November & (most of) December

This is gonna be a looooong post!  But I figure I'd better go ahead and catch up now before our trip to Louisiana or I will have way too much to post!

11/10: The girls are so excited that it's snowing today! When they first saw that it was snowing, Avery yelled, "YES!!" They were making plans to go out and play and build a snowman after joy school but it's not sticking to the ground yet. And I need to get snow boots for them!

There's not a whole lot of snow yet but the girls are having a ball throwing snowballs on the deck. Whiskers, on the other hand, was not interested in staying out. He usually loves to go in the backyard but not with snow, apparently, haha!

I found this last night after the girls went to bed. They must have done this while I was teaching piano lessons. Looks like they got into my scrapbook room drawers and helped themselves to several pieces of gum. I counted eight right there. Stinkers. But, hey, that's the worst they did, so they are getting better at staying out of trouble without a babysitter while I'm teaching. :)

11/11: The girls and I spent the afternoon at the dinosaur museum:

They were content to play on this dinosaur for a while. They did't want to get off of it. They keep sliding down his tail, ha ha.

We heard "Team" by Lorde on the radio and Avery asked, "Is that the same girl that sings the ruler song (Royals)?" It was! I wasn't positive, so I had to use Google Listen Now to make sure. She loves knowing who sings what.

11/13: What started with Avery asking me to put some lip gloss on her ended up with all their nails being painted and blush and eye shadow being applied, as well. Guess we ended up having a little makeover day. smile emoticon I should have fixed their crazy hair, too!

11/14: Avery in the car on the way home from a party this afternoon: "Mommy, Kaylee's gymnastics birthday party was super fun!" That was one of several times she and/or Makenna told me how much fun they had. And they enjoyed their treat bags on the way home. And I got to do some shopping by myself during the party! :)

11/15: So this happened during church today: Makenna was chomping on some bubble gum and it must have fallen out of her mouth somehow and, of course, it landed in her hair!! I pulled as much of her hair out of it as I could and finally decided to just cut the wad of gum out (yes, I had a pair of scissors in my church bag, ha ha--I have everything in my church bag). Thankfully, I didn't have to cut a whole lot of hair and I don't think it's very noticeable where I cut it, although there is still a tiny bit of gum in there. I told her she wasn't allowed to have gum for a while and she was OK with that, ha ha!

Also, for several days now, she's been playing with this big pickup truck from Jared's childhood and putting Littlest Pet Shop animals and other small toys/items in it. Well, she had to sleep with it tonight, with the truck bed filled a variety of small toys; I took a pic with the IP camera in their room. :)

11/21: The twins played in their room for a good while today. If you look closely at the animals, it's pretty dang funny.

11/22: My piano studio's recital was tonight and, since I have been teaching lessons to the twins, they participated, too! They just did color-coded "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Row Row Row Your Boat" but it was so cute! Especially when they bowed. :) I do have video but I'm too exhausted to edit tonight. The recital was great and my students all did wonderful! I love them all! Oh, and many thanks to Jared, who announced all the students and songs for me. :)

The video:

11/26--Thanksgiving: 

11/29: They were supposed to get new snow boots and gloves for Christmas but, since it snowed the last two nights and they started asking to play in it before we even left for church, I decided to go ahead and give them early Christmas presents. They were so excited and put them on right away, along with their snow suits and coats to go play outside.

11/29: The girls are in bed but I just heard Avery tell Makenna, "Don't wake me up in the morning! Okay?!" Now she's giving her a long lecture about not waking her up in the mornings and things Makenna can do, instead of waking her up. Oh, and now she's shushing Makenna and telling her she needs to stop talking. The nerve, ha ha!

11/30: We drove over to Thanksgiving Point after my last piano lesson to see the drive-through lights but the line was crazy long!  We decided to go and eat at Popeye's, instead, and try seeing the lights again the next night and get there before it opens.

