Thanksgiving

Sorry it took so many days to update this but the girls were still a bit sick and then I was lucky enough to catch their crud! Anyway, we went to our friends house for Thanksgiving...they wanted us sickness and all :) The girls had a blast playing with the 3 boys. After Thanksgiving lunch, we played kickball...I'll just pretend that my lack of skill at this game was due to overwhelming sinus pressure...

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Then they jumped on the trampoline for a bit...

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When were outside, Ella got annoyed at someone or something for a bit...

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We spent the night with the Land's and then ventured out into the drizzle to the Birmingham Zoo. This was a lightening fast trip for us, I think we were in and out in 2 hours...when Paula and I used to take the 5 kids to the zoo we'd be there at least 5 hours. We tried to get as many pictures of the kids doing the things they used to do when they were smaller as we could, just to see how much they have grown...I think that was more fun for the moms than the kids but they had a great time just the same.

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Today is Tuesday

The girls have been a bit under the weather the past few days. Emily woke up today with 102.4 fever, Ella was 101.6... HOORAY! Once they had some Motrin in them, they were all about our original plans...Santa and a haircut. It was supposed to be in that order, the girls had other ideas. Ella was in desperate need of a trim so I couldn't take the chance that she would change her mind. Here is a look at what we did...

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In house news, George cut down a tree on Sunday...one step closer to enlarging the deck :)

Since it is Saturday...

We went to Lowe's to build today. It was a football goal, totally useless as I see it but so is most of the stuff we've built. The girls have fun and since that's why we go, we went. We got to Lowe's a bit early and ended up getting a great deal on a 7' pre-lit Christmas tree (we got rid of our old one when we left Alabama). The girls got to ride on the giant cart we pushed the tree out of the store on.
Then we built. Things were much easier with George there, I am not a good builder :) After building we were on to story time at the bookstore. There weren't any special visitors there today but they did get to make hand turkeys AND decorate them with real feathers. The day ended with books with Daddy. All in all, a perfect Saturday, just look...

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Ouch!

Emily and Ella were making "picture books" in the living room (cutting construction paper then gluing or taping on to other paper). They were sort-of watching High School Musical and just generally being happy and pleasant with each other. George and I were sitting at the kitchen table discussing the many joys of home-ownership. Then the quite was broken..."OW!! OWWW!!! OUCH!!!!" I turned to look and I could see some blood on Emily's hand. I immediately thought scissors. I went to get her, asking what had happened as I looked at the blood (not a lot but at the time I thought she would hemorrhage!). As we were going up the stairs to clean up and get a band-aid I get the story...

Emily... "I was trying to use the stapler to make a book"
Me..."Why? You had tape to use..."
Emily... "I thought it would be better with staples!"
Me... "How did you get the staple in your finger?"
Emily... " I wanted to see how it worked. It hurt when I pushed the staple in, it started to bleed when I pulled it out..."
Me... "So, what does that mean, do you think?"
Emily... "Next time I should get a Band-Aid BEFORE I pull it out!"

Obviously she wasn't traumatized!

Leaves!

So here is how the day went...
This morning the girls woke up Grandma..a little earlier than she would have liked I'm sure!

We went out to breakfast...Santa happened to be there, not officially he was just having breakfast, and came over to talk to the girls. They were thrilled!!!!!
We took Grandma to the airport, ran a few errands and then well, just have a look...

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They were asleep 2 minutes after their heads hit their pillows

A Whole Week...

Just so you don't think I forgot, here I am. We've just not really done anything this week, nothing very note-worthy anyway.

The girls baked brownies on Sunday...

Emily had her third book club meeting this past Monday. She was given first grade books this week and read them and did the mini-book reports in record time. She is really enjoying it!

While Emily was busy at her book club, George was busy blowing leaves.

Ella had a great time playing outside!

Even Charlotte came outside with us...

Ella and I were in search of a Cinderella costume for Lily this week, we were not successful but Ella had a great time at the mall anyway!

Today the girls had another surprise visit from "Grandma in New Jersey". She was in Georgia for a dog show, about 2 hours from here. For the past week the girls have been asking who was coming to visit but I just kept telling them it was a "guest". They were thrilled when we walked into the hotel lobby and there was Grandma!

