Thursday, December 26, 2013

Growing Vocabulary

New Words for Erin today!

"Really"
"Well"
"Jada" (during a Facetime call!)

Snow Dayzzz

Ya know that term "bouncing off the walls?" It's not just an expression. It's real. Kids literally bounce off the walls when they're going insane. Which is why I took the kids outside for awhile this afternoon when they were done napping. They lasted 60 whole minutes, which shattered Erin's previous record of 15 minutes. It was decently warm out!

Erin, who hates snow, could hardly walk she was so bundled up. So she just kind of stood in the thigh-deep snow until we moved toward the driveway where she could trek through it. Ella loved swinging and going down the slide, she didn't let a little snow get in her way!

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?"



 This is as close as I'll get to the snow!


A Very Hairy Christmas

We've had an interesting Christmas. Christmas Eve, we had a good time attending church and enjoying the night with the Cozarts. At about 10pm, I came down with Erin's stomach bug and was violently ill all night and the following day. The girls opened their presents from Santa and loved them, but I felt completely miserable.  Derek and the girls attended our Gustafson Christmas while I stayed home and watched movies. On the way home, Ella was throwing up. The following morning, Derek was throwing up. Those two are spending the day after Christmas taking it easy, not eating, and resting.

Merry Christmas from our sickies to yours!!


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Week in Review

- Derek returned from his deer hunting trip Sunday night. I know he had a blast, and they brought home a few does, a buck, and a couple coyotes. It sounds like there were many memories made and Derek had a good laugh telling me about the funny moments. They braved very cold temperatures chasing deer, and he slept well his first night home!

-Erin no longer uses her pacifier. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well she did without it, since she was pretty dependent on it and I went with the cold turkey method. It's funny to hear all of these things coming out of her mouth now. This morning, she counted to three!

-Ella, the Question Queen, has spent the last few days asking questions about both Santa and Jesus. She is learning a lot about Christmas! She is especially curious about the logistics of Santa, the identity of Jesus, and who his parents are. She is also very confused about why she doesn't have school for awhile.

-Erin had a brief stomach bug yesterday, she was throwing up a lot. This morning, she seems better but still taking it a little slow. Here's to hoping she's on the mend before our festivities begin!

-Christmas Plans: This morning (Christmas Eve), we all pitched in to clean the house ("for Santa"). This makes me sound like a neurotic mom, doesn't it? Its for the safety of Santa so he doesn't break his leg trying to set out all of the presents!! :) We also made snickerdoodle cookies for Santa. I highly recommend these because Ella had a blast rolling the dough balls in the cinnamon/sugar! And Erin enjoyed squishing the dough. This afternoon, we are going to church, then headed to Gma and Gpa Cozart's house for dinner, gifts, and games! Tomorrow, we will open gifts here and snuggle in our jammies in the morning. Tomorrow afternoon we will enjoy a night of dinner, gifts, and games celebrating with Gma and Gpa Gustafson!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Naughty Deer

"Are they taking the deer to jail?" - Ella, seconds after we almost hit two deer that were in city limits of Waverly and we both noticed the cluster of cop cars nearby. What a zoo!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

There are vaccinated children in Africa

This is a funny moment on a really unfunny topic:

Ella and I were watching Home Alone when a commercial came on sharing images of starving children that you could donate money to. As you can expect, all of the images were of children looking very sad, and some were crying. (Instant tear jerkers!)

Ella stated (completely serious): "I bet those kids had to get shots at the doctor's office."

I couldn't help but laugh, and then continued to feel really bad about the truth. But a part of me is thankful that Ella thinks the worst that can possibly happen in life is a shot at the doctor's office. If only that were true.

Potato, Pototo

"Mom, check out my noor dobs!!!"

"You mean door knobs?" (Looking at her artwork)

"No, they're noor dobs!"

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Miniature Deer Hunters

This weekend is deer hunting, which means we are spending part of the weekend with our littlest deer hunter, Easton! The girls have had a blast chasing him around and sharing their toys with them. Erin, especially, has been giggling non-stop with him. She just loves having someone here that is her size!!



Erin's Appt

I am thrilled to say that Erin has gone all of December being healthy, and that in itself is all I wanted for Christmas!!! This morning, she had a very quick appointment to check up on her health, get a flu shot booster, and get an immunization. The doctor is treating her like an "at risk" person so she is really determined to keep my little Bear as protected as she can.