12/1: 

Our Elf arrived with the book and a letter he wrote to the girls and Jared read "Elf On the Shelf" to them:

They played with the Little People Nativity as soon as I got it out of the box. Whiskers getting in the middle of it, of course:

We decorated the tree that afternoon:

Whiskers had to be in there with us, too. :)

That night, we went and drove throught the Thanksgiving Point Holiday Lights:

After driving throught the lights, we went over to the tower and saw a couple of Santa's reindeer:

After seeing the reindeer for a few minutes, we went inside to have hot cocoa and sugar cookies:

After the hot cocoa and cookies, we went back out to say goodbye to the reindeer and they got to pet one of them:

12/2: Peppermint Candy Cane got into the presents that Jared had wrapped and put under the tree!

This year's Santa photos! :)
Our 5th year with this Santa. :D

Brings back good memories of my dad reading this in his best Cajun accent. Jared and I bought the book for ourselves long before we had kids; I enjoy reading it to them but I'd rather hear my daddy read it--just a couple of weeks 'til I can. :)

12/4: Peppermint Candy Cane made a swing using a toilet paper roll and dental floss!

2015 Winter Dance Recital!

12/3: Dress rehearsal:

After dress rehearsal and professional photos:

12/4: PCC made a bed for himself using a tissue box and snuggled with one of the girls' Little Pet Shop animals. :)

12/4: Right before leaving the house for the recital:

Before the performance:

The performance--Makenna was waving before the song started. :)

The video! :D

12/5: PCC used some of the Littlest Pet Shop dogs to go dog sledding:

12/5: 2nd annual family gingerbread house party. So much fun!:

From left to right = Jared's, Makenna's, Avery's and mine:

12/6: He got into Jared's gingerbread house!

12/7: Jared and Jason had a blast doing this one, ha ha!

12/5: Just hanging out in one of our stockings:

12/8: Poor Makenna. She told me a couple of months ago that she didn't want to turn 5 because she didn't want to lose any teeth. So to say she was really upset about having a loose tooth today is an understatement. She was freaking out earlier this evening. She didn't want to open her mouth at all and cried for a really long time. I had to cuddle and rock her for a while to calm her down.

She did finally open her mouth so I could take a picture of the loose tooth. When she was getting into bed she said, "I don't like this day!" I couldn't help but laugh.

12/9: Naught PCC rolled down the stairs in a roll of TP!

We were looking at Hello Kitty stuff at a party store for their birthday party and Makenna had picked up this little Hello Kitty mirror to look at her loose tooth. I told her we weren't getting the mirror so she "put it in my pocket so you wouldn't see it", as she later told me. Thankfully, we had gone somewhere else close to the party store before heading home and she took it out of her pocket; Avery saw it and tattled on her, ha ha. We drove right back to the party store and I made her give it to the cashier and apologize to him. She was quite embarrassed. I hope she learned her lesson!

12/10: He had some work to do on the laptop:

12/11: For the first time, I forgot to move him! Thankfully, during the night the laptop lid had closed on his arms, so I told the girls he must not have been able to get his arms out (they didn't even bat an eyelash at that explanation).  I carefully opened the laptop without touching him and he was able to fly back to the North Pole that night. :)

I should be working on stuff for their birthday party but, since Makenna is gonna lose her tooth any day now, I decided to go ahead and make these for the twins.

Her tooth looks like it's hanging by a thread! Notice that at the end I tried to bribe her with a special treat to get her to wiggle it again but she said, "I don't want a treat!" Little turd, ha ha!

Our ward Christmas party was that night.  The girls said that it was really fun. It was a nice "night in Bethlehem". I played the piano for my friend, Rebecca, who played a cello solo, "I Wonder While I Wander". Makenna was more interested in "shopping" using the coins we were given than she was in eating. She wanted to make sure she spent all of her money. We're going to be in trouble with that one, ha ha!

12/12: Joy riding :)

The girls went to their friend, Janessa's, birthday party.  I got two glorious hours of me time and they even ate lunch there. :)

12/13: Uh oh, stuck in the nutcracker!

I'm not sure what they're doing, but I just heard Makenna tell Avery, "Watch. Watch and learn."

