It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

So, randomly at the beginning of December, Kylie starts begging me to wear her Ladybug costume (the one I bought on clearance for her to wear next Halloween.)  And why not?  Christmastime seems like the perfect time to start wearing next year's Halloween costume, right?

Another funny sidenote about Kylie - we have recently nicknamed her "Rhinoceros Girl" whenever she gets angry because she starts breathing really heavy through her nose and snorting at us.  A tissue or two may be needed as well . . . 

Anyhoo, to get back on topic, once Thanksgiving was over it was time to trim the tree!!  Now, let me tell you, I collect ornaments.  Whenever we go on vacation or move to a different state, I need to get an ornament.  And since this was our first time putting up the tree in 3 years, we had a lot of new ornaments to put up.  It looks awesome!  I love how when I look at it, it tells our family story, with all the kids ornaments they've made over the years and all the memories of vacations and duty stations.

Another thing I love about the tree is the soldier tradition.  We have an army soldier guy ornament, and every year the girls take turns "camouflaging him" in the tree and then Chris has to find it.  Well, this year Chris hid it for the girls.  Here's Lise and Kate trying to find him.

Kylie has also been obsessed with the tree this year, looking at all the ornaments and wanting to touch them all - until she broke one.  She also likes adding things to the tree, like a piece of string.  So cute.   Kate and Kylie  decorated their little tree and put the Christmas stuffed animals underneath.  It turned out fabulous.

In addition to the tree, it was also fun to pull out all the other decorations.  Hooray for getting the stockings hung and for my snowman guy that I got on clearance last year for $4.  (My family made fun of me for getting him, but I love him!)

This year we decided to read "A Christmas Carol" together as a family.  Chris has been reading it to us a little each night while we all just chill by the tree, which has been neat.  Kylie's like the little puppy perched at Chris' feet.  Love it.

Of course the festivities started up outside of our house as well.  At music makers Kylie was able to ride Clarise, Rudolph's girlfriend, and lead her friends around the room as "Santa's Helper".

Kylie also had her end of the year preschool program where the kids sang some songs and Kylie gave me her footprint Christmas tree present.  It's been fun to hear Kylie singing the songs she learned, even if the lyrics aren't always right.  One day she was belting out "Mashing through the snow!"  The girls turned this into an entirely new song:

Mashing through the dough,
riding a cookie tray,
O'er the piles we go
smashing all the way
(SMASH, SMASH, SMASH!)

Aly had her end of year choir concert as well, and even though they weren't singing Christmas songs, it was beautiful and brought a great spirit with it.

Kate and Kylie also had their Dance Concert, "Christmas Around the World".  It was awesome!

Kylie was able to show off her down under skills in the Australia dance.  (She had been practicing that swivel kick at home for weeks!)

Kate was in the Spain dance and really knew how to work that fan!

Kate also displayed her mad hip swaying skills in the Hawaii (USA) dance.

Both Kate and Kylie were also in the Japan dance.

Seriously, this was so much fun to watch and the kids had such a great time with it.  It looked like so much fun that Lise has decided to take a break from gymnastics and do dance for awhile.  Can't wait for the Spring Show!  [Unfortunately, Lise's end of year gymnastics exhibition was on Sunday, so we had to miss it. :( ]

Another fun E-town Christmas tradition we were able to participate in was "Christmas Around the Lake."  You get to drive around the lake where there are tons of Christmas light displays set up.  A really fun way to spend a rainy night without even getting out of your car!

I also needed to include Kate's letter to Santa this year.  It cracked me up!

In case you can't decipher it, it reads as follows:

Dear Santa,
I know exactly what I want for Christmas this year!  Just wait until you hear my reasons for thinking this would be the perfect thing for me.  My wish is for a Elsa barbie doll.  My first reason is it comes with a magic marker and you have to put it in cold water for 5 minutes and you can make any design you want.  My second reason is that I like to play with barbies. Elsa is famous and she is very pretty.  I can see me now playing with the doll and my sisters; it will be fun!  Love, Kathryn O'Gwin

Who can resist an argument like that?  Not Santa! (Um, future lawyer on our hands?!?)

And finally, I am throwing myself under the bus.  My family is always saying that it's not fair that I'm the one doing the blogging because I blog about all their crazy quirks and conveniently leave my own craziness out.  So here you go.  Kate came home and found some random Perler's at our house from who-knows-where and decided to make a Mrs. Claus.  Unfortunately, we don't have the wax paper needed to iron the Perler beads together to make them stick.  So I had to improvise . . .

Now, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll just leave it at that, other than to say that my engineering problem solving skills do translate into motherhood and it worked like a charm. ;)

Also, here is a picture Lise took of me at my finest.  I had just got done working out but wanted to start the laundry before taking a shower.  But my legs were cold and so I wrapped them in a blanket and walked around the house like this for a few hours.  So yeah, let's just say that the craziness at my house may have originated with me.  I won't deny it.

A Paine-ful Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving 2014 with the Chris' Sister and her family for the 4th year in a row  - and it never gets old!  Here are just some of the reasons why we love hanging out with the Paine family . . . 

* Art Projects.  As Carolyn is much more craft savvy than I am, the girls benefit greatly from all the creative options available at her house.  Kate is especially obsessed with Perler's - they keep her busy for hours.  I think she made like 20 things while we were there.

* Barbies and Polly Pockets.  Kylie loves the plethora of new toys to create elaborate games with.

* Making Music Videos with Cousins.  When you get Aly, Lise, Rachel, and Rebekah together, you never know what you're going to get . . .

* Jumping on the Trampoline.  Even when it's freezing outside, the girls are content to go jump in their coats.

*Ripstikking with Dad.

* Playing card games (and all sorts of other games)

* Playing with blow up antlers and engaging in "all the reindeer games".

* Making gingerbread houses - of course!

I did not get to build a gingerbread house.  However, I was able to make my own scrumptious creation - a veggie tray.  Isn't it beautimus? :)

And as for the rest of the feast?  We have my wonderful sister-in-law to thank for her delectable culinary skills.  Here she is with my amazing brother-in-law, behind the awesome centerpiece she made herself.  Move over Martha Stewart!  (Back-story - It is because of Carolyn's mouthwatering cuisine that Chris was so upset that I went into labor on Thanksgiving Day, 2001.  We were stationed at Fort Campbell and planned to spend Thanksgiving with the Paine's that year as well.  However, Aly had different plans and decided to join our family that day, making Chris miss his Thanksgiving dinner.  We've never heard the end of it . . . )  

It truly was delicious.  Let's just say we all rolled away from the table with happy, full bellies.

The Paine's are also always really good at letting me continue my family tradition of going bowling for Thanksgiving.  We are all terrible, but it's sure a lot of fun!

After bowling we hit a movie and then couldn't resist a little Black Friday shopping.  Kate and Kylie wanted their own Christmas tree in their room, and I guess Chris and I are becoming old softies, because we gave in.  Maybe it's because we're realizing that our Christmases with young children at home are limited and we need to take advantage while we can.

We only spent a few days in Nashville, but oh what fun, and oh the memories!  The Paine family is truly one of the steady anchors in our crazy, changing military world.  What a blessing they are to us.