Aubrey's letter to Santa

After hearing about her sister's dream, and watching her furiously scribble down her wishes, Aubrey thought she should write to Santa too, though her letter was a bit more down to earth than her sister's. She dictated her wishes to me, and together we wrote the following letter to Santa:

Dear Santa,
I want some "Nemo" toothpaste, and a "Tangled" Barbie. I would like a new Beauty and the Beast movie because my other one is scratched. If you can find a red Belle dress, I would like that too. I've been good!
Love,
Aubrey


If it only took grape flavored "Nemo" toothpaste to make us all happy, the world would be a better place. :)

Camryn's letter to Santa

After much discussion, thinking, and perusing of ads, Camryn was still unsure last weekend about what to request from Santa this Christmas. She had a couple of small ideas, but nothing BIG. Nothing that was THE. COVETED. ITEM. like she's had in the past. And then...she had a dream.

Yes, I'm serious. She literally had a dream. She woke up on Sunday morning, bursting with excitement. "I had a dream, Mom! The kind where you think it's really real, until you wake up and find out it's really not real! It was awesome! I dreamed that I opened a present on Christmas, and it was......." (wait for it...), "A Taylor Swift guitar! It was so beautiful! Ahhhhh..." (Falling backwards onto her bed.) "I could just go back to sleep and keep dreaming about it all day...)

No dramatization needed. My kid had seriously dreamed up a gift. And so she ran straight to her desk and started furiously writing her letter to Santa. Later, I printed some holiday stationary for her to recopy onto, and there it was. Her letter to Santa. All brought on by a dream. I just hope Santa can deliver on the image she's built in her head...



The scanned version is a little difficult to read, but her inventive spelling is pretty good, and I have to say, her punctuation is impressive. :) Here's what it says:

Dear Santa,
Can you pleas get me these?...
1. Talr Swift gatar
2. Beooty Sulon set
3. Joody Moody moovy
4. Big kids prs (purse)
From Camryn Bailey, Age 6.
P.S.
I have ben good!
My elf is Twinkl!
Mary Crismis!
Ho, Ho, Ho!

Winter Dance pics 2011

Zoolights!

Although it's not yet December 1st, the Christmas season is officially in full swing at our house! With so many things to do, and fun traditions to enjoy, we don't want to miss out on anything! When we realized it was dry, and not-too-cold, and we had no other plans Saturday night, the four of us decided to head to the zoo for Zoolights. We loved going last year for the first time, but it was FREEZING, so we were happy to throw on our gloves and hats and stay plenty warm. :)

If you've never been, it's a pretty amazing sight. Unfortunately, the photos don't capture the magic very well, but it's fun to see so many things lit up all over the zoo. Of course a Zoolights outing isn't complete without hot cocoa, and a train ride, and we enjoyed everything they had to offer. Afterwards, we were starving, so we hit the girls' favorite restaurant for a late dinner, and then all melted into bed when we we arrived home. Ahhhh...a few more holiday memories made. :)

Thanksgiving: Camryn's Perspective

After a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, while the adults played a lively game of "Apples to Apples," Camryn entertained herself by taking pictures on my phone. When I went back and reviewed them, it was really quite fun to see the evening from her perspective. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2011

We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving at Beth and Tomas' house this year. It was a wild event, with 8 adults, 3 children, and 4 dogs in attendance, but we had a blast. We had cooking, crying, singing, movie watching, card playing, and lots and lots of barking and running. If anything, there was never a dull moment! :) Thank you so much, Beth and "Uncle 'Mas" for hosting the ENTIRE crazy family. Maybe next year we'll bring Maggie too! ;)

Happy Turkey Day!

Gobble, gobble! :)

Pinkalicious!

A few months ago, when I heard that one of the girls' favorite books, Pinkalicious, by Victoria Kann, was being performed as a musical downtown, I knew we just HAD to go. The story is about a girl who loves the color pink so much, that she eats too many sweet, pink cupcakes, and wakes up the next morning, and has actually turned pink! (Kind of a "you are what you eat" sort of tale...) In the end, the only remedy for her "pinkititis" is to eat lots of healthy, green foods to balance the pink sweets. (Love it!)

So this weekend, we surprised the girls with a pinkalicious night on the town. We all dressed in our perfectly pink apparel (even Daddy agreed to participate!), and plodded through the precipitation to peer at the pinktastic performance. :)

It was just short enough that even Aubrey was able to sit through the whole thing, aided by her "magazine," (program), and a new, pink, sparkly wand. The cast did a great job of entertaining the parents as well as the kids, and no one even cared when Aubs used her "outside voice" inside during the performance, since the audience was teeming with wiggly, giggly, pinkified girls.

Afterwards, we took a brisk evening walk to have dinner at Macaroni Grill, where we warmed up next to their cozy fire. The night was complete when we surrendered our "mystery coupon," and found that it was for 50% off our bill! Yahoo! At that rate, we should have ordered the dessert too! :) If only they had pink cupcakes......