Happy New Year!

Maggie's reading and spelling has exploded. She is constantly saying, I know how to spell x, and I'll say, how, and every time she's right. Today she correctly spelled most. What's crazy is we've never even read that word. Every time I read her books, she is constantly pointing out words she knows. She asks me to read and pause when it's a word she knows (or can decode).

A week or so ago, we were driving when Maggie spotted a hawk. She asked me what hawks eat and I told her mice and other small animals. She thought for a minute and asked, do they eat baby kangaroos?

Around that same time, I was putting her to bed, when she started quizzing me about various sea life. It was so funny. Her questions were what crawls along the bottom of the ocean; what has a fin and sharp teeth; what has a fin and is black and white; what has 8 tentacles and a big head.

We had a great NYE. We went to Laurie's house and Grandpa came over too.

 I bought sparkling water and plastic champagne glasses for the girls. Laurie added a frozen strawberry to each glass. We did lots of cheers-ing.

 This was mostly amiable roughhousing.

 Grandpa and the girlies right before bed. We did a countdown for them at about 8pm.

 The next morning Ella was up by about 6.30 but her mom made her stay in bed until 7.30 and then I got up with them until 9.30. Then Jeff relieved me and I slept til after noon. It was great. I don't know how he kept them so quiet for over 3 hours but well done.

This is their tent. Ella looks really sad down there but they were having fun.

Christmas!!!

The Friday before Christmas, we met up with Grandpa and Ella to go look at Christmas lights.

 Next was Christmas Eve. It was so much fun. Everyone was there, the food was great, and truly, what more can you ask for.

After Santa came.

Next we had our Christmas with Grandma, Grandpa Dennis, and Amanda. Jan had to work Christmas Eve.

Well that's about it. It has been a great Christmas. Dad, Laurie, and I got together last night to watch Scrooged, Christmas Vacation, and Bad Santa. I am so relieved Christmas is over and ready for the new year!

More Christmas Fun

Friday night we met up with Nana and Gran to go on a carriage ride. Unbeknownst to me it had gotten freaking cold outside so we weren't really prepared. But it was still quite fun.

This is Max. Note his pedicure. He wouldn't let me pet him because I didn't have any treats.

A great, Christmas-y day--December 18, 2013

Today was a great day. We started out making ornaments for Christmas presents. I made the dough and had the kids put their hands or feet (Isaac) in them and then baked them. They turned out pretty cute.

Next we made sugar cookies.

Sleepover at Ella's--December 14-15, 2013

Laurie and Jeff went to Dallas to celebrate Laurie's birthday and I stayed with Maggie and Ella. It was interesting. The girls woke up, FOR THE DAY, at 4.30am. They were, surprisingly, not that bad. They made a huge mess but there was no blood.

Superheroes. Note the capes.

Building forts.

Spies. Ella has no pants and Maggie's glasses. Well done.

Hurst Christmas Festival--December 3, 2013

Michelle, Isabella and Isaac joined us to go to the Hurst Christmas Festival. Maggie is still getting used to our schedule and konked out on the way there.

 The first thing we saw were the reindeer. Maggie, Isaac and Isabella.

Next up we went to the play area. The girls jumped and slid in the little bounce house and decided to go check out the big pirate ship bounce house. Maggie did the whole thing (Isabella changed her mind) and loved it. :)

After that the girls did a cute Santa craft that I have no pictures of. There were also very close and loud fireworks.

Last Week, Monday, and Tuesday

I took Jake and Maggie to the museum. We met up with a new group and they were kinda. . . overbearing. We just wanted to go to the giant kid room and I was chasing Jake all over the place. Oy vey!

Hey, have y'all seen this kid that ate baby Jake?

So handsome!

I could NOT keep him off this thing.

We happened to be there when they did a lecture about Van de Graaff generator. This thing:

It's the thing that you can touch and it will make your hair stand up. I thought Maggie would love seeing me do that but it scared her. She was quite upset. She kept saying, That's my mommy.

So Maggie woke up very early on Saturday and I told her to go back to sleep. I woke up a little while later and she was sitting by the bed reading her comic books. She was going through each page very carefully. I guess she likes them.

Monday we all (Grandpa, Grandmo, Aunt Laurie, and Ella) went to visit Memaw, who is finally home from the hospital. At one point Grandpa asked, Who wants to go play in the backyard? Maggie said, Not me. . . maybe me. . . me! She said the whole thing in under 10 seconds.

We went to lunch after we left and I got this picture:

I told them they were accidental twinkies (note the matching pants).

Later that afternoon we went to see Dr. Moody, her eye doctor. We had to wait for a while and when he opened the door, Maggie said (loudly), Ugh finally! He was really nice about it but jeez, I was embarrassed.

Her eye sight has improved. She now has perfect depth perception.

Today we met up with some new friends at River Legacy park. We started out in the Nature Center and then hiked on the trails. It was great. We saw a huge turtle crossing the road. He had a long tail and spikes (little spikes) down the center of his shell and his tail. He did snap at the 7 year old boy we were with when he touched him a little too aggressively.

We hiked back to the Nature Center and played for a long time. They had taken apart a bee and you could look at it under a microscope, which Maggie did for a long time.

After I exercised on the treadmill (which Mags calls the treadmeal) tonight, Maggie asked to go on it too. I made her get on correctly and put it on the lowest setting but she talked about her exercising the rest of the night. She told me she'll need to exercise "right quick" in the morning.