Randomness that can only come from children

As all of us sickies are sitting around watching Sesame Street this morning, I am reminded that there are many funny kid-isms from our house that I have been meaning to share with all of our friends.

How did Sesame Street remind me of this, you ask? Perfect segway into my first kid-ism.

* Yesterday as Aubrey and I are waiting to see the doctor for her sickness, she brings me over a toy. It has lots of different colored shapes and such on it. I start asking her "What color is this?" She is getting about 50% right. I point to the red ball and ask, "What color is this?" She doesn't miss a beat and says "Elmo!" Technically she isn't wrong, because Elmo is red. Maybe we could petition for a name change ;-)

* Aubrey is just now getting tall enough to hold onto the rail as she goes down the stairs. Before she could reach the handle, however, she used to grab ahold of the brackets that attach the rail to the wall. I was always so puzzled, though, because she would say "puppy" when she grabbed the bracket. Try as I might I cannot figure out how she connected a piece of bent metal with a puppy. I tried sitting down at her level and looking up at the brackets...nothing. I guess it is what it is!

* Ella is getting pretty good with her words. She is able to articulate pretty much any thought that comes into her head with great precision. Some of her words far surpass her age, but occasionally she mixes up all her big words. One day, she was trying really hard to do something and Aubrey wouldn't leave her alone. She looks over at Aubrey and says, "Aubrey, leave me alone. You are EXtracting me!" I think she meant 'DIStracting' but I just laughed and went on my way =)

* At our house, we have tried to refrain from using the word 'butt'. Something about cute little girls saying that has just always made me cringe. We call it a 'hiney' or 'bottom' and have never had an issue. Then one day, Ella comes up to me and says "My petal hurts." "Your what?" I cannot for the life of me figure out what a petal is. "Right here," she says, "my petal." Ah, her hiney cheek hurt. Again, I cannot even begin to guess how that was connected with a petal. I find it very cute and almost dainty, so I don't dare correct her.

That's all I have for today. I need to get back in the habit of writing all these things down. I love looking back and reading our little stories.

Hope that gave you a little smile!

A little of this and that

We seem to not be any more immune to this crud that is going around than everyone else. Just when we had thought it passed, the snotty noses returned in full force. Aubrey spent all weekend with a fever, and still is not back to her old self. Ella looks as though she is wanting to partake in the fun as well =( I seem to be trying to get a sinus infection out of mine... Neal may want to walk around the house in a bubble for a week or 2 to avoid our germs!!

Despite the crazy hair, those are the cutest girls I've ever seen!!

Aubrey wanted her picture taken so badly, but she also did not want to part with the thumb in her mouth either ;-)

Our baby burritos---the girls loved to get wrapped like burritos after a bath, then sit in our bed and watch cartoons!

In other news, we are proving to be very spontaneous vacationers. Normally our vacations consist on trips to visit family in Riddle or camping. Both of which we love, but we tend to not do much just as our family of 4. Neal's parents gave us use of their timeshare for a Christmas gift, and that has just snowballed!!

And with that, we are going to Disneyland at the beginning of February! Ella is beyond excited, even though I'm not sure she really knows what Disneyland is. She knows we will be seeing Cinderella's castle that we see in the movies, but other than that I don't think she knows how many things from the movies we will see. Aubrey is excited to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Ella puts up a Mickey head each day as we countdown until we leave. They are both excited to go on the airplane, I just hope the excitement lasts for the 2 1/2 hr flight ;-) Its going to be a shorter trip, 3 days at Disney and seeing some family while we are down there. We are all very excited for this trip and I personally can't wait to see the girls reactions =)

Hope everyone else is dodging this germy season!

Our extended Christmas blessings

Around our house, once the process of opening gifts begins on Christmas Eve- its quite the production. Its wonderful to have so much extended family which in turn means lots of Christmases. This year, however, we were able to start off the Christmas production by giving to a family in our church who had a real need this season. Our small group joined forces and were able to bless this family in a way that even surprised us!One of the kids is in Ella's Sunday school class, and she seemed to really begin to understand the meaning behind the giving spirit of the holiday season. Its hard for her to believe that there are kids out there whose mommy and daddy don't have the ability to buy them new toys or even warm clothes. Ella was starting to get the "gimme" spirit of Christmas instead of the "giving" spirit. Hopefully the more years we are able to do this kind of thing, the less "gimme" she will have =)

The size of these bags is deceptive in the picture. Included in these bags are coats, shoes, warms pants/shirts, socks, and blankets for each of the 6 children. In addition to the clothes, there are 2 wrapped toys for each child as well. Not included in the picture is a food box for a Christmas dinner. GOD IS GOOD!!

By the time we were finished with all our Christmases, we were feeling beyond blessed as well. I have so many pictures from Christmas that I'm not sure how I'm going to include it all, but then again I don't know how to break it apart so just bear with me! So without further ado, here is a glimpse of our many Christmas celebrations and fun with our family.

Everyone before church Christmas Eve. Grandma Marian made Ella, Aubrey and my dresses!

Grandma Cindy came over Christmas eve. Then the girls opened new jammies after church.

Leaving treats for Santa and the reindeer. Santa's treats for us.

Ella opening all her gifts. Mommy and the girls reading the story of Christmas before opening gifts.

Everyone getting in on the scooter fun! Aubrey had to get a little help from Uncle Ryan ;-)

Aubrey with her new baby bottle. Girls in matching jammies made by Grandma Marian. Ella giving Aubrey a fun ride!

Aubrey with Auntie Allie. Aubrey in her new car from Amah and G-Daddy. Aubrey opening gifts.

Aubrey's new bracelet from Grandma and Grandpa Dodge. Aubrey on her new scooter. Ella giving Aubrey a ride in her new car!

Ella and her new bike from Amah and G-Daddy. Ella on her new scooter from Amah and G-Daddy. Ella pushing Aubrey around the cul-da-sac.

A tired Aubrey. Aubrey giving Wyatt a hug. Zoey opening presents. Wyatt enjoyed Aunt Kathy's sugar cookies =)

Kristy and Rob got the girls a dress-up chest. Now not only do we have the prettiest princesses around, but they are also the most accessorized!!

So as you can see, we had a wonderful holiday season. I hope everyone else enjoyed their family time as much as we did. 

------->>>>Here's to a wonderful new year!!