a very merry Christmas

Here are the promised pictures from Christmas....

 

 

Christmas Eve--new matching PJs.  I got them nightgowns this year because they both LOVE nightgowns and don't have very many.

 

 

Christmas morning--probably her favorite gift--an Elsa dress from the movie, Frozen.  Both girls have fallen in love with this movie.  They have the soundtrack and reinact it almost daily.  Rachel's jealous of this dress, but the only one they make in her size is from The Disney Store, and it's pricey.  This is an inexpensive version that only really fits Rebecca.

 

Matching shirts

 

Rachel and Saige!



For months before Christmas, if you asked Rebecca what she wanted for Christmas, she said "A Hello Kitty Car!  So she got it....and was excited about it....but since Christmas day I think she's played with it twice.  But if you ask her what her favorite present is, she'll say her Hello Kitty car!

Saige and her horse

Wearing her Elsa dress.  She's had this on more than anything else in the last five days.

At Grandma's house....opening stockings

Grandma and Grandpa put these glasses in each kid's stocking.  You wear them and look at the Christmas tree and shapes appear on the lights.  They were all different (reindeer, Santa, snowflakes, etc--they were really cool!)

A better picture of Rachel in her matching Saige dress from Grandma and Grandpa

They both love the show, Sofia the First, and got matching dress up dresses.

In their matching shirts.  I love this picture.

Merry Christmas!

one more post

I meant to post these this morning when I posted about Rachel and Saige....

One of the things Rachel also wanted was Saige's art kit.  

For $50+ you got a bunch of doll sized fake art supplies.  Well, for $6 and some time and effort, my husband and I made her her own REAL art kit. He used scrap wood and his woodworking skills and made the doll sized easel.  I made doll sized sketch books out of real drawing paper.

Rachel can paint the picture and blank canvas herself.  She can draw in the sketch books.  Not only did we save a ton of money, but it's something she can actually use, not just sit and look at.  I was thrilled with it.

And this is what the girls gave to Daddy.  

I made them myself, inspired by the silhouettes my dad made for my mom one year of my brothers and me when we were kids.  I'm pretty happy with Rachel's, not quite as thrilled with Rebecca's, since her mouth doesn't look quite right.  But I still really like them.

my little American Girl

Last summer an American Girl store opened at the mall just down the road from us.  There are only a few of these stores in the country, so it was a huge deal.  Until then, though, Rachel had no idea what American Girl was, and I was just fine with that, since they are SO expensive.

But then it opened, and Rachel fell in love.  As more and more of her friends got dolls, her desire for one grew and grew.  She especially loved Saige, the girl of the year for 2013, which means she came out in January and would only be here until December 31st of this year.  She loves art, which is why Rachel liked her.

It was pretty much the only thing she wanted for Christmas.  

How could we deprive her of the one thing she really wanted???

Sometime I'll try to upload a video of when she opened it.....one of the classic squealing and glee openings that you'd expect.  It was great!  But for now I can only put this picture because I'm not at home.  Grandma and Grandpa gave her Saige's matching dress, which she also really wanted, and some similar boots.  So here's my little Saige look alike with her beloved doll.

I'll post more pictures of both girls when I get home in a few days.  It was a wonderful day full of lots of sweet, fun moments.

Merry Christmas!

seeing Santa

I didn't think we would go see Santa this year because of this:

Santa came to Rebecca's preschool last week and she was scared of him and wouldn't sit on his lap. Her teacher sat on his lap and pulled her up on her lap in order to snap this classic pose.

So I didn't think she'd have any interest in seeing the mall Santa.  But Rachel really wanted to go, and I did want to try and get a better picture.  This morning I asked Rebecca if she wanted to go sit on his lap and she said yes, and that she wouldn't be scared, and she'd talk to him.  So I decided to brave the two days before Christmas crowd and try it.  We got there a half hour before Santa was to come out and there was already a line of probably 15-20 families ahead of us in line!  We ended up waiting a total of about 80 minutes (I had warned them ahead of time that we'd have to wait and I was prepared with snacks, so it didn't go too terribly.....)  

I was surprised, but Rebecca wasn't scared at all.  She went right to him, smiled, and talked.  Of course, she forgot to  tell him the number one thing on her Christmas list, but the things she did tell him have been covered, too.  Whew!  