Well, she lost her tooth right before we left for church this morning but we have no idea where the tooth is. I'm thinking she swallowed it, along with a granola bar she ate right before we left. Now I have to figure out what to do about the tooth fairy.

FOR SURE! Today was super fun, with Jared being out of town, Makenna losing her tooth right before we left and not knowing where it was, Avery not giving the talk in Primary that I spent time preparing and practicing with her, and teaching my class of 9yo's by myself (Jared is my co-teacher). No day of rest for me! :P

12/14: PCC is an LSU fan, too! :D

Snow! Woohoo! Walking next door to get our hair cut

Yay for snow play!

The twins had a great time playing out in the snow but especially loved sliding down this little hill in the empty lot next door. I love how Avery raises her arms and legs up so she can slide more easily on her belly. :) They played outside for over an hour! Now they're trying to warm up. 

12/15: He wrote a grocery list for us, which contained all sugary items, of course.

There's even more snow for the girls to play in today!

Whiskers usually jumps at the chance to play in the backyard but he is not a fan of the snow, ha ha!

Feel good story: I sent a text to my Tuesday piano students' moms asking them to tell their kid to be careful on our steps because I can't shovel them (not without causing extreme pain, at least), due to my back and neck problems. During my first lesson, I heard someone shoveling snow and I went out to see who it was between lessons. It was one of the moms and a few of the neighborhood boys. I totally started bawling. Here is a busy mother of five and teen/pre-teen boys (who I'm sure would rather being doing anything else) shoveling my steps! Oh, and I went and got some ice melt for her, which she had offered to sprinkle on my steps before other students arrived, and I only had a little bit. I noticed later that either she or someone else filled the container with more ice melt! I am awed at the kindness, thoughtfulness, and selflessness of people in my community. Merry Christmas!!! 

12/16:

The girl across the street wasn't able to make it to the birthday party, so she brought them gifts early:

 The twins just can't get enough of playing in the snow. I love seeing a lot of the neighborhood kids playing together outside. It makes me a little jealous that I didn't grow up in snow. :)

Avery to an icicle she found in the backyard: "Biggest one evah! I love you! I'm gonna to call you snowflake."

12/17: He made himself a drum set!  This might be my favorite one so far. :)

Avery touched the drum set and Peppermint Candy Cane fell over! Oops! He got back up while they were gone at joy school. :D

Early birthday surprise Thursday evening--Hello Kitty nails!

Here's what we did with the tooth fairy that night:

I printed out a letter to the tooth fairy and Makenna drew her lost tooth on it and signed her name. I printed a Tooth Fairy Receipt, with a note on the back, saying:

Dear Makenna,

Hi! I was looking under your pillow for your tooth when I saw your note. I'm sorry to hear that you swallowed your tooth. I bet that was a surprise!

Well, don't worry about it at all. I understand that these things happen, and I'm leaving you some money just the same. I have plenty of teeth in my collection, and while I treasure all of your teeth, I won't miss just one.

Please keep brushing and flossing so your teeth stay healthy and strong. I'm so proud of you!

Love,

The Tooth Fairy

She left the note and some money in Makenna's lost tooth pouch. I also sprayed some "fairy dust" (glimmer spray from my scrapbooking stash) on the letter from the tooh fairy. :)

12/18: Happy girl, after finding the Tooth Fairy note and money. :D

He's such a stinker!

12/19: 5th BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!! {Hello Kitty :)}

I think the only decorations I bought pre-made was the paper lanterns (I decorated them with the Hello Kitty faces) and the table confetti, and I bought the Hello Kitty plates, cups, and napkins; I also made the stuff for the games/activities/crafts and most of the food (even the chocolate dipped pretzel rods :) ). It was all worth it when the twins kept telling me how "cute" and "awesome" everything was. Here's how the party went: The kids colored (Hello Kitty coloring pages, of course) for a bit until everyone arrived, then they played Hello Kitty Bingo, then Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty, then Musical Paws, then did a Hello Kitty craft, then a gift giving game using a Twister game spinner, then we sang Happy Birthday to each girl and we all ate party food. I think the girls had a great party! 

