A Quick Christmas Craft

Our computer is officially broken, so I can only blog from Chris' computer.  So blogging will be less than usual, sorry!
Earlier this week, the girls and I made crayons for cousin's Christmas gifts.  I found this idea on pinterest.  I bought a gingerbread mold at walmart and so the girls had fun sorting all of our broken crayons by color.  Taking the papers off the crayons was the most labor intensive part of the process (I suggest having another adult friend to help you.  And use a safety pin or needle to score the paper and then peel.).  It was really fun to take the mold out of the oven and see all of the wax melted together!  Gianna did not want to "give" them up as she wanted to color with them all day long.  I hope that Phoebe, Colin and Austin enjoy!

Getting Ready for Christmas

The tree is up with all the trimmings and it looks FABulous!  

We also took around 100 pictures for our Christmas card and maybe we have one worth sending out.  Here are some of the more hilarious ones!

This one is my fave!

Last year's were equally hilarious!

New Bunk Beds!

After Thanksgiving, Chris and I left the girls in St. Louis for a few days so we could make it to Aaron and Mary's wedding festivities on time.  Then Tuesday I shadowed the teacher I am going to work for in January.  On Wednesday I met my mom in Joplin (a 6 hour drive from Dallas) to pick the girls up.  I was so happy to see them!!  We got back in to Dallas on Thursday.  One thing we did while we were kid-less was set up their new bunk beds.  When we got home on Thursday afternoon, they would not come out of their room they were so excited about them.  And they LOVE to go to bed, which I am sure will wear off soon.

Thanksgiving

My last day of work was right before Thanksgiving break.  We drove to StL the next day and spent the week there for Thanksgiving.  We fit in a lot of cooking, a trip to the Magic House, the library, and plenty of family time.

The whole gang went out for dinner on Thanksgiving Eve

We made tepees(courtesy of pinterest)

Grandma and Grandpa!

Halloween

Pumpkin Patch

The pumpkin patch is good for ONLY one thing: pictures.  The morning consisted of taking cute pictures and fighting crowds, long lines, a collapsing bounce house, and don't forget a very overpriced pumpkin.  I told Chris we will never go there ever again.  He thinks we just need to get there earlier instead of 11 am when literally half of the metroplex is there.

 We found a very beautiful pumpkin, and it was so heavy that daddy needed help picking it up.

 Afterwards, we went on a hay ride and then home.  I'm glad the girls had fun!

Laundry

And just like that....

Elia is potty trained!!!!  Wednesday she came home from daycare in big girl panties and we haven't really looked back!  She has had a few accidents, but she is actually already telling us that she has to go!  This, my friends, is awesome.  I have been changing diapers for over 4 years and I am ready for a break!  We have a sticker chart going and she got an extra treat today- a ghost cookie!!  This weekend she gets to pick out her own underpants!  So proud of my big girl!

Columbus Day

While I was at work all day doing parent teacher conferences, Chris stayed home with the girls and played stay at home dad.  I came home to happy girls, laundry done, a clean house, and dinner being made!  As soon as I came home I took the girls off his hands to the park so he could finish dinner.  I seriously wouldn't mind if Chris had a 3 day weekend every week!  (He probably wouldn't either!)
Anyway, its been a while since I took pictures of them so here are a few for you to see!

Love her in these jeans- she looks so grown up!!

Good Weekend

Saturday started out with a bang!  Sarah and I ran our first 5k together.  It was the Tour de Branch race that my church puts on every year.  I didn't place or anything, but I was pretty happy with my time, 31:54.  I did a few races in high school that were right around that time.  After the race, we kinda hung out around Farmers Branch until my church's festival started.
The girls had a great time on the rides, and we ate some good food until it was time to go home for naps.
Then Sunday morning we met up with my cousins Kevin and Amanda, who are moving to Dallas from Atlanta sometime this year.  The girls were actually pretty good at the Cheesecake Factory!  Food as always, was good.
Then it rained all day so my playgroup picnic was cancelled.  We had a picnic inside instead, and watched a family favorite, How to Train Your Dragon.  Great way to round out the weekend!