Afterwards we went out to see the big Christmas tree, nativity, and trains that we always go see, and I treated them to hot chocolate while we listened to a brass quartet play Christmas carols.  "I like today," Rachel told me.  Happy to make my girl happy.  It was a good morning, despite the crowds.

more holiday happenings

December is just full of activity here....

Last week we went to the lights at the zoo.  We went two years ago with the girls and Rachel,  especially, loved it.  We weren't able to go last year....I think the weather didn't cooperate with days we were able to go.  This year I had free tickets that I wanted to make sure we used.  Last week was our last chance, so we picked the warmest day without forecasted rain.  Unfortunately, so did the rest of the city, because it was packed, but the girls had a great time.

Also, Rachel's been asking to make a gingerbread house out of graham crackers, something we've done every year since she was two or three, so we did that this weekend, too.

She did hers all by herself, while Rebecca had help.  Rachel's roof kept falling and she was forced to give it a flat roof instead.  She was upset about that, but proud of herself that she made the whole thing by herself.

run, run, as fast as you can

Grandma came down this weekend to make gingerbread cookies, which has become a tradition since Rachel was two.

Rachel did a good job of decorating all on her own this year.

Rebecca tried a few by herself, too.  Here's the result.....

busy, busy

It's been busy around here.  December always is, I guess.

Yesterday we went to see The Nutcracker with our Girl Scout troop.

Before the show

At the theater (I purposely chose to show this dark one because you can't see their faces, and I'm not sure all the parents would want their daughter's picture on my blog....that's the State House in the background.)

This weekend Rachel also sang in the kids choir at church for three services, so it's been a busy weekend.

Here she is....I cropped out as much as I can. 

And here are my kiddos this morning, pretending like they weren't arguing right before I took this picture....

like mother, like daughters

I found this picture the other day.  I remember when Rachel was three, I thought she looked so much like this three year old Weed.  But now that Rebecca is three, I see a resemblance in her even more.  She's definitely mine!

nostalgia

When I was about six, my Grandma Buehrer made me a Christmas dress (one of many hand smocked dresses she made me...this one was one of the last, though, sadly).

It needed new cuffs, collar, and lengthening, which my mom did, and now Rachel is wearing it this Christmas.  I know my grandma would have been thrilled to see her great granddaughter wearing it all these years later.

(Rebecca is wearing a dress that was Rachel's when she was three.  Love how she's admiring her big sister!)

baby, it's cold outside!

Rachel and I just spent about two hours out in the freezing cold snow, in the Christmas parade with the Girl Scouts.  I haven't been in a parade since high school band, and I wasn't anticipating that it would be quite as stressful as it was.  The Girl Scouts were in front of one of the high school bands, and high schoolers march a lot faster than second graders walk (and pass out candy to on-lookers), so we were constantly being swallowed up by the band, and trying to book it to get ahead of them.  I was walking fast, and my legs are LONG--you can only imagine how the little second grade girls fared.  They were cold and tired, but most of them seemed to have fun, so I'm glad.  I don't think they'll choose to be in the parade again, though. 

Here's Rachel before the parade (they were supposed to be festive--at one point along the parade route a guy took her picture like this and asked for her name and information for the town's local newspaper, so she might be in the paper next week!):

And here's the troop and other Girl Scouts (from behind...I didn't want to show their faces....not to mention the fact that I didn't have enough time to run ahead of them to get a shot from in front!)

So tonight we get to experience standing out in the cold AGAIN because Rachel's choir from church is singing at a firefighter's event, also outside.  I'm not even bothering taking off my long johns....I'm just trying to warm up for an hour here at home and then we get to go leave again.

Brrrrr........

snow day!

It's a snow day today!  We actually don't have any snow, yet, but we have ice, and the snow is coming later today.  I don't care....I'm thrilled that I don't have to 1) scrape the ice off the van, 2) get dressed before 8 AM, 3) get the girls to the bus stop with ice on the ground....  I'm also glad (this time) that our news makes a HUGE deal about these coming storms, because since they did, I decided to get to the grocery store last night instead of this morning, like I always do (Friday morning is my grocery shopping day--I'm not sure why, it's just kind of the pattern I've fallen into in the last several years).  I saw that today was supposed to be bad, and changed my plans yesterday so that I could get there last night.  Even though it was SO packed (because everyone else was freaking out about the storm, too) and they were out of a bunch of things on my list, I still got the essentials, and my pantry is no longer bare on a day when I can't go out.  I'm hoping tomorrow will be better and I can go back and get the remainder of the things on my list.

