A Christmas celebration or 5

Christmas around our house is more of a week-long celebration in order to see a majority of our family. Its a fun and exhausting time where we are reminded of all the great people we have in our lives. And now I will conclude my narrative portion and just move onto the pictures of the girls!

Aubrey was very meticulous about opening her presents. It took us quite a few presents to convince her that it was okay to just rip it open!

This was the best picture I was able to snap of these 2 crazy chickens before Christmas Eve service!

Opening Christmas eve jammies!

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa along with carrots for the reigndeer

What Santa left for us

Aubrey was super excited to finally have "The Lion King"

Aubrey's 1 request from Santa this year was a rubber duck! Santa had his work cut out for him. Each present Aubrey would open she would say "This isn't my rubber duck!" To this day, she still sleeps with that large, hard plastic duck. 

Ella and Aubrey on Christmas morning 2011

Ella's face was extremely animated this year =) Opening her very own copy of "Bolt"

Santa had an even bigger challenge with Ella's request- a stuffed beaver! Fortunately Santa was resourceful and found a beaver pillow pet ;-)

After all the presents were opened, Ella found a letter from Santa. It read:
"Dear Ella and Aubrey,
One present was too big to fit in the house. Tyson is keeping it safe.
Love,
Santa"

Again, Ella's face tells the story. Aubrey on the other hand is slightly preoccupied chewing on her fingernails--yuck!

It was a trampoline!! And moments after the first jumps it began to rain.... And that has been the story of most days since then. Fortunately the girls are not easily deterred. Throw 2 beach towels in there, let them dry it off as best as possible then change their clothes.

Hope Santa was as great to your family as he was to ours. And of course, the true meaning of Christmas rang true even more!

Christmastime fun

Although I worked a bit more during December than usual, we still tried to make sure we squeezed in some traditional Christmas activities. 

Visiting Santa! 

Playing around while waiting for Santa to arrive and Mommy to finish shopping!

One of the rare occasions where Ella would actually stop long enough for a picture and Aubrey is a blur!

Visiting Santa 2011 in Woodburn
*I have to admit that I love how much these girls love going to visit Santa
== adorable yearly pictures*

I tossed the idea of Christmas cookies/gingerbread houses/other fun seasonal sweet treat. Honestly, I kept feeling like I wasn't ready/willing to take on the messes associated with any of these fun sugar highs ;-) However, I did come up with a compromise that ended up working rather well. We did rice krispy treat cutouts with cookie cutters then decorated with frosting and sprinkles and the works! Our friends Ethan, Micah, Grant and their momma Jana joined us for the fun.

Aubrey working on her masterpieces then sampling one 

Ella decorated them chose wisely on her sample...the largest one on the plate!!

Ethan was the most intense when it came to concentration and precision with his decorating. When sample time came, he preferred to sample the frosting both from the bowl and the knife!

Grant sampled as he went along. Sprinkles proved to be his favorite!

Micah loved the decorating and sampling. However, he got very nervous when he saw me touching his rice krispy treats! Fortunately his fears were calmed when I told him I was just wrapping them up so he could take them home =) 

The crew hard at work. And I have to admit, the mess wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been given  the crew ;-)

Let's get on with the show, Christmas Show that is!

As this was Ella's first year of school, this was also our first year of having a Christmas program at school as well as one at church. Just because its always fun to try and juggle scheduling, the programs happened to fall on back to back nights ;-)

4-year old class at Village Baptist singing their Christmas songs. Ella's insistence on wearing her hat with the Christmas dress made it very easy to spot her in the group.
(The fact that she is almost a head above most of the other kids helps too!) 

Ella in her Christmas dress made by Grandma Marian

Our pretty girl

Part of Ella's program involved singing "Happy Birthday Jesus."  Each of the kids then got a little cupcake to take home to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Small as it was, Ella was very kind to share with Aubrey.

 The church was very brave this year and allowed the 2 year olds to be a part of the Christmas program as well. Aubrey was beyond excited!!! That was, until the part of the evening when she went up on stage. They had the kids come 3 hours prior to the start of the program for practice, but at 2 years old, being at the church 3 hours for anything is about 2 1/2 hours too long before then expecting them to follow directions for an additional hour! At least I got some cute pictures of her before the program.

