We need a break! A warm one (without snow)!

It's been a long stretch of time since I've last posted anything.  Why?  Well, I've had nothing notable to post about unless you wanted to hear about the weather and those shenanigans.  No thanks, right?  So, I'm back (not from outer space) and have just a few random pictures because I am feeling sad for having nothing cool (no pun intended) to post about. 

 Ms Ella posing before preschool one day a week or so ago....

 Friday night movie & pizza night with "just the girls!"  

We watched The Little Mermaid and had a pizza picnic in the living room.  :)

 Yesterday they celebrated 100 days of school at Kinder Kollege.  The kiddos made necklaces which were supposed to have 100 pieces of the cereal on it.  Well, Ella told me this was "tricky" and her friend Maddy had to help her - they got to 74 pieces of cereal on the necklace....when Ella realized this last night after we counted, she was NOT pleased with Maddy.  HA!  She also was sporting a 100 days crown, which she even let me try on!  :)

I wanted to get a better picture than the first above, but she was over it.  So I told her I was going to take a picture of her butt - and then the giggles started and she wouldn't (couldn't!) stand still so this one, with the better smile, is blurry.  Still makes me laugh thinking of her giggle fit.

Stay warm people!

Wanna laugh?

Jay was home with Ella yesterday because our daycare was closed and so was Kinder Kollege. Ella was supposed to be laying down for a nap (a "snooze" in our house). When Jay went up to check on her, he found....

Clearly it is time we get back to our normal routine!!

Christmas (New Years)

Happy New Year!  Our New Years Eve was VERY low key, kind of like how this past week has been.  It's so cold here!!  I am just tired of going out to freeze!  We did brave the weather and go out to an (early) dinner at Buca on New Years Eve.  Note to self:  NEVER bring Ella there EVER again.  From the moment we walked into the restaurant, she was whining and complaining because it "smelled stinky Mommy"  OMG. I thought we were headed for a disaster, so we headed to the bathroom.  No issues there.  But I was worried she was going to be sick or something!?  Not the best NYE that's for sure.  She was totally fine, but clearly does NOT like the smell of garlic at an Italian restaurant.  :) 

 

She was all smiles and ate a good amount of the kid's mac and cheese, so I guess they left out any garlic!

We had our final Christmas celebration of the year with Jay's family on New Years Day.  We all brought appetizer dishes to share, and of course yummy treats!  It was a fun day!  We forgot to charge the camera, so we only got a few shots of Ms. Ella during the gift opening!  She had a good time and got lots of new fun things!

Hee hee - all the kids got coal from Santa.  Ella didn't have a clue what was happening.  

She was excited about it!!

All the Christmas decorations are officially put away (well, except for the stuff outside - too cold to remove it right now!) Wondering what else we've been doing?  Well, not much.  :)  But, Ella and I have been playing with her Lite Brite...

 love it!  I had one as a kid, and I think it's still fun to do!  The new design is VERY modern.  :)

Otherwise, we've been hanging out at home in our PJs

Oh, and here's my 2013 Christmas ornament from Santa (Jay).  We get each other one every year.  

This one is AWESOME!

To a happy and healthy 2014!! 

(and one in which we find ourselves a new home!!)

The Snowman!

Happy New Year!  We were able to get outside and finally play in the snow over the weekend!  We took full advantage and made our first Snowman of the year!  We finally got to use the snowman kit I made last year!

 Isn't he cute?!

Smurf Elf 2013

Another Christmas season in the books!  We enjoyed having Smurf Elf visit us each day with his crazy antics.  Let's recap, shall we?!

December 1 (he's here!!)  

He brought a book with CD for Ms. Ella - The Twelve Days of Christmas

December 2

Smurf Elf playing bake shop with some friends

December 3

Ride 'em cowboy!

December 4

A game of Candyland with Barbie

December 5

Part of the Mickey Mouse Band! (see his Hello Kitty guitar - ha!)

December 6

Just hanging out

December 7

Smurf Elf colored a picture for Ella

December 8

Smurf Elf LOVES to hang upside down!

December 9

Decorating the Christmas Tree

December 10

Sledding with Lalaloopsy

December 11

Sneaking some candy from Ella's stash!

December 12

Smurf Elf came back from the North Pole with instruments and a note on how great Ella is doing!

December 13

Hanging around sipping on something sweet

December 14

Fruit Loops for breakfast

December 15

Just sitting on the shelf, but he left a note and a new puzzle!

December 16

So many yummy treats being made at the North Pole, Smurf Elf brought some back to snack on

December 17

Time to get some baking done!

December 18

Swinging!

December 19

It's on!  A sack race with favorite friends

December 20
Counting down!

December 21
He made it to Grandma Deb's!

December 22
Keeping watch!

December 23
Baby It's Cold Outside!

December 24
See you next year!
[forgot to snap this last picture] but Smurf Elf was sitting in Ella's room with his good-bye note!

Christmas (Christmas Eve / Christmas Day)

Christmas Eve, we attended a noon service at Hosanna Lutheran Church.  It was AMAZING!  Hosanna services are more contemporary than our church, and their Christmas Eve service incorporates a live nativity scene (real live camels, donkeys, sheep, ducks, etc.) to bring the Christmas story to life.  It was really fun to see, and a nice change from our typical Christmas Eve plans.  The music was awesome and the service started off our Christmas Eve in a great way!

  Patiently waiting for the doors to open to the sanctuary so we could check out those animals!

Cheese!

After church, we spent the afternoon hanging out and baking cookies for Santa!  This was probably my favorite part of the Christmas celebration!  I hope we can continue this as an annual tradition.  This year we made those reindeer cookies you probably saw on Pinterest!  They are DELICIOUS! If you still have a Christmas celebration to attend, you should totally make these.  1 - they are adorable and 2 - they taste fantastic!  Here's the recipe link I used. Note on the decoration supplies:  I used red Sixlets for the noses, mini Chocolate chips for the eyes and the Keebler mini pretzels for the antlers.

SO CUTE!

After the semi-traditional meal of pea soup, we opened some gifts! Next year I need to remember to write down everything we buy, so we don't go overboard!  Ella's been having a great time playing with all her new stuff!

Christmas morning....someone was on the nice list this year!!

 (blurry again...boo)

 Hurray!  Ella got Stompeez! from Santa!!

 She was SO pumped!