The girls are so excited about the prospect of playing in the snow later.  I'm excited that Rachel is here to entertain Rebecca!  :)  Yesterday morning Rachel was sad when I told her it was time to get to the bus stop because the two of them had been playing together so nicely for at least 30 minutes, and she didn't want to stop.  Here's hoping today is a day like that....and not a day of screaming, arguing, and separating them, because we certainly have those days, too! 

decking the halls

Showing off their new ornaments (not a good picture....but you can see Rebecca's Hello Kitty--she's obsessed with her at the moment--and Rachel's artist's palette).

Decorating--Rebecca kept putting them all in the same spot, and letting them hang WAY down....even down to the floor, as you see here!

The best shot we could get in front of the tree....still not great, since they're not looking at the camera, but oh well.

And some of the bad ones...

And this is one from a couple of weeks ago (before the cast came off, obviously).  I couldn't get a good picture that day, either, but I still liked this one.

happy thanksgiving

We're back from several days out of town for Thanksgiving, but I don't have a single picture!  We took the camera, but forgot to get it out.  :(

Thanksgiving morning we left home to go see husband's side of the family for lunch.  We spent the afternoon with over twenty people....the largest Thanksgiving get together I think I've ever been to.  

Mid afternoon we left there and went to my parents' house for the rest of the day.  We indulged in another delicious Thanksgiving meal for dinner.  It was the first year we didn't use a high chair....I have mixed feelings about being out of that stage of our lives.

We stayed there until yesterday, visiting with my family.  Rachel and Rebecca loved being with their cousins and grandparents.  Rebecca made good friends with my Aunt Julie, who was also staying.  At one point she was looking for her and I told her that she and Grandma had gone to the store for a little bit.  She pouted a little and said, "It's just not a party without your friends....."  That girl says the funniest stuff.

Now we're back home and it's December 1st, which means the return of our Elf on the Shelf:

We found him on the mantle this morning and he had played with the Scrabble tiles a little....

It also means the return of our Advent calendars

So at 5:58 this morning Rachel came in and told me it said 6:00 on her clock.  Usually on a weekend I would send her downstairs by herself for a little while and I would stay in bed until Rebecca got up, but knowing that she would find Rudy, I needed to get up with her this morning.  She found Rudy right away and liked the little sign he had made.  I made her wait for her sister to do the rest (looking in the little door of the house and reading the first little book of the Christmas story).  So once Rebecca was up we did those.  The paper in the little door said we'd put up the Christmas tree today.  So that's on the agenda for later today.

It's hard to believe Christmas is less than four weeks away.

it's off!!

She got her cast off yesterday.  She laughed through the whole thing.  They said it would tickle, and apparently it did, because she just laughed and laughed!

She was really tentative about moving it for the first few hours.  Every little movement bothered her and anything that touched her skin was annoying.  They said her skin would be sensitive for awhile.  I was kind of worried because she just wouldn't move it and said it hurt, but the doctor said it was fine, but would be stiff for awhile.  As the afternoon and evening went on yesterday, though, she started trying to straighten it out a little bit and she gradually was able to get it almost straight.  She was excited to take a shower instead of a bath, to wear real PJs instead of just PJ pants and a t-shirt, to wear a long sleeved shirt this morning to match her sister (they both love to match and they haven't been able to wear any of their matching clothes for the last month), and tie her own shoes this morning for the first time in month.  

She ran to the bus stop this morning yelling, "I can run again!!!"

So glad all is back to normal!

germs

November seems to be full of germs around here.  Every fall seems to turn out this way, with one of us constantly sick.  Right now it's me.  A few days ago it was Rebecca, and I was up almost all night with her for two nights.  Before that it was me (it's been me for the last month, actually, with a few of the girls' colds in there, too). 

My previous sinus/ear infection never completely went away.  Then on Saturday morning I woke up with a killer sore throat.  Then an upset stomach.  Lots of really unpleasant symptoms to go along with that.  Yesterday I felt almost fine (except a bad headache, which I always seem to deal with, so that's nothing new), but this morning I had the sore throat again and the nasty stomach flu symptoms, again, too.  I went to the doctor--he says it's a virus that's going around and to give it 72 hours.  That means by tomorrow morning I should be good as new.  Let's hope he's right, because I am really, really tired of feeling lousy.