Unfortunately, I got mildly lost on the way there. When we arrived, I opened the car door to find Erin had spilled red juice all over her coat and pants. She also removed both boots and both socks, so she was barefoot in 5 degree weather grinning ear to ear with pride. 

Erin did wonderful with her shots. Although she is smart enough now to know when she's about to get one, she was done crying as soon as the bandaids were on. The doctor reported that, flu shots aside, she does not need any more shots until 2016! She is also nearing the 60th percentile in height, which is making me think she might end up taller than we originally thought.


Ella's Christmas program

On Friday, Ella's preschool hosted a Christmas party and concert on their last day before break. It was a great time getting to see Ella with her classmates, and they did so well with their songs. The best part was how proud all of them looked when they finished each song and waited for an applause.



Sunday, December 15, 2013

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas!

Up until this week, there wasn't a whole lot of "Christmas" happening around here. Most of the shopping was done, and the tree/decorations are up, but it still felt like it wasn't here yet.

This weekend, things started to change! My sisters and I celebrated my mom's birthday with a girls day of dining and pedicures. We had our annual holiday party with several of our closest friends, which included a gift exchange, a full holiday meal, and movies/games. One of my favorite traditions takes place at this party, too: our pajama exchange for the little ones!! Today, my family had our annual "goodie" party where we baked up several treats to disburse amongst our friends, coworkers, families, etc. With a little Kenny G/Aaron Neville blaring in the background. At one point, there were 5 adult women, 3 granddaughters, and 2 dogs in my Mom's kitchen all at once. It was wild, as usual!
After this jam-packed weekend, it's feeling a lot like Christmas time!

This week, Ella will celebrate Christmas at school with a party and a concert. Deer hunting is just around the corner, and wewill also be celebrating Jada's birthday on Friday!

 The whole gang!
The little girls (and me), minus Amelia!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Season of Giving!

This week, I was expecting a great challenge as Derek is out of town all week. Usually, these weeks are complete chaos and I feel so disorganized. I'm two days in, and honestly, I think this week has been easier than even a normal week in our household! Derek got my car fixed and stocked up on a few essentials before leaving town. My parents offered to serve supper one night, and also agreed to watch the girls while I attend my work holiday dinner on another night! Our wonderful friends also took Erin in their home for awhile after a scheduling conflict with the babysitter.

I am so thankful for all of the help!!

The Only Nice Thing I Have to Say

This is the only nice thing I have to say about winter:

It is undeniably the prettiest thing in Iowa to see hoarfrost....I caught a small patch of it recently and made the family drive around to check it out!!




Christmas Tree

It was always a very controversial subject when Derek and I first started living together, but I gave in after realizing the fun. One of my favorite things about Christmas time is getting a real tree -- a Gustafson tradition!! It's also tradition for Derek to abandon the task of watering it.

As usual, the Santa visit was a flop. That's becoming tradition too. :)

"Ella, how is Santa supposed to know what you want if you never talk to him?"
"You tell him, Mom!"






Saturday, December 7, 2013

Erin the Parrot

Erin has been such a little parrot lately, she will mimic anything you try to do! She'll repeat part of Twinkle Twinkle, she can recite "EIEIO," she will reciprocate a big cheesy grin, and the best one is when you whistle at her, she tries to do the same. She looks like a little trumpet player.

SO SO SO SO CUTE!!!

CHEESE!!


Inside a Preschooler's Mind

Last night, we went out to the Pizza Ranch and had a nice supper as a family. This is a perfect place for us, because food is plentiful and readily available. It also has enough traffic going through it that the people dining do not notice the commotion in our booth! Ella made us laugh a few times as we talked throughout the meal.

Me: "What'd you do in school today?"
Ella: "Played."
Me: "Did you go to the library for storytime?"
Ella: "No, we didn't. It was too cold. It was 100 degrees outside."

Ella: "What are you drinking?"
Me: "Pop."
Ella: "Diet Pepsi?" (a pop we've never drank in this house)
Me: "Where did you learn that?"
Ella: "I go to school now!"


Sunday, December 1, 2013

Numbers

Me: "Derek, what's our password?"
Ella: "2*9-99*4" (Rattling off Derek's phone number)
Derek: "Where did you learn that?"
Ella: "I go to school now!"

Cleaning Lady

One of Erin's favorite things to do is wipe things down with a baby wipe. She loves to clean and will wipe your face if you let her.

That being said, it's hard to get mad at her for trying to clean my snowglobe which shattered into pieces when she dropped it.