We'll try to have a more exciting week this week :)

A fun-filled day...

This is day 3 of George being gone. The girls {and I} miss him. We don't do well when we're apart... okay I know but come on, you all know me and know it's true :) So, I had to fill the day with as much as I could so the time would pass quickly.
Emily must have been excited about all we were going to do, she was up at 4:30am!!!!! {This is the second day in a row... I'm too old for 4:30am!!!}
So first, we went to Lowe's and built a race car and hauler...we forgot to take an extra kit home for George, {Sorry George!!}. I am not good at building! Emily's hauler looks fine buy Ella's is a bit less than square...oops! Luckily she doesn't seem to notice :)
Second, we were off to Barnes and Noble for story time with Clifford. Ella was less than thrilled when Clifford first appeared but when she saw most of the other kids weren't afraid, she got over it.
Lastly we were on our way to Chuck-E-Cheese!!! This was certainly the high point for me ;) We were there for 3 hours!!!!!!!!!! The girls actually wore themselves out by the end of the "outing" portion of our day.
We left home at 9:15 this morning and got back at 3:30 this afternoon. The car ride home was just enough time for the girls to recover so the could start preparing for the "tups" birthday party {in case you don't know, they each have 8 kids, 1 set of twins and 1 set of sextuplets, you know Jon & Kate +8?!?!?} While they were busy shopping, wrapping and hiding the 'tups gifts, I was able to get most of my bathroom painted. I hope to have that finished before George gets home on Monday. Anyway, here is what we did today...

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{By the way, if you tried to see the Halloween slide show and all you saw were Ella's pictures, do not worry, I was experiencing technical difficulties but they have been resolved and the regular Halloween pics are ready for viewing, again!}

Art Show!

So Emily is an artist! She will be featured in an art show no less...the Nebo Elemnetary Art Show that is (yes, so is every other student there, so what is your point ?!?! ;) ) Anyway, since I would think that none of you will be able to attend check out her Masterpiece here:
www.firstartworks.com and enter the code 2008770489. At the bargain price of $29.95 (+7% tax) you can own a framed "reproduction" of this lovely "hand" painted strawberry. On the other hand, Emily could paint one for you, we could mail it to you and you could hang it with magnets or thumbtacks, which are our preferred methods of diplaying artwork! I honestly can't believe this, an art show...for the elementary school...kindergarteners have participated...do they not know I throw out page upon page of artwork everyday, so they really think I'm going to pay $29.95 + 7% tax when I can get it for free?!?!?!?! They are crazy!

On another note, it was brought to my attention that Ella's slide show was a tad short so here is a longer look back at 4 years of Beanie :)

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Ella's turns 4!

I can't believe it's been 4 years!!! I remember the day she was born..Election Day 2004...a wonderful day (not politically of course)!! After Ella was born George went and picked up Emily and my mom... I couldn't go a day without seeing my little Emily :) Once they left it was just me and my bean...and of course, Tom Brokaw!!!!!

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Halloween

The girls looked super cute on Halloween!

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We went around the entire neighborhood, it took 2 hours. Ella kept saying "I''m tired, I want to go home." So I would say "okay, Mommy will take you home." I was always met with "maybe one more house" followed by a grin and a sprint to the next house. Emily kept telling me she was so strong she could walk all night. They were both in bed at 9pm (late for the girls you know) and I was hoping for a bit of extra sleep, nope...5:30am Emily was up!!! UGH!

We didn't have much planned for today. George was going to our neighbors to help frame and drywall a room they are adding. He also had an "emergency" home improvement project. He put his foot through one of the front porch steps last night, thankfully after most of the trick-or-treaters were done, that HAD to be fixed. See all that he did :)





The girls and I were hanging out across the street while George was working on their house and ours. They had been jumping on the trampoline for hours while I failed miserably at Guitar Hero. I looked out and saw an unfamiliar car fly into my driveway. I could not figure out who it was as we were with the only people we really know in Georgia. Then I saw my mother and 2 aunts get out of the car. They flew her, secretively, to surprise us for Ella's birthday...Mission Accomplished!