We had the ward party this past Saturday.  Macie went and sang with the Primary even though she wasn't officially a member.  And I got out ye olde violin and played a pretty mediocre O Little Town of Bethlehem.

 Macie just can't help herself with the Elf.  But we found a loophole.  If carried with spatulas or a glove, you are not technically touching the Elf, and therefor the Elf retains her magic.

 Macie set up her table for lunch.

 Here are some pictures from the Photo Booth at the ward party.

 I've said it before and I will continue saying it.  Baby boys should all be dressed like it is 1910.

 I mean, really? Is there another option?

 Maybe Oscar will be my child that will let me fuss over him and let me dress him like a Newsie.  Until he is 25.  Oscar will one day come to realize that this will work to his advantage.  Girls will go crazy for a boy who dresses like Christian Bale circa 1914 (actually I guess it is more like 1993, but you know what I mean).  Although, girls are not allowed to like him and vice versa until marrying age, which is 35.  At 35 I will allow him to think girls are pretty.

 So I went to Peter Piper Pizza with Chloe to a classmate's birthday party, and this lady really made my day.  She was playing the slot machine at Peter Piper.  She had a never ending supply of tokens, and when she had finally run out of them, which I don't know, took like 2 hours, she had accumulated 300+ tickets.  She then went to the prize counter where she asked to be shown what a slinky does, before settling on a generic rubiks cube.  It was one of the cutest things I have seen in a long while.

While searching for a gift for the before mentioned Birthday party, Macie ran into this festive party outfit.  "This is cute! It looks like Santa Clause."  Yes Macie, "For that special Someone." (name the movie!)  Ross: Keeping Christmas Classy.

Thanksgiving

 This Thanksgiving we spent in St. David at the pecan orchard.  The harvest was ready in time for Thanksgiving and all but 2 of Don's 9 siblings were able to make it down to help.  The weekend before, Greg and family stayed with us before heading down to St. David a few days earlier than the rest of us.  When the girls found out cousin Lyla and baby Troy were coming to stay the night, they began ricocheting off the walls,  They came to church with us too, and Macie was more than happy to show off her 3 year old cousin.  When we picked Lyla and Macie up from nursery, Lyla turned around and said, "Bye Guys!" to the other children.  She is going to have no problem making friends.  I sent Macie down early with Lyla Sunday evening, and we joined her Wednesday afternoon.  Chloe wanted to wait until after her Turkey Trot on Wednesday to leave for St. David, because she never wants to miss out on any school fun.

 We had a wonderful time being with all the family.  Thursday night we sat around the family room taking turns saying what we were thankful for.  I made apple bread pudding pie, sweet potato pudding, and enough green bean casserole to feed the entire town of St. David.  I hope the dogs enjoyed their leftovers.  I guess people don't love green bean casserole as much as I thought.

 Oscar did his usual, smiling and flirting when you were looking, crying and not sleeping when you weren't.

It was a perfect day to eat outside.  The bees thought so too.

Chloe wanted to make some recipes out of her Care Bears cookbook.  (a relic from yours truly)  So we made Rainbow Sticks with fruit dip and Sunshine Fizz.  The little kids thought it was a fantastic activity, and it was a hit, although most patrons looked a little regretful when they were informed the Rainbow sticks were touched by a few little hands.  I am glad the kids got to do some cooking. I think it made them feel like they helped with the dinner.

We stayed on Friday as well, and then came home on Saturday afternoon.  As always, the kids were eager to take rides on the Pro Hauler, and enjoyed all the cousin time,

Here is Chloe at the Turkey Trot.  I didn't trot.  I mostly just sauntered. Hey, I was carrying Oscar (as always).

Thanksgiving Pictures

This is back from our dinner date with Ardie and Cheryl.

Christmas is now in Full Swing

 Yes that's right. Christmas is now in full swing.  Last Christmas I was pregnant.  And this Christmas I am NOT.  Blech I just almost threw up thinking about it.  So when I am pregnant I think to myself, "maybe me being this tired is a figment of my imagination, or an excuse to be lazy."  And now that I am not pregnant, I can say, NO. I  really was that exhausted and unmotivated.  Even though I get less sleep and have my bouts of crankiness, it is nothing compared to being in the throes of pregnancy.  I say all this because I am happy to have the energy to be able to get into Christmas this year.  The girls helped decorate the tree and had a ball retrieving all the ornaments,  And I even cared enough this year to get out my super glue to fix all the broken figurines and ornaments.  I think I need to stop with introducing any more Christmas traditions because I am having a hard time remembering which traditions I have instituted.  One tradition I started when we first got married, was getting an ornament to represent the past year.  easy enough! Well then I started having kids and I read somewhere about the tradition of getting your kids an ornament every year.  So now I have that going too in addition to getting an ornmanent to represent the past year.  This year I got the kids Frozen ornaments because well, duh, they are obsessed like every other child in America.  On the night we set up the tree, I put the Frozen ornaments in the Dec. 1 stocking (another tradition I started which is also another thing for me to forget! Every day the kids get to look in the little stocking according the day, leading up to Christmas.  An easier, more concise way to say this would be , like an advent calendar. But I am not going to go back and edit the other sentence out, so wow, that was an incredibly long explanation of a simple concept). Anyway the girls were beyond ecstatic for their Frozen ornaments.  Macie carries her Elsa ornament around like it contains her food, shelter and other necessities of life.  I am happy they are happy.  But I don't think these ornaments can survive that much love.

