Christmas Gift

One of Derek's presents for me this Christmas was a new shower head. I know this sounds dorky, but it is seriously the best gift ever. Not only is it better pressure and offers more than one setting, but it also has a hose which allows me to pull it down and use it. It was a total game changer while bathing the girls. No longer do I have to run water into a cup 12 times to rinse out their hair. And of course it comes in handy bathing the dog, too!! And cleaning the shower is such a breeze now!!! Woot.

Reading

Ella has really started being able to recognize some words in everyday life, I can tell they are working hard with reading in preschool!! The other day, the song "Burn" by Ellie Goulding, came on the radio. Our radio displays the name and artists for each song that plays. Ella noticed the name "Ellie" and said "Hey! She has my name kind of!"

Ella's First Joke

"I think Leo's had a ruff day."

Get it?

Tee hee.

Just hanging out

Erin's creativity never ceases to amaze me. Tonight, she was swinging from her crib before bed time.

Weekend Project

2 months ago, we purchased a new couch at a black Friday sale with intentions to sell our existing set. The main reason for this is because we wanted something easy to clean, but also something that was easier to snuggle on. There have been plenty of times when I have both kids AND both animals trying to sit with me, so we needed more than just a love seat. We also wanted to see if we could get more seating in that room.

This weekend, the kids went to a water park/hotel with Gma and Gpa Gustafson, so it was perfect timing since our couch came in! We swapped it out and are THRILLED with it. I think it gives us more space using the corner of the room and we can fit several people on it. It is just right for what we need. In fact, Me, Holly, Ella, and Leo all napped on it at the same time this afternoon.

Dentist

I would rather eat warm lettuce* than take Ella to another dentist appointment.

Ella took a fall this past week, and busted open her lips, cut her gum, and hit her tooth pretty hard. After a day, I decided I would feel better taking her to the dentist to get it checked out. I picked her up and made the mistake of telling her where we were going. She had 15 whole minutes to work herself in a panic.  By the time we got there, she was kicking, screaming, and crying about having to go. Long story short, the visit never got better. I was happy to hear her tooth was okay, but my blood pressure was high on the way home. Awful experience.

*"Eating warm lettuce" is said to be the worst experience, even surpassing the act of death according to our friend Bjorn. So quite often, our friends refer to horrible things as being worse than eating warm lettuce.

Leo

A little update on Leo:

He is fitting in quite well with our family! He is so gentle with the girls. His favorite spot is the couch, but he is getting use to his dog bed in the kitchen at night. He and the cat are doing pretty well too. When he is in trouble, he is referred to as: "Leonard Joseph Gustafson."

We still have yet to hear him bark, but he's growled at a dog or two. He snores quite loud and does great in the car. We are anxious for spring because I think he'll love being outside more. We are dreaming of the days where they can all play on the deck.

Medford Bound

This Monday, MLK Day, was a little winter getaway for us. We had plans for a "family day," but Ella ended up having a makeup day for school so Derek and I decided to drive to Medford and leave the kids in Denver. We had a great time shopping and dining, and hit quite a bit of clearance sales!! Unfortunately, we hit bad weather on the way back and were delayed about an hour. It was still worth it, because Derek and I needed some adult time away!

Chuck E Cheese

A spontaneous family night led us to Chuck E Cheese. I don't know who had more fun, me or the kids. I LOVE THAT PLACE!! We had so much fun taking the kids around to different stations. Even Erin was able to whack a few things and ride on the toys. I think we might've finally found something that trumped the mall merry-go-round.

Derek can beat me at any arcade game, hands down. But I ALWAYS beat him in the basketball shootout and that is enough for me!!

25 minutes into the Car Ride

25 minutes into our 30 minute car ride:

Me: "No more. Seriously. I cannot take another question. No more questions for 5 minutes or mommy is gonna lose it and jump out the window."

Ella: "Why Mom? Why? How are you going to jump out the window?"

Chuck E Cheese

I was given notice that Ella's class have a field trip to Chuck E Cheese scheduled in February. I am debating whether to readdress Ella's fear of giant costumes/mascots, but decided to tell Ella about it in the mean time.  Her reaction made me laugh!

Me: "Ella! You get to go to Chuck E Cheese for school! You're gonna love it. It's a restaurant with pizza and TONS of games you can play."

Ella: "But.... do they have cheese there?"

Monkey See, Monkey Do

My two favorite miniature mommys:

Santa's Product Review

(Disclaimer: I am not a fan of parents throwing technology in their kids face to occupy them. But I do endorse technology when it is for educational purposes, because the reality is that the next generation is going to have to know how to work with computers!)

Santa didn't really want to buy more toys but each of the girls got something that was educational for Christmas.  I got Ella a leap pad after a recommendation from a coworker who works in early education. It comes with nine apps, where she can doodle, sing songs, take (blurry) photos, use a calculator, etc on it. We bought an app a couple nights ago that expands on pre-K curriculum (bigger vs smaller, counting, letters, hand dexterity (the pointer pen), letters/words, etc.  We have special "rules" for this toy and so far Ella has done well with it!

The other winner was Erin's toy: It's a pink elephant that says words, colors, and letters. It lights up, she can push buttons, pull the elephant trunk, pull a lever, and roll a wheel to get it to talk and sing. I would guess Erin can mimic 24/26 letters of the alphabet which I am just amazed with.  She is so smart and she is so well spoken now that we got rid of the pacifier!!!

I give both of these 5 stars!!

Christmas on New Years

We missed a very important part of our Christmas tradition this year.....our trip to Elkader! We were still not feeling 100% and our biggest fear was giving the flu to about 35 family members, so we opted to stay home.

Fortunately, we made a trip up a few days later on New Years Eve day. We shared the day with Gma Betty by going out for lunch and spending some time on the farm! We really enjoyed the one-on-one time with her! And there was a fresh snow fall so the views were breathtaking! We drove around a little to see what critters we could find.

Introducing...LEO!

We had a spontaneous addition to our family over Christmas break. We adopted Leo, formerly known as Arrow. He was a stray rescue that we fell in love with.

Leo is so calm with the girls and loves sitting on the couch to snuggle and steal cat food. He knows how to sit and roll over for a belly scratch. He is a few years old and is doing great!! He is very fearful of our cat, so we hope over time they develop a friendship.

Sledding

I think this was our only trip outdoors during our entire Christmas break. The girls had a blast sledding and I got to try our my new camera lens!