Random updates on a Monday

Warning: this one is long!

1. These 2 hadn't seen each other very much since starting kindergarten so a few weeks ago we invited Reagan to a movie. Their love for each other is so precious and they had a great time together.

2. Reese's class did a project just before Thanksgiving that involved disguising a turkey so that it would survive Thanksgiving. When she came home with it she said she really wanted to do it with her dad so she had plans to dress it up as a football or golf boy. She then said she really wanted it to be a ballerina but she didn't think her dad would be into that. I suggested a razorback cheerleader since we are all into the Razorbacks and she loves the cheerleaders. Neal really got into it and I think it turned out adorable. He made it through Thanksgiving!

3. Ella and I have been playing with some sweet friends every few weeks. We have both enjoyed it and aren't these sweet babies precious?!?!

4. Ella is obsessed with growing her hair long. She has me take a picture of it from the back every few weeks so she can examine where it is and if she notices any changes. In this photo we are at a salon waiting on Neal who was getting a trim. Ella is getting a slight trim next week to even it up and to see if that spurs more growth.

5. Neal knew that I really wanted to take the girls to see Annie but with Christmas coming we decided not to spend the money. Well he surprised us and took us all out to dinner and to see the play, we didn't know until hours before. We all loved it!! Reese was getting sick and was running a fever by the end of it but still loved it and Ella danced and sang (loud) the whole way through.

6. This was year three of friendsgiving and it was again a whole lot of fun. The food was awesome and the friends even better. It is so much less stressful not to travel but I do miss family.

7. We bought a membership to our new children's museum, the Amazeum. It was so worth it. The girls love the place and we go all of the time. I have discovered that it is dead around 3 so I take them after Reese gets out of school. Since it's not too busy I can relax some and the girls have the place almost to themselves. We all love it!!

8. Nelson is back. He hasn't been too naughty or creative this year but this did happen. 

9. Our mall, which we never go to, has these ridiculous ride on animals that the girls beg to ride on since they discovered them the one time we went in the past year. Well a few weeks ago Ella fell asleep in the car while we were in Fayetteville so Neal decided to sit in the car with Ella while I took Reese to ride this giraffe. It brought her so much joy. However, she almost crashed into about 12 people. I better get Ella down there to do it soon too or I'm going to be in trouble (she doesn't know that this happened).

10. Weekend before last my family and us rented a cabin in Branson for a long weekend. It was really fun time spent with my family together. We all had a blast and the girls had so much fun at Silver Dollar City with grandparents, aunts and cousins. The park wasn't busy at all during the day so the ride lines weren't bad but by about 4 the place was a madhouse. I have never seen so many people in one place in my entire life. It was cold that evening but with that many people all pressed against each other it didn't feel cold. We stayed for the parade but it took over an hour to get a very short distance to the exit after the parade. The girls loved the parade but we likely will not be staying for that if we do this next year. Silver Dollar City is another thing we have really gotten our moneys worth out of buying season passes!

11. Ella had her Christmas program last week. Reese never really got into the program and barely sang while she was up there each year. With Ella only being 2 days a week I assumed they would put her on the back row and she would just keep up as best she could. I was surprised when they put her on the front row and she knew every word and was so into it. She was so adorable! I was so pleased with the program this year over past years and am very impressed with the fact that Ella knew all of the songs so well even though she is at school far less than half the time the other kids are there.

12. This guy decided to "help" me build the girls doll house that we are giving them for Christmas. He made the process take much longer but he thought it was great fun. Yesterday Reese came across this photo in my camera roll, oops. She had it figured out but I think I have convinced her otherwise (somehow). It does help that I was actually searching online for a dollhouse when I found Pickles so I told her those photos were from the online posts when I was looking for a dollhouse online and that I didn't find a dollhouse, only him. She was a bit confused but somehow it ended up making sense. She will put it all together correctly when they open this gift though...oh well.

 

13. Last weekend we took the girls to the Fayetteville square to see Santa and the lights. There were no tears this year! This is huge for Ella. The weather has been so warm which is weird in December but the square was beautiful.

 

14. Today is this amazing man's birthday. We are so blessed to have him and I hope we can make his day a fraction as special as he is to us. We love you!!