.  Friday night, I took Emma to Duluth's Christmas City of the North parade.  (Ella was at her 1st birthday-slumber party at the Coates Hotel and the twins stayed home with Daddy.)  We went with Becca and Jordan as well. 

See a year ago, I took Ella and Emma to the parade and the very 1st group is members of  the 148th Fighter Wing and the 3 of us agreed that we would love to see Uncle Pete marching with his group.  So he volunteered to march this year because he is such a GREAT uncle.  (And then Ella bailed on him for a better offer.  Geesh!  Stood up by a 6-year old.  Sorry Uncle Pete!)  So, anyway, we braved the bitter cold winds to applaud our uncle, hear "Jingle Bells" played over and over by numerous bands, and just before we hit dangerous frostbite temperatures, we waved to Santa at the very end of the parade.  It was fun and it's becoming one of my favorite traditions with the kids!

 

Our favorite member of the 148th Fighter Wing--
Thank you Uncle Pete for serving our country!



One good thing with bundling kids is they can't get away very quick! 
Wherever they plop down is where they are stuck!



Saturday, Ella got home from her slumber party and we all got to experience the consequences of her not getting proper sleep.  Oh the joy...fortunately, she had a field trip with her Daisy group making Christmas wreaths in Embarrass.  So she got to mellow out--out in nature.   

Ella (front and center) and her Daisy Troop.

We ended the weekend with a Family Day at the Festival of Trees.  Grandma Ann helped me out as Josh was still trying to score a monster buck.  Ella and Emma talked with Santa for a bit.  Ella earned some brownie points by wearing her "Santa Rocks" shirt.  The Big Man noticed her efforts.  Lexi and Maija climbed me like a tree and held on for dear life.  We stood at a safe 50 foot distance from that scary man dressed in red and his even more scary looking wife.  Then we frosted and sprinkled some cookies, tattooed our faces, and decorated picture frames.

If you look closely, you can see Lexi, Maija, and me in the WAY distance!

Now we prepare to host Thanksgiving on Thursday and consider participating in the madness of Black Friday.  I LOVE this time of year!



Lexi and Maija pouring over the toy catologs. 
It's a riot listening to them jibber-jabber about what's for sale!



My 37-Year Old Gift

Today is my big sister, Jen's birthday.  (I can just hear her saying, "Is that a fat joke?") 

And she is my best friend.

Growing up, I didn't always realize the gift of having an older sister.  Growing up, I probably had other adjectives to describe my older sister.  She and I are 27 months apart exactly the same as my Ella and Emma. 

But as I've grown up, she has become someone I turn to for EVERYTHING.  And when you have someone as special as she is, she is ALWAYS there.  Need a laugh, she's got a bad joke.  Need to vent, she knows how to listen.  Need advice, she can make up some good stuff.  Need a retreat, her house is always open.  Need some help with the kids or the house, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.  Need some love, she gives great hugs.

I have the best sister in the world (and I'm not just trying to get an extra Christmas present out of her)!!  And what's even better than that is that my 4 girls have an auntie who is involved and who loves them to the moon and back. 

I wish her the BEST year of her life! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

LOVE YOU AND HUGS!!!!

Aren't you glad that you're the older, more mature one of us???

They got candy--the rest is just details!!

I've been known to get caught up in the details of things.  Things like paint colors (I often don't get it right the first time.), accessorizing our house, my kids' birthday parties, what color plates should I get, will they coordinate with the cake.  I, unfortunately, could go on and on.  So holidays are no different.  There are LOTS of details that I can obsess over when it comes to the holidays.

So this Halloween, Ella chose to dress up as the Tooth Fairy which I found cute since she currently has so few teeth.  We really just used dress-up items we already had and I added a few tooth items to her costume.  Emma wanted to be Batman.  She wanted to be the blue Batman, not the black Batman, and she didn't want a costume with built-in muscles.  This was impossible to find, so she got a black Batgirl costume.  Lastly, the twins...and when you have twins, there is this unspoken, unwritten rule that until they are old enough to have an opinion, their Halloween costumes must coordinate, go together, compliment one another, or all of the above.  It's weird, I know.  So a few weeks prior to the big day, I came up with the idea of one being a chicken and the other being an egg.  Get it?  Which one came first?

I'm not big on "sewing" costumes--I like to pin, glue, and make-it-work long enough to trick-or-treat in.  And it better not be too windy because I do not allow for 30 mph wind gusts in my construction.  So, I "made" my chicken and egg costume and I thought they were pretty darn cute.

The problem with being detail-orientated is that when you throw 4 kids in the mix, my rose-colored "vision" is often smeared with boogers and tears.  Obstacle #1:  Maintain cute costume while bundling the child up in layers for warmth.  Not everyone appreciates wearing so many layers that they can no longer bend.
Obstacle #2:  What to do when 2-year old suddenly refuses to wear assigned costume.  Maija was not feeling well and did not want to be the chicken.  (Lexi would later step up and wear the chicken outfit.)  Obstacle #3:  Handling frustration when you realize you forgot to bring the EGG COSTUME!!!!  We drove into town and got ready at Davis and Laura's house.  It was there that Josh and I realized we FORGOT the EGG!!!!  Maija trick-or-treated dressed as herself.  Obstacle #4:  Attempting to capture these wonderful memories and you see that your camera batteries are dead.  Yup, I know...God is trying to tell me something.

Bottom line, they got candy.  And I am learning to let go of some of the less important details.  

Ella, the tooth-less Tooth Fairy

Here's the only shot I have of Batman and Maija's scary costume!

Lexi, my chicken.  And yes, she did come first!

And the egg...maybe it will be debuted next year!