Party food:

The cupcakes on the cupcake stand:

Paper Hello Kitty doll I made:

Peppermint Candy Cane got up in this paper lantern the night before:

Another banner:

And another banner :) and all the kitchen decorations:

Banner in the foyer:

One of the three paper lanterns I decorated:

A couple of the 4 rosettes I made:

Table decoration (I made 2 of these):

I had four framed birthday pictures:

I had all the guests sign this sheet for the girls:

The favor bags, containing Hello Kitty ornaments, bottles of bubbles, and tattoos:

Coloring time while waiting for everyone to arrive:

No photos of Hello Kitty Bingo but Wyatt won!

Jared and his sis, Laura:

Grandma:

Joy school friends:

Just being cute in her kitty ears:

Pin the bow on Hello Kitty--Carma:

Avery {Makenna won!}:

Musical paws {Penny won}:

Craft time (Hello Kitty faces):

Makenna's:

Avery's:

Aunt Colleen and Grandma (sisters):

Jared & Katie:

A cutie cousin:

This is how we chose the order of gift-giving:

Lots of great gifts, and hugs for all the gift-givers:

Wyatt didn't want any part of the hugging:

Jason refused hugs, too:

A hug for me because she LOVES her plush Hello Kitty:

She loves this plush dino we gave her! 

Blowing out their "5" candles:

12/20: Peppermint Candy Candy had a card and a gift (mini Simon game) for the girls when they woke up on their birthday:

That evening, we had our annual Christmas dinner/gift exchange with Kiki and her family.  We had so much fun!!! Kiki brought some delicious baked potato soup and I made salad. After exchanging gifts, we played Pie Face! and Jelly Belly Bean Boozled (if you haven't heard of these games, look them up! ) and Kiki, Jared and the kids played the Doc McStuffins memory game that Kiki gave to Avery.

Makenna LOVES this dinosaur we gave her for her birthday! She snuck it to church and named it Ben and has been carrying it around everywhere:

PIE FACE! :D

BTW, Avery and Makenna did NOT want to play Pie Face!  I think they wanted to play Jelly Belly Bean Boozled until they saw Wyatt's reaction to the jelly bean he got, HA HA!

Hilarious videos!:

Cookies for Santa that night; since we are going to be in Louisiana on Christmas, we wrote a letter to Santa asking him to come early:

Saying goodbye to Peppermint Candy Cane; since Santa came tonight, he won't be back :(

Santa came!

12/21: Our early Christmas morning:
The scooters and helmets are from Santa; everything else is from Mommy and Daddy (a couple of things from other family members, too):

20 containers of Playdoh!

A Playdoh Cake Mountain to use all that Playdoh with

They each got a package of panties and 3 shirts

Fingernail polish sets from Katie

FireTV Stick to use with the TV in his office

Remote controlled truck--or just "control truck", as Makenna calls it

Paintable ceramic figurines--Frozen and Rapunzel/Ariel

Scalp massagers

Games--Jelly Belly Bean Boozled and Stinky Pig

Gifts from Uncle Wayne and Aunt Lanie

DVDs--Alladin, Bolt & The Lion King

Little Pet Shop pack of pets and a play park

Colors of the Sea Ariel bath toy

Makenna had Ben the dino ride on Michael the dino's back--Michael lights up, walks, and makes noises!

I think she likes the Hello Kitty doll she got

She's in love with the two dinos

The girls and I were talking about how their friend, Jason, and cousin, Wyatt, didn't want hugs from them at their birthday party. I was explaining that, when little boys get to a certain age, they don't like hugs like most little girls do but, when they're older, boys will want to kiss them. Avery said she'll run away, ha ha ha!!

I taught all 8 of my piano students today because we're leaving tomorrow and I didn't want to go 3 weeks without piano lessons.  There was one kid in particular that was not happy that he had to "stop having fun" to come and do his piano lesson. He was almost in tears, ha ha.

We played Stinky Pig before the girls went to bed:

Well, we're off to Louisiana tomorrow!  I am so excited!!!  Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!!!