Hopefully soon I'll have something more exciting to write about.  Right now a day of feeling good would be exciting.

no news

My husband commented the other day that I hadn't updated my blog in awhile.  There have been several times that I've thought about the fact that I haven't but I've thought, "What should I write about?  That Rebecca's getting in trouble every other minute?"  Because that's really all that's been going on around here.  

They say the terrible twos are nothing compared to having a three year old, and that's definitely the case with Rebecca at the moment.  She is pushing limits, trying out her independence, and getting thwarted at every turn.  It's constant discipline, correction, and lots of tears and frustration here at the moment (the tears are mostly hers, the frustration is mostly mine).  

She's a stinker, but is also full of hugs and declarations of "I love you, Mommy."  She's easy to love, but also easy to get frustrated with right now.  I guess that just about sums up most three year olds, though.  I remember the fours being so much better with Rachel.  I'm hopeful that that will be the case with Rebecca, too.  Not that I really want her to grow up that quickly.....I just want her out of this phase!

Rachel gets her cast off in six days.  She's counting down.  Me too....I'm ready for her to be able to wear long sleeves and zippered pants (she's been wearing the same elastic waist pants and short sleeve shirts for weeks now!), take her own showers instead of me bathing her, having her tie her own shoes, put her own coat on, and all of the things that have been a struggle for her for the last month.  I hope her strength comes back quickly and she'll be able to get back to her beloved monkey bars!

trick or treating in the rain

All week long they talked about the "Frankenstorm" that was coming on Halloween.  All day long on Halloween they scrolled trick or treating times across the bottom of the TV screen, because some of the towns were postponing it because of the coming storm.  The towns in our area mostly chose to start at 5:30 instead of 6 and only go until 7 instead of 8, to try and get it in earlier, before the worst of the storm.

So at 5:00 there was a change of costume plans....again.  I told Rachel that her Belle dress would drag in the rain and mud and wouldn't be a good idea, so I showed her every option I could come up with that was short.  She chose a butterfly, then added a tiara and declared herself a butterfly princess.

Rebecca, who had decided to be Minnie Mouse again, saw her pink cowboy boots just before getting ready.  "I want to wear cowboy boots!" she declared.  So I came up with the cowgirl costume in a matter of minutes.  All the more reason I'm happy we didn't buy costumes this year!  But it helps when your daughter has loved playing dress up for four years and has amassed quite a collection of paraphernalia! 

Anyway, Daddy took them out in his rain suit while I stayed snug and dry in the garage, passing out candy to the few brave souls who decided to trick or treat.  There was actually a decent amount, but nowhere near the number of trick or treaters we normally have.  I started giving out two and three pieces at a time to make sure I got rid of it all.

(This picture with the hat on top of the hood cracks me up....)

They came home about an hour later, soggy, but happy.

indecision

For weeks she's been alternating between being a doctor, princess, or Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. All day today she was talking about wearing her Little Red Riding Hood costume tonight to church. After dinner we went up to her room to get her costume on and she saw her Minnie Mouse dress. (This is exactly why I didn't buy any of these costumes...we had them all already, and I knew she was highly likely to change her mind.) Minnie Mouse it was tonight.... Who knows what she'll decide to be by 6:00 PM tomorrow when it's trick or treat time.

cast

She got her cast this morning.  Before we went she was hoping she wouldn't have to get one, but once she found out she got to choose the color she wanted, and people would be allowed to sign it, she was all in.

She chose pink, of course.  Later she found out she could've chosen glow in the dark, which would've been cool for Halloween, but it was too late.  

Now we have to figure out what she can be for Halloween that will fit over the cast.  She was going to be Merida, but both dresses have long sleeves, and she can't wear long sleeves very easily right now. So we'll see what she comes up with.  We pretty much have a whole costume store at our house, so it shouldn't be too hard!

She has to wear the cast for four weeks.

talking

Rebecca talks NONSTOP.  I don't think she's quiet from the moment she gets up until she goes to bed for more than 30 seconds at a time.