 I also am a lemming for following the Elf on a Shelf trend.  And yet another tradition instituted.  Chloe came home from school Monday ranting and raving about their new class Elf, Ginger,  Seriously like obsessed.  It is Thursday and the obsession has not subsided at all.  So I bought one. Excuse me.  I mean she came down the chimney after flying here from the North Pole. And when Chloe woke up yesterday and found one in her Dec. 3rd stocking, you can imagine her excitement.  It's all she has talked about for 2 days straight.  Macie is excited, but doesn't have steam coming out of her ears over it like Chloe.  Chloe woke up at 10:30 PM last night, shot out of bed, and went looking for the Elf because she couldn't wait until morning.  And I am having a lot of fun with the Elf too.  But our Elf is not going to be a naughty Elf.  Our Elf is going to be a helpful Elf.  The girls named her Sugar Candy Cane Plum.  She somehow was hanging from the fan today, and flew off when the fan started.  I picked her up to see if she was okay.  Chloe was very concerned that me touching her took away her magic, but thank goodness for ask.com, because we were reassured that adults can touch the Elf in emergency/safety related issues.

 And I just take pictures of Macie at Target with all of her Christmas wishes,  Which are innumerable.  I have discovered how much Macie loves animals.  Chloe was into baby dolls, but Macie doesn't care much for that,  She loves the stuffed animals.  She kept telling me how she wanted a pink dog that had babies inside, I thought she was kidding as I didn't think such a toy could possibly exist, but then I saw a commercial.  It is called "Puppy Surprise."  And the stuffed animal really has babies inside it's tummy and it is a surprise how many come out.  It is a tad bit disturbing to me for some reason.  The same way that baby dolls that poo and pee are disturbing,

Oscar can *kind of hold his bottle. Not really.  I tell don every night around 2 AM, that I want to give him away.  Now don't get judgmental.  I don't really want to give him away.  But I wouldn't mind a longer stretch than 2 hours of continual sleep.  He is the most beautiful baby boy.  I guess that's why he is a prima donna.  He smiles easily and is very happy as long as he is the center of attention.  I am really enjoying him.  He was worth all the unpleasantness of getting him here.  The girls love him too and shower him with attention and kisses.  He is going to be one well trained boy having two older sisters.

"Ms. Chloe"

 Chloe had the idea to put Macie in school. It's pretty great because Chloe is the teacher and has the whole thing very organized and "just so" in particular Chloe fashion.  Macie is pretty ambivalent about the whole thing, however she is happy to play along as she does with most of Chloe's grand plans.  She has taken a few days of school off, Thanksgiving and Christmas has put a damper on Chloe's enthusiasm because she has other things to think about, namely her Elf, more on that later.

The first afternoon Chloe came home from school and reminded me that Macie's school started "today," was a couple weeks ago.  As she left my presence to the her classroom (ie. her bedroom) she said, "Wish me luck!"  She created activities for Macie, like practicing shapes.

And an almost perfect replication of her own homework folder and corresponding behavioral chart.

Her behavioral chart.  Macie has a clothespin with her name on it and moves it up and down her behavioral chart.  This is the part that Macie is particularly ambivalent about,

How did Oscar find his way in here?

Back to Chloe's school.  My favorite thing yet though are these papers "sent home" about their upcoming special activities.  They make me giggle.  They really are the greatest kids.  I think the epitome of what a kid should be.  Enthusiastic. Good.  Innocent.  Happy,  I love being their Mom.

 Don made Chloe a high stack of pancakes this morning.

 Last week we had dinner with some old friends, Ardie and Cheryl, and we took this picture so I could showcase my double chin.

 But I did get this picture, pretty much the best picture ever taken.  Oscar in suspenders makes me extremely happy.

 I love reading papers Chloe brings home from school and getting a glimpse into her world.  I didn't know that swinging counted as a talent.

 Macie put a tootsie roll on her teeth and said, "Look Mom I'm Olaf!" Speaking of Macie, I really miss her.  She went to St. David with her little cousin Lyla and it has been so quiet around here.  But I hear she is having a lot of fun without us.  I miss her!

 With every baby, I have come home to find something hilarious that Don has engineered to assist him in his Dad-ly duties.  He hadn't come up with anything hilarious for Oscar yet...until now.  I came home to find Oscar in his crib, asleep, as lullabies accompanied dancing kaleidoscope images on a precariously positioned Tablet. Oh, and he had blue shorts over his red jumper. This was after he woke up..But when I first came home...

 he was like this.

 This is a Thank you note written by Chloe, I love it.

And Target set up a special picture taking backdrop next to their Frozen merchandise, which unfortunately is already sold out of the Anna nightgown I so desperately need for Christmas. And oh, good luck finding an Elsa ornament.  (grrrrr.)