Aubrey in her matching Christmas dress made by Grandma Marian

Smiling as BIG as possible!

 This year's Christmas program was "My favorite things." Ella's roll was a noodle (from the part of the song "Schnitzel with noodles") and she stood on the stage shaking pool noodles. I wasn't able to get a good picture of that, but I did get a picture of her sharing her favorite thing about Christmas.

"My favorite thing about Christmas is Santa and presents."
(This was a common theme among many of the kids)

Merry Christmas from our house!

Must. Sit. Down. And. Focus!!!!

Oh my little neglected blog!! I've had plenty of good intentions. But then I lacked time, or focus or then the pictures hadn't been edited.... Never fear, I have vowed to not get up from this computer until life has been caught up for the blogging world =)

Looking back through the pictures, it appears the ol' blog was abandoned prior to Christmas tree hunting! This year it was a very mild day for tree hunting, no rain/snow/wind, actually a very enjoyable day! I have to admit, this year I was on the hunt for A BIG TREE!! In our townhouse, there was very little room for much of a Christmas tree. Last year we were able to put the tree in the back of our SUV and close the hatch ;-)

Our Christmas tree 2011

 The guy who helped us cut down our tree was nice enough to trim off a few lower branches and then trim the trunk a bit. Enter the most exciting part of the day for the girls....the Christmas tree coins!!

Aubrey was very proud of her coin. If she had her way, this would have been allowed in the house ;-)

~~Miss Aubrey~~

 At some point in between blogs Ella lost her 2nd baby tooth. Fortunately this time wasn't nearly as traumatic/dramatic for Ella! Now she is very proud of the fact that she can stick her tongue out while smiling =)

~~Miss Ella (and her tongue!)~~

Ella's coin!

And here was the finished product, after having to trim the bottom again, then trim the top, plus a few branches... Okay, I'll admit I got the absolute biggest tree possible for the space but I/we love it!

----Now it feels like its time for Christmas-----

Cowgirl lessons

During our Thanksgiving trip to Riddle, the girls got a special treat...their first "cowgirl" lessons, according to Ella. Each year during Thanksgiving at Aunt Kathy's, the girls get to go down to the barn and see the horses. This year, we went down a little earlier in the day and were able to see the horses in the daylight. Extra special treat, Kristy brought Shorty out of the barn and saddled him up for a little riding!!

Ella and Aubrey were beyond thrilled!!!!

Aubrey had a chance to sit on the horse last year, but this year was her first time actually riding! She had no fear, Kristy even had to stop a few times to remind Aubrey to keep holding on!! Aubrey was more interested in kissing Shorty than she was in brushing him, but of course she was too quick for me to get a good picture of it ;-)

Ella had had her first ride a few years ago, but I think she had forgotten. This time she was very into the whole process. She helped Kristy brush Shorty, talked her ear off while they walked around they field, helped put Shorty back in the barn and even pitched in to help feed all the horses at the end. When we went back up to the house, Ella was bragging about her "cowgirl" lessons. She told Grandpa Rick she only got 1 ride, but it was 10 miles!! It was something close to that, I'm sure.... ;-)

Ella, our cowgirl!!!

Oh, where do I begin?!?!

Despite my best efforts, my blogging has once again taken a hiatus. While logic would say I should just go back to the last picture I posted and start there. But what's the fun in being logical??

So I'll just start where I start ;-)

Last Thursday I invited a bunch of our friends over. It was a random Thursday night, and Neal was a great sport and never once asked why we had 10+ people over at our house on a school night to have pizza. Our friends were in on the secret though, I had been able to take a peek at the baby in my belly during a regular doctor's appointment on Tuesday and knew the gender! Neal and the girls weren't with me because our big ultrasound isn't until tomorrow (Thursday). After dinner, everyone gathers in the kitchen and I slip out into the garage. Neal still isn't asking any questions. Then I sent this box in front of him. On the top is says Boy?Girl?