Tonight was a long night.  I had a splitting headache, had to take Rachel to choir, and bring Rebecca with me so my husband could go to the gym.  She talked and talked and talked the entire evening, as we drove to choir, as we walked Rachel to the practice room, as we drove to the library while Rachel was at choir, and on and on and onnnnnnnnnnn........

When we got to the church to pick up Rachel from choir I jokingly said, "Can't you stop talking?  You've been talking ever since you got in the car!"

She responded, "But I have talks in my tummy that just have to come out of my mouth!"

Oh, that girl.....love her...,even though her talking drives me CRAAAAZY!  She is pretty hilarious, though!

oops...

This is what happens when a little girl experiments to see if she can do the monkey bars with her mittens on at recess.

The answer is, she can't.  The result?  A broken elbow.

I was out at recess at my own school today, since Tuesday is my teaching day, when I got a call from Rachel's school that she had just come in from her recess, having fallen off the monkey bars and was in considerable pain.  So I quickly arranged for someone to cover my remaining 45 minutes (I'm done at 1:00 PM) and left.  On the way I made a zillion phone calls.....my husband, making arrangements for Rebecca, the doctor's office (I didn't even know where to take her in this instance....the nurse said to go to the children's hospital urgent care, which didn't open until 3:00, so I didn't need to go  immediately), and so forth.  When I got to Rachel she had calmed down and was getting started on her homework  in the nurse's office.  But any little movement made her flinch in pain.  

I picked up Rebecca, took them home, put Rebecca down for her nap, gave Rachel some pain medicine, got her started on her homework, and resumed my phone calls.  When my husband got home Rachel and I left for the urgent care.  They took two X-rays and determined that it is an occult fracture just above the elbow.  This means the fracture doesn't show up for a couple of days, and it's like a hairline fracture.  They put her in a splint and we have to see an orthopedist in a few days to see if she needs a cast or what needs to happen next.  

Guess she won't be doing the monkey bars for awhile.  :(  I hope she wants to relearn how to do them and re-strengthen her arm once this is all over!

results

I got the results of Rachel's blood work, and everything is normal.  Which is great!  It just doesn't tell us what the problem is.

And she did a fabulous job at the upper GI appointment last week--no tears, complaining, or anything. I was SO relieved and proud of her.  All I know from that so far is that the radiologist said that everything went down the right way.

She's eating better.  She's finished her lunch every day for almost a week.  She's been able to eat without feeling full after a few bites or complaining that her stomach hurts.  She's drinking two carnation instant breakfast drinks each day in addition to her regular meals, so she's getting those extra calories, plus the vitamins, minerals, and proteins that those drinks provide.  So that's all good.  I just wish we knew what the problem was.

Rebecca is her regular silly, smart, hilarious self.  I wish I could write down all of the funny things she says.  Today she told me before her nap, "Mom, I have to get some shut eye!"  She comes up with this stuff out of nowhere, it seems.  That one she said she heard on a TV show.

I was amazed recently when she and I were working on letters.  She's been asking lots of questions lately about what letters different words start with, so we work n the sounds and she comes up with the letter.  We went through the whole alphabet and she knew not only almost all of the letters, but their sounds, too!  She had a little trouble with the vowels, and she can never remember the name of letter "S", though she knows what sound it makes.  She sometimes forgets "V" too.  

So that's our news.  Now if I only could get rid of this sinus/ear thing going on.  I'm on round two of antibiotics and it still is not draining.  My head is always in a state of dizziness and feeling like its going to explode.   Ugh.

Here's my girl.  She brought home her school pictures today.  She's looking at the camera (always a challenge to get her looking at the camera) but it's not a genuine smile....oh well.  LOVE HER!!!!

And now that I see this picture more closely, I realize that the colors aren't right.  Her shirt is navy blue and white striped with a bright chartreuse bow.  Here it looks black and white with an orange bow.  I guess it works for Halloween, but not much else!  No big deal, but it annoys me!  

donuts with dad

Last week at school Rebecca had a special day called Donuts with Dad.  But dad couldn't come (he had to take off several days lately because of girls being sick, so he has little vacation time left), and I work on Tuesdays, so I couldn't go, so I asked Grandma and Grandpa to come be Rebecca's special guests.  She didn't understand that Daddy was supposed to be there.....she was just thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa were there.  And that there were donuts.

They made buckeye necklaces together.  She's excited that she now has her own because Rachel has one.