December week 2 (real Christmas tree, dance recital, Ward party)

Here are photos of the gingerbread houses we did at the family gingerbread house party on 12/6:

Jared's:

Avery's:

Makenna's:

Mine:

12/9: We got our Christmas tree from the same family farm that we get our pumpkins and they had a few animals that the girls enjoyed checking out.

 

Decorating the (fake) tree in the basement:

 

 

 

 

Checking out the lights on the upstairs tree with those glasses that turn the lights into shapes, like snowmen or stars

 

 

The (real) tree in the upstairs front room:

12/10: So Whiskers (our little kitty) got under my feet on Sunday before church and I accidentally stepped right on his paw, and I had tennis shoes on. I felt so bad!! Makenna brings it up every day. She was playing my marimba this evening and said her song was called "You Stepped on Whiskers Paw But It Was an Accident". HA HA HA!!!!

12/11: There used to be a beautiful swamp scene painted on this cypress knee by my mom. Makenna decided to clean it for me and the paint wiped right off! Thankfully, my mom understands and saidshe will repaint it. I'm still really sad about it, though.

12/11: First Dance Recital Rehearsal Day--getting their curl on:

 

 First Dance Recital Rehearsal:

First Dance Recital Rehearsal Day--Avery (on right)--she cried for me the whole second half of their rehearsal time:

12/12: First Dance Recital--before the performance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Performance!  Makenna wasn't nervous or scared at all and did awesome in the performance. Avery was excited beforehand and actually started doing the dance but then she started crying just a few seconds into it. Somehow, she lost her tulle streamer on the way to the stage. We're still not sure if she started crying because she was scared or because she realized she didn't have the streamer. Makenna said it was really fun; Avery said she wants to do gymnastics, ha ha! I need to upload the video soon.

P.S. Those who know Jared know that he was not thrilled about the make-up or the sleeveless costumes. :P

 

Avery on far left, Makenna in back, bending down:

Avery on far left, Makenna 5th from left:

Avery on far left, Makenna 5th from left; notice how happy Avery looks, as she started the dance, then go to the next photo to see how drastically that changed in a matter of seconds...

Avery on far left, Makenna 5th from left; I wanted to run up there and grab Avery and hug her, poor thing

Avery 2nd from left, Makenna 5th from left; I wanted to run up there and grab Avery and hug her, poor thing!

Makenna 2nd from left, Avery 5th from left; even though Avery had a rough time in the performance, she still went up there with her class for the finale:

12/13: Ward Christmas Party at a skating rink:

 

I was banished from the skating floor; Avery wanted to skate all by herself!

 

Since Avery was skating by herself, the neighbor boy (the girls' friend) went and skated around with her for several minutes. When I walked up to see how she was doing, he said, "Will you stay with her so I can go faster?" HOW CUTE IS THAT???

Makenna liked using this thing to skate by herself until she fell for the second time, then she was DONE!

Avery had so much fun skating by herself until she fell pretty hard on her bum. :(

After they were done with skating, they went and did some jumping with friends:

 
Week 2 Elf on the Shelf!
Day 1: Playing my marimba
2: Eating my gingerbread house
3: Sitting in the upstairs Christmas tree
4: Sitting in the Mega Bloks tower he built
5: Sitting in a little sled, stealing candy canes and peppermints
6: Stealing candy
7: Drawing mustaches/beards/horns/etc. on the twins' pictures

Avery did not think #7 was funny at all, ha ha! It took them half the day to find him when he was in the tree. :D

December already in full gear!

12/1: Guess who showed up at our house this morning?! Our elf! Jared read the book (Elf on the Shelf) to the girls and we did a lot of explaining to make sure they understood everything. Makenna couldn't stop thinking about it all day and kept asking questions and they kept checking on it all day. Makenna was asking things like how does he fly to the North Pole and does he use real magic or fake magic (ha ha). I have a feeling she's gonna make it hard to keep the belief in Santa going for very long. The elf showed up just sitting on the back of the couch in our front room. He was moved for the first time tonight by Jared up to the top of our (very high) clock. We'll see how long it takes them to find it in the morning. Oh, and they named it Peppermint Candy Cane; I was spewing out lots of Christmas words and Makenna wanted Peppermint and Avery wanted Candy Cane, so we went with both.

 

 

That afternoon, I went and ordered a new desktop computer.  I went to pick it up Friday morning but, when the guy went to do the final quality check, it was running funny, so they wanted to keep it and run some tests on it.  The guy called me later and said he'd rather just order me a whole new computer to be sure that everything is OK, so I still have to wait another few days to get it.  Jared says I have to wait until Christmas to use it, anyway.  Turd. :P

12/2: The girls had their last dance class before their recital this coming week.  The teacher said Avery is doing much better (she has usually just done her own thing in the past, instead of doing the dance with the rest of the class, ha ha).  I had told the teacher that I didn't really care if Avery was doing her own thing, as long as she at least got up on the stage for the recital.  But it looks like she is coming around, anyway. :)

That evening, Avery  hugged me and told me I'm the best Mommy because I was able to wipe off the Sharpie ink that Makenna got on a wood puzzle.  It's the little things.  :)

12/3: Santa photos! We've had the same Santa all four years, which is pretty cool.  After the photo with Santa of them together, we went and took some photos with some of the decorations, then they let us go back with Santa and take photos with each girl separately with my camera, since we had bought a photo package. Notice how big Avery's dress looks on her, ha ha--they're wearing the same size. Makenna needs to stop growing so fast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we went and did Santa photos, I took Whiskers to the vet to get neutered and declawed.  The girls really missed him while he was gone for two nights!

12/4: "Helping" me decorate for Christmas--Makenna wearing the tree skirt:

 

12/5: I went and picked up Whiskers after I left the computer place (without my new computer).  The lady told me twice how sweet and good he is.  I told her how he just puts up with whatever the girls do to him. :)

12/6: We went to Jared's uncle's house for a family gingerbread house party.  Grandma and Laura and her kids were there, as well as one of Jared's cousins and her four little boys.  It was fun but the girls had a lot of candy! :)

 

 

 

 

Week 1 of Elf on the Shelf!
Day 1: Showed up sitting on the back of the loveseat in the front room with the book
2: Way up on the top of the clock in the living room
3: Drinking syrup from a straw
4: Hiding among all the stuffed animals on the big LoveSac in the playroom
5: Fishing for our Betta, Lagniappe
6: Climbing on our advent calendar
7: Brushing his teeth in the girls' bathroom

Today, I had choir practice, came home and accidentally stepped on Whisker's paw (remember, he was just declawed!) and it started bleeding (I felt so bad but he is constantly getting under my feet!), Avery was crazy in sacrament meeting (she kept laughing and laughing and being so goofy)--oh, and Makenna kept singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at one point, ha ha--and nursery was kind of crazy.  I'm pooped! :)

We still haven't gone and gotten our real tree or set up the fake one in the basement yet!  Hoping to do that in the next day or two!  I have so much to do in the next two weeks but I love this time of year! :D