"Wait?! You know?" He just now realizes that this isn't random pizza night at the Kerner's ;-)

We were going to have people write guesses on the top of the box as to whether it was a boy or girl, but all the kiddos at the house couldn't wait for that kind of suspense.

Its a.... 

BABY GIRL!!! Baby girl #3, who is no closer to having a name than before we knew the gender, is set to arrive around May 9th!! Ella and Aubrey are very excited. Ella's first comment was "Oh good, now we don't have to buy boy clothes and boy toys!"

Suddenly we hear this sobbing, hysterical sobbing. Over in the corner, our nephew Quin is crying crocodile tears. All we can here is "I want a boy!!"" He is slightly outnumbered around here, his only boy cousin lives all the way across the ocean in Lebanon and his mommy had been telling him maybe Auntie M would have a boy for him to play with. Heart-broken... we couldn't help but laugh just a little ;-) It was very sweet. But after momma comforted him for a few minutes, we realized he didn't care it was a girl. He wanted a BALLOON, not a BOY!! Well, we can fix that =)

 Needless to say, our ultrasound tomorrow will be a little less climactic than originally anticipated, but it was a fun surprise to throw. Hopefully we will get a picture of her face tomorrow and I'll try to post it before she is born ;-)

Highs and lows of being 5

As of today, Ella has been 5 years old for 1 month. This has been a more emotional month that one could ever have imagined a 5 year old could have!!

Our 1st emotional roller coaster was the death of our dear Dorothy the betta fish =( Everyone was ready to get tucked into bed when Ella noticed that Dorothy had not came up to eat any of her food. Daddy thought Dorothy was stuck in the plastic plant, but after jiggling the plant Dorothy just sunk to the bottom of the tank. Mommy was oblivious to the catastrophe that had just occurred and was planning on taking a quick shower. Ella came in with puffy eyes and a very sad heart. We decided to let her help with the "flushing" and began to somehow explain the death of a fish. (I had always thought that I would find the dead whatever 1st and have plenty of time to prepare my speech, think of possible questions she might have and already had some ready-made answers...this night did not go according to this plan.)

After Dorothy received her proper send-off, I tucked Ella into bed. She just could not stop the tears. She told me "My heart is breaking into pieces and my tummy hurts!" It was hard to see her so upset. The next morning, Ella corners Aubrey upstairs soon after waking up and says "Aubrey, I have to tell you something."
Aubrey: "What?"
Ella: "Dorothy died last night and we had to flush her down the toilet."
Aubrey: "What did you do that for??" (Aubrey obviously didn't get the dead part ;-))

A quick trip to PetSmart to get "Dorothy #2" corrected all the wrongs in the world and she was back on the track to being happy once again!
[I'm not sure the poor lady who encountered us on the ice cream aisle at Fred Meyer feels the same way. She was just going about her business and must have smiled at Ella. Ella then blurts out, "My fish died last night and we had to flush it down the toilet!!" This poor lady didn't know what to say, I think she still wanted to buy some ice cream but she was afraid to come any closer to our cart for fear of what other news we might share with her =)]

Last night, with the help of Daddy, Ella lost her 1st tooth! She didn't cry and was very brave when he pulled it out, but then when she saw the blood she started to lose it for a minute. Aubrey was standing by being her little cheerleader the whole time, I think Aubrey was more excited than Ella was! We helped Ella get a plastic baggie, put it under her pillow and explain that the tooth fairy would visit in the night. I left the room, confident that Ella was super excited about this event. Suddenly the tears started again. This was the reasoning given by Ella:
"I want to keep my baby teeth. I don't want to lose them. Now I'm going to have to sell my blanket!"

Apparently, she went from excitement for the tooth fairy to suddenly feeling like she is losing her childhood much too quickly!!! As her mommy, I feel this growing up business is certainly happening fast, but had no idea that she was sensing the fleeting of her youth as well ;-)

The high highs and low lows of this month make me realize that we are now entering into a whole new world with lots of emotions and we are only 5! I can only imagine the material I am going to have for this little blog in the coming months ;-)